MANHATTAN, Kan. — A collaborative discovery involving Kansas State University researchers may lead to the first universal treatment for dystonia, a neurological disorder that affects nearly half a million Americans. Michal Zolkiewski, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Kansas State University, and Jeffrey Brodsky at the University at Pittsburgh co-led a study that focused on a mutated protein associated with early onset torsion dystonia, or EOTD, the most severe type of dystonia that typically affects adolescents before the age of 20. Dystonia ...

An international team led by glaciologists from the University of Colorado Boulder and Trent University in Ontario, Canada has completed the first mapping of virtually all of the world's glaciers -- including their locations and sizes -- allowing for calculations of their volumes and ongoing contributions to global sea rise as the world warms. The team mapped and catalogued some 198,000 glaciers around the world as part of the massive Randolph Glacier Inventory, or RGI, to better understand rising seas over the coming decades as anthropogenic greenhouse gases heat the ...

WASHINGTON (May 6, 2014) — According to the World Health Organization, more than 450 million people worldwide, primarily children and pregnant women, suffer illness from soil-transmitted helminths (STH), intestinal parasites that live in humans and other animals. Considerable effort and resources have been, and continue to be, spent on top-down, medical-based programs focused on administering drugs to control STH infections, with little success. John Hawdon, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology, immunology, and tropical medicine at the George Washington University ...

WASHINGTON – A new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council says that changes EPA has proposed and implemented into its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) process are "substantial improvements." While acknowledging the progress made to date, the report offers further guidance and recommendations to improve the overall scientific and technical performance of the program, which is used to assess the hazards posed by environmental contaminants. In 2011, a Research Council committee reviewed EPA's IRIS assessment for formaldehyde and found ...

Britain could become a nation of non-swimmers if drastic changes aren't made to ensure all young people have access to adequate lessons and facilities, according to academics at the University of East Anglia (UEA). Dr Craig Avieson and Dr Penny Lamb, of UEA's School of Education and Lifelong Learning, warn swimming provisions are falling to secondary physical education (PE) teachers, with 51 per cent of British children aged 7-11 unable to swim 25 metres. Children should be able to swim at least that length by the time they leave primary school, under curriculum requirements ...

The SETI project scientists are known for tracking possible extraterrestrial signals, but now they are also considering sending messages from Earth telling of our position. A researcher from the University of Cádiz (Spain) questions this idea in view of the results from a survey taken by students, revealing the general level of ignorance about the cosmos and the influence of religion when tackling these matters. The Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project is an initiative that began in the 70s with funding from NASA, but that has evolved towards the collaboration ...

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2014 — Pregnant women go through a lot to bring a baby into this world: 2 a.m. food cravings, hypersensitivity to certain smells and morning sickness, not to mention labor and delivery. In honor of Mother's Day, the American Chemical Society's (ACS') newest Reactions video highlights the chemistry behind a pregnant woman's altered sense of taste and smell, how mom's diet influences baby's favorite foods and other pregnancy phenomena. The video is available at http://youtu.be/Gnqjh-L4e9g And because moms always deserve more, we've created a bonus video ...

ANN ARBOR—Forget the "me" generation. A new analysis of long-term trends in egotism shows there's been a "me" century in America. The analysis, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, shows that characteristics related to self-interest, compared to interest in the lives and needs of other people, was low during the 19th century but rose steadily after the turn of the 20th century. "We found that self-interest tends to peak after economic booms," said William Chopik, a doctoral candidate in psychology at U-M and first author of the paper just published ...

Researchers from The Netherlands found that snacking on high-fat and high-sugar foods was independently associated with abdominal fat and fatty liver (hepatic steatosis). According to the study published in Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, hypercaloric diet with frequent meals increases intrahepatic triglyceride content (IHTG) and fat around the waist, but increasing meal size did not. Obesity is a global health concern with the World Health Organization reporting that more than 200 million men and close to 300 million ...

New research in Biotropica asks FIFA to follow through with its environmental claims. The 2014 FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup will be played in Brazil. Its "Football for the Planet" program aims to monitor greenhouse gasses, provide environmentally friendly stadiums, and better waste management. However, FIFA has not maximized this opportunity. In an article published in the upcoming issue, researchers challenge the role that FIFA and the Brazilian government play in protecting the environment, asking both to: protect 1,000 hectares ...

Behavior-change techniques are not well represented in the marketing materials for top-rated physical-activity apps, according to a team of Penn State researchers. They also found that two types of physical-activity apps are available on the market -- those that focus on educating users on how to perform different exercises and those that focus on supporting users' motivation for physical activity. "The app marketplace is largely unregulated and users make decisions based on developers' descriptions of apps," said David Conroy, professor of kinesiology. "Our results ...

The sight of seabirds following trawlers in order to feast from discarded fish is a common maritime sight, but each year many thousands of seabirds are killed by overhanging cables or in nets. New research in Animal Conservation assesses mortality figures from South Africa to show that a simple bird scaring line can reduce the mortality rate by over 90%. The research compiled data from five years of observations to compare current and historic mortality rates. Previous research shows that in 2006 approximately 18,000 seabirds were killed each year by the South African ...

Thanks to the efforts of an international group of scientists – one of them is Tobias Bolch from Technische Universität Dresden, Germany - who have mapped all of the world's glaciers, glaciologists can now study with unprecedented accuracy the impacts of a changing climate on glaciers worldwide, and determine their total extent and volume on a glacier-by-glacier basis. Overall, glaciers cover an area of about 730,000 km2 and have a volume of about 170,000 km3. The scientists found nearly 200,000 of them, but they say that this is the least important result of the mapping ...

VIDEO: This movie is a simple 0 m to -210 m geographical loop sequence at 5 m increments. Important features are the substantial gaps between Galapagos' "core " islands even at -100... Click here for more information. The Galapagos Islands have an iconic status in the history of evolutionary study, now new research shows that the islands' own geological past may have influenced the evolution of the chain's native species. Writing in the Journal of Biogeography, ...

WASHINGTON -- People who grew up with a parent who abused alcohol may be 85 percent more likely to attempt suicide than people whose parents did not abuse alcohol, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. Furthermore, having divorced parents increased by 14 percent the risk that a person would try to take his or her own life when compared to people whose parents did not divorce, the study found. But putting those two factors together - parents who abuse alcohol and are divorced -- did not increase suicide attempts, according to the study, ...

TORONTO, ON – People who claim to see "Jesus in toast" may no longer be mocked in the future thanks to a new study by researchers at the University of Toronto and partner institutions in China. Researchers have found that the phenomenon of "face pareidolia"--where onlookers report seeing images of Jesus, Virgin Mary, or Elvis in objects such as toasts, shrouds, and clouds--is normal and based on physical causes. "Most people think you have to be mentally abnormal to see these types of images, so individuals reporting this phenomenon are often ridiculed", says lead researcher ...

ATLANTA--Chimpanzees have almost the same personality traits as humans, and they are structured almost identically, according to new work led by researchers at Georgia State University. The research also shows some of those traits have a neurobiological basis, and that those traits vary according to the biological sex of the individual chimpanzee. "Our work also demonstrates the promise of using chimpanzee models to investigate the neurobiology of personality processes," said Assistant Professor Robert Latzman of Psychology, who led the research team. "We know that ...

Although the nation is spending more on welfare than ever before, most of that money is going to better-off families rather than the very poorest, a researcher found. Robert A. Moffitt, the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Economics at the Johns Hopkins University, found that the United States has become more generous over time in supporting low-income families, spending 74 percent more in inflation-adjusted dollars on welfare programs in 2007 than in 1975. But for the 2.5 million single parent families with the absolute lowest levels of earnings, aid dropped 35 percent ...

Orlando, Fla. — In two separate studies, scientists have developed methods to convert non-embryonic stem cells into eye cells that could be used to restore sight. The research is being presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Orlando. In the first method, researchers converted cells taken from the front of a patient's eye into stem cells, which were then programmed to become nerve cells found in the back of the eye. The second study involved introducing stem cells to a single growth factor, which ...

Orlando, Fla. — In an effort to avoid serious side effects suffered after surgery to repair retinal detachment, vision scientists have developed a new product to help stabilize the eye while it heals. The research is being presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Orlando, Fla. In a recent study, Healaflow® a gel based on one of the most common compounds found in the liquid that fills the eye, was tested in rabbit eyes. After surgery to repair retinal detachment in the rabbits, Healaflow® did ...

Orlando, Fla. — Scientists have developed the first reversible glue that could be used on the battlefield to treat eye injuries, potentially saving soldiers' vision. The research is being presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Orlando, Fla. When applied to a wounded eye, the adhesive warms up and becomes sticky, sealing the wound and minimizing further damage while the soldier is transported for treatment. Upon arriving at a hospital, doctors can simply apply cool saline solution to the glue, ...

SEATTLE – Economic findings were released today on the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), estrogen plus progestin (E+P) trial. The WHI is one of the largest National Institutes of Health-funded studies ever conducted on women. Housed at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, it is a 15-year, multimillion-dollar study established in 1991, involving more than 160,000 women nationwide, including some 3,500 in Washington. The overall economic return from the WHI E+P trial indicates that changes in practice stemming from the trial provided a net economic return ...

An antioxidant that targets specific cell structures—mitochondria—may be able to reverse some of the negative effects of aging on arteries, reducing the risk of heart disease, according to a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder. When the research team gave old mice—the equivalent of 70- to 80-year-old humans—water containing an antioxidant known as MitoQ for four weeks, their arteries functioned as well as the arteries of mice with an equivalent human age of just 25 to 35 years. The researchers believe that MitoQ affects the endothelium, a thin layer of cells ...

Orlando, Fla. — New research finds that cataract surgery dramatically decreases the number of falls individuals suffer due to poor vision. The research is being presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Orlando, Fla. In a study of more than 400 Vietnamese patients who were 50-plus years old with cataracts in both eyes, the number of falls patients suffered before and after cataract surgery was monitored. Researchers found a 78% decrease in the risk of falls the year after patients had cataract ...

Orlando, Fla. — Scientists have developed a model that mimics the complex structure of the cornea to enable the transplant of healthy corneal stem cells. The research is being presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Orlando Fla. Used to restore sight, corneal stem cells live in a specific physical environment. Transplanting these stem cells requires accurate mimicry of their natural surroundings during transport. In this work, vision scientists have recreated the 3D architecture where corneal ...