WASHINGTON - Gradual and variable change in mental functions that occurs naturally as people age, not as part of a neurological disease such as Alzheimer's disease, is one of the most challenging health issues encountered by older adults, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. The aging process affects the brain just like any other part of the body. Known as "cognitive aging," the type and rate of change can vary widely among individuals. Some will experience very few, if any, effects, while others may experience changes in their memory, speed of processing ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Following the 2012 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, some in the media and the public speculated a link existed between autism spectrum disorder and violence and, in particular, that violent video games may cause gamers with autism to act violently. Now, a study from the University of Missouri has found evidence to contradict this speculation. It is the first study to test the effects of violent video games on aggression in adults with autism spectrum disorder. "If violent video games caused adults with autism spectrum disorder to behave aggressively, ...

Messages conveyed on websites may be more persuasive if theses websites are interactive, according to researchers. In a study, participants who visited an interactive antismoking website were more likely than controls to say that smoking was an unattractive behavior, and more likely to agree with the site's stance against smoking. "When interface features are perceived as natural, easy to use and intuitive, users will feel more focused and have more fun during browsing," said Jeeyun Oh, assistant professor of communications, Robert Morris University and former Penn ...

A group of plant invasion ecologists from University of Delhi, India have highlighted the need to disentangle the composition of the highly variable Lantana species complex in order to facilitate management efforts towards this highly invasive species. The study was published in the latest issue of the open access journal NeoBiota. The native range of L. camara is Central and South America; however it has become naturalized in around 60 tropical and sub-tropical countries worldwide. The plants from this species complex are highly invasive and often colonize previously ...

The efficient conversion of light into electricity plays a crucial role in many technologies, ranging from cameras to solar cells. It also forms an essential step in data communication applications, since it allows for information carried by light to be converted into electrical information that can be processed in electrical circuits. Graphene is an excellent material for ultrafast conversion of light to electrical signals, but so far it was not known how fast graphene responds to ultrashort flashes of light. ICFO researchers Klaas-Jan Tielrooij, Lukasz Piatkowski, Mathieu ...

Publicly funded labiaplasties in Australia and the United Kingdom have more than doubled over the last decade, leading experts will say tomorrow at the RCOG/RANZCOG World Congress in Brisbane, Australia. In the UK, the number of labial reduction procedures has risen five-fold in the NHS over the past 10 years, with over 2,000 operations performed in 2010. In Australia, statistics published in the Medical Journal of Australia in 2011 estimated that approximately 1,500 labiaplasty and vulvoplasty operations were performed in 2010. In a session dedicated to discussing ...

Women's human rights need to be addressed globally in order to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity, says RCOG Vice President, Professor Lesley Regan, in her lecture tomorrow at the joint RCOG/RANZCOG World Congress in Brisbane, Australia. Professor Regan's presentation 'Why mothers die: Women's human rights' focuses on the impact of human rights on women's reproductive health and the role of healthcare professionals in improving the status of women worldwide. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stated that all human beings are born free and equal ...

UC Davis scientists are leading three new research projects, recently funded with more than $5 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. These grants are part of USDA's $19 million effort to ensure the availability of a safe, nutritious and economically competitive food supply. Preventing cross-contamination in produce processing: One project will focus on preventing foodborne illnesses by developing and eventually commercializing new fresh-produce processing technologies and methods. The new systems will ...

As preparations are made to observe Holocaust Remembrance Day (Thursday, April 16), a new Bar-Ilan University study reveals that the adult children of Holocaust survivors are more preoccupied with the threat of a nuclear Iran than their peers whose parents are not Holocaust survivors. The study, entitled "Transmitting the Sum of All Fears: Iranian Nuclear Threat Salience Among Offspring of Holocaust Survivors" was published in a recent issue of Psychological Trauma, an American Psychological Association journal dedicated to the study of trauma and its aftermath. Study ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Exercise researchers have developed a new treadmill that automatically changes speed to match the pace of the runner. The automated treadmill uses sonar to tell exactly where the runner is on the treadmill. If the runner picks up pace and moves toward the front of the running belt, the speed automatically increases. If the runner slows down and moves toward the back, the speed decreases. The result is a treadmill experience that is much closer to walking or running outdoors, said Steven T. Devor, associate professor of kinesiology at The Ohio State ...

Returning to everyday life and resuming work in one's regular occupation are common goals of transplant patients, yet not all who undergo lung transplantation can go back to work. In an original article in Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2015; 112: 213-9), Hendrik Suhling and coauthors report the findings of the first study ever performed in Germany on the percentage of lung-transplant patients who resume employment after transplantation and the reasons that keep the others from going back to work. In a cross-sectional study, these researchers ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- The human immune system is poised to spring into action at the first sign of a foreign invader, but it often fails to eliminate tumors that arise from the body's own cells. Cancer biologists hope to harness that untapped power using an approach known as cancer immunotherapy. Orchestrating a successful immune attack against tumors has proven difficult so far, but a new study from MIT suggests that such therapies could be improved by simultaneously activating both arms of the immune system. Until now, most researchers have focused on one of two strategies: ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 14 - A new study from the Forsyth Institute is helping to shed more light on the important connection between the mouth and heart. According to research recently published online by the American Heart Association, scientists at Forsyth and Boston University have demonstrated that using an oral topical remedy to reduce inflammation associated with periodontitis, more commonly known as gum disease, also results in the prevention of vascular inflammation and can lower the risk of heart attack. This study is the first time researchers anywhere have ...

Phoenix, AZ (April 14, 2015) - Researchers have characterized three different brain imaging changes in individuals with Down syndrome, who are at very high risk for development of Alzheimer's disease, even before the onset of progressive memory and thinking problems. Their findings could help set the stage to evaluate promising treatments to slow down or prevent the onset of Alzheimer's symptoms in these individuals, according to a study published in Alzheimer's & Dementia. The scientists at Banner Sun Health Research Institute (BSHRI) and Banner Alzheimer's Institute ...

Composite materials used in aircraft wings and fuselages are typically manufactured in large, industrial-sized ovens: Multiple polymer layers are blasted with temperatures up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit, and solidified to form a solid, resilient material. Using this approach, considerable energy is required first to heat the oven, then the gas around it, and finally the actual composite. Aerospace engineers at MIT have now developed a carbon nanotube (CNT) film that can heat and solidify a composite without the need for massive ovens. When connected to an electrical power ...

WASHINGTON, DC - April 14, 2015 - A new study has demonstrated that genetically modified Salmonella can be used to kill cancer cells. The study is published in this week's issue of mBio, an American Society for Microbiology online-only, open access journal. "There has long been interest in using genetically engineered microbes to target and destroy cells within solid tumors. I think this study goes a significant way in developing some strategies that will help in the overall means of using Salmonella as part of a cancer therapy," said Roy Curtiss, III, PhD, who was involved ...

LOS ANGELES (EMBARGOED UNTIL 7 A.M. EDT on APRIL 14, 2015) - An injection of stem cells into the eye may soon slow or reverse the effects of early-stage age-related macular degeneration, according to new research from scientists at Cedars-Sinai. Currently, there is no treatment that slows the progression of the disease, which is the leading cause of vision loss in people over 65. "This is the first study to show preservation of vision after a single injection of adult-derived human cells into a rat model with age-related macular degeneration," said Shaomei Wang, MD, ...

Scientists at the University of Southampton have shown that higher muscle mass is strongly linked with healthier bone development in children. Researchers also found no relationship between fat mass and bone development, indicating it is not an important factor in childhood skeletal strength. A new study, published in the journal Bone, by researchers from the University's Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit shows a link between the amount of lean muscle and healthy bone development, indicated by the size, shape and density of limb bones, in children ...

Methane, a highly effective greenhouse gas, is usually produced by decomposition of organic material, a complex process involving bacteria and microbes. But there is another type of methane that can appear under specific circumstances: Abiotic methane is formed by chemical reactions in the oceanic crust beneath the seafloor. New findings show that deep water gas hydrates, icy substances in the sediments that trap huge amounts of the methane, can be a reservoir for abiotic methane. One such reservoir was recently discovered on the ultraslow spreading Knipovich ridge, ...

Researchers at Uppsala University have, together with researchers from Turku and Bergen, discovered a new biomarker which makes it possible to identify women with uterine cancer who have a high risk of recurrence. The findings were recently published in the journal Gynecologic Oncology. Endometrial cancer of the uterus is the most common form of gynecologic cancer in Europe and North America. The treatment primarily consists of removing the uterus and in some cases offering chemotherapy if the risk of recurrence is deemed high. The current study looks at the amount ...

Researchers at the University of Manchester and Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have published data for the first time about public knowledge of and interest in the process of medicines research and development. The study, which is part of the wider European Patients' Academy on Therapeutic Innovation (EUPATI) project, is believed to be the largest peer-reviewed survey of its kind and was published today in the BMJ Open. Medicines R&D describes the entire process of bringing a new medicine to patients - from laboratory studies to clinical ...

The seabed is inhabited by vast numbers of small animals with hidden lives in the sandy sediments. Here they play an important role in keeping the oceans healthy. But how these animals behave and interact with each other is unclear, as it is not possible to see them without disturbing the sediment. Researchers like Ph.D. Matthieu Delefosse would enjoy putting on a pair of X-ray glasses and study the sediment living animals without disturbing them. "We know bits and pieces of what these animals do through different measurements/experiments, but we do not have an integrated ...

Researchers at Genes and Cancer group at Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), led by Montse Sanchez-Cespedes, have identified the PARD3 gene as a tumor suppressor that is inactivated in lung cancer squamous type. The results of the study have been published in Cancer Research. Correct polarization (orientation in space) of bronchial epithelial cells is essential for the maintenance and proper development of this tissue under normal conditions. PARD3 gene encodes a protein that regulates cell polarization and cell junctions. When the gene is inactivated, ...

Scientists at the University of Sheffield calculate that all of the UK's high level nuclear waste from spent fuel reprocessing could be disposed of in just six boreholes 5km deep, fitting within a site no larger than a football pitch. The concept - called deep borehole disposal - has been developed primarily in the UK but is likely to see its first field trials in the USA next year. If the trials are successful, the USA hopes to dispose of its 'hottest' and most radioactive waste - left over from plutonium production and currently stored at Hanford in Washington State ...

Simply declaring a region as a nature protection area is not enough, regular monitoring of its ecological condition is also necessary. Since Nature protection areas already cover almost one fifth of the surface of the European Union, it is impossible to inspect such a vast area in the traditional way on foot. Therefore, new methods are being developed to monitor Europe's nature protection areas from the air. Short laser pulses are sent to the ground, and information on the status of the habitat can be deduced from the reflected light signals using elaborate computer algorithms. Laser ...