LIVERMORE, Calif. -- As demand climbs for more fuel-efficient vehicles, knowledge compiled over several years about diesel engines and a new strategy known as "low-temperature combustion" (LTC) might soon lead auto manufacturers and consumers to broader use of cleaner diesel engines in the United States. The journal Progress in Energy and Combustion Science published a summary of recent research on diesel LTC in a review article titled "Conceptual models for partially premixed low-temperature diesel combustion." The article, prepared by researchers at Sandia National ...

The fight against antibiotic-resistant superbugs has taken a step forward thanks to a new discovery by scientists at The University of Nottingham. A multi-disciplinary research team at the University's Centre for Biomolecular Sciences has uncovered a new way of inhibiting the toxicity and virulence of the notorious superbug, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This bacteria produces an armoury of virulence factors and is resistant to many conventional antibiotics. It is almost impossible to eradicate P. aeruginosa from the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis and is therefore a ...

Congregation size has an impact on how people view the reasons for racial inequality in America, according to a new study by researchers at Baylor University and the University of Southern California. Those who attend very large congregations do not tend to attribute social divisions between blacks and whites to discrimination or lack of quality education, but to something other than structural failings in society, said Ryon J. Cobb, a postdoctoral research associate at USC's Roybal Institute on Aging. "Size of the congregation matters above and beyond denominational ...

Regular exercise is not only good for health, but can give people living with HIV a significant mental boost. This is according to a study by Dr. David J. Moore and colleagues at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), published in Springer's Journal of NeuroVirology. The study found that HIV-infected adults who exercise suffered significantly less neurocognitive impairment compared to patients who do not exercise. Moore and his team, including UCSD medical student Catherine Dufour, found that HIV-infected adults who exercise were approximately half as likely ...

Proton therapy, using high-energy subatomic particles, may offer a precise, organ-sparing treatment option for children with high-risk forms of neuroblastoma. For patients in a new study of advanced radiation treatment, proton therapy spared the liver and kidneys from unwanted radiation, while zeroing in on its target. "As survival rates improve for children with neuroblastoma, we need to reduce treatment-related long-term toxicities," said study leader Christine Hill-Kayser, M.D., a radiation oncologist in the cancer center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia ...

New Rochelle, NY, August 13, 2013—Recording the sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) of individuals in their health records would greatly facilitate identifying the unique health needs and health disparities of LGBT individuals, leading to improved quality and outcomes of their health care. The advantages of reporting this information and the growing support for including it in electronic health records (EHRs) are described in an article in LGBT Health, a new peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers, launching in fall 2013. The article is available ...

We might be one step closer to an Internet-of-things reality. University of Washington engineers have created a new wireless communication system that allows devices to interact with each other without relying on batteries or wires for power. The new communication technique, which the researchers call "ambient backscatter," takes advantage of the TV and cellular transmissions that already surround us around the clock. Two devices communicate with each other by reflecting the existing signals to exchange information. The researchers built small, battery-free devices ...

An international study of the work habits of conservation biologists suggests that they do work very hard — producing a substantial amount of work late at night and over weekends. The results have been published in an editorial article for the scientific journal Biological Conservation. The research, by Dr Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz of The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC), Dr Richard Primack of Boston University and Dr Lian Pin Koh of Princeton University, put to the test the commonly held belief that scientists are like laboratory rats, working long hours at ...

KANSAS CITY, MO — When egg and sperm combine, the new embryo bustles with activity. Its cells multiply so rapidly they largely ignore their DNA, other than to copy it and to read just a few essential genes. The embryonic cells mainly rely on molecular instructions placed in the egg by its mother in the form of RNA. The cells translate these RNA molecules into proteins that manage almost everything in the first minutes or hours of the embryo's life. Then, during the so-called midblastula transition, cells start transcribing massive amounts of their own DNA. How embryonic ...

As Typhoon Utor was exiting the northwestern Philippines, NASA's TRMM satellite passed overhead and detected some heavy rainfall in Utor's thunderstorm "feeder-bands" as it re-strengthened over the South China Sea. NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite passed over Utor on August 12, 2013 at 0621 UTC/2:21 a.m. EDT as it was exiting the Philippines into the South China Sea. To form a complete picture of rainfall and cloud extent of Utor, TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data were added into a combination Infrared/Visible ...

LONDON, ON – American and European research shows an alarming increase in the rate of tonsillar cancer related to the human papilloma virus (HPV), a sexually transmitted virus. Experts suggest a similar trend has emerged in Canada, but it had yet to be confirmed through scientific analysis. In a new study published in Current Oncology, a group of researchers from Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University have produced evidence confirming this epidemic. Orophararyngeal cancer impacts part of the throat, including the tonsils and the base of the tongue. Historically, ...

Your eyes may be a window to your stroke risk. In a study reported in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension, researchers said retinal imaging may someday help assess if you're more likely to develop a stroke — the nation's No. 4 killer and a leading cause of disability. "The retina provides information on the status of blood vessels in the brain," said Mohammad Kamran Ikram, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and assistant professor in the Singapore Eye Research Institute, the Department of Ophthalmology and Memory Aging & Cognition Centre, at the National ...

Two research teams from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and the University of Leiden in the Netherlands have jointly reported the discovery of Neandertal bone tools coming from their excavations at two neighboring Paleolithic sites in southwest France. The tools are unlike any others previously found in Neandertal sites, but they are similar to a tool type well known from later modern human sites and still in use today by high-end leather workers. This tool, called a lissoir or smoother, is shaped from deer ribs and has a polished ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Pregnant women whose labors are induced or augmented may have an increased risk of bearing children with autism, especially if the baby is male, according to a large, retrospective analysis by researchers at Duke Medicine and the University of Michigan. The findings, published in JAMA Pediatrics on Aug. 12, 2013, do not prove cause and effect, but suggest the need for more research, particularly as labor induction and augmentation have been used more frequently in recent years. Expediting deliveries has benefitted women with health conditions that pose ...

CHICAGO --- Simple tests that measure the ability to recognize and name famous people such as Albert Einstein, Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey may help doctors identify early dementia in those 40 to 65 years of age, according to new Northwestern Medicine research. The research appears in the August 13, 2013, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "These tests also differentiate between recognizing a face and actually naming it, which can help identify the specific type of cognitive impairment a person has," said study lead ...

ADHD and texting both significantly impair driving performance among teenagers, according to a study published online today in JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center used a driving simulator to test the driving performance of 16- and 17-year-old drivers; approximately half of the study's 61 participants had been diagnosed with ADHD, the other half had not. During the 40-minute driving simulation, researchers measured the speed and lane position of the young drivers as they texted and talked on the phone. Texting significantly ...

Breastfeeding appears to be associated with decreased risk of overweight and obesity among school children in Japan, according to a study by Michiyo Yamakawa, M.H.Sc., of the Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama City, Japan, and colleagues. A total of 43,367 singleton Japanese children who were born after 37 gestational weeks and had information about their feeding during infancy from Japan's Longitudinal Survey of Babies in the 21st Century, were included in the study. Researchers measured for underweight, ...

Eating a healthy diet and drinking a moderate amount of alcohol may be associated with decreased risk or progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, according to a report published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. Type 2 diabetes and associated CKD have become major public health problems. However, little is known about the long-term effect of diet on the incidence and progression of early-stage diabetic CKD, according to the study background. Daniela Dunkler, Ph.D., of McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, ...

An analysis of North Carolina birth and educational records suggests that induction (stimulating uterine contractions prior to the onset of spontaneous labor) and augmentation (increasing the strength, duration, or frequency of uterine contractions with spontaneous onset of labor) during childbirth appears to be associated with increased odds of autism diagnosis in childhood, according to a study by Simon G. Gregory, Ph.D., of Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., and colleagues. Researchers performed an epidemiological analysis of 625,042 live births linked ...

A study using a driving simulator suggests that adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who were distracted while driving demonstrated more variability in speed and lane position than adolescents without ADHD, according to a study published by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication. While adolescents as a group are at increased risk for motor vehicle crashes (MVCs), those diagnosed with ADHD have an even greater risk. Patients with ADHD have higher rates of MVCs and experience greater tactical and operational driving impairments than their ...

A study of Swedish men suggests nine risk factors, most of which can be traced to adolescence, account for most cases of young-onset dementia (YOD) diagnosed before the age of 65 years, according to a report published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. Dementia is a major public health concern that affects an estimated 35.6 million people worldwide. The cost and disability associated with dementia are expected to increase in the next 40 years, affecting more than 115 million people by 2050, Peter Nordstrӧm, Ph.D, of Umeå University, Sweden, and ...

Vitamin D supplementation does not appear to improve blood pressure or markers of vascular health in older patients with isolated systolic hypertension (a common type of high blood pressure), according to a study by Miles D. Witham, Ph.D., of the University of Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom, and colleagues. A total of 159 patients (average age 77 years) with isolated systolic hypertension participated in the randomized clinical trial. Patients were randomly assigned to either the vitamin D group or the matching placebo group, and received supplementation every three ...

Medicare reimburses physicians three to five times more for common procedural care than for cognitive care (the main professional activities of primary care physicians), and these financial pressures may be a contributing factor to the U.S. health care system's emphasis on procedural care, according to a study by Christine A. Sinsky, M.D., of the Medical Associates Clinic P.C., Dubuque, I.A., and David C. Dugdale, M.D., of the University of Washington, Seattle. The study compared the hourly revenue generated by a physician performing cognitive services and billing by ...

A case study using functional magnetic resonance imaging suggests that behaviorally nonresponsive patients can use selective auditory attention to convey their ability to follow commands and communicate, according to a small study by Lorina Naci, Ph.D., and Adrian M. Owen, Ph.D., of Western University, London, Ontario, Canada. The study included three patients with severe brain injury, two diagnosed as being in a minimally conscious state and one as being in a vegetative state. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired as the patients were asked to selectively ...

Scientists had feared that melt-water which trickles down through the ice could dramatically speed up the movement of glaciers as it acts as a lubricant between the ice and the ground it moves over. But in a paper published today in PNAS, a team led by scientists from the University of Bristol found it is likely to have a minor role in sea-level rise compared with other effects like iceberg production and surface melt. The results of computer modelling, based on fieldwork observations in Greenland, revealed that by the year 2200 lubrication would only add a maximum ...