By ignoring how the collection of data on political repression changes over time, human rights watchers may be misjudging reports that seem to show respect for human rights has not been improving, according to a Penn State political scientist. Many political scientists and sociologists believe that allegations of human rights abuses drawn from sources such as the U.S. State Department and Amnesty International over the past few decades show that attention to human rights is stagnating, said Christopher Fariss, assistant professor of political science. However, a new ...

Quebec City, May 12, 2014 – Researchers at the Université Laval Faculty of Medicine, the Quebec Heart and Lung Institute Research Center, and the Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods have discovered a natural molecule that could be used to treat insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. The molecule, a derivative of omega-3 fatty acids, mimics some of the effects of physical exercise on blood glucose regulation. The details of the discovery made by Professor André Marette and his team are published today in Nature Medicine. It has been known for some time that omega-3 ...

This news release is available in Spanish. There is an optimum size for electrical networks if what is being considered is the risk of a blackout. This is the conclusion reached by a scientific study done by researchers at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid; the study analyzes the dynamics of these complex infrastructures. In 1928, the British biologist and geneticist John Haldane wrote the essay "On being the right size" in which he stated that "For every type of animal there is a most convenient size, and a large change in size inevitably carries with it a change of ...

We often attribute the narcissistic tendencies of others to parenting practices or early social experiences. But new research reveals that economic conditions in the formative years of early adulthood may also play a role. The research shows that people who entered their adulthood during hard economic times are less narcissistic later in life than those who came of age during more prosperous times. "These findings suggest that economic conditions during this formative period of life not only affect how people think about finances and politics, but also how they think ...

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2014 — It was the video that started it all, and now the latest installment of the segment that is one-part Mendeleev, one-part MacGyver is here. The American Chemical Society's (ACS') Reactions video team is proud to debut round two of chemistry life hacks. This volume is packed full of new chemistry-fueled solutions for everyday problems, like spotting rotten eggs, reviving soggy green vegetables and fixing busted buttons. The video is available at http://youtu.be/ReGfd_s9gXA INFORMATION: Subscribe to the series at Reactions YouTube, and follow ...

ATLANTA – May 12, 2014—An analysis of a large nationwide dataset finds that regardless of their socioeconomic status, black women were nearly twice as likely as white women to be diagnosed with triple-negative (TN) breast cancer, a subtype that has a poorer prognosis. The analysis also found that Asian/Pacific Islander women were more likely to be diagnosed with another subtype of breast cancer: so-called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)–overexpressing breast cancer. The study appears early online in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. Triple-negative ...

The recent economic recession affected hospitals across the nation, regardless of financial status, but following the rebound, financially weak and safety-net hospitals continue to struggle, according to health researchers. "Poor financial outcomes [for hospitals] could lead to poor care," said Naleef Fareed, assistant professor of health policy and administration, Penn State. "This is an issue that needs attention as health care reform moves forward." Fareed and colleagues used data from both the American Hospital Association Annual Survey and the Centers for Medicare ...

Michigan State University researchers have identified a genetic mutation in Doberman pinschers that causes albinism in the breed, a discovery that has eluded veterinarians and breeders worldwide up until now. Paige Winkler, a doctoral student in the College of Veterinary Medicine, co-led the study with Joshua Bartoe, an assistant professor in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, and discovered a mutated gene that is associated with a form of albinism in humans. "What we found was a gene mutation that results in a missing protein necessary for cells to ...

This news release is available in German. An Italian astronomer in the 19th century first described them as 'canali' – on Mars' equatorial region, a conspicuous net-like system of deep gorges known as the Noctis Labyrinthus is clearly visible. The gorge system, in turn, leads into another massive canyon, the Valles Marineris, which is 4,000 km long, 200 km wide and 7 km deep. Both of these together would span the US completely from east to west. As these gorges, when observed from orbit, resemble terrestrial canyons formed by water, most researchers assumed that ...

Researchers have identified several target molecules which are suitable for the development of new allergy drugs. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the most prestigious journal in the field of allergology, has recently published an extensive review article on the prospects of drug therapy for allergy. Completed in a large-scale EU project, the lead author of the review article is Professor Ilkka Harvima of the University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital. Immediate allergic reactions and allergic diseases such as allergic rhinitis, asthma ...

Among the drugs used for acute ischemic stroke, recombinant tissue plasminogen activator is widely accepted internationally. In China, urokinase has been widely used for thrombolysis after acute ischemic stroke. Pro-urokinase is the precursor of urokinase. Compared with urokinase, pro-urokinase has greater ability to dissolve thrombus and is safer to use. However, most countries do not recognize urokinase for thrombolytic treatment after acute ischemic stroke, which has not been approved for clinical use. Dr. Wenli Hu and team from Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Capital Medical ...

The cingulum is an important pathway for cholinergic innervation for the cerebral cortex. Many studies have reported connections between the cholinergic nuclei, especially between the cholinergic nuclei in the basal forebrain and those in the brainstem via the fornix and thalamus. However, little is known about the connection between cholinergic nuclei in the basal forebrain and cholinergic nuclei in the brainstem via the cingulum. Even no study on this phenomenon after cerebral hemorrhage has been reported. Dr. Sung Ho Jang and team from College of Medicine, Yeungnam University ...

Oligodendrocyte lineage gene 1 (Olig1) plays a key role in hypoxic-ischemic brain damage and myelin repair. miRNA-9 is involved in the occurrence of many related neurological disorders. Bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that miRNA-9 complementarily, but incompletely, bound oligodendrocyte lineage gene 1, but whether miRNA-9 regulates oligodendrocyte lineage gene 1 remains poorly understood. Dr. Lijun Yang and co-workers from Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University in China prepared whole brain slices from a rat model of oxygen-glucose deprivation and ...

Plasma technology based on Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) has been widely demonstrated to be a novel active flow control method. In order to make the plasma flow control technology more practical, the plasma authority must be improved at high wind speed. Dr. ZHANG Xin and his group from School of Aeronautic, Northwestern Polytechnical University set out to tackle this problem. After 2-years of innovative research, they have developed a novel plasma actuator to improve the plasma authority at high wind speed. They found that the novel plasma actuator acting on the surface ...

VIDEO: When an H. saltator colony's queen dies, the female workers engage in ritual fights to establish dominance. Ultimately, a small group of workers establishes dominance and become a cadre of... Click here for more information. The ritualized fighting behavior of one ant species is linked to increases in dopamine levels that trigger dramatic physical changes in the ants without affecting their DNA, according to research from North Carolina State University, Arizona State ...

Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have reported a major breakthrough in understanding the molecular basis for Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), perhaps the most studied among the class of diseases that involves defects in parental imprinting. The work, described in the latest online edition of the prestigious journal Nature Genetics, was led by Prof. Nissim Benvenisty, the Herbert Cohn Professor of Cancer Research and director of the Stem Cell Unit at the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences at the Hebrew University; and his PhD student Yonatan Stelzer. ...

The breakthrough, published in the journal Nature Materials, could offer an easier way of detecting pathogenic bacteria outside of a clinical setting and could be particularly important for the developing world, where access to more sophisticated laboratory techniques is often limited. The research was led by Professor Cameron Alexander, Head of the Division of Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering and EPSRC Leadership Fellow in the University's School of Pharmacy, building on work by PhD student Peter Magennis. Professor Alexander said: "Essentially, we have hijacked ...

Cardiovascular disease remains the number one cause of death in the Western world, with heart failure representing the fastest-growing subclass over the past decade. The stage that precedes heart failure in a significant number of cardiovascular diseases is pathological hypertrophy — the growth of the heart muscle in an attempt to increase its output. Not all hypertrophy is pathological; for example, during pregnancy or high physical exertion, the muscle of the heart grows but myocardial function remains normal. But when hypertrophy is excessive, prolonged and unbalanced, ...

A team of Melbourne researchers has shown a recently discovered type of cell death called necroptosis could be the underlying cause of inflammatory disease. The research team discovered that a previously identified molecule involved in necroptosis, called RIPK1, was essential for survival by preventing uncontrolled inflammation. This finding could lead to future treatments for inflammatory diseases including Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. The researchers, from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, also discovered that the 'survival' molecule RIPK1 ...

Although Dark Energy and Dark Matter appear to constitute over 95 percent of the universe, nobody knows of which particles they are made up. Astrophysicists now crossed one potential Dark Matter candidate – the Dark Photon or U boson – off the list in top position. This is the result of recent HADES experiments, where researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and from 17 other European institutes try to pin down the nature of Dark Matter. These negative results – recently published in Physics Letters B – could even lead to challenges of the Standard ...

Scientists from the University of Granada have successfully created magnetic bacteria that could be added to foodstuffs and could, after ingestion, help diagnose diseases of the digestive system like stomach cancer. These important findings constitute the first use of a food as a natural drug and aid in diagnosing an illness, anywhere in the world. The researchers—members of Bionanomet, the Metallic Bionanoparticle research group of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry and the Institute of Biotechnology of the University of Granada—have conducted this research in collaboration ...

3β-Hydroxysteroid-Δ24 reductase (DHCR24) is a multifunctional enzyme that localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum and has neuroprotective and cholesterol-synthesizing activities. DHCR24 overexpression confers neuroprotection against apoptosis caused by amyloid β deposition. Dr. Xiuli Lu and colleagues from Liaoning University in China constructed two recombinant adenoviruses (Ad-rSYN1-DHCR24-myc and Ad-hSYN1-DHCR24- myc) that drive DHCR24 expression specifically in neuronal cells. They also found that adenovirus transfection inhibits apoptosis through scavenging ...

HEIDELBERG, 12 May 2014 – A plethora of endocrine-disrupting chemicals interfere with human sperm function in a way that may have a negative impact on fertilization. These are the findings of a German - Danish team of researchers from the Center of Advanced European Studies and Research in Bonn, Germany, and the University Department of Growth and Reproduction, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark. The work, which is published in EMBO reports, suggests that endocrine disruptors may contribute to widespread fertility problems in the Western world in a way that hitherto has ...

With its palm open, the robot is completely motionless. A split second later, it suddenly unwinds and catches all sorts of flying objects thrown in its direction -a tennis racket, a ball, a bottle-. This arm measures about 1.5 meters long and keeps an upright position. It has three joints and a sophisticated hand with four fingers. It was programmed at the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory at EPFL (LASA) and designed to test robotic solutions for capturing moving objects. It is unique, as it has the ability to catch projectiles of various irregular shapes in less ...

VIDEO: The more time a child is exposed to a parent addicted to smoking, the more likely the youth will not only take up cigarettes but also become a heavy smoker,... Click here for more information. WASHINGTON -- The more time a child is exposed to a parent addicted to smoking, the more likely the youth will not only take up cigarettes but also become a heavy smoker. So warns a team of researchers led by Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center scientists in Pediatrics. ...