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Science30 Sep 2014

Gender equality leads to more Olympic medals for men and women

Gender equality boosts a country's Olympic medal count for both women and men, shows a new study from the University of British Columbia. Drawing data from the World Economic Forum's 2013 Global Gender Gap Report, researchers compared a country's tendency toward sexual equality with its medal counts from the London 2012 Olympic Games and the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Countries with greater parity – particularly for measures of educational equality – had more women and men reach the podium. "Our study makes apparent that gender equality has a tendency to lift ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2014

New learning mechanism for individual nerve cells

The traditional view is that learning is based on the strengthening or weakening of the contacts between the nerve cells in the brain. However, this has been challenged by new research findings from Lund University in Sweden. These indicate that there is also a third mechanism – a kind of clock function that gives individual nerve cells the ability to time their reactions. "This means a dramatic increase in the brain's learning capacity. The cells we have studied control the blink reflex, but there are many cells of the same type that control entirely different processes. ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2014

Erectile dysfunction drugs could affect vision of genetically susceptible users

Sildenafil, the active ingredient in the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra®, could cause unusual visual responses in people who carry a common mutation for eye disease and may have long-term detrimental effects on their vision, UNSW Australia researchers warn. Sildenafil can inhibit an enzyme which is important for transmitting light signals from the retina to the brain, and it is already known from clinical trials of Viagra® that its use in high doses can cause transient disturbances in the vision of some healthy people. "Side effects can include sensitivity to bright ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2014

First mapping that reveals the molecular pathway for MDSC cancer progression

Scientists from InSilico Medicine and its partners successfully established a visual mapping of the molecular pathway cancer progression originating from myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC). The damage and immune suppression the cells cause are not fully understood, however this is a major stepping stone in creating necessary transparency. Highly cited MetaCoreTM was the primary interactome analysis tool used for mapping, providing these promising results. "MDSCs are elicited by tumor-derived factors from precursors present in hematopoietic organs such as the bone ...

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Science30 Sep 2014

Benzodiazepine sedatives linked to higher rates of mortality compared to propofol

AUDIO: Sedation is commonly used in the intensive care unit (ICU) to make patients that require mechanical ventilation more comfortable, and less anxious. What many don't realize is that sedation can... Click here for more information. Sedation is frequently required for mechanically ventilated intensive care unit (ICU) patients to reduce anxiety, provide comfort, and assist in providing optimal respiratory support. It is estimated that each year, there are nearly 1 million U.S. ...

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Environment30 Sep 2014

How to make a 'perfect' solar absorber

CAMBRIDGE, Mass--The key to creating a material that would be ideal for converting solar energy to heat is tuning the material's spectrum of absorption just right: It should absorb virtually all wavelengths of light that reach Earth's surface from the sun — but not much of the rest of the spectrum, since that would increase the energy that is reradiated by the material, and thus lost to the conversion process. Now researchers at MIT say they have accomplished the development of a material that comes very close to the "ideal" for solar absorption. The material is a two-dimensional ...

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Science30 Sep 2014

UConn scientists discover how to beat monk parakeets at their own game

In a study published this week in the online journal PeerJ, University of Connecticut researchers announce they have found a way to prevent Monk Parakeets (Myiopsitta monarchus), an invasive species of parrot, from building huge nests that create power outages and public hazards on utility poles by blocking their access to the electric lines that are the gateway to their nest sites. The nests, which are built out of sticks and twigs, can weigh up to 200 pounds or more. The damage they cause can cost electric utility companies millions of dollars annually. But, the brightly ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2014

Selectively rewiring the brain's circuitry to treat depression

Philadelphia, PA, September 30, 2014 – On Star Trek, it is easy to take for granted the incredible ability of futuristic doctors to wave small devices over the heads of both humans and aliens, diagnose their problems through evaluating changes in brain activity or chemistry, and then treat behavior problems by selectively stimulating relevant brain circuits. While that day is a long way off, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex does treat symptoms of depression in humans by placing a relatively small device on a person's scalp ...

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Technology30 Sep 2014

New material steals oxygen from the air

Researchers from the University of Southern Denmark have synthesized crystalline materials that can bind and store oxygen in high concentrations. Just one spoon of the substance is enough to absorb all the oxygen in a room. The stored oxygen can be released again when and where it is needed. We do fine with the 21 per cent oxygen in the air around us. But sometimes we need oxygen in higher concentrations; for example lung patients must carry heavy oxygen tanks, cars using fuel cells need a regulated oxygen supply. Perhaps one day in the future even sunlight-driven "reversible" ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2014

Low-birth-weight children are particularly vulnerable to environmental influences

Low birth weight children are more vulnerable to environmental influences than infants born with normal weight. When brought up with a great deal of sensitivity, they will be able to catch up in school, but on average they will not become better students than normal birth weight children. This result, provided by an international psychologist team, has confirmed the so-called diathesis-stress model of development for low birth weight populations. The researchers report their findings in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Theories on how environmental factors ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2014

Genetic test would help 'cut bowel cancer spread'

Screening families of patients with bowel cancer for a genetic condition would cut their risk of developing bowel, womb, and ovarian cancers, new research has found. In a major study, Dr Ian Frayling from Cardiff University's School of Medicine and researchers from the University of Exeter's Medical School assessed the effectiveness of introducing a UK-wide screening programme for a genetic condition known as Lynch Syndrome. Lynch syndrome is a caused by changes in genes which check the spelling in DNA. The condition increases the risk of people developing cancer, ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2014

Bacteria may have ability to reduce impact of diazepam on UK river environments

The natural photo degradation of diazepam (valium) and similar medicines – followed by bacterial breakdown – may reduce their potentially harmful impact on the UK's freshwater environment, a team of researchers has said. Diazepam – used to treat anxiety and other similar conditions – has been detected in rivers across the UK and Europe, having been released from waste water treatment plants. At the levels recorded, it has the potential to produce harmful ecological effects in surface waters, including changing the behaviour of fish shoals and their ability to sense danger ...

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Science30 Sep 2014

Entanglement made tangible

Quantum entanglement refers to the "pairing" of two subatomic particles in such a way that they form a whole quantum system. Interest in entanglement is increasing today, as it challenges the foundations of quantum mechanics itself, and is also key for achieving quantum information processing and communication. Entanglement is thought to exist up to the everyday, or "macroscopic" realm – according to the predictions of quantum physics – but experimental proposals to show this often involve conditions that are difficult to achieve in today's labs. Publishing in Physical ...

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Science30 Sep 2014

Shape up quickly -- applies to fish, too!

Fish can live in almost any aquatic environment on Earth, but when the climate changes and temperatures go up many species are pushed to the limit. The amount of time needed to adjust to new conditions could prove critical for how different species cope in the future, reveals a new study from researchers at the University of Gothenburg, published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Climate change continues apace thanks to increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The greenhouse effect has led not only to an increase in average ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2014

Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids linked to smaller risk of coronary heart disease

A recent study completed at the University of Eastern Finland shows that dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. The sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids include fish, vegetable oils, and nuts. The findings were published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis & Vascular Biology, an esteemed journal of the American Heart Association. Recent studies have not found an association between the consumption of saturated fats and the risk of cardiovascular diseases. It seems that the mere reduction of saturated fats from the diet does not ...

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Science30 Sep 2014

On the trail of the truffle flavor

This news release is available in German. FRANKFURT. Truffles, along with caviar, are among the most expensive foods in the world. Because they grow underground, people use trained dogs or pigs to find them. But the distinctive smell of truffles is not only of interest to gourmets. A group of German and French scientists under the direction of the Goethe University Frankfurt have discovered that the smell of white truffles is largely produced by soil bacteria which are trapped inside truffle fruiting bodies. White truffles from the Piedmont region in Italy can reach ...

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Environment30 Sep 2014

NASA ocean data shows 'climate dance' of plankton

The greens and blues of the ocean color from NASA satellite data have provided new insights into how climate and ecosystem processes affect the growth cycles of phytoplankton—microscopic aquatic plants important for fish populations and Earth's carbon cycle. At the bottom of the ocean's food chain, phytoplankton account for roughly half of the net photosynthesis on Earth. Their photosynthesis consumes carbon dioxide and plays a key role in transferring carbon from the atmosphere to the ocean. Unlike the plant ecosystems on land, the amount of phytoplankton in the ocean ...

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Environment30 Sep 2014

NASA support key to glacier mapping efforts

Thanks in part to support from NASA and the National Science Foundation, scientists have produced the first-ever detailed maps of bedrock beneath glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica. This new data will help researchers better project future changes to glaciers and ice sheets, and ultimately, sea level. Researchers at the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, or CReSIS, at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, recently built detailed maps of the terrain beneath Greenland's Jakobshavn Glacier and Byrd Glacier in Antarctica. The results of this study were published ...

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Environment30 Sep 2014

NASA-funded rocket has 6 minutes to study solar heating

On Sept. 30, 2014, a sounding rocket will fly up into the sky – past Earth's atmosphere that obscures certain wavelengths of light from the sun -- for a 15-minute journey to study what heats up the sun's atmosphere. This is the fourth flight for the Very high Angular Resolution Ultraviolet Telescope, or VAULT, will launch from the White Sands Missile Range near Las Cruces, New Mexico. The instrument, now called VAULT2.0, has been refurbished with new electronics and an imaging detector to capture images more frequently than before. While in space, VAULT2.0 will observe ...

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Science30 Sep 2014

Deceptive-looking vortex line in superfluid led to twice-mistaken identity

So long, solitons: University of Chicago physicists have shown that a group of scientists were incorrect when they concluded that a mysterious effect found in superfluids indicated the presence of solitons—exotic, solitary waves. Instead, they explain, the result was due to more pedestrian, whirlpool-like structures in the fluid. They published their explanation in the Sept. 19 issue of Physical Review Letters. The debate began in July 2013, when a group of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published results in Nature showing a long-lived structure ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2014

New discovery approach accelerates identification of potential cancer treatments

ANN ARBOR—Researchers at the University of Michigan have described a new approach to discovering potential cancer treatments that requires a fraction of the time needed for more traditional methods. They used the platform to identify a novel antibody that is undergoing further investigation as a potential treatment for breast, ovarian and other cancers. In research published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers in the lab of Stephen Weiss at the U-M Life Sciences Institute detail an approach that replicates the native environment ...

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Environment30 Sep 2014

Gene doubling shapes the world: Instant speciation, biodiversity, and the root of our existence

What do seedless watermelon, salmon, and strawberries all have in common? Unlike most eukaryotic multicellular organisms that have two sets of chromosomes and are diploid, these organisms are all polyploid, meaning they have three or more sets of chromosomes—seedless watermelon and salmon have 3 and 4 sets of chromosomes, respectively, and strawberries have 10! While this might seem surprising, in fact most plant species are polyploid. Polyploidy, or genome doubling, was first discovered over a century ago, but only recently, with the development of molecular tools, has ...

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Science30 Sep 2014

Smithsonian scientists discover coral's best defender against an army of sea stars

Coral reefs face a suite of perilous threats in today's ocean. From overfishing and pollution to coastal development and climate change, fragile coral ecosystems are disappearing at unprecedented rates around the world. Despite this trend, some species of corals surrounding the island of Moorea in French Polynesia have a natural protector in their tropical environment: coral guard-crabs. New research from the National Museum of Natural History's Smithsonian Marine Station scientist Seabird McKeon and the museum's predoctoral fellow Jenna Moore of the Florida Museum of Natural ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2014

Asthma symptoms kicking up? Check your exposure to air pollution

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (September 30, 2014) – People who suffer from asthma may think there's not a lot they can do to control their asthma besides properly taking medications and avoiding allergic triggers. According to a new article in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), asthma sufferers can learn lessons about managing their asthma by examining their lifestyle. The woman described in the Annals article improved her asthma once she and her doctor determined her ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2014

High-dose vitamin D for ICU patients who are vitamin D deficient does not improve outcomes

Administration of high-dose vitamin D3 compared with placebo did not reduce hospital length of stay, intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay, hospital mortality, or the risk of death at 6 months among patients with vitamin D deficiency who were critically ill, according to a study published in JAMA. The study is being posted early online to coincide with its presentation at the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine annual congress. A high prevalence of low vitamin D levels has been confirmed in patients who are critically ill. Many studies suggest that a low vitamin ...

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