Many of those who are genetically predisposed to develop atrial fibrillation, which dramatically raises the risk of stroke, can be identified with a blood test. This is shown by new research from Lund University in Sweden. The number of people affected by atrial fibrillation is rising rapidly, partly as a result of the ageing population. Over recent years, a research group at Lund University in Sweden, working with other universities and hospitals in Europe and the USA, has identified twelve genetic variants in the human genome that increase the risk of atrial fibrillation. ...

Johnny Depp has an unforgettable face. Tony Angelotti, his stunt double in "Pirates of the Caribbean," does not. So why is it that when they're swashbuckling on screen, audiences worldwide see them both as the same person? Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, have cracked that mystery. Researchers have pinpointed the brain mechanism by which we latch on to a particular face even when it changes. While it may seem as though our brain is tricking us into morphing, say, an actor with his stunt double, this "perceptual pull" is actually a survival mechanism, ...

yphoon Phanfone's eye appeared the size of a pinhole on visible imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite on Oct.3. The MODIS instrument or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of Phanfone moving through the Northwestern Pacific Ocean on Oct. 3 at 4:20 UTC (12:20 a.m. EDT). The tiny open eye of the storm was surrounded by a thick band of thunderstorms. The MODIS image also showed a very thick and large band of thunderstorms south of the center and spiraling into the eye. On Thursday, Oct. 2, Typhoon ...

VIDEO: Mexico's western coast is again dealing with rain, wind and rough surf from another tropical storm. NOAA's GOES-West satellite saw the formation of Tropical Storm Simon on Oct. 2. A... Click here for more information. Mexico's western coast is again dealing with rain, wind and rough surf from another tropical storm. NOAA's GOES-West satellite saw the formation of Tropical Storm Simon on Oct. 2. A NASA animation of NOAA's GOES-West satellite imagery shows the development ...

About one-fifth of the Earth's atmosphere is oxygen, pumped out by green plants as a result of photosynthesis and used by most living things on the planet to keep our metabolisms running. But before the first photosynthesizing organisms appeared about 2.4 billion years ago, the atmosphere likely contained mostly carbon dioxide, as is the case today on Mars and Venus. Over the past 40 years, researchers have thought that there must have been a small amount of oxygen in the early atmosphere. Where did this abiotic ("non-life") oxygen come from? Oxygen reacts quite aggressively ...

Curiosity helps us learn about a topic, and being in a curious state also helps the brain memorize unrelated information, according to researchers at the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience. Work published Oct. 2 in the journal Neuron provides insight into how piquing our curiosity changes our brains, and could help scientists find ways to enhance overall learning and memory in both healthy individuals and those with neurological conditions. "Our findings potentially have far-reaching implications for the public because they reveal insights into how a form of intrinsic motivation ...

White Americans may view diversity and multiculturalism more negatively as the U.S. moves toward becoming a minority-majority nation, UCLA psychologists report. As part of their study, the researchers divided 98 white Americans from all regions of the country — half male, half female, with an average age of 37 — randomly into two groups. One group was told that whites will no longer be the majority in the U.S. by 2050; in fact, this is likely to be true as soon as 2043, according to some projections. The second group was told that whites would retain their majority status ...

BELLINGHAM, Washington, USA -- New applications of structures and materials that replicate complex yet efficient arrangements that have evolved in nature over millennia are featured in a special section on biomimetic and bioinspired materials for applications in biophotonics in the October issue of the Journal of Biomedical Optics. The journal is published by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, in the SPIE Digital Library. Several of the peer-reviewed articles are accessible via open access. "Biomimetic and bioinspired materials present an emerging ...

VIDEO: The video compares the two sliding states of the C60 flake attached to the tip of the microscope: a) commensurate state at low temperature where the C60 do not rotate... Click here for more information. About 3500 years ago, man invented the wheel to make life easier. Then, thanks to Leonardo Da Vinci's genius, the wheel was made smaller to obtain ball bearings. And today? "Today we are trying to get even smaller: scientists are thinking about nano-bearings", comments ...

PULLMAN, Wash.—A Washington State University undergraduate has helped develop a new method for detecting water on Mars. Her findings appear in Nature Communications, one of the most influential general science journals. Kellie Wall, 21, of Port Orchard, Wash., looked for evidence that water influenced crystal formation in basalt, the dark volcanic rock that covers most of eastern Washington and Oregon. She then compared this with volcanic rock observations made by the rover Curiosity on Mars' Gale Crater. "This is really cool because it could potentially be useful for ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Is it a solar cell? Or a rechargeable battery? Actually, the patent-pending device invented at The Ohio State University is both: the world's first solar battery. In the October 3, 2014 issue of the journal Nature Communications, the researchers report that they've succeeded in combining a battery and a solar cell into one hybrid device. Key to the innovation is a mesh solar panel, which allows air to enter the battery, and a special process for transferring electrons between the solar panel and the battery electrode. Inside the device, light and oxygen ...

Too many stroke patients in Canada are not getting the rehabilitation they need to return to a healthy, active life, according to a new study which will be presented at the Canadian Stroke Congress in Vancouver tomorrow. The research findings strongly suggest that such decisions are being made based on what services are available in the health system rather than what patients really need. It found that overall just 16 per cent of patients with stroke were discharged to inpatient rehabilitation but that the rates varied widely by province (1% to 26%) and hospital (0% to ...

They base their findings on 1221 Danish men between the ages of 18 and 28, all of whom underwent a medical examination to assess their fitness for military service, which is compulsory in Denmark, between 2008 and 2012. As part of their assessment, the military recruits were asked how much alcohol they drank in the week before their medical exam (recent drinking); whether this was typical (habitual); and how often they binge drank, defined as more than 5 units in one sitting, and had been drunk in the preceding month. They were also invited to provide a semen sample ...

There is some evidence to suggest that alcohol impairs the workings of the immune system, both in terms of the initial protective inflammatory response to infection and the development of subsequent immunity. And habitual drinking is known to increase susceptibility to bacterial pneumonia, septicaemia, tuberculosis and viral hepatitis. The researchers therefore wanted to find out if there was any association between drinking patterns and susceptibility to HPV infection. They included 1313 men who were already taking part in the US arm of the HPV in Men (HIM) study, ...

Previous research has suggested that gout might be associated with diabetes, but the findings were restricted to one study of men at high risk of heart disease and stroke. The researchers wanted to know if the link existed in the general population, and also applied to women. They searched the Health Improvement Network (THIN), an electronic database of the anonymised health records of almost 7.5 million patients registered with 477 general practices across the UK. They included adults who were at least 20 years old, and whose details had been entered into the database ...

Ovarian tissue and egg freezing to preserve fertility should no longer be reserved for cancer patients, and healthy women should also be offered these options to safeguard their future chances of conceiving a child, say world renowned fertility experts writing in a new Series on fertility preservation, published in The Lancet [Paper 3]. Over the past 10 years, researchers have restored the fertility of female cancer patients who would otherwise have been left infertile after treatment, having been offered oocyte cryopreservation. The technique enables women to freeze ...

Researchers today report the case of a baby, born HIV-positive, who appeared to have been cured of HIV after being given early antiretroviral treatment (ART) to combat the virus, but ultimately exhibited detectable HIV infection. The case report, published in The Lancet, is the second report of apparent viral remission followed by rebound in a baby given early ART treatment, after the case of the 'Mississippi baby' received widespread attention in 2013―14. A team of researchers, including Professor Mario Clerici at the University of Milan and the Don Gnocchi Foundation ...

Washington, DC (October 2, 2014) — Two blood markers are strongly linked with the development of heart failure in individuals with mild to severe kidney disease, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). Elevations in these markers may indicate subclinical cardiovascular changes that subsequently contribute to the development of heart failure. Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at increased risk of developing heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases. Nisha Bansal, MD, MAS (University ...

Washington, DC (October 2, 2014) — Aerobic physical activity is strongly linked with better health-related quality of life, fewer depressive symptoms, and prolonged life in kidney failure patients on dialysis. The findings, which come from a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), suggest that dialysis facilities have an opportunity to improve patients' health by providing exercise programs. Physical activity can provide a number of benefits for diverse populations, but its effects in patients on hemodialysis ...

A "mini-stroke" may increase your risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Stroke. Transient ischemic attack (TIA), like stroke, is caused by restricted blood supply to the brain. A TIA is temporary and often lasts less than five minutes, without causing permanent brain damage. "We found one in three TIA patients develop PTSD," said Kathrin Utz, Ph.D., a study author and post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Neurology at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. "PTSD, ...

Bottom Line: The effectiveness of a treatment to reduce blood clots among otolaryngology patients admitted for surgery appears to differ based on patient risk and the procedure. Author: Vinita Bahl, D.M.D., M.P.P., of the University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, and colleagues. Background: Blood clots (venous thromboembolism [VTE], which includes deep vein thrombosis [DVT] and pulmonary embolism [PE]) are common complications in surgical patients. Treatment (primary thromboprophylaxis with anticoagulant medication [chemoprophylaxis]) can help reduce the incidence ...

This news release is available in French. Montreal October 2, 2014 – Treatment approaches to reduce the risk of bone complications (metastasis) associated with breast cancer may be one step closer to becoming a reality. According to a study led by a team at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), findings show that medication used to treat bone deterioration in post-menopausal women may also slow skeletal metastasis caused from breast cancer. This study, published in this month's issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute ...

National Institutes of Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Canadian Institutes of Health Research New research by scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) and the Ottawa Heart Institute has uncovered a new pathway by which the brain uses an unusual steroid to control blood pressure. The study, which also suggests new approaches for treating high blood pressure and heart failure, appears today in the journal Public Library of Science (PLOS) One. "This research gives us an entirely new way of understanding how the brain and the ...

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have identified a biomarker living next door to the KLK3 gene that can predict which GS7 prostate cancer patients will have a more aggressive form of cancer. The results reported in the journal of Clinical Cancer Research, a publication of the American Association of Cancer Research, indicate the KLK3 gene – a gene on chromosome 19 responsible for encoding the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) – is not only associated with prostate cancer aggression, but a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on it is more ...

Scientists have created a new map of the world's seafloor, offering a more vivid picture of the structures that make up the deepest, least-explored parts of the ocean. The feat was accomplished by accessing two untapped streams of satellite data. Thousands of previously uncharted mountains rising from the seafloor, called seamounts, have emerged through the map, along with new clues about the formation of the continents. Combined with existing data and improved remote sensing instruments, the map, described today in the journal Science, gives scientists new tools ...