Located about 1200 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Carina (The Ship's Keel), the Toby Jug Nebula, more formally known as IC 2220, is an example of a reflection nebula. It is a cloud of gas and dust illuminated from within by a star called HD 65750. This star, a type known as a red giant, has five times the mass of our Sun but it is in a much more advanced stage of its life, despite its comparatively young age of around 50 million years [1]. The nebula was created by the star, which is losing part of its mass out into the surrounding space, forming ...

Zudin A. Puthucheary, M.R.C.P., of University College London, England, and colleagues conducted a study to characterize and evaluate the time course and pathophysiology of acute muscle loss in critical illness. "Survivors of critical illness experience significant skeletal muscle weakness and physical disability, which can persist for at least 5 years. Muscle wasting contributes substantially to weakness acquired in the intensive care unit, but its time course and underlying pathophysiological mechanisms remain poorly characterized and not well understood," according ...

Laurent Papazian, M.D., Ph.D., of Hôpital Nord, Marseille, France, and colleagues conducted a study to determine whether statin therapy decreased day-28 mortality among intensive care unit patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia. Observational studies have reported that statins improve outcomes of various infections. Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the most common infection in the intensive care unit (ICU) and is diagnosed in approximately 8 to 28 percent of ICU patients receiving mechanical ventilation. Ventilator-associated pneumonia is associated with ...

Djillali Annane, M.D., Ph.D., of Raymond Poincare Hospital, Garches, France, and colleagues conducted a study to compare the effects of 2 types of intravenous fluids on survival for critically ill patients in an intensive care unit. Thousands of patients in intensive care units (ICUs) throughout the world are treated every day with intravenous fluids, mainly to restore effective blood volume and perfusion of organs. Fluid therapy includes a broad variety of products that are categorized as crystalloids and colloids: crystalloids are salts; colloids are salts and gelatin, ...

Andrea Morelli, M.D., of the University of Rome, Italy, and colleagues conducted a study to investigate the effect of the short-acting beta-blocker esmolol on the heart rate of patients with severe septic shock and high risk of death. Septic shock is associated with adverse effects on cardiac function. Beta-blocker therapy controls heart rate and may improve cardiovascular performance, but concerns remain that this therapy may lead to cardiovascular decompensation (inability of the heart to maintain adequate circulation), according to background information in the article. ...

Researchers working at the University of Saskatchewan have discovered new potential in prairie fruits, in particular, buffaloberry, chokecherry and sea buckthorn, according to a new study published today in the Canadian Journal of Plant Science. Findings showed that these fruits were nutrient-rich and that the potential food value is high. This is good news for fruit growers in Saskatchewan as these results add further credence to support the development of these fruits for commercial food markets. "There is increasing interest in the commercial development of these ...

The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) analysed additional data on drugs from the group of gliptins. The drug manufacturers had subsequently submitted these data to the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) in the commenting procedure. The Institute came to a different conclusion on the fixed combination of sitagliptin/metformin: As for the single agent sitagliptin before, there are now hints of an added benefit for this fixed combination. However, IQWiG still does not see any advantages of vildagliptin and the fixed combination of vildagliptin ...

New York University chemists have discovered crystal growth complexities, which at first glance appeared to confound 50 years of theory and deepened the mystery of how organic crystals form. But, appearances can be deceiving. Their findings, which appear in the latest edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have a range of implications -- from the production of pharmaceuticals and new electronic materials to unraveling the pathways for kidney stone formation. The researchers focused on L-cystine crystals, the chief component of a particularly nefarious ...

This news release is available in German. Jorg Massen (University of Vienna) and Sonja Koski (University of Zurich) together measured chimpanzee personality in two zoos with behavioural experiments and years of observations of chimpanzee behaviour. They also carefully logged which chimpanzee sat in body contact with whom most. "This is a clear sign of friendship among chimpanzees", explains Jorg Massen. Subsequently, the researchers tested, if those chimpanzees who sit together frequently have similar or different personality types. "We found that, especially ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Kindergarten-age children have poorer health if their home life is marked by disorder, noise and a lack of routine and they have a mother who has a chaotic work life, new research suggests. The results show the importance of order and routine in helping preschoolers stay healthy and develop to the best of their potential, said Claire Kamp Dush, lead author of the study and assistant professor of human sciences at The Ohio State University. "Children need to have order in their lives," Kamp Dush said. "When their life is chaotic and not predictable, ...

In 2012 researchers from the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) presented a study in the BMJ analysing information sources used in 16 health technology assessment (HTA) reports of drugs ("benefit assessments"). This study clearly demonstrated that publicly available sources, such as scientific journals and entries posted in trial registries ("registry reports"), contained far less information on methods and outcomes of clinical trials than non-public CSRs prepared by pharmaceutical companies. In a second article published today in PLOS ...

An international team of scientists—including researchers at GENYO, the Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research (Pfizer-University of Granada- Andalusian Regional Government)—has described a molecular mechanism that facilitates the defence of the human genome against "bombarding" by mobile DNA sequences. Abnormalities in the mechanism could be responsible for some symptoms of DiGeorge syndrome, a rare disease. The research could in the future help develop new therapies against the disease, which is caused by the microdeletion of a small part of chromosome 22. The ...

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and their Danish colleagues have monitored HPV-vaccinated girls via patient data registries in order to examine the incidence of a wide range of diseases and thus determine if there are any serious adverse effects of the vaccine. Their results show no significant increase of the examined diseases in the vaccinated girls relative to their unvaccinated peers. The study included almost a million Swedish and Danish girls born between 1988 and 2000, and compared roughly 300,000 girls who had been HPV vaccinated with 700,000 who ...

PHILADELPHIA—Patients who received care at multiple HIV clinics—as opposed to only one— were less likely to take their medication and had higher HIV viral loads, a new study published in the journal AIDS and Behavior of almost 13,000 HIV patients in Philadelphia from Penn Medicine found. The findings reinforce the notion that continuous care with one provider/clinic is optimal for outcomes and even reducing transmissions, and can help cut down on duplicative HIV services that contribute to higher health care costs. "It's about retention in care, but also continuity, ...

HOUSTON – (Oct. 9, 2013) – With high-tech optical tools and sophisticated mathematics, Rice University researchers have found a way to pinpoint the location of specific sequences along single strands of DNA, a technique that could someday help diagnose genetic diseases. Proof-of-concept experiments in the Rice lab of chemist Christy Landes identified DNA sequences as short as 50 nucleotides at room temperature, a feat she said is impossible with standard microscopes that cannot see targets that small, or electron microscopes that require targets to be in a vacuum or cryogenically ...

A mathematician has calculated how peer pressure influences society. Professor Ernesto Estrada, of the University of Strathclyde's Department of Mathematics and Statistics, examined the effect of direct and indirect social influences – otherwise known as peer pressure – on how decisions are reached on important issues. Using mathematical models, he analysed data taken from 15 networks – including US school superintendents and Brazilian farmers – to outline peer pressure's crucial role in society. Professor Estrada said: "Our modern society is a highly-interconnected ...

A 2,700-year-old portico was discovered this summer on the site of the ancient city of Argilos in northern Greece, following an archaeological excavation led by Jacques Perreault, Professor at the University of Montreal's Centre of Classical Studies and Zisis Bonias, an archaeologist with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. In ancient Greece, the portico—stoa in Greek—was a long, open structure that often housed shops and delineated public squares from the city—the agora. "Porticos are well known from the Hellenistic period, from the 3rd to 1st century BC, but ...

New Rochelle, NY, October 9, 2013—Cancer immunotherapy can successfully use the body's own immune system to kill tumor cells. But some current approaches to stimulate an antitumor immune response are short-lived, with limited clinical effectiveness. A new gene transfer strategy that introduces modified, immune-stimulating human stem cells is both feasible and effective for achieving persistent immunotherapy to treat leukemias and lymophomas, according to a study published in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article ...

October 9, 2013 — (BRONX, NY) — Findings from a study involving thousands of postmenopausal women suggest that women who develop invasive breast cancer may benefit from taking supplements containing both multivitamins and minerals. The new research, published today in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, found that the risk of dying from invasive breast cancer was 30 percent lower among multivitamin/mineral users compared with nonusers. "Our study offers tentative but intriguing evidence that multivitamin/mineral supplements may help older women who develop invasive ...

Bethesda, Md. (Oct. 9, 2013)—There's no question that high levels of good cholesterol—also known as high-density lipoprotein (HDL)—seem to be protective against heart disease. Rather than depositing fat into the blood vessels the way the "bad" cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein (LDL)) does, HDL appears to carry cholesterol away from blood vessels to the liver. From there, the liver processes it for removal from the body. However, adequate levels of HDL might not be enough. Several recent studies have suggested that many cases of heart disease occur in people with ...

Male football players are at a greater risk of injury five minutes after a card has been given or after a goal has been scored. The frequency of player injuries also increases when their own team is in the lead. These are the findings of researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, who, in collaboration with Fifa, have analysed injuries over the last three World Cup tournaments. Football players do not just injure themselves whenever and however. On the contrary, injury frequency follows a clear pattern that is dependent on how various events in the course of a match affect ...

Bethesda, Md. (Oct. 9, 2013)— In many modern societies, adults often sacrifice sleep during the workweek to make time for other demands, then snooze longer on the weekends to recoup that lost sleep. Research has shown that even a few days of lost sleep can have adverse effects, including increased daytime sleepiness, worsened daytime performance, an increase in molecules that are a sign of inflammation in the body, and impaired blood sugar regulation. These last two could be partially responsible for why sleeping less negatively affects health in other ways and shortens ...

New research published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology shows that a group of scientists, led by faculty at the University of Notre Dame, has made concrete progress toward the development of the first-ever inhibitory therapeutic for Type I hypersensitive allergic reactions. "Our allergy inhibition project is innovative and significant because we brought a novel molecular design approach to selectively inhibit mast cell degranulation — the key event in triggering a food allergic response — which has the potential to improve the quality of life for affected patients," ...

Case Western Reserve University researchers today published findings that point to a promising discovery for the treatment and prevention of prion diseases, rare neurodegenerative disorders that are always fatal. The researchers discovered that recombinant human prion protein stops the propagation of prions, the infectious pathogens that cause the diseases. "This is the very first time recombinant protein has been shown to inhibit diseased human prions," said Wen-Quan Zou, MD, PhD, senior author of the study and associate professor of pathology and neurology at Case Western ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Rocky pillars dotting Iceland's Skaelingar valley were projectiles tossed into the fields by warring trolls. That, at least, is the tale that University at Buffalo geologist Tracy Gregg heard from a tour guide and local hiker when she visited the site on two occasions. But Gregg and a colleague have a new explanation for the presence of the lava formations — this one also unexpected. In the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, she and former UB master's student Kenneth Christle report that the pillars, hollow and made from basalt, likely formed ...