PITTSBURGH--There are plenty of ways in the lab to determine which bug is bugging you when you're sick. The University of Pittsburgh's Xinyu Liu, Sanford Asher, and colleagues may have found a faster method. "You can do a swab and culture the bacterium or fungi, but that takes days," Liu says. "You can examine the DNA, but that takes another day or two. It's a pretty tedious process. So, before the identity of the pathogen can be determined, doctors give infected people a broad-spectrum antibiotic that kills everything." It would be better for the patient, then, to ...

Researchers have proven that rudeness -- like poison in the water cooler -- is toxic in the workplace, affecting both job and business performance. But what if your office is a hospital Intensive Care Unit where lives hang in the balance? A new Tel Aviv University study published in Pediatrics suggests that even the most benign forms of impoliteness may impede medical personnel's ability to perform under pressure and damage the quality of patient care. Rudeness alone accounts for a significant drop in hospital staff's diagnostic and professional performance, according ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--The boiling of water is at the heart of many industrial processes, from the operation of electric power plants to chemical processing and desalination. But the details of what happens on a hot surface as water boils have been poorly understood, so unexpected hotspots can sometimes melt expensive equipment and disable plants. Now researchers at MIT have developed an understanding of what causes this extreme heating -- which occurs when a value known as the critical heat flux (CHF) is exceeded -- and how to prevent it. The new insights could make it possible ...

This news release is available in German. The Earth, planets, stars, and galaxies form only the visible portion of the matter in the universe. Greater by far is the share accounted for by invisible "dark matter". Scientists have searched for the particles of dark matter in numerous experiments - so far, in vain. With the CRESST experiment, now the search radius can be considerably expanded: The CRESST detectors are being overhauled and are then able to detect particles whose mass lies below the current measurement range. As a consequence, the chance of tracking ...

Washington, DC (September 8, 2015) - The modern-day complaints department tends to be a direct mention on Twitter to the company that has wronged you. It's easier than ever to have a direct line to a company, but what does a corporation get out of this interaction? A recent study published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication by researchers at VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands, found that people who follow corporate social media accounts that present a human voice are more likely to have a positive view of the company. Corné Dijkmans (NHTV Breda ...

Sticky resin from conifers contains substances that could relieve or cure epilepsy. Researchers at Linköping University have synthesized and tested 71 substances known as resin acids, of which twelve are prime candidates for new medicines. "Our goal is to develop some of the most potent substances into medicines," says Fredrik Elinder, professor of molecular neurobiology and head of the study, which was newly published in Nature's open-access periodical Scientific Reports. Professor Elinder is an expert on the function of ion channels - the pores in the cell membrane ...

Individual transistors made from carbon nanotubes are faster and more energy efficient than those made from other materials. Going from a single transistor to an integrated circuit full of transistors, however, is a giant leap. "A single microprocessor has a billion transistors in it," said Northwestern Engineering's Mark Hersam. "All billion of them work. And not only do they work, but they work reliably for years or even decades." When trying to make the leap from an individual, nanotube-based transistor to wafer-scale integrated circuits, many research teams, including ...

Typhoon Kilo continues to thrive in the Northwestern Pacific and imagery from NASA's Terra satellite late on September 7 showed that the storm still maintained a clear eye. The MODIS or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument that flies aboard Terra provided a visible-light image of Kilo on September 7 at 23:50 UTC (7:50 p.m. EDT). The image showed thick bands of thunderstorms wrapping around the eastern and northern quadrants of the visible eye. At 0900 UTC (5 a.m. EDT) on September 9, Typhoon Kilo had maximum sustained winds near 65 knots (74.8 mph/120.4 ...

This news release is available in French. Montreal, September 8, 2015 -- All countries have contributed to recent climate change, but some much more so than others. Those that have contributed more than their fair share have accumulated a climate debt, owed to countries that have contributed less to historical warming. This is the implication of a new study published in Nature Climate Change, in which Concordia University researcher Damon Matthews shows how national carbon and climate debts could be used to decide who should pay for the global costs of climate ...

Scientists at Texas A&M University have made additional progress in understanding the process behind scar-tissue formation and wound healing -- specifically, a breakthrough in fibroblast-to-fibrocyte signaling involving two key proteins that work together to promote fibrocyte differentiation to lethal excess -- that could lead to new advances in treating and preventing fibrotic disease. A new study led by biologists Richard Gomer and Darrell Pilling and involving Texas A&M graduate students Nehemiah Cox and Rice University technician Varsha Vakil points to a naturally ...

Contrary to popular belief, the worst injuries baseball catchers face on the field come from errant bats and foul balls, not home-plate collisions with base runners, according to findings of a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The research, done in collaboration with Baltimore Orioles trainers Brian Ebel and Richard Bancells, involved analysis of all catcher injuries during major league baseball games over a 10-year period. A summary of the findings, published ahead of print Aug. 28 in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. - The regular physical trauma that appears to put professional football players at risk for degenerative brain disease may also increase their risk for hypertension and cardiovascular disease, researchers say. The frequent hits football players experience, particularly frontline defenders such as linemen, likely continually activate the body's natural defense system, producing chronic inflammation that is known to drive blood pressure up, according to a study in The FASEB Journal. While strenuous physical activity clearly has its benefits, it also produces ...

Researchers at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, have discovered three new drug-like compounds that could ultimately offer better odds of survival to prostate cancer patients. The drug-like compounds can be modified and developed into medicines that target a protein in the human body that is responsible for chemotherapy resistance in cancers, said biochemist Pia D. Vogel, lead author on the scientific paper reporting the discovery. So far there's no approved drug on the market that reverses cancer chemotherapy resistance caused by P-glycoprotein, or P-gp for short, ...

Using "mini-brains" built with induced pluripotent stem cells derived from patients with a rare, but devastating, neurological disorder, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say they have identified a drug candidate that appears to "rescue" dysfunctional cells by suppressing a critical genetic alteration. Their findings are published in the September 8 online issue of Molecular Psychiatry. The neurological disorder is called MECP2 duplication syndrome. First described in 2005, it is caused by duplication of genetic material in a specific ...

ALEXANDRIA, VA--The latest research on hearing loss, head and neck cancers, sleep apnea and other otolaryngic topics will be presented in Dallas, TX, September 27-30, at the 2015 Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO? of the American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF), the largest annual meeting of ear, nose, throat, head and neck physicians in the world. Abstracts of the research to be presented are now available online at http://oto.sagepub.com/content/153/1_suppl.toc. The 2015 Annual Meeting features more than 380 oral and 180 poster presentations ...

ATLANTA - September 8, 2015-New American Cancer Society Cancer Survivorship Care guidelines released today provide primary care clinicians with recommendations for providing comprehensive care to the estimated 1.2 million survivors of colorectal cancer in the United States. The guidelines are the second to be published in a series of cancer survivorship care guidelines developed by the American Cancer Society. They provide guidance on identifying and managing potential physical and psychosocial long-term and late effects of colorectal cancer and its treatment, as well ...

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 8, 2015 - Young people across the United States who smoke electronic cigarettes are considerably more likely to start smoking traditional cigarettes within a year than their peers who do not smoke e-cigarettes, according to an analysis led by the University of Pittsburgh Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health (CRMTH) and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center. The study, funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), was the first to assess this relation in a national U.S. sample of youth, and to include people older than 18 ...

Continued smoking after a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) appears to be associated with accelerated disease progression compared with those patients who quit smoking, according to an article published online by JAMA Neurology. MS is a neurogenerative disease and smoking is one of its known risk factors. While MS begins with an initial course of irregular and worsening relapses, it usually changes after about 20 years into secondary progressive (SP) disease. The time from onset to conversion to SPMS is a frequently used measure of disease progression. Jan Hillert, ...

About one-third of girls and boys who survived child trafficking experienced physical and/or sexual violence during their ordeal in a study of children receiving posttrafficking services in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics. Many of these survivors of child trafficking in the Greater Mekong Subregion of Southeast Asia screened positive for depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and mental health symptoms were associated with self-harm and suicide ideation, according to the article. Millions ...

A new study of U.S. adolescents and young people suggests that using electronic cigarettes was associated with progression to traditional cigarette smoking, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics. Some studies suggest e-cigarettes may help smokers reduce the use of traditional tobacco products. Still, there is concern that e-cigarette marketing could position the product to recruit nonsmokers and the use of e-cigarettes has increased among both adolescents and young adults. Brian A. Primack, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh School of ...

The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) saved $7 million on spending for colonoscopy two years after it implemented a reference payment initiative that offered full insurance coverage at low-priced facilities but required substantial cost sharing if patients picked a high-priced alternative, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine. Some employers are experimenting with payment methods that seek to counter high health care prices while upholding consumer access to valuable services. Employers, insurers and consumers face ...

In 2011-2012, the estimated prevalence of diabetes among U.S. adults was 12 percent to 14 percent and the prevalence of prediabetes was 37 percent to 38 percent, indicating that about half of the U.S. adult population has either diabetes or prediabetes, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA. Though data from recent years suggests that the increasing prevalence of diabetes may be leveling off. Diabetes is a major cause of illness and death in the United States, costing an estimated $245 billion in 2012 due to increased use of health resources and lost productivity. ...

Over the last 20 years, complications have decreased and survival has improved for extremely preterm infants, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA. Advances in medicine over the past 2 decades have changed care for mothers in preterm labor and for extremely preterm infants. Evaluation of current in-hospital complications and mortality data among extremely preterm infants is important in counseling families and considering new interventions to improve outcomes. Barbara J. Stoll, M.D., of the Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, and colleagues ...

Among women in a malaria-endemic region in Kenya, daily iron supplementation during pregnancy did not result in an increased risk of malaria, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA. Iron supplementation did result in increased birth weight, gestational duration, neonatal length, and a decreased risk of low birth weight and prematurity. Anemia in pregnancy is a moderate or severe health problem in more than 80 percent of countries worldwide, but particularly in Africa, where it affects 57 percent of pregnant women. Iron deficiency is the most common cause, ...

The lack of adherence to usability testing standards among several widely used electronic health record (EHR) products that were certified as having met these requirements may be a major factor contributing to the poor usability of EHRs, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA. Many EHRs have poor usability, leading to user frustration and safety risks. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has established certification requirements to promote usability practices by EHR ...