Everyone wants to have beautiful teeth. After all, a perfect set of teeth symbolizes health and youthfulness, and can even influence career prospects. If having pristine teeth calls for thorough oral hygiene, then how well or badly does a given toothpaste clean? How effective is it? What should it contain in order not to damage the structure of the teeth? Such questions are primarily of interest to manufacturers of dental hygiene products, and answers are being delivered by researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM in Halle. Through close ...

The Sun blazes down from a deep blue sky – and rooftop solar cells convert this solar energy into electricity. Not all of it, however: Around a quarter of the Sun's spectrum is made up of infrared radiation which cannot be converted by standard solar cells – so this heat radiation is lost. One way to overcome this is to use black silicon, a material that absorbs nearly all of the sunlight that hits it, including infrared radiation, and converts it into electricity. But how is this material produced? "Black silicon is produced by irradiating standard silicon with femtosecond ...

LOS ANGELES (Oct. 9, 2012) – Approximately 14 percent of individuals suffering from depression and other mental health issues in the United States are minorities in underserved communities, yet very few medications or psychosocial interventions have been developed utilizing the participation of these groups. This year, Bowen Chung, M.D. - principal investigator at The Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) - will change that when two unique studies are initiated: the first study will utilize intervention that focuses on families ...

An SGH study has revealed that considering all osteoporotic patients as having simple osteoporosis and treating all of them alike by putting them on potent long term medication without finding out the cause of their osteoporosis may be ineffective and in most cases downright harmful. Secondary osteoporosis is a rather common but lesser known type of osteoporosis that affects men and women of any age. It is caused by certain medical conditions that result in bone loss or interfere with development of peak bone mass. Contributors of secondary osteoporosis include conditions ...

Patients who drank coffee, rather than water, after bowel surgery to remove a part of their colon experienced a quicker return to bowel movements and tolerance of solid food. Those are two of the key findings of a comparative study of 80 patients, carried out at University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany, and published in the surgical journal BJS. "Post-operative bowel obstruction is a common problem after abdominal surgery and the aim of this study was to test our theory that coffee would help to alleviate this" says lead author Dr Sascha Müller, who is now based at ...

Links to publications: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn302633q http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ac201903n ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic researchers have identified a new therapy for patients with neuromyelitis optica that appears to stop inflammation of the eye nerves and spinal cord. NMO is a debilitating central nervous system disorder that is often misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis (MS). In the study, patients with severe symptoms of the disease, also known as NMO, were given eculizumab, a drug typically used to treat blood disorders. While not a cure, the therapy Mayo Clinic researchers used in the study to halt attacks could potentially lead to longer attack-free ...

Scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the University of Leicester have been commissioned by the European Space Agency (ESA) to investigate the feasibility of using dead stars to navigate spacecraft in deep space. The findings of the research will advise ESA strategy and if feasible this technique may in future revolutionise the way spacecraft navigate in the outer Solar System and beyond. Spacecraft navigation currently relies on radio transmissions between a distant craft and a network of ground-stations on Earth. This means that the craft has to ...

This press release is available in German. The iron-sulfur protein IspH plays a central role in the terpene metabolism of several pathogens. The mechanism of the reaction provides an approach for developing new antibiotics, particularly against malaria and tuberculosis. While researching this enzyme, biochemists at the Technische Universitat Munchen discovered a previously unknown reaction: IspH accepts two completely different classes of molecules as partners. This surprising insight, published in Nature Communications, opens up new perspectives in combating infectious ...

Scientists at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital – The Neuro, McGill University working with a team at Oxford University have uncovered the genetic defect underlying a group of rare genetic disorders. Using a new technique that has revolutionized genetic studies, the teams determined that mutations in the RMND1 gene were responsible for severe neurodegenerative disorders, in two infants, ultimately leading to their early death. Although the teams' investigations dealt with an infant, their discovery also has implications for understanding the causes of ...

Tampa, FL (Oct. 8, 2012) -- The chaperone protein Grp94 can interfere with the clearance of another protein known to cause the glaucoma when mutated, a new study led by researchers at the University of South Florida has found. Using a cell model, the researchers also demonstrated that a new specific inhibitor of Grp94 facilitates clearance of the genetically-defective protein, called myocilin, from cells. Reported online this month in JBC (The Journal of Biological Chemistry), the discoveries could lead to a new treatment for some hereditary cases of glaucoma, an eye ...

If quantum computers are ever going to perform all those expected feats of code-breaking and number crunching, then their component qubits---tiny ephemeral quantum cells held in a superposition of internal states---will have to be protected from intervention by the outside world. In other words, decoherence, the loss of the qubits' quantum integrity, has to be postponed. Now theoretical physicists at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) and the University of Maryland have done an important step forward to understand qubits in a real-world setup. In a new study they show, ...

Biofuels are going to save us from climate threats and the oil crisis, while at the same time providing an opportunity to the smallholder farmers of the world. Hopes are high, but completely unrealistic. It is like trying to push a square peg into a round hole, according to a current thesis at Linköping University. Bioenergy could replace fossil fuels and solve the looming energy crisis. Into the bargain, we will benefit from reduced greenhouse gas emissions. A further bonus could be that demand for biofuels gives a lift to smallholder farmers in poor countries, who would ...

A newly discovered function of PARP-1 could be the key to more effective therapeutics to treat advanced prostate cancer patients, a recent preclinical study published in Cancer Discovery by Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center researchers suggests. The team, led by Karen E. Knudsen, Ph.D., Professor in the Departments of Cancer Biology, Urology, & Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University, found that functions of PARP-1 not only include DNA damage repair but also androgen receptor (AR) regulation in advanced prostate cancer growth and progression. PARP inhibition ...

Irvine, Calif., Oct. 9, 2012 – Chronic kidney disease changes the composition of intestinal bacterial microbes that normally play a crucial role in staving off disease-causing pathogens and maintaining micronutrient balance, according to UC Irvine researchers. This profound alteration of the gut microbial population may contribute to the production of uremic toxins, systemic and local inflammation, and nutritional abnormalities present in patients with advanced renal disease, they said. Study leader Dr. N.D. Vaziri of the UCI School of Medicine's Division of Nephrology ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Carbon nanotubes offer a powerful new way to detect harmful gases in the environment. However, the methods typically used to build carbon nanotube sensors are hazardous and not suited for large-scale production. A new fabrication method created by MIT chemists — as simple as drawing a line on a sheet of paper — may overcome that obstacle. MIT postdoc Katherine Mirica has designed a new type of pencil lead in which graphite is replaced with a compressed powder of carbon nanotubes. The lead, which can be used with a regular mechanical pencil, can inscribe ...

School-age children who participate in structured after-school activities improve their academic achievement, according to a new study from Southern Methodist University, Dallas. The study by researchers in SMU's Simmons School of Education and Human Development measured academic performance of students enrolled in Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas. "Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas and other structured programs are really having a positive impact," said Ken Springer, an associate professor. "We believe that the homework support that the clubs consistently ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Although tumor metastasis causes about 90 percent of cancer deaths, the exact mechanism that allows cancer cells to spread from one part of the body to another is not well understood. One key question is how tumor cells detach from the structural elements that normally hold tissues in place, then reattach themselves in a new site. A new study from MIT cancer researchers reveals some of the cellular adhesion molecules that are critical to this process. The findings, published Oct. 9 in Nature Communications, offer potential new cancer drug targets, says ...

Among the most popular questions addressed in online communication research is the extent to which Internet use leads to undesirable psychosocial outcomes such as depression and loneliness. Evidence suggests that certain motivations to communicate online can have negative consequences, as the Internet itself can, for some, serve as an object of compulsive use. Individuals' compulsive Internet use (CIU) refers to their inability to control, reduce, or stop their online behavior, while excessive Internet use (EIU) is the degree to which an individual feels that he or she ...

Magnesium sulfate is given to many pregnant women to treat preterm labor and preeclampsia and was recently shown to prevent cerebral palsy; however little is known about how it works. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine recently discovered the mechanism by which magnesium reduces the production of cytokines. Cytokines are molecules responsible for regulating inflammation; they play a key role conditions, such as diabetes, obesity, atherosclerosis, asthma, and alcoholic liver disease and cirrhosis. Although the study related to pregnancy, inflammation ...

This press release is available in Spanish. Two to three millimeters long, the parasitoid wasp Habrobracon hebetor is a top candidate for use in programs to biologically control Indianmeal moths and other stored-product pests. But despite the prospects for reduced insecticide use and product losses, the approach has yet to gain traction commercially, in part because of the lack of an efficient method of stockpiling the wasp. But a team of scientists, including researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is working on the problem. Through studies of an ...

Some animal models developed by researchers at the Institute of Biomedical Research of Bellvitge (IDIBELL) and the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) has served to validate the effectiveness of a new drug against ovarian cancer resistant to cisplatin. The multidisciplinary work, done in collaboration with the biopharmaceutical company Pharmamar, was published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research. The human tumor tissue is implanted in the same nude mouse organ from which it came. This type of implant, called orthotopic, can reproduce the histological, genetic and ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Using genes as interchangeable parts, synthetic biologists design cellular circuits that can perform new functions, such as sensing environmental conditions. However, the complexity that can be achieved in such circuits has been limited by a critical bottleneck: the difficulty in assembling genetic components that don't interfere with each other. Unlike electronic circuits on a silicon chip, biological circuits inside a cell cannot be physically isolated from one another. "The cell is sort of a burrito. It has everything mixed together," says Christopher ...

Julie-Anne Savarit-Cosenza 301-280-5720 julieanne@burnesscommunications.com International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center Ellen Wilson 301-280-5723 ewilson@burnesscommunications.com International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center Significant wheat production potential in 8 African nations-climate, soil and economic data analysis Researchers call for more research but comprehensive 12-country analysis suggests hungry region produces only 10% of possible wheat yield; could become more self-sufficient in wheat production as hedge against rising expensive ...

MINNEAPOLIS – Eating tomatoes and tomato-based foods is associated with a lower risk of stroke, according to new research published in the October 9, 2012, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Tomatoes are high in the antioxidant lycopene. The study found that people with the highest amounts of lycopene in their blood were 55 percent less likely to have a stroke than people with the lowest amounts of lycopene in their blood. The study involved 1,031 men in Finland between the ages of 46 and 65. The level of lycopene ...