A proposed pathway to construct quantum computers may be the outcome of research by a University of Oklahoma physics team that has created a new molecule based on the interaction between a highly-excited type of atom known as a Rydberg atom and a ground-state atom. A unique property of the molecule is the large permanent dipole moment, which reacts with an electric field much like a bar magnet reacts with a magnetic field. "This is the largest electric dipole moment ever observed in a molecule," says James Shaffer, professor in the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics ...

SAN FRANCISCO, April 3, 2015 -- A potent risk factor for developing major depressive disorder (MDD) during fertility treatment is something health providers are likely not even looking for, according to new research from San Francisco State University. Fertility treatment patients and their partners are far more likely to experience MDD than the general population, the study found, and a key factor in predicting a patient's risk is whether he or she has a previous diagnosis of major depression. But past history is something that fertility treatment providers may not routinely ...

An experiment conducted by Princeton researchers has revealed an unlikely behavior in a class of materials called frustrated magnets, addressing a long-debated question about the nature of these discontented quantum materials. The work represents a surprising discovery that down the road may suggest new research directions for advanced electronics. Published this week in the journal Science, the study also someday may help clarify the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity, the frictionless transmission of electricity. The researchers tested the frustrated ...

Like most other plants, rice is well equipped with an effective immune system that enables it to detect and fend off disease-causing microbes. But that built-in immunity can be further boosted when the rice plant receives a receptor protein from a completely different plant species, suggests a new study led by UC Davis plant-disease experts. The study findings, which may help increase health and productivity of rice, the staple food for half of the world's population, are reported online in the journal PLOS Pathogens at http://bit.ly/1GJBEQZ. "Our results demonstrate ...

Genetic studies in humans, zebrafish and mice have revealed how two different types of genetic variations team up to cause a rare condition called Hirschsprung's disease. The findings add to an increasingly clear picture of how flaws in early nerve development lead to poor colon function, which must often be surgically corrected. The study also provides a window into normal nerve development and the genes that direct it. The results appear in the April 2 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics. About one in every 5,000 babies is born with Hirschsprung's disease, ...

CANCER RESEARCH UK scientists have discovered that a vital self-destruct switch in cells is hijacked - making some pancreatic and non small cell lung cancers more aggressive, according to research published in Cancer Cell today (Thursday)*. The team, from the Cancer Research UK Centre at the UCL (University College London) Cancer Institute, found that mutations in the KRAS gene interferes with protective self-destruct switches, known as TRAIL receptors, which usually help to kill potentially cancerous cells. The research, carried out in cancer cells and mice, shows ...

Brazilian researchers at D'OR Institute for Research and Education (IDOR) and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) have taken what they describe as an important step toward using the implantation of stem cell-generated neurons as a treatment for Parkinson's disease. Using an FDA approved substance for treating stomach cancer, Rehen and colleagues were able to grow dopamine-producing neurons derived from embryonic stem cells that remained healthy and functional for as long as 15 months after implantation into mice, restoring motor function without forming tumors. Parkinson's, ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Adam C. Levine, M.D., an emergency medicine physician at Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital who treated Ebola-infected patients in Liberia last year, used his field experience to create a tool to determine the likelihood that patients presenting with Ebola symptoms will actually carry the virus. His research was published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine today. Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has affected 24,000 persons during the current epidemic, which is the largest recorded outbreak of EVD in history. Over 10,000 people have died in West ...

Scientists use small molecule that suppresses cancer-causing genes in glioblastoma Nanotechnology crosses blood-brain barrier to reach tumor cells Approach has potential to silence genes in other cancers and genetic diseases CHICAGO --- Northwestern Medicine scientists have identified a small RNA molecule called miR-182 that can suppress cancer-causing genes in mice with glioblastoma mulitforme (GBM), a deadly and incurable type of brain tumor. While standard chemotherapy drugs damage DNA to stop cancer cells from reproducing, the new method stops the source ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Recent large-scale genomic analyses have uncovered dozens of common genetic variants that are associated with breast cancer. Each variant, however, contributes only a tiny amount to a person's overall risk of developing the disease. A Mayo Clinic-led team of international researchers has now combined 77 of these common genetic variants into a single risk factor that can be used to improve the identification of women with an elevated risk of breast cancer. This factor, known as a polygenic risk score, was built from the genetic data of more than 67,000 ...

If a time machine was available, would it be right to kill Adolf Hitler when he was still a young Austrian artist to prevent World War II and save millions of lives? Should a police officer torture an alleged bomber to find hidden explosives that could kill many people at a local cafe? When faced with such dilemmas, men are typically more willing to accept harmful actions for the sake of the greater good than women. For example, women would be less likely to support the killing of a young Hitler or torturing a bombing suspect, even if doing so would ultimately save more ...

HOUGHTON, Mich. (April 3, 2015): Central Appalachian forests have been experiencing the effects of a changing climate for decades, and effects such as more heavy rainfall events, more drought, and more hot days are likely to continue, according to a new vulnerability assessment for the region by the U.S. Forest Service and many partners. The assessment describes effects of climate change that have already been observed, projected changes in the climate and the landscape, and forest vulnerabilities for nine forest ecosystem types in a 29-million-acre area of Ohio, West ...

(New York, NY) April 3, 2015 - The scientific community is facing a 'pollution problem' in academic publishing, one that poses a serious threat to the "trustworthiness, utility, and value of science and medicine," according to one of the country's leading medical ethicists. Arthur L. Caplan, PhD, director of the Division of Medical Ethics in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone Medical Center, shares these and other observations in a commentary publishing April 3 in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. "The pollution of science and medicine by plagiarism, ...

Deaths within 30 days of children's heart surgery have almost halved in the UK over the past decade, despite a rise in the number and complexity of cases during that period, reveals an analysis of national data, published in the online journal Open Heart. The findings prompt the researchers to suggest that it is now time to shift the focus to longer term survival and other issues that matter greatly to patients and their families, such as measures of ill health and impact on functional capacity. Children's heart surgery in the UK has come under intense public scrutiny ...

Passive exposure to bleach in the home is linked to higher rates of childhood respiratory and other infections, suggests research published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine. Although modest, the results are of public health concern in light of the widespread use of bleach in the home, say the researchers, who call for further more detailed studies in this area. The researchers looked at the potential impact of exposure to bleach in the home among more than 9000 children between the ages of 6 and 12 attending 19 schools in Utrecht, The Netherlands; 17 ...

Highlights High parathyroid hormone levels and subsequent bone loss are major risk factors for worsening of coronary artery calcification in patients on dialysis. Washington, DC (April 2, 2015) -- Bone loss may be a sign of poor heart health in patients on dialysis, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). Monitoring bone loss in dialysis patients may therefore provide an early alert to physicians concerning cardiovascular problems. Most patients with chronic kidney disease who are on dialysis ...

Using archival data from the Japan-led Suzaku X-ray satellite, astronomers have determined the pre-explosion mass of a white dwarf star that blew up thousands of years ago. The measurement strongly suggests the explosion involved only a single white dwarf, ruling out a well-established alternative scenario involving a pair of merging white dwarfs. "Mounting evidence indicates both of these mechanisms produce what we call type Ia supernovae," said lead researcher Hiroya Yamaguchi, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "To understand ...

Boston, MA - Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers are calling upon police in all states to improve their reporting of crashes involving vehicles and bicycles, according to a new study being published Thursday, April 2, 2015. Currently, details on crashes are handwritten by police on paper and there are few bicycle-relevant codes. The researchers are calling for police to use electronic tablets that would include more options to gather bicycle-specific data, such as drawings of the scene and additional codes that could indicate, for example, if the bicyclist ...

LOS ANGELES -- Using herpesvirus, molecular immunologists from the University of Southern California (USC) Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered a cellular process that activates a critical immune defense against pathogens, which could have implications for developing drugs to bolster one's immunity to infection. Some herpesvirus infections lead to cancer. Led by Pinghui Feng, Ph.D., associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the team found that herpesvirus proteins activate retinoic acid-induced gene ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- The saying "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" may not hold up to scientific scrutiny. Baboons born in times of famine are more vulnerable to food shortages later in life, finds a new study. The findings are important because they help explain why people who are malnourished in early childhood often experience poor health as adults. After the plains of southern Kenya experienced a severe drought in 2009 that took a terrible toll on wildlife, researchers at Duke and Princeton Universities looked at how 50 wild baboons coped with the drought, and ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Engineers have combined innovative optical technology with nanocomposite thin-films to create a new type of sensor that is inexpensive, fast, highly sensitive and able to detect and analyze a wide range of gases. The technology might find applications in everything from environmental monitoring to airport security or testing blood alcohol levels. The sensor is particularly suited to detecting carbon dioxide, and may be useful in industrial applications or systems designed to store carbon dioxide underground, as one approach to greenhouse gas reduction. Oregon ...

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), an antibiotic-resistant superbug, can cause life-threatening skin, bloodstream and surgical site infections or pneumonia. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine now report that cigarette smoke may make matters worse. The study, published March 30 by Infection and Immunity, shows that MRSA bacteria exposed to cigarette smoke become even more resistant to killing by the immune system. "We already know that smoking cigarettes harms human respiratory and immune cells, and now we've shown ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- The micro RNA miR-22 has long been known for its ability to suppress cancer. However, questions remain about how it achieves this feat. For example, which molecules are regulating miR-22, and which are miR22 targets? Researchers at UC Davis have unraveled some of these relationships, identifying several interactions that directly impact liver and colon cancer. The work provides new insights into how miR-22 operates and could potentially lead to new cancer therapies. The study was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. "There are quite ...

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2015 -- It's supposed to help keep our bodies healthy in stressful situations. But the constant stress of our everyday lives means we're getting overexposed to cortisol. Raychelle Burks, Ph.D., explains why too much cortisol is bad for you in the latest episode of the Reactions series Get To Know A Molecule. Check it out here: https://youtu.be/fPnDaRYXHs4. INFORMATION: Subscribe to the series at http://bit.ly/ACSReactions, and follow us on Twitter @ACSreactions to be the first to see our latest videos. The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit ...

For more than 50 years, scientists thought that the horned anole lizard -- sometimes called the "Pinocchio Lizard" for its long, protruding nose -- was extinct. But it turns out this is a tall tale. Scientists re-discovered the lizard in 2005, living elusively at the tops of tall trees in the cloud forests of Ecuador -- the only place in the world that it is known to exist. A team led by a Virginia Tech scientist recently uncovered new information about the role that the lizard's long nose plays. Only the males have long noses, and they appear to be used in social ...