WASHINGTON, D.C., March 19, 2014 ─ Students who begin their postsecondary education at a community college and successfully transfer to a four-year college have BA graduation rates equal to similar students who begin at four-year colleges, according to new research published today. That rate would actually increase – to 54 percent from 46 percent – if not for the loss of academic credits when students transfer, said study authors. "The Community College Route to the Bachelor's Degree," by Paul Attewell and David Monaghan, both of the Graduate Center of the City ...

Irvine, Calif., March 19, 2014 – Titanium alloy golf clubs can cause dangerous wildfires, according to UC Irvine scientists. When a club coated with the lightweight metal is swung and strikes a rock, it creates sparks that can heat to more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit for long enough to ignite dry foliage, according to findings published recently in the peer-reviewed journal Fire and Materials. Orange County, Calif., fire investigators asked UC Irvine to determine whether such clubs could have caused blazes at Shady Canyon Golf Course in Irvine and Arroyo Trabuco Golf ...

Glasgow, UK: Genetic analyses of results from 1125 postmenopausal women being treated for oestrogen responsive breast cancer have shown that some of them are more likely than others to have a late recurrence of their cancer and might benefit from ten years of hormone therapy rather than five. Prof Mitch Dowsett told the opening press conference at the European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-9) that his research had shown that women who had tumours that were negative for the human epidermal growth factor protein (HER2-) but which were very sensitive to the oestrogen hormone, ...

Using a powerful data-crunching technique, Johns Hopkins researchers have sorted out how a protein keeps defective genetic material from gumming up the cellular works. The protein, Dom34, appears to "rescue" protein-making factories called ribosomes when they get stuck obeying defective genetic instructions, the researchers report in the Feb. 27 issue of Cell. "We already knew that binding to Dom34 makes a ribosome split and say 'I'm done,' and that without it, animals can't survive," says Rachel Green, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics ...

Scientists working on the world's leading particle collider experiments have joined forces, combined their data and produced the first joint result from Fermilab's Tevatron and CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), past and current holders of the record for most powerful particle collider on Earth. Scientists from the four experiments involved—ATLAS, CDF, CMS and DZero—announced their joint findings on the mass of the top quark on March 19, 2014 at the Rencontres de Moriond international physics conference in Italy. Together the four experiments pooled their data analysis ...

Verbal interactions between parents and children create a social feedback loop important for language development, according to research forthcoming in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. That loop appears to be experienced less frequently and is diminished in strength in interactions with autistic children. "This loop likely has cascading impacts over the course of a child's development," says psychological scientist and study author Anne S. Warlaumont of the University of California, Merced. "Understanding how it works and ...

Boulder, Colo., USA – Geosphere articles posted online 17 Mar. 2014 include additions to two series: "CRevolution 2: Origin and Evolution of the Colorado River System II" and "Origin and Evolution of the Sierra Nevada and Walker Lane." Other articles present new seismic data for the Slate Range of California, USA; the first detailed geologic map from the Likhu Khola region of east central Nepal; and a review of pre-21st century ideas about the origin of Grand Canyon. Abstracts for these and other Geosphere papers are available at http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/. Representatives ...

New research in mice suggests that autism is characterized by reduced activity of inhibitory neurons and increased activity of excitatory neurons in the brain, but balance can be restored with low doses of a well-known class of drugs currently used in much higher doses to treat anxiety and epileptic seizures. The findings, which are reported in the March 19th issue of the Cell Press journal Neuron, point to a new therapeutic approach to managing autism. "These are very exciting results because they suggest that existing drugs—called benzodiazepines—might be useful in ...

March 19, 2014 – The open-access International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research has released a special issue on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), with the intention of increasing awareness of the negative effects of alcohol use in pregnancy and improving prevention, treatment and care for those living with FASD. "In most countries, FASD is not well recognized by health professionals," says guest editor Dr. Svetlana (Lana) Popova, Senior Scientist in the Social and Epidemiological Research Department at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). "If ...

In a study published today (19/3/2014) in the scientific journal Neuron, neuroscientists at the Champalimaud Foundation, in collaboration with neuroscientists from Harvard University, describe the first activity maps at the resolution of single cells and throughout the entire brain of behaving zebrafish. "This opens up new possibilities for studying neural circuits in the brain," says Michael Orger, principal investigator at the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme. "In order to understand how the brain works, it is imperative that we can record the activity of the cells ...

While many are stocking up on allergy medicine in preparation for spring, a new study from researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center has uncovered a new connection between allergy and cancer that could potentially lead to therapies involving common antihistamines. Recently published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, the study was led by Daniel H. Conrad, Ph.D., member of the Cancer Cell Signaling research program at Massey and professor of microbiology and immunology at the VCU School of Medicine, with substantial contributions from Ph.D. ...

In a world facing the challenges of climate change, demographic boom and deficit in food resources, the word "sustainable" and the concept behind it become increasingly relevant. Sustainability in the way humanity uses available resources is key to a brighter and greener future. In the context of sustainable food production, there is a clear need for crop productivity increases and diversification. Optimising rice ecosystem functions and services in Southeast Asia and their stabilisation under future land use and climate change, is the main focus of the project LEGATO ...

Radiological damage to microbes near the site of the Chernobyl disaster has slowed the decomposition of fallen leaves and other plant matter in the area, according to a study just published in the journal Oecologia. The resulting buildup of dry, loose detritus is a wildfire hazard that poses the threat of spreading radioactivity from the Chernobyl area. Tim Mousseau, a professor of biology and co-director of the Chernobyl and Fukushima Research Initiatives at the University of South Carolina, has done extensive research in the contaminated area surrounding the Chernobyl ...

Planting cover crops in rotation between cash crops -- widely agreed to be ecologically beneficial -- is even more valuable than previously thought, according to a team of agronomists, entomologists, agroecologists, horticulturists and biogeochemists from Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. "As society places increasing demands on agricultural land beyond food production to include ecosystem services, we needed a new way to evaluate 'success' in agriculture," said Jason Kaye, professor of biogeochemistry. "This research presents a framework for considering ...

DALLAS – March 19, 2014 – A UT Southwestern Medical Center study has identified a new potential therapeutic target for controlling high blood sugar, a finding that could help the estimated 25 million Americans with type 2 diabetes. Researchers showed that lipid molecules called phosphatidic acids enhance glucose production in the liver. These findings suggest that inhibiting or reducing production of phosphatidic acids may do the opposite. “This study establishes a role for phosphatidic acids in enhancing glucose production by the liver and identifies enzymes involved ...

The remnants of former Tropical Cyclone Gillian moved out of the Southern Pacific Ocean and into the Indian Ocean only to trigger warnings and watches for part of Indonesia on March 19. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the stubborn storm and took a visible image of the re-organizing tropical low pressure area. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Gillian's remnants on March 19 at 05:30 UTC/1:30 a.m. EDT and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument took a visible picture of the storm. The image showed that the storm appeared to be well-defined, ...

NOAA's GOES-West satellite caught the birth of Tropical Storm Mike in the Southern Pacific Ocean on March 19. Mike's formation has generated warnings for the Southern Cook Islands. NOAA's GOES-West or GOES-15 satellite captured an infrared image of newborn Tropical Storm Mike in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean on March 19 at 1200 UTC/8 a.m. EDT. Mike appeared to be a compact, rounded tropical storm with bands of thunderstorms wrapping into it. NOAA's GOES-West satellite sits in a fixed orbit in space capturing visible and infrared imagery of all weather over the western ...

Colonial legacy has a significant impact on scientific productivity across the continent of Africa, according to a study by researchers at the University of Lomé, in Togo. Writing in the International Journal of Education Economics and Development, the team suggests that Africa performs relatively poorly compared with other regions of the world. Moreover, their analysis of data for the period 1994 to 2009 shows that African nations with a British colonial legacy are much more productive than countries with French or other history. This, the team adds, correlates with superior ...

Demand for property in the Alps is on the increase with a growing number of foreigners looking to invest in resorts such as Chamonix, according to new figures. Property agents in Chamonix, a resort in France's Savoie region and one of the key Alpine winter destinations, are reporting soaring property demand, much of which is being driven by the international buyers. The real estate agents also revealed an increase in property prices of more than eight per cent during 2013. This surge in interest can be attributed to the infrastructure upgrades in Chamonix and also to ...

DALLAS, March 19, 2014 — When cancer spreads from one part of the body to another, it becomes even more deadly. It moves with stealth and can go undetected for months or years. But a new technology that uses "nano-flares" has the potential to catch these lurking, mobilized tumor cells early on. Today, scientists presented the latest advances in nano-flare technology as it applies to the detection of metastatic breast cancer cells. The report was one of more than 10,000 at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). The meeting is taking ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — March 17, 2014 — Results of a clinical trial of Cologuard show unprecedented rates of precancer and cancer detection by a noninvasive test. The detection rates are similar to those reported for colonoscopy. The results were published in the March 20 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Cologuard was co-developed by Mayo Clinic and Exact Sciences. Cologuard, is a noninvasive sDNA test for the early detection of colorectal precancer and cancer. The Cologuard test is based on a stool sample that is analyzed for DNA signatures of precancer ...

(New York, March 19, 2014) – A new, non-invasive, stool-based screening test detected 92% of colorectal cancer (CRC), according to a multicenter trial published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The new test, which is not yet approved by the FDA, allows patients to collect a sample at home without the need for bowel preparation or diet restrictions. Unlike other available stool-based CRC screening tests, which rely solely on detecting occult blood in the stool, this new test, called "Cologuard", developed and patented by Exact Sciences, detects both ...

It's difficult to identify a single evolutionary novelty in the animal kingdom that has fascinated and intrigued mankind more than the lantern of the firefly. Yet to this day, nothing has been known about the genetic foundation for the formation and evolution of this luminescent structure. But now, new work from a former Indiana University Bloomington graduate student and his IU Ph.D. advisor offers for the first time a characterization of the developmental genetic basis of this spectacular morphological novelty -- the firefly's photic organ -- and the means by which this ...

Globalization has made the world a better and more equal place for many more people than was the case a few decades ago. However, it has also created two well-defined worlds of poor countries and wealthy nations, according to Vanesa Jordá and José María Sarabia of the University of Cantabria in Spain. In an article published in Springer's journal Applied Research in Quality of Life, they studied the distribution of well-being over the last wave of globalization between 1980 and 2011. Well-being is generally described as the state of being happy, healthy or prosperous. ...

ANN ARBOR—Inspired by the space physics behind solar flares and the aurora, a team of researchers from the University of Michigan and Princeton has uncovered a new kind of magnetic behavior that could help make nuclear fusion reactions easier to start. Fusion is widely considered the ultimate goal of nuclear energy. While fission leaves behind radioactive waste that must be stored safely, fusion generates helium, a harmless element that is becoming scarce. Just 250 kilograms of fusion fuel can match the energy production of 2.7 million tons of coal. Unfortunately, it ...