The age at which children learn a second language can have a significant bearing on the structure of their adult brain, according to a new joint study by the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro at McGill University and Oxford University. The majority of people in the world learn to speak more than one language during their lifetime. Many do so with great proficiency particularly if the languages are learned simultaneously or from early in development. The study concludes that the pattern of brain development is similar if you learn one or two language ...

Bethesda, MD -- Your mother was right when she warned you that loud music could damage your hearing, but now scientists have discovered exactly what gets damaged and how. In a research report published in the September 2013 issue of The FASEB Journal, scientists describe exactly what type of damage noise does to the inner ear, and provide insights into a compound that may prevent noise-related damage. "Noise-induced hearing loss, with accompanying tinnitus and sound hypersensitivity is a common condition which leads to communication problems and social isolation," ...

(Memphis, Tenn. – August 29, 2013) St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified a protein that certain high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells need to survive and have used that knowledge to fashion a more effective method of killing tumor cells. The findings appear in the August 29 edition of the journal Blood. The work focused on Philadelphia chromosome-positive ALL (Ph-positive ALL), a high-risk cancer that accounts for about 40 percent of ALL in adults and about 5 percent in children. The disease is named for a chromosomal rearrangement ...

Infrared imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite showed that Tropical Storm Kong-Rey's strongest thunderstorms were being pushed away from its center on its trek northward in the Western North Pacific Ocean. As Tropical Storm Kong-Rey moved past the northern Philippines NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of the storm that revealed wind shear was taking a toll on the storm. Tropical cyclones are made up of hundreds of thunderstorms, and the ones with the coldest cloud top temperatures shoot highest in the atmosphere and have a potential to drop heavy rain. ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (August 29, 2013) – For patients undergoing plastic and reconstructive surgery procedures, obesity, anemia and postoperative complications—especially surgical and wound complications—are independent risk factors for hospital readmission, reports a study in the September issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). "Patients experiencing postoperative surgical complications were six times more likely to be readmitted," write Dr. John P. Fischer and colleagues at the Hospital ...

August 29, 2013 brought a lot of tropical activity back to the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Late on Aug. 28, Tropical Storm Juliette formed just west of the coast of Baja California, Mexico, and two other low pressure areas developed south and southeast of the storm. NASA's Aqua satellite captured Juliette and the low pressure areas in infrared imagery. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the Eastern Pacific Ocean on Aug. 29 at 08:53 UTC/4:53 a.m. EDT, and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument captured an infrared look at the region. AIRS data showed Tropical Storm ...

Drinking alcohol before first pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of benign breast disease (BBD) and breast cancer, independent of drinking after first pregnancy, according to a new study published August 28 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Previous studies have shown that alcohol consumed in the past year affects a woman's breast cancer risk. However, data on the relationship between drinking alcohol during the period of time between a woman's first menstrual period and first pregnancy and the risk of proliferative BBD and breast cancer had ...

MINNEAPOLIS – Migraine may have long-lasting effects on the brain's structure, according to a study published in the August 28, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "Traditionally, migraine has been considered a benign disorder without long-term consequences for the brain," said study author Messoud Ashina, MD, PhD, with the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. "Our review and meta-analysis study suggests that the disorder may permanently alter brain structure in multiple ways." The study found that migraine raised ...

MINNEAPOLIS – Studies show that migraine is more common among people with lower incomes. This relationship is examined in a study published in the August 28, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, looking at whether developing migraines limits people's educational and career achievements, leading to a lower income status, or whether problems related to low income such as stressful life events and poor access to health care increase the likelihood of developing migraines. Contrary to the theory that social stressors ...

Fast-food marketing aimed at children emphasizes giveaways and movie tie-ins much more frequently than ads targeted at adults, according to research published August 28 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by James Sargent and colleagues from the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth. The researchers compared ads from fast food companies on children's TV channels such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network to those aired for adults. Ads targeted at children emphasized food packaging and street views of the restaurants, whereas adult ads emphasized the images of the food sold ...

Previously unknown archeological sites in forest islands reveal human presence in the western Amazon as early as 10,000 years ago, according to research published August 28 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Umberto Lombardo from the University of Bern, Switzerland and colleagues from other institutions. The study focuses on a region in the Bolivian Amazon thought to be rarely occupied by pre-agricultural communities due to unfavorable environmental conditions. Hundreds of 'forest islands'- small forested mounds of earth- are found throughout the region, their origins ...

Reef fish larvae are only millimeters-long when they hatch, but can smell the presence of coral reefs from several kilometers offshore, and use this odor to navigate home. The results are reported August 28 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Claire Paris from the University of Miami and colleagues from other institutions. The researchers used a novel drifting behavioral arena to find that larvae of two families, damselfish and cardinalfish, changed swimming speed and direction in response to the smell of reef water, but water from the open ocean did not evoke a similar ...

NEW YORK, NY (August 28, 2013) — A team of Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers, led by Nobel laureate Eric R. Kandel, MD, has found that deficiency of a protein called RbAp48 in the hippocampus is a significant contributor to age-related memory loss and that this form of memory loss is reversible. The study, conducted in postmortem human brain cells and in mice, also offers the strongest causal evidence that age-related memory loss and Alzheimer's disease are distinct conditions. The findings were published today in the online edition of Science Translational ...

All people have trillions of bacteria living in their intestines. If you place them on a scale, they weigh around 1.5 kg. Previously, a major part of these 'blind passengers' were unknown, as they are difficult or impossible to grow in laboratories. But over the past five years, an EU-funded research team, MetaHIT, coordinated by Professor S. Dusko Ehrlich at the INRA Research Centre of Jouy-en-Josas, France and with experts from Europe and China have used advanced DNA analysis and bioinformatics methods to map human intestinal bacteria. -The genetic analysis of intestinal ...

New evidence has emerged which supports the long-debated theory that life on Earth may have started on Mars. Professor Steven Benner will tell geochemists gathering today (Thursday 29 Aug) at the annual Goldschmidt conference that an oxidized mineral form of the element molybdenum, which may have been crucial to the origin of life, could only have been available on the surface of Mars and not on Earth. "In addition", said Professor Benner "recent studies show that these conditions, suitable for the origin of life, may still exist on Mars." "It's only when molybdenum ...

A team of scientists has reported direct visualization of magnetic charge crystallization in an artificial spin ice material, a first in the study of a relatively new class of frustrated artificial magnetic materials-by-design known as "Artificial Spin Ice." These charges are analogs to electrical charges with possible applications in magnetic memories and devices. The research team's findings appear in the August 29 issue of the journal Nature. The unique properties of spin ice materials have fascinated scientists since they were first discovered in the late 1990s in ...

STANFORD, Calif. - Pulmonary hypertension, a deadly form of high blood pressure that develops in the lungs, may be caused by an inflammation-producing molecular pathway that damages the inner lining of blood vessels, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The results, which will be published Aug. 28 in Science Translational Medicine, suggest that using medications to block this pathway could lead to the first-known cure for the disease, apart from lung transplantation. The new research could also lead to a better understanding ...

The world's largest ice sheet could be more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than previously thought, according to new research from Durham University. A team from the Department of Geography used declassified spy satellite imagery to create the first long-term record of changes in the terminus of outlet glaciers – where they meet the sea – along 5,400km of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet's coastline. The imagery covered almost half a century from 1963 to 2012. Using measurements from 175 glaciers, the researchers were able to show that the glaciers underwent ...

In this month's edition of Physics World, Paula Findlen from Stanford University profiles Laura Bassi -- an emblematic and influential physicist from the 18th century who can be regarded as the first ever woman to forge a professional scientific career. Once described as the "woman who understood Newton", Laura Bassi -- born in the city of Bologna in 1711 -- rose to celebrity status in Italy and all across the globe, gaining a reputation as being the best physics teacher of her generation and helping to develop the discipline of experimental physics. Bassi held numerous ...

A malaria control method that targets mosquito larvae and pupae as they mature in standing water could be an important supplementary measure in the fight against the disease, according to a new report. The Cochrane review -- led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in collaboration with Durham University and other researchers in the UK and US -- is the first systematic review looking at using larval source management (LSM) to control malaria, which causes an estimated 660,000 deaths worldwide every year. It found evidence that the method may significantly ...

The international consortium MetaHIT, which includes the research group of Jeroen Raes (VIB / Vrije Universiteit Brussel), publishes in the leading journal Nature that there is a link between richness of bacterial species in the intestines and the susceptibility for medical complications related to obesity. The researchers demonstrated that people with fewer bacterial species in their intestines are more likely to develop complications, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. A flora with decreased bacterial richness appears to function entirely differently to the ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- It's a long, expensive, risky road to turn a scientific breakthrough into a treatment that can help patients. Fewer organizations are trying to tackle the challenges alone, says a new paper from MIT researchers published August 28 in the journal Science Translational Medicine. An essential new way to move discoveries forward has emerged in the form of multi-stakeholder collaborations involving three or more different types of organizations, such as drug companies, government regulators and patient groups, write Magdalini Papadaki, a research associate, ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Problems with a key group of enzymes called topoisomerases can have profound effects on the genetic machinery behind brain development and potentially lead to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to research announced today in the journal Nature. Scientists at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have described a finding that represents a significant advance in the hunt for environmental factors behind autism and lends new insights into the disorder's genetic causes. "Our study shows the magnitude of what can happen if topoisomerases ...

An analysis of gravity and topography data from Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has revealed unexpected features of the moon's outer ice shell. The best explanation for the findings, the authors said, is that Titan's ice shell is rigid and that relatively small topographic features on the surface are associated with large roots extending into the underlying ocean. The study is published in the August 29 issue of the journal Nature. Led by planetary scientists Douglas Hemingway and Francis Nimmo at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the study used new data from NASA's ...

Here's a sobering fact for millions of young women heading back to school: The more alcohol they drink before motherhood, the greater their risk of future breast cancer. That's according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis that, for the first time, links increased breast cancer risk to drinking between early adolescence and first full-term pregnancy. Previous studies have looked at breast cancer risk and alcohol consumption later in life or at the effect of adolescent drinking on noncancerous breast disease. “More and more heavy ...