New Orleans, LA – A study led by Xiaoching Li, PhD, at the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence, has shown for the first time how two tiny molecules regulate a gene implicated in speech and language impairments as well as autism disorders, and that social context of vocal behavior governs their function. The findings are published in the October 16, 2013 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Speech and language impairments affect the lives of millions of people, but the underlying neural mechanisms are largely unknown and difficult ...

Patients who are responding below par to the anticoagulant drug warfarin have several options. They can undergo even more blood tests to monitor their response to the different dosages of this medication which is prescribed to prevent strokes, or they could start using one of the newer, yet more expensive, anticoagulants on the market. In the long run, says Joyce You of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in China, the latter option could actually be more cost-effective and improve a patient's quality of life. Her study¹ appears in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, ...

TORONTO, ON — The prevalence of depression among those with migraine is approximately twice as high as for those without the disease (men: 8.4% vs. 3.4%; women 12.4% vs. 5.7%), according to a new study published by University of Toronto researchers. In a paper published online this week in the journal Depression Research and Treatment, investigators reported that younger migraine sufferers were particularly at risk for depression. Women with migraines who were younger than 30 had six times the odds of depression in comparison to sufferers who were aged 65 and over, said ...

UPTON, NY -- Years of experiments on various types of high-temperature (high-Tc) superconductors—materials that offer hope for energy-saving applications such as zero-loss electrical power lines -- have turned up an amazing array of complex behaviors among the electrons that in some instances pair up to carry current with no resistance, and in others stop the flow of current in its tracks. The variety of these exotic electronic phenomena is a key reason it has been so hard to identify unifying concepts to explain why high-Tc superconductivity occurs in these promising materials. Now ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Suspicions about sexual promiscuity and vaccine safety are explored in an article in the November issue of the journal Preventive Medicine, which dedicates a section of that issue to research concerning the human papillomavirus. "Beliefs, behaviors and HPV vaccine: Correcting the myths and the misinformation" is a review of journal articles and other medical and social science literature exploring beliefs held by the general public that have an impact on HPV vaccination acceptance. Human papillomavirus is the primary cause of cervical cancer, with 12,000 ...

Boston, MA – October 17, 2013 – Celmatix, a biotechnology company focused on helping physicians guide patients to treatments that maximize their personal reproductive potential, announced today six research presentations at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), being held October 12­17 in Boston. Among the data presented was a new study suggesting that up to 25 percent of patients may be discontinuing assisted reproductive therapies such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) early, while they still have a good chance of having a baby. The ...

A project to map the microbes present in the digestive systems of fish species holds promise for monitoring the presence of Asian carp in Chicago area waterways and ultimately preventing their spread, according to a study published in Nature's ISME Journal. The work, funded through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, is being conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Asian carp is a term used to refer to several invasive fish species including silver, bighead ...

In a typical yoga class, students watch an instructor to learn how to properly hold a position. But for people who are blind or can't see well, it can be frustrating to participate in these types of exercises. Now, a team of University of Washington computer scientists has created a software program that watches a user's movements and gives spoken feedback on what to change to accurately complete a yoga pose. "My hope for this technology is for people who are blind or low-vision to be able to try it out, and help give a basic understanding of yoga in a more comfortable ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The combination of heat, chemotherapeutic drugs and an innovative delivery system based on nanotechnology may significantly improve the treatment of ovarian cancer while reducing side effects from toxic drugs, researchers at Oregon State University report in a new study. The findings, so far done only in a laboratory setting, show that this one-two punch of mild hyperthermia and chemotherapy can kill 95 percent of ovarian cancer cells, and scientists say they expect to improve on those results in continued research. The work is important, they say, ...

How some plant species evolved super-efficient photosynthesis had been a mystery. Now, scientists have identified what steps led to that change. Around three per cent of all plants use an advanced form of photosynthesis, which allows them to capture more carbon dioxide, use less water, and grow more rapidly. Overall this makes them over 50% more efficient than plants that use the less efficient form. A new study has traced back the evolutionary paths of all the plants that use advanced photosynthesis, including maize, sugar cane and millet, to find out how they evolved ...

We use them to text, tweet, post and, sometimes, make a call. Now, smartphones are helping with public health research. A recently published smoking cessation study conducted by a researcher affiliated with the University of Houston includes a technique called "geo-mapping," which makes use of GPS technology to pinpoint a study participant's location and the location of tobacco retail outlets nearby. The study was published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research. "We're examining the possible mechanisms underlying the relationship between being close to ...

PRINCETON, NJ—Features like the wrinkles on your forehead and the way you move may reflect your overall health and risk of dying, according to recent health research. But do physicians consider such details when assessing patients' overall health and functioning? In a survey of approximately 1,200 Taiwanese participants, Princeton University researchers found that interviewers — who were not health professionals but were trained to administer the survey — provided health assessments that were related to a survey participant's risk of dying, in part because they were attuned ...

This news release is available in German. The origin of human music has long been the subject of intense discussion between philosophers, cultural scientists and naturalists. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen, Germany and Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, US, have now found striking parallels between our music and the song of a small brown bird living in the Amazon region. The Musician Wren favors consonant over dissonant intervals, something that has rarely been observed in other animal species before. This bird's musicality ...

Bethesda, MD – Articles in Health Affairs' October issue examine the pursuit of improved physical and mental health. Featured articles include: Providing More Home-Delivered Meals Is One Way To Keep Older Adults With Low Care Needs Out Of Nursing Homes. Expanding programs that deliver meals to Medicaid-receiving seniors would save 26 of 48 states money, in addition to allowing more seniors to stay in their own homes, according to a new study in the October issue of Health Affairs. The study by Kali Thomas and Vincent Mor of Brown University projects that if every U.S. ...

Developed to help scientists learn more about the complex nature of celestial objects in the universe, astronomical surveys have been cataloguing the night sky since the beginning of the 20th century. The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF)—led by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)—started searching the skies for certain types of stars and related phenomena in February. Since its inception, iPTF has been extremely successful in the early discovery and rapid follow-up studies of transients—astronomical objects whose brightness changes over timescales ...

This news release is available in German. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences and other research facilities have contributed significantly towards a first explanation for the development of music. Contrary to what was previously suspected, music does not simply distract us when physically working hard by making the work seem a lot easier, but actually the music reduces the effort. This new insight permits on the one hand a conclusion to man's historical development of music, and on the other hand provides an important impulse ...

WASHINGTON, DC—Earth's most eminent emissary to Mars has just proven that those rare Martian visitors that sometimes drop in on Earth — a.k.a. Martian meteorites — really are from the Red Planet. A key new measurement of Mars' atmosphere by NASA's Curiosity rover provides the most definitive evidence yet of the origins of Mars meteorites while at the same time providing a way to rule out Martian origins of other meteorites. The new measurement is a high-precision count of two forms of argon gas—Argon-36 and Argon-38–accomplished by the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument ...

This news release is available in French. Montreal, 16 October 2013 — If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands! That's easy enough for children to figure out because the emotion matches the movement. But when feelings and reactions don't align, can kids tell there's something wrong? New research from Concordia University proves that they can — as early as 18 months. In a study recently published in Infancy: The Official Journal of the International Society on Infant Studies, psychology researchers Sabrina Chiarella and Diane Poulin-Dubois demonstrate that ...

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 16, 2013 – Nearly nine out of 10 nursing home physicians said that using their mobile devices to look up prescription drug information prevented at least one adverse drug event in the previous month, according to a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Department of Biomedical Informatics study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. Adverse drug events are associated with an estimated 93,000 deaths and $4 billion in excess health care costs in nursing homes each year, said lead investigator Steven M. Handler, ...

VIDEO: This video shows the extent to which the land acted as a source of carbon in the atmosphere (brown areas), or a carbon "sink " (green areas) that absorbed carbon from... Click here for more information. Enhanced growth of Earth's leafy greens during the 20th century has significantly slowed the planet's transition to being red-hot, according to the first study to specify the extent to which plants have prevented climate change since pre-industrial times. Researchers ...

Cambridge, Mass. – October 16, 2013 – It's easy to spot a "bad" data visualization—one packed with too much text, excessive ornamentation, gaudy colors, and clip art. Design guru Edward Tufte derided such decorations as redundant at best, useless at worst, labeling them "chart junk." Yet a debate still rages among visualization experts: Can these reviled extra elements serve a purpose? Taking a scientific approach to design, researchers from Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are offering a new take on that debate. The same design elements that ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (October 16, 2013) – The upcoming expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) won't lead physicians to reduce the number of new Medicaid patients they accept, suggests a study in the November issue of Medical Care, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. However, doctors may be less likely to accept those patients who remain uninsured, according to an analysis of historical data by Lindsay M. Sabik, PhD, and Sabina Ohri Gandhi, PhD, of Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond. They write, "Our results ...

As we learn and develop, our neurons change. They make new pathways and connections as our brain processes new information. In order to do this, individual neurons use an internal gauge to maintain a delicate balance that keeps our brains from becoming too excitable. Scientists have long theorized a larger internal system monitors these individual gauges, like a neural thermostat, regulating average firing rates across the whole brain. Without this thermostat, they reasoned, our flexible neurons would fire out of control, making bad connections or none at all. The result ...

Oct. 16, 2013—Researchers at the University of Maryland and Columbia University have developed a new soil testing kit designed to help farmers in third world countries. On-the-spot soil testing could have major impact in improving crop yields due to poor soils. The kit contains battery-operated instruments and safe materials for agricultural extension agents to handle in the field. They can test for the availability of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and potassium, as well as active organic matter, and certain soil physical limitations. The raw results of the tests are sent ...

MADISON – When it comes to economic growth and environmental impacts, it can seem like Newton's third law of motion is the rule — for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction — and that in most cases, the economy prospers and the environment suffers. A team of UW-Madison researchers is hoping to help change that narrative and add a little ecology to economic decision making by forecasting how future policies regarding urban development and agricultural cultivation may impact aquatic ecosystems, which harbor astounding amounts of biodiversity and provide ...