A simple, low-cost and eco-friendly method of creating nitrogen-doped graphene nanoplatelets (NGnPs), which could be used in dye-sensitized solar cells and fuel cells, is published in Scientific Reports today. The work, carried out at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea, could be a step towards replacing conventional platinum (Pt)-based catalysts for energy conversion. The search for economically viable alternatives to fossil fuels has attracted attention among energy communities because of increasing energy prices and climate change. ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Athletes seeking a healthy performance weight should eat high fiber, low-fat food balanced with their training regimen in order to maintain muscle while still burning fat, according to a report by an Oregon State University researcher. The United States now has a record number of overweight athletes, a population many think of as untouched by the obesity crisis. Nationally, more than 45 percent of high school linebackers are obese, and the number of overweight students entering college level-sports is increasing. In a peer-reviewed literature review ...

DALLAS – July 23, 2013 – A multidisciplinary team at UT Southwestern Medical Center has found that measuring the oxygenation of tumors can be a valuable tool in guiding radiation therapy, opening the door for personalized therapies that keep tumors in check with oxygen enhancement. In research examining tissue oxygenation levels and predicting radiation response, UT Southwestern scientists led by Dr. Ralph Mason reported in the June 27 online issue of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine that countering hypoxic and aggressive tumors with an "oxygen challenge" – inhaling oxygen ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Valley networks branching across the Martian surface leave little doubt that water once flowed on the Red Planet. But where that ancient water came from — whether it bubbled up from underground or fell as rain or snow — is still debated by scientists. A new study by researchers at Brown University puts a new check mark in the precipitation column. The study finds that water-carved valleys at four different locations on Mars appear to have been caused by runoff from orographic precipitation — snow or rain that falls when moist prevailing ...

Scientists at Chicago's Field Museum and international collaborators have described a new species of Hero Shrew – the mammal with the most bizarre lower spine on Earth. The interlocking vertebrae of the Hero Shrew render the spine four to five times more robust relative to body mass, a condition not found in any other mammal. The spine has been an enigma to evolutionary biologists, with no known adaptive significance. This new species of Hero Shrew, named Scutisorex thori, possesses features that may represent intermediate character states between the only other known ...

People are more likely to try to break up a bar fight when they believe the conflict is too violent, or has the potential to become more violent, according to an international team of researchers. Bystanders break up about a third of the fights that occur in bars and are most likely to intervene in conflicts between males, said Michael Parks, who recently earned his doctorate in sociology at Penn State. These bystanders used nonaggressive interventions to break up about 65 percent of the fights between two aggressive males. Most bystander interventions were classified ...

Ultrasonic waves can find bubbles and cracks in adhesive bonds holding airplane composite parts together, and now aerospace engineers can select the best frequencies to detect adhesive failures in hard-to-reach places more quickly, thanks to Penn State researchers. Different ultrasonic modes work best for different materials and configurations using the right one will locate more flaws with higher precision, according to the researchers. The selection process could save time and effort for engineers who perform maintenance on complex structures made from composite materials ...

In a first-of-its-kind clinical trial, physician-scientists at University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center found that sleep quality impacts skin function and aging. The recently completed study, commissioned by Estée Lauder, demonstrated that poor sleepers had increased signs of skin aging and slower recovery from a variety of environmental stressors, such as disruption of the skin barrier or ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Poor sleepers also had worse assessment of their own skin and facial appearance. The research team, led by Primary Investigator Elma Baron, MD, presented ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. –Individuals diagnosed with HIV nowadays can live long, healthy lives if they follow their medical treatment plans; however, nearly half of individuals with the virus fail to get needed medical help or to continue treatment, according to previous research. Now, a nursing researcher at the University of Missouri has developed a peer-led intervention that helps individuals with HIV adhere to their treatment plans that can improve their quality of life. "Being 'peered' is different from being doctored, nursed or counseled," said Maithe Enriquez, an associate ...

Many cancers show inappropriate activation of a cell signaling pathway called NOTCH. In the developing body, NOTCH tells brain cells to grow and proliferate. It should be quiet in the adult body, but cancers restart NOTCH to drive their own growth, far and beyond the rate of healthy tissues. A Colorado State University and University of Colorado Cancer Center study expected to find NOTCH signaling elevated in K9 osteosarcoma samples, gathered from patients at the CSU Flint Animal Cancer Center. What they found surprised the researchers: overall, NOTCH signaling was elevated ...

Scientists from The University of Manchester have revealed new images which provide the clearest picture yet of how white blood immune cells attack viral infections and tumours. They show how the cells, which are responsible for fighting infections and cancer in the human body, change the organisation of their surface molecules, when activated by a type of protein found on viral-infected or tumour cells. Professor Daniel Davis, who has been leading the investigation into the immune cells, known as natural killers, said the work could provide important clues for tackling ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – The rate at which women get called back for additional imaging after screening mammography may be higher at hospitals than at community office practices, mostly due to differences among the patients, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology. The findings highlight the limitations of recall rates as a quality measure for breast cancer screening, the researchers said. Recall rates for mammography refer to the percentage of women who undergo screening and are called back for additional testing. Since recalls involve anxiety for ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A new study at Rhode Island Hospital has found that academic medical centers have higher rates of recall following mammography than community radiology centers. The recall rate is the frequency at which a radiologist interprets an examination as positive and the patient is instructed to return for more testing. The study is published online in advance of print in the journal Radiology. "Recalling a patient for a mammogram has an impact on both the patient, and on the hospital," said lead researcher and author Ana Lourenco, M.D., a radiologist at Rhode ...

Chicago, US (July 22, 2013) --- Positive results from three new studies on human-animal interaction (HAI) are being presented today at the triennial conference of the International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations (IAHAIO) in Chicago, IL. The studies, supported by funding from Mars and the WALTHAM® Centre for Pet Nutrition (WALTHAM®), examined how pets impact our physical and emotional well-being and our social relationships and community connectedness. WALTHAM® is the state-of-the-art petcare science centre for Mars Petcare and provides the science ...

Scientists from the Universities of Stirling, Oxford, Queensland and the Wildlife Conservation Society warn that current hunting trends in Central African forests could result in complete ecological collapse. The authors maintain that the current rate of unsustainable hunting of forest elephants, gorillas and other seed-dispersing species threatens the ability of forest ecosystems to regenerate, and that landscape-wide hunting management plans are needed to avoid an environmental catastrophe. The study appears in the latest version of Philosophical Transactions of ...

HONOLULU, HI – University of Hawaii Cancer Center Prevention and Control Program researchers Pallav Pokhrel, PhD and Thaddeus Herzog, PhD have found that smokers who use e-cigarettes as a tool to stop smoking tend to be younger and more motivated to quit smoking as compared to other smokers. Their study published online ahead of the print version in the American Journal of Public Health, found that approximately 13 percent of smokers had tried e-cigarettes as a means of quitting smoking. They also found that smokers who had tried e-cigarettes for smoking cessation help ...

A team led by a University of Arizona researcher has discovered a previously unknown mechanism that prevents the immune system from going into overdrive, shedding light not only on how our body controls its response to pathogens but on conditions such as autoimmune diseases, allergies and chronic inflammation as well. The group found a protein previously believed to only play a role in blood clotting acts as a negative feedback signal, telling defense cells to calm down, thereby preventing an immune reaction from spiraling out of control. The results, which could lead ...

Australian scientists have identified causes of a rapid warming in the upper subtropical oceans of the Southern Hemisphere. They partly attribute the observed warming, and preceding cooling trends to ocean circulation changes induced by global greenhouse gas emissions and aerosols predominantly generated in the Northern Hemisphere from human activity. The research, by scientists from CSIRO and the University of NSW, was published today in Scientific Reports. Mr Tim Cowan, lead author of the study, says his group was initially interested in the three decade long cooling ...

Rising temperatures, influenced by natural events such as El Niño, have a corresponding increase in the release of carbon dioxide from tropical forest ecosystems, according to a new study out today. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that a temperature anomaly of just 1ºC (in near surface air temperatures in the tropics) leads to a 3.5-Petagram (billion tonnes of carbon) anomaly in the annual CO2 growth rate, on average. This is the equivalent of 1/3 of the annual global emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels ...

STANFORD, Calif. — A gene long presumed dead comes to life under the full moon of inflammation, Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have found. The discovery, described in a study to be published July 23 in eLife, may help explain how anti-inflammatory steroid drugs work. It also could someday lead to entirely new classes of anti-inflammatory treatments without some of steroids' damaging side effects. Chronic inflammation plays a role in cancer and in autoimmune, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, among others. Anti-inflammatory steroid drugs ...

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers and their colleagues have used digital versions of a standard molecular biology tool to detect a common tumor-associated mutation in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with brain tumors. In their report being published in the open-access journal Molecular Therapy – Nucleic Acids, the investigators describe using advanced forms of the gene-amplification technology polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to analyze bits of RNA carried in membrane-covered sacs called extracellular vesicles for the presence of a tumor-associated ...

A new method for producing electricity from carbon dioxide could be the start of a classic trash-to-treasure story for the troublesome greenhouse gas, scientists are reporting. Described in an article in ACS' newly launched journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters, the method uses CO2 from electric power plant and other smokestacks as the raw material for making electricity. Bert Hamelers, Ph.D., and colleagues explain that electric power-generating stations worldwide release about 12 billion tons of CO2 annually from combustion of coal, oil and natural gas. ...

Charlottesville, VA (July 23, 2013). Researchers from Durham University and Kings College London (United Kingdom) and the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany) found that patients who have suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) may not recover psychosocially as well as expected if their significant other is excessively fearful about the possibility of SAH recurrence. The researchers' findings are discussed in "Family and friends' fears of recurrence: impact on the patient's recovery after subarachnoid hemorrhage. Clinical article," by Judith Covey, Ph.D., Adam J. ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass- Unlike barnacles, which cement themselves tightly to the surfaces of rocks, piers or ships, the clamlike bivalves called mussels dangle more loosely from these surfaces, attached by a collection of fine filaments known as byssus threads. This approach lets the creatures drift further out into the water, where they can absorb nutrients — although in the process, it exposes them to the risk of being torn away by the force of crashing waves. But that almost never happens. Despite the outwardly thin and fragile appearance of these threads, it turns out ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- One of regenerative medicine's greatest goals is to develop new treatments for stroke. So far, stem cell research for the disease has focused on developing therapeutic neurons — the primary movers of electrical impulses in the brain — to repair tissue damaged when oxygen to the brain is limited by a blood clot or break in a vessel. New UC Davis research, however, shows that other cells may be better suited for the task. Published July 23 in the journal Nature Communications, the large, collaborative study found that astrocytes — neural cells that ...