Study: This decade is warmest on record
GENEVA, Switzerland, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- The World Meteorological Organization says this decade is the warmest on record, surpassing the period spanning the 1990s.
The U.N. organization also says the year 2009 is likely to rank in the top 10 warmest on record since 1850, when instrumental climate record-keeping started.
"The current nominal ranking of 2009, which does not account for uncertainties in the annual averages, places it as the fifth-warmest year," scientists said. "The decade of the 2000s (2000-2009) was warmer than the decade spanning the 1990s, which in turn was warmer than the 1980s."
Officials said this year's above-normal temperatures were recorded in most parts of the world, with only the United States and Canada experiencing cooler than average conditions. Given the current figures, officials said large parts of southern Asia and central Africa are likely to have the warmest year on record.
Meteorologists said climate extremes -- including floods, severe droughts, snowstorms, heat waves and cold waves -- were recorded in many regions, with extreme warm conditions more frequent and intense in southern South America, Australia and southern Asia. The Arctic sea ice extent during the melt season ranked the third lowest, after the lowest and second-lowest records set in 2007 and 2008, in that order.
Final figures for 2009 are to be published in March.
Post-surgical blood clot risk
LONDON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- The post-surgical risk for a potentially fatal blood clot is higher and lasts longer than previously thought, researchers in Britain said.
The findings, published in the British Medical Journal, suggest there is a substantially increased risk of venous thromboembolism -- blood clot -- following many types of surgery that lasts for up to 12 weeks after the procedure.
An international team of researchers examined the pattern of increased risk of venous thromboembolism over time and after different types of surgery.
The findings are based on hospital admission and death records for 947,454 middle-age women in Britain recruited in 1996-2001 as part of the Million Women Study. Each woman was tracked for an average of 6.2 years.
Compared with the risk without surgery, women were almost 70 times more likely to be admitted with venous thromboembolism during the first six weeks after an inpatient operation and almost 10 times more likely after a day case operation.
The risks were lower but still elevated 7-12 weeks after surgery and in most cases the risk remained for at least one year.
Dr. Alexander (Ander) Cohen, of King's College Hospital, in an accompanying editorial, suggests the rates derived from this study "are probably much lower than the true values, mainly because many blood clots are undiagnosed, untreated and managed outside of the hospital.
Israeli scientists create new nanomaterial
TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Israeli scientists say they've created a nanomaterial that may revolutionize solar panels, batteries and even be used as the basis for self-cleaning windows.
Tel Aviv University Professor Ehud Gazit, graduate student Lihi Adler-Abramovich and colleagues said they have developed a method to control the atoms and molecules of peptides so that they "grow" to resemble small forests of grass. The "peptide forests" repel dust and water.
"This is beautiful and protean research," Adler-Abramovich said. "It began as an attempt to find a new cure for Alzheimer's disease. To our surprise, it also had implications for electric cars, solar energy and construction."
Using a variety of peptides, which are inexpensive to produce, the researchers said they created "self-assembled nanotubules" in a vacuum under high temperatures. The nanotubules can withstand extreme heat and are resistant to water.
"We are not manufacturing the actual material, but developing a basic-science technology that could lead to self-cleaning windows and more efficient energy storage devices in just a few years," Adler-Abramovich said.
Lab officials said they have been approached to develop the coating technology commercially. Gazit said he has a contract with pharmaceutical company Merck to research short peptides for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
The research is reported in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
New drug ID'd for clotting disorders
HAMILTON, Ontario, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Canadian scientists say they have identified a drug that shows promise for treating victims of a blood clotting disorder known as venous thromboembolism.
The McMaster University researchers said the condition occurs when an abnormal clot forms in a vein and restricts the flow of blood, causing pain and swelling. In some cases, the clot may detach from its point of origin and travel through the heart to the lungs, causing a potentially fatal condition known as a pulmonary embolism.
Patients with the clotting disorder are currently treated with a blood thinner known as warfarin, which has many interactions with other medications and foods and requires frequent monitoring of the dosage.
But Professor Sam Schulman, who led the study, says a randomized, double-blind trial of 2,539 venous thromboembolism patients showed the oral drug dabigatran etexilate does not have such disadvantages and is as safe and effective as warfarin.
The drug is manufactured by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, which also funded the research.
The study is to appear in the Dec. 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
