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Medicine16 Oct 2014

New test can help doctors choose best treatment for ovarian cancer

Researchers have devised a new test to help doctors diagnose ovarian tumours and choose the most appropriate treatment. Successful treatment depends in part on accurately identifying the type of tumour, but this can be difficult. As a result, many women with cancer are not sent to the right specialist surgeon, or those with a benign cyst may have a more serious operation than they need. In a study published today in the British Medical Journal, an international team led by Imperial College London and KU Leuven, Belgium describe a new test, called ADNEX, which can discriminate ...

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Science16 Oct 2014

Slow and steady does not win the weight loss race

Led by Joseph Proietto, Sir Edward Dunlop Professor of Medicine at the University of Melbourne and Head of the Weight Control Clinic at Austin Health, the study also found that substantial weight loss is more likely to be achieved if undertaken rapidly. "This randomised study highlights the urgent need for committees that develop clinical guidelines for the management of obesity to change their advice," he said. The trial included 200 obese adults (BMI 30–45kg/m²) who were randomly assigned to either a 12-week rapid weight loss programme (average weight ...

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Medicine16 Oct 2014

Cryptic clues drive new theory of bowel cancer development

Melbourne researchers have challenged conventional thinking on how the bowel lining develops and, in the process, suggested a new mechanism for how bowel cancer starts. The researchers produced evidence that stem cells are responsible for maintaining and regenerating the 'crypts' that are a feature of the bowel lining, and believe these stem cells are involved in bowel cancer development, a controversial finding as scientists are still divided on the stem cells' existence. Using 3D imaging technologies, Dr Chin Wee Tan and Professor Tony Burgess from the Walter and ...

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Technology16 Oct 2014

Magnetic mirrors enable new technologies by reflecting light in uncanny ways

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16—As in Alice's journey through the looking-glass to Wonderland, mirrors in the real world can sometimes behave in surprising and unexpected ways, including a new class of mirror that works like no other. As reported today in The Optical Society's (OSA) new high-impact journal Optica, scientists have demonstrated, for the first time, a new type of mirror that forgoes a familiar shiny metallic surface and instead reflects infrared light by using an unusual magnetic property of a non-metallic metamaterial. By placing nanoscale antennas at or ...

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Science16 Oct 2014

Scientists find ancient mountains that fed early life

VIDEO: Scientists from Australian National University reveal how they found a mountain range that fed an explosion of life 600 million years ago. The range stretched 2,500 km across Gondwana from... Click here for more information. Scientists have found evidence for a huge mountain range that sustained an explosion of life on Earth 600 million years ago. The mountain range was similar in scale to the Himalayas and spanned at least 2,500 kilometres of modern west Africa and northeast ...

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Social Science16 Oct 2014

Plant communities produce greater yield than monocultures

Although monocultures can be cultivated efficiently, they are anything but sustainable: environmental damage to soil and water caused by monoculture cultivation is becoming increasingly evident. Despite their disadvantages, however, monocultures remain the principal crop form and are regarded as the sole possibility of achieving higher yields in plant production – quite wrongfully, finds Bernhard Schmid, an ecology professor at the University of Zurich, who advocates a novel form of agriculture and forestry. After all, a new study carried out by PhD student Debra ...

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Medicine16 Oct 2014

New perspectives for development of an RSV vaccine

Respiratory Syncytial Virus causes severe respiratory tract infections and worldwide claims the lives of 160,000 children each year. Scientists at VIB and Ghent University have succeeded in developing a promising vaccination strategy to counteract this common virus infection. Xavier Saelens (VIB/UGent): "We discovered a new vaccination strategy that paves the way for the development of a novel approach to vaccination against RSV, a virus that causes suffering in numerous small children and elderly people." RSV: an infection that is difficult to combat The Respiratory ...

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Medicine16 Oct 2014

Mild traumatic brain injury can have lasting effects for families, reports the American Journal of Nursing

October 16, 2014 – Families of patients with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) may expect them to return to normal quickly—after all, it's "just a concussion." But mild TBI can have a lasting impact on families as well as patients, according to a review in the November issue of American Journal of Nursing. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. "With the increasing numbers of people with mild TBI in the community, it's crucial for nurses to make this a part of assessment for early recognition and intervention," ...

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Energy16 Oct 2014

Energy prices and business decision-making in Canada: Preparing for the energy future

A new expert panel report, Energy Prices and Business Decision-Making in Canada: Preparing for the Energy Future, released today by the Council of Canadian Academies, details how Canadian businesses have historically been successful in responding to fluctuating energy prices, but this should not be considered a predictor for future resiliency or competiveness. The energy environment is evolving with advances in oil and gas extraction, the development of alternative energy sources, changes within the electricity market, and new regulatory requirements. Understanding the ...

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Social Science16 Oct 2014

The social web of things

Research to be published in the International Journal of Web-Based Communities suggests that the familiar interfaces of online social networking sites might be adapted to allow us to interact more efficiently with our networked devices such as cars, domestic appliances and gadgets. The concept would also extend to the idea of those devices connecting with each other as necessary to improve efficiency of heating and lighting, make our home entertainment systems smarter and much more. Are you Facebook friends with your microwave oven, is your car? Does your washing machine ...

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Science16 Oct 2014

Informative visit to the toilet

Emily loves Justin - Stop global warming - Two more weeks till I graduate!: The exchange of information in public toilets is widespread. It also occurs in the world of white-footed sportive lemurs. Only instead of writing on the walls, they use scent-marks in order to communicate with their own kind. In a study published online in Springer's journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Iris Dröscher and Peter Kappeler from the German Primate Center (DPZ) have found that the urine left on latrine trees serves as a method to maintain contact with family members. It also ...

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Science16 Oct 2014

Adenosine can melt 'love handles'

The number of overweight persons is greatly increasing worldwide - and as a result is the risk of suffering a heart attack, stroke, diabetes or Alzheimer's disease. For this reason, many people dream of an efficient method for losing weight. An international team of researchers led by Professor Alexander Pfeifer from the University Hospital Bonn, have now come one step closer to this goal. The scientists discovered a new way to stimulate brown fat and thus burn energy from food: The body's own adenosine activates brown fat and "browns" white fat. The results are now being ...

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Medicine16 Oct 2014

Some rice-based foods for people with celiac disease contain relevant amounts of arsenic

Rice is one of the few cereal grains consumed by people with celiac disease, as it does not contain gluten. However, it can have high concentrations of a toxic substance – arsenic – as revealed by the analyses of flour, cakes, bread, pasta and other foods made with rice, conducted by researchers from the Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Spain. The European Union is working to establish the maximum quantities of arsenic in these products. Celiac disease affects almost 1% of the population of the western world, a group which cannot tolerate gluten ...

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Science16 Oct 2014

Pre-eclampsia may be caused by the fetus, not the placenta, says Anaesthesia editorial

Pre-eclampsia, the potentially deadly condition that affects pregnant women, may be caused by problems meeting the oxygen demands of the growing fetus, according to an editorial in the November issue of Anaesthesia, the journal of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI). The finding has promoted the co-author of the editorial, Associate Professor Alicia Dennis, Consultant Anaesthetist & Director of Anaesthesia Research at the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, to call for the name of the condition to be changed to make women ...

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Science16 Oct 2014

Youth suicide: More early detection and better coordination are needed

This news release is available in French. Although progress has been made in recent years, the matter of youth suicide in Quebec still needs to be more effectively addressed. In fact, a new study in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry shows that more lives could be saved through early detection and increased public awareness and information sharing among professionals. For this research, a team of scientists from the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and McGill University studied 67 suicide completers ages 25 and under and matched them with 56 living control ...

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Medicine16 Oct 2014

Ebola highlights disparity of disease burden in developed vs. developing countries

A study recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology shows that for Ebola, measles, syphilis and many other conditions with skin manifestations the mortality rates are hundreds of times higher in developing countries than they are in developed countries. The case of Ebola, the paper writes, "Highlights the importance of monitoring disease burden in the developing world even when the burden is low." "Our goal is to provide information about trends and patterns to bring to light what's going on around the world so that funds can be allocated ...

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Science16 Oct 2014

Rivers flow differently over gravel beds, study finds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — River beds, where flowing water meets silt, sand and gravel, are critical ecological zones. Yet how water flows in a river with a gravel bed is very different from the traditional model of a sandy river bed, according to a new study that compares their fluid dynamics. The findings establish new parameters for river modeling that better represent reality, with implications for field researchers and water resource managers. "The shallow zones where water in rivers interacts with the subsurface are critical environmentally, and how we have modeled ...

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Science16 Oct 2014

Oh brother! Having a sibling makes boys selfless

A new study brings good news to all the brothers out there: Having a sibling is just as good for you as it is for your sister. That's surprising to family scholars because boys typically report that they benefit less than girls from peer relationships. "In our study, most relationships were not as important for boys as they were for girls," said study co-author Laura Padilla-Walker. "But the sibling relationship was different – they seemed to report relying on sibling affection just as much as girls do. It's an area where parents and therapists could really help ...

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Energy16 Oct 2014

New catalyst could improve biofuels production

PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University researchers have developed a new catalyst that could lead to making biofuels cheaply and more efficiently. Led by Voiland Distinguished Professor Yong Wang, the researchers mixed inexpensive iron with a tiny amount of rare palladium to make the catalyst. Their work is featured on the cover of the October issue of the journal ACS Catalysis. Removing oxygen for better fuel Researchers, government leaders and industry leaders are interested in renewable biofuels as a way to reduce national dependence on fossil fuels and ...

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Medicine16 Oct 2014

Older adults satisfied with aging more likely to seek health screenings

ANN ARBOR—Adults over 50 who feel comfortable about aging are more proactive in getting preventive health care services, a new University of Michigan study found. Sometimes, the older population does not visit their doctor because they believe that physical and mental declines typify old age, says Eric Kim, a U-M doctoral student in clinical psychology. They think that lifestyle changes will not make a difference, making them less likely to seek preventive care. This is not true and also not a healthy mindset, he says. Studies show that older adults can go down ...

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Engineering16 Oct 2014

A simple and versatile way to build 3-dimensional materials of the future

Kyoto, Japan — Researchers in Japan have developed a novel yet simple technique, called "diffusion driven layer-by-layer assembly," to construct graphene into porous three-dimensional (3D) structures for applications in devices such as batteries and supercapacitors. Their study was recently published in the journal Nature Communications. Graphene is essentially an ultra-thin sheet of carbon and possesses exciting properties such as high mechanical stability and remarkable electrical conductivity. It has been touted as the next generation material that can conceivably ...

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Science16 Oct 2014

Have you heard of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy?

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is concerning and many—even those with seizure disorders—may not be aware of this condition. New research published in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), reports that 76% of caregivers are more likely to have heard of SUDEP compared with 65% of patients with epilepsy. Dr. Barbara Kroner, an epidemiologist with RTI International in Rockville, Maryland and lead author of the study says, "When someone with epilepsy dies suddenly we want to understand ...

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Medicine16 Oct 2014

e-healthcare may help reverse the trend of high CVD and obesity in China

Beijing, 16 October 2014: The use of electronic health care services (versus more traditional methods) to reduce the high incidence of heart disease in China will be debated by leading cardiologists from around the world in Beijing, from 16 to 19 October 2014. The 25th Great Wall International Congress of Cardiology & Asia Pacific Heart Congress & International Congress of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (GW-ICC & APHC & ICCPR 2014) will advocate a patient centered health care model that maximizes the use of limited medical resources so patients can improve ...

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Science16 Oct 2014

Camargue flamingos starved in freezing conditions in 1985 and 2012 mass mortalities

1985 was one of the worst years in living memory for the flamingo population of the Camargue, France. Over a 15 day period in January, temperatures plummeted, the lagoons, ponds and salt pans where the birds feed froze and by the time the Arctic blast had loosened its grip, almost one third of the population was dead. 'The 1985 mass-mortality shocked a generation of conservationists,' says David Grémillet from the CEFE-CNRS, France. Alan Johnson, a conservation scientist at the Tour du Valat research center, France, who dedicated 50 years of his life to protecting ...

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Medicine16 Oct 2014

UK tops global league table for gullet cancer -- adenocarcinoma -- in men

The study, from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the specialist cancer agency of the World Health Organization, is the first to try and quantify the worldwide extent of each of the two main types of oesophageal cancer: squamous cell carcinoma, or SCC for short; and adenocarcinoma. Rates of SCC have remained fairly stable or have even fallen over the past few years, but those of adenocarcinoma have risen, particularly in high income countries. In 2012, oesophageal cancer was the eighth most common cancer worldwide. The researchers used data from ...

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