Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas have created new structures that exploit the electromechanical properties of specific nanofibers to stretch to up to seven times their length, while remaining tougher than Kevlar. These structures absorb up to 98 joules per gram. Kevlar, often used to make bulletproof vests, can absorb up to 80 joules per gram. The material can reinforce itself at points of high stress and could potentially be used in military airplanes or other defense applications. In a study published by ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, a journal ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- In a paper published in the journal Nanoletters, the researchers describe methods for making nanoribbons and nanoplates from a compound called silicon telluride. The materials are pure, p-type semiconductors (positive charge carriers) that could be used in a variety of electronic and optical devices. Their layered structure can take up lithium and magnesium, meaning it could also be used to make electrodes in those types of batteries. "Silicon-based compounds are the backbone of modern electronics processing," said Kristie Koski, ...

TAMPA, Fla. - The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual, queer/questioning and intersex (LGBTQI) population has been largely understudied by the medical community. Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center found that the LGBTQI community experience health disparities due to reduced access to health care and health insurance, coupled with being at an elevated risk for multiple types of cancer when compared to non-LGBTQI populations. Gwendolyn P. Quinn, Ph.D., scientific director of the Survey Methods Core Facility at Moffitt, identified physicians largely operate ...

Men with a high fitness level in midlife appear to be at lower risk for lung and colorectal cancer, but not prostate cancer, and that higher fitness level also may put them at lower risk of death if they are diagnosed with cancer when they're older, according to a study published online by JAMA Oncology. While the association between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been well-established, the value of CRF as a predictor of primary cancer has gotten less attention, according to background in the study. Susan G. Lakoski, M.D., M.S., ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Buildings destroyed by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake released thousands of tons of climate-warming and ozone-depleting chemicals into the atmosphere, according to a new study. New research suggests that the thousands of buildings destroyed and damaged during the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan four years ago released 6,600 metric tons (7,275 U.S. tons) of gases stored in insulation, appliances and other equipment into the atmosphere. Emissions of these chemicals, called halocarbons, increased by 21 percent to 91 percent over ...

MINNEAPOLIS - A blood test may shed new light on Fragile X syndrome related disorders in women, according to a new study published in the March 25, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Fragile X is the most common inherited form of intellectual disability and the most frequent genetic cause of autism. Fragile X, which is caused by a mutation in a single gene on the X chromosome, affects about 1 in 4,000 men and 1 in 6,000 women. Even more common are Fragile X carriers of a lesser change in the Fragile X gene ...

Bethesda, MD (March 26, 2015) -- Women with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may be at increased risk of cervical dysplasia and cancer, according to a new study1 published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. "Our research shows that patients with IBD, specifically Crohn's disease, are at increased risk for developing cervical cancer, even when undergoing the recommended screening," said study author Professor Tine Jess, MD, from Statens Serum Institut in Denmark. "These findings ...

Philadelphia, PA, March 26, 2015 - Can the consumption of fatty foods change your behavior and your brain? High-fat diets have long been known to increase the risk for medical problems, including heart disease and stroke, but there is growing concern that diets high in fat might also increase the risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. A new study published in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry raises the possibility that a high-fat diet produces changes in health and behavior, in part, by changing the mix of bacteria in the gut, also known as ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A new tissue culture model using human white blood cells shows how people with a latent - or symptom-free - tuberculosis infection are protected from active disease by a critical early step in their immune response, researchers say. The model also shows, however, that some TB bacteria can find a way to get around that protection, which helps explain how latent infections turn into active and transmissible disease. More than 2 billion people worldwide are thought to be infected with TB bacteria, and an estimated 1.3 million people died of TB in 2012. ...

PHILADELPHIA -- Rhodiola rosea (R. rosea), or roseroot, may be a beneficial treatment option for major depressive disorder (MDD), according to results of a study in the journal Phytomedicine led by Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, associate professor of Family Medicine, Community Health and Epidemiology and colleagues at the Perelman School of Medicine of University of Pennsylvania. The proof of concept trial study is the first randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, comparison trial of oral R. rosea extract versus the conventional antidepressant therapy sertraline for mild ...

DENTON (UNT), Texas -- Military veterans who use avoidant coping strategies -- denying or minimizing distressing thoughts, experiences and emotions -- are more likely to exhibit symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety. However, emotional help and support from family members reduces the negative impacts of these conditions, according to a University of North Texas study on veterans' transition to becoming college and university students. Counseling and wellness centers at colleges and universities -- where student veterans may seek help -- should therefore have ...

The health benefits of the Mediterranean diet are well-known. As well as being healthier, a recent article concludes that the menu traditionally eaten in Spain leaves less of a carbon footprint than that of the US or the United Kingdom. The consequences of climate change range from species extinction to sea-level increases and the spread of diseases. For this reason, researchers have been struggling for years to alleviate its effects, even limiting the pollution caused by food consumption. A new study involving the University Hospital Complex of Huelva, Jaume I University ...

For most children with HIV and low immune cell count, cells rebound after treatment Study led by UCLA doctor finds t-cell level returns to normal with time Most children with HIV who have low levels of a key immune cell eventually recover levels of this cell after they begin treatment, according to a new study conducted by researchers at UCLA and other institutions in the U.S. and Brazil. The researchers were funded by the National Institutes of Health. "We were pleased to find that the vast majority of children experience immune system recovery with effective ...

(SALT LAKE CITY) -- In a novel study, University of Utah (U of U) researchers have shown that hypobaric hypoxia (the reduced oxygen experienced at high altitude) can lead to depression. In the March 2015 edition of High Altitude Medicine and Biology online, the U of U researchers and a colleague from Tufts University show that female rats exposed to high-altitude conditions, both simulated and real, exhibit increased depression-like behavior. Male rats, interestingly, showed no signs of depression in the same conditions. "The significance of this animal study is that ...

Despite declines in the number of youths who smoke cigarettes, hookah or water pipe use continues to rise among Canadian youth, a new study from the University of Waterloo reports. Published Monday in Cancer Causes and Control, the study found that almost one in four high school seniors try smoking hookah. The study estimates that more than 78,200 youth are current water pipe users. "While we can celebrate a continued slow decline in cigarette use across the country, water pipes are bucking the trend," said Leia Minaker, a scientist at the Propel Centre for Population ...

Straw-powered cars could be a thing of the future thanks to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA). A new study pinpoints five strains of yeast capable of turning agricultural by-products, such as straw, sawdust and corncobs, into bioethanol - a well-known alcohol-based biofuel. It is estimated that more than 400 billion litres of bioethanol could be produced each year from crop wastage. The research team say that their findings could help to create biofuel which is more environmentally friendly and ethically sound than other sources because it would ...

When a man is diagnosed with localised prostate cancer, he usually faces a range of treatment options, from active surveillance to radiation therapy or surgical removal of the prostate. The patient's personal values and preferences should be key in this choice: Is curing the cancer the only thing that matters or should he also consider a variety of quality of life issues, such as avoiding incontinence or erectile dysfunction? The frequent difficulty in determining the prognosis of localised prostate cancer complicates matters. Many men have low risk prostate cancer ...

Undisturbed ecosystems can be resistant to changing climatic conditions, but this resistance is reduced when ecosystems are subject to natural or anthropogenic disturbances. Plants are particularly sensitive to climatic changes in early life stages and even small climatic changes can cause vegetation shifts when ecosystems are disturbed by fires, insect outbreaks or other disturbances. This is the conclusion from one of the world's longest running climate change experiments conducted by the European network INCREASE, involving scientist from several European countries ...

This news release is available in Spanish. IMikel Bravo-Acha's PhD thesis has focussed on the applications of optical fibre as a sensor. In the course of his research, conducted at the NUP/UPNA-Public University of Navarre, in the laboratory he monitored a sensor fitted to optical fibre 253 kilometres away. "What is interesting is that the measurement was remote, all the information arrived through the fibre and we didn't need to fit any sockets to power the sensor. This would be very useful, for example, to monitor an oil pipeline crossing the desert where fitting ...

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (March 26, 2015) - The field of autism research has tried to find a central theory underlying brain changes associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Now, a new study shows that individuals with the disorder exhibit different patterns of brain connectivity, when compared to typically developing (TD) individuals and that these patterns adjust as the individual ages. "Our findings suggest that developmental stage must be taken into account to accurately build models that show how the brains of individuals with autism differ from neurotypical individuals," ...

CINCINNATI - Shakespeare said "to be or not to be" is the question, and now scientists are asking how life forms grow to be the correct size with proportional body parts. Probing deeply into genetics and biology at the earliest moments of embryonic development, researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center report March 26 in Nature Communications they have found new clues to explain one of nature's biggest mysteries. Their data from fruit flies show the size and patterning accuracy of an embryo depend on the amount of reproductive resources mothers invest ...

A University of Rochester team found a way to make chemotherapy more effective, by stopping a cellular quality-control mechanism, according to a study published today in Nature Communications. The mechanism is known as NMD (nonsense-mediated mRNA decay), and scientists found that exposing breast cancer cells to a molecule that inhibits NMD prior to treatment with doxorubicin, a drug used to treat leukemia, breast, bone, lung and other cancers, hastens cell death. The research team, led by Lynne E. Maquat, Ph.D., director of the Center for RNA Biology at the University ...

LAS VEGAS - Orthopedic surgeons from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have developed two new prediction tools aimed at identifying total hip and knee replacement patients who are at-risk of developing serious complications after surgery. The first tool identifies patients who have risk factors that should disqualify them from undergoing same-day (outpatient) or short-stay (overnight) total hip and knee replacement procedures, opting instead for traditional recovery pathways in the hospital. The second tool identifies which patients should ...

LAS VEGAS - A team of orthopedic surgeons from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that modern technology for healing distal femur fractures is as safe and effective as its more established alternative, without a potential shortfall of the older approach. The team found that when done correctly, there are no significant differences between the two approaches - "locked plating" and "non-locked plating" - in terms of healing rates, need for corrective surgery, or hardware failure. The findings are being presented on Thursday, March ...

The number of total hip replacements (THRs) nearly doubled among middle-aged patients between 2002-2011, primarily due to the expansion of the middle-aged population in the U.S., according to a new study presented today at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). Continued growth in utilization of hip replacement surgery in patients age 45 to 64, an increase in revision surgeries for this population as they age, and a nearly 30 percent decline in the number of surgeons who perform THR, could have significant implications for future ...