Health

Buying 'legal highs' from the Internet is a risky business

Many drugs sold as 'legal highs' on the internet do not contain the ingredients they claim. Some instead contain controlled substances and are illegal to sell over the internet. These are findings of Dr. Mark Baron, who bought ...

Health

CDC: Frogs tied to salmonella being sold again

(AP) -- A California company has resumed selling a kind of pet frog that caused salmonella illnesses in more than 240 people, most of them children. And federal health officials are not happy.

Oncology & Cancer

Scientists unlock potential of frog skin to treat cancer

Scientists at Queen's University Belfast have discovered proteins in frog skins which could be used to treat cancer, diabetes, stroke and transplant patients by regulating the growth of blood vessels.

Other

Peruvian frog juice drinkers laud health benefits

Frogs from Peru's Lake Titicaca are the main ingredient in a juice blend that some Andean cultures believe has the power to cure asthma, bronchitis, sluggishness and a low sex drive.

Other

Teacher tried to dissuade Nobel winner Gurdon from science

Veteran British scientist John Gurdon, who shared the Nobel Prize for medicine on Monday, is often described as the "godfather of cloning" for his work on stem cell research but was once told by his teacher not to pursue ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Salmonella typhimurium outbreak traced to frogs

(HealthDay)—An outbreak of primarily pediatric Salmonella Typhimurium infections in the United States has been traced to aquatic African dwarf frogs kept as pets, according to a study published online March 11 in Pediatrics.

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Frog

Archaeobatrachia Mesobatrachia Neobatrachia - List of Anuran families

Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura (meaning "tail-less", from Greek an-, without + oura, tail), formerly referred to as Salientia (Latin saltare, to jump). The name frog derives from Old English frogga, (compare Old Norse frauki, German Frosch, older Dutch spelling kikvorsch), cognate with Sanskrit plava (frog), probably deriving from Proto-Indo-European praw = "to jump".

Most frogs are characterized by long hind legs, a short body, webbed digits (fingers or toes), protruding eyes and the absence of a tail. Most frogs have a semi-aquatic lifestyle, but move easily on land by jumping or climbing. They typically lay their eggs in puddles, ponds or lakes, and their larvae, called tadpoles, have gills and develop in water. Adult frogs follow a carnivorous diet, mostly of arthropods, annelids and gastropods. Frogs are most noticeable by their call, which can be widely heard during the night or day, mainly in their mating season.

The distribution of frogs ranges from tropic to subarctic regions, but most species are found in tropical rainforests. Consisting of more than 5,000 species described, they are among the most diverse groups of vertebrates. However, populations of certain frog species are declining significantly.

A distinction is often made between frogs and toads on the basis of their appearance, caused by the convergent adaptation among so-called toads to dry environments; however, this distinction has no taxonomic basis. The only family exclusively given the common name "toad" is Bufonidae, but many species from other families are also called "toads," and the species within the toad genus Atelopus are referred to as "harlequin frogs".

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