COLLEGE PARK, Md – Human activities are changing the basic chemistry of many rivers in the Eastern U.S. in ways that have potentially major consequences for urban water supplies and aquatic ecosystems, a University of Maryland-led study has found. In the first survey of its kind, a research team looked at long-term records of alkalinity trends in 97 rivers from Florida to New Hampshire. Over time spans of 25 to 60 years, two-thirds of the rivers had become significantly more alkaline. Increased alkalinity complicates drinking water and wastewater treatment, encourages ...

When shopping for a big ticket item, such as a television, there is a checklist of things you should always do: 1. Read reviews 2. Compare prices 3. Wear high heels If you're uncomfortable with No. 3, you have other options. You can ride up and down the escalator, play a few games using the Wii Fit, or just go shopping immediately following your yoga class. A new BYU study finds that consumers experiencing a heightened sense of balance are more likely to weigh the options and go with a product that falls in the middle of the high-end, low-end scale. "If you're ...

Amsterdam, NL, August 23, 2013 – Cognitive deficits following ischemic stroke are common and debilitating, even in the relatively few patients who are treated expeditiously so that clots are removed or dissolved rapidly and cerebral blood flow restored. A new study in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience demonstrates that intracerebral injection of bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BSCs) reduces cognitive deficits produced by temporary occlusion of cerebral blood vessels in a rat model of stroke, suggesting that BSCs may offer a new approach for reducing post-stroke ...

Amsterdam, NL, 26 August 2013 – Findings from postmortem studies of the brains of Huntington's Disease (HD) patients suggest that transcriptional dysregulation may be an early step in the pathogenesis of HD before symptoms appear. Other studies report transcriptional alterations in the brains of some mouse models of HD. A new study has found transcriptional changes in mouse striatum which correlate with progressive motor and psychiatric deficits and, most importantly, reports for the first time, that an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) may be used therapeutically to both ...

Basel Physicists in collaboration with Dutch researchers have demonstrated a new method for polarizing nuclear spins in extremely small samples. By Monitoring and controlling spin fluctuations, the method may provide a route for enhancing the resolution of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on the nanometer-scale, allowing researchers to make 3D images of smaller objects than ever before. The results have been published in the journal Nature Physics. Many of the elements that make up the matter around us, such as hydrogen or phosphorus, contain a magnetic nucleus at the ...

A study of over 1600 children, which followed the children from infancy to four years old, found the cumulative incidence of stuttering by four years old was 11 per cent, more than twice what has previously been reported. However, the study refutes the long held view that suggests developmental stuttering is associated with a range of poorer outcomes in the preschool period. Interestingly, the study found the reverse was true, with stuttering associated with better language development, non-verbal skills with no identifiable effect on the child's mental health or temperament ...

The Rim Fire in northeastern California continues to burn on the Stanislaus National Forest, Yosemite National Park, and the Bureau of Land Management and State responsibility land. This fire began on August 17, 2013 and its cause is still currently under investigation. Over 224 square miles have been affected as of Sunday, August 25. It is still only 7 percent contained. Inaccessible terrain, strong winds, and dry conditions all present at this fire make for very difficult fire fighting. The ability for this fire to create havoc spreads far and wide, beyond even the ...

The molecule interleukin-7 (IL-7) is an important immune messenger protein which ensures that a sufficient number of T cells are present in our body for immune defence. Researchers from ETH Zurich have now demonstrated that IL-7 has another important function: it enhances the drainage function of lymphatic vessels, which collect fluid that has leaked out of blood vessels into the body tissue and return it to the bloodstream. In the future, this finding could become useful for lymphedema patients, whose lymphatic drainage system does not work properly, resulting in fluid ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (August 26, 2013) - From freshman through senior year, college football players achieve significant increases in strength and size, reports a study in the September issue of The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, official research journal of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. But even with modern training regimens, these athletes show limited changes in speed and power, according to the study by Bert H. Jacobson, EdD, FACSM, ...

Tropical Depression Pewa dissipated in the northwestern Pacific Ocean early on Aug. 26, 2013. NASA satellite data on the previous day showed that rainfall had greatly diminished in the depression. On Aug. 25, Tropical Depression Pewa's circulation had expanded and the storm weakened. Forecasters at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center expected Pewa would dissipate over the next day. Earlier thoughts were that Pewa might hang together and become an extra-tropical storm, but it appears that the life is leaving the storm. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center's official, final ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Financial innovation is supposed to reduce risk -- in theory, at least. Yes, new financial instruments based on the housing market helped cause the financial crisis of 2008. But in the abstract, those same instruments have the potential to spread risk more evenly throughout the marketplace by making it possible to trade debt more extensively, rather than having it concentrated in a relatively few hands. Now a paper published by MIT economist Alp Simsek makes the case that even in theory, financial innovation does not lower portfolio risk. Instead, it ...

During the week of Aug. 18, the low pressure area designated as System 95E was lingering in the western Caribbean Sea and moved into the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, where it exploded into Tropical Storm Fernand late on Aug. 25. On Aug. 26, NASA's TRMM satellite saw towering thunderstorms in Fernand were still raging over mainland Mexico, dropping heavy rainfall. On Sunday, Aug. 25 at 5:00 p.m. EDT, System 95E organized quickly into a tropical depression six, and by 7:00 p.m. EDT, the depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Fernand. Fernand was centered in the Bay ...

New Rochelle, NY, August 26, 2013—Concussions are a common sports injury that can have long-term neurological consequences if not properly diagnosed and treated. Several new or updated guidelines for managing sports concussions were released earlier this year, and their key areas of consensus, including recommendations for return to play, are presented in an article in Journal of Neurotrauma, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Neurotrauma website at http://www.liebertpub.com/neu. Therese A. ...

VIDEO: Khurshid R. Ghani, M.D., of Henry Ford's Vattikuti Urology Institute and lead author of the study, explains why the charges for emergency department visits for kidney stones rose to$5 billion... Click here for more information. DETROIT -- The risk of women developing kidney stones is rising, as is the number of cases being seen in U.S. emergency departments, while the rate of hospitalization for the disorder has remained stable. Those are among the findings of a ...

It is a lengthy process before a contaminant is identified as such and its harmful effects are highlighted with a worldwide ban. This is acknowledged by Norbert Heeb, chemist in Empa's Analytical Chemistry Lab. He was involved in uncovering the exact structures of HBCD (hexabromocyclododecane). On closer inspection, the substance turned out to be a whole group of compounds. Together with researchers from ETH Zurich, Eawag and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), he published several studies that show how HBCD is structured, which forms tend to accumulate in ...

Do violent video games such as 'Mortal Kombat,' 'Halo' and 'Grand Theft Auto' trigger teenagers with symptoms of depression or attention deficit disorder to become aggressive bullies or delinquents? No, according to Christopher Ferguson of Stetson University and independent researcher Cheryl Olson from the US in a study published in Springer's Journal of Youth and Adolescence. On the contrary, the researchers found that the playing of such games actually had a very slight calming effect on youths with attention deficit symptoms and helped to reduce their aggressive and ...

The northwestern Pacific has generated its fourteenth tropical cyclone and NASA's Aqua satellite flew over the eastern side of the storm early on Aug. 26. Tropical Storm Kong-Rey formed from low pressure System 91W. It is located east of the northeast Philippines and bringing the region gusty winds, rains and rough seas today, Aug 26. Aqua passed over Tropical Storm Kong-Rey on Aug. 26 at 0432 UTC/12:32 a.m. EDT as it was strengthening from a tropical depression into a tropical storm. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard Aqua ...

CHICAGO --- In a new study published in Nature Genetics, Northwestern Medicine and Tel Aviv University scientists have found that a structural defect in skin cells can contribute to allergy development, including skin and food allergies, traditionally thought primarily to be a dysfunction of the immune system. The finding is related to the team's identification of a new rare genetic disease, called "severe dermatitis, multiple allergies, and metabolic wasting," or SAM, caused by mutations in the molecule desmoglein 1. "Desmoglein 1 is best understood as the 'glue' ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- The recent factory collapse in Bangladesh has renewed attention to the global issue of workplace standards. In many countries, similar problems have arisen from a lack of enforcement for existing laws pertaining to safety, wages and overtime, or an absence of labor contracts for workers. These problems occur for a variety of reasons, including a lack of funding for regulators; difficulties acquiring solid information about potential problems in the first place; and corruption in the enforcement process. "We have a huge problem with enforcement," says ...

Approximately 60 percent of people experience epistaxis, commonly known as nosebleed, at least once in their lifetime. Of those who experience nosebleed, six percent require medical treatment. A study in the September 2013 issue of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, explores which nosebleed treatment options demonstrate the best outcomes. "Although data exist on the efficacy of the different epistaxis management techniques, outcome comparisons between the modalities for both primary management as well as management of cases of recurrence are currently lacking," the ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- An analysis of enzymes that load amino acids onto transfer RNAs -- an operation at the heart of protein translation -- offers new insights into the evolutionary origins of the modern genetic code, researchers report. Their findings appear in the journal PLOS ONE. The researchers focused on aminoacyl tRNA synthetases, enzymes that "read" the genetic information embedded in transfer RNA molecules and attach the appropriate amino acids to those tRNAs. Once a tRNA is charged with its amino acid, it carries it to the ribosome, a cellular "workbench" on ...

Irvine, Calif., Aug. 26, 2013 — By discovering the role of key neurons that mediate an important part of vision development, UC Irvine and UCLA neurobiologists have revealed a new approach to correcting visual disorders in children who suffer from early cataracts or amblyopia, also known as lazy eye. Such youngsters can have permanent defects in vision, even after surgery to remove cataracts or correct lazy eye. These flaws are often a result of improper brain development due to visual deprivation during childhood. In contrast, when cataracts in adults are surgically ...

PHILADELPHIA (August 26, 2013) – New research has uncovered the reason why some people seem to dislike everything while others seem to like everything. Apparently, it's all part of our individual personality – a dimension that researchers have coined "dispositional attitude." People with a positive dispositional attitude have a strong tendency to like things, whereas people with a negative dispositional attitude have a strong tendency to dislike things, according to research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The journal article, "Attitudes ...

The last glacial maximum was a time when Earth's far northern and far southern latitudes were largely covered in ice sheets and sea levels were low. Over much of the planet, glaciers were at their greatest extent roughly 20,000 years ago. But according to a study headed by University of Pennsylvania geologist Jane Willenbring, that wasn't true in at least one part of southern Europe. Due to local effects of temperature and precipitation, the local glacial maximum occurred considerably earlier, around 26,000 years ago. The finding sheds new light on how regional climate ...

CHICAGO – At first, Krista Easom figured the little red bump on her foot was nothing more than a blister. It didn't hurt, but after a couple months, it didn't go away either. She booked an appointment with a dermatologist to have it removed. She wasn't worried. Easom, a 24-year-old law school student from New Jersey, was healthy, had no family history of cancer and was getting ready to enjoy some time in her newly adopted city of Chicago. That's when she received the results from her dermatologist, who removed a part of the blister and had it tested. It turns out ...