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Medicine22 Oct 2014

When heart cancer hides in the brain

It was fortunate for the middle-aged woman that she presented her symptoms at the European Institute of Oncology (IEO), where doctors had seen another strange case just two years before. The 59-year-old woman had complained of chest pain and shortness of breath. A biopsy revealed that she had an unusual type of "heart cancer" called cardiac lymphoma. But a week after receiving treatment, the patient developed a headache and her motor skills began to deteriorate. Strangely, in 2011, a similar case had presented at the IEO. In that instance, the patient's cardiac ...

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Medicine22 Oct 2014

Brain simulation raises questions

What does it mean to simulate the human brain? Why is it important to do so? And is it even possible to simulate the brain separately from the body it exists in? These questions are discussed in a new paper published in the scientific journal Neuron today. Simulating the brain means modeling it on a computer. But in real life, brains don't exist in isolation. The brain is a complex and adaptive system that is seated within our bodies and entangled with all the other adaptive systems inside us that together make up a whole person. And the fact that the brain is a brain ...

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Medicine22 Oct 2014

Human skin cells reprogrammed directly into brain cells

Scientists have described a way to convert human skin cells directly into a specific type of brain cell affected by Huntington's disease, an ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Unlike other techniques that turn one cell type into another, this new process does not pass through a stem cell phase, avoiding the production of multiple cell types, the study's authors report. The researchers, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, demonstrated that these converted cells survived at least six months after injection into the brains of mice and behaved ...

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Medicine22 Oct 2014

Quality of biopsy directly linked to survival in bladder cancer patients

UCLA researchers have shown for the first time that the quality of diagnostic staging using biopsy in patients with bladder cancer is directly linked with survival, meaning those that don't get optimal biopsies are more likely to die from their disease. The two-year study found that about half of bladder cancer patients who were biopsied had insufficient material – meaning there was no bladder wall muscle retrieved – to accurately stage the cancer. Additionally, the UCLA research team found that a suboptimal biopsy and incorrect tumor staging was associated ...

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Medicine22 Oct 2014

How people view their own weight influences bariatric surgery success

Negative feelings about one's own weight, known as internalized weight bias, influence the success people have after undergoing weight loss surgery, according to research appearing in the journal Obesity Surgery, published by Springer. The study, from the Geisinger Health System in the US, is considered the first and only study to examine internalized weight bias in relation to post-surgical weight loss success in adults. Internalized weight bias adversely affects many overweight people. Studies have shown that weight bias stems from personal perception or societal views ...

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Science22 Oct 2014

Some scientists share better than others

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Some scientists share better than others. While astronomers and geneticists embrace the concept, the culture of ecology still has a ways to go. Research by Michigan State University, published in the current issue of Bioscience, explores the paradox that although ecologists share findings via scientific journals, they do not share the data on which the studies are built, said Patricia Soranno, MSU fisheries and wildlife professor and co-author of the paper. "One reason for not sharing data is the fear of being scooped by another scientist; ...

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Social Science22 Oct 2014

Baker Institute paper: Data indicate there is no immigration crisis

HOUSTON – (Oct. 22, 2014) – Is there an "immigration crisis" on the U.S.-Mexico border? Not according to an examination of historical immigration data, according to a new paper from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. "'Illegal' Immigration on the U.S.-Mexico Border: Is it Really a Crisis?" was co-authored by William Gruben, a research associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas' Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute, and Tony Payan, the Baker Institute's Françoise and Edward Djerejian Fellow for Mexico Studies and director ...

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Environment22 Oct 2014

Turning waste from whisky-making into fuel -- Close to commercial reality?

A start-up company in Scotland is working to capitalize on the tons of waste produced by one of the country's most valued industries and turn the dregs of whisky-making into fuel. Celtic Renewables, formed in 2011, has refined its process based on a century-old fermentation technique and is now taking the next step toward a commercial plant, according to an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society. Ann M. Thayer, a senior correspondent with C&EN, points out that making whisky requires three ingredients: water, ...

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Science22 Oct 2014

Lessons from the 'Spanish flu,' nearly 100 years later

Just in time for flu season, a new Michigan State University study of "the mother of all pandemics" could offer insight into infection control measures for the flu and other epidemic diseases. Siddharth Chandra, director of MSU's Asian Studies Center and professor in MSU's James Madison College, and Eva Kassens-Noor, assistant professor of urban and transport planning with a joint appointment in the Global Urban Studies Program, studied the evolution of the 1918 influenza pandemic, aka the "Spanish flu." In 1918, the virus killed 50 million people worldwide, 10 to 20 ...

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Medicine22 Oct 2014

New study shows that shifting precipitation patterns affect tea flavor, health compounds

BOZEMAN, Mont. – A team of researchers including Montana State University professor Selena Ahmed has found that shifting patterns of precipitation affect key chemicals responsible for the flavor and health properties of tea. Ahmed, assistant professor of health and human performance in the MSU College of Education, Health and Human Development, said the team's research shows that major antioxidant compounds that determine tea health properties and flavor, including epigallocatechin, epigallocatechin gallate, epicatechin gallate, gallocatechin gallate, catechin ...

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Social Science22 Oct 2014

Early intervention could boost education levels

Taking steps from an early age to improve childhood education skills could raise overall population levels of academic achievement by as much as 5%, and reduce socioeconomic inequality in education by 15%, according to international research led by the University of Adelaide. In a study now published in the journal Child Development, researchers from the University of Adelaide's School of Population Health and colleagues at the University of Bristol in the UK have modelled the likely outcomes of interventions to improve academic skills in children up to school age. They ...

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Medicine22 Oct 2014

Steadily rising increases in mitochondrial DNA mutations cause abrupt shifts in disease

Philadelphia, Oct. 22, 2014 – New work by a pioneering scientist details how subtle changes in mitochondrial function may cause a broad range of common metabolic and degenerative diseases. Mitochondria are tiny energy-producing structures within our cells that contain their own DNA. The new research shows that small changes in the ratio of mutant to normal mitochondrial DNA within the thousands of mitochondrial DNAs inside each cell can cause abrupt changes in the expression of numerous genes within the nuclear DNA. Furthermore, the different proportions of mutant ...

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Science22 Oct 2014

The unexpected benefits of adjustable rate mortgages

Using loan level data matched to consumer credit records, researchers have been able to determine that a reduction in mortgage payments of as little as $150 a month spurred a reduction in mortgage defaults and an increase in consumer spending (particularly the financing of automobile purchases), while improving household credit ratings. University of Chicago Booth School of Business Professor Amit Seru, together with Benjamin J. Key of UChicago's Harris School of Public Policy, Tomasz Piskorski of the Columbia Business School and Vincent Yao of Fannie Mae authored "Mortgage ...

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Medicine22 Oct 2014

Expert recommendations for diagnosing pediatric acute onset neuropsychiatric syndrome

New Rochelle, NY, October 22, 2014—A panel of leading clinicians and researchers across various general and specialty pediatric fields developed a consensus statement recommending how to evaluate youngsters in whom neuropsychiatric symptoms suddenly develop, including the abrupt, dramatic onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This difficult diagnosis is typically made by pediatricians or other primary care clinicians and child psychiatrists, who will benefit from the guidance provided in the recommendations published in Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, ...

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Environment22 Oct 2014

Researchers resolve the Karakoram glacier anomaly, a cold case of climate science

Researchers from Princeton University and other institutions may have hit upon an answer to a climate-change puzzle that has eluded scientists for years, and that could help understand the future availability of water for hundreds of millions of people. In a phenomenon known as the "Karakoram anomaly," glaciers in the Karakoram mountains, a range within the Himalayas, have remained stable and even increased in mass while many glaciers nearby — and worldwide — have receded during the past 150 years, particularly in recent decades. Himalayan glaciers provide ...

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Environment22 Oct 2014

Global consumption an increasingly significant driver of tropical deforestation

International trade with agricultural and wood products is an increasingly important driver of tropical deforestation. More than a third of recent deforestation can be tied to production of beef, soy, palm oil and timber. "The trend is clear, the drivers of deforestation have been globalized and commercialized", says assistant professor Martin Persson, Chalmers University of Technology. In a report commissioned by US think-tank Center for Global Development (CGD) Martin Persson and colleagues in Linköping, Sweden, and Vienna, Austria, have investigated to which extent ...

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Energy22 Oct 2014

An effective, cost-saving way to detect natural gas pipeline leaks

Major leaks from oil and gas pipelines have led to home evacuations, explosions, millions of dollars in lawsuit payouts and valuable natural resources escaping into the air, ground and water. But in a report in ACS' journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, scientists say they have developed a new software-based method that finds leaks even when they're small, which could help prevent serious incidents — and save money for customers and industry. Gary Valtinson and Miguel Bagajewicz note that using pipelines to move oil, gas and even water from one place ...

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Science22 Oct 2014

Susceptibility for relapsing major depressive disorder can be calculated

Selver Demic and his colleagues from the Mercator Research Group have set out to find out more about the causes of depression. "Approx. 20 per cent of the population will suffer a de-pressive episode in the course of their lives," says Demic. "This cohort of 20 per cent includes people who will never again experience any problems after that one-time episode is over. The others, however, will suffer repeatedly or chronically under the disorder, despite taking appropriate medication. We want to use our model to explain the occurrence and recurrence rates." Unfortunate ...

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Medicine22 Oct 2014

Indiana Project screenings show need for more mental health services in youth detention

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana is at the forefront of providing mental health screening and services to juvenile offenders, but more efforts are needed to improve the services provided to detained youths, according to Indiana University School of Medicine research findings published in the October issue of the American Journal of Public Health. "A Statewide Collaboration to Initiate Mental Health Screening and Assess Services for Indiana Detained Youths" reviewed 25,265 detention visits of 15,461 youths occurring in 2008 to 2011. The youths were incarcerated in 16 detention ...

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Science22 Oct 2014

Cooling with molecules

This news release is available in German. An international team of scientists have become the first ever researchers to successfully reach temperatures below minus 272.15 degrees Celsius – only just above absolute zero – using magnetic molecules. The physicists and chemists are presenting their new investigation today (22 October 2014) in the scientific journal Nature Communications. It was developed by six scientists from Bielefeld University, the University of Manchester (Great Britain), and the Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain). Scientists usually express ...

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Science22 Oct 2014

Harvard study offers first-ever look at how NCAA concussion guidelines are followed

Though most NCAA colleges and universities have created programs to help athletes deal with concussions, a new Harvard study has found that, when it comes to specific components of those plans, many institutions still lag behind accepted standards. The study, the first-ever comprehensive examination of how colleges and universities have complied with the Concussion Policy and Legislation adopted by the NCAA in 2010, is based on the results of a survey sent to all 1,066 NCAA member institutions. Of those institutions, 907 schools responded. The results, according to ...

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Medicine22 Oct 2014

Silencing the speech gene FOXP2 causes breast cancer cells to metastasize

BOSTON – It is an intricate network of activity that enables breast cancer cells to move from the primary breast tumor and set up new growths in other parts of the body, a process known as metastasis. Now a research team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has identified an unexpected link between a transcription factor known to regulate speech and language development and metastatic colonization of breast cancer. Currently described online in Cell Stem Cell, the new findings demonstrate that, when silenced, the FOXP2 transcription ...

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Science22 Oct 2014

Study finds no increase in pregnancy-related death for African-American women

October 22, 2014 – In contrast to national trends, a study performed at Alabama's largest hospital finds no racial difference in the risk of pregnancy-related death between African American and Caucasian women, reports the November issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia. However, the results show a significant increase in maternal mortality for women who live greater distances from the hospital, according to the study Dr Michael Froelich of University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and colleagues. The findings point to differences in health care access as a possible explanation ...

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Medicine22 Oct 2014

Clinical trial could change standard treatment for stroke

A large international clinical trial has shed new light on the effectiveness of current hospital protocols for managing blood pressure in stroke patients. The two-part ENOS trial (Efficacy of Nitric Oxide in Stroke,) was carried out at The University of Nottingham in collaboration with 23 countries to try to solve two major conundrums faced by doctors when treating people who have suffered a stroke — should blood pressure be lowered using medicated skin patches, and should existing blood pressure medication be stopped or continued after a stroke? The results of ...

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Technology22 Oct 2014

Association between air toxics and childhood autism

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 22, 2014 – Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were more likely to have been exposed to higher levels of certain air toxics during their mothers' pregnancies and the first two years of life compared to children without the condition, according to the preliminary findings of a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health investigation of children in southwestern Pennsylvania. This research, funded by The Heinz Endowments, will be presented today at the American Association for Aerosol Research annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. ...

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