Women are twice as likely as men to use emoticons in text messages, according to a new study from Rice University. Emoticons are graphic symbols that use punctuation marks and letters to represent facial expressions to convey a person's mood, help provide context to a person's textual communication and clarify a message that could otherwise possibly be misconstrued. The study, "A Longitudinal Study of Emoticon Use in Text Messaging from Smartphones," used smartphone data from men and women over six months and aggregated 124,000 text messages. The participants were ...

New York, NY (October 11, 2012) — A study by scientists from the Motor Neuron Center at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) suggests that spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a genetic neuromuscular disease in infants and children, results primarily from motor circuit dysfunction, not motor neuron or muscle cell dysfunction, as is commonly thought. In a second study, the researchers identified the molecular pathway in SMA that leads to problems with motor function. Findings from the studies, conducted in fruit fly, zebrafish and mouse models of SMA, could lead to therapies ...

In monkeys and humans with AIDS, damage to the gastrointestinal tract is common, contributing to activation of the immune system, progressive immune deficiency, and ultimately advanced AIDS. How this gastric damage occurs has remained a mystery, but now researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Cell provide new clues, implicating the presence of potentially pathogenic virus species other than the main virus that causes AIDS. The findings could provide an opportunity to explain and eventually intervene in the processes that lead to AIDS progression. To investigate ...

More than 15% of children suffer with eczema, or atopic dermatitis, an inflammatory skin disease that in some cases can be debilitating and disfiguring. Researchers reporting in the October issue of Immunity have discovered a potential new target for the condition, demonstrating that by blocking it, they can lessen the disease in mice. In eczema, immune T cells invade the skin and secrete factors that drive an allergic response, making the skin itch. Dr. Raif Geha, of Boston Children's Hospital, and his collaborators now show that scratching the skin precipitates the ...

Today, the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) released a new report, revealing approximately 80 percent of patients treated in clinics or hospitals following a fracture are not screened for osteoporosis or risk of future falls. Left untreated, these patients are at high risk of suffering secondary fractures and facing a future of pain, disfigurement, long-term disability and even early death. The report 'Capture the Fracture – A global campaign to break the fragility fracture cycle' calls for concerted worldwide efforts to stop secondary fractures due to osteoporosis ...

ANN ARBOR—Researchers at the University of Michigan have determined how the hormone leptin, an important regulator of metabolism and body weight, interacts with a key receptor in the brain. Leptin is a hormone secreted by fat tissue that has been of interest for researchers in obesity and Type 2 diabetes since it was discovered in 1995. Like insulin, leptin is part of a regulatory network that controls intake and expenditure of energy in the body, and a lack of leptin or resistance to it has been linked to obesity in people. Although there can be several complex reasons ...

In the largest-ever genetic study of cholesterol and other blood lipids, an international consortium has identified 21 new gene variants associated with risks of heart disease and metabolic disorders. The findings expand the list of potential targets for drugs and other treatments for lipid-related cardiovascular disease, a leading global cause of death and disability. The International IBC Lipid Genetics Consortium used the Cardiochip, a gene analysis tool invented by Brendan J. Keating, Ph.D., a scientist at the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children's Hospital ...

A new way to grow cells vital for nerve repair, developed by researchers from the University of Sheffield, could be a vital step for use in patients with severe nerve damage, including spinal injury (1). Schwann cells are known to boost and amplify nerve growth in animal models, but their clinical use has been held back because they are difficult, time-consuming and costly to culture. The Sheffield team, led by Professor John Haycock, has developed a new technique with adult rat tissue which overcomes all these problems, producing Schwann cells in less than half the time ...

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed a novel method for determining how ready acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells are to die, a discovery that may help cancer specialists to choose treatments option more effectively for their patients who have AML. In a study published in the Oct. 12 issue of the journal Cell, the researchers report that their findings may lead to improved tests to predict which patients successfully treated for AML can continue in remission with standard chemotherapy alone, and which patients are likely to relapse despite ...

New Haven, Conn. — New research led by Yale University scientists suggests that a rocky planet twice Earth's size orbiting a nearby star is a diamond planet. "This is our first glimpse of a rocky world with a fundamentally different chemistry from Earth," said lead researcher Nikku Madhusudhan, a Yale postdoctoral researcher in physics and astronomy. "The surface of this planet is likely covered in graphite and diamond rather than water and granite." The paper reporting the findings has been accepted for publication in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters. The ...

Coral specialist Dr. Bert W. Hoeksema of Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, The Netherlands, recently published the description of a new coral species that lives on the ceilings of caves in Indo-Pacific coral reefs. It differs from its closest relatives by its small polyp size and by the absence of symbiotic algae, so-called zooxanthellae. Its distribution range overlaps with the Coral Triangle, an area that is famous for its high marine species richness. Marine zoologists of Naturalis visit this area frequently to explore its marine biodiversity. Reef corals in ...

Food marketers are masters at getting people to crave and consume the foods that they promote. In this study authors Dr. Brian Wansink, co-director of the Cornell University Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition and Professor of Marketing and Dr. Pierre Chandon, professor of Marketing at the leading French graduate school of business, INSEAD challenge popular assumptions that link food marketing and obesity. Their findings presented last weekend at the Association for Consumer Research Conference in Vancouver, Canada point to ways in which smart food marketers ...

For the first time, scientists have visualised an interaction between gluten and T-cells of the immune system, providing insight into how coeliac disease, which affects approximately 1 in 133 people, is triggered. Published today in Immunity, the discovery was led by Dr Hugh Reid and Professor Jamie Rossjohn of Monash University, Professor Frits Koning of the University of Leiden and Dr Bob Anderson of biotechnology company ImmusanT Inc, based in the US. An increasingly diagnosed chronic inflammatory disorder, coeliac disease affects the digestive process of the small ...

Providing healthcare staff with a one-day training course on dealing with the sexual needs of people with an acquired physical disability gave them greater understanding of the issues patients faced and enabled them to address intimate questions more comfortably and proactively. The findings were so encouraging that the authors of the study, published in the November issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing, are calling for all healthcare practitioners to receive sexuality training, regardless of their role or the area of healthcare they work in. Researchers surveyed ...

Chemists at Queen's University Belfast have devised a novel, environmentally friendly technique, which allows the rapid production of Metal-Organic Frameworks porous materials (MOFs). These revolutionary nanomaterials have the potential to transform hazardous gas storage, natural gas vehicles and drug delivery and have the highest surface-area of any known substance. A sugar-lump sized piece of MOF material can have the same surface area as a football pitch. Until now MOF manufacturing techniques have been limited as they are costly, slow and require large quantities ...

University of Luxembourg's Laboratory for Photovoltaics has established a method to observe and prevent solar cell degradation before solar cell production is finished, which has implications for the solar cell manufacturing industry since chemical damage to solar cells can occur quickly. Solar panels are capable of converting light energy from the sun into electrical energy because they contain solar cells – the "power generators" responsible for the energy in solar panels. Thin film solar cells have a coating that is responsible for absorbing the sun's energy, but ...

A team of international researchers has provided the first comprehensive DNA evidence that the Addis Ababa lion in Ethiopia is genetically unique and is urging immediate conservation action to preserve this vulnerable lion population. While it has long been noted that some lions in Ethiopia have a large, dark mane, extending from the head, neck and chest to the belly, as well as being smaller and more compact than other lions, it was not known until now if these lions represent a genetically distinct population. The team of researchers, led by the University of York, ...

Philadelphia, PA, October 11, 2012 – A paper by Shizhong Han and colleagues in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry implicates a new gene in the risk for cannabis dependence. This gene, NRG1, codes for the ErbB4 receptor, a protein implicated in synaptic development and function. The researchers set out to investigate susceptibility genes for cannabis dependence, as research has already shown that it has a strong genetic component. To do this, they employed a multi-stage design using genetic data from African American and European American families. In the first ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have created flower-like structures out of germanium sulfide (GeS) – a semiconductor material – that have extremely thin petals with an enormous surface area. The GeS flower holds promise for next-generation energy storage devices and solar cells. "Creating these GeS nanoflowers is exciting because it gives us a huge surface area in a small amount of space," says Dr. Linyou Cao, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper on the research. "This could significantly increase ...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11—Spiders use their silk to catch lunch. Now physicists are using it to catch light. New research shows that natural silk could be an eco-friendly alternative to more traditional ways of manipulating light, such as through glass or plastic fiber optic cables. Two teams independently exploring possible applications for the material's photonic talents will present their latest breakthroughs at the Optical Society's (OSA) Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics (FiO) 2012, to be held next week in Rochester, N.Y. Biomedical engineer Fiorenzo Omenetto of Tufts ...

Hospital superbugs can float on air currents and contaminate surfaces far from infected patients' beds, according to University of Leeds researchers. The results of the study, which was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), may explain why, despite strict cleaning regimes and hygiene controls, some hospitals still struggle to prevent bacteria moving from patient to patient. It is already recognised that hospital superbugs, such as MRSA and C-difficile, can be spread through contact. Patients, visitors or even hospital staff can inadvertently ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Contrary to past research, private school students in India do not outperform their counterparts in public schools, finds a new study by a Michigan State University education researcher. The study challenges the claim that private schools are superior – a hot issue in India and other developing countries that are expanding K-12 educational offerings. During the past decade, some 40 million children have entered India's education system, giving rise to a growth in privately run schools. "Our study finds no consistent benefit of attending a private ...

AMHERST, Mass. – Until recently, medical researchers had little hope of experimentally manipulating naïve T cells to study their crucial roles in immune function, because they were largely impenetrable, says polymer scientist Gregory Tew: "So far off limits we could not readily get inside to investigate their workings." Now, he and colleagues including immunologist Lisa Minter have found a way not only to get inside naïve T cells, but to deliver bio-active cargo such as proteins and synthetic molecules across that long-locked cell membrane, by using a new synthetic protein ...

WASHINGTON and NEW YORK – A new report finds that Texas policies to exclude Planned Parenthood clinics from a state family planning program – the Women's Health Program (WHP) – would result in leaving tens of thousands of women unable to get care. "Deteriorating Access to Women's Health Services in Texas: Potential Effects of the Women's Health Program Affiliate Rule," released by the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative in the Department of Health Policy of the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, ...

Scientists have proved a 60-year-old theory about how nerve signals are sent around the body at varying speeds as electrical impulses. Researchers tested how these signals are transmitted through nerve fibres, which enables us to move and recognise sensations such as touch and smell. The findings from the University of Edinburgh have validated an idea first proposed by Nobel laureate Sir Andrew Huxley. It has been known for many years that an insulating layer – known as myelin – which surrounds nerve fibres is crucial in determining how quickly these signals are ...