Cod liver oil and willow bark extract used in the tanning of skins for clothing and other products offer notable differences in treatment, a study by a team of scientists shows. Their findings show the promise of a technique that may be used to identify the aging behavior of materials and to examine delicate works of art. The research, which appears in the journal Analytical Chemistry, relies on a method employing nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, or NMR spectroscopy, which reveals the physical and chemical properties of atoms in a given substance, as well as the ...

A research team led by Northwestern University nanomedicine expert Chad A. Mirkin and Sergei Gryaznov of AuraSense Therapeutics is the first to show spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) can be used as potent drugs to effectively train the immune system to fight disease, by either boosting or dampening the immune response. The initial treatment triggers a cell-specific immune response all over the body. By increasing the body's immune response toward a specific cell type, SNAs could be used to target anything from influenza to different forms of cancer. They also can be used ...

New heart imaging technology to diagnose coronary heart disease and other heart disorders is significantly more accurate, less expensive and safer than traditional methods, according to a new study by researchers from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City. Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute compared Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), currently the most commonly used imaging diagnostic tool, with a new imaging technology -- coronary-specific Positron Emission Tomography (cardiac PET/CT). They ...

A recently published global genome study that used the data-intensive Gordon supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer at the University of California, San Diego, has researchers rethinking how avian lineages diverged after the extinction of the dinosaurs. The four-year project, called the Avian Genome Consortium and published in the journal Science, resulted in a new family "tree" for nearly all of the 10,000 species of birds alive today by comparing the entire DNA codes (genomes) of 48 species as varied as parrot, penguin, downy woodpecker, and Anna's hummingbird. ...

SAN DIEGO (March 16, 2015) -- Patients who experience the deadliest form of heart attack--ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)--and suffer from substantial narrowing in multiple heart arteries may benefit from receiving angioplasty in constricted arteries not affected by the heart attack, thereby reducing the need for future angioplasty, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. The study is the largest prospective, controlled trial to evaluate whether patients should receive preventive angioplasty, ...

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Specific system-level factors controlled by health care systems - including prescriptions with a medication supply greater than 90 days, mail-order pharmacy use, and lower copayments and out-of-pocket maximums - nearly doubled the likelihood that patients adhered to prescribed heart and diabetes medications, according to a new study published in the journal Medical Care. "This study is the first to look at all four of these system-level factors at once in the senior population," said Julie A. Schmittdiel, PhD, research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente ...

If you're a fan of food television, it's fine to be entertained by the programming, but if you take recipes for the rich meals the networks favor into your own kitchen, you're at risk of putting on pounds, according to a study just published online by the journal Appetite. "The message is clear," said Lizzy Pope of the University of Vermont, the study's lead author. "Food TV should be a viewing experience only, not a cooking experience." The study asked 501 women, aged 20 to 35, where they obtained information about new foods, how frequently they cooked from scratch, ...

Healthy bone is continuously involved in a dynamic process that includes bone deposition and bone resorption. However, when a person has cancer that spreads to the bone and bone marrow, the tissue becomes increasingly fragile, and this process is disrupted, usually leading to increased bone resorption. In an early online edition in advance of publication in the International Journal of Cancer, investigators at Children's Hospital Los Angeles reported a surprising discovery - when neuroblastoma (NB) cells metastasize to the bone, there initially occurs an increase in bone ...

Berkeley -- Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, are developing a new type of bandage that does far more than stanch the bleeding from a paper cut or scraped knee. Thanks to advances in flexible electronics, the researchers, in collaboration with colleagues at UC San Francisco, have created a new "smart bandage" that uses electrical currents to detect early tissue damage from pressure ulcers, or bedsores, before they can be seen by human eyes - and while recovery is still possible. "We set out to create a type of bandage that could detect bedsores as ...

UNSW Australia scientists have developed a highly efficient oxygen-producing electrode for splitting water that has the potential to be scaled up for industrial production of the clean energy fuel, hydrogen. The new technology is based on an inexpensive, specially coated foam material that lets the bubbles of oxygen escape quickly. "Our electrode is the most efficient oxygen-producing electrode in alkaline electrolytes reported to date, to the best of our knowledge," says Associate Professor Chuan Zhao, of the UNSW School of Chemistry. "It is inexpensive, sturdy and simple ...

Tuesday, March 17, 2015. Just like milk and many other foods, blood used for transfusions is perishable. But contrary to popular belief, new research shows that blood stored for three weeks is just as good as fresh blood - findings published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The large clinical trial provides reassuring evidence about the safety of blood routinely transfused to critically ill patients. Supported by the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group and countless nurses, blood bank technologists, transfusion medicine and critical care physicians, Drs. ...

Ann Arbor, MI, March 17, 2015 -- Suicide is responsible for more than 36,000 deaths in the United States and nearly 1 million deaths worldwide annually. In 2009, suicides surpassed motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death by injury in the U.S. A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine analyzes the upward trend of suicides that take place in the workplace and identifies specific occupations in which individuals are at higher risk. The highest workplace suicide rate is in protective services occupations (5.3 per 1 million), more than ...

(Chicago) - Just as humans will travel to their favorite restaurant, chimpanzees will travel a farther distance for preferred food sources in non-wild habitats, according to a new study from scientists at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo that publishes on March 17 in the journal PeerJ. Chimpanzees at Lincoln Park Zoo prefer grapes over carrots. Previous research at the zoo provided that insight into food preferences. Now, a 15-month study, led by Lydia Hopper, PhD of the Lester Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes at Lincoln Park Zoo, suggests that the apes ...

Toronto, ON (March 17, 2015) - A comprehensive study examining clinical trials of more than 95,000 patients has found that glucose or sugar-lowering medications prescribed to patients with diabetes may pose an increased risk for the development of heart failure in these patients. "Patients randomized to new or more intensive blood sugar-lowering drugs or strategies to manage diabetes showed an overall 14 per cent increased risk for heart failure," says Dr. Jacob Udell, the study's principal investigator, and cardiologist at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, University Health ...

A new study, "Global Dispersion and Local Diversification of the Methane Seep Microbiome," provides evidence methane seeps are habitats that harbor distinct microbial communities unique from other seafloor ecosystems. The article appeared in the March 16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Methane seeps are natural gas leaks in the sea floor that emit methane into the water. Microorganisms that live on or near these seeps can use the methane as a food source, preventing the gas from collecting in the surrounding hydrosphere or migrating ...

If you want someone to open up to you, just make them laugh. Sharing a few good giggles and chuckles makes people more willing to tell others something personal about themselves, without even necessarily being aware that they are doing so. These are among the findings of a study led by Alan Gray of University College London in the UK, published in Springer's journal Human Nature. The act of verbally opening up to someone is a crucial building block that helps to form new relationships and intensify social bonds. Such self-disclosure can be of a highly sensitive nature ...

Charles R. Wira, PhD, and colleagues at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine have presented a comprehensive review of the role of sex hormones in the geography of the female reproductive tract and evidence supporting a "window of vulnerability" to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Published in Nature Reviews in Immunology, Wira's team presents a body of work that National Institutes of Health evaluators called, "a sea change" for research in the female reproductive tract (FRT). "The FRT is tremendously complex and the normal changes that occur to ...

The studies below will be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session on Monday, March 16. 1. New Insights on Endurance Sports and Atrial Fibrillation Previous studies have suggested endurance athletes may face a slightly higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation, a condition in which the heartbeat becomes irregular or rapid. A new study shows that among runners, the total number of years a person has been running is the factor most closely associated with atrial fibrillation risk, as compared to other measures of running behavior ...

To pack two meters of DNA into a microscopic cell, the string of genetic information must be wound extremely carefully into chromosomes. Surprisingly the DNA's sequence causes it to be coiled and uncoiled much like a yoyo, scientists reported in Cell. "We discovered this interesting physics of DNA that its sequence determines the flexibility and thus the stability of the DNA package inside the cell," said Gutgsell Professor of Physics Taekjip Ha, who is a member of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois. "This is actually very elementary ...

Mayo Clinic research finds direct evidence of gadolinium deposition in neuronal tissues following intravenous administration of gadolinium-based contrast agents used in MRI exams. The findings were recently published online in the journal Radiology. In this study, Mayo Clinic identified patients who donated their body to medical research and had undergone multiple gadolinium contrast-enhanced MRI exams during their lifetime. Brain tissue samples from these patients were then compared to donors who had never received a gadolinium contrast agent. The patients exposed to ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- The warm soft folds of the intestines are teeming with thousands of species of bacteria. Collectively known as the gut microbiome, these microbes help break down food, synthesize vitamins, regulate weight and resist infection. If they're so key to health, what factors shape an individual's gut microbial makeup? Previous studies have pointed to the food we eat, the drugs we take, genetics, even our house dust. Now, a new study in baboons suggests that relationships may play a role, too. The researchers studied social interactions, eating habits and ...

The global human population is growing faster than the water supply. Investigators recently analyzed various models and trends to assess both optimistic and pessimistic projections of future water use and shortages. "Historically, water supply has grown through alternating periods of rapid growth and stagnation, and we now seem to be entering a new period of stagnation while the population continues to grow," said Dr. Anthony Parolari, lead author of the WIREs Water article. "To avoid water scarcity from this point forward, the alternatives include further water supply ...

Human babies appear to need more of a nutritional boost from breast-milk proteins than do infants of one of their closest primate relatives, suggests a study comparing human milk with the milk of rhesus macaque monkeys. The research team, led by the University of California, Davis, came to this conclusion after developing a new technique for comparing the proteome -- all detectable proteins -- of human milk with the proteome of the rhesus macaque monkey. The researchers expect the findings will provide a better understanding of human breast-milk composition and identify ...

A new study highlights the complicated spillover effects of incarceration on the quality of relationships. Although paternal incarceration in the past 2 years was mostly inconsequential for fathers' reports of relationship quality, mothers connected to these recently incarcerated men reported lower overall relationship quality, lower supportiveness, and greater physical abuse. Surprisingly, current paternal incarceration was positively associated with some indicators of relationship quality. "The fact that current and recent paternal incarceration have countervailing ...

MAYWOOD, Ill. (March 16, 20125) - Minimally invasive surgery can prevent a fatal rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. And now a new study has found the procedure can extend lives even in patients who are at high risk for surgery due to such risk factors such as advanced age, diabetes, smoking and kidney disease. However, not all high-risk patients - especially those undergoing cancer treatment -- benefit, the study found. The decision on whether to perform the procedure "should be individualized, depending on the number and severity of risk factors," reported corresponding ...