The drug aflibercept (trade name: Zaltrap) has been approved in Germany since February 2013 in combination with a certain chemotherapy for adults with metastatic colorectal cancer in whom chemotherapy with oxaliplatin could not stop the disease from progressing. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG) the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether this new drug offers an added benefit over the current standard therapy. According to this, considerable advantages ...

A solar tsunami observed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Japanese Hinode spacecraft has been used to provide the first accurate estimates of the Sun's magnetic field. Solar tsunamis are produced by enormous explosions in the Sun's atmosphere called coronal mass ejections (CMEs). As the CME travels out into space, the tsunami travels across the Sun at speeds of up to 1000 kilometres per second. Similar to tsunamis on Earth, the shape of solar tsunamis is changed by the environment through which they move. Just as sound travels faster in water than in ...

Forget fingerprints or iris recognition, the next big thing in biometrics will be a thermal imaging scan that maps the blood vessels under the skin of your face for instantaneous face recognition that would be almost impossible to spoof. Writing in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Computational Intelligence Studies, a team at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India, explains how the pattern of blood vessels just beneath the skin of our faces is as unique as a fingerprint, iris or other characteristic. It can be revealed easily with an infra-red thermal ...

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the National Institutes of Health have obtained ground-breaking new knowledge about proteases - important enzymes which, among other things, play a role in the development of cancer cells. The findings may be significant for the development of cancer drugs, and have just been published in Journal of Biological Chemistry. Cancer cells can exploit an over-production of proteases to force their way into the body. In a joint effort with the National Institutes of Health, a group of researchers from the University of Copenhagen ...

Researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (Derek Sikes and Jill Stockbridge) discovered a strange new insect on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. It belongs to an enigmatic group that might help scientists understand the evolutionary origin of the Fleas. The new species belongs to the insect order Mecoptera which includes the scorpionflies, hangingflies, and snow scorpionflies. The description has been published recently in the open access journal ZooKeys. VIDEO: ...

Laser frequency combs-high-precision tools for measuring different colors of light in an ever-growing range of applications such as advanced atomic clocks, medical diagnostics and astronomy-are not only getting smaller but also much easier to make. Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) can now make the core of a miniature frequency comb in one minute.* Conventional microfabrication techniques, by contrast, may require hours, days or even weeks. The NIST technique involves laser machining of a quartz rod (a common type of glass) to ...

When older adults lose control as they move into residential care, they adapt and accept what cannot be changed in order to stay happy. According to a new study, by Jaclyn Broadbent, Shikkiah de Quadros-Wander and Jane McGillivray from Deakin University in Australia, when it comes to satisfaction in later life the ability to accept what cannot be changed is as important as the feeling of being able to exert control. Their work is published online in Springer's Journal of Happiness Studies. Ageing with satisfaction has been linked to maintaining a sense of control into ...

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- A collaborative formed by Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, has found full genome sequencing examining the entire DNA code of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their family members to provide the definitive look at the wide ranging genetic variations associated with ASD. The study published online today in American Journal of Human Genetics, reports on full genome sequencing on 32 unrelated Canadian individuals with autism and their families, participants in the Autism Speaks Autism Genetic Resource ...

The Y chromosomes of cattle have more genes and are more active than the Y chromosomes of other primates, according to researchers. This discovery may help biologists better understand how cattle and other mammals evolved, as well as help animal breeders and farmers better maintain and enhance fertility in the cattle industry, said Wansheng Liu, associate professor of animal genomics, Penn State. "Low fertility is a big problem for the dairy and beef industry," Liu said. "In the past 60 years, we paid more attention to milk, or beef production as a sign of herd success, ...

Raw, whole chickens purchased from farmers markets throughout Pennsylvania contained significantly higher levels of bacteria that can cause foodborne illness compared to those purchased from grocery stores in the region, according to a small-scale study by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences Of 100 whole chickens purchased from farmers markets, 90 percent tested positive for Campylobacter and 28 percent harbored Salmonella. By comparison, during the same period, 20 percent of raw, whole, organic chickens purchased from grocery stores were found ...

Mexican American children are experiencing substantial burdens of obesity, pre-diabetes, and other health problems which historically would have been expected to develop much later in life. The findings of a new study by Texas Biomed scientists in San Antonio argue for early screening and intervention to delay or avoid chronic health problems as these children age. Directed by Texas Biomed scientist Ravindranath Duggirala, Ph.D., in collaboration with scientists from UT Health Science Center at San Antonio and other institutions, the results of the study were published ...

Bethesda, MD—If you are obese and hope to be a father, here's another reason to lose weight: your children and grandchildren may inherit your waistline or metabolic disorders. That's because scientists have discovered in mice that obese fathers, even those who did not show any signs of diabetes, passed this negative trait on most frequently to their daughters. Sons don't entirely dodge this genetic bullet either—both sons and daughters of obese fathers have increased risks of developing metabolic diseases, such as diabetes. "If these findings hold true in humans, then ...

Astronomers making visible-light observations with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have deduced the actual color of a planet orbiting another star 63 light-years away. The planet is HD 189733b, one of the closest exoplanets that can be seen crossing the face of its star. Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph measured changes in the color of light from the planet before, during and after a pass behind its star. There was a small drop in light and a slight change in the color of the light. "We saw the light becoming less bright in the blue but not in the green or ...

A University of Southampton Professor, in collaboration with colleagues at the BC Cancer Agency Research Centre, have discovered a novel way of killing cancer cells. The research, recently published in the journal Cell, has found a new potential treatment for cancer, which leaves the body's healthy cells undamaged, unlike traditional therapies such as radiotherapy. Chris Proud, Professor of Cellular Regulation in Biological Sciences at the University of Southampton says: "Cancer cells grow and divide much more rapidly than normal cells, meaning they have a much higher ...

New research reveals a causal association between elevated body mass index (BMI) and increased risk of gallstone disease. Results published in Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, show women are at greater risk of developing gallstones. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) describe gallstones as pebble-like material, which can develop when there is excess cholesterol—accounting for 80% of all gallstones—bile salts or bilirubin in bile stored in the gallbladder. Gallstone disease is ...

Sad music might actually evoke positive emotions reveals a new study by Japanese researchers published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology. The findings help to explain why people enjoy listening to sad music, say Ai Kawakami and colleagues from Tokyo University of the Arts and the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan. Kawakami and colleagues asked 44 volunteers, including both musicians and non-specialists, to listen to two pieces of sad music and one piece of happy music. Each participant was required to use a set of keywords to rate both their perception ...

Researchers at the University of Southampton have completed a project that will enable surgeons to fit joint replacements with longer, optimised lifespans. The MXL project uses computational modelling to define the mechanics of an artificial joint -- a complex interaction of individual anatomy, prosthesis design, sizing and placement -- to ensure successful surgery and longer lifespans of the prosthetic joints. Professor Markus Heller, leader of the MXL project, says: "Joint replacement surgery substitutes worn-out joint tissues with artificial components. These artificial ...

Many birds feed on mosquitoes that spread the West Nile virus, a disease that killed 286 people in the United States in 2012 according to the Centers for Disease Control. Birds also eat insects that can be agricultural pests. However, rising temperatures threaten wild birds, including the Missouri-native Acadian flycatcher, by making snakes more active, according to University of Missouri biologist John Faaborg. He noted that farmers, public health officials and wildlife managers should be aware of complex indirect effects of climate change in addition to the more obvious ...

Many birds feeds on mosquitoes that spread the West Nile virus, a disease that killed 286 people in the United States in 2012 according to the Centers for Disease Control. Birds also eat insects that can be agricultural pests. However, rising temperatures threaten wild birds, including the Missouri-native Acadian flycatcher, by making snakes more active, according to University of Missouri biologist John Faaborg. He noted that farmers, public health officials and wildlife managers should be aware of complex indirect effects of climate change in addition to the more obvious ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — To parents, a baby's cry is a signal of hunger, pain, or discomfort. But to scientists, subtle acoustic features of a cry, many of them imperceptible to the human ear, can hold important information about a baby's health. A team of researchers from Brown University and Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island has developed a new computer-based tool to perform finely tuned acoustic analyses of babies' cries. The team hopes their baby cry analyzer will lead to new ways for researchers and clinicians to use cry in identifying children ...

New Rochelle, NY, July 11, 2013—Mosquito-borne dengue viruses cause an estimated 50 million cases of human dengue fever a year and are a significant public health threat worldwide. A novel therapeutic approach prevents dengue virus from reproducing in humans by targeting and silencing key regions of the dengue genome essential for viral replication. This innovative treatment strategy and the successful results of initial testing are presented in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers. The article is available on the Nucleic ...

There are some combinations that just go well together: Milk and cookies, eggs and bacon, pancakes and maple syrup. But new research reveals that people with individualistic mindsets differ from their collectivist counterparts in ascribing value to those perfect combinations. The collection of new studies, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, demonstrate that people with collectivist mindsets tend to value the relationships between items more than the particular items themselves. People with individualistic mindsets, ...

A Vanderbilt research program that trains community pediatricians to diagnose autism within their individual practices may lead to more effective treatment of the disorder that now affects an estimated one in 88 children. Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers released today in the journal Autism the results of a three-year study that evaluated the effectiveness of a training program designed to enhance autism spectrum disorder (ASD) identification and assessment within community pediatric settings across Tennessee. After participating in training to learn ...

[Geneva, Switzerland – 11 July 2013] – This week the World Health Organization (WHO) released its newly updated 4th WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for Children (EMLc), in which three treatments developed by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and its partners have now been included. One treatment was also added to the 18th WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (EML) for adults. Artesunate-mefloquine fixed-dose combination (ASMQ FDC) was added to the EMLc for the treatment of malaria in children, and to the EML for adults, in line with current ...

MINNEAPOLIS – Older people with Alzheimer's disease are less likely to also have cancer, and older people with cancer are less likely to also have Alzheimer's disease, according to the largest study to date on the topic, which appears in the July 10, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "Since the number of cases of both Alzheimer's disease and cancer increase exponentially as people age, understanding the mechanisms behind this relationship may help us better develop new treatments for both diseases," said study ...