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Noted
January/February 2009
The
trauma caused by political violence may have lasting effects on families. School of Public Health postdoctoral researcher Jhumka Gupta and her colleagues
interviewed nearly 400 men who had immigrated from the Caribbean, Cape Verde,
and Latin America. Those exposed to political violence in their former
countries were twice as likely to abuse their female partners as men with no
such experience. The study appeared in the October American Journal of
Public Health.
Biologist
Gerald I. Shulman and his colleagues discovered that molecules called
N-acylphosphatidylethanola-mines, secreted by the gut after a fatty meal, make
mice and rats less hungry. After regular injections of NAPEs, the animals ate
less and lost weight. The researchers hope to eventually test the substance in
humans. The work appears in the November 26 issue ofCell.
The
consensus estimates of how much carbon dioxide can be added to the atmosphere
without triggering climate disaster may be too high, say geologists Mark Pagani
and Robert Berner and their colleagues. In the November Open Atmospheric
Science Journal, the scientists maintain that the current atmospheric carbon dioxide level of
385 parts per million (ppm) already puts the Earth in the danger zone. Previous
research had suggested a tipping point of 450 ppm.
After
decades of abstinence, Lonesome George, the Galapagos tortoise thought to be
the last of his species, finally mated last year. But the eggs produced were
infertile. In the October 7 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, biologist Gisella Caccone '86PhD
and colleagues reported that some Galapagos tortoise species share nearly half
of George’s genes; they may prove a better match in a breeding program.  |