DARIEN, IL - A new study suggests that one night of partial sleep deprivation promotes biological aging in older adults. Results show that one night of partial sleep deprivation activates gene expression patterns in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) consistent with increasing accumulation of damage that initiates cell cycle arrest and increases susceptibility to senescence. These findings causally link sleep deprivation to the etiology of biological aging, and further supports the hypothesis that sleep deprivation may be associated with elevated disease risk ...

As it turns out, people who speak their minds loudly and often could be responsible for economic prosperity. That's according to a new study by Michigan State University economist Siddharth Chandra, director of MSU's Asian Studies Center, and Nita Rudra, associate professor in the Department of Government at Georgetown University. "Our study demonstrates that freedom to express our opinions is not just something we should enjoy," said Chandra, who's also a professor in MSU's James Madison College. "It could have very important consequences - sometimes preventing the ...

DARIEN, IL - A new study suggests that pre-diagnostic short sleep duration and frequent snoring were associated with significantly poorer cancer-specific survival, particularly among women with breast cancer. Results show that stratified by cancer site, short sleep duration and frequent snoring were associated with significantly poorer breast cancer-specific survival. "Our results suggest that sleep duration is important for breast cancer survival, particularly in women who snore," said lead author Amanda Phipps, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University ...

From AGU's blogs: New Tool Could Track Space Weather 24 Hours Before Reaching Earth A new model, described in a June 9 paper in the journal Space Weather, might finally give scientists a tool to predict a coronal mass ejection's magnetic configuration from afar, which means forecasters could give utility grid and satellite operators a full 24-hour advance warning to protect their systems. From AGU's journals: Satellite Measurements May Help Real-Time Water Management With the demand for water stored in reservoirs rising in many areas, it is becoming increasingly ...

This news release is available in French. Montreal, June 10, 2015 -- When you're one and a half years old, having your favourite ball taken away is likely to result in a temper tantrum. But while babies wear their feelings on the sleeves of their onesies, adults often mask their emotions, responding to life's disappointments with stoic reserve. While you might think that witnessing such reactions would confuse toddlers and lead them to believe emotionally reserved adults aren't being honest -- so by extension are untrustworthy to begin with -- new research shows ...

As little as two minutes of high-intensity exercise four times a day improves health outcomes in adolescents, but the same amount of moderate-intensity exercise does not reap the same rewards, according to a new study from the University of Exeter. Researchers found that when exercise is broken up into short bursts over the course of a day - replicating the way young children go about being active - only high-intensity exercise is effective in improving blood sugar levels, fat metabolism and blood pressure in adolescents after the consumption of a fatty meal. The ...

New research suggests pedophiles are more likely to have superficial facial flaws, known as Minor Physical Anomalies (MPAs). They are also more likely to be left-handed, says Fiona Dyshniku of the University of Windsor in Canada. She led an investigation into the prevalence and distribution of physical anomalies among men who are sent for sexological assessment. The study in Springer's journal Archives of Sexual Behavior adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests pedophilia develops prenatally, around the same time that such physical flaws develop. "Evidence is ...

New research using high-speed gambling experiments shows that, for most of us, the last experience we've had can be the defining one when it comes to taking a decision, coming at the expense of other experiences we've accumulated further back in time. The study, published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, supports the idea that the 'banker's fallacy' - focusing on immediate growth at the expense of longer-term stability that would produce better results - is intuitive in the way many of us make quick decisions. People's natural inclination towards ...

Advances in stem cell transplantation and gene therapy have been pioneered in vision research. An international team of researchers from Bristol, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Dallas and Montreal have identified a gene that could be responsible for some cases of human night blindness. Leber's congenital amaurosis (LCA) is a group of hereditary retinal diseases that result in severe loss of vision in early childhood and is estimated to affect around 1 in 80,000 of the population. Recent clinical trials of gene therapy for LCA have shown early promising results in treated patients ...

This news release is available in French. In an article published in the journal Environment International, researchers from Inserm (Inserm Unit 1085 - IRSET, the Institute of Research in Environmental and Occupational Health, Rennes), in association with the Laboratory for Developmental and Educational Psychology, LPDE (Rennes 2 University), provide new evidence of neurotoxicity in humans from pyrethroid insecticides, which are found in a wide variety of products and uses. An increase in the urinary levels of two pyrethroid metabolites (3-PBA and cis-DBCA) in children ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - It started out as a treatment for arthritis. But steered by science, it could become a first new approach in two decades for treating the damage that diabetes inflicts on the kidneys of millions of people. This past weekend, University of Michigan Medical School researchers and their colleagues presented promising results from a clinical trial of the experimental drug baricitinib in people with diabetic kidney disease. In a randomized, controlled Phase II study, it reduced a key sign of kidney damage, with higher doses producing the largest effect, ...

Many cancer patients survive treatment only to have a recurrence within a few years. Recurrences and tumor spreading are likely due to cancer stem cells that can be tough to kill with conventional cancer drugs. But now researchers have designed nanoparticles that specifically target these hardy cells to deliver a drug. The nanoparticle treatment, reported in the journal ACS Nano, worked far better than the drug alone in mice. Anti-cancer drugs can often shrink tumors but don't kill cancer stem cells (CSCs). Although CSCs might only make up a small part of a tumor, their ...

As many of the world's nations prepare and implement plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions, researchers say another critical factor needs to be considered. A new study has found for the first time that efforts to keep global temperatures in check will likely lead to more people going hungry. That risk, they say in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, doesn't negate the need for mitigation but highlights the importance of comprehensive policies. Previous studies have shown that climate change reduces how much food farms can produce, which could lead to ...

When Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Philippines in 2013, thousands of people were killed, in part because they didn't know it was coming or didn't know how to protect themselves. Could an increased use of social media, particularly on the part of the nation's government, have made a difference? While that question remains open, it is clear that social media should play a larger role in emergency preparedness, says Bruno Takahashi, a Michigan State University assistant professor of journalism who studies the issue. Using the Philippines' typhoon as a case study, Takahashi ...

Although the Universe may seem spacious most galaxies are clumped together in groups or clusters and a neighbour is never far away. But this galaxy, known as NGC 6503, has found itself in a lonely position, shown here at the edge of a strangely empty patch of space called the Local Void. This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a very rich set of colours, adding to the detail seen in previous images. NGC 6503 is only some 18 million light-years away from us in the constellation of Draco (The Dragon), making it one of the closest neighbours from our Local Group. ...

The stuffy noses and sinus pressure of head colds are uncomfortable, but for most people, they go away within days. For those with chronic sinusitis, however, those symptoms and others drag on for weeks. Now scientists are onto a potential new therapy that could address one of the underlying factors associated with the condition. They describe their work in the ACS journal Molecular Pharmaceutics. In the body, nitric oxide (NO) plays a critical role in immunity. Researchers have found that this simple molecule is an important antimicrobial agent that helps prevent sinus ...

To some scientists studying climate change, boreal peatlands are considered a potential ticking time bomb. With huge stores of carbon in peat, the fear is that rising global temperatures could cause the release of massive amounts of CO2 from the peatlands into the atmosphere--essentially creating a greenhouse gas feedback loop. A new study by researchers at the University of South Carolina and University of California Los Angeles challenges that notion, and demonstrates that the effect of temperature increases on peat storage could be minor. Funded by the National ...

This news release is available in German. Human teeth have to serve for a lifetime, despite being subjected to huge forces. But the high failure resistance of dentin in teeth is not fully understood. An interdisciplinary team led by scientists of Charite Universitaetsmedizin Berlin has now analyzed the complex structure of dentin. At the synchrotron sources BESSY II at HZB, Berlin, Germany, and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility ESRF, Grenoble, France, they could reveal that the mineral particles are precompressed. The internal stress works against crack ...

Chicago, June 10, 2015 - Patients diagnosed with an advanced form of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may benefit from surgical resection (removal of all or part of the lung) in combination with chemotherapy and radiation therapy, according to an article in the June 2015 issue of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. Key points Patients diagnosed with stage IIIB NSCLC may benefit from multimodality treatment that combines surgical resection in combination with chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Surgery should be added to the treatment regimen only for carefully ...

Dangerous heart rhythms called arrhythmias, often caused by undiagnosed heart conditions, can cause sudden cardiac arrests that take the lives of seemingly healthy young men and women including sports people. A healthy, functioning heart has a regular electrical impulse that causes the heart to beat and pump blood around the body. If this impulse is interrupted or becomes irregular, it causes an abnormal heartbeat, called an arrhythmia. Arrhythmias can be a long-term condition, treated with medication or surgery or they can occur unexpectedly, suddenly stopping the heart ...

Europe's most homophobic countries may be paving the way for a rise in HIV cases among gay and bisexual men, according to new research published in the journal AIDS. An international team of researchers from Europe and the US looked at HIV-related service use, need and behaviours among 175,000 gay or bisexual men living in 38 European countries with differing levels of national homophobia. They found that men in homophobic countries had fewer sexual partners and were less likely to be diagnosed with HIV. However, they also found those men knew less about HIV, were less ...

This news release is available in German. Insects are the most diverse animal group on earth. Many of them feed on plants, and they are constantly challenged by the diverse direct and indirect defenses of their food plants as well as an imbalanced nutrient composition. In response, the insects are continuously evolving different behavioral, morphological and biochemical adaptations to overcome the plant defenses. Additionally, some species rely on symbiotic microbes to deal with the plants' nutritional challenges. Scientists of the Max Planck Research Group ...

Rome, Italy, 10 June 2015: The results of the tREACH trial presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2015) Press Conference showed that initial therapy with combination DMARDs significantly improves measures of disease activity and functional ability in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). These findings suggest that an initial treatment regimen of methotrexate, sulfasalazine and hydroxychloroquine could provide significant patient benefits over monotherapy (methotrexate alone). "Many trials have shown that early and intensive ...

Rome, Italy, 10 June 2015: The results of a study presented today at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2015) Press Conference showed that ultrasound diagnosis of tenosynovitis (inflammation of the tendon sheath) was superior to clinical symptoms and signs in the prediction of early Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). This is the first study to show that ultrasound-defined tenosynovitis is a strong predictor of early RA. By identifying the need for treatment before the onset of symptoms and signs, this procedure has the potential to improve clinical outcomes. ...

Washington D.C., June 10, 2015 - A recent study published in the July 2015 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry demonstrates that early intervention, beginning between 18 and 30 months of age improves outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at age 6. Early intensive behavioral intervention is recognized an as efficacious approach for improving outcomes for young children with ASD. However, most studies of comprehensive, intensive intervention only report immediate outcomes at the end of intervention and the ...