Scientists say amending an EU directive on GMOs could help stimulate innovation in making vaccines, cheaper pharmaceuticals and organic plastics using plants. In a paper to be published in Current Pharmaceutical Design, six scientists from the US and Europe compare risk assessment and regulation between the two continents. They will run a web chat on the subject with Sense About Science from 12-1 on Wednesday 20th February. In the EU, plant-made pharmaceuticals have to be authorised in the same way as GM agricultural crops. In theory, agricultural crops can be grown ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Your smartphone snapshots could be instantly converted into professional-looking photographs with just the touch of a button, thanks to a processor chip developed at MIT. The chip, built by a team at MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratory, can perform tasks such as creating more realistic or enhanced lighting in a shot without destroying the scene's ambience, in just a fraction of a second. The technology could be integrated with any smartphone, tablet computer or digital camera. Existing computational photography systems tend to be software applications ...

The poor growth seen in children born with complex heart defects may result from factors beyond deficient nutrition. A new study by pediatric researchers suggests that abnormalities in overall growth regulation play a role. "When compared with their healthy peers, children with congenital heart disease have impaired growth, as measured in weight, length, and head circumference," said senior author Meryl S. Cohen, M.D., a pediatric cardiologist in the Cardiac Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "We investigated patterns of poor growth in these children, ...

URBANA – A University of Illinois study has established a possible link between high-fat diets and such childhood brain-based conditions as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and memory-dependent learning disabilities. "We found that a high-fat diet rapidly affected dopamine metabolism in the brains of juvenile mice, triggering anxious behaviors and learning deficiencies. Interestingly, when methylphenidate (Ritalin) was administered, the learning and memory problems went away," said Gregory Freund, a professor in the U of I College of Medicine and a member ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (February 19, 2013) - For patients with spinal stenosis, epidural steroid injections (ESI) may actually lead to worse outcomes—whether or not the patient later undergoes surgery, according to a study in the February 15 issue of Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. The study raises questions about the benefits of steroid injection—a widely used treatment for the common problem of spinal stenosis in the lower (lumbar) spine. "There was no improvement in outcome with ESI whether patients were ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Feb. 19, 2013 – A new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center shows that an increase in fat throughout the thigh is predictive of mobility loss in otherwise healthy older adults. Lead author Kristen Beavers, Ph.D., and colleagues at Wake Forest Baptist said the findings suggest that prevention of age-related declines in walking speed isn't just about preserving muscle mass, it's also about preventing fat gain. Walking speed declines with age, said Beavers, and in older adults slower walking speed is a predictor of disability, nursing home ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (February 19, 2013) - Follow-up data on patients with degenerative disease of the upper (cervical) spinal vertebrae show little or no evidence of worsening degeneration over time, according to a study in the February 15 issue of Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. For many patients with "unstable" cervical degenerative spondylolisthesis, observation may be a better choice than surgery, according to the new research by Dr Moon Soo Park and colleagues of Medical College of Hallym University, ...

Amsterdam, NL, 19 February 2013 – Raman spectroscopy has enabled incredible advances in numerous scientific fields and is a powerful tool for tissue classification and disease recognition, although there have been considerable challenges to using the method in a clinical setting. Scientists have now demonstrated the advantages of wavelength-modulated Raman spectroscopy, opening the door to wider biomedical and clinical applications such as real-time assessment of tissues during surgery. This study is published in Biomedical Spectroscopy and Imaging. The inelastic scattering ...

Males and females differ in a lot of traits (besides the obvious ones) and some evolutionary psychologists have proposed hypotheses to explain why. Some argue, for example, that males' slight, but significant, superiority in spatial navigation over females – a phenomenon demonstrated repeatedly in many species, including humans – is probably "adaptive," meaning that over the course of evolutionary history the trait gave males an advantage that led them to have more offspring than their peers. A new analysis published in The Quarterly Review of Biology found no support ...

The most frequent turning point in father-daughter relationships is shared activity — especially sports — ahead of such pivotal events as when a daughter marries or leaves home, according to a study by Baylor University researchers. "This is the masculine style of building closeness — called 'closeness in the doing' – whereas the feminine orientation is talking, 'closeness in the dialogue,'" said Mark T. Morman, Ph.D., a professor of communication in Baylor's College of Arts & Sciences. An article about the findings by Morman and former Baylor graduate student Elizabeth ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In the search for renewable alternatives to gasoline, heavy alcohols such as isobutanol are promising candidates. Not only do they contain more energy than ethanol, but they are also more compatible with existing gasoline-based infrastructure. For isobutanol to become practical, however, scientists need a way to reliably produce huge quantities of it from renewable sources. MIT chemical engineers and biologists have now devised a way to dramatically boost isobutanol production in yeast, which naturally make it in small amounts. They engineered yeast ...

It is well known that horses show symptoms of stress when ridden but relatively little attention has been paid to the effects on their riders. This is surprising, as equestrian sports rely on the close cooperation between the animals and their riders. How does the horse-rider team cope with the stress involved in competing in an equestrian event? The issue has now been studied by Mareike von Lewinski in the group of Christine Aurich at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna), together with colleagues at the Vetmeduni Vienna and at the Ecole ...

Liposomes are small fat capsules, often added to beauty products. According to the beauty industry liposomes are capable of transporting active ingredients deep into the skin and release the active ingredients so that they can alter the skin´s structure by rejuvenating and smoothing the skin. Research from University of Southern Denmark now shows that liposomes are not capable of transporting themselves deep into the skin, and thus they are not capable of transporting active ingredients deep into the skin. "We have shown that liposomes are destroyed before they ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Smokeless tobacco users who said they didn't want to quit changed their minds or significantly cut back when given nicotine lozenges or tobacco-free snuff in a Mayo Clinic study. The findings are published in the February issue of Addictive Behaviors. Mayo researchers recruited 81 users of chewing tobacco or snuff with no intention of quitting in the next 30 days. Forty were given 4-mg nicotine lozenges and 41 received tobacco-free snuff to help cut back their smokeless tobacco use. They were asked to cut back 50 percent by one month and 75 percent ...

Hundreds of tiny fungal particles found in the lungs of asthma sufferers could offer new clues in the development of new treatments, according to a team of Cardiff University scientists. In the first large study of its type, published in the journal, BMC Infectious Diseases, a team of researchers from Cardiff University's School of Medicine have uncovered large numbers of fungi present in healthy lungs. "Historically, the lungs were thought to be sterile," according to Dr Hugo van Woerden from Cardiff University's Institute of Primary Care and Public Health, who led ...

New Rochelle, NY, February 19, 2013–A large study of nearly half a million older adults followed for about 12 years revealed a clear trend: as coffee drinking increased, the risk of death decreased. Study author Neal Freedman, PhD, MPH, National Cancer Institute, discusses the significance of these findings and the potential links between coffee drinking, caffeine consumption, and various specific causes of disease in an interview in Journal of Caffeine Research, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal ...

VIDEO: Spanish researchers have studied adults’ accuracy in the recognition of the emotion causing babies to cry. Eye movement and the dynamic of the cry play a key role in recognition. Click here for more information. Spanish researchers have studied adults' accuracy in the recognition of the emotion causing babies to cry. Eye movement and the dynamic of the cry play a key role in recognition. It is not easy to know why a newborn cries, especially amongst first-time ...

ATLANTA- Pregnant women who received the H1N1 influenza vaccine during the 2009 pandemic were less likely to have premature babies, and their babies weighed more on average. Influenza infection during pregnancy is associated with adverse infant outcomes such as preterm birth. Emory researchers from the Rollins School of Public Health, in a joint study with Kaiser Permanente of Georgia and the Mid-Atlantic States, evaluated the effectiveness of the H1N1 influenza vaccine in pregnant women against adverse infant outcomes during the 2009 pandemic. They compared birth outcomes ...

Researchers at Plymouth University, UK, believe that findings from fieldwork along the North Yorkshire coast reveal strong parallels between the Early Jurassic era of 180 million years ago and current climate predictions over the next century. Through geology and palaeontology, they've shown how higher temperatures and lower oxygen levels caused drastic changes to marine communities, and that while the Jurassic seas eventually recovered from the effects of global warming, the marine ecosystems that returned were noticeably different from before. The results of the Natural ...

A single mutation in a moth gene has been shown to be able to produce an entirely new scent. This has been shown in a new study led by researchers from Lund University in Sweden. In the long run, the researchers say that the results could contribute to tailored production of pheromones for pest control. Male moths can pick up the scent of a female moth from a distance of several hundred metres. The females produce sexual pheromones – scent substances that guide the males to them. There are around 180 000 species of moth and butterfly in the world, and most of them communicate ...

WASHINGTON--U.S. Naval Research Laboratory radio astronomer, Joseph Helmboldt, Ph.D., and researchers at Ohio State University Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering analyzed radio telescope interferometry and Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) data recorded of the ionosphere during one of the last underground nuclear explosions (UNEs) in the U.S., codenamed Hunters Trophy. Situated in the Plains of San Agustin, 50 miles west of Socorro, New Mexico, twenty-seven 25-meter parabolic dish antennas collectively make up the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's ...

The true cost of war is being masked by the secretive and largely unaccountable activities of a private security industry, according to a new study. These invisible costs of war – both in terms of casualties and financial resources – are not reported and are hard to find because contractors are not subject to the same reporting structures and laws as the regular military, and many of their activities are protected from Freedom of Information requests. Private security firms – usually run by former senior figures in the military, civil service or politics – are increasingly ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — An antidepressant drug used since the 1960s may also hold promise for treating sickle cell disease, according to a surprising new finding made in mice and human red blood cells by a team from the University of Michigan Medical School. The discovery that tranylcypromine, or TCP, can essentially reverse the effects of sickle cell disease was made by U-M scientists who have spent more than three decades studying the basic biology of the condition, with funding from the National Institutes of Health. Their findings, published in Nature Medicine, pave ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Today's consumers switch between media forms so often – from TV to laptops to smart phones – that capturing their attention with advertising has gone, as one CEO explained, from shooting fish in a barrel to shooting minnows. Now, a Michigan State University business scholar and colleagues have developed the most accurate model yet for targeting those fast-moving minnows. The research-based model predicts when during the day people use the varying forms of media and even when they are using two or more at a time, an increasingly common practice known ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — As cities across America work to reduce violence in tight budget times, new research shows how they might be able to target their efforts and police attention – with the help of high-powered computers and loads of data. In a newly published paper, University of Michigan Medical School researchers and their colleagues have used real police data from Boston to demonstrate the promise of computer models in zeroing in on violent areas. They combined and analyzed information in small geographic units, on police reports, drug offenses, and alcohol availability ...