Barely perceptible low-frequency signals nevertheless activate measurable responses in our auditory circuits. Neurobiologists at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have now characterized the remarkable impact of low-frequency sounds on the inner ear. The human auditory system appears to be poorly adapted to the perception of low-frequency sound waves, as hearing thresholds become markedly higher for frequencies lower than about 250 Hz. Yet sensory cells do react to pressure waves with frequencies below 100 Hz, as revealed by the fact that such signals actually ...

A new test developed by researchers from the University of Manchester could revolutionise the discovery of new prescription drugs. The test will help determine which drugs are unlikely to work at an early stage, speeding up the time it takes to make safe and effective medicines available. The findings are published online in the journal Metabolomics. The Pharmaceuticals industry is worth billions of dollars a year. The main source of prescription medicines comes from what are known as 'small molecule' drugs, such as statins and antibiotics. The main problem for ...

AUDIO: These are gray snapper larval growls recorded in the field. Click here for more information. MIAMI – A new study from researchers at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science is the first to document that fish larvae produce sound. These "knock" and "growl" sounds may help small larvae maintain group cohesion in the dark. "Although many adult fishes produce sounds, no one has previously considered that larvae, too, may be sound ...

For decades, research has generally focused on individual, family and peer factors to explain illicit drug use, neglecting neighborhood factors as a cause. While the scant previous research on neighborhood factors and illicit drug use has focused on facets such as crime and socio-demographic characteristics, none has explored the associations between the perceived frequency of drug sales, drug use, and peer attitudes towards drug use. Now a study out of New York University's Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR), address this paucity in the research. Published ...

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder both appear to be associated with dendritic spine loss in the brain, suggesting the two distinct disorders may share common pathophysiological features, write author Glenn T. Konopaske, M.D., and colleagues at McLean Hospital, Belmont, Mass., and Harvard Medical School, Boston. The dendritic spines play a role in a variety of brain functions. Previous studies have observed spine loss in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPFCs) from individuals with schizophrenia (SZ). To determine whether spine pathology happens in individuals with ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- New research suggests dear old Mom and Dad could be the auto industry's secret weapon. The study, co-authored by Michigan State University economist Soren Anderson, found children are 39 percent more likely to buy a particular brand of automobile if their parents bought that brand. This surprisingly strong correlation could have implications for automakers' marketing efforts. In absence of this inherited brand loyalty, a sensible strategy might be to "invest in young consumers and harvest old consumers" – that is, lower prices on entry-level ...

A group of researchers from Switzerland has thrown light on the precise mechanisms responsible for the impressive ability of nanoparticles to detect fingermarks left at crime scenes. Publishing their results today, 2 October, in IOP Publishing's journal Nanotechnology, the researchers have provided evidence contesting the commonly accepted theory that nanoparticles are attracted to fingermarks electrostatically. The attraction, they claim, is in fact chemical and is caused by compounds on the surface of nanoparticles bonding with a complex cocktail of compounds present ...

People who are prone to delusions gather insufficient information before making decisions, according to research published in the journal Psychological Medicine. Researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London, led by PhD student Leslie van der Leer, assigned participants a computer task in which they observed the colour of a black or white fish caught from one of two lakes and were then asked to choose to see further fish or decide on one of the lakes as the source of that sequence of fish. Each participant was rewarded for choosing the correct lake but costs ...

Recruiting health workers with high levels of internal motivation is critical for work in difficult conditions, where their personal security and health might be compromised, according to new research published today in Health Policy and Planning. Health workers often witness the deaths of friends and colleagues during conflict situations and also face abduction, injury and death, themselves. Life history interviews with 26 health workers who lived through conflict in Northern Uganda reveal their resilience and how they coped by building trusting relationships with the ...

A unique collection of studies exploring the theme of the Third Global Symposium on Health Systems Research has been published today in a supplement to Health Policy and Planning. This collection of studies on 'the science and practice of people-centred health systems' presents the latest in the field of health policy and systems research, bringing together research from Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, India, Argentina and Brazil. The eleven studies comprising the supplement employ a range of methods to investigate different aspects of people-centred health ...

Some sharks are 'gregarious' and have strong social connections, whilst others are more solitary and prefer to remain inconspicuous, according to a new study which is the first to show that the notorious predators have personality traits. Personalities are known to exist in many animals, but are usually defined by individual characteristics such as how exploratory, bold or aggressive an individual is. Research led by the University of Exeter and the Marine Biological Association of the UK (MBA) has shown for the first time that individual sharks actually possess social ...

Evolocumab, an injected form of a new class of drugs called PCSK9 inhibitors[1], is highly effective at reducing low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or "bad cholesterol" levels with few side effects in people with familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), an inherited condition that causes extremely high cholesterol and high risk of cardiovascular disease at an early age. Published in The Lancet, the results of two of the largest global randomised trials ever undertaken in this field found that evolocumab rapidly cut levels of LDL cholesterol by on average 60% more than those given ...

How can parents with the autoimmune disorder celiac disease prevent or delay the condition's development in their children? The results of an international study led by investigators associated with the Center for Celiac Research and Treatment at MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) challenge some of the current thinking on possible measures to take. The report in the Oct. 2 New England Journal of Medicine finds that loss of tolerance to gluten – a protein composite found in wheat, rye and barley – is a dynamic process and that neither breastfeeding or delaying the ...

Teens who received free contraception and were educated about the pros and cons of various birth control methods were dramatically less likely to get pregnant, give birth or get an abortion compared with other sexually active teens, according to a new study. The research, by investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, appears Oct. 2 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study promoted the use of long-acting forms of birth control, such as intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants, because of their superior effectiveness in preventing ...

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) can differentiate into all types of blood cells, including red blood cells and immune cells. While HSC transplantation can be life saving for patients with aggressive forms of blood cancer that are unresponsive to other available treatments, there are many risks associated with the procedure. For example, graft verse host disease (GVHD) results when immune cells generated from donor HSCs attack host tissue. Chronic GVHD occurs over time and is characterized by fibrosis, which impairs organ function. A new study in the Journal of Clinical ...

Almost 40 million people worldwide live with HIV/AIDS, with an estimated 2.5 million new cases per year. Therefore, there has been a large global effort to develop an effective vaccine against the virus. HIV-1 vaccine development has been challenging but recent clinical trials have been promising. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation discusses the results from a clinical trial that evaluated the immune response following different HIV vaccine regimes. Nicole Frahm and colleagues tested prime-boost regimes combining a New York vaccinia HIV clade B (NYVAC-B) ...

MINNEAPOLIS – Women who are anxious, jealous, or moody and distressed in middle age may be at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease later in life, according to a nearly 40-year-long study published in the October 1, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "Most Alzheimer's research has been devoted to factors such as education, heart and blood risk factors, head trauma, family history and genetics," said study author Lena Johannsson, PhD, of the University of Gothenburg in Gothenburg, Sweden. "Personality ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association reports a significant association between living near a major roadway and the risk of high blood pressure. The Brown University-led analysis of data from 5,400 post-menopausal women in the San Diego metropolitan area found that women who lived within 100 meters of a highway or major arterial road had a 22-percent greater risk of hypertension than women who lived at least 1,000 meters away. In a range of intermediate distances, hypertension risk rose with proximity to the ...

Hospitals with aggressive treatment styles, also known as high hospital care intensity (HCI), had lower rates of patients dying from a major complication (failure to rescue) but longer hospitalizations, writes Kyle H. Sheetz, M.D., M.S., of the Center for Healthcare Outcomes and Policy, Ann Arbor, Mich., and colleagues. The intensity of medical care varies around the country. Intensity is synonymous with an aggressive treatment style and it has been implicated in rising health care costs, especially during the end-of-life period. Inpatient surgery also is a cost burden. ...

LANSING, Mich. October 1, 2014 – Tart cherries have long been researched for their association with pain relief – ranging from gout and arthritis joint pain to exercise-related muscle pain. A new study published in the Journal of Functional Foods is the first to report consumption of Montmorency tart cherries caused changes in uric acid metabolism, which can have an impact on joint pain. The study also detected increases in specific anthocyanin compounds in the bloodstream after consuming tart cherries. In the study, Montmorency tart cherry juice reduced blood levels ...

MINNEAPOLIS/ST PAUL (October 1, 2014) – Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified microRNAs that may cause colon polyps from turning cancerous. The finding could help physicians provide more specialized, and earlier, treatment before colon cancer develops. The findings are published today in The Journal of Pathology. The American Cancer Society estimates over 134,000 people will be diagnosed with colon cancer in 2014, despite the expanded screening processes now available. This year alone, about 50,000 people will die because of the disease. Research ...

New Rochelle, NY, October 1, 2014—The cause of fibromyalgia, a chronic pain syndrome is not known. However, the results of a new study that compares brain activity in individuals with and without fibromyalgia indicate that decreased connectivity between pain-related and sensorimotor brain areas could contribute to deficient pain regulation in fibromyalgia, according to an article published in Brain Connectivity, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Brain Connectivity website at http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/brain.2014.0274 ...

Along rivers in Tennessee and Georgia, scientists have been studying brownish-orange spiders, called Anelosimus studiosus, that make cobwebby nests "anywhere from the size of a golf ball to the size of a Volkswagen Beetle," researcher Jonathan Pruitt says. The individual spiders are only the size of a pencil eraser, but they form organized groups that can catch prey ranging from fruit flies to small vertebrates. "We have found carcasses of rats and birds inside their colonies," Pruitt says. Unlike most spiders, which are solitary, these social spiders work together in groups. Now ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Breathing oxygen helps the body create energy for its cells. As a result of the breathing process, reactive molecules called "free radicals" are produced that often cause damage to proteins and genes found in cells. This damage is known as oxidative stress. Free radicals also have been linked to cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Now, investigators at the University of Missouri have discovered a molecule that treats oxidative stress. "Oxidative stress can cause damage to the building blocks of a cell, resulting in excessive cell proliferation, ...

For older adults, being unable to identify scents is a strong predictor of death within five years, according to a study published October 1, 2014, in the journal PLOS ONE. Thirty-nine percent of study subjects who failed a simple smelling test died during that period, compared to 19 percent of those with moderate smell loss and just 10 percent of those with a healthy sense of smell. The hazards of smell loss were "strikingly robust," the researchers note, above and beyond most chronic diseases. Olfactory dysfunction was better at predicting mortality than a diagnosis ...