Even though the levels of two environmental pollutants have declined over the last 20 years, they may still have adverse effects on children's development, according to a new study by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. This is the largest study of environmental pollutants and infant growth to date. Researchers investigated whether exposure to two persistent organic pollutants before and after birth was associated with rapid growth in infancy, a known risk factor for obesity in later life: polychlorinated biphenyl 153 (PCB153), a chemical used extensively in ...

The human brain can select relevant objects from a flood of information and edit out what is irrelevant. It also knows which parts belong to a whole. If, for example, we direct our attention to the doors of a house, the brain will preferentially process its windows, but not the neighboring houses. Psychologists from Goethe University Frankfurt have now discovered that this also happens when parts of the objects are merely maintained in our memory. "Perception and memory have mainly been investigated separately until now", explains Benjamin Peters, doctoral researcher ...

Inflammatory processes occur in the brain in conjunction with stroke and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Researchers from Lund University and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, in close cooperation with a group led by Professor José L. Venero at the University of Seville, have presented new findings about some of the 'key players' in inflammation. In the long term, these findings could lead to new treatments. One of these key players is a receptor called TLR4. The receptor plays such an important role in the body's innate immune system ...

Children under five living in sub-Saharan Africa are at greater risk than older children of developing a long-term parasitic disease, research suggests. Infants experience significantly greater exposure to the parasitic worms that cause the chronic disease schistosomiasis, a study shows. Under-fives are vulnerable because they spend time near rivers and lakes in which parasites that cause the disease live. Previous studies missed pre-schoolers significant exposure to infected water in rivers close to family homes. Researchers found that preschool-age children ...

The UK needs to increase its investment in science and engineering research if it is to continue to be a successful nation. This is the overriding message coming from a major conference hosted this week by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The conference, 'Science for a Successful Nation', drew high profile academics, industry and business representatives, and researchers together to examine how science and engineering can make the UK a healthy, prosperous, resilient and connected nation. Professor Philip Nelson FREng, EPSRC's Chief Executive ...

This news release is available in German. Are leaves and buds developing earlier in the spring? And do leaves stay on the trees longer in autumn? Do steppe ecosystems remaining green longer and are the savannas becoming drier and drier? In fact, over recent decades, the growing seasons have changed everywhere around the world. This was determined by a doctoral candidate at the Goethe University as part of an international collaboration based on satellite data. The results are expected to have consequences for agriculture, interactions between species, the functioning ...

Infection with highly contagious noroviruses, while not usually fatal, can lead to a slew of unpleasant symptoms such as excessive vomiting and diarrhea. Current treatment options are limited to rehydration of the patient. "Additionally, noroviruses come in a variety of constantly evolving strains. This makes the development of an effective vaccine to protect against infection, as well as antiviral therapy to combat already-existing infections, particularly challenging", says Dr. Grant Hansman, a virologist who leads the CHS Research Group on Noroviruses at the German Cancer ...

In the race to miniaturize electronic components, researchers are challenged with a major problem: the smaller or the faster your device, the more challenging it is to cool it down. One solution to improve the cooling is to use materials with very high thermal conductivity, such as graphene, to quickly dissipate heat and thereby cool down the circuits. At the moment, however, potential applications are facing a fundamental problem: how does heat propagate inside these sheets of materials that are no more than a few atoms thick? In a study published in Nature Communications, ...

Amsterdam, March 9, 2015 -Drug testing is most commonly performed using urine samples. The methodology and regulations for reliable urine testing are well developed and can be considered the current gold standard for drug testing. However, one problem with urine testing is related to the methodology of sample collection, often perceived as inconvenient and privacy-overriding by those undergoing the test. As such, a group of researchers from the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have worked on developing a more donor-friendly alternative ...

(March 5, 2015) - Gender equality has not yet been achieved in science, medicine, and engineering, but The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF), through its Initiative on Women in Science and Engineering, is committed to making sure progress is made. NYSCF convened the Inaugural Meeting of its Initiative on Women in Science and Engineering (IWISE) Working Group in February 2014, where the group put forward seven actionable strategies for advancing women in science, medicine, and engineering, and reconvened in February 2015 to further develop the strategies. NYSCF began ...

Almost four years after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, farmland remains contaminated with higher-than-natural levels of radiocesium in some regions of Japan, with cesium-134 and cesium-137 being the most troublesome because of the slow rate at which they decay. In a study published in Scientific Reports, a group at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in Japan led by Ryoung Shin has identified a chemical compound that prevents plants from taking up cesium, thus protecting them--and us--from its harmful effects. Although ...

One of the world's most acclaimed environmental researchers has warned of an 'explosive era' of infrastructure expansion across the globe, calling for a new approach to protect vulnerable ecosystems. James Cook University Distinguished Research Professor, William Laurance is the lead author of the study, which has been published in the journal Current Biology. He said the world is being developed at an unprecedented pace, which comes at a great cost to critical habitats and wildlife. "We are living in the most explosive era of infrastructure expansion in human history," ...

A new paint that makes robust self-cleaning surfaces has been developed by a team led by UCL researchers. The coating can be applied to clothes, paper, glass and steel and when combined with adhesives, maintains its self-cleaning properties after being wiped, scratched with a knife and scuffed with sandpaper. Self-cleaning surfaces work by being extremely repellent to water but often stop working when they are damaged or exposed to oil. The new paint creates a more resilient surface that is resistant to everyday wear and tear, so could be used for a wide range of real-world ...

In the UK, frequent drinking becomes more common in middle to old age, especially amongst men, according to research published in the open access journal, BMC Medicine. Doctors are seeing a growing number of cases of alcohol misuse among the elderly and this finding supports concerns that older people might be abusing alcohol. Teenagers favour bouts of irregular heavy drinking episodes, only drinking once or twice a week, but as we grow older we shift into a regular drinking pattern. A substantial proportion of older men drink daily or most days of the week, while a ...

Your exercise regimen isn't just good for you; it may also be good for your spouse. New research led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds that if one spouse improves his or her exercise regimen, the other spouse is significantly more likely to follow suit. The findings, being presented March 5 at the American Heart Association's EPI/Lifestyle 2015 Scientific Sessions in Baltimore, suggest that a better approach to helping people boost their physical activity to improve health might be to counsel married couples together instead of individually. "When ...

Thousands of genetic "dimmer" switches, regions of DNA known as regulatory elements, were turned up high during human evolution in the developing cerebral cortex, according to new research from the Yale School of Medicine. Unlike in rhesus monkeys and mice, these switches show increased activity in humans, where they may drive the expression of genes in the cerebral cortex, the region of the brain that is involved in conscious thought and language. This difference may explain why the structure and function of that part of the brain is so unique in humans compared to other ...

Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) appear to have better survival if they are found to have monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) first, the state that precedes MM and which is typically diagnosed as part of a medical workup for another reason, according to a study published online by JAMA Oncology. Most MGUS cases are never diagnosed; MGUS is characterized by a detectable M protein without evidence for end-organ damage or other related plasma cell or lymphoproliferative disorders. Only a small proportion of MGUS progresses to malignancy, with the ...

A genetic test for patients with breast cancer that helps to predict the risk of developing metastatic disease and the expected benefits of chemotherapy has been adopted quickly into clinical practice in a study of older patients and it appears to be used consistently within guidelines and equitably across geographic and racial groups, according to a study published online by JAMA Oncology. The 21-gene recurrence score (RS) assay was approved for coverage in 2006 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The test is meant for patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, ...

Injecting botulinum toxin A (known commercially as Botox) appears to be a safe procedure to improve smiles by restoring lip symmetry in children with facial paralysis, a condition they can be born with or acquire because of trauma or tumor, according to a report published online by JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery. Botulinum toxin A is an effective treatment in adults to achieve facial symmetry after facial paralysis but few investigators have described its use in children, according to the study background. Severe cases of facial paralysis can require surgical reconstruction, ...

A physician who received an experimental Ebola vaccine after experiencing a needle stick while working in an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone did not develop Ebola virus infection, and there was strong Ebola-specific immune responses after the vaccination, although because of its limited use to date, the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine is not certain, according to a study appearing in JAMA. On September 26, 2014, a 44-year-old physician from the United States caring for patients in an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone experienced an accidental needle stick, ...

A new study by researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute has found that screening for and treating depression could help to reduce the risk of heart disease in patients with moderate to severe depression. Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute, the flagship facility for the Intermountain Healthcare system based in Salt Lake City, analyzed the health records and rates of death, coronary artery disease and stroke of more than 26,000 patients treated by Intermountain over a three-year period. This is the first study to assess ...

A low-cost antiseptic used to cleanse the cord after birth could help reduce infant death rates in developing countries by 12%, a systematic review published in The Cochrane Library suggests. Authors of the review found that when chlorhexidine was used on babies born outside of a hospital, it reduces the number of newborn babies who died or suffer from infections. A third of deaths in newborn babies are caused by infections. As one of the World Health Organisation's Essential Medicines, chlorhexidine has been used in hospitals and other medical settings to prevent bacterial ...

More young people than ever are getting most of their information about sexual matters from school, but the majority feel they are not getting all the information they need, and men in particular are missing out, according to new research published in BMJ Open. The findings come from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3), the largest scientific study of sexual health and lifestyles in Britain. The research was carried out by UCL (University College London), the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and NatCen Social Research. ...

CHICAGO --- Walking barefoot on sand "felt like walking on glass" for Keith Wenckowski, who has lived with type-one diabetes for more than two decades. One of the participants in a new Northwestern Medicine study who suffered from painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN), Wenckowski finally found relief from the constant foot pain that required him to wear shoes at all times, even to the beach. The study found that those with PDN who received two low dose rounds of a non-viral gene therapy called VM202 had significant improvement of their pain that lasted for months. "I ...

Methane is one hot gas. It's a prominent component of natural gas, an important atmospheric gas, and a product of both biology and chemical reactions. Its presence was recently confirmed in the atmosphere of Mars by NASA's Curiosity Rover and it has made the news both as a critical greenhouse gas and as a groundwater contaminant resulting from fracking. Yet, while methane seems to be everywhere, many questions remain about the reactions that produce and consume this high-energy compound. "Deciphering the many pathways by which methane is produced is one of the holy grails ...