Phase 2 trial results published in the March issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, suggests the potential for Glycerol Phenylbutyrate (GPB) to reduce hepatic encephalopathy episodes in patients with cirrhosis, with a safety profile similar to placebo. Patients with hepatic encephalopathy experience neuropsychiatric symptoms that may range from mild confusion to coma. There is conflicting evidence on the link between elevated blood ammonia and hepatic encephalopathy. Poorly-absorbable disaccharides and antibiotics ...

COLLEGE PARK, MD--Wireless sensor-based irrigation systems can offer significant benefits to greenhouse operators. Advances in sensor technology and increased understanding of plant physiology have made it possible for greenhouse growers to use water content sensors to accurately determine irrigation timing and application rates in soilless substrates. The wireless sensor systems provide more accurate measurements of substrate moisture than qualitative methods, and can save irrigation water, labor, energy, and fertilizer. The authors of a report published in HortTechnology ...

Researchers have devised a way of making tiny holes of controllable size in sheets of graphene, a development that could lead to ultrathin filters for improved desalination or water purification. The team of researchers at MIT, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and in Saudi Arabia succeeded in creating subnanoscale pores in a sheet of the one-atom-thick material, which is one of the strongest materials known. Their findings are published in the journal Nano Letters. The concept of using graphene, perforated by nanoscale pores, as a filter in desalination has been proposed ...

ATHENS, GA--Managing the quality and quantity of freshwater resources is one of the most serious environmental challenges of the 21st century. Global population growth and increasing urbanization have resulted in increased competition for water resources among domestic, industrial, and agricultural users. Challenged to find ways to manage irrigation needs while recognizing the limitations of freshwater resources, many commercial horticulture operations are showing increased interest in the use of wireless sensor networks (WSN)--technology designed to both monitor and control ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Instances in which parents kill their children may seem so horrifying and tragic that they defy explanation. Published scientific and medical research, meanwhile, doesn't offer much epidemiological context to help people understand patterns among such heinous crimes. A paper in the March edition of the journal Forensic Science International provides the first comprehensive statistical analysis of filicide in the United States, drawing on 32 years of data on more than 94,000 arrests. The study also explores possible underlying psychiatric ...

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University have discovered how byproducts in the form of small fatty acids from two bacteria prevalent in gum disease incite the growth of deadly Kaposi's sarcoma-related (KS) lesions and tumors in the mouth. The discovery could lead to early saliva testing for the bacteria, which, if found, could be treated and monitored for signs of cancer and before it develops into a malignancy, researchers say. "These new findings provide one of the first looks at how the periodontal bacteria create a unique microenvironment in the oral cavity ...

Maternal death rates represent the single largest health discrepancy between developed and developing populations, with nearly all - over 99% -- maternal deaths worldwide occurring in developing countries and over half of them in sub-Saharan Africa countries. Eliminating maternal mortality, which is defined as the deaths related to pregnancy, would result in a gain of over a half year (0.6 years) in life expectancy worldwide, according to a new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study is published February 13 in PLOS ONE. Over ...

Using tiny particles designed to target cancer-fighting immune cells, Johns Hopkins researchers have trained the immune systems of mice to fight melanoma, a deadly skin cancer. The experiments, described on the website of ACS Nano on February 24, represent a significant step toward using nanoparticles and magnetism to treat a variety of conditions, the researchers say. "Size was key to this experiment," says Jonathan Schneck, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of pathology, medicine and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Institute for Cell Engineering. ...

Igor Efimov, PhD, at the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis and an international team of biomedical engineers and materials scientists have created a 3-D elastic membrane made of a soft, flexible, silicon material that is precisely shaped to match the heart's epicardium, or the outer layer of the wall of the heart. Current technology is two-dimensional and cannot cover the full surface of the epicardium or maintain reliable contact for continual use without sutures or adhesives. The team can then print tiny sensors onto the membrane ...

Tuberculosis is a major global problem, affecting 2 billion people worldwide and causing an estimated 2 million deaths annually. Western countries are once again tackling the disease, with recent outbreaks in Los Angeles and London. The rise of drug-resistant TB, called a "ticking time bomb" by the World Health Organization, and the high cost of fighting the disease highlight the need for new approaches to treatment. In findings published in the March 1 issue of the Journal of Immunology, UCLA researchers investigating the role of nutrients in helping the immune ...

Montréal, February 25, 2014 – A team led by Jean-François Côté, researcher at the IRCM, identified a ''conductor'' in the development of muscle tissue. The discovery, published online yesterday by the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could have an important impact on the treatment of muscular diseases such as myopathies and muscular dystrophies. "For several years, we have been studying myogenesis, a process by which muscles are formed during embryonic development," says Jean-François Côté, PhD, Director of the Cytoskeletal Organization ...

LIVERPOOL, UK – 26 February 2014: A University of Liverpool researcher has shown that thoughts of suicide, sexual difficulties and emotional numbness as a result of anti-depressants may be more widespread than previously thought. In a survey of 1,829 people who had been prescribed anti-depressants, the researchers found large numbers of people – over half in some cases – reporting on psychological problems due to their medication, which has led to growing concerns about the scale of the problem of over-prescription of these drugs. Psychologist and lead researcher, Professor ...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2014 – Researchers at IBM have set a new record for data transmission over a multimode optical fiber, a type of cable that is typically used to connect nearby computers within a single building or on a campus. The achievement demonstrated that the standard, existing technology for sending data over short distances should be able to meet the growing needs of servers, data centers and supercomputers through the end of this decade, the researchers said. Sending data at a rate of 64 gigabits per second (Gb/s) over a cable 57 meters long using a type ...

Tuesday 25 February – A reduction in the post-code lottery for hip replacement surgery has been achieved in Scotland without recourse to the private sector, according to new research published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Using NHS Scotland data, researchers at the Centre for Primary Care and Public Health at Queen Mary University of London with colleagues from the University of Edinburgh and Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust, show that access to hip replacement increased and geographical inequalities improved across all geographical health boards ...

DALLAS, Feb. 25, 2014 – UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers created new nerve cells in the brains and spinal cords of living mammals without the need for stem cell transplants to replenish lost cells. Although the research indicates it may someday be possible to regenerate neurons from the body's own cells to repair traumatic brain injury or spinal cord damage or to treat conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, the researchers stressed that it is too soon to know whether the neurons created in these initial studies resulted in any functional improvements, a goal ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Solitary confinement does not make supermax prison inmates more likely to re-offend once they're released, finds a study on the controversial penitentiaries led by a Michigan State University criminologist. The study – one of the first to examine recidivism rates among supermax inmates – refute critics' claims that serving extended time in isolation leads to more crime. Super-maximum security units, known as supermax units or prisons within prisons, are designed to house problematic inmates by keeping them isolated for as long as 23 hours a day. Jesenia ...

To better their survival chances, entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses in rural areas must successfully pitch their ventures to "faraway, unknown banking officials" rather than relying on local lenders as in the past, according to Baylor University researchers. Increasingly, bank branches are headquartered in distant urban areas – and in some cases, financial "deserts" exist in towns with few or no traditional financial institutions such as banks and credit unions. That means that local lending to individuals based on "relational" banking — with lenders being aware ...

A team of international scientists, including a researcher from Simon Fraser University, has isolated a gene thought to play a causal role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences recently published the team's study. The newly identified gene affects accumulation of amyloid-beta, a protein believed to be one of the main causes of the damage that underpins this brain disease in humans. The gene encodes a protein that is important for intracellular transportation. Each brain cell relies on an internal highway system ...

National support for marijuana ("cannabis") legalization is increasing in the United States (US). Recreational use was recently legalized in the states of Colorado and Washington; other states across the country are expected to follow suit. To date, an additional 15 states have decriminalized marijuana use, and 19 states and the District of Columbia now allow medical marijuana to be prescribed. Now, a study published in the International Journal of Drug Policy by researchers affiliated with New York University's Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR), finds large ...

Redevelopment of the London King's Cross station and the nearby neighborhood was announced in 2005 and completed with a grand opening in 2012. The internationally well-recognized engineering services firm Arup, famous among other things for their work on the Opera House in Sydney, Australia, and the Allianz Arena in Munich, worked on this 400 million pound construction project. In the process, the area to the north of the station including 50 new buildings, 2,000 new apartments, 20 new streets and ten new public squares was being renewed. Thus, a great challenge was to ...

RALEIGH, NC--Growers and retailers of perennial greenhouse and landscape plants are often challenged by the sheer height of some consumer favorites. While plant height can enhance a plant's versatility and appeal in gardens and landscapes, transporting taller plants from growers to retail or wholesale outlets, and then on to their ultimate destinations can be a challenge. Colorful, summer-flowering, bulbous perennials such as lilies are commonly used as ornamental landscape plants, cut flowers, and potted plants, but their structure makes them top heavy and limits their ...

Wits University scientists have debunked two big myths around climate change by proving firstly, that despite predictions, tropical storms are not increasing in number. However, they are shifting, and South Africa could be at increased risk of being directly impacted by tropical cyclones within the next 40 years. Secondly, while global warming is causing frost to be less severe, late season frost is not receding as quickly as flowering is advancing, resulting in increased frost risk which will likely begin to threaten food security. According to Jennifer Fitchett, a PhD ...

Can babies learn to read? While parents use DVDs and other media in an attempt to teach their infants to read, these tools don't instill reading skills in babies, a study by researchers at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development has found. "While we cannot say with full assurance that infants at this age cannot learn printed words, our results make clear they did not learn printed words from the baby media product that was tested," says Susan Neuman, a professor in NYU Steinhardt's Department of Teaching and Learning and the ...

Choosing the right physical technique to analyse paintings can make all the difference when it comes to ascertaining their authenticity. Now, a painting initially attributed as belonging to a series called 'Contraste de formes' by French Cubist painter Fernand Léger has definitely been identified as a forgery. This is the first time it has been possible to identify a fake painting by relying on the anomalous behaviour of the concentration of the radioactive form of carbon (14C) in the atmosphere after 1955 to date the canvas. These findings were recently published in EPJ ...

MOUNT VERNON, WA--Polyethylene plastic mulch offers a range of benefits and has become standard for growers of a variety of agricultural and horticultural crops. Despite the recognized benefits, the plastic mulches have serious drawbacks. For example, plastic mulches can typically be used for only one cropping season, after which they must be removed and disposed of, creating expensive and time-consuming processes for growers. The challenges and costs associated with recycling mean that plastic mulches often end up in landfills, buried, or burned on-site--practices that ...