As a kind of ground-based optical astrometric instrument, zenith telescope observes stars near zenith, which substantially reduces the influence of normal atmospheric refraction. Its high-precision observations can be used to calculate astronomical latitude and longitude, which are mainly applied in mobile measurement for deflection of the vertical, long-term measurement for the variations of the vertical, and related researches of astronomical seismology. Utilizing CCD camera, high-precision tiltmeter and other new technologies and devices, Chinese researchers have successfully ...

Astronomers using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory have produced a spectacular image revealing new details of violent collisions involving at least four clusters of galaxies. Combined with an earlier image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the new observations show a complex region more than 5 billion light-years from Earth where the collisions are triggering a host of phenomena that scientists still are working to understand. The HST image forms the background of this composite, with the X-ray emission detected by Chandra ...

PHILADELPHIA (June 2, 2014) – A new study from researchers at Drexel University adds evidence that using common antidepressant medications during pregnancy may contribute to a higher risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children, although this risk is still very small. Results from past studies of prenatal use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and ASD risk have not been consistent. An ongoing challenge in this line of research is trying to tease apart potential effects of the medication on risk from the effects associated with the condition for ...

The Gobi-Steppe Ecosystem is world renowned for its populations of migratory ungulates, which cover great distances in search of forage. Researchers at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology at Vetmeduni Vienna have documented, that in just one year an individual wild ass can range over an area of 70,000 km2. "Wild asses and gazelles have to be permanently on the move and travel very long distances to find enough food. Rainfall is highly variable in this region. As a consequence pastures are patchy and unpredictable in space and time," explains Petra Kaczensky, one ...

VIDEO: This is a movie illustrating the lack of lymphatic flow in the lower leg of a subject with lymphedema. Click here for more information. WASHINGTON, June 3, 2014—The human lymphatic system is an important but poorly understood circulatory system consisting of tiny vessels spread throughout the body. This "drainage" network helps guard against infections and prevents swelling, which occasionally happens when disease or trauma interrupts normal lymphatic function. Chronic ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Despite playing a more important role in the wake of 9/11, the security guard industry remains plagued by inadequate training and standards in many states, indicates new research by Michigan State University criminologists. Formal training of the nation's 1 million-plus private security officers is widely neglected, a surprising finding when contrasted with other private occupations such as paramedics, childcare workers and even cosmetologists, said Mahesh Nalla, lead investigator and MSU professor of criminal justice. By and large, security ...

The balancing strategy to lateral impact in a rat is closely related to the striked position of the body. The research result can be inspired to improve the robustness of bionic robot. This was found by Dr. JI Aihong and his group from Institute of Bio-inspired Structure and Surface Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. This work, entitled "Balancing strategy to lateral impact in a rat Rattus norregicus", was published in Chinese Science Bulletin (In Chinese)，2014, Vol 59(13) issue. The center of mass(COM) of animal's body always falls ...

The big data era bring the confusions, challenges and opportunities to the modeling and simulation field tightly associated with big data. The Chinese Association for System Simulation undertook the 81st new ideas and new theories academic salon of China Association for Science and Technology. This salon, directed by Li Bohu (academician of Chinese Academy of Science) and Hu Xiaofeng (professor of National Defense University, PLA) as the leading scientists, called about 20 specialists and scholars from all the country together. They deeply investigated big data from different ...

WHAT: By analyzing the blood of almost 100 treated and untreated HIV-infected volunteers, a team of scientists has identified previously unknown characteristics of B cells in the context of HIV infection. B cells are the immune system cells that make antibodies to HIV and other pathogens. The findings augment the current understanding of how HIV disease develops and have implications for the timing of treatment. Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, led the study. Using advanced tools to probe ...

ROSEMONT, Ill.—In the past 13 years, nearly 2,000 veterans returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with injuries requiring amputations; 14 percent of those injured veterans required upper extremity amputations. To treat veterans with upper extremity amputations, scientists continue to pursue research and development of bionic arms and hands with full motor and sensory function. An article appearing in the June issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS) reviews the recent advancements in upper extremity bionics and the challenges that remain ...

CHICAGO – The primary cause of death from breast cancer is the spread of tumor cells from the breast to other organs in the body. Northwestern Medicine® scientists have discovered a new pathway that can stop breast cancer cells from spreading. Working with human breast cancer cells and mouse models of breast cancer, scientists identified a new protein that plays a key role in reprogramming cancer cells to migrate and invade other organs. When that protein is removed from cancer cells in mice, the ability of the cells to metastasize to the lung is dramatically decreased. The ...

WOODS HOLE, Mass.— As forests age, their ability to grow decreases, a new study by Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) scientists and colleagues has determined. Since most U.S. forests are maturing from regeneration that began about 100 years ago when extensive clear-cutting occurred, the study suggests the future growth of U.S. forests will decline. "All forests are in succession: They get old, die (due to fire, insects, hurricane, etc.), and regenerate. This paper improves on a fundamental theory in ecosystem development: How a forest evolves over time. It demonstrates ...

The number of emerging economy nations with policies in place to support the expansion of renewable energy has surged more than six-fold in just eight years, from 15 developing countries in 2005 to 95 early this year. Those 95 developing nations today make up the vast majority of the 144 countries with renewable energy support policies and targets in place, says REN21's Renewables 2014 Global Status Report. And the rise of developing world support contrasts with declining support and renewables policy uncertainty and even retroactive support reductions in some European ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Tweaking a protein expressed by most liver cancer cells has enabled scientists to make a vaccine that is exceedingly effective at preventing the disease in mice. Alpha-Fetoprotein, or AFP – normally expressed during development and by liver cancer cells as well – has escaped attack in previous vaccine iterations because the body recognizes it as "self," said Dr. Yukai He, immunologist at the Medical College of Georgia and Georgia Regents University Cancer Center. Liver cancer is among the fastest-growing and deadliest cancers in the United States with ...

Spider silk transmits vibrations across a wide range of frequencies so that, when plucked like a guitar string, its sound carries information about prey, mates, and even the structural integrity of a web. The discovery was made by researchers from the Universities of Oxford, Strathclyde, and Sheffield who fired bullets and lasers at spider silk to study how it vibrates. They found that, uniquely, when compared to other materials, spider silk can be tuned to a wide range of harmonics. The findings, to be reported in the journal Advanced Materials, not only reveal more ...

Scientists have shown how a lung cancer patient's blood sample could be used to monitor and predict their response to treatment – paving the way for personalised medicine for the disease. The recent study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, also offers a method to test new therapies in the lab and to better understand how tumours become resistant to drugs. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive disease with poor survival and new treatments are desperately needed. In many cases the tumour is inoperable and biopsies are difficult to obtain, giving scientists ...

A study by scientists in Manchester has shown how melanoma drugs can cause the cancer to progress once a patient has stopped responding to treatment. Their findings suggest that using a combination of targeted therapies may be a more effective approach in the clinic. Melanoma is a form of cancer that develops from melanocytes – the pigment-producing cells in skin. Advanced metastatic melanoma – where the cancer has spread throughout the body – is associated with poor survival, so new treatments are urgently needed. In about 50% of melanoma cases, the tumour contains ...

There are only around 500 North Atlantic right whales alive today. In an effort to further protect these critically endangered animals, a recent NOAA regulation required large vessels to reduce speed in areas seasonally occupied by the whales. The policy of notifying--but not necessarily citing--speeding vessels in protected areas was effective in lowering their speeds, helping to protect these magnificent creatures from ship collisions, while keeping punitive fines to mariners to a minimum. A NOAA regulation, instituted in December 2008, requires vessels 65 feet or greater ...

Developing therapies for kidney disease can be made faster by adopting a new, more sensitive definition of kidney disease progression, according to a study published by JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association Congress. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a worldwide public health problem, with increasing prevalence, poor outcomes, and high treatment cost. Yet, despite the avail¬ability of simple laboratory tests to identify people with earlier stages of ...

(NEW YORK, NY, June 3, 2014) – Millions of Americans depend on home health care services to recover from surgeries and hospital stays, as well as to manage daily life with chronic conditions. But all too often, evidence-based practices for preventing infections aren't followed when care is provided at home, leaving patients vulnerable to serious and potentially fatal complications. A study by researchers at Columbia University School of Nursing, published in the American Journal of Infection Control, found that unsterile living conditions and untrained caregivers contribute ...

As far back as 1948, Erwin Schrödinger—the inventor of modern quantum mechanics—published the book "What is life?" In it, he suggested that quantum mechanics and coherent ringing might be at the basis of all biochemical reactions. At the time, this idea never found wide acceptance because it was generally assumed that vibrations in protein molecules would be too rapidly damped. Now, scientists at the University of Glasgow have proven he was on the right track after all. Using modern laser spectroscopy, the scientists have been able to measure the vibrational spectrum ...

Researchers at King's College London have discovered how a molecular 'scaffold' which allows key parts of cells to interact, comes apart in dementia and motor neuron disease, revealing a potential new target for drug discovery. The study, published today in Nature Communications, was funded by the UK Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, Alzheimer's Research UK and the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Researchers looked at two components of cells: mitochondria, the cell 'power houses' which produce energy for the cell; and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) which ...

Controlling the flow of heat through materials is important for many technologies. While materials with high and low thermal conductivities are available, materials with variable and reversible thermal conductivities are rare, and other than high pressure experiments, only small reversible modulations in thermal conductivities have been reported. For the first time, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have experimentally shown that the thermal conductivity of lithium cobalt oxide (LixCoO2), an important material for electrochemical energy storage, ...

Scientists from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) and the Spanish National Cardiovascular Research Centre (CNIC) have been able to reproduce, for the first time in human cells, chromosomal translocations associated with two types of cancer: acute myeloid leukaemia and Ewing's sarcoma. The discovery, published today in the journal Nature Communications, opens the door to the development of new therapeutic targets to fight these types of cancer. The study was carried out by Sandra Rodriguez-Perales − from CNIO's Molecular Cytogenetics Group, led ...

Scientists from the University of Cambridge and the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark have discovered that children who later develop autism are exposed to elevated levels of steroid hormones (for example testosterone, progesterone and cortisol) in the womb. The finding may help explain why autism is more common in males than females, but should not be used to screen for the condition. Funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), the results are published today in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. The team, led by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and Dr ...