Charlottesville, VA (August 20, 2013). Researchers at Duke University conducted a randomized clinical trial in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). In this study, the researchers compared two approaches to intracranial pressure management—continuous and intermittent drainage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)—and outcomes associated with those methods, focusing specifically on the incidence of cerebral vasospasm. The study had to be closed approximately midway due to a high rate of complications (52.9%) in the group of patients in whom CSF was drained continuously. Details ...

A healthy ear is much better at detecting and transmitting sound than even the most advanced hearing aid. But now researchers reporting in the August 20 issue of the Biophysical Journal, a Cell Press publication, have uncovered new insights into how the ear -- in particular, the cochlea -- processes and amplifies sound. The findings could be used for the development of better devices to improve hearing. Sound-sensing cells within the cochlea -- called hair cells due to the presence of cilia on their membrane surfaces -- vibrate strongly at different sound frequencies ...

Young stars are violent objects that eject material at speeds as high as one million kilometres per hour. When this material crashes into the surrounding gas it glows, creating a Herbig-Haro object [1]. A spectacular example is named Herbig-Haro 46/47 and is situated about 1400 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Vela (The Sails). This object was the target of a study using ALMA during the Early Science phase, whilst the telescope was still under construction and well before the array was completed. The new images reveal fine detail in two jets, one ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have found a series of RNA biomarkers in blood that may help identify who is at risk for committing suicide. In a study reported Aug. 20 in the advance online edition of the Nature Publishing Group journal Molecular Psychiatry, the researchers said the biomarkers were found at significantly higher levels in the blood of both bipolar disorder patients with thoughts of suicide as well in a group of people who had committed suicide. Principal investigator Alexander B. Niculescu III, M.D., Ph.D., associate ...

Managing fish in human-altered rivers is a challenge because their food webs are sensitive to environmental disturbance. So reports a new study in the journal Ecological Monographs, based on an exhaustive three-year analysis of the Colorado River in Glen and Grand Canyons. Food webs are used to map feeding relationships. By describing the structure of these webs, scientists can predict how plants and animals living in an ecosystem will respond to change. Coauthor Dr. Emma Rosi-Marshall, an aquatic ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, comments, "Given ...

VIDEO: In this experiment, we describe the method for the environmentally-controlled microtensile testing of mechanically-adaptive polymer nanocomposites for ex-vivo characterization. Click here for more information. On August 20, JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments will publish a technique from the Capadona Lab at Case Western Reserve University to accommodate two challenges inherent in brain-implantation technology, gauging the property changes that occur during ...

Like human babies, new-born piglets have only poorly developed immune systems, although their resistance to disease is generally thought to be extremely important to their survival and growth. Unlike human babies, piglets do not receive antibodies via the placenta so they are even more reliant than humans on antibodies transferred in the colostrum, the first milk that mothers produce when giving birth. For the first few hours after birth, their intestinal walls are fairly permeable so large proteins such as antibodies can pass into the bloodstream and be transferred to ...

One of the most complex, contested and controversial questions confronting modern juvenile/youth justice systems concerns the minimum age of criminal responsibility: the age at which a child is deemed to be sufficiently 'mature' to be held responsible before the substantive criminal law. The Royal College of Psychiatrists' Adolescent Forensic Psychiatry Special Interest Group took the initiative, in October 2012, to convene a conference in order to explore the question of criminal responsibility from different disciplinary perspectives: clinical, criminological/sociological, ...

They are the latest foodie fashion and look set to become big business in the baking aisles of all the major supermarkets – the blue egg produced by some chickens is prettier and some say tastier and cleaner-breaking than the traditional brown one – and now, thanks to scientists from The University of Nottingham, we know what caused the eggs in some breeds to turn this unusual colour. In a four-year research project just published in the journal, PLOS ONE, the team from the School of Biology, has identified the genetic mutation which first produced the blue egg in native ...

The Faroe Islands were colonised much earlier than previously believed, and it wasn't by the Vikings, according to new research. New archaeological evidence places human colonisation in the 4th to 6th centuries AD, at least 300-500 years earlier than previously demonstrated. The research, directed by Dr Mike J Church from Durham University and Símun V Arge from the National Museum of the Faroe Islands as part of the multidisciplinary project "Heart of the Atlantic", is published in the Quaternary Science Reviews. The research challenges the nature, scale and timing ...

WATERLOO, Ont. (Tuesday, August 20, 2013) — Emergency departments are not meeting the needs of senior citizens, according to a new international study published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. The study, which looked at patients over the age of 75 in emergency departments in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Iceland, India and Sweden, found that seniors have very different needs than the general population— needs that are not being addressed well by current clinical practices or emergency department designs. "The majority of older patients attending emergency ...

A new publication in the top-ranked journal Neuron sheds new light onto the unknown processes on how the brain integrates the inputs from the different senses in the complex circuits formed by molecularly distinct types of nerve cells. The work was led by new Umeå University associate professor Paolo Medini. One of the biggest challenges in Neuroscience is to understand how the cerebral cortex of the brain processes and integrates the inputs from the different senses (like vision, hearing and touch) to control for example, that we can respond to an event in the environment ...

Asthma sufferers frequently exposed to heavy traffic pollution or smoke from wood fire heaters, experienced a significant worsening of symptoms, a new University of Melbourne led study has found. The study is the first of its kind to assess the impact of traffic pollution and wood smoke from heaters on middle-aged adults with asthma. The results revealed adults who suffer asthma and were exposed to heavy traffic pollution experienced an 80 per cent increase in symptoms and those exposed to wood smoke from wood fire heaters experienced an 11 per cent increase in symptoms. Asthma ...

University of Warwick scientists have shown how to tie knots in liquid crystals using a miniature Möbius strip made from silica particles. By tying substances like this in knots, the researchers hope to understand how their intricate configurations and unique properties can be harnessed in the next generation of advanced materials and photonic devices. Liquid crystal is an essential material in modern life – the flat panel displays on our computers, TVs and smartphones all make use of its light-modulating properties. It is composed of long, thin, rod-like molecules ...

This news release is available in Spanish. According to Izaskun Casado-Arzuaga, ecosystems provide more services than what many people believe. And their value is not in fact limited to the possibilities they offer in terms of landscape, aesthetic aspects or leisure. Casado is one of the members of the research group into Landscape, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and, in her opinion, it is important to remember the other services offered by ecosystems. Among them she refers to supply services, like food, water, energy and materials, as well as regulating services ...

It's not often that one treatment offers therapeutic potential for multiple conditions. However, after more than two decades of research, Gail Besner, MD, principal investigator for the Center for Perinatal Research and pediatric surgeon for the Department of Pediatric Surgery at Nationwide Children's Hospital, and her team have found that this may just be the case with HB-EGF, or heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor. Having discovered the growth factor in 1990, Dr. Besner most recently conducted two studies in mice published in June in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery ...

With lobster shell disease moving up the East Coast toward Maine — now observing Maine Lobster Month — a new video from the world's largest scientific society focuses on the disease, the chemistry of lobster shell color and why lobster shells turn red during cooking. The American Chemical Society (ACS) video, the latest episode in ACS' award-winning Bytesize Science series, is at http://www.BytesizeScience.com. In the video, Michael Tlusty, Ph.D., director of research at the New England Aquarium, describes how his lab grows different colored lobsters in an effort to understand ...

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- A new study about the common problem of preharvest sprouting, or PHS, in wheat is nipping the crop-killing issue in the bud. Researchers at Kansas State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, or USDA-ARS, found and cloned a gene in wheat named PHS that prevents the plant from preharvest sprouting. Preharvest sprouting happens when significant rain causes the wheat grain to germinate before harvest and results in significant crop losses. "This is great news because preharvest sprouting is a very difficult trait ...

While observing a newborn star, astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope discovered twin jets of matter blasting out into space at record-breaking speed. These surprisingly forceful molecular "winds" could help refine our understanding of how stars impact their cloudy nurseries and shape their emerging stellar systems. During their formative years, stars both take in and blast away tremendous amounts of matter. When this ejected material collides with the surrounding gas it glows, forming what is known as a Herbig-Haro (HH) object. ...

Consumers are more likely to toss a dented can or a chopped-up piece of paper into the trash than to recycle it, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research that examines recycling habits. "Although products that have changed shape are still recyclable, the likelihood of a consumer recycling a product or throwing it in the trash can be determined by the extent to which it has been distorted during the consumption process," write authors Remi Trudel (Boston University) and Jennifer J. Argo (University of Alberta). The authors looked at how consumers ...

Consumers may value a free gift more than a deeply discounted promotional item, especially if it comes from a prestigious brand, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Since consumers believe the value of a free product is likely to be consistent with the value of the purchased product, pairing a free product with a high-end product may very well increase perceptions of its value," write authors Mauricio M. Palmeira (Monash University) and Joydeep Srivastava (University of Maryland). These days, companies often offer bonus products for free or ...

Buying certain products can be embarrassing. But a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research says shoppers should make more conscious choices about what to add to their shopping carts to alleviate the embarrassment. "Shopping basket composition can determine how consumers feel when purchasing embarrassing products. Contrary to conventional wisdom, additional purchases don't always reduce embarrassment but may worsen it instead," write authors Sean Blair and Neal J. Roese (both Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University). "And when additional products do ...

A little bit of controversy can be intriguing, but too much turns consumers off, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Controversial topics can make consumers uncomfortable (since they worry about offending others) and therefore less likely to discuss them. Whether or not consumers are willing to discuss a controversial topic depends on a combination of their level of interest and comfort (or discomfort)," write authors Zoey Chen (Georgia Institute of Technology) and Jonah Berger (Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania). Conventional ...

MAYWOOD, Ill. – One night when she was trying to fall asleep, a 60-year-old woman suddenly began hearing music, as if a radio were playing at the back of her head. The songs were popular tunes her husband recognized when she sang or hummed them. But she herself could not identify them. This is the first known case of a patient hallucinating music that was familiar to people around her, but that she herself did not recognize, according to Dr. Danilo Vitorovic and Dr. José Biller of Loyola University Medical Center. The neurologists describe the unique case in the journal ...

Worried you won't meet your goal? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, you'll be more likely to succeed if you make specific plans to implement it. "Consumers believe that flexibility increases their chances of achieving a goal. While this is sometimes true, relatively rigid structures can simplify goal pursuit by eliminating the need to make demanding choices, ultimately making a goal less difficult to achieve," write authors Liyin Jin (Fudan University), Szu-Chi Huang, and Ying Zhang (both University of Texas, Austin). The authors looked at ...