Rate of change in the thickness of the brain's cortex is an important factor associated with a person's change in IQ, according to a collaborative study by scientists in five countries including researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital – The Neuro, at McGill University and the McGill University Health Centre. The study has potentially wide-ranging implications for the pedagogical world and for judicial cases in which the defendant's IQ score could play a role in determining the severity of the sentence. The cortex is the thin, outermost layer of ...

LIVERPOOL, UK – 5 March 2014: People who copy their friend's drinking behaviour will deny that their decision has been influenced, researchers at the University of Liverpool have shown. A new study, conducted in the University of Liverpool's bar laboratory, a lab designed to imitate a bar, brought together pairs of friends. One of the friends was made aware of the experimental aims and was told to drink alcoholic drinks throughout the session or to stick to soft drinks. While most people were strongly influenced by peers – they mimicked their friend and drank more ...

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS. AND BOSTON -- When a person suffers a broken bone, treatment calls for the surgeon to insert screws and plates to help bond the broken sections and enable the fracture to heal. These "fixation devices" are usually made of metal alloys. But metal devices may have disadvantages: Because they are stiff and unyielding, they can cause stress to underlying bone. They also pose an increased risk of infection and poor wound healing. In some cases, the metal implants must be removed following fracture healing, necessitating a second surgery. Resorbable ...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Saeed A. Jortani, Ph.D., associate clinical professor in the University of Louisville's Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, headed up one of three labs in the United States involved in determining two new markers for acute kidney injury (AKI). The research group's paper, "Validation of Cell-Cycle Arrest Biomarkers for Acute Kidney Injury Using Clinical Adjudication," was posted online Feb. 25 by the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. AKI has been difficult to diagnose and treat early because current markers for ...

Scientists have created temperature maps to explain how reduced ignition propensity (RIP) bands influence cigarette burn rate and possibly the chemical composition of the resulting smoke. RIP bands are designed to make a cigarette go out if it is not being actively smoked. Previous studies have shown a significant increase in levels of biomarkers for a few polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in smokers of RIP cigarettes, although the toxicological implications of these increases are currently unknown (June et al. Tobacco Induced Diseases 2011, 9:13). RIP bands are ...

Several fertility clinics across the country are beginning to administer testosterone, either through a patch or a gel on the skin, to increase the number of eggs produced by certain women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). Women are also purchasing the over-the-counter supplement DHEA, which is converted by the body into testosterone, to boost their chances of pregnancy with IVF. A few clinical trials support the use of testosterone given through the skin, while others have shown no benefit of DHEA – also used in attempts to slow aging and enhance muscle mass ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new tool to detect and contain malware that attempts root exploits in Android devices. The tool improves on previous techniques by targeting code written in the C programming language – which is often used to create root exploit malware, whereas the bulk of Android applications are written in Java. Root exploits take over the system administration functions of an operating system, such as Android. A successful Android root exploit effectively gives hackers unfettered control of a user's smartphone. The ...

In the largest, most comprehensive, nationwide study to examine the prevalence of allergies from early childhood to old age, scientists from the National Institutes of Health report that allergy prevalence is the same across different regions of the United States, except in children 5 years and younger. "Before this study, if you would have asked 10 allergy specialists if allergy prevalence varied depending on where people live, all 10 of them would have said yes, because allergen exposures tend to be more common in certain regions of the U.S.," said Darryl Zeldin, M.D., ...

NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of the tropical cyclone called Faxai as it reached typhoon strength in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean today, March 4. On March 4 at 1500 UTC/10 a.m. EST, Tropical cyclone Faxai reached typhoon strength with maximum sustained winds near 65 knots/74.8 mph/120.4 kph. It was centered near 18.2 north and 151.6 east, about 429 nautical miles east-northeast of Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. Faxai was moving to the north-northeast at 16 knots/18.4 mph/29.6 kph. On March 4 at 03:05 UTC, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ...

A recent study sheds new light on the phenomenon known as "gaydar," or the ability to determine another person's sexual orientation. The study found that women who identified as lesbians were better at detecting sexual orientation in other women, but that straight women were more attune to detecting emotion and personality in their peers. Led by Northeastern University doctoral candidate Mollie Ruben, with assistance from psychology professor Judith Hall and visiting professor of marketing Krista Hill, this isn't the first study to look at "gaydar," but it is one of ...

Harvard stem cell scientists have successfully converted skins cells from patients with early-onset Alzheimer's into the types of neurons that are affected by the disease, making it possible for the first time to study this leading form of dementia in living human cells. This may also make it possible to develop therapies far more quickly and accurately than before. The research, led by Tracy Young-Pearse, PhD, and published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics, confirmed what had long been observed in mouse models—that the mutations associated with early-onset Alzheimer's ...

TORONTO, ON - New research from the University of Toronto shows that a little training can go a long way in a desperate situation. Carmen Logie, assistant professor in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, demonstrated that marginalized and displaced women in Leogane, Haiti, can measurably impact mental and sexual health behaviours in their village. Leogane was at the epicentre of a 2010 earthquake that displaced entire populations and led to the collapse of business, social and health infrastructure throughout the country. "By bringing women together for six ...

Washington, D.C., March 4, 2014 – A new study published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine addresses the common call to action from public health experts to improve access to and consumption of fruits and vegetables. Findings from the Michigan State University (MSU) study show that canned foods deliver on nutrition, affordability and safety helping people increase their fruit and vegetable intake, regardless of geography or income level. The study, "Nutrition and Cost Comparisons of Select Canned, Frozen and Fresh Fruits and Vegetables" analyzed more than 40 ...

Tropical Cyclone Kofi was becoming an extra-tropical storm on March 3 and NASA's Terra satellite captured its last hours as a tropical system. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS for short captured an image of Tropical Cyclone Kofi in the South Pacific Ocean on March 3 at 21:50 UTC before it made the total transition into an extra-tropical storm. MODIS is one of the instruments that flies aboard NASA's Terra satellite. The MODIS image showed that despite transitioning, Kofi still had good circulation. The highest and strongest thunderstorms appeared ...

Brandeis University researchers have unlocked a controversial structure in heart cells responsible for regulating heart contractions. For years, scientists have debated how many KCNE1 proteins are required to build a potassium ion channel, theorizing anywhere between one and 14. Now, Brandeis University researchers found that these channels are built with two E1s. Understanding the construction of this channel is key to understanding life-threatening heart conditions, such as arrhythmias, and developing drugs to threat those conditions. This report challenges a previous ...

Middle-aged adults who suddenly need reading glasses, patients with traumatic brain injuries, and people with visual disorders such as "lazy eye" may have one thing in common --"visual crowding," an inability to recognize individual items surrounded by multiple objects. Visual crowding makes it impossible to read, as single letters within words are rendered illegible. And basic cognitive functions such as facial recognition can also be significantly hampered. Scientists and clinicians currently attribute crowding to a disorder in peripheral vision. Now Prof. Uri Polat, ...

Two recent genetic studies expand the list of genes involved with body fat and body mass index, and their connection to major Western health problems: heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. One study showed that higher body mass index (BMI) caused harmful effects on the risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and inflammation, while another study found gene signals linked to higher levels of body fat metrics, without showing causality. "These findings are highly relevant to the obesity pandemic in the United States and many other countries," said geneticist ...

PHOENIX, Ariz. — March 4, 2014 — Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) have discovered a protein, Mcl-1, that helps enable one of the most common and deadly types of cancer to survive radiation and drug treatments. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) makes up about 85 percent of the nearly 160,000 Americans expected to die this year from lung cancer, which by far kills more patients than any other type of cancer; accounting for more than 1 in 4 cancer deaths in the U.S. annually. The 5-year survival rate for advanced NSCLC is less than 10 ...

The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a common source of infections that occur after surgeries involving prosthetic joints and artificial heart valves. The grape-shaped microorganism adheres to medical equipment, and if it gets inside the body, it can cause a serious and even life-threatening illness called a Staph infection. The recent discovery of drug-resistant strains of S. aureus makes matters even worse. A Staph infection can't start unless Staphylococcus cells first cling to a surface, however, which is why scientists are hard at work exploring bacteria-resistant ...

Fathers who returned after military service report having difficulty connecting with young children who sometimes don't remember them, according to a study released this week. While the fathers in the study had eagerly anticipated reuniting with their families, they reported significant stress, especially around issues of reconnecting with children, adapting expectations from military to family life, and co-parenting. "A service member who deploys when his child is an infant and returns home when the child is a toddler may find an entirely different child," says lead ...

The ice-free season across the Arctic is getting longer by five days per decade, according to new research from a team including Prof Julienne Stroeve (UCL Earth Sciences). New analysis of satellite data shows the Arctic Ocean absorbing ever more of the sun's energy in summer, leading to an ever later appearance of sea ice in the autumn. In some regions, autumn freeze-up is occurring up to 11 days per decade later than it used to. The research, published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters, has implications for tracking climate change, as ...

BOSTON, March 4, 2014 – An early phase clinical trial of a vaginal ring containing the antiretroviral (ARV) drugs dapivirine and maraviroc found the ring was safe in women who wore it for 28 days and evidence of dapivirine in cervical tissue and blood. In addition, laboratory tests of tissue samples showed that dapivirine was able to block HIV infection, though levels of maraviroc were not sufficient to have a similar effect, reported researchers from the National Institutes of Health-funded Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) today at the 21st Conference on Retroviruses and ...

BOSTON, March 4, 2014 – A new analysis by researchers from the U.S. National Institutes of Health-funded Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) confirms what they and many others had already assumed: The behavioral measures used for assessing adherence in the VOICE study – an HIV prevention trial that involved more than 5,000 women in sub-Saharan Africa – did not provide accurate information about women's use and nonuse of the products being tested. Their results, which were reported at the 21st Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston today, found ...

New Rochelle, NY, March 4, 2014—Nearly a billion people use Facebook, the largest social networking site, but interacting with someone on social media is not the same as meeting them in person. The results of a study to determine whether Facebook exposure increases or reduces arousal during initial face-to-face encounters, especially among socially anxious individuals, are presented in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social ...

Boston (March 4, 2014) — Two early clinical studies of novel HIV prevention products for women — the first combination antiretroviral (ARV) vaginal ring and a vaginal film — show the products to be safe and open the door to product improvements that could expand options for women-initiated prevention tools. The results of both studies were presented today at the 21st Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). The combination ring study, known as MTN-013/IPM 026, was conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Microbicide Trials Network ...