As reported in the journal Science, physicists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) and the University of Michigan have shown that synthetic membrane channels can be constructed through "DNA nanotechnology." This technique employs DNA molecules as programmable building materials for custom-designed, self-assembling, nanometer-scale structures. The researchers present evidence that their nature-inspired nanostructures may also behave like biological ion channels. Their results could mark a step toward applications of synthetic membrane channels as molecular sensors, ...

As Internet access becomes increasingly widespread, so do related psychopathologies such as Internet addiction and delusions related to the technology and to virtual relationships. Computer communications such as Facebook and chat groups are an important part of this story, says Dr. Uri Nitzan of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Shalvata Mental Health Care Center in a new paper published in the Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences. In his study, the researcher presented three in-depth case studies linking psychotic episodes to Internet ...

This is the question asked by two of the articles in this week's issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International. Dieter Leyk from German Sport University Cologne (Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln) and coauthors investigated the effects of unhealthy lifestyles on young people's fitness, Sabine Stamm-Balderjahn from Berlin's Charité, and her coauthors report a study investigating the effects of a hospital-based intervention program to prevent smoking in school students (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2012; 109(44): 737-45 und Dtsch Arztebl Int 2012; 109(44): 746-52). Leyk et al. collected ...

Chicago --- An international multi-disciplinary research team led by Northwestern Medicine scientists has uncovered a new role for the protein toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in the development of tissue fibrosis, or scarring. This finding, recently reported in the American Journal of Pathology, has implications for the treatment of scleroderma, a condition for which there currently is no effective treatment. TLR4 was previously implicated in inflammation, but its role in tissue fibrosis was unknown. Fibrosis is a hallmark of scleroderma and contributes to a range of common ...

WASHINGTON – Teens who participate in after-school arts activities such as music, drama and painting are more likely to report feeling depressed or sad than students who are not involved in these programs, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. This is the first study to find that young people's casual involvement in the arts could be linked to depressive symptoms, according to the researchers. The article was published online in APA's journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. "This is not to say that depression ...

ESA's Planck space telescope has made the first conclusive detection of a bridge of hot gas connecting a pair of galaxy clusters across 10 million light-years of intergalactic space. Planck's primary task is to capture the most ancient light of the cosmos, the Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB. As this faint light traverses the Universe, it encounters different types of structure including galaxies and galaxy clusters – assemblies of hundreds to thousands of galaxies bound together by gravity. If the CMB light interacts with the hot gas permeating these huge cosmic ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Nov. 20, 2012 – If you are among the 50 percent of Americans who suffer from insomnia, then you have probably tried everything – from warm milk to melatonin pills or prescription medications to induce sleep – with varying degrees of success and side effects. But what if sleep could be achieved not by a substance, but through 'balancing' brain activity? Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have conducted a pilot clinical study to determine whether a non-invasive approach, that uses musical tones to balance brain activity, can 'reset' ...

Millbrook, N.Y. -- In the northern hardwood forest, climate change is poised to reduce the viability of the maple syrup industry, spread wildlife diseases and tree pests, and change timber resources. And, according to a new BioScience paper just released by twenty-one scientists, without long-term studies at the local scale—we will be ill-prepared to predict and manage these effects. Following an exhaustive review of more than fifty years of long term data on environmental conditions at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, located in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, ...

Do birds change their tune in response to urban noise? It depends on the bird species, according to Dr. Alejandro Ariel Ríos-Chelén from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and colleagues. Their work shows that while some birds do adapt their songs in noisy conditions by means of frequency changes, others like the vermilion flycatchers adapt their song by means of changes in song lengths. The work is published online in Springer's journal, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. Birds use their songs during social interactions to attract females and repel intruders. ...

UNIQUE research conducted by a University of Huddersfield professor confirms just how successfully the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics were designed, organised and delivered. His findings will reveal to planners of the 2016 Games in Brazil just what they must do to meet or exceed the standards set by London. Professor David Bamford, an expert in the theory of operations management and how it can be applied to the sports arena, was granted full access to the Paralympics village in London and with his team of researchers he quizzed hundreds of athletes, seeking their views ...

NEW YORK, November 20, 2012 – Researchers at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) have published findings that further illuminate the emerging field of ethorobotics — the study of bioinspired robots interacting with live animal counterparts. Maurizio Porfiri, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NYU-Poly, doctoral candidates Vladislav Kopman and Jeffrey Laut and research scholar Giovanni Polverino studied the role of real-time feedback in attracting or repelling live zebrafish in the presence of a robotic fish. Their ...

Mobile telephone operators should verify the age of children and youngsters when they access multimedia services by having a record of users' dates of birth. This is one of the recommendations in a report by researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain), that also suggest content classifications for mobiles by age, like in the case of video games. "Verification of age upon access to mobile phone services is not effective because the child can also falsify their age by checking a different box," as explained to SINC by María de Miguel Molina, lecturer ...

New York, NY -- (November 20, 2012) – Wolters Kluwer Health and the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) are pleased to announce an agreement to publish Journal of Forensic Nursing, the official journal of IAFN. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW), part of Wolters Kluwer Health, will become the publisher for Journal of Forensic Nursing, beginning with the first Quarter 2013 issue. The only journal dedicated exclusively to this emerging nursing specialty, the Journal of Forensic Nursing will continue on its quarterly publication schedule. In addition to ...

Scientists at Imperial College London have developed a system to quickly detect trace amounts of chemicals like pollutants, explosives or illegal drugs. The new system can pick out a single target molecule from 10 000 trillion water molecules within milliseconds, by trapping it on a self-assembling single layer of gold nanoparticles. The team of scientists, all from the Department of Chemistry at Imperial, say this technology opens the way to develop devices that are compact, reusable and easy to assemble, and could have a range of uses including detecting illegal drugs, ...

HEIDELBERG, 20 November 2012 – Scientists have engineered bacteria that are capable of sacrificing themselves for the good of the bacterial population. These altruistically inclined bacteria, which are described online in the journal Molecular Systems Biology, can be used to demonstrate the conditions where programmed cell death becomes a distinct advantage for the survival of the bacterial population. "We have used a synthetic biology approach to explicitly measure and test the adaptive advantage of programmed bacterial cell death in Escherichia coli," said Lingchong ...

November 20, 2012 -- Results of a new study by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health indicate that a developmental pattern of impulsiveness in young males is linked with gambling problems in late adolescence. Respondents considered to be in the high impulsivity track as early as first grade doubled the odds of meeting criteria for at-risk/problem gambling, and tripled the odds of meeting criteria for problem gambling. The study is the first to link a developmental pattern of impulsivity -- defined as a tendency to make rush decisions without ...

Viruses can be elusive quarry. RNA viruses are particularly adept at defeating antiviral drugs because they are so inaccurate in making copies of themselves. With at least one error in every genome they copy, viral genomes are moving targets for antiviral drugs, creating resistant mutants as they multiply. In the best-known example of success against retroviruses, it takes multiple-drug cocktails to corner HIV and narrow its escape route. Rather than target RNA viruses themselves, aiming at the host cells they invade could hold promise, but any such strategy would have ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (November 20, 2012) – The time has come to develop a pituitary "centers of excellence" (CoE) designation for hospitals with high-level surgical skills and other capabilities needed to provide state-of-the-art care for patients with pituitary tumors, according to an article in the November issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. Recent advances in surgical and medical management—along with the high prevalence and impact ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (November 16. 2012) – Meningiomas are a common type of benign brain tumor that sometimes grows dramatically in pregnant women. A new study suggests that this sudden tumor growth likely results from "hemodynamic changes" associated with pregnancy, reports the November issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. The study also identifies some key characteristics associated with rapid growth of meningiomas in pregnant women. ...

New research on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in soldiers challenges popular assumptions about the origins and trajectory of PTSD, providing evidence that traumatic experiences in childhood - not combat - may predict which soldiers develop the disorder. Psychological scientist Dorthe Berntsen of Aarhus University in Denmark and a team of Danish and American researchers wanted to understand why some soldiers develop PTSD but others don't. They also wanted to develop a clearer understanding of how the symptoms of the disorder progress. "Most studies on PTSD in ...

HOUSTON -- (Nov. 19, 2012) -- Rice University scientists have unveiled a revolutionary new technology that uses nanoparticles to convert solar energy directly into steam. The new "solar steam" method from Rice's Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) is so effective it can even produce steam from icy cold water. Details of the solar steam method were published online today in ACS Nano. The technology has an overall energy efficiency of 24 percent. Photovoltaic solar panels, by comparison, typically have an overall energy efficiency around 15 percent. However, the inventors ...

INDIANAPOLIS -- The approach of the Indianapolis Discovery Network for Dementia -- with contributions from family members, community advocates, health care systems and researchers -- improves dementia care and informs dementia research, according to a new study by researchers from the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University Center for Aging Research. "Collaborative dementia care -- sensitive to local needs and concerns -- combines human interaction of all those involved plus technology. Regular face-to-face meetings of caregivers, clinicians and researchers provide ...

(PHILADELPHIA) – Take off those Thanksgiving pounds with a week at a spa retreat. A new study shows that not only are they relaxing and nourishing, but they are safe and a week-long spa stay can correspond with changes in our physical and emotional well-being. New research from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital evaluated 15 participants before and after their visit to We Care Spa, a health and wellness spa in Desert Hot Springs California, and found the program safe and helped to improve the participants' health. Their complete findings will be available in the ...

TAMPA, Fla. (Nov. 19, 2012) – In three studies published in the current issue of Technology and Innovation – Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors®, innovators unveil creative technologies that could change our sources of energy, change our use of energy, and change our lives. Untapped energy in the oceans The kinetic energy in the Florida Current and in Florida's ocean waves can be captured and used, said Howard P. Hanson of the Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center at Florida Atlantic University. "Capturing the kinetic energy of the Florida ...

HOUSTON -- (Nov. 19, 2012) -- Serendipity proved to be a key ingredient for the latest nanoparticles discovered at Rice University. The new "lava dot" particles were discovered accidentally when researchers stumbled upon a way of using molten droplets of metal salt to make hollow, coated versions of a nanotech staple called quantum dots. The results appear online this week in the journal Nanotechnology. The researchers also found that lava dots arrange themselves in evenly spaced patterns on flat surfaces, thanks in part to a soft outer coating that can alter its shape ...