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Physics18 Dec 2014

Electron spin could be the key to high-temperature superconductivity

Cuprates are materials with great promise for achieving superconductivity at higher temperatures (-120oC). This could mean low-cost electricity without energy loss. Intense research has focused on understanding the physics of cuprates in the hope that we can develop room-temperature superconductors. EPFL scientists have now used a cutting-edge technique to uncover the way cuprates become superconductors. Their work is published in Nature Communications. Conventional superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with no electrical resistance under temperatures ...

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Science18 Dec 2014

Study shows epinephrine auto-injectors and asthma inhalers used incorrectly

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (December 18, 2014) - Millions of Americans with severe allergies and asthma are prescribed medical devices to help relieve symptoms and sometimes, to treat potentially fatal allergic reactions. Unfortunately, very few people use their prescribed medical devices properly - even if they think they know how. According to a new study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), misuse of epinephrine auto-injectors has been documented in cases ...

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Medicine18 Dec 2014

Moms of food-allergic kids need dietician's support

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (December 18, 2014) - Discovering your child has a severe food allergy can be a terrible shock. Even more stressful can be determining what foods your child can and cannot eat, and constructing a new diet which might eliminate entire categories of foods. According to a new study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), providing parents with detailed, individual advice from a dietician is a key component of effective food allergy care. "We ...

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Medicine18 Dec 2014

How does prostate cancer form?

(PHILADELPHIA) - Prostate cancer affects more than 23,000 men this year in the USA however the individual genes that initiate prostate cancer formation are poorly understood. Finding an enzyme that regulates this process could provide excellent new prevention approaches for this common malignancy. Sirtuin enzymes have been implicated in neurodegeneration, obesity, heart disease, and cancer. Research published online Thursday (Dec 18th) in The American Journal of Pathology show the loss of one of sirtuin (SIRT1) drives the formation of early prostate cancer (prostatic intraepithelial ...

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Science18 Dec 2014

Subtle but important memory function affected by preterm birth

A new study has found that children born prematurely show differences in a subtle but important aspect of memory: the ability to form and retrieve memories about context, such as what, when, and where something happened. This type of memory is important, but can be missed on the usual set of direct assessments. The new research suggests that it may be valuable to find targeted ways to help strengthen this aspect of memory in children born preterm. The study also found that the hippocampus region of the brain is smaller in children born prematurely. This is the part of ...

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Science18 Dec 2014

The quality of parent-infant relationships and early childhood shyness predict teen anxiety

Infants who frequently react to unfamiliar objects, people, and situations by becoming afraid and withdrawing are referred to as having a behaviorally inhibited temperament. As these infants grow up, many continue to be inhibited or reticent when they experience new things, including meeting new people. Inhibited children are more likely than their peers to develop anxiety problems, especially social anxiety, as they get older. A new longitudinal study has found that behavioral inhibition that persists across early childhood is associated with social anxiety in adolescence, ...

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Social Science18 Dec 2014

Early caregiving experiences have long-term effects on social relationships, achievement

Do the effects of early caregiving experiences remain or fade as individuals develop? A new study has found that sensitive caregiving in the first three years of life predicts an individual's social competence and academic achievement, not only during childhood and adolescence, but also into adulthood. The study, by researchers at the University of Minnesota, the University of Delaware, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, appears in the journal Child Development. It was carried out in an effort to replicate and expand on findings from the NICHD Study ...

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Technology18 Dec 2014

Fine particulate air pollution linked with increased autism risk

Boston, MA -- Women exposed to high levels of fine particulate matter specifically during pregnancy--particularly during the third trimester--may face up to twice the risk of having a child with autism than mothers living in areas with low particulate matter, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). The greater the exposure, the greater the risk, researchers found. It was the first U.S.-wide study exploring the link between airborne particulate matter and autism. "Our data add additional important support to the hypothesis that maternal exposure ...

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Medicine18 Dec 2014

High-dose flu vaccine appears better for frail older adults in long-term care

For frail older adults living in long-term care facilities, the high-dose influenza vaccine appears to be a better option than the regular shot, producing a stronger immune response than the standard vaccine, according to a study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases and now available online. High-dose vaccine may play a key role, along with improving vaccination rates among health care workers and other strategies, in preventing flu in this vulnerable and growing population. About 90 percent of the deaths associated with influenza in the U.S. annually are among ...

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Medicine18 Dec 2014

High-dose flu vaccine superior for frail elderly living in long-term care facilities

PITTSBURGH, Dec. 18, 2014 - The high-dose flu vaccine is significantly better than the regular flu shot at boosting the immune response to the flu virus in frail, older residents of long-term care facilities, according to the results of a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study. It is the first evaluation of the vaccine in long-term care residents, which is the population most vulnerable to flu-related death. The study, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases and funded by vaccine-maker Sanofi Pasteur, found that - with the exception of one strain of ...

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Medicine18 Dec 2014

Laparoscopic surgery for bladder cancer leads to good long-term cancer control

Long-term survival rates following laparoscopic surgery for bladder cancer are comparable to those of open surgery, according to a study published in BJU International. The findings, which come from the largest study to date with long-term follow-up after this type of minimally invasive surgery, indicate that prospective randomized trials comparing these two bladder cancer surgeries are warranted. Open radical cystectomy, or removal of the bladder though open surgery, is the treatment of choice for muscle invasive and high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer; however, ...

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Physics18 Dec 2014

New evidence shows electronic cigarettes facilitate smoking cessation

Do electronic cigarettes help smokers to quit? Yes, but.... New Cochrane review finds emerging evidence that smokers who use electronic cigarettes can stop or reduce their smoking. The first Cochrane review on this subject published today in the Cochrane Library gives some early insights in to electronic cigarettes as an aid to stopping smoking and reducing consumption. The review draws on two randomised trials and found that while nicotine containing electronic cigarettes were more effective than electronic cigarettes without nicotine (placebo) in helping smokers ...

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Medicine18 Dec 2014

Researcher to cancer: 'Resistance will be futile'

Turning the tables, Katherine Borden at the University of Montreal's Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) has evoked Star Trek's Borg in her fight against the disease. "Cancer cells rapidly evolve a multitude of defense mechanisms to evade the effects of the oncologist's drug arsenal. Unfortunately, clinical strategies to overcome these lag far behind," Borden explained. "This mismatch likely underlies our inability to implement new durable treatment strategies." However, in her paper published in Cancer Research entitled "When will resistance be futile?", ...

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Medicine18 Dec 2014

New hope for rare disease drug development

Using combinations of well-known approved drugs has for the first time been shown to be potentially safe in treating a rare disease, according to the results of a clinical trial published in the open access Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases. The study also shows some promising preliminary results for the efficacy of the drug combination. Drug development can take decades to bring safe and effective treatments to patients. Re-use of existing drugs for new purposes is of considerable interest due to its potential to save time and resources, and help circumvent the low amount ...

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Medicine18 Dec 2014

Life expectancy increases globally as death toll falls from major diseases

SEATTLE--People are living much longer worldwide than they were two decades ago, as death rates from infectious diseases and cardiovascular disease have fallen, according to a new, first-ever journal publication of country-specific cause-of-death data for 188 countries. Causes of death vary widely by country, but, at the global level, drug use disorders and chronic kidney disease account for some of the largest percent increases in premature deaths since 1990. Death rates from some cancers, including pancreatic cancer and kidney cancer, also increased. At the same time, ...

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Science18 Dec 2014

The Lancet: World population gains more than 6 years of life expectancy since 1990

Global life expectancy increased by 5.8 years in men and 6.6 years in women between 1990 and 2013, according to a major new analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013). However, some causes of death ran counter to these trends and have seen increased rates of death [1] since 1990, including: liver cancer caused by hepatitis C (up by 125%), atrial fibrillation and flutter (serious disorders of heart rhythm; up by 100%), drug use disorders (up by 63%), chronic kidney disease (up by 37%), sickle cell disorders (up by 29%), diabetes (up by 9%), and pancreatic ...

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Engineering18 Dec 2014

Big data may be fashion industry's next must-have accessory

Big data may be the next new thing to hit the fashion industry's runways, according to a team of researchers. By analyzing relevant words and phrases from fashion reviews, researchers were able to identify a network of influence among major designers and track how those style trends moved through the industry, said Heng Xu, associate professor of information sciences and technology, Penn State. "Data analytics, which is the idea that large amounts of data are becoming more available for finding patterns, establishing correlations and identifying emerging trends, is ...

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Science17 Dec 2014

Migraine may double risk for facial paralysis

MINNEAPOLIS - Migraine headache may double the risk of a nervous system condition that causes facial paralysis, called Bell's palsy, according to a new study published in the December 17, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Bell's palsy affects between 11 and 40 per 100,000 people each year. Most people with Bell's palsy recover completely. Headaches are the most common disorder of the nervous system and affect about 12 percent of the US population. "This is a very new association between migraine and Bell's ...

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Medicine17 Dec 2014

High fitness level reduces chance of developing hypertension

People with the highest fitness levels are less likely to develop hypertension, according to new research in the Journal of the American Heart Association. "If you're exercising and you're fit, your chances of developing hypertension are much less than someone else who has the same characteristics but isn't fit," said Mouaz H. Al-Mallah, M.D., senior author of the study and a cardiologist at the Henry Ford Heart and Vascular Institute in Detroit, Michigan. "Increasing exercise and fitness levels probably protects against many diseases." More than 57,000 participants ...

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Science17 Dec 2014

Airline pilots can be exposed to cockpit radiation similar to tanning beds

Airline pilots can be exposed to the same amount of UV-A radiation as that from a tanning bed session because airplane windshields do not completely block UV-A radiation, according to a research letter published online by JAMA Dermatology. Airplane windshields are commonly made of polycarbonate plastic or multilayer composite glass. UV-A radiation can cause DNA damage in cells and its role in melanoma is well known, according to the article. Author Martina Sanlorenzo, M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, and co-authors measured the amount of UV radiation ...

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Science17 Dec 2014

Despite risks, benzodiazepine use highest in older people

Prescription use of benzodiazepines--a widely used class of sedative and anti-anxiety medications--increases steadily with age, despite the known risks for older people, according to a comprehensive analysis of benzodiazepine prescribing in the United States. Given existing guidelines cautioning health providers about benzodiazepine use among older adults, findings from the National Institutes of Health-funded study raise questions about why so many prescriptions--many for long-term use--are being written for this age group. The study found that among all adults 18 to ...

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Physics17 Dec 2014

Ultrafast imaging of complex systems in 3-D at near atomic resolution nears

ARGONNE, Ill. - It is becoming possible to image complex systems in 3-D with near-atomic resolution on ultrafast timescales using extremely intense X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) pulses. One important step toward ultrafast imaging of samples with a single X-ray shot is understanding the interaction of extremely brilliant and intense X-ray pulses with the sample, including ionization rates. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory developed an extended Monte Carlo computational scheme that ...

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Science17 Dec 2014

Spider's web weaves way to advanced networks and displays

CHESTNUT HILL, MA (Dec. 17, 2014) - The next generation of light-manipulating networks may take their lead from designs inspired by spiders and leaves, according to a new report from two Boston College physicists and colleagues at South China Normal University. Structures as commonplace as spider webs and leaf venation show they can lead to near optimal performance when copied to create flexible and durable networks that can be used in optoelectronic applications such as photovoltaic devices and display screens, the researcher team reported in a recent edition of the ...

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Medicine17 Dec 2014

Health coaching paired with gym membership works best for obese people with mental illness

LEBANON, NH - A health promotion program, called In SHAPE, specifically designed for people with serious mental illness, produced more fit participants and significant weight loss than a control group where participants only received a gym membership. The results of a randomized clinical trial, published in the Dec. 12 American Journal of Psychiatry, Dr. Stephen Bartels of Dartmouth and colleagues showed that more than half the participants in the In SHAPE group achieved clinically significant reduction in cardiovascular risk. These positive outcomes were maintained six ...

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Science17 Dec 2014

Consumer loyalty driven by aesthetics over functionality

When designing a new car, manufacturers might try to attract consumers with more horsepower, increased fuel efficiency or a lower price point. But new research from San Francisco State University shows consumers' loyalty and passion for an automobile brand are driven more by appearance. Aesthetics that resonate on an emotional level are more responsible for brand loyalty than such factors as functionality and price, the study found. "In product design, if you focus more on the aesthetics of the product, the connections that you create with the consumer at the brand level ...

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