A team led by the University of Warwick has pinpointed a new type of exceptionally powerful and long-lived cosmic explosion, prompting a theory that they arise in the violent death throes of a supergiant star. These explosions create powerful blasts of high energy gamma-rays, known as gamma-ray bursts, but while most bursts are over in about a minute, this new type can last for several hours. The first example was found by astronomers on Christmas Day 2010, but it lacked a measurement of distance and so remained shrouded in mystery with two competing theories put forward ...

Understanding the molecular control of placenta formation, the organ which enables fetal growth, is critical in diagnosing and treating related pregnancy complications. A group of scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, and the University of Calgary, Canada has revealed a molecular feedback loop that governs the earliest steps of placenta formation in mice, which is known to mimic placenta formation in humans. Their findings are published April 16 in the open access journal PLOS Biology. The earliest steps of placenta formation involve the development ...

A common test that records the heart's electrical activity could predict potentially serious cardiovascular illness, according to a UC San Francisco-led study. A cardiac condition called left anterior fascicular block (LAFB), in which scarring occurs in a section of the left ventricle, may not be as benign as currently thought and could increase the likelihood of heart failure, sudden cardiac death or atrial fibrillation. In a study to be published on April 17 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), UCSF researchers and their colleagues at Wake Forest ...

Boston, MA -- Privately insured surgical patients who had a complication provided hospitals with a 330% higher profit margin than those without a complication, according to new research from Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health system innovation at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), Boston Consulting Group, Texas Health Resources, and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Medicare patients with a complication produced a 190% higher margin. The findings mean that, for hospital managers, efforts to reduce surgical complications ...

STANFORD, Calif. — Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have determined the precise anatomical coordinates of a brain "hot spot," measuring only about one-fifth of an inch across, that is preferentially activated when people view the ordinary numerals we learn early on in elementary school, like "6" or "38." Activity in this spot relative to neighboring sites drops off substantially when people are presented with numbers that are spelled out ("one" instead of "1"), homophones ("won" instead of "1") or "false fonts," in which a numeral or letter has ...

Among patients with a coronary heart disease or stroke event from countries with varying income levels, the prevalence of healthy lifestyle behaviors (such as regular physical activity, eating a healthy diet, and not smoking) was low, with even lower levels in poorer countries, according to a study in the April 17 issue of JAMA. "Observational data indicate that following an acute coronary syndrome, those who adhere to a healthier lifestyle have a lower risk of recurrent events. Smoking cessation is associated with a lower risk of death and myocardial infarction [heart ...

Findings of an analysis that included nearly 35,000 surgical discharges from a 12-hospital system suggest that the occurrence of postsurgical complications was associated with a higher per-encounter hospital contribution margin for patients covered by Medicare and private insurance but a lower one for patients covered by Medicaid and who self-paid, according to a study in the April 17 issue of JAMA. "The rate of inpatient surgical complications is significant, with estimates ranging from 3 percent to 17.4 percent, depending on type of procedure, type of complications, ...

In a study including children and adolescents 6 to 18 years of age, those who have experienced migraine headaches were more likely to have had colic as an infant, according to a study in the April 17 issue of JAMA. "Infantile colic is a common cause of inconsolable crying during the first months of life," according to background information in the article. "The pathogenesis and the age-specific presentation of colic are not well understood. Infantile colic is usually interpreted as a pain syndrome and may be multifactorial. … Migraine is a common cause of headache pain ...

Treatment that consisted of shock wave (procedure using high-dose ultrasound)-mediated preconditioning of the target heart tissue prior to administration of bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells was associated with significant, albeit modest improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction (a measure of how well the left ventricle of the heart pumps with each contraction) after 4 months in patients with chronic postinfarction heart failure, according to a study in the April 17 issue of JAMA. The results, which require confirmation in larger trials, demonstrate the potential ...

Two common conditions in pregnancy may be risk factors for future diabetes according to a Canadian study of over one million women published in this week's PLOS Medicine. The researchers, led by Denice Feig from the University of Toronto, Canada, found that pre-eclampsia (a condition in which affected pregnant women have high blood pressure, fluid retention, and protein in their urine), and gestational hypertension (high blood pressure associated with pregnancy) could double the chance of being diagnosed with diabetes many years after pregnancy. Furthermore, the authors ...

Contrary to the positive findings of a previous pilot study, administration of a sodium bicarbonate-based infusion to induce urinary alkalinization during and after surgery does not reduce the incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) and may even cause harm in patients undergoing open heart surgery. These are the conclusions of a study by Anja Haase-Fielitz of the Otto-von-Guericke-University in Magdeburg, Germany, Rinaldo Bellomo of the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues, published in this week's PLOS Medicine, that suggest an infusion of sodium ...

A partnership involving the public and private sector successfully addressed the mental health needs of people in the post-conflict regions of northern Uganda and could be used as a model in other post-conflict settings, according to a Health In Action article by Ugandan and US researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine as part of an ongoing series on Global Mental Health Practice. The authors, led by Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu from the University of Makerere in Uganda, explain how the Peter C. Alderman Foundation (a US organization with a mission to heal the ...

A new UCSF study has found a clear association between certain genes and the development of lymphedema, a painful and chronic condition that often occurs after breast cancer surgery and some other cancer treatments. The researchers also learned that the risks of developing lymphedema increased significantly for women who had more advanced breast cancer at the time of diagnosis, more lymph nodes removed or a significantly higher body mass index. The study is the first to evaluate genetic predictors of lymphedema in a large group of women using a type of technology, bioimpedance ...

Light drinking during pregnancy is not linked to adverse behavioural or cognitive outcomes in childhood, suggests a new study published today (17 April) in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. This study collated data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a national study of infants born in the UK between 2000-2002, to assess whether light drinking (up to two units of alcohol per week) in pregnancy was linked to unfavourable developmental outcomes in 7-year-old children. Previous research has linked heavy alcohol consumption during pregnancy with ...

The science of obesity: what do we really know about what makes us fat? If we are to make any progress in tackling the obesity crisis, we have to look again at what really makes us fat, claims an article published in this week's BMJ. Gary Taubes, co-founder of the Nutrition Science Initiative, argues that our understanding of the cause of obesity may be incorrect, and that rectifying this misconception is "absolutely critical" to future progress. "What we want to know," he says, "is what causes us to gain weight, not whether weight loss can be induced under different ...

Research: Strategy for detection of prostate cancer based on relation between prostate specific antigen at age 40-55 and long term risk of metastasis: case-control study Focusing prostate cancer testing on men at highest risk of developing the disease is likely to improve the ratio between benefits and the harms of screening, suggests a paper published today on bmj.com. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening is widely used for the early detection of prostate cancer, but remains highly controversial, as it became widespread long before evidence to prove its value. ...

A new study looking at the genomes of more than 1,500 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a rare and devastating lung disease, found multiple genetic associations with the disease, including one gene variant that was linked to an increase in the risk of death. The study, released early online in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, showed that a variant in a gene called TOLLIP was associated with an increased mortality risk. That variant resulted in decreased expression of TOLLIP in the lungs of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Because TOLLIP, ...

Aerobic exercise may help prevent and perhaps even reverse some of the brain damage associated with heavy alcohol consumption, according to a new University of Colorado Boulder study. The study results indicated that regular aerobic exercise like walking, running or bicycling is associated with less damage to the brain's "white matter" among heavy alcohol users. White matter, along with gray matter, are the organ's two major physical components. White matter is composed of bundles of nerve cells that act as transmission lines to facilitate communication between various ...

Incomplete diagnostic investigation and failure to get the best treatment are the most likely reasons why survival for bowel cancer patients is lower in the UK than in other comparable countries, according to new research published in the journal Acta Oncologica. The research, led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, was carried out in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the UK for the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership (ICBP). The study included more than 310,000 bowel cancer patients diagnosed during 2000-07. Bowel cancer is sometimes ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (April 16, 2013) - Lower mortality and other improved patient outcomes achieved at designated "Magnet hospitals" are explained partly—but not completely—by better nurse staffing, education, and work environment, reports a study in the May issue of Medical Care. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. "Magnet hospitals have lower mortality because of investments in nursing," comments Matthew D. McHugh, PhD, JD, MPH, RN, of University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia, lead author of ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (April 16, 2013) - Startup companies founded by physician entrepreneurs are an important source of patents used in developing innovative new medical devices, suggests a study in the May issue of Medical Care. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. "Device manufacturers gain more from the patents of physician-founded firms than from those of non-physician-founded firms in their subsequent invention and innovation efforts," according to the study by Sheryl Winston Smith, PhD, and Andrew Sfekas, PhD, ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers Lisa Deibler and Arthur Brown had a ready-made problem for their computer modeling work when they partnered with the National Nuclear Security Administration's Kansas City Plant to improve stainless steel tubing that was too hard to meet nuclear weapon requirements. When steel is too hard it becomes brittle, so the plant ended up getting new tubing. However, Deibler said KCP needed a backup in case it couldn't find replacements in time to meet deadlines. Sandia's modeling, coupled with experiments, allowed ...

Cyclone Imelda has lost both her punch and her hurricane status as the storm moved into an area of higher wind shear and cooler waters in the Southern Indian Ocean. NASA's Aqua satellite provided an image of Imelda that showed wind shear that has been hammering the storm, had pushed the bulk of the storm's precipitation southeast of the center. Wind shear at higher levels has increased to as high as 30 knots (34.5 mph/55.5 kph), according to upper level analysis of the atmosphere that was conducted by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. That stronger wind shear is weakening ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Though they be but little, they are fierce. The most powerful batteries on the planet are only a few millimeters in size, yet they pack such a punch that a driver could use a cellphone powered by these batteries to jump-start a dead car battery – and then recharge the phone in the blink of an eye. Developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the new microbatteries out-power even the best supercapacitors and could drive new applications in radio communications and compact electronics. Led by William P. King, the Bliss ...

University of Missouri engineer Randy Curry and his team have developed a method of creating and controlling plasma that could revolutionize American energy generation and storage. Besides liquid, gas and solid, matter has a fourth state, known as plasma. Fire and lightning are familiar forms of plasma. Life on Earth depends on the energy emitted by plasma produced during fusion reactions within the sun. However, Curry warns that without federal funding of basic research, America will lose the race to develop new plasma energy technologies. The basic research program was ...