Researchers from the University of Liverpool have used mathematical equations to shed new light on how flowing fluid hinders the movement of bacteria in their search for food. Many bacteria are mobile and inhabit a variety of dynamic fluid environments: from turbulent oceans to medical devices such as catheters. Mathematicians from the Universities of Liverpool and Manchester developed a new set of equations to study how flowing fluid affected the movement of bacteria and how the swimming behaviour of the bacteria themselves affected their travel. Bacteria can ...

New research has indicated that obesity in children has quite different causes at different ages. The research, led by the University of Exeter Medical School and part of the internationally respected EarlyBird Study, could have far-reaching implications for attempts to reduce the global epidemic of childhood obesity, as it indicates that very different approaches may be needed at various stages of development. In a study published today (Monday April 27) in the International Journal of Obesity, scientists compared data on contemporary children with those of the 1980's. ...

Quantum particles behave in strange ways and are often difficult to study experimentally. Using mathematical methods drawn from game theory, physicists of Ludwig-Maximilias-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have shown how bosons, which like to enter the same state, can form multiple groups. When scientists explore the mysterious behavior of quantum particles, they soon reach the limits of present-day experimental research. From there on, progress is only possible with the aid of theoretical ideas. NIM investigator Professor Dr. Erwin Frey and his team at the Dept. of Statistical ...

Silicon (Si) is the second most abundant element of the earth`s crust after oxygen. It has long been neglected by ecologists, as it is not considered an essential nutrient for plants. However, research of recent years showed that it is beneficial for the growth of many plants, including important crops such as rice, wheat and barley. For instance, Si enhanced the resistance against pests, pathogens and abiotic stresses such as salts, drought and storms. Silicon might, thus, play a crucial role in the development of `sustainable` rice production systems with lower or ...

Emory scientists have adapted an antiviral enzyme from bacteria called Cas9 into an instrument for inhibiting hepatitis C virus in human cells. The results were published Monday April 27, 2015 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Cas9 is part of the CRISPR genetic defense system in bacteria, which scientists have been harnessing to edit DNA in animals, plants and even human cells. In this case, Emory researchers are using Cas9 to put a clamp on RNA, which hepatitis C virus uses for its genetic material, rather than change cells' DNA. Although several ...

Many experimental and clinical data have demonstrated that antibiotic-resistance pathogens, such as Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), may play a vital role in priming chronic inflammation. There is thus a great need to develop novel antibacterial materials, and particularly those that are less likely to lead to bacterial resistance. Now, in a paper appearing recently in Science Bulletin, a team of scientists at the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, China, led by Guangjun Nie and Yuliang Zhao, has designed and synthesized biocompatible ...

The autonomous locomotion for a macroscopic machine remains an intriguing issue for the researchers to explore. Recently, Professor LIU Jing and his group from Tsinghua University demonstrated that as a versatile material, the liquid metal could be self-actuated when fueled with aluminum (Al) flake, and the motion thus enabled would persist for more than an hour at a quite high velocity. Based on the previous study, the present work proposed to realize a much larger liquid metal machine, which could autonomously move and accelerate with the increase of temperature. More ...

Stark disparities by race, education and literacy Slower medication refills and access to lab results Harder to keep doctors informed about chronic conditions CHICAGO -- Online sites that offer secure access to one's medical record, often referred to as patient portals, are increasingly important for doctor and patient communication and routine access to health care information. But patient portals could widen the gap in health disparities among the most vulnerable patients, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study. Patients with low health literacy, less ...

University of Sydney geoscientists have helped prove that some of the ocean's underwater volcanoes did not erupt from hot spots in the Earth's mantle but instead formed from cracks or fractures in the oceanic crust. The discovery helps explain the spectacular bend in the famous underwater range, the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain, where the bottom half kinks at a sixty degree angle to the east of its top half. "There has been speculation among geoscientists for decades that some underwater volcanoes form because of fracturing," said Professor Dietmar Muller, from ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Herceptin has been touted as a wonder drug for women with HER2-positive breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease that is fueled by excess production of the HER2 protein. However, not all of these patients respond to the drug, and many who do respond eventually acquire resistance. A team of researchers led by Mayo Clinic has found a promising way to circumvent this obstacle. They identified a small site in the HER2 protein that enables it to form a molecular switch that sets off a cascade of events that turn normal cells cancerous. The researchers ...

Westport, CT, April 28, 2015 - In a time when the FDA and state attorneys general are questioning the ingredients and claims of dietary supplements, Americans are looking for assurance that any medicine they use will really work. Infirst Healthcare USA is taking steps, through clinical testing, to ensure that its over-the-counter liquid cold and cough relief medicines, made with FDA-authorized ingredients, are truly effective. Newly published in the International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy (February 2015), the study - conducted by leading cough researcher, Peter Dicpinigaitis, ...

The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today released updates to several of its recommendations for the ABIM Foundation's Choosing Wisely® campaign, which raises professional and public awareness about treatments and tests to question and discuss because they may lack efficacy or cause potential harm. The AGS's updates reflect an expert review of new research on several important conditions impacting older adults, including agitation, certain types of cancer, delirium, dementia, diabetes, insomnia, unintended weight loss, and certain other health concerns that may warrant ...

For reef-building corals, sponges do not make good neighbors. Aggressive competitors for space, sponges use toxins, mucus, shading, and smothering to kill adjacent coral colonies and then grow on their skeletons. A recent survey of coral reefs across the Caribbean shows that overfishing removes the predators of sponges, greatly increasing the threat of fast-growing sponges to an already diminished population of corals. A research team headed by Dr. Joseph Pawlik at UNC Wilmington surveyed reefs from 12 countries across the Caribbean, comparing 25 sites where fish abundance ...

SAN DIEGO - Girls are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) later than boys, possibly because females exhibit less severe symptoms, according to a study to be presented Tuesday, April 28 at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in San Diego. To study gender differences in age at diagnosis and compare symptom severity between boys and girls, researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Md., analyzed data from the Institute's Interactive Autism Network. This online registry includes almost 50,000 individuals and family members affected ...

SAN DIEGO - Many suspected victims of child sexual abuse are sharing sexually explicit photos and videos via their cell phones and social media, and are receiving online sexual solicitations, according to a study to be presented Tuesday, April 28 at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in San Diego. Previous research has shown that youths with a history of sexual victimization may be at increased risk for online sexual solicitations, leading to revictimization. Researchers, led by Corey Rood, MD, sought to describe the prevalence of "sexting" (sending ...

SAN DIEGO - Children who have been bullied by peers have similar or worse long-term mental health outcomes than children maltreated by adults, according to a study to be presented Tuesday, April 28 at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in San Diego, and to be published in The Lancet Psychiatry at the same time. The mental health consequences of maltreatment by adults are well-documented. Being bullied also can lead to problems later in life. However, it is not known whether long-term mental health issues among victims of bullying are related to having ...

Being bullied in childhood has a greater negative impact on teenager's mental health than being maltreated [1], according to new research published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal. The findings show that individuals who are bullied in childhood are around five times more likely to experience anxiety (odds ratio 4.9) and are nearly twice as likely to report more depression and self-harm at age 18 (odds ratio 1.7) than children who are maltreated. The study, led by Professor Dieter Wolke from the University of Warwick, UK, is the first of its kind to directly compare ...

A new study published in The Lancet Psychiatry shows that children who have been bullied by peers suffer worse in the longer term than those who have been maltreated by adults. The research is led by Professor Dieter Wolke from Warwick's Department of Psychology and Warwick Medical School. The study is due to be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in San Diego on Tuesday 28 April. There is already an established link between maltreatment by adults and the mental health consequences for children. Professor Wolke and his team wanted to examine ...

April 28, 2015, Stockholm, Sweden - In studying the molecular biology of brain development, a team of researchers led by Ludwig Stockholm director Thomas Perlmann has discovered how disruption of a developmental mechanism alters the very nerve cells that are most affected in Parkinson's disease. They have also explained how such disruption induces a lethal dysfunction in the internal, house-keeping processes of such neurons. The results of their study, which took nearly four years to complete and involved the exquisitely targeted manipulation of mouse genes to generate ...

A new paper by Oxford researchers argues that some countries in Western Europe, and the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand now have birth rates that are now relatively close to replacement, that the underlying trend in Europe is upwards, and that population ageing, although inevitable, is likely to be 'manageable'. The publication in the journal, Population Studies, by Professor David Coleman and Associate Professor Stuart Basten, provides a more optimistic demographic picture of the future in the West, in contrast to the commonly accepted narrative. Much has been ...

Parental separation or divorce is linked to a heightened risk of psychosomatic problems among the children in the family, indicates research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. But joint custody seems to be less problematic than sole custody, the findings suggest. Over the past 20 years, family break-up has become more common in developed countries, with an increasing tendency to award joint legal custody afterwards. In Sweden alone, joint custody has surged from 1-2% of children affected by divorce/separation during the 1980s to 40% ...

A study of more than 1.2 million children in Sweden has concluded that children of parents with any type of diabetes are more likely to develop type 1 diabetes (T1D), and that maternal overweight and obesity increases the risk of the child developing T1D when neither parent has diabetes. The results, published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes), clearly suggest that strategies to reduce overweight and obesity before and during pregnancy could reduce the incidence of T1D, which is currently increasing in children (and especially ...

1. New class of cholesterol drug proves safe and effective for patients with dyslipidemia Treatment with PCSK9 antibodies reduces mortality and produces profound reductions in LDL-cholesterol and lipoprotein in patients with dyslipidemia. The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis are being published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Having elevated LDL-cholesterol levels contributes substantially to the development of coronary artery disease and the risk of cardiovascular events. Current guidelines recommend that patients with elevated cholesterol be treated ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - April 27, 2015 - Refining the results of a 2013 study, researchers have found that atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeat, is associated with only one type of heart attack - the more common of the two types. The study, led by Elsayed Z. Soliman, M.D., director of the Epidemiological Cardiology Research Center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, is published in the April 27 issue of the American Heart Association journal Circulation. Atrial fibrillation, or a-fib, is the most prevalent heart rhythm disorder, affecting as many as 6 million ...

Women with breast cancer who follow a physical exercise program during their chemotherapy treatment experience less side effects like fatigue, reduced physical fitness, nausea and pain. It is also less often necessary to adjust the dosage of their chemotherapy. This is shown by a study supervised by prof. dr. Neil Aaronson of the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI). Chemotherapy can be very burdensome for patients. Because of the side effects, not all patients are able to complete their chemotherapy as originally planned, but require a dose adjustment. There are some ...