New research suggests the use of hookah steam stones - commonly considered a safer alternative to cigarette smoking - could be leaving users with a dangerous, false sense of security. The findings out of the University of Cincinnati/Agilent Technologies Metallomics Center of the Americas are published this month in the Microchemical Journal. An analysis led by Amberlie Clutterbuck, a doctoral student in the UC Department of Chemistry, found residues of toxic metals that included chromium, arsenic and cadmium following several simulated hookah/steam stones smoking scenarios. Clutterbuck's ...

Philadelphia, PA, May 11, 2015 -- Dopamine is the chemical messenger in the brain most closely associated with pleasure and reward. Recent scientific advances now shed light on precise roles for dopamine in the reward process. A new paper published in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry implicates dopamine in a person's ability to be motivated by delayed rewards. People like immediate reinforcement and tend to devalue rewards that are substantially delayed in time. As a result, people will often opt for smaller immediate rewards as opposed to larger delayed rewards ...

Even with the best available treatments, the median survival of patients with metastatic, hormone-refractory prostate cancer is only two to three years. Driven by the need for more effective therapies for these patients, researchers at VCU Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine (VIMM) have developed a unique approach that uses microscopic gas bubbles to deliver directly to the cancer a viral gene therapy in combination with an experimental drug that targets a specific gene driving the cancer's growth. Recently published in the journal Oncotarget, ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Scientists at Oregon State University have developed a faster, more accurate method to assess cancer risk from certain common environmental pollutants. Researchers found that they could analyze the immediate genetic responses of the skin cells of exposed mice and apply statistical approaches to determine whether or not those cells would eventually become cancerous. The study focused on an important class of pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, that commonly occur in the environment as mixtures such as diesel exhaust and cigarette ...

Swollen lymph nodes are often the earliest sign of metastatic spread of cancer cells. Now cancer researchers and immunologists at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet have discovered how cancer cells can infiltrate the lymphatic system by 'disguising' themselves as immune cells (white blood cells). The researchers hope that this finding, which is published in the scientific journal Oncogene, will inform the development of new drugs. The main reason why people die of cancer is that the cancer cells spread to form daughter tumours, or metastases, in vital organs, such as the ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A study by researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center found that a workplace mindfulness-based intervention reduced stress levels of employees exposed to a highly stressful occupational environment. Members of a surgical intensive care unit at the large academic medical center were randomized to a stress-reduction intervention or a control group. The 8-week group mindfulness-based intervention included mindfulness, gentle stretching, yoga, meditation and music conducted in the workplace. Psychological and biological markers of stress ...

Individuals who had cancer as a child may be at increased risk of being obese due to the therapies they received during their youth. The finding comes from a new study published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The study's results suggest the need for effective counseling and weight loss interventions for certain childhood cancer survivors. Previous research has shown that obesity rates are elevated in childhood cancer survivors who were exposed to cranial radiation, which is used to prevent or delay the spread of cancer ...

Patients with advanced colorectal tumors without mutations in the RAS genes derive substantial benefit from anti-EGFR therapies; however, the disease eventually progresses, leaving these patients with few alternative therapeutic options. Over the last decade, some of the mechanisms driving resistance have been identified, but despite intensive research, treatment options available for patients have not improved, Tabernero said. Sym004 is a 1:1 mixture in the same infusion bag of two antibodies that bind to different regions of the extracellular domain of EGFR, according ...

The world's first international study on homophobia in sport, "Out on the Fields," has found widespread homophobia in UK sport, prompting calls for a zero tolerance approach towards discrimination and better training for coaches, teachers and officials. The research, on behalf of the Bingham Cup (the world cup of gay rugby) and affiliated sports groups, was conducted by the global sports market research firm Repucom and overseen by a panel of seven academics from six universities, including Brunel University London. Participants were from the United Kingdom, Ireland, ...

Sea scallops, one of the most valuable commercial fisheries in the United States, are a well managed and monitored fishery, yet little is known about how changing ocean temperatures and ocean chemistry and other environmental factors could impact the fishery. A new study published May 6 in PLOS ONE describes a new computer model to help inform scallop management discussions and decisions in the coming decades. Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), NOAA Fisheries' Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), and Ocean Conservancy developed an ...

BINGHAMTON, NY -According to new research co-authored by Binghamton University's Seth Spain, there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the impact of Saturday morning cartoons. The research examines how fantasy-based stories, in particular the popular 1980s cartoon series The Transformers, can shape children's perceptions of what behaviors are associated with effective leadership. It also could provide a basis for workplace-training programs. "We believe that Transformers presents three key lessons about leadership," said Spain, an assistant professor of organizational ...

Philadelphia, PA, May 7, 2015 - Current U.S. health policy requires Medicaid beneficiaries to wait 30 days before tubal sterilization. Ob/gyn experts argue that this violates health care justice as elective tubal sterilization is readily available to women with a private source of payment. Writing in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, they urge obstetricians to advocate for change to eliminate health care injustice in women's access to elective tubal sterilization. One of the most common forms of contraception in the U.S. is tubal sterilization after childbirth, ...

Some of the most popular social media sites are filled with images of extremely thin women that might be harmful to those who view them -- whether they are seeking them or not, according to research from the University of California, Davis. The images were often cropped to remove heads or focus on just a few body parts. Doctoral candidate Jannath Ghaznavi and associate professor Laramie Taylor in the Department of Communication examined about 300 photographs from Twitter and Pinterest postings that used the terms "thinspiration" and/or "thinspo" to tag images and ideas ...

URBANA, Ill. - Much attention has been given to dedicated, perennial bioenergy crops to meet the revised Renewable Fuel Standard mandating production of 36 billion gallons of biofuel by the year 2022. Even so, concern remains over the impending need to convert as much as 30 million acres of U.S. crop land, which would include food crops, to land for perennial energy crops in order to meet that demand. Researchers realize that biomass feedstocks will need to come from many different sources, including crop residues, forest residues, and municipal waste, for example, said ...

Livermore - New results from the NASA NuSTAR telescope show that a supernova close to our galaxy experienced a single-sided explosion. A team of scientists including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers found that X-ray emissions taken with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) show that the Supernova 1987A explosion was highly asymmetric. The results appear in the May 8 edition of the journal, Science. NuSTAR observations, including those of 1987A, provide strong and compelling observational evidence that supernovae are not symmetric. Supernova ...

El Salvador, Niger, and Pakistan are performing better in improving water and sanitation for their citizens than industrial giants like Russia and Brazil according to the new WaSH Performance Index developed by The Water Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health. The new index to be released Friday, May 8 during a live webcast shows which countries are leaders in improving access to water and sanitation for their citizens. Sub-Saharan Africa countries including Mali, South Africa, and Ethiopia are also among the ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- May 8, 2015) St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have gained ground toward developing more targeted therapies for the most common childhood brain tumor. The findings appear today in the Journal of Molecular Biology. The findings involve the DDX3X gene. In 2012, the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital -- Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project highlighted DDX3X as a promising focus for efforts to develop targeted therapies against medulloblastoma. Such treatments target the genetic mistakes that give rise to the brain tumor's ...

PITTSBURGH -- Scientists have been manipulating genes for a while. The University of Pittsburgh's Alexander Deiters just found a way to control the process with higher precision. By using light. Deiters and his group are the first to achieve this. The resulting paper was recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Since 2013, scientists have used a gene-editing tool called CRISPR/Cas9. The method employs a bacterially derived protein (Cas9) and a synthetic guide RNA to induce a double-strand break at a specific location in the genome. This ...

Object recognition -- determining what objects are where in a digital image -- is a central research topic in computer vision. But a person looking at an image will spontaneously make a higher-level judgment about the scene as whole: It's a kitchen, or a campsite, or a conference room. Among computer science researchers, the problem known as "scene recognition" has received relatively little attention. Last December, at the Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, MIT researchers announced the compilation of the world's largest database of images ...

The Philippines warning center has raised a #2 warning for its citizens in the Luzon province of Catanduanes. This warning indicates, among other things, that the tropical cyclone will affect the locality and that winds of greater than 100 kph up to 185 kph (62 to 114 mph) may be expected in at least 18 hours. Philippines know the storm as Dodong and have also raised warning #1 for the areas of Luzon provinces of Sorsogon. Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Quezon, Polillo Island, Aurora, Quirino, Isabela and the Visayas provinces of Northern and Eastern Samar. Warning ...

Forecasters expect Tropical Depression 07W which is riding behind Typhoon Noul to intensify to typhoon strength within the next five days. Currently 07W is located 298 miles southeast of Pohnopei, one of the Federated States of Micronesia. It is moving at a slow 5 knots on a east northeast trajectory with maximum sustained winds of 30 knots gusting to 40 (18 to 24 mph). Maximum wave height is 11 feet. 07W is moving east, but will turn round to a northwesterly course. A tropical storm WARNING is in force for Kosrae, Pingelap and Mokil in Pohnpei State. A tropical storm ...

For the last decade, scientists have deployed increasingly capable underwater robots to map and monitor pockets of the ocean to track the health of fisheries, and survey marine habitats and species. In general, such robots are effective at carrying out low-level tasks, specifically assigned to them by human engineers -- a tedious and time-consuming process for the engineers. When deploying autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), much of an engineer's time is spent writing scripts, or low-level commands, in order to direct a robot to carry out a mission plan. Now a new ...

The EU-funded MycoSynVac project combines gene engineering and biotechnology to design a novel veterinary vaccine chassis based on the bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae. By combining their systems biology expertise with cutting-edge synthetic biology methodologies, researchers will engineer a universal chassis, which will be free of virulence and optimized for fast growth in a serum-free medium. This chassis will be used to create specific vaccines against two highly detrimental pathogens that are causing suffering in livestock animals and large financial losses to the ...

TAMPA, Fla. -- Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is a common treatment option for patients with advanced stage prostate cancer. But nearly 80 percent of patients who receive ADT report experiencing hot flashes during and after treatment. Moffitt Cancer Center researchers are working to determine what genetic factors and other characteristics might make prostate cancer patients more likely to experience hot flashes during and after therapy. Cancer therapies often are associated with unwanted side effects. Some side effects can be so debilitating that patients decide ...

Mexico is undergoing a transformation: ranked as the second largest economy in Latin America, it's an increasingly dynamic middle-income country -- and its population is ageing rapidly. How will this relate to the burden of cancer? Mexico is an interesting case study for the relationship between population ageing and cancer burden, according to new research published in ecancermedicalscience. Researchers led by Dr Ajay Aggarwal of the Institute of Cancer Policy, Kings College London, UK, examined population data, cancer databases, and the research output of Mexican ...