To quote the American cartoonist Gary Larson: all things play a role in nature, even the lowly worm—but perhaps never in such a visually stunning way as that presented in two papers published today in the open access journals GigaScience and PLOS ONE. The work and data presented here provide the first-ever comparative study of earthworm morphology and anatomy using a 3D non-invasive imaging technique called micro-computed tomography (or microCT), which digitizes worm structures. This opens the possibility of scanning millions of specimens from museum collections, including ...

Targeting microbial translocation attenuates SIV-mediated inflammation Patients with HIV often present with signs of immune activation and systemic inflammation, both of which are hypothesized to directly contribute to the development of AIDs in infected individuals. HIV and the related simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) damage the gut mucosa, leading to translocation of microbes from the intestinal lumen to the general circulation, but it is not clear if microbial translocation is directly responsible for chronic HIV-associated inflammation. In this issue of the Journal ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – People who inject drugs and are enrolled in a drug treatment program are receptive to education about, and treatment for, hepatitis C virus, according to a study by researchers at several institutions, including the University at Buffalo. That finding, published online this week in the Journal of Addiction Medicine will be welcome news to health care providers. The paper notes that injection drug use is a primary mode of infection, making for an HCV infection prevalence as high as 80 percent among people who inject drugs. "One of the most important findings ...

DURHAM, N.C. – When it comes to treating kidney stones, less invasive may not always be better, according to new research from Duke Medicine. In a direct comparison of shock wave lithotripsy vs. ureteroscopy – the two predominant methods of removing kidney stones – researchers found that ureteroscopy resulted in fewer repeat treatments. The findings were published May 16, 2014, in the journal JAMA Surgery, coinciding with presentation at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association. "Nearly one out of 11 people in the United States has kidney stones, ...

Coral Gables, Fla. (May 16, 2014) – Can psychological intervention help women adapt to the stresses of breast cancer? It appears that a brief, five-week psychological intervention can have beneficial effects for women who are dealing with the stresses of breast cancer diagnosis and surgery. Intervening during this early period after surgery may reduce women's distress and providing cognitive or relaxation skills for stress management to help them adapt to treatment. Researchers at the University of Miami recruited 183 breast cancer patients from surgical oncology clinics ...

Researchers at The University of Akron are again spinning inspiration from spider silk—this time to create more efficient and stronger commercial and biomedical adhesives that could, for example, potentially attach tendons to bones or bind fractures. The Akron scientists created synthetic duplicates of the super-sticky, silk "attachment discs" that spiders use to attach their webs to surfaces. These discs are created when spiders pin down an underlying thread of silk with additional threads, like stiches or staples, explains Ali Dhinojwala, UA's H. A. Morton professor ...

This news release is available in German. Which circuits and chips are suitable for building artificial brains using the least possible amount of power? This is the question that Junior Professor Dr. Elisabetta Chicca from the Center of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) has been investigating in collaboration with colleagues from Italy and Switzerland. Their surprising finding: Constructions that use not only digital but also analog compact and imprecise circuits are more suitable for building artificial nervous systems, rather than arrangements ...

Graphene continues to reign as the next potential superstar material for the electronics industry, a slimmer, stronger and much faster electron conductor than silicon. With no natural energy band-gap, however, graphene's superfast conductance can't be switched off, a serious drawback for transistors and other electronic devices. Various techniques have been deployed to overcome this problem with one of the most promising being the integration of ultrathin layers of graphene and boron nitride into two-dimensional heterostructures. As conductors, these bilayered hybrids ...

Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital have a potential solution for how to more effectively kill tumor cells using cancer-killing viruses. The investigators report that trapping virus-loaded stem cells in a gel and applying them to tumors significantly improved survival in mice with glioblastoma multiforme, the most common brain tumor in human adults and also the most difficult to treat. The work, led by Khalid Shah, MS, PhD, an HSCI Principal Faculty member, is published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Shah heads ...

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ – May 16, 2014 – PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTCT) today announced that the results of a Phase 3 study of ataluren in patients with nonsense mutation cystic fibrosis (nmCF) were published in Lancet Respiratory Medicine. The results demonstrated positive trends in both the primary endpoint, lung function as measured by relative change in % predicted FEV1 (forced expiratory volume in one second) and in the secondary outcome measure, rate of pulmonary exacerbations. The collective data from this trial, including retrospective and subgroup analyses ...

Over the past three years, researchers in the Camera Culture group at the MIT Media Lab have steadily refined a design for a glasses-free, multiperspective, 3-D video screen, which they hope could provide a cheaper, more practical alternative to holographic video in the short term. Now they've designed a projector that exploits the same technology, which they'll unveil at this year's Siggraph, the major conference in computer graphics. The projector can also improve the resolution and contrast of conventional video, which could make it an attractive transitional technology ...

A recent study published in Agronomy Journal provides information important to farmers growing oilseed crops. In the study, camelina and safflower were grown in three-year rotations with winter wheat and summer fallow. The study shows that using this rotation may require that no tillage should be done to the soil during the fallow year. Oilseed crops produce relatively little residue—organic material such as roots that hold the soil together. Even light tillage can disintegrate the soil. A cooperative study by the USDA-ARS and Washington State University researched the ...

An article titled "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," published in The Wall Street Journal in 2011, has continued to provoke a cultural debate among parents after self-proclaimed 'tiger mother' Amy Chua asserted that Asian American parenting methods produce more successful children. Researchers at Stanford University delved deeper into Chua's 'tiger mother' approach, and their research sheds light on key fundamental differences in parenting methods between Asian Americans and European Americans. To reveal the cultural differences in parenting, the researchers compare ...

Doctors and scientists in Southampton have completed their first hip surgery with a 3D printed implant and bone stem cell graft. The 3D printed hip, made from titanium, was designed using the patient's CT scan and CAD CAM (computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing) technology, meaning it was designed to the patient's exact specifications and measurements. The implant will provide a new socket for the ball of the femur bone to enter. Behind the implant and between the pelvis, doctors have inserted a graft containing bone stem cells. The graft acts as ...

Seven fires are still burning in San Diego County, California. Arson is suspected as the origin of these fires. Two teens have been arrested on suspicion of setting the fire that spread so ferociously across the county. All of California is experiencing exceptional, extreme or severe drought conditions. The wildfire area is in the second-most dangerous category--extreme drought conditions. California's governor has cited climate change as a factor in the fires, noting the last three years have been the driest in recorded history. Wildfire season used to start in late ...

The Skunk Fire in Arizona started with a lightning strike on Saturday, April 19. Currently over 10,000 acres have been affected. It is located in the San Carlos Apache Reservation. The terrain in the area is very steep with boulders making it difficult for firefighters to traverse the area to fight the fire. The fire continues to grow to the north, but fire activity in the south has been stopped. The fire is currently 20% contained. The National Weather Service is forecasting winds of 7-12 mph with gusting to 25 mph. These conditions coupled with extremely dry fuels ...

Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) share their habitat with a number of other wild animals as well as with farm animals. Because of the risk of disease transmission between species, when dead or sick animals are discovered by hunters or foresters it is extremely important determining the causes. Early identification of the cause of disease or death can be crucial to prevent a wide-scale outbreak. The Pathological Laboratory at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology specializes in such cases. Severe pneumonia as cause of death Nineteen dead chamois from the region of ...

As smartphones get smarter and computers compute faster, researchers actively search for ways to speed up the processing of information. Now, scientists at Princeton University have made a step forward in developing a new class of materials that could be used in future technologies. They have discovered a new quantum effect that enables electrons — the negative-charge-carrying particles that make today's electronic devices possible — to dash through the interior of these materials with very little resistance. The discovery is the latest chapter in the story of a curious ...

FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. – It has been said that we know more about the surface of the moon than we do about our own planet's oceans. That especially applies to the deepest parts of our oceans – depths that are 200 meters or deeper. Researchers from organizations around the world who specialize in studying and exploring the deepest regions of our oceans have come together to pen a cautionary tale that urges we take a critical look at how we're treating our seas. "We need to consider the common heritage of mankind - when do we have the right to take something that ...

Two protein molecules that fit together as lock and key seem to promote the abnormal formation of blood vessels in joints affected by rheumatoid arthritis, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, who found that the substances are present at higher levels in the joints of patients affected by the disease. Their results are reported in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. "Our results show, for the first time, that these two proteins – a receptor and its corresponding binding protein - play a key role in the progression ...

HANOVER, N.H. – May 16, 2014 – The recent U.S. foreclosure crisis contributed significantly to the nation's jump in suicides, independent of other economic factors associated with the Great Recession, according to a study by Dartmouth and Purdue professors publishing Monday. The study, publishing in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health and available online now, is the first to ever show a correlation between foreclosure and suicide rates. The authors analyzed state-level foreclosure and suicide rates from 2005 to 2010. During that period, the U.S. ...

ATLANTA – May 16, 2014—The only recent comprehensive analysis of lung cancer rates for women around the world finds lung cancer rates are dropping in young women in many regions of the globe, pointing to the success of tobacco control efforts. However, rates continue to increase among older women in many countries, indicating a need for more concentrated efforts to initiate or expand comprehensive tobacco control programs across the globe to curtail future tobacco-related lung cancer deaths. The study is published early online in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Lung ...

Researchers from the University of Hawai'i – Mānoa (UHM), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de L'Environment (France), and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute recently discovered that O'ahu actually consists of three major Hawaiian shield volcanoes, not two, as previously thought. The island of O'ahu, as we know it today, is the remnants of two volcanoes, Wai'anae and Ko'olau. But extending almost 100 km WNW from Ka'ena Point, the western tip of the island of O'ahu, is a large region of shallow bathymetry, called the submarine Ka'ena Ridge. It is that region ...

Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese medicine technique that is often used to help improve the level of consciousness in patients with disorder of consciousness (DOC). However, the responses to stimulation of acupoints in patients with DOC are not fully understood. Hao Zhang and colleagues from China Rehabilitation Research Center found that acupuncture at the Yongquan acupoints induced stronger neuronal activity than acupuncture at the sham acupoints shown on positron emission tomography (PET). These researchers believe that acupuncture at the Yongquan acupoints may increase ...

In a recent study reported in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 5, 2014), repeated-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation was administered to healthy people at the left Guangming (GB37) and a mock point, and calculated the sample entropy of electroencephalogram signals using nonlinear dynamics. Additionally, researchers compared electroencephalogram sample entropy of signals in response to visual stimulation before, during, and after repeated-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation at the Guangming. Results showed that repeated-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation ...