In the largest study of its kind published to date, an international team of researchers in Mexico and the United States has discovered a strong genetic risk factor for type 2 diabetes that primarily affects Latin American patients, but is rare elsewhere. The work further characterizes a gene called HNF1A, responsible for a rare, inherited form of diabetes against which a widely available and inexpensive class of drugs is highly effective. The discovery offers important new clues about the population genetics of type 2 diabetes in Latin American populations, and suggests ...

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) projects would add additional value of 5 or 6 cents per kilowatt hour to utility-scale solar energy in California where 33 percent renewables will be mandated in six years, a new report by the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has found. The report, "Estimating the Value of Utility-Scale Solar Technologies in California Under a 40% Renewable Portfolio StandardPDF," finds that CSP, with its ability to store energy for several hours or more, helps maintain firm capacity in the hours when the sun is below the horizon. ...

A new report, prepared by analysts from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), reviews estimates of the costs and benefits of compliance with Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) in the United States and explores how costs and benefits may evolve over time. "A Survey of State-Level Cost and Benefit Estimates of Renewable Portfolio StandardsPDF," reviews recent estimated RPS costs for most states, but finds that a lack of benefits estimates and methodological differences limit the ability to ...

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 10, 2014 – Crescendo Bioscience, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN), today announced that Vectra® DA data will be featured in eight posters at the 2014 European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Annual Meeting, June 11-14, 2014, in Paris, France. Vectra DA is a quantitative, objective multi-biomarker test to measure disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The Vectra DA test offers insight into the biological processes that drive disease activity to help rheumatologists manage RA and improve ...

Chicago, June 10, 2014—The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has released an issue brief containing results of a survey on long-term care in California. With a particular focus on demographics, the issue brief provides new data on how Californians are, or are not, planning for long-term care and their views on the role of family. This information is vital as policymakers are currently grappling with how to plan for and finance high-quality long-term care in the United States. "This issue brief takes a focused look at long-term care attitudes and ...

Good chocolate is among the world's most beloved foods, which is why scientists are seeking to improve the product, and enhance the world's pleasure. A team of researchers from Germany and Switzerland—the heartland of fine chocolate—have embarked upon a quest to better understand natural cocoa fermentation and have published findings ahead of print in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. "Our studies have unraveled the metabolism of the rather unexplored acetic acid bacteria in the complex fermentation environment," says corresponding author Christoph Wittmann ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A UC Davis study comparing violent misdemeanor convictions with their original criminal charges has found that subsequent violent crimes could be prevented if criminal charges were reduced less often during plea bargaining. The small, preliminary study, posted online June 9 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, re-analyzed data on 787 individuals under age 35 who had violent misdemeanor convictions and purchased handguns in California in 1989 or 1990. The goal was to assess the impact of reduced criminal charges on gun purchases and subsequent ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Researchers at UC Davis and other facilities have shown that telehealth consultations for clinicians at rural hospitals improve their ability to provide forensic examinations for sexual abuse. Published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect, the study showed that clinicians with access to expert UC Davis nurses provided more thorough and nuanced exams, improving their ability to gather evidence and to make an accurate diagnosis. "Providing telehealth support really improves the quality of these forensic exams," said first author Sheridan Miyamoto, ...

Each year, approximately 22,000 Americans are diagnosed with oral cancer. The five-year survival rate of 40% in the U.S. is one of the lowest of the major cancers, and it has not improved in the past 40 years. More people die each year in the U.S. from oral cancer than from melanoma, cervical, or ovarian cancer. Worldwide, the incidence of oral cancer is increasing, particularly among young people and women, with an estimated 350,000 – 400,000 new cases diagnosed each year. "The major risk factors, tobacco and alcohol use, alone cannot explain the changes in incidence, ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – Illegal immigrants don't hold the most dangerous jobs in America. That kind of work pays a decent wage for the risk to life and limb, and undocumented workers are barred from those jobs. Yet there is plenty of hazard, risk and occupational injury for the uncounted millions of illegal immigrants doing the "merely dangerous" work no one else wants – without a pay premium from employers who take advantage of that labor pool, a Cornell University – Penn State University study reveals. "Undocumented Mexicans receive effectively no wage premium for working ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — June 10, 2014 — This is the story of two perfectly harmless genes. By themselves, PAX3 and MAML3 don't cause any problems. However, when they combine during an abnormal but recurring chromosomal mismatch, they can be dangerous. The result is a chimera — a gene that is half of each — and that causes biphenotypic sinonasal sarcoma. The tumor usually begins in the nose and may infiltrate the rest of the face, requiring disfiguring surgery to save the individual. Because Mayo Clinic pathology researchers have now described the molecular makeup of the rare ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (June 10, 2014)—Testosterone supplementation for women is a hot topic. A new pharmacokinetics study of a brand of testosterone cream for women approved in Western Australia has been published online in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). For women after menopause, it took 5 mg, the lowest dose of this product, to raise testosterone back to a premenopause level. "In the United States we do not yet have an approved testosterone product designed for women," says NAMS Executive Director Margery Gass, MD. "As a result, American ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Engineers at Oregon State University have successfully shown that a continuous flow reactor can produce high-quality nanoparticles by using microwave-assisted heating – essentially the same forces that heat up leftover food with such efficiency. Instead of warming up yesterday's pizza, however, this concept may provide a technological revolution. It could change everything from the production of cell phones and televisions to counterfeit-proof money, improved solar energy systems or quick identification of troops in combat. The findings, recently ...

This news release is available in French. Montreal, June 10, 2014 — Bipolar disorder (BD) is among the 10 most burdensome medical conditions, according to the World Health Organization. The disorder is known for its dramatic highs of extreme euphoria, racing thoughts and decreased need for sleep, as well as its profound lows of sadness and despair. Because it is also associated with a heightened risk of suicide, substance abuse, hypersexuality, familial discord and aggressive behaviour, BD affects not just those suffering from it, but also those around them — especially ...

Researchers from McGill and the U.S. Geological Survey, more used to measuring thawing permafrost than its expansion, have made a surprising discovery. There is new permafrost forming around Twelvemile Lake in the interior of Alaska. But they have also quickly concluded that, given the current rate of climate change, it won't last beyond the end of this century. Twelvemile Lake, and many others like it, is disappearing. Over the past thirty years, as a result of climate change and thawing permafrost, the lake water has been receding at an alarming rate. It is now 5 metres ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Requiring private schools that receive public money to report student test scores improves academic achievement and ultimately enhances school choice, a Michigan State University scholar argues. In a pioneering study, Joshua Cowen and colleagues found that voucher schools in Milwaukee saw a large jump in math and reading scores the year after a new law required them to release the results. During the four years before the law was enacted, math and reading scores declined or remained stagnant. The study, which appears in the journal Educational ...

This news release is available in German. According to researchers in the Walk Again Project, all systems are go for a bold demonstration of neuroscience and cognitive technology in action: On June 12, during the opening of the FIFA 2014 World Cup in Brazil, a paralyzed person wearing a brain-controlled robotic exoskeleton is expected to make the first kick of the football championship. The Walk Again Project is an international collaboration of more than one hundred scientists, led by Prof. Miguel Nicolelis of Duke University and the International Institute for ...

Particles of soot floating through the air and comets hurtling through space have at least one thing in common: 0.36. That, reports a research group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is the measure of how dense they will get under normal conditions, and it's a value that seems to be constant for similar aggregates across an impressively wide size range from nanometers to tens of meters.* NIST hopes the results will help in the development of future measurement standards to aid climate researchers and others who need to measure and understand ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (http://www.ucr.edu) — Researchers at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering have developed a three-dimensional, silicon-decorated, cone-shaped carbon-nanotube cluster architecture for lithium ion battery anodes that could enable charging of portable electronics in 10 minutes, instead of hours. Lithium ion batteries are the rechargeable battery of choice for portable electronic devices and electric vehicles. But, they present problems. Batteries in electric vehicles are responsible for a significant portion of the vehicle ...

Chicago, IL, June 10, 2014: New research published in the Nutrition Journal reveals that calorie-for-calorie, even a serving of instant oatmeal is more filling than a ready-to-eat (RTE), oat-based cereal. Researchers found that eating a bowl of instant oatmeal for breakfast is more satiating and helps to manage hunger better than the same amount of calories from a leading oat-based, cold cereal, even when consumed in smaller portions than previously found. Frank Greenway, M.D. and colleagues at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University ...

Lebanon, NH (June 10, 2014) - Dartmouth researchers have found that reducing carbohydrate intake could reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence among women whose tumor tissue is positive for the IGF-1 receptor. The study, "Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence Associated with Carbohydrate Intake and Tissue Expression of IGFI Receptor," will appear in the July issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. "There is a growing body of research demonstrating associations between obesity, diabetes, and cancer risk," said lead author Jennifer A. Emond, an instructor in ...

Geologists in the College of Arts and Sciences have discovered a new way to study oxygen levels in the Earth's oldest oceans. Zunli Lu and Xiaoli Zhou, an assistant professor and Ph.D. student, respectively, in the Department of Earth Sciences, are part of an international team of researchers whose findings have been published by the journal Geology (Geological Society of America, 2014). Their research approach may have important implications for the study of marine ecology and global warming. "More than 2.5 billion years ago, there was little to no oxygen in the oceans, ...

ANN ARBOR–Childhood lead exposure costs Michigan residents an estimated $330 million annually, and a statewide remediation program to eliminate the source of most lead poisoning would pay for itself in three years, according to a new report. "Economic Impacts of Lead Exposure and Remediation in Michigan," compares the cost of four well-documented impacts of lead exposure­--increased health care, increased crime, increase in special education, and decline in lifetime earnings--with the cost of lead abatement of high-risk homes. The report is a collaboration between the ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Children learn a great deal about the world from their own exploration, but they also rely on what adults tell them. Studies have shown that children can figure out when someone is lying to them, but cognitive scientists from MIT recently tackled a subtler question: Can children tell when adults are telling them the truth, but not the whole truth? Led by Laura Schulz, the Class of 1943 Career Development Associate Professor of Cognitive Science, the researchers found that not only can children make this distinction, but they can also compensate for incomplete ...

New research co-authored by University of Calgary alumna Erin Navid provides evidence that British Columbia's mainland wolves and coastal wolves are more distinct than previously believed. The research, published today in the scientific journal BMC Ecology, affirms what Chester Starr, an elder from the Heiltsuk First Nation on BC's remote west coast, and his people have always known: 'Timber Wolves' occupy the mainland of the British Columbia coast and 'Coastal Wolves' live on the nearby islands. Starr's insight provided motivation for the study. "What makes this study ...