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Technology30 Sep 2013

Tiny sensor used in smart phones could create urban seismic network

SAN FRANCISCO -- A tiny chip used in smart phones to adjust the orientation of the screen could serve to create a real-time urban seismic network, easily increasing the amount of strong motion data collected during a large earthquake, according to a new study published in the October issue of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA). Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) accelerometers measure the rate of acceleration of ground motion and vibration of cars, buildings and installations. In the 1990s MEMS accelerometers revolutionized the automotive airbag ...

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Science30 Sep 2013

Wagon-wheel pasta shape for better LED

SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 29, 2013 – One problem in developing more efficient organic LED light bulbs and displays for TVs and phones is that much of the light is polarized in one direction and thus trapped within the light-emitting diode, or LED. University of Utah physicists believe they have solved the problem by creating a new organic molecule that is shaped like rotelle – wagon-wheel pasta – rather than spaghetti. The rotelle-shaped molecule – known as a "pi-conjugated spoked-wheel macrocycle" – acts the opposite of polarizing sunglasses, which screen out glare reflected ...

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Technology30 Sep 2013

KAIST announced a novel technology to produce gasoline by a metabolically-engineered microorganism

Daejeon, Republic of Korea, September 29, 2013 -- For many decades, we have been relying on fossil resources to produce liquid fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and many industrial and consumer chemicals for daily use. However, increasing strains on natural resources as well as environmental issues including global warming have triggered a strong interest in developing sustainable ways to obtain fuels and chemicals. Gasoline, the petroleum-derived product that is most widely used as a fuel for transportation, is a mixture of hydrocarbons, additives, and blending agents. ...

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Science30 Sep 2013

Sequencing studies help pinpoint gene in Prader-Willi syndrome

HOUSTON -- (Sep. 29, 2013) – As so many genome studies do, this study published online in the journal Nature Genetics began with a single patient and his parents who were in search of a diagnosis. The parents of this first patient sought genetic testing for Prader-Willi syndrome when he was only a year old, but the test, which was still in its infancy, came back negative. For the next 12 years, his parents were left in limbo. He had many features of the disease – including lack of muscle tone, feeding difficulties and failure to thrive early on. Autism spectrum disorder ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2013

Largest, most accurate list of RNA editing sites

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A research team centered at Brown University has compiled the largest and most stringently validated list of RNA editing sites in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a stalwart of biological research. Their research, which yielded several insights into the model organism's fundamental biology, appears Sept. 29 in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. The "master list" totals 3,581 sites in which the enzyme ADAR might swap an "A" nucleotide for a "G" in an RNA molecule. Such a seemingly small tweak means a lot because it changes ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2013

Avahan Aids initiative may have prevented 600,000 HIV infections in India over 10 years

A programme funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation may have saved around 600,000 people in India from becoming infected with HIV over the course of a decade, according to a new report. Avahan, the India AIDS Initiative, which was launched in 2003, aimed to prevent HIV transmission in the general population through a comprehensive HIV prevention programme including the promotion of condoms among the people at most risk – female sex workers, high risk men who have sex with men and intravenous drug users – in the six Indian states with the highest HIV rates. In an ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2013

Scripps Research Institute study finds new moves in protein's evolution

LA JOLLA, CA – September 29, 2013 – Highlighting an important but unexplored area of evolution, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found evidence that, over hundreds of millions of years, an essential protein has evolved chiefly by changing how it moves, rather than by changing its basic molecular structure. The work has implications not only for the understanding of protein evolution, but also for the design of antibiotics and other drugs that target the protein in question. "Proteins are machines that have structures and motions," said TSRI Professor ...

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Space30 Sep 2013

Emergency room visits for kids with concussions skyrocketing

Researchers report a skyrocketing increase in the number of visits to the emergency department for kids with sports-related traumatic brain injuries (TBI), such as concussions. The study, conducted by emergency physicians at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, shows that emergency visits for sports-related TBI increased 92 percent between 2002 and 2011. The number of children and teens admitted to the hospital with the same diagnosis also increased. That increase was proportionate to the increase in emergency department visits – about 10 percent. Patients ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2013

Psychotropic medication use, including stimulants, in young children leveling off

The use of psychotropic prescription medications to treat ADHD, mood disorders, anxiety and other mental health disorders in very young children appears to have leveled off. A national study of 2 to 5 year olds shows that overall psychotropic prescription use peaked in 2002-2005, then leveled off from 2006-2009. The researchers also discovered increased use of these medications among boys, white children and those without private health insurance during the 16-year study period, 1994-2009. The Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center study is published online ...

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Science30 Sep 2013

3 of 4 are aware of ACA individual mandate; only 4 of 10 aware of marketplaces, subsidies

New York, NY, September 30, 2013—As the key components of the Affordable Care Act roll out this week, more than three-quarters (76%) of U.S. adults are aware of the law's individual mandate, while only four of 10 are aware of the new health insurance marketplaces opening on October 1, or the financial assistance that is available to help people with low or moderate incomes pay their health insurance premiums, according to a new Commonwealth Fund survey. It also finds broad support for expanding Medicaid in all states, with 68 percent of adults saying they are somewhat or ...

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Medicine28 Sep 2013

Anti-cancer drug T-DM1 benefits women with advanced breast cancer who've failed previous treatments

Amsterdam, The Netherlands: First results from a phase III clinical trial of the combination drug, T-DM1, show that it significantly improves the length of time before the disease worsens in women with advanced HER2 positive breast cancer whose cancer has recurred or progressed despite previous treatments, including trastuzumab and lapatinib. In a late-breaking presentation to the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1] today (Saturday), Professor Hans Wildiers will say: "This study shows that even in heavily pre-treated women, 75% of whom had cancer that has spread ...

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Medicine28 Sep 2013

Longest follow-up of melanoma patients treated with ipilimumab shows some survive up to 10 years

Patients with advanced melanoma, who have been treated with the monoclonal antibody, ipilimumab, can survive for up to ten years, according to the largest analysis of overall survival for these patients, presented at the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1] today (Saturday). Professor Stephen Hodi (MD), Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, USA), told the congress: "Our findings demonstrate that there is a plateau in overall survival, which begins around the third year and extends through to the tenth year. "These results ...

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Medicine28 Sep 2013

Treating chest lymph nodes in early breast cancer patients improves survival

Giving radiation therapy to the lymph nodes located behind the breast bone and above the collar bone to patients with early breast cancer improves overall survival without increasing side effects. This new finding ends the uncertainty about whether the beneficial effect of radiation therapy in such patients was simply the result of irradiation of the breast area, or whether it treated cancer cells in the local lymph nodes as well, the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1] will hear today (Saturday). Dr Philip Poortmans, a radiation oncologist from the Institute ...

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Medicine28 Sep 2013

Hyperfractionated radiotherapy improves survival in head and neck cancer patients

The use of an intensified form of radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancers can improve overall survival rates compared with standard radiation therapy, according to results from a large study to be presented today (Saturday) at the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1]. A comparison of altered fractionation radiotherapy (AFRT) with standard fractionation radiotherapy (SFRT) in a meta-analysis of more than 11,000 patients showed an eight percent reduction in the risk of death in the AFRT group, as well as a nine percent reduction in the ...

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Technology28 Sep 2013

Researchers demonstrate 'accelerator on a chip'

In an advance that could dramatically shrink particle accelerators for science and medicine, researchers used a laser to accelerate electrons at a rate 10 times higher than conventional technology in a nanostructured glass chip smaller than a grain of rice. The achievement was reported today in Nature by a team including scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University. "We still have a number of challenges before this technology becomes practical for real-world use, but eventually it would substantially ...

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Medicine28 Sep 2013

Survival after cancer diagnosis in Europe associated with amount governments spend on health care

The more an EU (European Union) national government spends on health, the fewer the deaths after a cancer diagnosis in that country, according to new research to be presented to the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1] today (Sunday) and published simultaneously in the leading cancer journal Annals of Oncology [2]. Researchers will tell the meeting that higher wealth and higher health expenditure are strongly associated both with increased cancer incidence and decreased cancer mortality. In the case of breast cancer, increased health expenditure appears to be ...

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Medicine28 Sep 2013

Colorectal cancer screening works

Screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) in European countries is highly effective in reducing mortality from the disease. Some of the resources currently being devoted to breast and prostate screening programmes, where the evidence of effectiveness is much less clear-cut, should be reallocated to the early detection of CRC, the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1] will hear today (Sunday). Professor Philippe Autier, Vice President, Population Studies, at the International Prevention Research Institute, Lyon, France, will report on results extracted from data on CRC ...

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Medicine28 Sep 2013

Diabetes increases the risk of developing and dying from breast and colon cancer

Diabetes is linked to an increased risk of developing cancer, and now researchers have performed a unique meta-analysis that excludes all other causes of death and found that diabetic patients not only have an increased risk of developing breast and colon cancer but an even higher risk of dying from them. Dr Kirstin De Bruijn will tell the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1], today (Sunday), that previous studies have examined the association between diabetes and dying from cancer but death from specific types of cancer has not been well-studied. "Our meta-analysis ...

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Medicine28 Sep 2013

Young patients with metastatic colorectal cancer are at high risk of disease progression and death

Younger patients with colorectal cancer that has spread (metastasised) to other parts of the body represent a high-risk group that is less likely to respond to anti-cancer treatments. Their disease is more likely to progress and they are at greater risk of death than other age groups, according to new research to be presented to the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1] today (Sunday). An analysis of 20,034 patients in 24 phase III clinical trials [2] for colorectal cancer, of which 695 patients (3%) were younger than 40, showed that the youngest and oldest patients ...

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Medicine28 Sep 2013

Everolimus slows disease progression in advanced papillary kidney cancer patients

The first Phase II study to investigate the use of the anti-cancer drug, everolimus, for the initial treatment of advanced papillary kidney cancer has shown that it is successful in slowing or preventing the spread of the disease, according to research to be presented today (Sunday) at the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1]. Dr Bernard Escudier, Head of the French Group of Immunotherapy and chairman of the Genitourinary tumour board at the Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, France will say: "Our results showed that for 59% of patients who received everolimus ...

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Medicine28 Sep 2013

Combining Chinese and Western medicine could lead to new cancer treatments

Combining traditional forms of Chinese and Western medicine could offer new hope for developing new treatments for liver, lung, colorectal cancers and osteosarcoma of the bones. Experts from Cardiff University's School of Medicine have joined forces with Peking University in China to test the health benefits of a traditional Chinese medicine. The team also set-out to examine how by combining it with more traditional methods like Chemotherapy could improve patient outcomes and potentially lead to the development of new cancer treatments and therapies. "Traditional ...

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Science28 Sep 2013

Yoga in menopause may help insomnia -- but not hot flashes

Seattle, WA—Taking a 12-week yoga class and practicing at home was linked to less insomnia—but not to fewer or less bothersome hot flashes or night sweats. The link between yoga and better sleep was the only statistically significant finding in this MsFLASH (Menopause Strategies: Finding Lasting Answers for Symptoms and Health) Network randomized controlled trial. "Many women suffer from insomnia during menopause, and it's good to know that yoga may help them," said lead author Katherine Newton, PhD, a senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute. She e-published ...

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Science28 Sep 2013

First step to reduce plant need for nitrogen fertilizer uncovered

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Nitrogen fertilizer costs U.S. farmers approximately $8 billion each year, and excess fertilizer can find its way into rivers and streams, damaging the delicate water systems. Now, a discovery by a team of University of Missouri researchers could be the first step toward helping crops use less nitrogen, benefitting both farmers' bottom lines and the environment. The journal Science published the research this month. Gary Stacey, an investigator in the MU Bond Life Sciences Center and professor of plant sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural ...

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Science28 Sep 2013

SUNRISE offers new insight on sun's atmosphere

Three months after the flight of the solar observatory Sunrise – carried aloft by a NASA scientific balloon in early June 2013 -- scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany have presented unique insights into a layer on the sun called the chromosphere. Sunrise provided the highest-resolution images to date in ultraviolet light of this thin corrugated layer, which lies between the sun's visible surface and the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona. With its one-meter mirror, Sunrise is the largest solar telescope to fly above the atmosphere. ...

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Science28 Sep 2013

New research reveals that oxytocin could make us more accepting of others

(New York, New York) September 27, 2013 - Oxytocin - often referred to as the 'love hormone' because of its ability to promote mother-infant attachment and romantic bonding in adults - could also make us more accepting of other people, as found in new research, "Oxytocin Sharpens Self-other Perceptual Boundary," by Neuropsychoanalysis Foundation research grantee Valentina Colonnello Ph.D. published online today in Psychoneuroendocrinology. Together with Dr. Markus Heinrichs from the Department of Psychology at the University of Freiburg in Germany, Dr. Colonnello found ...

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