LA JOLLA, CA – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have reported successful preclinical tests of a new vaccine against heroin. The vaccine targets heroin and its psychoactive breakdown products in the bloodstream, preventing them from reaching the brain. "Heroin-addicted rats deprived of the drug will normally resume using it compulsively if they regain access, but our vaccine stops this from happening," said George F. Koob, who chairs TSRI's addiction research group, the Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders. If the vaccine works as well ...

STANFORD, Calif. - Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a new technique to see how different types of cells interact in a living mouse. The process uses light-emitting proteins that glow when two types of cells come close together. Using the technique, the team was able to pinpoint where in the body metastatic cancer cells ended up after they broke off from an initial tumor site, using readily available lab reagents. The team chose chemicals that are easily available in most life sciences laboratories because they wanted to develop a technique ...

DURHAM, N.C. – Continuing analysis of an HIV vaccine trial undertaken in Thailand is yielding additional information about how immune responses were triggered and why the vaccine did not protect more people. In a study appearing May 6, 2013, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international team of researchers led by the Duke Human Vaccine Institute describe a previously unknown interaction between antibodies that worked to block the vaccine's protective powers. The vaccine trial, known as RV144, used two investigational vaccines in combination, ...

A slowdown in the growth of U.S. health care costs could mean that Americans could save as much as $770 billion on Medicare spending over the next decade, Harvard economists say. In a May 6 paper published in Health Affairs, David Cutler, the Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics, and co-author Nikhil Sahni, a senior researcher in Harvard's Economics Department, point to several factors, including a decline in the development of new drugs and technologies and increased efficiency in the health care system, to explain the recent slowdown. If those trends continue ...

PITTSBURGH, May 6, 2013 – An ingredient that naturally occurs in breast milk might be used to prevent premature babies from developing a deadly intestinal condition that currently is largely incurable, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC in this week's online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The story begins with a baby who is born too early, meaning before 36 weeks gestation, said senior author David Hackam, M.D., Ph.D., Watson Family Professor ...

A research letter by Brian Wansink, Ph.D., and Aner Tal, Ph.D., of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., suggests that hungry grocery shoppers tend to buy higher-calorie products. The research included a laboratory study in which 68 paid participants were asked to avoid eating five hours prior to the study, although during some of the sessions some of the participants were given crackers so they would no longer feel hungry. A follow-up field study tracked the purchases of 82 participants at different times of the day when they were most likely to be full or hungry. According ...

UCLA life scientists have identified a gene previously implicated in Parkinson's disease that can delay the onset of aging and extend the healthy life span of fruit flies. The research, they say, could have important implications for aging and disease in humans. The gene, called parkin, serves at least two vital functions: It marks damaged proteins so that cells can discard them before they become toxic, and it is believed to play a key role in the removal of damaged mitochondria from cells. "Aging is a major risk factor for the development and progression of many ...

A study by Tracy A. Balboni, M.D., M.P.H., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues suggests that spiritual care and end-of-life (EoL) discussions by the medical team may be associated with reduced aggressive treatment. The study included 343 patients with advanced cancer. EoL care in the final week included hospice, aggressive EoL measures (care in an intensive care unit, resuscitation or ventilation), and ICU death. Patients reporting high spiritual support from religious communities were less likely to receive hospice (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], ...

A study by Stephanie Cosentino, Ph.D., of Columbia University, New York, and colleagues examines the relationship between families with exceptional longevity and cognitive impairment consistent with Alzheimer disease. (Online First) The cross-sectional study included a total of 1,870 individuals (1,510 family members and 360 spouse controls) recruited through the Long Life Family Study. The main outcome measure was the prevalence of cognitive impairment based on a diagnostic algorithm validated using the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center data set. According ...

Completing a quality-of-life questionnaire at a healthcare provider's office could help patients live longer and live better, according to a new scientific statement published in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association. In the statement, the association urges healthcare providers to assess their patients' cardiovascular health by using standardized patient surveys. These surveys directly measure the impact of heart disease on patients, including their symptoms, quality of life, and ability to function physically and mentally. Surveys focused on a patients' ...

The rising cost of Medicare can be cut through strategies such as increasing premiums and raising the eligibility age, but those moves could drive many elderly Americans from the program, leaving them with limited access to health services, according to a new study. Researchers simulated the likely outcomes of three approaches for lowering Medicare costs -- imposing a premium for Medicare's hospital insurance, switching to a premium support program that subsidizes the cost of purchasing private coverage, and increasing the eligibility age to 67. Each approach has been ...

When Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) marine paleoecologist Marco Coolen was mining through vast amounts of genetic data from the Black Sea sediment record, he was amazed about the variety of past plankton species that left behind their genetic makeup (i.e., the plankton paleome). The semi-isolated Black Sea is highly sensitive to climate driven environmental changes, and the underlying sediments represent high-resolution archives of past continental climate and concurrent hydrologic changes in the basin. The brackish Black Sea is currently receiving salty Mediterranean ...

Sydney, Australia: Most species of gigantic animals that once roamed Australia had disappeared by the time people arrived, a major review of the available evidence has concluded. The research challenges the claim that humans were primarily responsible for the demise of the megafauna in a proposed "extinction window" between 40,000 and 50,000 years ago, and points the finger instead at climate change. An international team led by the University of New South Wales, and including researchers at the University of Queensland, the University of New England, and the University ...

A new study appearing this week in the Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law catalogues community-based efforts to develop strategies and policies that – by targeting high risk housing – may hold the key to reducing lead hazards in children's homes. "Lead poisoning has long been characterized as a health problem with a housing solution," said Katrina Korfmacher, Ph.D., director of the Community Outreach and Engagement Core of the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Environmental Health Sciences Center and co-author of the study. "It is, therefore, critical ...

Alexandria, VA – With cold temperatures, low humidity and high levels of ultraviolet radiation, conditions 10 kilometers above Earth's surface may seem inhospitable. But, next time you're flying consider this: The air outside your airplane window may be filled with microscopic life that affects everything from weather and climate to the distribution of pathogens around the planet. While studying hurricanes during NASA-sponsored research flights, scientists stumbled upon populations of airborne bacteria. Microscopic analyses revealed that each cubic meter of air collected ...

Skipping meals can sabotage your shopping – and your diet, according to a new Cornell study. Even short term food deprivation not only increases overall grocery shopping, but leads shoppers to buy 31% more high calorie foods. "People skip meals for all sorts of reasons – dieting, fasting, insane schedules that make you forget to eat," says Aner Tal, PhD, from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, lead author of the study. "But it doesn't matter why you skipped a meal, it can still make your nutritionist cry - making you buy more potato chips and ice-cream and less baby carrots ...

Where you are and what you're doing increasingly play key roles in how you search the Internet. In fact, your search may just conduct itself. This concept, called "contextual search," is improving so gradually the changes often go unnoticed, and we may soon forget what the world was like without it, according to Brian Proffitt, a technology expert and adjunct instructor of management in the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. Contextual search describes the capability for search engines to recognize a multitude of factors beyond just the search ...

PHILADELPHIA (May 6, 2013) – Researchers at the Monell Center and collaborators have identified a protein that is critical to the ability of mammals to smell. Mice engineered to be lacking the Ggamma13 protein in their olfactory receptors were functionally anosmic – unable to smell. The findings may lend insight into the underlying causes of certain smell disorders in humans. "Without Ggamma13, the mice cannot smell," said senior author Liquan Huang, PhD, a molecular biologist at Monell. "This raises the possibility that mutations in the Ggamma13 gene may contribute ...

POWER GRID – Preparing for natural disasters . . . Software developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory can help emergency responders predict where power outages are likely when a storm hits, which can minimize the amount of time people are in the dark. The fully automated system uses wind speed and location estimates to geospatially map the impact to the electric grid, allowing planners who would otherwise have to perform tedious manual processing to focus on other tasks. A paper outlining the research was presented at a recent Institute of Electrical and Electronics ...

Millions of seniors are turning down free money. The Low Income Subsidy for Medicare Part D is a rare beast in economics research. The subsidy provides prescription drug coverage essentially free for low-income adults. That means it is what economists call a dominant option. For those who are eligible, there is no rational reason not to choose it. And yet, a new study shows that many eligible seniors do not take advantage of the program, despite outreach efforts by the Social Security Administration. "We examined the role of seniors' cognitive abilities in explaining ...

The increasing proportion of the population that received treatment for a specific medical condition – called "treated disease prevalence" -- along with higher spending per treated case accounted for most of the rise in health care spending in the U.S. between 1987 and 2009, according to a recent analysis. In the analysis, published in the May edition of Health Affairs, Kenneth E. Thorpe, PhD, chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health, analyzed data from the National Medical Expenditure Survey and the Medical Expenditure ...

Mothers who have experienced childhood abuse, neglect or other traumatic experiences show an unwillingness to talk with their children about the child's emotional experiences, a new study from the University of Notre Dame shows. According to the study, which was presented at the Society for Research in Child Development 2013 Biennial Meeting in Seattle, a sample of low-income mothers who had experienced their own childhood traumas exhibited ongoing "traumatic avoidance symptoms," which is characterized by an unwillingness to address thoughts, emotions, sensations or memories ...

VIDEO: On May 3, 2013, the GOES infrared and visible imagery were combined to create an animation that showed the plume of smoke from California's Springs fire. The smoke plume is... Click here for more information. On May 3, 2013, the NOAA GOES infrared and visible imagery were combined to create an animation that showed the plume of smoke from the fire. The smoke plume is seen blowing west and out over the eastern Pacific Ocean. The animation runs 17 seconds and shows the ...

As the Landsat Data Continuity Mission satellite flew over Indonesia's Flores Sea April 29, it captured an image of Paluweh volcano spewing ash into the air. The satellite's Operational Land Imager detected the white cloud of smoke and ash drifting northwest, over the green forests of the island and the blue waters of the tropical sea. The Thermal Infrared Sensor on LDCM picked up even more. By imaging the heat emanating from the 5-mile-wide volcanic island, TIRS revealed a hot spot at the top of the volcano where lava has been oozing in recent months. The two LDCM ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — An entomologist at the University of California, Riverside discovered a new wasp species in Russia and named it after the university, commonly abbreviated as UCR. Serguei V. Triapitsyn, principal museum scientist at the Entomology Research Museum on campus, had been sorting wasps from the Russian Far East, when he discovered several tiny female fairyflies, or mymarid wasps, 1.1 to 1.2 millimeters in body length. He named the species Gonatocerus ucri in a research paper he published April 30 in the international scientific journal Zootaxa. A Russian ...