Over the past 5 years, IIASA researchers on the Geo-Wiki project have been leading a team of citizen scientists who examine satellite data to categorize land cover or identify places where people live and farm. These data have led to several publications published in peer-reviewed journals. "One question we always get is whether the analysis from laypeople is as good as that from experts. Can we rely on non-experts to provide accurate data analysis?" says IIASA researcher Linda See, who led the study published in the journal PLOS ONE. The researchers compared 53,000 ...

HONOLULU – About one in three American youths age 14-20 say they've been of victims of dating violence and almost one in three acknowledge they've committed violence toward a date, according to new research presented at the American Psychological Association's 121st Annual Convention. "These rates of adolescent dating violence are alarming and suggest that dating violence is simply too common among our youth," said Michele Ybarra, PhD, MPH, with the Center for Innovative Public Health Research, based in San Clemente, Calif. Researchers analyzed information collected ...

WA, Seattle -- In an article published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) researchers demonstrated that a single course of rituximab therapy (anti-CD20; Rituxan, Genentech, Inc.) is as effective as the current standard of care regimen of drugs for remission induction and maintenance in patients with ANCA-associated Vasculitis (AAV). AAV is an autoimmune disease marked by the presence of antibodies that attack neutrophils and cause inflammation of the blood vessels, leading to organ damage and sometimes death. The standard of care ...

WA, Seattle (July 26, 2013) – In an article reporting the 18-month results of the ITN's RAVE clinical trial, published August 1st in the New England Journal of Medicine, the ITN is providing unfettered access to the underlying clinical data and analysis code via the new clinical trials research portal, ITN TrialShare. TrialShare is a significant advance in data sharing and transparency, allowing for collaborative hypothesis generation and specimen sharing between the ITN and the broader scientific community. TrialShare gives researchers the ability to access raw study data, ...

Lunch at a restaurant with friends reduces cognitive control more than lunch eaten alone at a desk does, according to research published July 31 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Werner Sommer from the Humboldt University at Berlin, Germany, and colleagues from other institutions. Participants in the study either ate a solitary meal alone at their desk in a restricted amount of time, or took a short walk to a restaurant for an hour-long lunch with a friend. All meals were identical in the kind and amounts of food consumed. After the meal, people who had a restaurant ...

Not all placebos are equal, and patients who respond to one placebo don't always respond to others, according to research published July 31 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Jian Kong from Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and colleagues from other institutions. The researchers tested the analgesic effects of genuine acupuncture, sham acupuncture and a placebo pill on healthy participants' pain sensitivity. Participants were not told what treatment they were receiving, but were informed that the pill was Tylenol, a well-known painkiller and different ...

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease with accumulation of cholesterol in the vessel walls. The atherosclerotic plaque is built up throughout life and when it ruptures it leads to heart attack or stroke. T cells are important immune cells able to direct the immune response; they are present in the plaques at all stages and signal to other cells through contact or secretion of cytokines, a type of hormone-like signal molecules. In the present study the researchers have identified a cytokine produced by T cells that can stabilize atherosclerotic plaques and protect them ...

ANN ARBOR—Treating a cancerous tumor is like watering a houseplant with a fire hose—too much water kills the plant, just as too much chemotherapy and radiation kills the patient before it kills the tumor. However, if the gastrointestinal tract remains healthy and functioning, the chances of survival increase exponentially, said Jian-Guo Geng, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. Recently, Geng's lab discovered a biological mechanism that preserves the gastrointestinal tracts in mice who were delivered lethal doses of chemotherapy. ...

VIDEO: This video shows the three-dimensional scan of an albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) skull and brain endocast (shown in blue) taken with high-resolution X-ray computed tomography. The specimen is one of more... Click here for more information. New research provides evidence that dinosaurs evolved the brainpower necessary for flight well before they actually took to the air as birds. Based on high-resolution X-ray computed tomographic (CT) scans, the study, published ...

If some volcanoes operate on geologic timescales, Costa Rica's Irazú had something of a short fuse. In a new study in the journal Nature, scientists suggest that the 1960s eruption of Costa Rica's largest stratovolcano was triggered by magma rising from the mantle over a few short months, rather than thousands of years or more, as many scientists have thought. The study is the latest to suggest that deep, hot magma can set off an eruption fairly quickly, potentially providing an extra tool for detecting an oncoming volcanic disaster. "If we had had seismic instruments ...

In this month's edition of Physics World, a group of physicists describe how unique structures in the natural world are inspiring scientists to develop new types of materials with unprecedented properties. From adhesive tape inspired by the toes of geckoes to a potential flaw-resistant coating of aeroplanes inspired by mother of pearl, the attractiveness centres on one concept -- hierarchical design. When materials have a hierarchical design, the overall structure is made up of much smaller levels, or generations, of structures that when put together exhibit extraordinary ...

Antibiotic prescribing rates for acute respiratory tract infections could be significantly lowered using internet-based training for clinicians, new research has shown. In a study, led by the University of Southampton and published in The Lancet today (Wednesday 31 July), an internet-based training programme has shown to reduce antibiotics prescribing rates by as much as 62 per cent. Paul Little, Professor of Primary Care Research at the University of Southampton, comments: "The high volume of prescribing antibiotics in primary care is a major driver of antibiotic resistance, ...

Improving water quality and hygiene practices may improve the growth of children, according to a new report. The Cochrane review – authored by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and WaterAid – found evidence of small but significant improvements in growth of children under the age of five who have access to clean water and soap. Researchers identified 14 studies conducted in low and middle income countries (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Chile, Guatemala, Pakistan, Nepal, South Africa, Kenya and Cambodia) that provided data on the effect of water, sanitation ...

JULY 31, 2013, Cleveland: Of the three most common treatment approaches for patients with severe carotid and coronary artery disease, patients who underwent stenting of the carotid artery followed by open heart surgery had the best outcomes, according to a retrospective study from Cleveland Clinic published online today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The study compared carotid stenting followed by open heart surgery to both staged and combined carotid endarterectomy and open heart surgery. For patients with a severe blockage in the carotid artery ...

VIDEO: Professor Adriano Aguzzi explains how the flexible tail of the prion protein poisons brain cells. Click here for more information. Prion proteins are the infectious pathogens that cause Mad Cow Disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. They occur when a normal prion protein becomes deformed and clumped. The naturally occurring prion protein is harmless and can be found in most organisms. In humans, it is found in our brain cell membrane. By contrast, the abnormally deformed ...

The work of University of Alberta researchers and their teams has contributed to an important next step in finding a cure for deadly prion-folding diseases in humans and animals. Professor Michael James of the University of Alberta Department of Biochemistry, Professor Nat Kav of the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science and their labs collaborated to produce mini-antibodies and antibody fragments used by the Institute of Neuropathology in Zurich to study interactions between the antibodies and the prion protein and how it results in cell death. The ...

New research shows that rubber slat mats could improve swine health. In a new study in the Journal of Animal Science, researchers in Europe studied how different types of flooring affects claw and limb lesions, locomotion and flooring cleanliness. According to the researchers, flooring is one of the main factors in production systems that cause locomotory problems in swine. Locomotory problems can be caused by joint injuries or by circulatory problems in the legs and feet. Julia Calderón-Díaz, a PhD candidate at University of College Dublin, said pregnant sows placed ...

Boulder, Colo., USA - Two new Geology articles this month are open access: "Steady rotation of the Cascade arc" and "Silica gel formation during fault slip: Evidence from the rock record." Other new articles cover everything from the discovery of fossilized whale "intestinal products" in central Italy to flooding as a result of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption to new findings via the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) to using microfossils to reconstruct massive earthquakes in Cascadia. Highlights are provided below. Geology articles ...

Cambridge-- MIT researchers have developed a new endoscopy technology that could make it easier for doctors to detect precancerous lesions in the colon. Early detection of such lesions has been shown to reduce death rates from colorectal cancer, which kills about 50,000 people per year in the United States. The new technique, known as photometric stereo endoscopy, can capture topographical images of the colon surface along with traditional two-dimensional images. Such images make it easier to see precancerous growths, including flatter lesions that traditional endoscopy ...

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta recently published findings showing that brain development is delayed throughout childhood and adolescence for people born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Christian Beaulieu and Carmen Rasmussen, the two primary investigators in the research study, recently published the results of their work in the peer-reviewed journal, The Journal of Neuroscience. Their team scanned 17 people with FASD, and 27 people without the disorder, who were between 5 and 15 years old. Each participant underwent two to three scans, ...

In an editorial published online today in BMJ, Johns Hopkins bioethicist Jeremy Sugarman and other experts warn that action is urgently needed to deal with possible unintended consequences of India's new policy protecting research participants. Passed earlier this year, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act (First Amendment) Rules, was meant to mitigate ethical concerns with potential serious consequences for public health, as well as India's viability as a continued global leader in clinical research. However, Sugarman and his co-authors highlight specific concerns that could ...

Turbulence is all around us—in the patterns that natural gas makes as it swirls through a transcontinental pipeline or in the drag that occurs as a plane soars through the sky. Reducing such turbulence on say, an airplane wing, would cut down on the amount of power the plane has to put out just to get through the air, thereby saving fuel. But in order to reduce turbulence—a very complicated phenomenon—you need to understand it, a task that has proven to be quite a challenge. Since 2006, Beverley McKeon, professor of aeronautics and associate director of the Graduate ...

This news release is available in French. Recent technological developments in genomics have revealed a large number of genetic influences on common complex diseases, such as diabetes, asthma, cancer or schizophrenia. However, discovering a genetic variant predisposing to a disease is only a first step. To apply this knowledge towards prevention or cure, including tailoring treatment to the patient's genetic profile –also known as personalized medicine – we need to know how this genetic variant affects health. In a study published today in Nature Communications, ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Chanel, UC Santa Barbara's corpse flower, has finally spread her odiferous wings, broadcasting a stench that smells like a cross between rotting flesh and Limburger cheese. "It's disgusting," said UCSB junior Connor Way, who visited Wednesday morning. "It's pretty nasty." Other visitors said Chanel smelled like "French cheese" or "a dead rat in a wall." Alex Feldwinn, a computer technician in the Life Science Computing Group at UCSB said, "It really smells like a dead animal –– not just a dead animal, but a rotting one." Edith Ogella, a longtime ...

Administering the drug rituximab once weekly for one month provides the same benefits as 18 months of daily immunosuppressive therapy in people with severe forms of vasculitis, or inflammation of the blood vessels, a study has found. Researchers from the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN), an international clinical trials group funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), found that rituximab is as effective as the standard therapy at inducing and maintaining disease remission. The findings appear ...