New research led by Alison Allan, PhD, a scientist at Western University and the Lawson Health Research Institute, shows why breast cancer often spreads or metastasizes to the lung. Breast cancer is the number one diagnosed cancer and the number two cause of cancer-related deaths among women in North America. If detected early, traditional chemotherapy and radiation have a high success rate, but once the disease spreads beyond the breast, many conventional treatments fail. In particular, the lung is one of the most common and deadly sites of breast cancer metastasis ...

Benefits often coexist with the negative and stressful outcomes for parents who have a child born with or later diagnosed with a life-limiting illness, says a recent study led by a researcher at the University of Waterloo. While the challenges are numerous and life-changing and stress levels high, the vast majority of parents who participated in the Waterloo-led research reported positive outcomes as well, a phenomenon known as posttraumatic growth. The findings appear in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. "What is pivotal is the meaning ...

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., April 24, 2014 — Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new and unconventional battery chemistry aimed at producing batteries that last longer than previously thought possible. In a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, ORNL researchers challenged a long-held assumption that a battery's three main components -- the positive cathode, negative anode and ion-conducting electrolyte -- can play only one role in the device. The electrolyte in the team's new battery design has ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- New research shows that cells are more resilient in taking care of their DNA than scientists originally thought. Even when missing critical components, cells can adapt and make copies of their DNA in an alternative way. In a study published in this week's Cell Reports, a team of researchers at Michigan State University showed that cells can grow normally without a crucial component needed to duplicate their DNA. "Our genetic information is stored in DNA, which has to be continuously monitored for damage and copied for growth," said Kefei Yu, ...

Depression affects more than one out of three survivors of critical illness, according to a Vanderbilt study released in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, and the majority of patients experience their symptoms physically rather than mentally. It is one of the largest studies to investigate the mental health and functional outcomes of critical care survivors, according to lead author James Jackson, Psy.D., assistant professor of Medicine, and it highlights a significant public health issue, with roughly 5 million patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) in the United ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — It is better to give than to receive – at least if you're an adolescent and you enjoy giving, a new study suggests. The study found that 15- and 16-year-olds who find pleasure in pro-social activities, such as giving their money to family members, are less likely to become depressed than those who get a bigger thrill from taking risks or keeping the money for themselves. The researchers detail their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study focused on the ventral striatum, a brain region that regulates feelings of ...

Dust off those Bic ballpoints and college-ruled notebooks — research shows that taking notes by hand is better than taking notes on a laptop for remembering conceptual information over the long term. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Walk into any university lecture hall and you're likely to see row upon row of students sitting behind glowing laptop screens. Laptops in class have been controversial, due mostly to the many opportunities for distraction that they provide (online shopping, browsing ...

Carbon offsetting initiatives could be improved with new insights into the make-up of tropical forests, a study suggests. Scientists studying the Amazon Basin have revealed unprecedented detail of the size, age and species of trees across the region by comparing satellite maps with hundreds of field plots. The findings will enable researchers to assess more accurately the amount of carbon each tree can store. This is a key factor in carbon offset schemes, in which trees are given a cash value according to their carbon content, and credits can be traded in exchange ...

The work has been published in the Scientific Reports journal. CSIC researcher Carles Lalueza-Fox, from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (a joint centre of CSIC and Pompeu Fabra University-UPF), explains: "When the Y chromosome of three living Bourbons was decoded and we saw that it did not match with the DNA recovered from the pumpkin in 2010, we decided to sequence the complete genome and to make a functional interpretation in order to see if the blood could actually belong to Louis XVI". The functional genome analysis was based on two main points, the genealogical ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (April 24, 2014) - Contact lenses coated with an antimicrobial peptide could help to lower the risk of contact lens-related infections, reports a study in Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. Studies in animals and now humans support the biocompatibility and safety of lenses coated with the antimicrobial peptide melimine, according to the new research by Debarun Dutta, B.Optom, of The University of New South Wales, ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – April 24, 2014 – 'Take me out to the ballgame' doesn't exactly conjure up images of apple slices and kale chips. The more likely culprits include French fries, soda and the occasional box of Crackerjacks. Unfortunately for children who play youth baseball, eating unhealthy food during practices and games may be contributing to weight problems, according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The study, published in the current online edition of Childhood Obesity, found that high-calorie snacks and sugar-sweetened drinks dominate the ...

DURHAM, N.C. – Changes in managing patients before, during and after colorectal surgery cut hospital stays by two days and reduced readmission rates, according to researchers who led a study of the approach at Duke University Hospital. The practice, called enhanced recovery, is easier on patients before surgery, doing away with the fasting period and bowel evacuation that are typically prescribed. After surgery, patients are encouraged to eat and move about as soon as possible, leading to faster recoveries. Among findings published in the May 2014 issue of the journal ...

Ellen's (not her real name) adoptive parents weren't surprised when the school counselor suggested that she might have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Several professionals had made this suggestion over the years. Given that homework led to one explosion after another, and that at school Ellen, who is eleven, spent her days jiggling up and down in her seat, unable to concentrate for more than ten minutes, it seemed a reasonable assumption. Yet her parents always felt that ADHD didn't quite capture the extent of Ellen's issues over the years. Fortunately ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Fairness is not always the most important priority for small retailers. In an international study, University of Missouri researchers found that some small retailers are less concerned about whether they are treated fairly by business suppliers than other factors, such as cash flow and company survival. Lisa Scheer, the Emma S. Distinguished Professor of Marketing in the MU Trulaske College of Business, notes that what retailers consider to be fair business practices differ greatly across cultures and situations. "It is presumed that fairness, however ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – An Oregon State University researcher has found a relationship between motor skill deficiencies and the severity of the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder in very young children. The findings, believed to the be the first to show a direct relationship between motor skills and autism severity, indicate that development of fine and gross motor skills should be included in treatment plans for young children with autism, said Megan MacDonald, an assistant professor in OSU's College of Public Health and Human Sciences. "Recognizing those deficits really ...

WASHINGTON -- When the task at hand requires some imagination, taking a walk may lead to more creative thinking than sitting, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. "Many people anecdotally claim they do their best thinking when walking," said Marily Oppezzo, PhD, of Santa Clara University. "With this study, we finally may be taking a step or two toward discovering why." While at Stanford University's Graduate School of Education, Oppezzo and colleague Daniel L. Schwartz, PhD, conducted studies involving 176 people, mostly college ...

In 2009 the influenza pH1N1 virus caused the first flu pandemic in the 21st century. The virus reached Finland in May 2009 and killed more than 50 people in the country. Since 2011 the pH1N1 virus infects Finns mainly during flu epidemics (winter/spring seasons). Infections with influenza pH1N1 virus vary from asymptomatic to serious complicated illnesses. World Health Organization has recommended Tamiflu for treatment of patients with severe or progressive illness. The disadvantage of this drug is that it targets viral proteins which mutate quickly and the virus develops ...

VIDEO: An Australian National University scientist has discovered a simple, cheap way of turning a smart phone into a high-resolution microscope, opening the door to a revolution in science and medicine... Click here for more information. Australian scientists have invented a simple and cheap way of making a high-powered lens that can transform a smart phone into a high-resolution microscope. Costing less than a cent, the lenses promise a revolution in science and medicine ...

This news release is available in German. In addition to neutrons, the fission reaction of nuclear fuels like plutonium or uranium releases antineutrinos. These are also electrically neutral, but can pass matter very easily, which is why they can be discerned only in huge detectors. Recently, however, detectors on the scale of only one cubic meter have been developed. They can measure antineutrinos from a reactor core, which has generated great interest at the IAEA. Prototypes of these detectors already exist and collect data at distances of around 10 meters from ...

Fibroblasts, cells long thought to be boring and irrelevant, could offer an alternative to heart transplants for patients with heart disease. Researcher Dr Milena Furtado, and her team from the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash University, found the heart cell fibroblast is a close relative to a cardiomyocyte, the cell responsible for a healthy beating heart. In research published today in Circulation Research, Dr Furtado has found that cardiac fibroblasts are unique cells due to their genetic program, and will aid in the development of cell ...

End-of-life aspects, the corresponding terminology, and the relevance of palliation in advanced cancer are often not considered in publications on randomized controlled trials (RCTs). This is the result of an analysis by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), which has now been published as final report. Together with external experts, IQWiG analysed studies on four solid tumours as examples: glioblastoma, lung cancer, malignant melanoma, and pancreatic cancer. For this purpose, the research team evaluated publications on RCTs investigating ...

Children living with a step-parent or a lone parent are as happy as those living with two biological parents, the British Sociological Association's annual conference in Leeds heard today [Thursday 24 April]. In a major UK study on wellbeing, researchers from NatCen Social Research analysed data from the Millennium Cohort Study on 12,877 children aged seven in 2008 and found no significant difference in happiness. Whether the children lived with two biological parents, a step-parent and biological parent, or in a single parent family, made no difference to how they ...

A Finnish team of researchers was the first in the world to discover a gene mutation in ameloblastoma, which is a tumour of the jaw. Ameloblastoma is an odontogenic tumour with a high tendency to recur after treatment. Ameloblastoma is most often found in the posterior of the lower jaw. Ameoloblastomas are treated by surgery, often resulting in tissue deficiencies in the jaws as well as loss of several teeth. A suitable drug therapy could reduce the need for surgery and the recurrence of ameloblastoma, but finding such a treatment requires a better understanding of the ...

Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have identified the structural features that enable the innate immune system to discriminate between viral and endogenous RNAs in living cells. When viruses infect cells, they take control of cellular metabolism and hijack cellular resources for the production of viral proteins. This process is dependent on viral RNA molecules that are delivered directly to (in the case of RNA viruses) and/or newly synthesized in the host cell, and provide the blueprints for the fabrication of viral proteins by the cell's ...

About ten years after the first moon landing, scientists on earth made a discovery that proved that our home planet still holds a lot of surprises in store for us. Looking through the portholes of the submersible ALVIN near the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in 1979, American scientists saw for the first time chimneys, several meters tall, from which black water at about 300 degrees and saturated with minerals shot out. What we have found out since then: These "black smokers", also called hydrothermal vents, exist in all oceans. They occur along the boundaries of tectonic ...