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Lung transplant patients without diabetes live twice as long as those with the disease, according to new research.

“Only 30 percent of lung transplant recipients survive beyond ten years. It was thought that the effects of diabetes, which manifest in the longer term, would not be significant to the health of these patients. However, our research suggests that diabetes is not a side issue, it’s a critical issue for lung transplant patients,” says researcher Kathryn Hackman of Monash University.

Full story at Futurity.

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No matter where you are or the weather, here’s the solution. Cat owners beware, however.

A lesser-known but common reading comprehension disorder, S-RCD, can easily be missed in early readers, experts warn.

“When a child is a good reader, it’s assumed their comprehension is on track. But 3 to 10 percent of those children don’t understand most of what they’re reading,” says researcher Laurie Cutting of Vanderbilt University Peabody College of education. “S-RCD is like this: I can read Spanish, because I know what sounds the letters make and how the words are pronounced, but I couldn’t tell you what the words actually mean,” Cutting says.

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Naked mole rats are small, hairless, subterranean rodents that have never been known to get cancer, despite having a 30-year lifespan, and biologists have identified the chemical that may explain why.

“A lot of cancer research focuses on animals that are prone to cancer,” says researcher Vera Gorbunova at the University of Rochester. “We think it’s possible to learn strategies for preventing tumors by studying animals that are cancer-proof.”

Full story at Futurity.

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Photo credit: Vick/University of Rochester

Scientists are testing endangered manatees in captivity and in the wild for heart problems using a table built to hold the heavy animals.

“There are a lot of gaps in our knowledge base on basic anatomy and physiology of manatees due to the obvious limitations of working with a 1,000- to 1,500-pound animal that spends its entire life in the water,” says Trevor Gerlach, an intern in the aquatic animal health program at the University of Florida.

Full story at Futurity.

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Photo credit: Lowry Park Zoo

The report that mouse lemurs have distinct personalities doesn’t come as a shock to staff at the Duke University Lemur Center. “Pesto is very chatty. Asparagus gets beat up by the girls. Wasabi is mean as sin, and her favorite flavor is human fingers,” says researcher Sarah Zehr.

Anyone who has ever owned a pet will tell you that it has a unique personality. Yet only in the last 10 years has the study of animal personality started to gain ground with behavioral ecologists, says Jennifer Verdolin of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center.

But for animals living in captivity, Verdolin hopes that personality studies like hers will help researchers determine which individuals are best candidates for breeding programs or for reintroduction back into the wild, as has been done with the North American swift fox, the giant panda, and the golden lion tamarin.

Full story at Futurity.

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Photo credit: David Haring, Duke Lemur Center

New research explains how an animal chooses low salt over high salt, and unravels the mechanism for how their gustatory receptor neurons get activated.

“Not only does this comment on how salt perception may occur in many animals throughout the animal kingdom,” says Craig Montell, professor of molecular, cellular, and development biology and neuroscience at UC Santa Barbara, “but if we can fully understand how aversive and attractive sensory signals work in fruit flies, there may be future potential for controlling insect pests.”

Full story at Futurity.

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It might not be about the quality of the performance as much as social factors.

Discovery compiles a collection of ugly animals that need saving.

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See the joy as students around the world graduate from their schools.

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Photo credit: Rahmatullah Nikzad/Associated Press