MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (EMBARGOED UNTIL February 14, 2013) – New research from the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health has found lower cesarean birth rates among Medicaid beneficiaries with access to support from a birth doula than among Medicaid patients nationally. A doula is not a medical provider, but is a trained, experienced professional person who can provide information, physical assistance and support to a woman during childbirth. The research indicates that policy changes to provide Medicaid coverage for birth doulas may actually decrease costs ...

Opening a new window on the way plants generate the oxygen we breathe, researchers used an X-ray laser at the Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to simultaneously look at the structure and chemical behavior of a natural catalyst involved in photosynthesis for the first time. The work, made possible by the ultrafast, ultrabright X-ray pulses at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), is a breakthrough in studying atomic-scale transformations in photosynthesis and other biological and industrial processes that depend on catalysts, which ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The drug bevacizumab, also known by the trade name Avastin, shrinks tumors briefly in patients with an aggressive brain cancer known as glioblastoma multiforme, but then they often grow again and spread throughout the brain for reasons no one previously has understood. Now, Mayo Clinic researchers have found out why this happens. They have also discovered that pairing Avastin with another cancer drug, dasatinib, can stop that lethal spread. Dasatinib is approved for use in several blood cancers. The findings, based on an animal study, are detailed ...

DAKAR, SENEGAL (15 February 2013)—Scientists at the Nairobi-based World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and partners have developed specialized graphs that map out fire behavior, known as nomographs, for landscape managers in Africa's savannas. The study, published in the February issue of the Journal of Arid Environments, pinpoints the optimal conditions for setting early-season prescribed fires—a process that when executed and timed properly, reduces the risk and impact of late dry season bushfires in increasingly fragile ecosystems, both of which are exacerbated by climate ...

A genome-wide analysis searching for evidence of long-lived balancing selection—where the evolutionary process acts not to select the single best adaptation but to maintain genetic variation in a population—has uncovered at least six regions of the genome where humans and chimpanzees share the same combination of genetic variants. The finding, to be published Feb. 14 in the journal Science, suggests that in these regions, human genetic variation dates back to a common ancestor with chimpanzees millions of years ago, before the species split. It also highlights the importance ...

The study supports the notion that smoking bans have public health benefits from early life. It is well established that smoking during pregnancy impairs the growth of an unborn child and shortens gestation. Exposure to second-hand smoke has also been found to affect birth outcomes, yet little is known about the impact of recent smoke-free legislation on birth weight and preterm birth. So a team of researchers, lead by Dr Tim Nawrot from Hasselt University, investigated whether recent smoking bans in Belgium were followed by changes in preterm delivery. In Belgium, ...

The authors estimate nearly 40,000 extra admissions to hospital as a result of income inequality over the three year study period. Income inequality is associated with a variety of adverse health outcomes, including higher infant mortality, reduced life expectancy, and poorer self-reported health. But little is known about the possible link between income inequality and outcome after admission to acute care hospitals. So a team of US researchers examined the association between income inequality and risk of death and readmission within 30 days of discharge from hospital. ...

In a sweeping review of the field of bio-inspired engineering and biomimicry in the Feb. 15 issue of the journal Science, two engineers at the University of California, San Diego, identify three characteristics of biological materials that they believe engineers would do well to emulate in man-made materials: light weight, toughness and strength. Joanna McKittrick and Marc Meyers, from the materials science program at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, examine the three characteristics in a wide range of materials, from spider silk, to lobster and abalone ...

In the year 1006 a new star was seen in the southern skies and widely recorded around the world. It was many times brighter than the planet Venus and may even have rivaled the brightness of the Moon. It was so bright at maximum that it cast shadows and it was visible during the day. More recently astronomers have identified the site of this supernova and named it SN 1006. They have also found a glowing and expanding ring of material in the southern constellation of Lupus (The Wolf) that constitutes the remains of the vast explosion. It has long been suspected that such ...

NINETEEN PERCENT of the world's reptiles are estimated to be threatened with extinction, states a paper published today by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) in conjunction with experts from the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC). The study, printed in the journal of Biological Conservation, is the first of its kind summarising the global conservation status of reptiles. More than 200 world renowned experts assessed the extinction risk of 1,500 randomly selected reptiles from across the globe. Out of the estimated 19% of reptiles threatened with extinction, ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. – When people lose hope that they will ever get another good night's sleep, they become at high risk for suicide, researchers report. Insomnia and nightmares, which are often confused and may go hand-in-hand, are known risk factors for suicide but just how they contribute was unknown, said Dr. W. Vaughn McCall, Chair of the Medical College of Georgia Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at Georgia Regents University. The new study reaffirms that link and adds the element of hopelessness about sleep that is independent of other types of hopelessness, ...

It will take place on February 15th at the UN headquarters in New York City. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon plans to attend. "With unabated greenhouse-gas emissions, humankind would venture into an uncertain future that is much hotter than ever before in its history – so from a scientist's perspective, climate change is a global risk multiplier," says Schellnhuber, director of PIK and chair of the Scientific Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) for the German government. Many millions of people could be affected by severe climate change impacts. They range from sea-level ...

Philadelphia, PA—Social groups in a population can lend important cues to law enforcement officials, consumer-based services and risk assessors. Social and geographical patterns that provide information about such communities or gangs have been a popular subject for mathematical modeling. In a paper published last month in the SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, authors use police department records about individuals' social and geographical information to determine gang memberships. Data on social interactions is particularly hard to come by, but in combination ...

New Haven, Conn. – A new study has linked exposure to two common perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) with osteoarthritis. PFCs are used in more than 200 industrial processes and consumer products including certain stain- and water-resistant fabrics, grease-proof paper food containers, personal care products, and other items. Because of their persistence, PFCs have become ubiquitous contaminants of humans and wildlife. The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, is the first to look at the associations between perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic ...

Research carried out by scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology and The University of Manchester has revealed new insights into how cells stick to each other and to other bodily structures, an essential function in the formation of tissue structures and organs. It's thought that abnormalities in their ability to do so play an important role in a broad range of disorders, including cardiovascular disease and cancer. The study's findings are outlined in the journal Molecular Cell and describe a surprising new aspect of cell adhesion involving the family of cell ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Electrical engineers at Oregon State University have discovered a way to use high- frequency sound waves to enhance the magnetic storage of data, offering a new approach to improve the data storage capabilities of a multitude of electronic devices around the world. The technology, called acoustic-assisted magnetic recording, has been presented at a professional conference, and a patent application was filed this week. Magnetic storage of data is one of the most inexpensive and widespread technologies known, found in everything from computer hard drives ...

Memphis, Tenn. – Studies at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., are advancing our understanding of how viruses, including RSV, replicate in humans, mutate to avoid the immune response and can be effectively treated. John DeVincenzo, MD, medical director of Molecular Diagnostics and Virology Laboratories at Le Bonheur, and professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Biology at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, has recently published three papers on this topic. DeVincenzo's lab is one of only two of its kind in the ...

The protein structure of the motor that propels archaea has been characterized for the first time by a team of scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Germany's Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Terrestrial Microbiology. The motility structure of this third domain of life has long been called a flagellum, a whip-like filament that, like the well-studied bacterial flagellum, rotates like a propeller. But although the archaeal structure has a similar function, it is so profoundly different in structure, genetics, ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Physical Society (APS), the nation's largest organization of physicists, commends President Obama's exhortation in his State of the Union Speech that, "Now is the time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race." During the Space Race, the nation made huge investments in scientific research, which led to new discoveries, accelerated technological advancements and generated new innovations and businesses. The President also noted that sequestration -- automatic spending cuts scheduled to occur ...

From providing living cells with energy, to nitrogen fixation, to the splitting of water molecules, the catalytic activities of metalloenzymes – proteins that contain a metal ion – are vital to life on Earth. A better understanding of the chemistry behind these catalytic activities could pave the way for exciting new technologies, most prominently artificial photosynthesis systems that would provide clean, green and renewable energy. Now, researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the SLAC National Accelerator ...

New Rochelle, NY, February 14, 2013—As scientists continue to unravel the complexity of the human genome and to uncover vital elements that play a role in both normal physiology and disease, one particular class of elements called noncoding RNAs is gaining a lot of attention. Guest Editor Tom Cech, PhD and Executive Editor Fintan Steele, PhD explore the enormous potential value of this rapidly advancing research area in their Editorial " The (Noncoding) RNA World." The authors introduce a special research section on noncoding RNAs published in the current issue of Nucleic ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — In what could be an early step toward new treatments for people with osteoporosis, scientists at Michigan State University report that a natural probiotic supplement can help male mice produce healthier bones. Interestingly, the same can't be said for female mice, the researchers report in the Journal of Cellular Physiology. "We know that inflammation in the gut can cause bone loss, though it's unclear exactly why," said lead author Laura McCabe, a professor in MSU's departments of Physiology and Radiology. "The neat thing we found is that a probiotic ...

NEW YORK – February 13, 2013 – EcoHealth Alliance, the nonprofit organization that focuses on local conservation and global health issues, announced new research focused on the rapid identification of disease outbreaks in the peer reviewed publication, Journal of the Royal Society Interface. The article, authored by leading scientists in the fields of emerging disease ecology, biomathematics, computational biology and bioinformatics, shows how network theory can be used to identify outbreaks of unidentified diseases. The strategy builds on the wealth of online surveillance ...

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Feb. 14, 2013—A Los Alamos National Laboratory quantum cryptography (QC) team has successfully completed the first-ever demonstration of securing control data for electric grids using quantum cryptography. The demonstration was performed in the electric grid test bed that is part of the Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power Grid (TCIPG) project at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) that was set up under the Department of Energy's Cyber Security for Energy Delivery Systems program in the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Microorganisms that can break down plant biomass into the precursors of biodiesel or other commodity chemicals might one day be used to produce alternatives to petroleum. But the potential of this "biorefinery" technology is limited by the fact that most microorganisms cannot break down lignin, a highly stable polymer that makes up as much as a third of plant biomass. Streptomyces bacteria are among few microorganisms known to degrade and consume lignin. Now a group of researchers at Brown University has unlocked the genetic and molecular ...