(June 11, 2014 Seattle, Wash.) Researchers at Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) used cutting-edge tetramer technology developed at BRI to find the T cells that drive rheumatoid arthritis (RA). "By using tetramer technology, we were able to examine whether T cells in people with rheumatoid arthritis were increased in number or were unique in other ways," says BRI Associate Director Jane Buckner, MD, who led the study with BRI Tetramer Core Laboratory Manager Eddie James, PhD. The findings were recently reported online in Arthritis & Rheumatology. This ...

CHICAGO (June 11, 2014) – New guidelines aim to reduce the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), improve patient safety and prioritize current prevention efforts underway in hospitals. This drug resistant bacterium is a common source of patient morbidity and mortality in U.S. hospitals, causing nearly twice the number of deaths, significantly longer hospital stays and higher hospital costs than other forms of the bacteria. The strategies were published in the July issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology and produced in a collaborative ...

New Rochelle, NY, June 11, 2014–Disagreeing with comments made by Richard Friedman in a recent New York Times op-ed piece, Mary Ellen O'Toole, PhD, Senior FBI Profiler/Criminal Investigative Analyst (ret.), states that there is "a critical and significant difference" between being able to predict and prevent mass shootings. Dr. O'Toole, who is Editor-in-Chief of Violence and Gender, calls on the media to stop using the names of mass murders, which only fuels their desire for fame and is "a very powerful motivator," in a Perspective in the new peer-reviewed journal from ...

Research aimed at developing germ cells—the progenitors of eggs and sperm—in vitro should be held to especially rigorous scientific standards, a distinguished team of reproductive biologists declares in the journal Cell. In the article, authors John Schimenti, Ph.D., of Cornell University and his Jackson Laboratory colleagues, Mary Ann Handel, Ph.D., and John Eppig, Ph.D., note that because "germ cells are the ultimate stem cells," laboratories are racing to develop these cells in vitro for assisted reproduction. Yet the researchers claim that no one has yet conclusively ...

The world of astronomy has changed. An astronomer used to have to travel to a remote location and endure long, cold nights, patiently guiding a telescope to collect precious photons of light. Now, a proliferation of online archives allows astronomers to make discoveries from the comfort of their own offices. By mining such archives, a team of astronomers led by Ivana Damjanov of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) has found a treasure trove of "red nugget" galaxies. These galaxies are compact and densely packed with old, red stars. Their abundance provides ...

A new theoretical advance explains where the power of quantum computation comes from, and will help researchers design and build better computers and algorithms. The strange properties of quantum mechanics give quantum computers the potential to perform some computations exponentially faster than conventional computers. But where the extra power comes from – and how best to take advantage of it – is in many ways still an open question. A new paper in the journal Nature by CIFAR Fellow Joseph Emerson of the program in Quantum Information Science, along with colleagues ...

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team of researchers reports the first-ever detection of molecular gas -- the fuel for star formation -- in two galaxies that were previously rocked by gamma ray bursts (GRBs), the brightest explosions in the Universe. These new observations revealed that the molecular gas was concentrated toward the centers of the galaxies, while the GRBs occurred in unusual environments that were surprisingly bereft of gas yet rich in dust. The researchers speculate that the dearth of molecular gas around the GRBs was due ...

DETROIT – A recently published clinical study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has answered an urgent question that long puzzled ER pediatricians: Is the drug lorazepam really safer and more effective than diazepam – the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medication as first line therapy most often used by emergency room doctors to control major epileptic seizures in children? The answer to that question – based on a double-blind, randomized clinical trial that compared outcomes in 273 seizure patients, about half of whom were given lorazepam ...

Commercially available activity-monitoring apps, Web sites, and wearable devices allow for easy self-management of health and wellness. This technology may be particularly helpful for older adults, who can improve their cognitive function through proper diet and exercise. Despite tracking monitors' growing popularity and potential benefits, product designers rarely consider those over 65 to be a viable user group, and new human factors/ergonomics research indicates that the technology presents several usability challenges for this population. "Many older adults have ...

An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have identified the genes encoding a molecule that famously defines Group A Streptococcus (strep), a pathogenic bacterial species responsible for more than 700 million infections worldwide each year. The findings, published online in the June 11 issue of Cell Host & Microbe, shed new light on how strep bacteria resists the human immune system and provides a new strategy for developing a safe and broadly effective vaccine against strep throat, necrotizing ...

Tropical Cyclone 02A has consolidated and strengthened over a 24 hour period between June 10 and 11 and an image from NASA's Aqua satellite showed a more rounded tropical storm, despite wind shear. As Tropical Cyclone 02A consolidated and strengthened into a tropical storm it was re-named Nanauk. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Nanauk on June 11 at 08:29 UTC (4:29 a.m. EDT) and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) captured an infrared and near-infrared image of the storm. The near-infrared image provided an almost visible look at the clouds that revealed a well-rounded ...

The human body is comprised of roughly 10 times more bacterial cells than human cells. In healthy people, these bacteria are typically harmless and often helpful, keeping disease-causing microbes at bay. But, when disturbances knock these bacterial populations out of balance, illnesses can arise. Periodontitis, a severe form of gum disease, is one example. In a new study, University of Pennsylvania researchers show that bacteria responsible for many cases of periodontitis cause this imbalance, known as dysbiosis, with a sophisticated, two-prong manipulation of the human ...

PRINCETON, N.J.—Mexican immigrants who relocate to the United States often face barriers like poorly paying jobs, crowded housing and family separation. Such obstacles – including the migration process itself – may be detrimental to the health of Mexican immigrants, especially those who have recently moved. A study led by Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs finds that Mexican immigrants who relocate to the United States are more likely to experience declines in health within a short time period compared with other Mexicans. ...

We all know that the Internet has killed the traditional newspaper trade, right? After all, until the general population started interacting with the web in the mid-90s, the newspaper business was thriving—offering readers top notch journalism and pages of ads. But a recently-published study finds that we may be all wrong about the role of the Internet in the decline of newspapers. According to research by University of Chicago Booth School of Business Professor Matthew Gentzkow, assumptions about journalism are based on three false premises. In his new paper, "Trading ...

VIDEO: This shows juvenile Mahi-mahi in swim tunnel, which allows scientists to monitor metabolic rate swim performance. Click here for more information. MIAMI – A new study led by University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science scientists showed up to a 37% decrease in overall swimming performance of Deepwater Horizon oil-exposed juvenile mahi-mahi. The findings reveal the toxic effects of crude oil on ecologically and commercially valuable fish ...

HOUSTON – (June 11, 2014) – Almost all adult Texans were aware of the Affordable Care Act's Health Insurance Marketplace before the open-enrollment period ended March 31, according to a report released today by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation. The report also found that an estimated 2 million Texans looked for information about the Marketplace and found the federal healthcare.gov website generally helpful. Almost half of Texans who visited the site wanted to purchase insurance or check their eligibility for a ...

White-bread lovers take heart. Scientists are now reporting that this much-maligned food seems to encourage the growth of some of our most helpful inhabitants — beneficial gut bacteria. In addition to this surprising find, their study in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry also revealed that when looking at effects of food on our "microbiomes," considering the whole diet, not just individual ingredients, is critical. Sonia González and colleagues note that the bacteria in our guts, or our microbiome, play an important role in our health. When certain populations ...

Hamilton, ON (June 11, 2014) - McMaster University researchers may have found a novel way to suppress the devastating side effect of statins, one of the worlds' most widely used drugs to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease. The research team—led by Jonathan Schertzer, assistant professor of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences and Canadian Diabetes Association Scholar—discovered one of the pathways that link statins to diabetes. Their findings could lead to the next generation of statins by informing potential combination therapies while taking the drug. Approximately ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – June 11, 2014 – Hospital readmission, an important measure of quality care, costs the United States an estimated $17 billion each year. And according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), about half of those readmissions could be avoided. Therefore, there is significant interest in identifying factors that influence readmission rates, especially those that can be identified prior to discharge. To pinpoint which stroke patients are most at risk, researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center undertook a retrospective case-control ...

Adolescents tend to be more powerful in influencing their friends to start smoking than in helping them to quit, according to sociologists. In a study of adolescent friendship networks and smoking use over time, the researchers found that friends exert influence on their peers to both start and quit smoking, but the influence to start is stronger. "What we found is that social influence matters, it leads nonsmoking friends into smoking and nonsmoking friends can turn smoking friends into nonsmokers," said Steven Haas, associate professor of sociology and demography, ...

On June 11, 2014, the sun erupted with its third X-class flare in two days. The flare was classified as an X1.0 and it peaked at 5:06 a.m. EDT. Images of the flare were captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. All three flares originated from an active region on the sun that recently rotated into view over the left limb of the sun. To see how this event may affect Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at http://spaceweather.gov, the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings. To see a video ...

New Rochelle, NY, June 11, 2014—Men who have sex with men (MSM) account for more than 60% of HIV infections in the U.S. and 78% of new infections in men. Antiretroviral therapy can control HIV infection and suppress viral load, but mental health and substance abuse problems common among MSM can interfere with medication adherence. How conditions such as depression and alcohol and drug abuse can affect anti-HIV therapy and the success of various interventions are explored in an article published in LGBT Health, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. ...

EVANSTON, Ill. - New research is shedding light on what kind of sentences are best at facilitating the growth of toddlers' vocabularies.  A new study conducted at Northwestern University provides evidence that toddlers can learn verbs after hearing them only twice. Sandra R. Waxman, Louis W. Menk Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University and Sudha Arunachalam, formerly a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern, note that previous studies have shown that children as young as two years of age can successfully learn novel verbs after they've heard the verb many times ...

There is no "one size fits all" image of how men view their role as fathers within the context of the workplace. However, fatherhood is becoming a more serious and time consuming role for men to fulfill. Therefore employers must acknowledge that many fathers want to be more than just traditional "organization men" who dedicate their life to their work. These insights come from Beth Humberd of the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, in the US, one of the authors of a study about how professional men experience fatherhood in the context of their workplace. The article appears ...

New York, New York — Hispanic women are significantly more likely to have a baby with a neural tube birth defect, and nearly a quarter of all preterm births in the United States are Hispanic, according to a new report from the March of Dimes. The report is available in English and Spanish and can be view at: http://www.marchofdimes.com/Peristats/pdflib/991/MOD_2014HispanicReport.pdf http://www.marchofdimes.com/Peristats/pdflib/991/MOD_2014HispanicReport_Spanish.pdf Thalia, a global ambassador for the March of Dimes, and Latin Grammy Award-winning artist and mother ...