Depending on habitat availability, the endangered Indiana bat may be able to use its social connections to survive a certain amount of roost destruction, according to research by scientists at Virginia Tech and The Ohio State University. Alexander Silvis of Lynchburg, Ohio, and Andrew Kniowski of Boones Mill, Virginia, both doctoral students in Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources and Environment, made findings from Ohio State field studies highly visual by applying graphic and spatial approaches to the data. "Social dynamics are important to bat roosting behavior," ...

Virginia Tech entomologists have developed a chromosome map for about half of the genome of the mosquito Aedes agypti, the major carrier of dengue fever and yellow fever. With the map, researchers can compare the chromosome organization and evolution between this mosquito and the major carrier of malaria, the Anopheles gambiae mosquito, to find ways to prevent diseases. "Despite looking somewhat similar, these mosquitoes diverged from each other about 150 million years ago. So, they are genetically further apart than humans and elephants," said Maria Sharakhova, a ...

"Increased to levels unprecedented" is how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) described the rise of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions in their report on the physical science basis of climate change in 2013. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the atmospheric concentration of methane, a greenhouse gas some 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide has been steadily growing since the 18th century and has now increased by 50 percent compared to pre-industrial levels, exceeding 1,800 parts per billion. The EPA attributes ...

A 20-minute classroom assessment that is less subjective than traditional in-class evaluations by principals can reliably measure classroom instruction and predict student standardized test scores, a team of researchers researchers reported. The assessment also provides immediate and meaningful feedback making it an important new tool for understanding and improving instructional quality, according to psychologists from the University of Rochester and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Education researchers broadly agree that teachers matter," explained ...

Nice, France, 17 June 2014. The EHRA (European Heart Rhythm Association) White Book 2014 will be officially launched at the CARDIOSTIM EHRA EUROPACE 2014 congress which starts today in Nice, France. The White Book reports on the current status of arrhythmia treatment in 49 of the 56 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) member countries for the year 2013. The new White Book is published in electronic format only and will be distributed on a USB stick as well as being available on the EHRA website. As a new feature, the USB stick contains complete data also from the six ...

VIDEO: Participants were asked to look at an image with moving sections blurred, while performing a cognitive 'n-back' task. Click here for more information. Montreal, June 17, 2014 — From animated ads on Main Street to downtown intersections packed with pedestrians, the eyes of urban drivers have much to see. But while city streets have become increasingly crowded with distractions, our ability to process visual information has remained unchanged for millions of years. ...

(Edmonton) There was a time, back in Nancy Cheyne's youth, when she combined the poise and grace of a ballerina with the daring and grit of a barrel racer. When she wasn't pursuing either of those pastimes, she bred sheepdogs, often spending hours on her feet grooming her furry friends at dog shows. All that seems like a lifetime ago. After 15 years of living with chronic lower-back pain, Cheyne, 64, can't walk from the disabled parking stall to the elevator at work without stopping for a rest. She eats mostly junk food because it hurts too much to stand over the stove ...

In a further test of a novel theory that suggests autism is the consequence of abnormal cell communication, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that an almost century-old drug approved for treating sleeping sickness also restores normal cellular signaling in a mouse model of autism, reversing symptoms of the neurological disorder in animals that were the human biological age equivalent of 30 years old. The findings, published in the June 17, 2014 online issue of Translational Psychiatry, follow up on similar research published ...

A new approach to examining mammograms that takes into account a woman's health risk profile would reduce the number of cancer instances missed and also cut the number of false positives, according to a paper being presented at a conference of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). Mehmet U.S. Ayvaci of the University of Texas Dallas will present his research group's findings about the role of risk profiling in the interpretation of mammograms at Advances in Decision Analysis, a conference sponsored by the INFORMS Decision Analysis ...

Researchers from Emory's Rollins School of Public Health discovered that an increase in the protein that helps store dopamine, a critical brain chemical, led to enhanced dopamine neurotransmission and protection from a Parkinson's disease-related neurotoxin in mice. Dopamine and related neurotransmitters are stored in small storage packages called vesicles by the vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT2). When released from these packages dopamine can help regulate movement, pleasure, and emotional response. Low dopamine levels are associated with neurodegenerative diseases ...

(WASHINGTON, June 17, 2014) – New research, published online today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology, suggests that the diversity of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract of patients receiving stem cell transplants may be an important predictor of their post-transplant survival. A healthy gastrointestinal tract contains a balanced community of microorganisms (known as microbiota), largely comprised of "friendly" bacteria that aid digestion and are important to immune system function. When this community of microbes is compromised, the microbiota ...

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2014 — The summer weather is here, and if you've been out in the sun, you're probably craving some ice cream to cool off. In the American Chemical Society's latest Reactions video, American University Assistant Professor Matt Hartings, Ph.D., breaks down the chemistry of this favorite frozen treat, including what makes ice cream creamy or crunchy, and why it is so sweet. The video is available at http://youtu.be/-rlapUkWCSM INFORMATION: Subscribe to the series at Reactions YouTube, and follow us on Twitter @ACSreactions to be the first to see our ...

New research from the University of Kent suggests that recent high levels of media coverage for climate change may have deflected attention and funding from biodiversity loss. In a paper published by the journal Bioscience, Kent conservationists also recommend that, to prevent biodiversity from becoming a declining priority, conservationists need to leverage the importance of climate change to obtain more funds and draw attention to other research areas such as biodiversity conservation. For the study, the team conducted a content analysis of newspaper coverage in ...

Compared with humans, computers have the capacity to solve problems at much greater speed. There are many problems, however, where computational speed alone is insufficient to find a correct or optimal solution, for example because the parameter "space" cannot be fully searched in a practical time. In contrast, the human mind can formulate expert knowledge specific for particular problems, providing a capacity to guide more efficient searches, although with more limited processing speed. The power of the human contribution can be multiplied through the efforts of a greater ...

University of Adelaide research into the origins of ovarian cancer has led to the discovery of a genetic pathway that could slow the spread of the cancer. The discovery is in part due to research into the genetics of humans' most distant mammalian relative, the platypus. In a paper published today in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers characterize a genetic pathway – involving piRNA genes – that is turned on in ovarian cancer. "This pathway is important for the development of the ovaries in drosophila flies but little is known about its role in the mammalian ovary," ...

Imaging and mapping of electric fields at radio frequencies (RF)* currently requires the use of metallic structures such as dipoles, probes and reference antennas. To make such measurements efficiently, the size of these structures needs to be on the order of the wavelength of the RF fields to be mapped. This poses practical limitations on the smallest features that can be measured. New theoretical and experimental work by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Michigan suggests an innovative method to overcome ...

A study carried out at the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Eastern Finland shows that a common mutation in the PNPLA3 gene combined with overweight results in elevated ALAT values in children. The ALAT value is an indicator of liver metabolism. In adults, this gene mutation is known to promote the accumulation of fat in the liver. The new results indicate that a healthy lifestyle is important already in childhood in order to prevent the accumulation of fat in the liver, and it is especially important for those carrying the risk gene. The results will be published ...

June 17,2014- Fractures of the nose and other facial bones are a relatively common and potentially serious injury in soccer players, reports a Brazilian study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery—Global Open® , the official open-access medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). On the eve of the 2014 World Cup, a group of Brazilian plastic surgeons review their experience with soccer-related facial fractures requiring surgery. Dr. Dov Charles Goldenberg, MD, PhD, of University of São Paulo and colleagues write, "Due to exposure and the lack ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Even the smartest college students suffer academically when they use the Internet in class for non-academic purposes, finds new research by Michigan State University scholars. The study, funded by the National Science Foundation, speaks to typical lecture-hall culture in which professors compete for students' attention with laptops and smartphones. "Students of all intellectual abilities should be responsible for not letting themselves be distracted by use of the Internet," said Susan Ravizza, associate professor of psychology and lead investigator ...

A researcher with the Department of Electrodynamics of Complex Systems and Nanophotonics, Alexander Rozhkov, has presented theoretical calculations which indicate the possible existence of fermionic matter in apreviously unknown state – in the form ofaone-dimensional liquid, which cannot be described within the framework of existing models. Details are contained in Rozhkov's article in the journal Physical Review Letters, and are also available as a preprint at http://www.arxiv.org. Rozhkov explained that the one-dimensional liquid state of matter is not necessarily one ...

WASHINGTON - Middle- and upper-class elementary school students in Kentucky demonstrated worse academic performance when they were required to start classes early, compared to peers whose school day started later, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. Researchers led by Peggy S. Keller, PhD, of the University of Kentucky, theorized that earlier school start times would be associated with lower standardized test scores, poorer attendance, more students being left back, lower school rank and school underperformance. They also expected ...

[Boston, MA June 17, 2014]─ Sarcopenia – the significant loss of muscle mass and function that can occur as we age – is associated with many chronic conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity. In findings published online ahead of publication in the September 2014 issue of the FASEB Journal, researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University identify a muscle-building mechanism that could be important in addressing sarcopenia. When people strength train the body responds by making muscle. The researchers ...

HEIDELBERG, 17 June 2014 – A specific protein found in the bridge-like structures that make up part of the auditory machinery of the inner ear is essential for hearing. The absence of this protein or impairment of the gene that codes for this protein leads to profound deafness in mice and humans, respectively, reports a team of researchers in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine. "The goal of our study was to identify which isoform of protocadherin-15 forms the tip-links, the essential connections of the auditory mechanotransduction machinery within mature hair cells ...

June 17, 2014, Glenview, Illinois--The American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) announced today the Online First publication of Pharmacological Therapy for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Adults: CHEST Guideline in the journal CHEST. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a rare form of pulmonary hypertension, can strike anyone, but individuals with connective tissue diseases such as scleroderma, liver disease, or HIV infection, are more likely than the general population to have PAH. These new guidelines provide recommendations to help clinicians manage PAH using ...

Laboratory for the Spectroscopy of Planetary Atmospheres of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology has come up with a high-resolution meter to gauge the concentration of gases in the atmosphere with unparalleled precision. The infrared spectrum radiometer is described in an article recently published in the journal Optics Express. The paper, authored by Alexander Rodin, Artem Klimchuk, Alexander Nadezhdinsky, Dmitry Churbanov and Maxim Spiridonov, says that the new spectrum radiometer is 100 times more precise than the best available near-infrared spectrometers, ...