Blasting over two million lights years from the centre of a distant galaxy is a supersonic jet of material that looks strikingly similar to the afterburner flow of a fighter jet, except in this case the jet engine is a supermassive black hole and the jet material is moving at nearly the speed of light. Research published over the weekend in the Astrophysical Journal Letters shows the galaxy-scale jet to have bright and dark regions, similar to the phenomenon in an afterburner exhaust called 'shock diamonds.' A new image of the previously studied jet reveals regularly ...

Sweden's only remaining cold-water coral reef, the Säcken reef in the Koster Fjord, is under threat of extinction. Because of that, researchers from the University of Gothenburg have started a restoration project where healthy corals from nearby reefs in Norway are being removed and placed on the Säcken reef. Coral reefs are known for their rich biological diversity. In Sweden, only one reef-building coral species exists, a cold-water coral called Lophelia pertusa. Lophelia pertusa requires an environment with a constant high level of salinity and low water temperatures ...

The European Science Foundation's (ESF) membership organisation for all medical research councils in Europe, the European Medical Research Concils (EMRC) has today released an ESF-EMRC Science Policy Briefing (SPB) entitled 'Open Access in Biomedical Research' highlighting the need to accelerate the adoption of open access to research articles in the biomedical sciences across Europe. Over the past few months, various reports and communications have been published on the topic of open access. These include the Finch Group report on 18 June 2012, the Publishing and the ...

Analysis of specific biomarkers in a cerebrospinal fluid sample can differentiate patients with Alzheimer's disease from those with other types of dementia. The method, which is being studied by researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy, may eventually permit earlier detection of Alzheimer's disease. Due to the similarity of the symptoms, differentiating patients with Alzheimer's from those with other types of dementia – or patients with Parkinsondisease from those with other motor disorders – is often difficult. Making a proper diagnosis is essential if proper treatment ...

At the end of the 21st century, the temperature in the Baltic Sea will be higher and the salt content lower than at any time since 1850. If no action is taken to alleviate the effects of climate change, there may be major consequences for the marine environment. "This is the first time that anyone has taken a detailed look at how climate models and individual factors combine to affect a specific region. This makes this project unique," says Jonathan Havenhand from the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. A large ...

A daily dose of acetylsalicylic acid equivalent to a fourth of an aspirin may slow the decline in intellectual capacity among elderly individuals with high cardiovascular risk. This is shown in a study by Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, over a five year period studied how intellectual capacity changes among 681 elderly women (70 to 92 years) with heightened risk of suffering from a heart attack, vascular spasm or stroke. Of the 681 women, 129 received a low daily dose of acetylsalicylic ...

Patterns fascinate. Particularly stripes. Found in nature in zebras, they are also found in the most unlikely places, such as powdered drugs' mixing vessel walls. In an article about to be published in EPJ E, Nirmal Thyagu and his colleagues from Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA, propose a traffic model to predict the formation of different patterns, ranging from stripes to spots. Thanks to simulations, Thyagu and colleagues showed the underlying stripe formation mechanism, which they propose stems from traffic-like jams, whereby particles move more slowly when surrounded ...

Istanbul, 22 October 2012: Experts in emergency cardiac care from around the world met in Istanbul to discuss ways to improve outcomes in patients with acute cardiac disease. This was the first annual meeting of the newly launched Acute Cardiovascular Care Association (ACCA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) (1). The congress concludes today. "The key message is that time saves lives," said Professor Tom Quinn, United Kingdom, member of the ACCA Board. "In cardiac emergencies, such as a heart attack, calling an ambulance immediately ensures the patient gets ...

This press release is available in German. The immune system is comprised of multiple cell types each capable of specialized functions to protect the body from invading pathogens and promote tissue repair after injury. One cell type, known as monocytes, circulates throughout the organism in the blood and enters tissues to actively phagocytose (eat!) foreign cells and assist in tissue healing. While monocytes can freely enter most bodily tissues, the healthy, normal brain is different as it is sequestered from circulating blood by a tight network of cells known as the ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. – A simulated clinical experience guiding future pediatricians through interactions with breastfeeding moms appears to put the doctors at ease with the sensitive and important health topic, researchers say. "We showed that their confidence and comfort increased with the OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) interventions," said Dr. Kathryn McLeod, a pediatrician and educator at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Health Sciences University who developed the three simulated patient exams. Breastfeeding education typically falls to pediatricians ...

Teenagers with severe obesity can benefit from gastric bypass surgery just as much as adults. A study by Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden and Karolinska Institutet, Sweden found that 81 teenagers lost an average of 96.8 pounds following surgery, significantly improving their health and quality of life. The study, published by the International Journal of Obesity, involved eighty-one 13-18 year-olds who had gastric bypass surgery, which had previously been performed on people younger than 18 in exceptional cases only. The new study found that gastric ...

Are cynics and happiness mutually exclusive? For modern cynics, perhaps. But for the ancient Cynics, not necessarily. Research by the University of Cincinnati's Susan Prince shows that despite the historical perception of the ancient Cynics as harsh, street-corner prophets relentlessly condemning all passersby and decrying society's lack of virtue, these Greek philosophers, indirectly descended from Socratic teaching, weren't all doom and gloom. They actually might have espoused a shortcut to happiness. "We don't have good scholarship on the Cynics. They're seen as ...

Not long ago, some unassuming bacteria found themselves at the center of a scientific controversy: A group claimed that these microorganisms, which live in an environment that is rich in the arsenic-based compound arsenate, could take up that arsenate and use it – instead of the phosphate that all known life on Earth depends on. The claim, since disproved, raised another question: How do organisms living with arsenate pick and choose the right substance? Chemically, arsenate is nearly indistinguishable from phosphate. Prof. Dan Tawfik of the Biological Chemistry Department ...

Scientists have determined the three-dimensional structure of a complete, unmodified G-protein-coupled receptor in its native environment: embedded in a membrane in physiological conditions. Using NMR spectroscopy, the team mapped the arrangement of atoms in a protein called CXCR1, which detects the inflammatory signal interleukin 8 and, through a G protein located inside the cell, triggers a cascade of events that can mobilize immune cells, for example. Because G protein-coupled receptors are critical for many cellular responses to external signals, they have been ...

Hiding deep inside the bone marrow are special cells. They wait patiently for the hour of need, at which point these blood forming stem cells can proliferate and differentiate into billions of mature blood immune cells to help the body cope with infection, for example, or extra red blood cells for low oxygen levels at high altitudes. Even in emergencies, however, the body keeps to a long-term plan: It maintains a reserve of undifferentiated stem cells for future needs and crises. A research team headed by Prof. Tsvee Lapidot of the Institute's immunology Department recently ...

Malignant melanoma is as much as 35% more common among people who live in Gothenburg and the region's coastal municipalities than those who live inland. Researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have found that the number of malignant melanoma cases in the Västra Götaland region has quadrupled since 1970. Malignant melanoma has become increasingly common in the Western world over the past few decades. One of the biggest factors has been excessive and unprotected sunbathing despite widespread awareness of the health risks. Melanoma takes a ...

Our immune system must be tremendously complex to respond to the unending assault of viruses, bacteria and cancerous cells. One of the mechanisms used by the immune system to cope with the huge variety of possible threats is to randomly combine DNA segments for the production of receptors on lymphocytes – a type of white blood cell. The number of possible receptors that can be produced in this way is about 1000 times the number of stars in our galaxy – one followed by 15 zeroes. And yet, the actual array of receptors produced does not conform to this picture of random chance: ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Many child care providers have rules that exclude sick children from care, spurring anxious moments for millions of working parents. In a new University of Michigan poll, one-third of parents of young children report they are concerned about losing jobs or pay when they stay home to care for sick children who can't attend child care. The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health recently asked parents who have children younger than six years old in child care about the impact of child care illness on their ...

URBANA – For animals as well as people, diet affects what grows in the gut. The gut microbial colonies, also known as the gut microbiome, begin to form at birth. Their composition affects how the immune system develops and is linked to the later onset of metabolic diseases such as obesity. Common wisdom is that cats, by nature carnivorous, are healthiest when fed high-protein diets. Researchers at the University of Illinois wanted to find out if this is true. "There are a lot of diets now, all natural, that have high protein and fat and not much dietary fiber or carbohydrates," ...

The number of leisure boats along the Swedish West Coast has risen dramatically over the last 20 years, resulting in a risk that the inner archipelago might be destroyed. These are the findings of new research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. In Sannäs Fjord, a silled fjord to the north of Grebbestad in Bohuslän, researchers from the University of Gothenburg have studied the marine environment in the inner archipelago and built a treatment plant for flushing water from the washing of boats with painted hulls in connection with the autumn haul-out. Researchers ...

(Boston) - In a commentary to appear in the Oct. 22 issue of the journal Pediatrics, Barry Zuckerman, MD, the Joel and Barbara Alpert Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine, discusses how by working together, lawyers and physicians potentially can close the gap in health disparities that persist even in universal health care coverage. While the relationship between poverty and poor health is complex, access to basic needs like adequate housing and nutrition, appropriate education and personal safety is well documented to improve health trajectories. ...

For Immediate Release – October 22, 2012 (Toronto) – Scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have identified a potential new approach to preventing smoking relapse, which occurs frequently in smokers who attempt to quit, despite current treatments. "We have developed a protein peptide that may be a new type of highly targeted treatment to prevent smoking relapse," says Dr. Fang Liu, Senior Scientist in CAMH's Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Dr. Liu and ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The glowing green molecule known as green fluorescent protein (GFP) has revolutionized molecular biology. When GFP is attached to a particular protein inside a cell, scientists can easily identify and locate it using fluorescence microscopy. However, GFP can't be used with electron microscopy, which offers much higher resolution than fluorescence microscopy. Chemists from MIT have now designed a GFP equivalent for electron microscopy — a tag that allows scientists to label and visualize proteins with unprecedented clarity. "With things that may appear ...

A fish's personality can influence how it responds to, and learns from threats, according to a new study by Professor Grant Brown from Concordia University in Canada and his colleagues. Their work, looking at how personality influences a fish's memory of a predator threat, shows that bold trout forget predator odor, and hence potentially predator threat, quicker than shy trout. The research is published online in Springer's journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. A prey's ability to balance the conflicting demands of avoiding predators and foraging, defending territories ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Condensers are a crucial part of today's power generation systems: About 80 percent of all the world's powerplants use them to turn steam back to water after it comes out of the turbines that turn generators. They are also a key element in desalination plants, a fast-growing contributor to the world's supply of fresh water. Now, a new surface architecture designed by researchers at MIT holds the promise of significantly boosting the performance of such condensers. The research is described in a paper just published online in the journal ACS Nano by MIT ...