Arlington, Va. (June 10, 2013) – Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is one of the most frequent healthcare-associated infections found in intensive-care units (ICUs). New research on the prevalence of VAP in community hospitals shows small hospitals (less than 30,000 patient-days/year) have a higher rate of VAP than their larger counterparts, despite less use of ventilators. The study, published in the July issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, compares outcomes of patients on ventilators ...

With the daily mean concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide having reached 400 parts-per-million for the first time in human history, the need for carbon-neutral alternatives to fossil fuel energy has never been more compelling. With enough energy in one hour's worth of global sunlight to meet all human needs for a year, solar technologies are an ideal solution. However, a major challenge is to develop efficient ways to convert solar energy into electrochemical energy on a massive-scale. A key to meeting this challenge may lie in the ability to test such energy conversion ...

This news release is available in German. Perennial plants flower only when they have reached a certain age and been subjected to the cold. These two circumstances prevent the plant from starting to flower during winter. George Coupland and his fellow scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne have now discovered that the Alpine rock cress determines its age based on the quantity of a short ribonucleic acid. Perennial plants carefully balance periods of growth and flowering to ensure that they can live for many years. They do ...

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have determined that chronic myeloid leukemia patients who are treated with a class of oral chemotherapy drugs known as a tyrosine kinase inhibitors have significant side effects and quality-of-life issues that need to be addressed. Some of these issues include depression, fatigue, nausea and change of appearance. The researchers say it is important to improve the patients' quality of life because most will take tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the rest of their lives. Their study appeared in the April issue of Supportive Care in Cancer. "Although ...

Analysis of the damage shows numerous characteristics that are common with a recently identified pathology of tooth enamel that affects roughly 18% of children between the ages of 6 and 8. These results have been published in the American Journal of Pathology. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical compound used in the composition of plastics and resins. It is used for example to manufacture food containers such as bottles or babies' bottles. It is also used for the protective films inside drinks cans and food tins, or as developers on sales receipts. Significant amounts of ...

A study in Schizophrenia Bulletin is among the first to indicate epigenetic changes related to immune function in schizophrenia. DNA methylation, a process involving the addition of a methyl group to the DNA without changing its sequence, can alter gene expression. Led by Dr. Jingyu Liu, the nine researchers analyzed and verified changes in DNA methylation patterns in people with and without schizophrenia and found significant changes in seven genes that moderate immune responses. In the current study, the researchers found that the seven genes that were up or down ...

Tropical Storm Yagi developed over the weekend of June 8 and 9 in the Western North Pacific from Tropical Depression 03W and NASA satellites captured the storm coming together. NASA's TRMM satellite measured rainfall rates within the storm and found the heaviest rain falling mostly south of the center. NASA and the Japanese Space Agency's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite captured the rate rain was falling within Tropical Storm Yagi on June 10 at 8:19 a.m. EDT. The heaviest rain was falling south of the center around the center of circulation at as ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – June 10, 2013 – Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center doctors have found that using stress cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in an Emergency Department observation unit to care for patients with acute chest pain is a win-win – for the patient and the institution. In a small, single-center clinical trial, Chadwick Miller, M.D., M.S., and colleagues found that evaluating older, more complex patients in the observation unit with stress cardiac MRI, as opposed to usual inpatient care, reduced hospital readmissions, coronary revascularization procedures ...

Irvine, Calif., June 10, 2013 – The least massive galaxy in the known universe has been measured by UC Irvine scientists, clocking in at just 1,000 or so stars with a bit of dark matter holding them together. The findings, made with the world's most powerful telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory and published today in The Astrophysical Journal, offer tantalizing clues about how iron, carbon and other elements key to human life originally formed. But the size and weight of Segue 2, as the star body is called, are its most extraordinary aspects. "Finding a galaxy as ...

Bacteria in the gut that are under attack by antibiotics have allies no one had anticipated, a team of Wyss Institute scientists has found. Gut viruses that usually commandeer the bacteria, it turns out, enable them to survive the antibiotic onslaught, most likely by handing them genes that help them withstand the drug. What's more, the gut viruses, called bacteriophage or simply phage, deliver genes that help the bacteria to survive not just the antibiotic they've been exposed to, but other types of antibiotics as well, the scientists reported online June 9 in Nature. ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—June 9, 2013—Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have deciphered how a protein called Arc regulates the activity of neurons—providing much-needed clues into the brain's ability to form long-lasting memories. These findings, reported today in Nature Neuroscience, also offer newfound understanding as to what goes on at the molecular level when this process becomes disrupted. Led by Gladstone Senior Investigator Steve Finkbeiner, MD, PhD, this research delved deep into the inner workings of synapses. Synapses are the highly specialized junctions that ...

More resistant than steel, carbon nanotubes are one of the strongest and hardest materials known. Their impressive electrical and thermal properties make them an extremely versatile material. Hollow on the inside and only one-atom thick, they lend themselves to a large variety of potential uses, from tennis rackets and bulletproof vests, to electronic components and energy storage devices. New research shows that they may also hold the potential for revolutionizing medical research with magnetic resonance imaging of individual molecules. Scientists from ICFO- Institute ...

Blood vessels within a sensory area of the mammalian brain loop and connect in unexpected ways, a new map has revealed. The study, published June 9 in the early online edition of Nature Neuroscience, describes vascular architecture within a well-known region of the cerebral cortex and explores what that structure means for functional imaging of the brain and the onset of a kind of dementia. David Kleinfeld, professor of physics and neurobiology at the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues mapped blood vessels in an area of the mouse brain that receives ...

Paris, France: The group of genetic conditions known as spinocerebellar ataxias currently have no treatment or cure and are always fatal, in the case of affected children at an early age. Symptoms include a progressive lack of co-ordination of gait, and poor co-ordination of hands, speech and eye movements, due to a failure of co-ordination of muscle movements. Now researchers from France and the US have found a new way of controlling the symptoms and significantly improving the physical condition of animal models of the disease, the annual conference of the European Society ...

MRI scans of children who have had chemotherapy can detect early changes in their hearts finds research in biomed Central's open access journal Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. Chemotherapy with anthracyclines, such as Doxorubicin, is one of the most effective treatments against many types of cancer, including leukaemia and Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast, lung, and ovarian cancer. However it can also lead to irreversible heart damage, which may not be apparent until several years after treatment. Being able to detect this damage at an early stage, in order to ...

Shenzhen, China - The duck genome consortium, consisted of scientists from China Agricultural University, BGI, University of Edinburgh and other institutes has completed the genome sequencing and analysis of the duck (Anas platyrhynchos), one principal natural host of influenza A viruses, which caused a new epidemic in China since this February. This work reveals some noteworthy conclusions and provides an invaluable resource for unraveling the interactive mechanisms between the host and influenza viruses. The new H7N9 bird flu strain killed 36 people and caused $6.5 ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — An international team of scientists has developed crop models to better forecast food production to feed a growing population – projected to reach 9 billion by mid-century – in the face of climate change. In a paper appearing in Nature Climate Change, members of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project unveiled an all-encompassing modeling system that integrates multiple crop simulations with improved climate change models. AgMIP's effort has produced new knowledge that better predicts global wheat yields while reducing political ...

The BMJ and Channel 4 Dispatches investigated and found that evidence suggesting potential harm from the drugs in industry studies has not been published. Some independent studies challenge the conclusions of the drugs manufacturers' own research. Now some medical experts and patient groups are calling on the pharmaceutical companies to be more transparent in reporting of study data and to enter into dialogue about safety concerns. As a result, millions of patients around the world have not been fully informed about some of the possible risks. Some critics say the ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (June 9, 2013) – Researchers at Whitehead Institute have identified a protein that is the target of glucocorticoids, the drugs that are used to increase red blood cell production in patients with certain types of anemia, including those resulting from trauma, sepsis, malaria, kidney dialysis, and chemotherapy. The discovery could spur development of drugs capable of increasing this protein's production without causing the severe side effects associated with glucocorticoids. "This research is medically important, and we are using it to find a better way ...

Many maple trees share a suite of important arthropod pests that have the potential to reduce the trees' economic and aesthetic value. Now a new open-access article in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management offers maple tree owners information about the biology, damage, and management for the most important pests of maples with an emphasis on integrated pest management (IPM) tactics for each pest. In the article, entitled "Biology, Injury, and Management of Maple Tree Pests in Nurseries and Urban Landscapes," the authors identify 81 potentially damaging arthropod ...

Canada's Mackenzie River basin -- among the world's most important major ecosystems -- is poorly studied, inadequately monitored, and at serious risk due to climate change and resource exploitation, a panel of international scientists warn today. In a report, nine Canadian, US and UK scientists convened by the US-based Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy, say effective governance of the massive Basin, comprising an area three times larger than France -- holds enormous national and global importance due to the watershed's biodiversity and its role in hemispheric ...

PISCATAWAY, NJ – They may volunteer to be the one to get their friends home safely, but "designated drivers" often drink—even to a level that impairs them behind the wheel, according to a report in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. The study, of more than 1,000 bar patrons, found that approximately 40 percent of designated drivers had downed alcohol. What's more, most of those drinkers had blood alcohol levels that could impair their driving. It's not clear why those designated drivers drank despite their role. Some of them might think that ...

A new study has found that women can be screened for colorectal cancer at least five to 10 years later than men when undergoing an initial "virtual colonoscopy." Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings may help establish guidelines for the use of this screening technique, which is less invasive than a traditional colonoscopy. Detecting precancerous polyps through the use of imaging techniques such as a traditional colonoscopy may prevent colorectal cancer. However, some people may feel that this technique ...

A new study published in the June 2013 issue of the journal Education (Vol. 133, No. 4)* shows practice of the Transcendental Meditation® technique was associated with higher graduation rates, compared to controls. Higher graduation rates affect not only the academic and personal life of the individual students, but also society as a whole. Graduation (versus dropping out) from high school translates into higher earning potential, less crime and incarceration, and less dependence on government assistance programs. The most recent data shows that only 69 percent of ...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Maybe better call that cab, after all: A new University of Florida study found that 35 percent of designated drivers had quaffed alcohol and most had blood-alcohol levels high enough to impair their driving. Adam Barry, an assistant professor of health education and behavior at UF, and his team interviewed and breath-tested more than 1,000 bar patrons in the downtown restaurant and bar district of a major university town in the Southeast. Of the designated drivers who had consumed alcohol, half recorded a blood-alcohol level higher than .05 percent ...