This news release is available in German. When it comes to defence against viruses, the immune system has an arsenal of weapons at its disposal including killer cells, antibodies and messenger molecules, to name just a few. When a pathogen attacks the body, the immune system usually activates the appropriate mechanisms. However, some of the mechanisms do not have to be triggered; they are continuously active as a standing army. Researchers from ETH Zurich, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Bern, have now discovered a new form of this so-called ...

MISSOULA – From antlers to horns, humans have long been fascinated by animals' ability to defend themselves with their natural-born weapons. But until now, no studies have directly tested whether those weapons perform better at the animals' own style of fighting than they would using the fighting style of another species. Researchers at the University of Montana recently discovered each species' weapons are structurally adapted to meet their own functional demands of fighting. The groundbreaking research, conducted over the past year by UM doctoral student Erin McCullough ...

A team of Berkeley Lab researchers believes it has uncovered the secret behind the unusual optoelectronic properties of single atomic layers of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) materials, the two-dimensional semiconductors that hold great promise for nanoelectronic and photonic applications. Using two-photon excitation spectroscopy, the researchers probed monolayers of tungsten disulfide, one of the most promising of 2D materials, and found evidence for the existence of excitonic dark states – energy states in which single photons can be neither absorbed nor emitted. ...

(SALT LAKE CITY)—Consumer price comparison is almost nonexistent in the U.S. health care system, but a new study shows that when given the choice between a less costly "open" operation or a pricier laparoscopy for their children's appendicitis, parents were almost twice as likely to choose the less expensive procedure – when they were aware of the cost difference. The study, published in the September issue of Annals of Surgery online, shows that providing pricing information upfront can influence patient choice of surgical procedures and potentially lead to cost savings ...

Endometriosis often takes a long time to be diagnosed and affects all areas of a women's life, a study has found. Research led by Monash University's Kate Young published in the Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care found that endometriosis affects women's sex lives, personal relationships, work life, and emotional wellbeing. Endometriosis is a chronic, recurring disease that is experienced by approximately 10 per cent of women worldwide. Common symptoms include painful menstruation, heavy menstrual bleeding, painful sex and infertility. Ms Young, ...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2014—Zooming in on diseased tissue or scanning fragile biological samples are essential tools in medicine and biological research, but this often requires peering through layers of tissue and other materials that can blur and distort the image. Certain modern microscopes can compensate for this, but only for weak aberrations or by using invasive "guide stars," imaging aids that provide a stable reference point. In a first-of-its-kind demonstration, published today in The Optical Society's (OSA) new high-impact journal Optica, a team of researchers ...

After the detection of the ozone-depleting properties of CFCs in the 1970s, data from satellite measurements in 1985 startled mankind. A huge hole had been discovered over the Antarctic in the ozone layer that protects the Earth from dangerous, carcinogenic UV rays. Already in 1987 politicians around the world reached agreement on the Montreal Protocol that bans ozone-depleting substances, in particular chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). 197 states have now ratified this international treaty. A series of scientific expert reports has since accompanied the efforts to save the ozone ...

With the rise of emerging economies around the world and a concomitant upgrade of health care systems, the global population has been rapidly expanding. As a consequence, worldwide demand for agricultural products is also growing. Crops now provide food and the other important resources for seven billion humans. Food supplies are primarily based on such crops as wheat, maize, rice and vegetables. But as the area of arable land and of cultivated land continues to decline, the future ability to meet the world's food security needs has come under a cloud of uncertainty. Meanwhile, ...

A hiatus in global warming ongoing since 2001 is due to a combination of a natural cooling phase, known as multidecadal variability (MDV) and a downturn of the secular warming trend. The exact causes of the latter, unique in the entire observational record going back to 1850, are still to be identified, according to an article by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC). The earth hasn't warmed at the same pace during the 20th century. The noticeable temperature increases during some periods interspersed with fairly stable or decreasing levels during others ...

Theories show how computing devices that operate according to quantum mechanics can solve problems that conventional (classical) computers, including super computers, can never solve. These theories have been experimentally tested for small-scale quantum systems, but the world is waiting for the first definitive demonstration of a quantum device that beats a classical computer. Now, researchers from the Centre for Quantum Photonics (CQP) at the University of Bristol together with collaborators from the University of Queensland (UQ) and Imperial College London have increased ...

SEPTEMBER 2014 | Ellicott City, MD – The Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) announced today that researchers from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have published a manuscript in Vascular Medicine analyzing a random national sample of Medicare beneficiary data to determine the outpatient vascular testing facilities' accreditation status and geographic location. The study manuscript entitled, "Accreditation Status and Geographic Location of Outpatient Vascular Testing Facilities Among Medicare Beneficiaries: The VALUE (Vascular Accreditation, Location ...

Children who are bullied at ages 8-10 are more likely to suffer from sleep walking, night terrors or nightmares by the time they are 12 years old. In a study published this week in Pediatrics, journal of the American Pediatric Association, Professor Dieter Wolke and Dr Suzet Tanya Lereya from the University of Warwick, found being bullied increases the risk for a category of sleep disorders known as parasomnias. These are sleep-related problems such as nightmares, night terrors or sleep walking. A cohort of children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children ...

NEW YORK (September 11, 2014) – A new study led by the Wildlife Conservation Society reveals that in India's human dominated agricultural landscapes, where leopards prowl at night, it's not livestock that's primarily on the menu – it is man's best friend. The study, which looked at scat samples for leopards in India's Ahmednagar's district in Maharashtra, found that 87 percent of their diet was made up of domestic animals. Domestic dog dominated as the most common prey item at 39 percent and domestic cats were second at 15 percent. Seventeen percent of the leopard's ...

Philadelphia, PA, September 11, 2014 – Anyone who has seen pictures or models of the human brain is aware that the outside layer, or cortex, of the brain is folded in an intricate pattern of "hills", called gyri, and "valleys", called sulci. It turns out that the patterns of cortical folding are largely consistent across healthy humans, broadly speaking. However, disturbances in cortical folding patterns suggest deeper disturbances in brain structure and function. A new study published in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry suggests that schizophrenia is associated ...

He's not a dentist, but Christopher Miller is focused on fluoride. Two studies from his Brandeis University lab provide new insights into the mechanisms that allow bacteria to resist fluoride toxicity, information that could eventually help inform new strategies for treating harmful bacterial diseases. The studies appear in The Journal of General Physiology (JGP). Although most animal cells are protected from direct exposure to fluoride, this toxic element is a serious threat to single-celled organisms like bacteria and yeast. As a result, their plasma membranes carry ...

VIDEO: In this movie, the Dbr1 enzyme rotates 360 degrees. Partially inhibiting Dbr1 could represent a new way to treat most cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to a new... Click here for more information. SAN ANTONIO, Texas, U.S.A. (Sept. 10, 2014) — Investigators from the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have determined the first high-resolution structure of an enzyme that, if partially inhibited, could represent ...

You are what you eat, the saying goes, and now a study conducted by researchers at UC Santa Barbara and the University of Pittsburgh suggests that the oft-repeated adage applies not just to physical health but to brain power as well. In a paper published in the early online edition of the journal Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids, the researchers compared the fatty acid profiles of breast milk from women in over two dozen countries with how well children from those same countries performed on academic tests. Their findings show that the amount of ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University, Duke University and the University of Copenhagen have created the world's largest DNA origami, which are nanoscale constructions with applications ranging from biomedical research to nanoelectronics. "These origami can be customized for use in everything from studying cell behavior to creating templates for the nanofabrication of electronic components," says Dr. Thom LaBean, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and senior author of a paper describing the work. DNA origami are self-assembling ...

A new generation of new superfoods that tackle heart disease and diabetes could be developed following research into a protein that helps keep cells in our bodies healthy. Researchers at the University of Warwick found that the protein, called Nrf2, continually moves in and out of the nuclei of human cells to sense the cell's health and vitality. When Nrf2 is exposed to threats to the cell's health it oscillates faster and activates an increase in the cell's defence mechanism, including raising the levels of antioxidant. The researchers, from the University's Warwick ...

New research from North Carolina State University finds that young people who have had mentors are more likely to find work early in their careers that gives them more responsibility and autonomy – ultimately putting them on a path to more financially and personally rewarding careers. "We wanted to look at the long-term impacts on mentees in naturally occurring mentorship relationships, rather than participants in formal mentorship programs," says Dr. Steve McDonald, an associate professor of sociology at NC State and lead author of a paper on the work. "And we found ...

The surface of graphene, a one atom thick sheet of carbon, can be randomly decorated with oxygen to create graphene oxide; a form of graphene that could have a significant impact on the chemical, pharmaceutical and electronic industries. Applied as paint, it could provide an ultra-strong, non-corrosive coating for a wide range of industrial applications. Graphene oxide solutions can be used to paint various surfaces ranging from glass to metals to even conventional bricks. After a simple chemical treatment, the resulting coatings behave like graphite in terms of chemical ...

This release is available in Japanese. A team led by Gastón Folatelli at the Kavli IPMU, the University of Tokyo, has found evidence of a hot binary companion star to a yellow supergiant star, which had become a bright supernova. The existence of the companion star had been predicted by the same team on the basis of numerical calculations. This finding provides the last link in a chain of observations that have so far supported the team's theoretical picture for this supernova. The results are published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and have wide implications for ...

A recent Finnish study shows that higher levels of physical activity are related to better academic achievement during the first three school years particularly in boys. The study published in PLOS ONE was conducted in collaboration with the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) Study conducted at the University of Eastern Finland and the First Steps Study at the University of Jyväskylä. The study investigated the relationships of different types of physical activity and sedentary behavior assessed in the first grade to reading and arithmetic skills in grades ...

A new study published online in the journal Rheumatology today indicates that the interaction between high sodium intake and smoking is associated with a more than doubled risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The study, carried out by Björn Sundström and colleagues from the Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Rheumatology at Umeå University, Sweden, was carried out to see whether recent animal and human cell study results that showed a link between a high sodium intake and RA would yield similar results in a nested case-control study of data from ...

Discrimination against overweight and obese people does not help them to lose weight, finds new UCL research funded by Cancer Research UK. In a study of 2,944 UK adults over four years, those who reported experiencing weight discrimination gained more weight than those who did not. On average, after accounting for baseline differences, people who reported weight discrimination gained 0.95kg whereas those who did not lost 0.71kg, a difference of 1.66kg. The research, published in the journal Obesity, contradicts the common perception that discrimination or 'fat shaming' ...