Fitness fanatics may soon be able to gauge if their hard work is paying off without the need for weighing scales thanks to a new device that can instantly tell if your body is burning fat. The portable, pocket-sized sensor, produced by a group of researchers in Japan, works by measuring increased levels of acetone on the breath – a good indicator of when the body has begun to break down fat. The device has been presented today, 25 July, in IOP Publishing's Journal of Breath Research. Acetone is primarily produced in the blood when fat is broken down; however, it is ...

A family history of cancer increases the risk of other members of the family developing not only the same cancer (known as a concordant cancer) but also a different (discordant) cancer, according to a large study of 23,000 people in Italy and Switzerland. The research, published in the leading cancer journal Annals of Oncology [1] today (Thursday), provides a comprehensive picture of the risk of developing various different types of cancer in families where there is a history of the disease, and is one of the few large studies of this kind that takes into account other ...

Researchers have warned of an "economic time-bomb" in the Arctic, following a ground-breaking analysis of the likely cost of methane emissions in the region. Writing in a Comment piece in the journal, Nature, academics argue that a significant release of methane from thawing permafrost in the Arctic could have dire implications for the world's economy. The researchers, from Cambridge and Rotterdam, have for the first time calculated the potential economic impact of a scenario some scientists consider increasingly likely – that methane from the East Siberian Sea will ...

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, St. Louis, MO and Cold Spring Harbor, NY-- A multinational team of scientists has identified a single gene, called Shell, that regulates yield of the oil palm tree. The fruit and seeds of the oil palm are the source of nearly one-half of the supply of edible vegetable oil worldwide, and provide one of the most promising sources of biofuel. The discovery, the product of a multiyear effort to provide a high-quality full genome map of the oil palm plant and to scour the sequence for genes of importance to both science and industry, has major implications ...

This news release is available in German. The rabbit can't do it, neither can a frog, but zebrafish and axolotls can and flatworms are true masters of the craft: Regeneration. Why some animals can re-grow lost body parts or organs while others cannot remains a big mystery. And even more intriguing to us regeneration-challenged humans is the question whether one might be able to activate regenerative abilities in species that don't usually regenerate. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden are now one step further ...

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Unlike humans, galaxies don't have an obesity problem. In fact there are far fewer galaxies at the most massive end of the galactic scale than expected and scientists have long sought to explain why. A new, UMD-led study published in the journal Nature suggests that one answer lies in a kind of feast and fast sequence through which large galaxies can keep their mass down. Galaxies become more massive by 'consuming' vast clouds of gas and turning them into new stars. The new study shows in unprecedented detail how a burst of star formation in a galaxy ...

NEW YORK—Key molecular pathways that ultimately lead to late-onset Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of the disorder, have been identified by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). The study, which used a combination of systems biology and cell biology tools, presents a new approach to Alzheimer's disease research and highlights several new potential drug targets. The paper was published today in the journal Nature. Much of what is known about Alzheimer's comes from laboratory studies of rare, early-onset, familial (inherited) forms of the disease. ...

UC San Francisco researchers are recommending a combination of six comprehensive measures to prevent the spread of hepatitis C, in an effort to address the more than 31,000 young people they estimate may be newly infected with the virus each year in the United States due to injection-drug use. The measures, which stem from a 16-year UCSF research project with injection-drug users, known as the “U Find Out” or UFO Study, build upon the successes of clean syringe programs and similar efforts, while recommending greater focus on the social issues behind drug use and further ...

Philadelphia, July 24, 2013 –Researchers have identified a master network of signaling molecules that acts like a "fuse box" to regulate the cellular effects of defective energy flow in mitochondrial respiratory chain diseases—a diverse set of difficult-to-treat genetic-based energy disorders. Using that knowledge, they showed that nicotinic acid, a form of vitamin B3, partially restores normal functioning in cells taken from patients with mitochondrial disease. The study, from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), suggests that the regulatory signaling network ...

A new study published in the journal Nature shows how vigorous star formation can turn the tables on a starburst galaxy by forcing hydrogen and other gases high into the surrounding galactic halo, leaving little fuel for the next generation of stars. These new observations may help solve the mystery of the missing high-mass galaxies that theories predict should exist, but are conspicuously absent. Astronomers using the new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope have discovered billowing columns of cold, dense gas fleeing the disk of nearby starburst ...

The analysis of data from the TraumaRegister® of the German Trauma Society (DGU) was performed by Stefan Huber-Wagner, MD, and colleagues in close cooperation with Professor Rolf Lefering, PhD, from the Institute for Research in Operative Medicine (IFOM), University of Witten/Herdecke in Cologne. Data of 16,719 severely injured patients from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Slovenia were analyzed. The authors compared the observed and the expected mortality rate of severely injured patients with and without whole-body CT. The patients were divided in 3 groups: ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass- The "broken-windows theory," which was propounded by two Harvard University researchers in the early 1980s, holds that urban "disorder" — visible signs of neglect, such as broken windows — actually promotes crime, initiating a vicious feedback loop. The theory was the basis for former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani's crackdown on petty crime, but it's come under sharp criticism from some social scientists. One of the difficulties in evaluating the theory is that it's hard to quantify something as subjective as visible disorder. In the latest issue of the ...

The burden of liver disease could be dramatically reduced by scaling up the combination of interventions for hepatitis C infection among people who inject drugs according to University of Bristol researchers. The findings, published today [24 July], form part of new global recommendations on treating the virus. Around 150 million people globally are chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV)1 – a major cause of liver disease that can lead to serious complications such as liver failure or cancer, which are associated with considerable costs to the health care ...

A Dartmouth-led team of astrophysicists has discovered the extent to which quasars and their black holes can influence their galaxies. The team is scheduled to publish a paper in The Astrophysical Journal, detailing discoveries based upon observations of 10 quasars. The paper is now publicly available through the Cornell University Library. The researchers documented the immense power of quasar radiation, reaching out for many thousands of light years to the limits of the quasar's galaxy. "For the first time, we are able to see the actual extent to which these quasars ...

By directing energy beams at tiny crystals found in a Martian meteorite, a Western University-led team of geologists has proved that the most common group of meteorites from Mars is almost 4 billion years younger than many scientists had believed – resolving a long-standing puzzle in Martian science and painting a much clearer picture of the Red Planet's evolution that can now be compared to that of habitable Earth. For more information, video and downloadable images, please visit http://communications.uwo.ca/media/agepuzzle/. In a paper published today in the journal ...

Similarities in how different organisms look can indicate a close evolutionary relationship. Conversely, great differences in appearance can suggest a very distant relationship, as in many adult marine fish species. For the first time, however, a Smithsonian scientist has found that color patterns of different fish species in the larval stage can be very similar, revealing a closer evolutionary relationship than their adult forms would suggest. The research is published in the July issue of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Many marine fish species spend ...

Researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) provide the first proof of concept data showing that a monoclonal antibody can neutralize human norovirus. This research, which could one day lead to effective therapies against the virus, was published online ahead of print in the Journal of Virology. "We initiated this work because there is presently no virus-specific treatment or vaccine to control the norovirus illness," says Kim Y. Green, a researcher on the study. "Our working hypothesis was that a highly specific norovirus antibody ...

An enzyme known for its role in heart disease may well be a promising target to treat asthma. Researchers from the University of Iowa have found that the enzyme, called CaMKII, is linked to the harmful effects of oxidation in the respiratory tract, triggering asthmatic symptoms. The finding could lead to the development of a drug that would target the CaMKII enzyme, the researchers say. Asthma affects billions of people worldwide. In the United States, 8.5 percent of the population has asthma, which causes 3,000 deaths and more than $56 billion annually in medical and ...

Pediatric cancer patients whose central lines are used to treat them at home develop three times as many dangerous bloodstream infections from their devices than their hospitalized counterparts, according to the results of a new Johns Hopkins Children's Center study. Findings of the research, reported online July 23 in the journal Pediatric Blood & Cancer, provide valuable insight into the safety of central line uses outside the hospital and underscore the need to carefully evaluate the benefits and risk of sending a child home with one, the investigators say. Furthermore, ...

Using data obtained during six years of regular aerial surveys and genetics data collected by a consortium of research groups, scientists have strengthened evidence pointing to the central Gulf of Maine as a mating ground for North Atlantic right whales, according to a study recently published online in the journal Endangered Species Research. The North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) is one of the most endangered marine mammal species in the world and has been intensively studied for decades. Much has been learned about its habitat, behavior, and population ...

Researchers of the University of Arizona's Tucson Marine Phage Lab have discovered a dozen new types of unknown viruses that infect different strains of marine bacteria. Bacteriophages – viruses that prey on bacteria – are less familiar to most people than their flu- or cold-causing cousins, but they control processes of global importance. For example, they determine how much oxygen goes from the oceans into the atmosphere in exchange for carbon dioxide, they influence climate patterns across the Earth and they alter the assemblages of microorganisms competing in the ...

NEW YORK, NY (July 25, 2013) — Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) scientists have identified new genetic mutations that can cause pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a rare fatal disease characterized by high blood pressure in the lungs. The mutations, found in the gene KCNK3, appear to affect potassium channels in the pulmonary artery, a mechanism not previously linked to the condition. Cell culture studies showed that the mutations' effects could be reversed with a drug compound known as a phospholipase inhibitor. The study was published today in the online ...

A 2,000-square-kilometer zone in the Yukon Flats of interior Alaska--one of the most flammable high-latitude regions of the world--has seen a dramatic increase in both the frequency and severity of fires in recent decades, according to research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Wildfire activity in this area is higher than at any other time in the past 10,000 years, the researchers report. The research, funded by NSF's Division of Polar Programs, adds to the evidence that relatively frequent and powerful fires are converting the conifer-rich boreal ...

Less may mean more when it comes to the levee systems designed to protect New Orleans from hurricanes. That's the conclusion of a new study by a team of University of Notre Dame researchers led by Joannes Westerink, co-developer of the authoritative computer model for storm surge used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the state of Louisiana to determine water levels due to hurricane surge and to design levee heights and alignments. The lower Mississippi River south of New Orleans protrudes into the Gulf of Mexico ...

LA JOLLA, CA – July 24, 2013 – Biologists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have made a significant discovery that could lead to a new therapeutic strategy for Parkinson's disease. The findings, recently published online ahead of print in the journal Molecular and Cell Biology, focus on an enzyme known as parkin, whose absence causes an early-onset form of Parkinson's disease. Precisely how the loss of this enzyme leads to the deaths of neurons has been unclear. But the TSRI researchers showed that parkin's loss sharply reduces the level of another protein that ...