CAMBRIDGE, Mass--Drizzling honey on toast can produce mesmerizing, meandering patterns, as the syrupy fluid ripples and coils in a sticky, golden thread. Dribbling paint on canvas can produce similarly serpentine loops and waves. The patterns created by such viscous fluids can be reproduced experimentally in a setup known as a "fluid mechanical sewing machine," in which an overhead nozzle deposits a thick fluid onto a moving conveyor belt. Researchers have carried out such experiments in an effort to identify the physical factors that influence the patterns that form. ...

April 23, 2015 - Interventional treatments--especially surgery--provide good functional outcomes and a high cure rate for patients with lower-grade arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) of the brain, reports the May issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer. The findings contrast with a recent trial reporting better outcomes without surgery or other interventions for AVMs. "On the basis of these data, in appropriately selected patients, we recommend treatment for low-grade brain AVMs," concludes ...

A new study by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Assistant Professor Amanda Sharkey and University of Utah Assistant Professor Patricia Bromley found that environmental ratings have spillover effects on other companies' behavior. Rated firms reduce their toxic emissions even more when their peers are also rated. In addition, rated peers can even motivate some unrated companies to reduce their emissions. The research is unusual in that the role of peers in conditioning how firms respond to ratings systems has received little examination. The study, "Can ...

SINCE its first use in the 1980s - a breakthrough dramatised in recent ITV series Code of a Killer - DNA profiling has been a vital tool for forensic investigators. Now researchers at the University of Huddersfield have solved one of its few limitations by successfully testing a technique for distinguishing between the DNA - or genetic fingerprint - of identical twins. The probability of a DNA match between two unrelated individuals is about one in a billion. For two full siblings, the probability drops to one-in-10,000. But identical twins present exactly the same ...

This news release is available in German. An individual's behaviour in risky situations is a distinct personality trait both in humans and animals that can have an immediate impact on longevity. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen have now found differences in personality types for the first time in a population of free living field crickets. Risk-prone individuals showed a higher mortality as they stayed more often outside their burrow where they can be easily detected by predators, compared to risk averse individuals. Moreover, ...

Navigating through a cluttered environment at high speed is among the greatest challenges in biology - and it's one virtually all birds achieve with ease. It's a feat David Williams hopes to understand. A former post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Andrew Biewener, the Charles P. Lyman Professor of Biology, and a current post-doc at the University of Washington, Williams is the lead author of a study that shows birds use two highly stereotyped postures to avoid obstacles in flight. The study could open the door to new ways to program drones and other unmanned aerial ...

This news release is available in German. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have unveiled an important step in the conversion of light into storable energy: Together with scientists of the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin and the Aalto University in Helsinki/Finland, they studied the formation of so-called polarons in zinc oxide. The pseudoparticles travel through the photoactive material until they are converted into electrical or chemical energy at an interface. Their findings that are of relevance to photovoltaics among others are now published ...

A Spanish-led team of European researchers at the University of Cambridge has created an electronic device so accurate that it can detect the charge of a single electron in less than one microsecond. It has been dubbed the 'gate sensor' and could be applied in quantum computers of the future to read information stored in the charge or spin of a single electron. In the same Cambridge laboratory in the United Kingdom where the British physicist J.J. Thomson discovered the electron in 1897, European scientists have just developed a new ultra-sensitive electrical-charge sensor ...

How long is the way from the city hall to the train station? When we estimate distances, something curious happens: short distances seem longer, and long distances shorter than they really are. Similar biases occur during judgments of volume, brightness or time. Psychologists call this phenomenon Vierordt's law. Its independence of the involved sensory systems suggests that our brain possesses universal principles for the assessment of physical quantities. However, where do the characteristic estimation biases stem from? In collaboration with colleagues from Zurich, neuroscientists ...

It's a common dilemma faced by many working parents: your child has a cough or a cold, do you send them to nursery? Researchers from the University of Bristol have, for the first time, investigated the process of decision-making that parents go through when faced with this situation. The research, published in The Journal of Public Health, reports that parents viewed coughs and colds as less serious and not as contagious as sickness and diarrhoea symptoms. This resulted in many parents sending their child to daycare with a respiratory tract infection (RTI), which can ...

In response to an article published by Chinese scientists describing research that used gene editing technologies in human embryos, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has again called for a moratorium on attempts at human clinical germline genome editing while extensive scientific analysis of the potential risks is conducted, along with broad public discussion of the societal and ethical implications. The research article, entitled "CRISPR/Cas9-mediated Gene Editing in Human Tripronuclear Zygotes," was published online on April 18 in the scientific ...

Imagine a day when scientists are able to alter the DNA of organisms in the lab in the search for answers to a host of questions. Or imagine a day when doctors treat genetic disorders by administering drugs designed to alter a patient's genome. It may sound like science fiction, but with the development of genome-editing proteins like Cas9 and CRISPR, it could one day become science fact. Before that happens, however, scientists must overcome a number of challenges, including how to improve the specificity of these proteins- the rate at which genome-editing proteins ...

A more intellectually demanding job may be the key to living longer after developing young-onset dementia, according to health researchers. Degeneration of the frontal and temporal parts of the brain leads to a common form of dementia affecting people under the age of 65. It results in changes in personality and behavior and problems with language, but does not affect memory. "[Our] study suggests that having a higher occupational level protects the brain from some of the effects of this disease, allowing people to live longer after developing the disease," said Lauren ...

An international team of scientists is calling for urgent and temperature patterns in mountain regions after compiling evidence that high elevations could be warming faster than previously thought. Without substantially better information, people risk underestimating the severity of a number of already looming environmental challenges, including water shortages and the possible extinction of some alpine flora and fauna, according to the research team, which includes Henry Diaz and Imtiaz Rangwala from CIRES, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences ...

Shetland ponies' immune response to insect bites is helping scientists understand how people could be prevented from developing allergies. The horse immune system can respond to midge bites in a way that prevents - rather than triggers - allergic reactions, researchers say. The ponies' immune response to midge bites is similar to what happens in people with allergies, the team says. Understanding what triggers allergic reactions could help researchers come up with ways to stop people developing sensitivities. It was previously thought that ponies which do not suffer ...

April 23, 2015, Vienna, Austria: A drug approved to treat type 2 diabetes could prove to be a powerful new treatment option for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), according to research presented today at The International Liver CongressTM 2015. Results from a randomised controlled trial showed liraglutide met the primary endpoint of histological clearance of NASH, and a reduction in the progression of fibrosis. The research was supported by the Wellcome Trust and the NIHR. In the Liraglutide Efficacy and Action in NASH (LEAN) trial, overweight patients with biopsy-confirmed ...

April 23, 2015, Vienna, Austria: Phase III results revealed today at The International Liver Congress™ 2015 show that once-daily treatment with daclatasvir (DCV) plus sofosbuvir (SOF) resulted in an overall 97% sustained virologic response (SVR) at 12 weeks post-treatment in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV co-infection, including cirrhotic patients. HIV co-infection more than triples the risk of hepatitis C-related liver disease, liver failure and liver-related death. Co-infection can also complicate the management of HIV infection. In the ALLY-2 ...

April 23, 2015, Vienna, Austria: A new study presented today at The International Liver Congress™ 2015 shows that by using genomic analyses to understand how and when carcinogenic mutations occur in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), it is possible to identify specific molecular profiles. It is hoped that these molecular profiles will help identify which patients would benefit from specific anticancer treatments. Using exome sequencing - a technique for sequencing all the protein-coding genes in a genome - the study identified relationships between environmental ...

April 23, 2015, Vienna, Austria: Results presented today at The International Liver Congress™ 2015 show that the use of the fixed-dose combination of ledipasvir/sofosbuvir (LDV/SOF) in combination with ribavirin (RBV) was well tolerated and demonstrated high sustained virologic response rates 12 weeks post treatment (SVR12) in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who have decompensated liver disease (cirrhosis) or have undergone liver transplantation. SOLAR 2 data are presented for 328 HCV genotype-1 or -4 treatment-naive or treatment-experienced ...

April 23, 2015, Vienna, Austria: Results revealed today at The International Liver Congress™ 2015 show that vitamin E (d-alpha-tocopherol) is an effective treatment for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). NASH occurs when the liver becomes inflamed due to the accumulation of fat. Over time, persistent inflammation can lead to the formation of fibrous scar tissue in the liver and around its blood vessels, which can eventually cause cirrhosis. A pooled analysis of data from two randomised trials comparing vitamin E versus placebo, and the placebo group from another ...

April 23, 2015, Vienna, Austria: As many as half of people infected with viral hepatitis have suffered discrimination and one-quarter admit that family members have avoided physical contact with them after finding out they had the infection. A shocking patient survey presented at The International Liver CongressTM 2015 has shown the devastating impact the infection has on their daily lives. Research conducted with the Ministry of Health in Brazil questioned 1,217 people infected with hepatitis B or C in Europe and America using an online survey tool. The aim of the research ...

April 23, 2015, Vienna, Austria: Data presented today at The International Liver Congress™ 2015 demonstrates that remogliflozin etabonate, an investigational drug in type 2 diabetes, is a potential treatment option for the management of patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). In clinical studies, remogliflozin etabonate was shown to significantly improve insulin sensitivity and beta cell function, as well as reduce body weight and levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT). In pre-clinical studies, remogliflozin ...

April 23, 2015, Vienna, Austria: New data from an ongoing Phase III trial revealed today at The International Liver CongressTM 2015 show that the use of hepatitis C immune globulin (HCIG, Civacir®) can effectively prevent hepatitis C virus (HCV) recurrence in patients following a liver transplant (LT). The data demonstrate that intravenous Civacir given both peri- and post-LT prevents HCV-reinfection in patients who also received antiviral therapy (AVT) before their transplant operation. Civacir is a hepatitis C immune globulin (HCIG) produced from pooled plasma ...

April 23, 2015, Vienna, Austria: Results from a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of silymarin, which is derived from the milk thistle plant, have shown that this herbal remedy may be a useful treatment option for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). An interim analysis of the study, revealed today at The International Liver Congress™ 2015, shows a significantly higher percentage of patients experienced NASH resolution and improvement in fibrosis after 48 weeks of treatment with silymarin compared to placebo. NASH occurs when the liver becomes inflamed ...

April 23, 2015, Vienna, Austria: Many countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region are facing limitations in conducting chronic viral hepatitis disease surveillance, assessing the burden of disease and measuring the impact of interventions, according to results revealed today at The International Liver Congress™ 2015. The study highlights that less than one-third (27%) of WHO European Member States have national strategies in place that contain a surveillance component. Furthermore, only 64% have a national surveillance system for chronic hepatitis ...