The day will officially be a bit longer than usual on Tuesday, June 30, 2015, because an extra second, or "leap" second, will be added. "Earth's rotation is gradually slowing down a bit, so leap seconds are a way to account for that," said Daniel MacMillan of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Strictly speaking, a day lasts 86,400 seconds. That is the case, according to the time standard that people use in their daily lives -- Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC. UTC is "atomic time" -- the duration of one second is based on extremely predictable electromagnetic ...

City College of New York researchers led by chemist George John have developed an eco-friendly biodegradable green "herding" agent that can be used to clean up light crude oil spills on water. Derived from the plant-based small molecule phytol abundant in the marine environment, the new substance would potentially replace chemical herders currently in use. According to John, professor of chemistry in City College's Division of Science, "the best known chemical herders are chemically stable, non-biodegradable, and hence remain in the marine ecosystem for years." "Our ...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Low flu vaccination rates, medication compliance and limited access to primary care providers have contributed to the high pediatric asthma rates in California, say UC Davis pediatricians Ulfat Shaikh and Robert Byrd, who have published an extensive study describing the challenges faced by children with asthma in California. Analyzing data from the 2011-12 California Health Interview Survey, the study details several issues affecting asthma care and offers a number of public policy strategies that could help remedy these shortcomings. The research ...

Research led by Michigan State University could someday lead to the development of new and improved semiconductors. In a paper published in the journal Science Advances, the scientists detailed how they developed a method to change the electronic properties of materials in a way that will more easily allow an electrical current to pass through. The electrical properties of semiconductors depend on the nature of trace impurities, known as dopants, which when added appropriately to the material will allow for the designing of more efficient solid-state electronics. The ...

Athens, Ga. -- Despite heavy development, the U.S. still has millions of acres of pristine wild lands. Coveted for their beauty, these wilderness areas draw innumerable outdoor enthusiasts eager for a taste of primitive nature. But University of Georgia researchers say these federally protected nature areas have a problem: Their boundaries have become prime real estate. As the country's population continues to grow, people have built homes close to national parks, forests and wilderness areas for the same reasons these systems have been left protected from development. ...

Baltimore, June 26 -- The flu virus can be lethal. But what is often just as dangerous is the body's own reaction to the invader. This immune response consists of an inflammatory attack, meant to kill the virus. But if it gets too aggressive, this counterattack can end up harming the body's own tissues, causing damage that can lead to death. Now, a University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) researcher has for the first time uncovered new details about how this response plays out. Furthermore, he has identified a "decoy" molecule that can rein in this runaway inflammatory ...

When the new iPhone came out, customers complained that it could be bent -- but what if you could roll up your too big 6 Plus to actually fit in your pocket? That technology might be available sooner than you think, based on the work of USC Viterbi engineers. For many decades, silicon has been the heart of modern electronics -- but as a material, it has its limits. As our devices get smaller and smaller, the basic unit of these devices, a transistor, must also get tinier and tinier. Bottom line: the size of the silicon transistor is reaching its physical limit. As silicon ...

Toxic environmental contaminants are increasingly known to cause a number of severe health problems, in particular on fetuses, including heart failure, low cognitive ability, delayed development, and neurobehavioral disorders. A new research featured in the Environmental Science and Technology published by the American Chemical Society suggests that the fetus is more vulnerable to some pollutants with certain properties because they penetrate further into the feto-maternal system. The research found that distributions of pollutants and the mechanisms of distributions ...

Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a self-regulating loop in the Hippo pathway, a signaling channel garnering increased attention from cancer researchers due to its role in controlling organ size, cell proliferation and cell death. The finding, published June 26 online in the journal Genes & Development, provides new insights about how the Hippo pathway maintains cellular balance, a subject of growing interest since its malfunction can lead to uncontrolled cell growth and inhibition of cell death - two hallmarks of cancer. ...

Nashville, Tenn., June 26, 2015--Daily bathing of pediatric patients with disposable cloths containing 2 percent chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) reduced central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) by 59 percent and saved approximately $300,000 in one hospital over a six-month period, according to a new study. The study, to be presented on Saturday, June 27, at the 42nd Annual Conference of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), examined the impact of implementing a daily CHG bathing protocol for all pediatric patients ...

New research reveals that it only takes two weeks of not using their legs for young people to lose a third of their muscular strength, leaving them on par with a person who is 40-50 years their senior. The Center for Healthy Aging and the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen conducted the research. Time and again, we are told that we need to stay physically active and exercise daily. But how quickly do we actually lose our muscular strength and muscle mass if we go from being averagely active to being highly inactive? For example when we are ...

Scientists at Newcastle University have documented for the first time the DNA damage which can occur to skin across the full range of ultraviolet radiation from the sun providing an invaluable tool for sun-protection and the manufacturers of sunscreen. Testing on human skin cell lines, this study published today in The Society for Investigative Dermatology, documents the action spectrum of ultraviolet damage in cells derived from both the upper layer (dermis) and lower layer (epidermis) of the skin. This will allow manufacturers of sunscreen to develop and test products ...

A watershed is a basic unit of the land-surface system and also is a system that exchanges material, energy, and information with the external world while remaining relatively closed within a clear boundary, thereby making it the best unit for theory study and practical applications. Watershed science is an Earth system science practiced on a watershed scale and it has developed rapidly over the previous two decades. The goal of watershed science is to understand and predict the behavior of complex watershed systems and support the sustainable development of watersheds. ...

Food allergies now impacting children of all races and incomes Hispanic children have highest rise in emergency visits for food allergies Peanut and tree nuts followed by milk reactions were the most frequent cause of visits CHICAGO --- Emergency room visits and hospitalizations of children with severe, potentially life-threatening food allergy reactions increased nearly 30 percent in Illinois over five years, reports a Northwestern Medicine study. Hispanic children, who previously had the lowest reported cases of food allergies, had the biggest increase of emergency ...

A simple new computerised game could help people control their snacking impulses and lose weight. Psychologists at the University of Exeter and Cardiff University have today published a study that shows that participants lost an average of 0.7kg and consumed around 220 fewer calories a day whilst undergoing the week of training. With 64% of adults in the UK overweight or obese, the research opens up exciting possibilities that 'brain training' techniques specifically targeting problematic behaviours - such as overeating and drinking alcohol - might help people to take ...

A federal preschool program did more than improve educational opportunities for poor children in Mississippi during the 1960s. The program also gave a political and economic boost to the state's civil rights activists, according to a Penn State historian. A key provision of the federal Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which paved the way for several federal anti-poverty programs, was aimed at empowering the poor and sidestepping black disenfranchisement in the south, according to Crystal Sanders, an assistant professor of history and African American studies. Sanders ...

A new test can accurately diagnose Ebola virus disease within minutes, providing clinicians with crucial information for treating patients and containing outbreaks. Researchers from Harvard Medical School, Partners In Health and Boston Children's Hospital have shown that a new commercially developed rapid diagnostic test performed at bedside was as sensitive as the conventional laboratory-based method used for clinical testing during the recent outbreak in Sierra Leone. The results are published in The Lancet. While the West African Ebola epidemic has slowed since its ...

The class of antidepressants known as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), taken to curb menopausal symptoms, may boost bone fracture risk, suggests research published online in the journal Injury Prevention. The heightened risk seems to last for several years, the findings show, prompting the researchers to suggest that shorter treatment length may be preferable. Further studies are warranted to see if the same association is found at lower doses of these drugs, they say. SSRIs have become the third most frequently prescribed class of drug in the US, and ...

Recent changes to regulations on the transport of pets across Europe may have increased the threat of introducing rabies from rescue dogs into countries considered free of the disease, suggests research published in Veterinary Record. In 2012 the European Union (EU) changed its requirements for the non-commercial movement of cats, dogs, and ferrets across the borders of EU and European Economic Area countries. Up to that point, countries free of rabies virus - the UK, Ireland, Malta, Sweden and Norway - had required an additional blood test to be carried out a month ...

Women in developed countries still find it very difficult to get an abortion in early pregnancy, despite facing fewer legal constraints than in other parts of the world, concludes an analysis of the available evidence, published in the Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care. Inadequate local service provision, negative attitudes towards abortion, and too few training opportunities for healthcare professionals all hinder access, say the researchers. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that for every 100 live births in the developed world, there ...

Proposed amendments to India's abortion law are "contradictory" and need "urgent redrafting" to prevent women from making ill informed decisions and risking their lives with illegal terminations, writes a senior doctor in The BMJ this week. Nikhil Datar, a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at Cloudnine Group of hospitals & Lifewave Hospital in Mumbai, explains that India legalised abortion in 1971 by passing the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MPT) Act. This allows termination of pregnancy until only 20 weeks' gestation. Except for when a woman's life is at ...

A new test can accurately predict within minutes if an individual has Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), according to new research published in The Lancet. The study is the first to show that a point-of-care EVD test (ReEBOV Antigen Rapid Test; Corgenix) is faster than and as sensitive as a conventional laboratory-based molecular method used for clinical testing during the recent outbreak in Sierra Leone. This new rapid diagnostic test (RDT) could cut back on the lengthy process usually required to confirm if a patient has EVD, help identify case contacts, and ultimately curb ...

Washington, DC (June 25, 2015) -- Experts have identified strategies for using electronic health records to improve care for patients with chronic kidney disease. The guidance, which will appear in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), may help clinicians and hospitals better manage individual patients with chronic conditions and identify groups of patients most likely to benefit from different treatment strategies. Well-designed electronic health records (EHRs) can help clinicians monitor and care for patients with long-term ...

Schizophrenia, which affects 2 million to 3 million people in the U.S., causes hallucinations, delusions and disorganization. Left untreated, the disease can cause a significant loss in quality of life, including unemployment and estrangement from loved ones. But many people with schizophrenia can control the disorder and live without symptoms for several years if they consistently take prescribed antipsychotic medication, typically a daily pill. The problem is that many people don't continue taking their medication once their symptoms improve. Now, a UCLA study has ...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jun. 26, 2015) -- Researchers at the University of Kentucky's Sanders-Brown Center on Aging have completed a study that revealed differences in the way brain inflammation -- considered a key component of AD-- is expressed in different subsets of patients, in particular people with Down syndrome (DS) and AD. People with Down syndrome have a third copy of Chromosome 21, and that chromosome is the same one responsible for the production of a molecule called amyloid precursor protein. Amyloid overproduction can lead to brain plaques that are a cardinal feature ...