PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Autism is no stranger to the children of Tanzania. What is rare in the East African nation is access to clinical services, including reliable diagnosis and evidence-based treatments. There is no autism diagnostic measure, for example, validated for use in Swahili, a major language of the region. In a small new study, however, researchers at Brown University and the University of Georgia (UGA) describe a culturally compatible diagnostic approach that they implemented at two sites in the country and found to be effective for making diagnoses. The ...

This week from AGU: Measuring Antarctic ice loss, Indian Ocean program, Oregon landslides From AGU's blogs: Scientists use fiber-optic cables to measure ice loss in Antarctic Researchers installed moorings containing fiber-optic cables hundreds of meters down into the McMurdo Ice Shelf in West Antarctica to collect temperature information about the base of the ice shelf, where the thick platform of floating ice meets the ocean. The sensors were able to measure mere millimeters of ice loss at the interface, demonstrating that the new fiber-optic method could be ...

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (Sept. 30, 2014)— A study by San Diego State University psychology professor Jean M. Twenge shows Americans are more depressed now than they have been in decades. Analyzing data from 6.9 million adolescents and adults from all over the country, Twenge found that Americans now report more psychosomatic symptoms of depression, such as trouble sleeping and trouble concentrating, than their counterparts in the 1980s. "Previous studies found that more people have been treated for depression in recent years, but that could be due to more awareness and less ...

ANN ARBOR—The discovery of a gene mutation that causes a rare premature aging disease could lead to the development of drugs that block the rapid, unstoppable cell division that makes cancer so deadly. Scientists at the University of Michigan and the U-M Health System recently discovered a protein mutation that causes the devastating disease dyskeratosis congenita, in which precious hematopoietic stem cells can't regenerate and make new blood. People with DC age prematurely and are prone to cancer and bone marrow failure. But the study findings reach far beyond the ...

WASHINGTON (Sept. 30, 2014) — Levothyroxine is considered the gold standard therapy for an underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism), and a new review of therapies for the condition — including combining levothyroxine with another agent — has not altered that assessment, say a team of investigators. 1Their analysis, published as a set of guidelines in the journal Thyroid, finds insufficient consistent data exist to recommend a change in use of levothyroxine — whether generic, or sold under various trade names, such as Synthroid® — as the only drug needed to treat hypothyroidism. "Levothyroxine ...

This news release is available in German. Electrical engineers at the Technische Universität München (TUM) have demonstrated a new kind of building block for digital integrated circuits. Their experiments show that future computer chips could be based on three-dimensional arrangements of nanometer-scale magnets instead of transistors. As the main enabling technology of the semiconductor industry – CMOS fabrication of silicon chips – approaches fundamental limits, the TUM researchers and collaborators at the University of Notre Dame are exploring "magnetic computing" ...

PHILADELPHIA – Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) granted new patient appointments to Medicaid beneficiaries and uninsured patients at higher rates than other primary care practices (non-FQHCs), in addition to charging less for visits, according to results of a new 10-state University of Pennsylvania study published this month in Medical Care. Using data from a previous "secret shopper" study conducted in 2012 and 2013, the investigators found that FQHCs — community health clinics that receive federal funding to provide primary care access to underserved populations ...

Irvine, Calif., Sept. 30, 2014 — Research by UC Irvine immunologists reveals new information about how our immune system functions, shedding light on a vital process that determines how the body's ability to fight infection develops. In the online version of Nature Immunology, neurology professor Dr. Michael Demetriou, postdoctoral scholar Raymond Zhou and other Institute for Immunology colleagues describe a critical mechanism underlying how T cells are created, selected and released into the bloodstream. A T cell is a type of blood cell called a lymphocyte that protects ...

The National Environment Protection Measures (NEPM) has set maximum daily limits, or 'standards', for six key outdoor pollutants, which QUT's Associate Professor Adrian Barnett says many authorities wrongly assume to be 'safe' thresholds for health. To test that assumption, Professor Barnett calculated what the health effects would be if the current average levels of five of those pollutants across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane were to rise to just below the NEPM 'safe' standards. "I've found that increasing pollution levels to just below the NEPM standards would cause ...

Montreal, September 30, 2014 — More than 23 per cent of Canadians report being stressed or very stressed on most days. While chronic stress increases the risk of poor mental and physical health, not everyone is affected the same way. Some cope well, but for others — especially those most likely to sweat the small stuff — chronic stress can be harmful. Thankfully, new research from Concordia University has found a way to identify those most susceptible to stress. That's a huge help for healthcare professionals working to stop stress before it gets out of control. The ...

Got grapes? UCLA researchers have demonstrated how resveratrol, an antioxidant derived from grapes and found in wine, works to inhibit growth of the bacteria that causes acne. The team also found that combining resveratrol with a common acne medication, benzoyl peroxide, may enhance the drug's ability to kill the bacteria and could translate into new treatments. Published in the current online edition of the journal Dermatology and Therapy, the early lab findings demonstrated that resveratrol and benzoyl peroxide attack the acne bacteria, called Propionibacterium acnes, ...

New Rochelle, NY, September 30, 2014—Levothyroxine (L-T4), long the standard of care for treating hypothyroidism, is effective in most patients, but some individuals do not regain optimal health on L-T4 monotherapy. New knowledge about thyroid physiology may help to explain these differences. An expert task force of the American Thyroid Association on thyroid hormone replacement reviewed the latest studies on L-T4 therapy and on alternative treatments to determine whether a change to the current standard of care is appropriate, and they present their recommendations in ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- MIT engineers have devised a way to rapidly test hundreds of different drug-delivery vehicles in living animals, making it easier to discover promising new ways to deliver a class of drugs called biologics, which includes antibodies, peptides, RNA, and DNA, to human patients. In a study appearing in the journal Integrative Biology, the researchers used this technology to identify materials that can efficiently deliver RNA to zebrafish and also to rodents. This type of high-speed screen could help overcome one of the major bottlenecks in developing disease ...

The U.S. Department of Defense has made progress in reducing the stigma associated with seeking help for mental illnesses such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, but more improvement is still needed, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Despite efforts of both the Defense Department and the Veterans Health Administration to enhance mental health services, many service members still do not seek needed care for mental health problems. Defense officials have made a concerted effort to promote treatment as a way to reduce stigma, according to the study. ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 30, 2014--Sea monkeys have captured the popular attention of both children and aquarium hobbyists because of their easily observable life cycle -- sold as dehydrated eggs, these tiny brine shrimp readily hatch, develop and mate given little more than a tank of salt water. Physicists, though, are interested in a shorter-term pattern: Like other zooplankton, brine shrimp vertically migrate in large groups in response to changing light conditions, coming closer to the surface at night and retreating deeper during the day. Two researchers at ...

WASHINGTON D.C., September 30, 2014 – Applying a well-known optical phenomenon called thin-film interference, a group of researchers at Harvard University has demonstrated the ability to "paint" ultra-thin coatings onto a rough surface -- work that holds promise for making future, flexible electronic devices, creating advanced solar cells and detailing the sides of next-gen rocket ships and spacecraft with extremely lightweight decorative logos. When light passes through oil in water, it becomes iridescent, revealing a myriad of colors that glisten and shift along with ...

WASHINGTON D.C., Sept. 30, 2014 – Ice is ubiquitous in nature—found within terrestrial and astrophysical environments alike—and contains many atoms and molecules trapped inside it. For example, ice beneath the world's oceans hosts a vast reservoir of greenhouse gases, which if released would have a profound effect on climate change. On the earth's surface, seasonal ice and permafrost-covered regions represent a vast reservoir for the collection, concentration and release of environmental and trace gases—encompassing national security concerns about the persistence and ...

Every ten seconds a human being dies from pneumococcus infection making it the leading cause of serious illness across the globe Research discovers six unique states of pneumococcus Knowledge of these six characteristics can help in development of tailored vaccines Every ten seconds a human being dies from Streptococcus pneumoniae infection, also known as pneumococcus, making it a leading global killer. An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Leicester in collaboration with international experts have unlocked a genetic switch controlling ...

Colonoscopies are a very valuable procedure by which to screen for the presence of colorectal cancer. However, it seems that healthy Americans who do undergo this sometimes uncomfortable examination often have repeat screenings long before they actually should. Gina Kruse of Massachusetts General Hospital in the US and colleagues advise that endoscopists stick to the national guidelines more closely. Their findings appear in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, published by Springer. Current national guidelines strongly recommend that adults aged 50 and older should ...

Dublin, Ireland, September 30th, 2014 – A new report launched today by the Intellectual Disability Supplement to TILDA (The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing) conducted by academics from the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, has highlighted the serious, complex and unique health and social challenges facing Ireland's intellectual disability population. The IDS-TILDA study is the first study of its kind in Europe and the only one in the world with the ability to compare the ageing of people with intellectual disability directly with the ...

Prenatal exposure to tetrachloroethylene (PCE) in drinking water may increase the risk of stillbirth and placental abruption, according to a new study led by a Boston University School of Public Health researcher. The study, published in the journal Environmental Health, compared 1,091 PCE-exposed pregnancies and 1,019 unexposed pregnancies among 1,766 women in Cape Cod, Ma., where water was contaminated in the late 1960s to the early 1980s by the installation of vinyl-lined asbestos cement pipes. PCE exposure was estimated using water-distribution system modeling software. ...

The New England Journal of Medicine reports positive results of a phase 1 clinical trial of the drug crizotinib against the subset of lung cancer marked by rearrangement of the gene ROS1. In this multi-center study of 50 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer testing positive for ROS1 gene rearrangement, the response rate was 72 percent, with 3 complete responses and 33 partial responses. Median progression-free survival – the time it takes for the disease to resume its growth after being slowed by treatment – is estimated at 19.2 months with exactly half of ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Pollution in urban and farm runoff in Hawaii is causing tumors in endangered sea turtles, a new study finds. The study, published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed open-access journal PeerJ, shows that nitrogen in the runoff ends up in algae that the turtles eat, promoting the formation of tumors on the animals' eyes, flippers and internal organs. Scientists at Duke University, the University of Hawaii and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conducted the study to better understand the causes behind the tumor-forming disease Fibropapillomatosis, ...

When it comes to using marijuana, new research, involving mice and published in the October 2014 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, suggests that just because you can do it, doesn't mean that you should. That's because a team of Italian scientists have found that using marijuana in adolescence may do serious long-term damage to the immune system. This damage may result in autoimmune diseases and chronic inflammatory diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis in adulthood. "I hope that the knowledge that early exposure ...

Researchers of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich report that a new class of chemical compounds makes cancer cells more sensitive to chemotherapeutic drugs. They have also pinpointed the relevant target enzyme, thus identifying a new target for anti-tumor agents. Researchers led by LMU's Professor Angelika Vollmar and Professor Stephan Sieber of the Technische Universität München have identified a class of chemicals that represent a potential new weapon in the fight against malignant tumors. The compound is itself non-toxic, but it stimulates the killing ...