ITHACA, N.Y. – To solve a mental puzzle, the brain's executive control network for externally focused, goal-oriented thinking must activate, while the network for internally directed thinking like daydreaming must be turned down to avoid interference – or so we thought. New research led by Cornell University neuroscientist Nathan Spreng shows for the first time that engaging brain areas linked to so-called "off-task" mental activities (such as mind-wandering and reminiscing) can actually boost performance on some challenging mental tasks. The results advance ...

Researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering have broken new ground in the development of proteins that form specialized fibers used in medicine and nanotechnology. For as long as scientists have been able to create new proteins that are capable of self-assembling into fibers, their work has taken place on the nanoscale. For the first time, this achievement has been realized on the microscale—a leap of magnitude in size that presents significant new opportunities for using engineered protein fibers. Jin Kim Montclare, an associate professor ...

In this image taken by the Aqua satellite of the southern United States actively burning areas as detected by MODIS's thermal bands are outlined in red. Each red hot spot is an area where the thermal detectors on the MODIS instrument recognized temperatures higher than background. When accompanied by plumes of smoke, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic for fire. These fires are a combination of small wildfires and prescribed fires. On the U.S. Forest Service website a prescribed fire is set to reduce tree overcrowding, revive fire-dependent species and reduce ...

Despite a dramatic increase in public awareness and anti-bullying legislation nationwide, the prevalence of bullying is still one of the most pressing issues facing our nation's youth, according to a report by researchers from Clemson University and Professional Data Analysts Inc., and published by the Hazelden Foundation. "Bullying continues to affect a great number of children in all age groups, with the highest prevalence observed in third and fourth grades, where roughly 22 percent of schoolchildren report that they are bullied two or three times or more per month," ...

A new test, developed by University of British Columbia researchers, could help physicians predict within an hour if a patient will develop severe sepsis so they can begin treatment immediately. Sepsis, a syndrome caused by infection, leads to organ failure and is responsible for up to five million deaths annually. There are 18 million cases of sepsis worldwide every year. The discovery could cut back on the lengthy diagnostic time usually required to confirm if a patient is suffering from sepsis and increase the odds that they will respond to treatment. "We identified ...

Scientists have found a molecule that could potentially accelerate clinical trials to combat autoimmune diseases. Researchers from the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash University and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Italy believe the molecule, called insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), could play a key role. Autoimmune diseases occur when a group of immune cells called pro-inflammatory T-effector cells become sensitised to specific cells in the body, identifying them as foreign and attacking them as if they were invading ...

Sediments associated with dredging and flood plumes could have a significant impact on fish populations by extending the time required for the development of their larvae, according to Australian researchers. "Sediment concentrations at levels found in plumes from dredging or in floods cause a significant delay in the development of clownfish larvae," says study lead author, Dr Amelia Wenger, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) at James Cook University. "This in turn could significantly reduce the numbers of larvae competent to settle ...

Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) from Cape Verde start their life with a swimming sprint and a ride on favourable ocean currents. In this way, they escape quickly from predator-rich coastal areas and make their way to the safer open ocean where they spend several years feeding and growing. In this study, tiny acoustic transmitters provided direct insight into these pathways for the first time. "Thanks to the new technology we can start to fill in key information gaps about the so-called 'lost years' Dr. Rebecca Scott states. Funded by the Kiel Cluster of Excellence ...

From basketball to handball, rugby to American football, teams in a variety of sports huddle together to agree tactics in secret. Cells, too, can huddle to communicate within a restricted group, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have found. The study, published today in Nature, is the first demonstration that the way cells organise themselves influences their ability to communicate. The researchers propose that this strategy, which they discovered in developing zebrafish, could be much more widespread, influencing processes ...

Successful techniques for cryopreserving bulk biomaterials and organ systems would transform current approaches to transplantation and regenerative medicine. However, while vitrified cryopreservation holds great promise, practical application has been limited to smaller systems (cells and thin tissues) due to diffusive heat and mass transfer limitations, which are typically manifested as devitrification and cracking failures during thaw. Here we leverage a clinically proven technology platform, in magnetically heated nanoparticles, to overcome this major hurdle limiting ...

Narrowband or hyperspectral imaging is a valuable technique used in planetary science for characterizing surfaces and surrounding environments. For example, it can be used to spatially map molecular species of interest on the surface of a solid or icy body, or to sound to different depths in a giant planet atmosphere. However, conducting narrowband or hyperspectral imaging of solar system targets from a balloon-borne platform presents several technical challenges, including mechanical failures and power requirements. These risks can be mitigated with the use of an electronically ...

Amsterdam, October 23, 2014 - Herbal medicines such as licorice, Indian rennet and opium poppy, are at risk of contamination with toxic mould, according to a new study published in Fungal Biology. The authors of the study, from the University of Peshawar, Pakistan say it's time for regulators to control mould contamination. An estimated 64% of people use medicinal plants to treat illnesses and relieve pain. The herbal medicine market is worth $60 billion globally, and growing fast. Despite the increasing popularity of herbal medicine, the sale of medicinal plants is mostly ...

Needham, MA.–JBJS Case Connector, an online case journal published by the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, has issued a "Watch" regarding concerns over flexible reamer breakage during anatomic single-bundle ACL reconstruction. Flexible reamers help surgeons achieve optimal femoral-tunnel parameters, but they are prone to breakage in certain situations, as the "Watch" article explains. This "Watch" is based largely on a report published in the October 22, 2014 issue of JBJS Case Connector by Lee, et al., examining two cases of single-bundle anatomic ACL reconstruction ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Pay attention to the implication of these new research results: People who pay more attention to their feelings and experiences tend to have better cardiovascular health. As noted more precisely in a new study in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, researchers at Brown University found a significant association between self-reported "dispositional mindfulness" and better scores on four of seven cardiovascular health indicators, as well as a composite overall health score. Dispositional mindfulness is defined as ...

A study led by the researcher at the Institute of Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), Isabel Fabregat, could serve to select patients with hepatocellular carcinoma unresponsive to most frequently used drug in liver cancer: sorafenib. The study, published in the International Journal of Cancer describes how tumor cells that have a less differentiated phenotype (mesenchymal) and expresses CD44, do not respond to Sorafenib action. Difficult treatment Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the cancers with the worst prognosis and more difficult treatment. Surgery is only possible ...

This news release is available in German. Bio-engineers are working on the development of biological computers with the aim of designing small circuits made from biological material that can be integrated into cells to change their functions. In the future, such developments could enable cancer cells to be reprogrammed, thereby preventing them from dividing at an uncontrollable rate. Stem cells could likewise be reprogrammed into differentiated organ cells. The researchers have not progressed that far yet. Although they have spent the past 20 years developing individual ...

Scientists at the University of Manchester, King's College London and the University of Liverpool have found that an infant's preference for a person's face, rather than an object, is associated with lower levels of callous and unemotional behaviors in toddlerhood. The study, which was published in Biological Psychiatry, assessed if 213 five-week-old infants spent longer tracking a person's face compared to an inanimate object – in this case a red ball. The researchers showed that greater tracking of the face relative to the ball was linked to lower callous unemotional ...

This news release is available in Spanish. Martín Olazar, a UPV/EHU chemical engineer, has designed a fundamental process for producing alternatives to petroleum in sustainable refineries. As Olazar himself pointed out, one of the unavoidable conditions of the process is not to harm the environment. This researcher has developed a reactor based on conical spouted beds which, by means of flash or rapid pyrolysis, produces fuels and raw materials using various types of waste. Olazar has developed two lines, depending on the type of waste: one uses biomass; the ...

The average U.S. doctor spends 16.6 percent of his or her working hours on non-patient-related paperwork, time that might otherwise be spent caring for patients. And the more time doctors spend on such bureaucratic tasks, the unhappier they are about having chosen medicine as a career. These are some of the findings of a nationwide study by Drs. Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein, internists in the South Bronx who serve as professors of public health at the City University of New York and lecturers in medicine at Harvard Medical School. The study was published ...

MANHATTAN, Kansas — Football teams are claiming it improves their athletic performance, and according to new research from Kansas State University, it also benefits heart failure patients. The special ingredient: beetroot. Recently, the Auburn University football team revealed its pregame ritual of taking beetroot concentrate, or beet juice, before each game. The juice may have contributed to the team's recent winning season — and one exercise physiologist who has been studying the supplement for several years says that may be the case. "Our research, published ...

Scientists have identified 181 California dams that may need to increase water flows to protect native fish downstream. The screening tool developed by the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis, to select "high-priority" dams may be particularly useful during drought years amid competing demands for water. "It is unpopular in many circles to talk about providing more water for fish during this drought, but to the extent we care about not driving native fish to extinction, we need a strategy to keep our rivers flowing below dams," said lead ...

Future prevention and treatment strategies for vascular diseases may lie in the evaluation of early brain imaging tests long before heart attacks or strokes occur, according to a systematic review conducted by a team of cardiologists, neuroscientists, and psychiatrists from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published in the October issue of JACC Cardiovascular Imaging. For the review, Mount Sinai researchers examined all relevant brain imaging studies conducted over the last 33 years. They looked at studies that used every available brain imaging modality in ...

No-till farming, a key conservation agriculture strategy that avoids conventional plowing and otherwise disturbing the soil, may not bring a hoped-for boost in crop yields in much of the world, according to an extensive new meta-analysis by an international team led by the University of California, Davis. As the core principle of conservation agriculture, no-till has been promoted worldwide in an effort to sustainably meet global food demand. But after examining results from 610 peer-reviewed studies, the researchers found that no-till often leads to yield declines compared ...

University of Southampton scientists have designed a new experiment to test the foundations of quantum mechanics at the large scale. Standard quantum theory places no limit on particle size and current experiments use larger and larger particles, which exhibit wave-like behaviour. However, at these masses experiments begin to probe extensions to standard quantum mechanics, which describe the apparent quantum-to-classical transition. Now, Southampton researchers, with colleagues from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, have designed a new type of experiment ...

Vedolizumab (trade name Entyvio) has been approved since May 2014 for patients with moderately to severely active Crohn disease or ulcerative colitis. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether the drug offers an added benefit over the appropriate comparator therapy in these patient groups. According to the findings, such an added benefit is not proven because the dossier contained no suitable data for any of the two ...