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Science28 Apr 2014

A water test for the world

HAMILTON, April 28, 2014 – Inspiration can come in many forms, but this one truly was a breath of fresh air. A group of McMaster researchers has solved the problem of cumbersome, expensive and painfully slow water-testing by turning the process upside-down. Instead of shipping water to the lab, they have created a way to take the lab to the water, putting potentially life-saving technology into the hands of everyday people. The team has reduced the sophisticated chemistry required for testing water safety to a simple pill, by adapting technology found in a dissolving ...

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Medicine28 Apr 2014

Technological advancements extend survival of transplanted hearts across species

The use of transplant organs from animals (xenotransplantation) could help to compensate for the shortage of human organs available for transplant. NIH researchers have demonstrated that by using hearts from genetically engineered pigs in combination with target-specific immunosuppression of recipient baboons, organ survival can be significantly prolonged. This has potential for paving the way for the use of animal organs for transplantation into humans. Toronto, ON, Canada, April 28, 2014 – Cardiac transplantation is the treatment of choice for end stage heart failure. ...

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Science28 Apr 2014

Disney Researchers use 3-D printing to produce interactive speakers of any shape

Forget everything you know about what a loudspeaker should look like. Scientists at Disney Research, Pittsburgh have developed methods using a 3D printer to produce electrostatic loudspeakers that can take the shape of anything, from a rubber ducky to an abstract spiral. The simple speakers require little assembly, but even those few manual steps might be eliminated in the future, said Yoshio Ishiguro, a Disney Research, Pittsburgh post-doctoral associate. "In five to 10 years, a 3D printer capable of using conductive materials could create the entire piece," he predicted. The ...

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Medicine28 Apr 2014

Well-informed patients key to accepting gene-based drug dosing

A new study out of Western University (London, Canada) illustrates the need for a lot more education around pharmacogenetics (PGx) –the study of how a patient's genes can affect drug reaction and dosage. PGx promises to optimize patient response to therapy, but this is the first study to really investigate how patients perceive this kind of genetic testing, and whether those perceptions differ when it comes to parents and their children. The research, led by Dr. Michael Rieder of Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry is published in the journal Pediatrics. "Pharmacogenetic ...

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Earth Science28 Apr 2014

The thin-crusted US Sierra Nevada Mountains: Where did the Earth go?

Boulder, Colo., USA – In an addition to Geosphere's ongoing themed issue series, "Geodynamics and Consequences of Lithospheric Removal in the Sierra Nevada, California," Craig H. Jones of the University of Colorado Boulder and colleagues examine the seismological study of the entire extent of the U.S. Sierra Nevada range using seismograms collected in the Sierra Nevada EarthScope field experiment from 2005 to 2007. The southern Sierra Nevada is known to have unusually thin crust for mountains with such high elevations (peaks higher than 4 km/14,000 ft, and average elevations ...

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Medicine28 Apr 2014

Precise brain mapping can improve response to deep brain stimulation in depression

Experimental studies have shown that deep brain stimulation (DBS) within the subcallosal cingulate (SCC) white matter of the brain is an effective treatment for many patients with treatment-resistant depression. Response rates are between 41 percent and 64 percent across published studies to date. One of the proposed mechanisms of action is the modulation of a network of brain regions connected to the SCC. Identifying the critical connections within this network for successful antidepressant response is an important next step. A new study using MRI analysis of the ...

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Environment28 Apr 2014

Wildfire outbreak in far eastern Russia

According to the Voice of Russia, "As of Saturday morning, in Russia continue 103 wildfires at 27,412 hectares, including big 26 wildfires in the Far East and in Siberia. On Friday, 147 new fires began at 12,509 hectares, and 150 were extinguished at 5,437 hectares. Emergency situation has been introduced in the regions with most complicated situations - in the Amur region, in the Maritime and Baikal territories. This was according to the EMERCOM's (Emergency Control Ministry) spokesperson Alexander Drobyshevsky. Satellites (such as Aqua and Terra) have located "1,587 ...

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Technology28 Apr 2014

Cyberspace scholarship nets higher grades, better thinking for class Facebook group

University students who used a Facebook group as part of a large sociology class did better on course assignments and felt a stronger sense of belonging, according to a Baylor University study. The study has implications for the challenge of teaching large classes, a growing concern for higher education. Classes numbering hundreds of students — particularly in introductory courses — have become common at many universities, said researchers Kevin Dougherty, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology in Baylor's College of Arts and Sciences, and Brita Andercheck, a doctoral ...

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Science28 Apr 2014

Newborn Tropical Storm Tapah threatens Saipan and Tinian

A tropical storm warning is in force for Saipan and Tinian as Tropical Storm Tapah moves north through the Northwestern Pacific Ocean on April 28. When NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed overhead and, imagery revealed a developing eye in Tapah. In addition to the tropical storm warning, a typhoon watch is in effect for Alamagan and Pagan as Tapah is expected to continue in a generally northerly direction over the next couple of days. A typhoon watch means typhoon force winds of 74 mph or greater are possible within 48 hours. A tropical storm warning means tropical ...

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Medicine28 Apr 2014

Fluorescent-based tool reveals how medical nanoparticles biodegrade in real time

Nanoparticles have been heralded as a potential "disruptive technology" in biomedicine, a versatile platform that could supplant conventional technologies, both as drug delivery vehicles and diagnostic tools. First, however, researchers must demonstrate the properly timed disintegration of these extremely small structures, a process essential for their performance and their ability to be safely cleared out of a patient's body after their job is done. A new study presents a unique method to directly measure nanoparticle degradation in real time within biological environments. "Nanoparticles ...

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Science28 Apr 2014

A glassy look for manganites

Manganites – compounds of manganese oxides - show great promise as "go-to" materials for future electronic devices because of their ability to instantly switch from an electrical insulator to a conductor under a wide variety of external stimuli, including magnetic fields, photo-excitations and vibrational excitations. This ultrafast switching arises from the many different ways in which the electrons and electron-spins in a manganite may organize or re-organize in response to such external stimuli. Understanding the physics behind these responses is crucial for the future ...

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Science28 Apr 2014

Ozone levels drop 20 percent with switch from ethanol to gasoline

A Northwestern University study by an economist and a chemist reports that when fuel prices drove residents of São Paulo, Brazil, to mostly switch from ethanol to gasoline in their flexible-fuel vehicles, local ozone levels dropped 20 percent. At the same time, nitric oxide and carbon monoxide concentrations tended to go up. The four-year study is the first real-world trial looking at the effects of human behavior at the pump on urban air pollution. This empirical analysis of atmospheric pollutants, traffic congestion, consumer choice of fuel and meteorological conditions ...

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Science28 Apr 2014

Risk of cesarean delivery 12 percent lower with labor induction

The risk of a cesarean delivery was 12% lower in women whose labour was induced compared with women who were managed with a "wait-and-see" approach (expectant management), according to a research paper published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Labour is induced in about 20% of all births for a variety of reasons such as preeclampsia, diabetes, preterm rupture of the membranes, overdue pregnancy and fetal distress. Induction is often thought to be associated with increased risk of cesarean deliveries despite evidence indicating a lower risk. However, much ...

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Medicine28 Apr 2014

Catastrophic thoughts about the future linked to suicidal patients

Suicide has been on the increase recently in the United States, currently accounting for almost 40,000 deaths a year. A new study shows that one successful effort to avoid suicide attempts would be to focus on correcting the distorted, catastrophic thoughts about the future that are held by many who try to kill themselves. Such thoughts are unique and characteristic to those who attempt suicide, says Shari Jager-Hyman of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in the US. Jager-Hyman led a study, published in Springer's journal Cognitive Therapy and ...

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Medicine28 Apr 2014

Identification of genetic mutations involved in human blood diseases

A study published today in Nature Genetics has revealed mutations that could have a major impact on the future diagnosis and treatment of many human diseases. Through an international collaboration, researchers at the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) were able to identify a dozen mutations in the human genome that are involved in significant changes in complete blood counts and that explain the onset of sometimes severe biological disorders. The number of red and white blood cells and platelets in the blood is an important clinical marker, as it helps doctors detect many ...

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Medicine28 Apr 2014

Stanford scientists create circuit board modeled on the human brain

The Neurogrid circuit board can simulate orders of magnitude more neurons and synapses than other brain mimics on the power it takes to run a tablet computer. Stanford scientists have developed a new circuit board modeled on the human brain, possibly opening up new frontiers in robotics and computing. For all their sophistication, computers pale in comparison to the brain. The modest cortex of the mouse, for instance, operates 9,000 times faster than a personal computer simulation of its functions. Not only is the PC slower, it takes 40,000 times more power to run, ...

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Science28 Apr 2014

Using a foreign language changes moral decisions

Would you sacrifice one person to save five? Such moral choices could depend on whether you are using a foreign language or your native tongue. A new study from psychologists at the University of Chicago and Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona finds that people using a foreign language take a relatively utilitarian approach to moral dilemmas, making decisions based on assessments of what's best for the common good. That pattern holds even when the utilitarian choice would produce an emotionally difficult outcome, such as sacrificing one life so others could live. "This ...

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Medicine28 Apr 2014

UEA research shows bacteria combat dangerous gas leaks

Bacteria could mop up naturally-occurring and man-made leaks of natural gases before they are released into the atmosphere and cause global warming - according to new research from the University of East Anglia. Findings published today in the journal Nature shows how a single bacterial strain (Methylocella silvestris) found in soil and other environments around the world can grow on both the methane and propane found in natural gas. It was originally thought that the ability to metabolize methane and other gaseous alkanes such as propane was carried out by different ...

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Physics28 Apr 2014

How to create nanowires only 3 atoms wide with an electron beam

Junhao Lin, a Vanderbilt University Ph.D. student and visiting scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has found a way to use a finely focused beam of electrons to create some of the smallest wires ever made. The flexible metallic wires are only three atoms wide: One thousandth the width of the microscopic wires used to connect the transistors in today's integrated circuits. Lin's achievement is described in an article published online on April 28 by the journal Nature Nanotechnology. According to his advisor Sokrates Pantelides, University Distinguished Professor ...

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Medicine28 Apr 2014

First disease-specific human embryonic stem cell line by nuclear transfer

NEW YORK, NY (April 28, 2014) – Using somatic cell nuclear transfer, a team of scientists led by Dr. Dieter Egli at the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute and Dr. Mark Sauer at Columbia University Medical Center has created the first disease-specific embryonic stem cell line with two sets of chromosomes. As reported today in Nature, the scientists derived embryonic stem cells by adding the nuclei of adult skin cells to unfertilized donor oocytes using a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Embryonic stem cells were created from one ...

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Medicine28 Apr 2014

UCLA scientists hunt down origin of Huntington's disease in the brain

The gene mutation that causes Huntington's disease appears in every cell in the body, yet kills only two types of brain cells. Why? UCLA scientists used a unique approach to switch the gene off in individual brain regions and zero in on those that play a role in causing the disease in mice. Published in the April 28 online edition of Nature Medicine, the research sheds light on where Huntington's starts in the brain. It also suggests new targets and routes for therapeutic drugs to slow the devastating disease, which strikes an estimated 35,000 Americans. "From ...

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Science28 Apr 2014

The scent of a man

Scientists' inability to replicate research findings using mice and rats has contributed to mounting concern over the reliability of such studies. Now, an international team of pain researchers led by scientists at McGill University in Montreal may have uncovered one important factor behind this vexing problem: the gender of the experimenters has a big impact on the stress levels of rodents, which are widely used in preclinical studies. In research published online April 28 in Nature Methods, the scientists report that the presence of male experimenters produced a ...

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Medicine28 Apr 2014

Mount Sinai scientists identify first gene linked to heart muscle disease in children

Scientists at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, along with collaborators at institutions in India, Italy, and Japan, have identified the first gene linked to childhood-onset familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), one of the most common heart muscle diseases in children. It is a progressive and potentially fatal heart condition resulting from an enlarged and weakened heart muscle. The study, published in Nature Genetics, also revealed a link between DCM and excessive activation of the protein, mTOR. Currently, there are several existing FDA-approved blocking ...

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Medicine28 Apr 2014

Viral 'parasites' may play a key role in the maintenance of cell pluripotency

In a study published in Nature Genetics, scientists from the RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies in Japan, in collaboration with the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, the University of Copenhagen and the Joint Genome Institute (Walnut Creek, California) have discovered that "jumping DNA" known as retrotransposons—viral elements incorporated into the human genome—may play a key role in the maintenance of pluripotency, the ability of stem cells to differentiate into many different types of body cells. This story is part of a fundamental rethinking taking ...

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Medicine28 Apr 2014

Researchers identify mechanism of cancer caused by loss of BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene function

BOSTON – Inherited mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 tumor suppressor genes are by far the most frequent contributors to hereditary cancer risk in the human population, often causing breast or ovarian cancer in young women of child-bearing age. Attempts to test the role that the BRCA genes play in regulating a repair process associated with genome duplication have proven frustratingly difficult in living mammalian cells. Now investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) report a new mechanism by which BRCA gene loss may accelerate cancer-promoting chromosome ...

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