CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (JUNE 18, 2013). The effects of long-term cigarette smoking on morbidity and mortality have long been known. In a more immediate sense, smoking in the days and weeks before surgery can lead to morbidity and complications for many surgical procedures. In this review, researchers from the University of California San Francisco and Yale University examined the surgical literature and, specifically, the neurosurgical literature to characterize the impact of active smoking on neurosurgical outcomes. They found strong evidence for the association between smoking ...

Sydney: Researchers at the University of New South Wales have proposed a new way to distinguish between quantum bits that are placed only a few nanometres apart in a silicon chip, taking them a step closer to the construction of a large-scale quantum computer. Quantum bits, or qubits, are the basic building blocks of quantum computers - ultra-powerful devices that will offer enormous advantages for solving complex problems. Professor Michelle Simmons, leader of the research team, said a qubit based on the spin of an individual electron bound to a phosphorus atom within ...

Hormonal therapy for transsexual patients is safe and effective, a multicenter European study indicates. The results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Transsexual individuals who seek treatment may feel as though they were born the wrong gender. Surgical and hormonal therapies are available to help these people change their external characteristics to match their internal image of themselves. Hormonal therapy involves large doses of male or female sex hormones, which has led to concern about its health effects. ...

Similar genetic variations occur in both overweight newborns and obese adults, a large study finds. The results will be presented Tuesday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco. "Our data suggest that adult obesity and newborn adiposity share, in part, a common genetic background," said study lead author Reeti Chawla, MD, fellow in pediatric endocrinology at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago, IL. "Allowing earlier identification of high-risk newborns may ...

Taking calcium and vitamin D before exercise may influence how bones adapt to exercise, according to a new study. The results will be presented on Tuesday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco. "The timing of calcium supplementation, and not just the amount of supplementation, may be an important factor in how the skeleton adapts to exercise training," said study lead author Vanessa D. Sherk, PhD, postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. "Further research, however, is needed to determine whether the ...

Researchers have developed a risk assessment scoring system that they believe may better identify certain adults-– especially African Americans-– at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke than does the current system of diagnosing the metabolic syndrome. The results will be presented Tuesday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco. "We have found that the metabolic syndrome manifests differently between males and females and among various racial-ethnic groups," said study co-author Mark DeBoer, MD, associate professor ...

Insulin degludec (Tresiba), a new ultra-long-acting insulin, has a similar or reduced risk of recurrent hypoglycemia-- low blood sugar-- compared with the commercially available insulin glargine, a new meta-analysis study finds. Results of the combined analysis, of five completed clinical trials, will be presented Tuesday at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The studies included nearly 3,400 adults with type 2 diabetes who had a daily injection of either insulin degludec or glargine combined with either a mealtime insulin or oral diabetic medications. ...

Archaeological and genetic evidence suggests that modern humans (the modern form of Homo sapiens, our species) originated in Africa during the Stone Age, between 30,000 and 280,000 years ago. The latest archaeological excavations in southern Africa have shown that technological innovation, linked to the emergence of culture and modern behaviour, took place abruptly: the beginnings of symbolic expression, the making of tools from stone and bone, jewellery or the first agricultural settlements. An international team of researchers has linked these pulses of innovation to ...

University of Leicester scientists have discovered a potential genetic contributor to the increased risk of heart disease among men. A team of researchers including clinicians and scientists have made an important step forward in search of the mechanisms underlying increased risk of coronary artery disease in men who carry a particular type of the Y chromosome (haplogroup I). The team, from the University's Department of Cardiovascular Sciences and Department of Health Sciences, have followed up their recent award-winning study showing that men with haplogroup I of ...

Earthquake researchers have now identified a 30 kilometers long and ten kilometers deep area along the North Anatolian fault zone just south of Istanbul that could be the starting point for a strong earthquake. The group of seismologists including Professor Marco Bohnhoff of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences reported in the current online issue of the scientific journal Nature (Nature Communications, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2999) that this potential earthquake source is only 15 to 20 kilometers from the historic city center of Istanbul. The Istanbul-Marmara region ...

Methylation refers to a chemical modification of DNA and this modification can occur in millions of positions in the DNA sequence. Until now, scientists believed that this epigenetic phenomenon actively reduced the expression of certain genes. Today, a team of researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, led by Emmanouil Dermitzakis, Louis-Jeantet Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, reveals that this is not always the case and that DNA methylation may play both a passive and active role in gene regulation. The mechanistic relationships between DNA sequence ...

The scientific cooperation between chemists, biotechnologists and physicists from various Catalan institutes, headed by Pau Gorostiza, from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), and Ernest Giralt, from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), has led to a breakthrough that will favor the development of light-regulated therapeutic molecules. The breakthrough published online today in the German journal of reference in chemistry Angewandte Chemie has received recognition as a "Very Important Paper", a distinction that only 5% of the articles ...

LA, London (18 June 2013). A team of internationally recognized feline experts including veterinarians and feline scientists co-chaired by Dr Sarah Ellis from the University of Lincoln, U.K. and Dr Ilona Rodan, Director of Cat Care Clinic, Wisconsin, U.S.A. were invited by the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM) and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) to compile guidelines for veterinarians, owners and those working with cats on how to meet the environmental needs of the domestic cat. The new guidelines appear in the Journal of Feline Medicine ...

Like a stealthy enemy, blast disease invades rice crops around the world, killing plants and cutting production of one of the most important global food sources. Now a study by an international team of researchers has shed light on how the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae, invades plant tissue. The finding is a step towards learning how to control the disease, which by some estimates destroys enough rice to feed 60 million people annually. The team, from the Halpin Laboratory at the University of Exeter, in collaboration with Kansas State University and the Iwate ...

A study, led by Royal Holloway University researcher Carolyn McGettigan, has identified the brain regions and interactions involved in impersonations and accents. Using an fMRI scanner, the team asked participants, all non-professional impressionists, to repeatedly recite the opening lines of a familiar nursery rhyme either with their normal voice, by impersonating individuals, or by impersonating regional and foreign accents of English. They found that when a voice is deliberately changed, it brings the left anterior insula and inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) of the ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio-– A study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-– Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC–James) has identified a biochemical pathway in cancer stem cells that is essential for promoting head and neck cancer. The study shows that a protein called Nanog, which is normally active in embryonic stem cells, promotes the growth of cancer stem cells in head and neck cancer. The findings provide information essential for designing novel targeted drugs that might improve the treatment ...

Consumers are more likely to pursue goals when they are ambitious yet flexible, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Whether a goal is a high-low range goal (lose 2 to 4 pounds this week) or a single number goal (lose 3 pounds this week) has a systematic effect on goal reengagement. High-low range goals influence consumer goal reengagement through feelings of accomplishment, which itself is driven by the attainability and challenge of the goal," write authors Maura L. Scott (Florida State University) and Stephen M. Nowlis (Washington University ...

Research from the University of Adelaide shows that iodized salt used in bread is not enough to provide healthy levels of iodine for pregnant women and their unborn children. The study-– led by researchers from the University's Robinson Institute – has prompted calls for pregnant women to keep taking iodine supplements. Iodine deficiency is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the most common preventable cause of brain damage in the world. "Iodine is an essential element which is important for human brain development and thyroid function," says one ...

Consumers may not enjoy receiving free perks or upgrades in public, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Preferential treatment is often conferred in public settings. When preferential treatment is unearned rather than earned, the presence of other consumers who do not receive the same treatment can diminish satisfaction for the consumer receiving preferential treatment," write authors Lan Jiang (University of Oregon), JoAndrea Hoegg, and Darren W. Dahl (both University of British Columbia). Preferential treatment (where only some consumers ...

Consumers seated in circular arrangements feel a greater need to belong than those seated in angular layouts, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "The geometric shape of a seating arrangement can impact consumers by priming one of two fundamental needs: a need to belong or a need to be unique. Consumers will be most favorable toward persuasion material (advertising) that is consistent with the primed need," write authors Rui (Juliet) Zhu (University of British Columbia) and Jennifer J. Argo (University of Alberta). Seating arrangements matter ...

First impressions of experiences have a greater impact when consumers share the experience with others, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "When consumers consume an experience alone, the end of the experience has a greater effect on their overall evaluations. On the other hand, when consumers consume an experience with others, the beginning has a greater influence on how they judge the entire experience," write authors Rajesh Bhargave (University of Texas, San Antonio) and Nicole Votolato Montgomery (University of Virginia). Experiences (vacations, ...

Treating patients with dementia can be viewed as a difficult task for doctors, but Penn State College of Medicine researchers say that storytelling may be one way to improve medical students' perceptions of people affected by the condition. Participation in a creative storytelling program called TimeSlips creates a substantial improvement in student attitudes. Daniel George, assistant professor of humanities, tested the effects of the TimeSlips program in an elective course he teaches at the college. Fourth-year medical students worked with patients at Country Meadows, ...

It is estimated that between 5% and 10% of breast and ovarian cancers are familial in origin, which is to say that these tumours are attributable to inherited mutations from the parents in genes such as BRCA1 or BRCA2. In patients with these mutations, PARP inhibitors, which are currently in clinical trials, have shown encouraging results that make them a new option for personalised cancer treatment, an alternative to standard chemotherapy. Nevertheless, the latest studies indicate that a fraction of these patients generate resistance to the drug and, therefore, stop responding ...

A new study has analysed tens of thousands of articles available to readers of online news and created a model to find out 'what makes people click'. The researchers developed a model of "news appeal" based on the words contained in an article's title and text intro, which is what a reader uses when they choose to click on a story. The study by academics at the University of Bristol's Intelligent Systems Laboratory is published in a series of publications. The aim of the study was to model the reading preferences for the audiences of 14 online news outlets using machine ...

University of Huddersfield researcher, Dr Daniel Boduszek, has co authored a an article in the Journal of Ciminal Psychology that analyses the relationship between psycopathy and criminal behaviour. The paper provides a critical review of psychopathy literature, with a particular focus on recent research examining the relationship between psychopathy and various forms of criminal behaviour. The results indicate that substantial empirical research exists to suggest that psychopathy is a robust predictor of criminal behaviour and recidivism. Furthermore, considerable ...