Scientists working at Korea University, Korea, and TU Berlin, Germany have developed a brain-computer control interface for a lower limb exoskeleton by decoding specific signals from within the user's brain. Using an electroencephalogram (EEG) cap, the system allows users to move forwards, turn left and right, sit and stand simply by staring at one of five flickering light emitting diodes (LEDs). The results are published today (Tuesday 18th August) in the Journal of Neural Engineering. Each of the five LEDs flickers at a different frequency, and when the user focusses ...

A new test for offers the possibility of near real time monitoring of bone diseases, such as osteoporosis and multiple myeloma. The functionality of the test, which measures changes in calcium isotope ratios, has been validated on blood samples from NASA space shuttle astronauts. Our bones are largely built of calcium, and the turnover of calcium can indicate the development of bone diseases such as osteoporosis and the cancer multiple myeloma. Geochemists have developed extremely accurate ways of measuring calcium isotope ratios, for example for the study of sea shell ...

For an embargoed PDF, please contact Cara Graeff or 215-351-2513 or Angela Collom or 215-351-2514. 1. Anonymous essay exposes scandalous doctor behavior Free abstract: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/M14-2168 Editorial: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/M15-1144 URLs go live when embargo lifts An anonymous and provocative essay published in Annals of Internal Medicine exposes the dark underbelly of medicine where doctors displayed stomach-churning disrespect for vulnerable patients. The author describes teaching a medical humanities ...

PHILADELPHIA - Websites for national and state health insurance marketplaces show evidence of improved efforts to assist patients in choosing health insurance plans, such as providing decision support tools, experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found. However, in a letter published in the August 18 issue the Annals of Internal Medicine, the Penn team recommends taking more steps to better support consumers in making informed health plan decisions. The marketplaces, also called health exchanges, were established by the Patient ...

Research has shown that a regular dose of aspirin reduces the long-term risk of cancer in those who are overweight in an international study of people with a family history of the disease. The study, conducted by researchers at Newcastle University and the University of Leeds, UK, is published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. They found that being overweight more than doubles the risk of bowel cancer in people with Lynch Syndrome, an inherited genetic disorder which affects genes responsible for detecting and repairing damage in the DNA. Around half of these ...

Testing for genetic risk factors could improve treatment for myeloma - a cancer of the blood and bone marrow - by helping doctors identify patients at risk of developing more aggressive disease. New research, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology today (Monday), found as few as nine genetic features would need to be tested to identify high-risk patients who might benefit from intensive treatment. The study, led by researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, is the first to link genetic mutations in myeloma cells to the chances of surviving the disease. The ...

Drinking caffeinated coffee daily significantly reduced cancer recurrence and death in stage III colon cancer. Greatest benefits were in those drinking four or more cups a day. Researchers are not recommending people drink more coffee pending further studies. BOSTON - Regular consumption of caffeinated coffee may help prevent the return of colon cancer after treatment and improve the chances of a cure, according to a new, large study from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute that reported this striking association for the first time. The patients, all of them treated ...

CLEVELAND - A first-of-its-kind study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology finds that music therapy lessened anxiety for women undergoing surgical breast biopsies for cancer diagnosis and treatment. The two-year study out of University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center involved 207 patients. "To the best of our knowledge, this is the first randomized controlled trial to test music therapy for anxiety management with women undergoing outpatient breast cancer surgery, and the largest study of its kind to use live music therapy in the surgical arena," said lead ...

NEW YORK, NY - August 17, 2015 - Schizophrenia is associated with structural and functional alterations of the visual system, including specific structural changes in the eye. Tracking such changes may provide new measures of risk for, and progression of the disease, according to a literature review published online in the journal Schizophrenia Research: Cognition, authored by researchers at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai and Rutgers University. Individuals with schizophrenia have trouble with social interactions and in recognizing what is real. Past research ...

The moon's thin atmosphere contains neon, a gas commonly used in electric signs on Earth because of its intense glow. While scientists have speculated on the presence of neon in the lunar atmosphere for decades, NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft has confirmed its existence for the first time. "The presence of neon in the exosphere of the moon has been a subject of speculation since the Apollo missions, but no credible detections were made," said Mehdi Benna of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland and the University ...

By combining information about power plant operation with real-time air quality predictions, researchers have created a new capability to minimize the human health effects of air pollution resulting from electric power generating facilities. The Air Pollutant Optimization Model, described in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides a new approach for reducing the health effects of ozone and fine particulate pollution. By helping to minimize both health impacts and generating costs, the hybrid model may provide a new tool for utility companies ...

As more money has been spent on biomedical research in the United States over the past 50 years, there has been diminished return on investment in terms of life expectancy gains and new drug approvals, two Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers say. In a report published Aug. 17 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers found that while the number of scientists has increased more than nine-fold since 1965 and the National Institutes of Health's budget has increased four-fold, the number of new drugs approved by the Food ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - For the first time, scientists have seen evidence of where the brain records the time and place of real-life memories. Results showed that the similarity of the brain activation patterns when memories were recalled was an indicator of the breadth of space and time between the actual events. Participants in the Ohio State University study wore a smartphone around their neck with an app that took random photos for a month. Later, when the participants relived memories related to those photos in an fMRI scanner, researchers found that a part of the brain's ...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Aug. 17, 2015 - The microbiomes in the reproductive tracts of pregnant women who later had a baby born too soon are significantly different from those of women who delivered full term. The microbiome, a community of microorganisms on and in the body, is an emerging area of research that may help explain health issues as different as preterm birth, asthma and inflammatory bowel disease. Researchers at the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford University took weekly samples of the microorganisms from the teeth and gums, saliva, reproductive ...

A self-directed, iterative learning framework used in a first-year physics lab dramatically improved students' critical thinking skills, according to new University of British Columbia (UBC) research. The framework asks students to compare their experimental data to other students' data or to simplified models, think critically, and then rework the science--on their own. "In a traditional lab, a student conducts an experiment as instructed and writes it up, often chalking up discrepancies or issues to human error or lousy equipment--then they move on to the next concept," ...

New research has identified the mechanisms that trigger disruption in the brain's communication channels linked to symptoms in psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia. The University of Bristol study, published today [17 Aug] in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, could have important implications for treating symptoms of brain disorders. Many of our everyday cognitive functions such as learning and memory rely on normal communication between the two regions of the brain - the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. While previous studies have identified ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Aug. 17, 2015 - Every year falls affect approximately one in three older adults living at home, with approximately one in 10 falls resulting in serious injury. Even if an injury does not occur, the fear of falling can lead to reduced activity and a loss of independence. Research has shown that vitamin D plays a key role in maintaining muscle integrity and strength and some studies suggest vitamin D may reduce the risk of falls. Homebound elderly, a generally vulnerable population due to poor dietary intake and nutrition-related health conditions ...

Results of a trio of studies done on human cancer tissue biopsies have added to growing evidence that a so-called jumping gene called LINE-1 is active during the development of many gastrointestinal cancers. The Johns Hopkins scientists who conducted the studies caution there is no proof that the numerous new "insertions" of these rogue genetic elements in the human genome actually cause cancers, but they say their experiments do suggest that these elements, formally known as transposons, might one day serve as a marker for early cancer diagnosis. Collectively, the studies ...

The introduction of a new prescription smoking-cessation aid, varenicline, in 2006 has had no significant impact on the rate at which Americans age 18 and older successfully quit smoking, according to a study led by researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. The findings, published online August 17 in Tobacco Control, suggest that the primary effect of varenicline (marketed as Chantix) has been to displace the use of older tobacco addiction therapies, such as nicotine patches and the antidepressant, bupropion (Zyban). Moreover, in this population ...

The growing availability of heroin, combined with programs aimed at curbing prescription painkiller abuse, may be changing the face of opiate addiction in the U.S., according to sociologists. While heroin abuse is still relatively rare, the use of the drug is not only increasing, but it is now being coupled with the abuse of prescription painkillers, said Shannon Monnat, assistant professor of rural sociology, demography, and sociology, Penn State. She added that the heroin-prescription drug combination is also hitting groups that were not traditionally viewed as widespread ...

Researchers from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will be honored and present new work at the 250th American Chemical Society national meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, Aug. 16-20. Highlights include: Energy Storage: Putting molecular hydrogen together and taking it apart Storing electrical energy in chemicals and pulling it back out again to use for renewable energy requires inexpensive catalysts, which are molecules that can speed up the chemical reactions in either direction. PNNL researchers have been exploring the nuts and bolts of ...

On the heels of President Barack Obama's trip to Kenya this summer, in which the U.S. president called on Kenya to overcome ethnic divisions, a new study provides insights into the economic cost of segregation in developing countries and how to overcome it. The study, published in Administrative Science Quarterly, looks at how actors from diverse and competing social groups can come to identify as members of a common market. In "Mobilizing a Market: Ethnic Segmentation and Investor Recruitment into the Nairobi Securities Exchange, University of Chicago Booth School ...

Researchers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum have debunked the theory that the left brain hemisphere is dominant in the processing of all languages. To date, it has been assumed that that dominance is not determined by the physical structure of a given language. However, the biopsychologists have demonstrated that both hemispheres are equally involved in the perception of whistled Turkish. Onur Güntürkün, Monika Güntürkün and Constanze Hahn report in the journal "Current Biology". Common theory: left hemisphere dominant in language perception The ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A study conducted by researchers at Hasbro Children's Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital, Fairfax (VA) County Public Schools and the University of Colorado School of Medicine has found that nationally mandated protective eyewear results in a greater than three-fold reduced risk of eye and orbital injuries in high school (HS) girls' field hockey players without increasing rates of concussion. Each academic year, more than 64,000 girls participate in HS-sanctioned field hockey in the United States. Head, facial, and eye injuries are common among field ...

Generally speaking, language processing is a job for the brain's left hemisphere. That's true whether that language is spoken, written, or signed. But researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on August 17 have discovered an exception to this rule in a most remarkable form: whistled Turkish. "We are unbelievably lucky that such a language indeed exists," says Onur Güntürkün of Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany. "It is a true experiment of nature." Whistled Turkish is exactly what it sounds like: Turkish that has been adapted into ...