EUGENE, Ore. -- University of Oregon chemist David C. Johnson likens his lab's newly published accomplishments to combining two flavors of ice cream -- vanilla and chocolate -- and churning out thousands of flavors to appeal to any taste bud. In reality, though, he is referring to his game-changing approach to synthesize thousands of new compounds with ultra low thermal conductivity and other unusual properties quickly instead of the traditional and time-consuming preparative approach that is limited to just a few thermodynamically stable compounds. In a paper placed ...

The Food and Drug Administration's approval last year of the drug Truvada for prevention of HIV infection was a milestone in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but experts are cautioning that it is only the beginning of new ethical concerns for health care professionals, policy makers, researchers and those taking Truvada to prevent HIV infection. "For the first time, we will have a large number of individuals who are not infected with HIV taking medication for HIV, which introduces ethical concerns of well-being and justice," says Jeremy Sugarman, Deputy Director for Medicine ...

From solar cells to optoelectronic sensors to lasers and imaging devices, many of today's semiconductor technologies hinge upon the absorption of light. Absorption is especially critical for nano-sized structures at the interface between two energy barriers called quantum wells, in which the movement of charge carriers is confined to two-dimensions. Now, for the first time, a simple law of light absorption for 2D semiconductors has been demonstrated. Working with ultrathin membranes of the semiconductor indium arsenide, a team of researchers with the U.S. Department of ...

ARLINGTON, Va.—Scientists recently launched unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from a research vessel in a significant experiment that could help boost the Navy's radar and communications performance at sea. Sailing off Virginia Beach, Va., from July 13 to 18, the Office of Naval Research's (ONR) Research Vessel (R/V) Knorr explored ocean and atmospheric weather variations that can change the angle that radar and radio waves bend, making it more difficult for ships to remain undetected and hindering their ability to communicate or locate adversaries. Sponsored by ONR's ...

A new study led by University of Pennsylvania researchers involves a classic case of evolution's fickle nature: a genetic mutation that protects against a potentially fatal infectious disease also appears to increase the risk of developing a chronic, debilitating condition. Such a relationship exists between malaria and sickle cell anemia. Individuals who carry a gene to resist the former are carriers for the latter. And recently scientific evidence has suggested that individuals who are resistant to human African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, are predisposed ...

A new study shows what many middle-aged Californians privately suspect: They are the first to lose their jobs and the health benefits that come with those jobs when hard times hit. The analysis by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research looked at California data on the uninsured between 2007 and 2009 and found that of the approximately 700,000 Californians to lose health insurance during this time, the greatest increase was among residents between the ages of 45 and 64. "Whether because mid-career workers are viewed as too expensive or because there is a deeper ...

Frontiers in Psychology Cross-cultural communication of emotional non-speech sounds Try to remember the last time that you inferred that another person was in an emotional state of mind – chances are that it was the sounds that he or she made that provided the clues. Emotional non-speech sounds (such as crying, hums, laughter, and sighs) are often considered an especially primitive form of emotional communication that in many ways resembles animal expressions more than human speech. But, this intriguing form of emotional signaling has received little attention from ...

The probability (absolute risk) of a woman developing breast, ovarian, and endometrial (womb) cancer can all be predicted using easily obtainable information on known risk factors for these cancers, according to a study by US researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine. Ruth Pfeiffer from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, USA and colleagues from institutions throughout the US, developed statistical models based on risk factors of these three common cancers that could help with clinical decision making. The authors developed these models by using information ...

Expanding health insurance coverage and reducing drug costs that are paid by patients (drug co-payments) in countries without universal free healthcare, such as the United States, may improve the treatment, and control of high blood pressure (hypertension, a condition which affects one billion people worldwide and leads to 7.5 million deaths), according to a study by UK and Canadian researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine. Will Maimaris from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and colleagues from the Population Health Research Institute and McMaster ...

Type 2 diabetics who have severe hypoglycaemia are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, a paper published today on bmj.com suggests. Severe hypoglycaemia is a condition where there is an abnormally low content of sugar in the blood. It is often classed as a medical emergency. Severe hypoglycaemia is a potential risk factor for cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes and recent clinical trials have failed to demonstrate a beneficial effect of intensive glucose control on overall CVD events. Although observational studies have reported a positive ...

Higher variability in visit-to-visit blood pressure readings, independent of average blood pressure, could be related to impaired cognitive function in old age in those already at high risk of cardiovascular disease, suggests a paper published today on bmj.com. There is increasing evidence that vascular factors contribute in development and progression of dementia. This is of special interest as cardiovascular factors may be amendable and thus potential targets to reduce cognitive decline and the incidence of dementia. Visit-to-visit blood pressure variability has been ...

The NHS's patient information leaflets are "inaccurate, inconsistent, and confusing – and effort is duplicated" argues GP Margaret McCartney on bmj.com. In a feature published today, Dr McCartney says the NHS is "awash" with patient information and with many trusts commissioning leaflets from external companies and others writing their own, it is difficult to know how efficient and effective these leaflets are. In a personal view, Dr McCartney says the NHS is "awash" with patient information and with many trusts commissioning leaflets from external companies and others ...

A new definition of chronic kidney disease labels over 1 in 8 adults and around half of people over 70 years of age as having the disease. Yet low rates of kidney failure suggest many of those diagnosed will never progress to severe disease. On bmj.com today, Ray Moynihan and colleagues argue this is evidence of overdiagnosis. They call for a re-examination of the definition and urge clinicians to be cautious about labelling patients, particularly older people. This article is the second of a series looking at the risks and harms of overdiagnosis in a range of common ...

Raising fish in tanks that contain hiding places and other obstacles can make the fish both smarter and improve their chances of survival when they are released into the wild, according to an international team of researchers. "It's a key problem in that we are very good at rearing fish, but we're really not very good at releasing those animals in the wild such that they survive," said Victoria Braithwaite, professor of fisheries and biology, Penn State. "There's a mismatch between the way we raise them and the real world." Juvenile Atlantic salmon raised in tanks ...

In an epidemic or a bioterrorist attack, the response of government officials could range from a drastic restriction of mobility — imposed isolation or total lockdown of a city — to moderate travel restrictions in some areas or simple suggestions that people remain at home. Deciding to institute any measure would require officials to weigh the costs and benefits of action, but at present there's little data to guide them on the question of how disease spreads through transportation networks. However, a new MIT study comparing contagion rates in two scenarios — with and ...

SAN FRANCISCO (July 30, 2013) – A team of researchers led by Dr. Matt Lewin of the California Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the Department of Anesthesia at the University of California, San Francisco, has pioneered a novel approach to treating venomous snakebites—administering antiparalytics topically via a nasal spray. This new, needle-free treatment may dramatically reduce the number of global snakebite fatalities, currently estimated to be as high as 125,000 per year. The team demonstrated the success of the new treatment during a recent experiment conducted ...

LIVERMORE, Calif. – The use of plasmonic black metals could someday provide a pathway to more efficient photovoltaics (PV) --- the use of solar panels containing photovoltaic solar cells --- to improve solar energy harvesting, according to researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The LLNL Materials Engineering Division (MED) research team has made breakthroughs experimenting with black metals. These nanostructured metals are designed to have low reflectivity and high absorption of visible and infrared light. The MED research team recently published ...

Long isolated by economic and political sanctions, Myanmar returns to the international community amid high expectations and challenges associated with protecting the country's great natural wealth from the impacts of economic growth and climate change. In a new study, scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society have examined the implications of economic development and climatic changes on conserving Myanmar's biodiversity and provide recommendations for conservation planning within a context of a changing climate by strengthening the protected area system and ...

Troy, N.Y. – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers have identified the mechanism behind a plague of LED light bulbs: a flaw called "efficiency droop" that causes LEDs to lose up to 20 percent of their efficiency as they are subjected to greater electrical currents. Efficiency droop, first reported in 1999, has been a key obstacle in the development of LED lighting for situations, like household lighting, that call for economical sources of versatile and bright light. In a paper recently published in Applied Physics Letters, the researchers identify a phenomena ...

First produced only in the past decade, human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are capable of developing into many or even all human cell types. In new research, scientists reprogrammed skin cells from patients with rare blood disorders into iPSCs, highlighting the great promise of these cells in advancing understanding of those challenging diseases—and eventually in treating them. "The technology for generating these cells has been moving very quickly," said hematologist Mitchell J. Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., corresponding author of two recent studies led by The Children's ...

The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series describes a report demonstrating that unprocessed, raw cotton has an amazing ability to sop up oil while also being eco-friendly. Based on a report by Seshadri Ramkumar, Ph.D., in the ACS journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, the new podcast is available without charge at iTunes and from http://www.acs.org/globalchallenges. In light of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, Ramkumar notes that a particular need exists for oil-spill ...

Does life exist elsewhere or is our planet unique, making us truly alone in the universe? Much of the work carried out by NASA, together with other research institutions, is aimed at trying to come to grips with this question. A novel and potentially testable theory of how life arose on earth, first advanced more than 25 years ago by Michael Russell, a research scientist in Planetary Chemistry and Astrobiology at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was further developed in a recent paper published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (PTRSL-B)—the world's ...

About half of a small group of patients with fibromyalgia – a common syndrome that causes chronic pain and other symptoms – was found to have damage to nerve fibers in their skin and other evidence of a disease called small-fiber polyneuropathy (SFPN). Unlike fibromyalgia, which has had no known causes and few effective treatments, SFPN has a clear pathology and is known to be caused by specific medical conditions, some of which can be treated and sometimes cured. The study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers will appear in the journal Pain and has been ...

A technique for trapping the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide deep underground could at the same be used to release the last fraction of natural gas liquids from ailing reservoirs, thus offsetting some of the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels. So says a paper to be published in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology. While so-called "fracking" as a method for extracting previously untapped fossil fuel reserves has been in the headlines recently, there are alternatives to obtaining the remaining quantities of hydrocarbons from gas/condensate ...

Santa's workshop at the North Pole is not under water, despite recent reports. A dramatic image captured by a University of Washington monitoring buoy reportedly shows a lake at the North Pole. But Santa doesn't yet need to buy a snorkel. "Every summer when the sun melts the surface the water has to go someplace, so it accumulates in these ponds," said Jamie Morison, a polar scientist at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory and principal investigator since 2000 of the North Pole Environmental Observatory. "This doesn't look particularly extreme." After media coverage in ...