"OPALS" in space? Well, it's not the gemstones you may be thinking of. This "gem" is an acronym for Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science, or OPALS, an International Space Station experiment that has the potential to change the way data is transmitted from space to Earth. Currently, spacecraft communicate and send data back to Earth through radio-frequency, much like your car radio. The OPALS investigation will test and demonstrate the use of optical communications. This emerging technology uses lasers to transmit data, and offers the potential promise ...

Clarity Services, Inc., the leading real-time credit bureau providing fraud detection and credit risk management solutions for Middle America announces its newest product, Clear Bureau Lite. Clear Bureau Lite is a robust, yet cost effective, report that arms lenders with multiple benchmarks and other variables to assess creditworthiness. "Clear Bureau Lite provides not one, but three, predictive credit scores to help lenders make better underwriting decisions. It also provides summary trade line information and narrows 1,000 credit attributes down to the 85 that ...

U.S. researchers, including a trio from Los Alamos National Laboratory, have witnessed the mysterious appearance of a relatively long-lived zone of high-energy electrons stored between Earth's Van Allen radiation belts. The surprising findings, discovered by NASA's Van Allen Probes (formerly known as the Radiation Belt Storm Probes), were outlined Thursday in Science Express and during a press conference at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. The research was led by Dan Baker of the University of Colorado, Boulder, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. "Nature ...

Eating your greens may be even more important that previously thought, with the discovery that an immune cell population essential for intestinal health could be controlled by leafy greens in your diet. The immune cells, named innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), are found in the lining of the digestive system and protect the body from 'bad' bacteria in the intestine. They are also believed to play an important role in controlling food allergies, inflammatory diseases and obesity, and may even prevent the development of bowel cancers. Dr Gabrielle Belz, Ms Lucie Rankin, Dr ...

People who smoke low-cost contraband cigarettes in Canada are less likely to stop smoking in the short term compared with people who smoke more expensive premium or discount cigarettes, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). "We posit that the substantial price gap between premium/discount and contraband cigarettes is the reason for this correlation," writes Graham Mecredy, Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, Toronto, Ontario, with coauthors. Contraband cigarettes are available in Canada through various channels, including smuggling ...

Despite declining fertility, women over age 40 still require effective contraception if they wish to avoid pregnancy. A review article outlines the risks and benefits of various contraceptive options for these women. The article, based on current evidence and published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), is aimed at helping physicians find the best methods for their patients. The benefits of use outweigh the risks for most contraceptive methods used by women over 40. Even for women with risk factors for complications, methods are available that can be safely ...

Canada needs to reform its patchwork system of prison health care that does not adequately care for prisoners' complex health care needs, argues an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) "What is desperately needed is a well-organized and coordinated system of health care, one that follows the offender from the start of his or her incarceration to release and successful return to the community," writes Dr. Ken Flegel, senior associate editor, CMAJ with Dr. Françoise Bouchard, former director general of health services, Correctional Services of Canada. The ...

Johns Hopkins research on obese mice finds that the impact of dieting and losing weight benefits the heart health of the young, but not the older ones In a study of the impact of weight loss on reversing heart damage from obesity, Johns Hopkins researchers found that poor heart function in young obese mice can be reversed when the animals lose weight from a low-calorie diet. However, older mice, who had been obese for a longer period of time, did not regain better heart function after they were on the same low-calorie diet. "Our research indicates that the longer mice ...

A new long-term study of honey bee health has found that a little-understood disease study authors are calling "idiopathic brood disease syndrome" (IBDS), which kills off bee larvae, is the largest risk factor for predicting the death of a bee colony. "Historically, we've seen symptoms similar to IBDS associated with viruses spread by large-scale infestations of parasitic mites," says Dr. David Tarpy, an associate professor of entomology at North Carolina State University and co-author of a paper describing the study. "But now we're seeing these symptoms – a high percentage ...

ATLANTA, March 4, 2013 – Results of a major HIV prevention trial suggest that daily use of a product – whether a vaginal gel or an oral tablet – does not appear to be the right approach for preventing HIV in young, unmarried African women. Of the three products tested in the VOICE Study – tenofovir gel, oral tenofovir and oral Truvada® – none proved to be effective among the 5,029 women enrolled in the trial; most participants did not use them daily as recommended. Drug was detected in less than a third of blood samples from women who were assigned to use either Truvada ...

LOS ANGELES – (March. 4, 2013) – Grandmother's cigarette smoking could be responsible for her grandchild's asthma, and the recent discovery of this multi-generational transmission of disease suggests the environmental factors experienced today could determine the health of family members for generations to come, two Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) lead researchers write in the March edition of Review of Obstetrics & Gynecology. The researchers, John S. Torday, PhD, and Virender K. Rehan, MD, wrote an editorial citing recent studies by Dr. Rehan that ...

An important predictor of the severity of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants may be what their mothers ate during pregnancy, according to a Vanderbilt study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. RSV is the most common cause of severe lower respiratory tract disease among infants and young children worldwide. Currently there is no effective vaccine against RSV. Outbreaks occur in communities each year, usually lasting 4-5 months during the fall, winter and/or spring months. Lead author Fernando Polack, M.D., Cesar Milstein ...

An international team of researchers, including an investigator with the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech, has produced what may be the most comprehensive computer model of human metabolism yet developed. The discovery, detailed Sunday (March 3, 2013) in the journal Nature Biotechnology, advances understanding of human metabolism in health and disease. Called Recon 2, the model builds and improves upon earlier-generation metabolic reconstruction systems and may be useful for finding biomarkers of metabolic diseases, such as glycogen storage disorder, ...

Do cats purrr-ferrr sardines or sweets? The American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, today released a new Bytesize Science video that explains why cats, unlike humans and other mammals, are indifferent to sweet flavors. Produced by the ACS Office of Public Affairs, it is available at www.BytesizeScience.com. The video was filmed at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, an institute dedicated to research on taste and smell. Prior to becoming Monell's Director, Gary Beauchamp, Ph.D., studied the sweet taste receptor genes of cats in the late ...

WASHINGTON and NEW YORK— A new report by the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) examines the potential impact of sequestration on community health centers and their patients and communities. "Assessing the Potential Impact of Sequestration on Community Health Centers, Patients, and Medically Underserved Communities" estimates that the nation's 1,200 federally funded health centers will lose $120 million in grant funding, and that this funding drop can ...

Washington, DC—The National Commission on Physician Payment Reform issued a report today detailing a series of sweeping recommendations aimed at reining in health spending and improving quality of care by fundamentally changing the way doctors are paid. The Commission, chaired by former Robert Wood Johnson Foundation president Steven A. Schroeder, M.D., with former Senator Majority leader Bill Frist, M.D., as Honorary Chair, calls for eliminating stand-alone fee-for-service payment by the end of the decade. The group urges a transition over five years to a blended payment ...

The research shows that people with particular variations in a stretch of DNA within the FTO gene, called intron 8, could be at greater risk of developing melanoma. Variations in a different part of the FTO gene, called intron 1, are already known to be the most important genetic risk factor for obesity and overeating. These variants are linked to Body Mass Index (BMI) – a measure of a person's shape based on their weight and height. Having a high BMI can increase the risk of various diseases including type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, womb (endometrial) cancer and more. But ...

Fermat's Last Theorem—the idea that a certain simple equation had no solutions— went unsolved for nearly 350 years until Oxford mathematician Andrew Wiles created a proof in 1995. Now, Case Western Reserve University's Colin McLarty has shown the theorem can be proved more simply. The theorem is called Pierre de Fermat's last because, of his many conjectures, it was the last and longest to be unverified. In 1630, Fermat wrote in the margin of an old Greek mathematics book that he could demonstrate that no integers (whole numbers) can make the equation xn + yn = zn ...

For hundreds of years, plant taxonomists have worked to understand how species are related. Until relatively recently, their only reliable source of information about these relationships was the plants' morphology—traits that could be observed, measured, counted, categorized, and described visually. And paramount among these morphological traits were aspects of flower shape and arrangement. In the papilionoid legumes—a large, diverse group that includes the common pea and bean—most species have highly specialized, "butterfly-shaped" flowers with bilateral symmetry, fused ...

(Baltimore, MD) – New findings published in Pediatrics (Epub ahead of print) by the Kennedy Krieger Institute's Center for Autism and Related Disorders reveal that 70 percent of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who have a history of severe language delay, achieved phrase or fluent speech by age eight. This suggests that more children presenting with ASD and severe language delay at age four can be expected to make notable language gains than was previously thought. Abnormalities in communication and language are a defining feature of ASD, yet prior research ...

March 4, 2013 (Toronto) – A new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) shows that alcohol is now the third leading cause of the global burden of disease and injury, despite the fact most adults worldwide abstain from drinking. This research, part of the 2010 Global Burden of Disease study, was published in this month's issue of the journal Addiction. It also found that Canadians drink more than 50 per cent above the global average. "Alcohol consumption has been found to cause more than 200 different diseases and injuries," said Kevin Shield, the ...

WASHINGTON, DC, March 4, 2013—Exercise can affect your sleep. The results of the National Sleep Foundation's 2013 Sleep in America® poll show a compelling association between exercise and better sleep. "Exercise is great for sleep. For the millions of people who want better sleep, exercise may help," says David Cloud, CEO of the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). Exercisers say they sleep better Self-described exercisers report better sleep than self-described non-exercisers even though they say they sleep the same amount each night (6 hours and 51 minutes, average on ...

Ann Arbor, Mich. — Scoring methods commonly used to evaluate Newborn Intensive Care Units (NICU) are inconsistent, according to new research from the University of Michigan. The research published last week in the journal Pediatrics compared 10 well-known scores that have been developed to evaluate NICUs. The researchers found more differences than similarities. "This raises the question: do these scores level the playing field well enough, or are scores still somewhat unfair? And what more can we learn about the major causes of mortality for infants in neonatal intensive ...

1. Research Results Show Current CDC HIV Screening Guidelines Are Too Conservative and Not Cost-Effective 2. Study Says Heavy Drinking Leads to Increased HIV Risk for Men Who Have Sex with Men Philadelphia, Pa. (March 4, 2013) –The results of two important studies have been published in the March issue of AIDS, the official journal of the International AIDS Society. One study notes that screening for HIV should be performed more frequently—up to every three months for the highest-risk patients, while low-risk groups to be tested every three years. A second study demonstrates ...

Humidity measurements in the atmosphere are of essential importance, since water vapour, as the most important natural greenhouse gas, has a strong influence on the Earth's atmospheric radiation balance and, thus, decisively influences our climate. In addition, water is responsible for meteorological phenomena such as the formation of clouds and precipitation. Hence, the atmospheric water content is an essential measurand in all climate models, but also when it comes to forecasting the weather; this measurand has to be determined with great accuracy if reliable predictions ...