This press release is available in French. Over the course of 2011's momentous Arab Spring uprisings, young women in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen used social media and cyberactivism to carve out central roles in the revolutionary struggles under way in their countries, according to a new study commissioned by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. The study, "Unveiling the Revolutionaries: Cyberactivism and Women's Role in the Arab Uprisings," explores the activism of several key figures, including Egypt's Esraa Abdel Fattah, who became widely ...

Internet governance policy has rapidly risen from a relatively marginal issue for the United States' foreign policy establishment to a significant component of the country's international affairs and national security strategy, according to a new paper from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. The study, "From Tunis to Tunis: Considering the Planks of U.S. International Cyber Policy 2005-2011," investigates how and why the Internet, the wider cyberspace and information technology have come to matter a great deal to the departments of Defense and State ...

ASHEVILLE, NC -- Research by USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station biometrician Bernie Parresol takes center stage in a special issue of the journal Forest Ecology and Management due out in June. Parresol is lead author of two of the five articles—and co-author of two more—in an issue that focuses on methods that incorporate fine-scale data into the tools Southeastern forest managers use to assess wildfire potential and plan mitigation treatments. Most fire behavior analyses rely on sparse plot inventories and data from satellites, and often do not address the ...

Rapid DNA sequencing may soon become a routine part of each individual's medical record, providing enormous information previously sequestered in the human genome's 3 billion nucleotide bases. This week's NEWSFOCUS section of the journal Science describes recent advances in sequencing technology. Stuart Lindsay, director of the Biodesign Institute's Center for Single Molecule Biophysics is on the forefront of this research, having successfully addressed a central stumbling block in nanopore sequencing—reading single nucleotide bases in a DNA chain. Lindsay's latest experimental ...

PORTLAND, Ore. — Women who are unable to quit smoking during pregnancy can significantly improve the lung function of their newborns by taking Vitamin C daily, according to a new study at Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children's Hospital. "Smoking during pregnancy is known to adversely affect the lung development of the developing baby, causing lifelong decreased lung function and an increased risk of asthma," said Cindy McEvoy, M.D., M.C.R., neonatologist and associate professor of pediatrics at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital. "We found that babies ...

It's quite common for a female song sparrow to stray from her breeding partner and mate with the male next door, but a new study shows that sleeping around can be costly. The 20-year study, which is reported in The American Naturalist, found that offspring conceived outside sparrows' social pairs go on to have lower reproductive success than within-pair offspring. The findings throw a monkey wrench into theories about why ostensibly monogamous animals might be inclined to cheat. Most bird species display some form of monogamy. Bonded pairs stay together for a breeding ...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Two popular MTV programs about teenage pregnancy -- "16 and Pregnant" and "Teen Mom" -- were met with national debate. Critics said the shows glamorized teenage pregnancy, while supporters said they discouraged it. A new study by an Indiana University professor suggests they're both right. The study, which will appear in the journal Sexuality & Culture, focused on female students because of the high dropout rate associated with pregnancy among this demographic. When the programs were under development, MTV sought the consultation of The National ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A new study by civil engineers at MIT shows that using stiffer pavements on the nation's roads could reduce vehicle fuel consumption by as much as 3 percent — a savings that could add up to 273 million barrels of crude oil per year, or $15.6 billion at today's oil prices. This would result in an accompanying annual decrease in CO2 emissions of 46.5 million metric tons. The study, released in a recent peer-reviewed report, is the first to use mathematical modeling rather than roadway experiments to look at the effect of pavement deflection on vehicle ...

Richmond, Va. – (May 22, 2012) – Scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center may be one step closer to developing a new therapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after discovering that the targeted agents obatoclax and sorafenib kill leukemia cells much more effectively when combined than when the drugs are administered individually. Recently published in the journal Blood, the results of a study led by Steven Grant, M.D., Shirley Carter Olsson and Sture Gordon Olsson Chair in Oncology Research, associate director for translational research and program ...

NEW YORK (May 22, 2012) -- Up to half of all prostate cancer cells have a chromosomal rearrangement that results in a new "fusion" gene and formation of its unique protein -- but no one has known how that alteration promotes cancer growth. Now, Weill Cornell Medical College researchers have found that in these cancer cells, the 3-D architecture of DNA, wrapped up in a little ball known as a chromatin, is warped in such a way that a switch has been thrown on thousands of genes, turning them on or off to promote abnormal, unchecked growth. Researchers also found that new ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (May 22, 2012) – Pushed to the brink of survival, the hyper-driven cells of a cancerous tumor tap into an ancient system that has helped organisms cope with internal stresses and environmental challenges since life began. As an integral part of this system, heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) has been shown to help malignant cells accommodate the genetic changes and profound disturbances in normal biology that occur in cancers. Researchers have theorized that inhibiting HSP90 just might render breast cancer cells less likely to escape the challenge posed ...

LEXINGTON, KY. (May 21, 2012) — A new study led by University of Kentucky researchers shows a new way to precisely detect a single chemical at extremely low concentrations and high contamination. The study, published online for ACS Nano, was carried out in the laboratory of Peixuan Guo, the William S. Farish Endowed Chair in Nanobiotechnology at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center. The study shows that the phi29 DNA packaging nanomotor connector can be used to sense chemicals with reactive thioesters or maleimide using single channel conduction assays based ...

The universe is a marvelously complex place, filled with galaxies and larger-scale structures that have evolved over its 13.7-billion-year history. Those began as small perturbations of matter that grew over time, like ripples in a pond, as the universe expanded. By observing the large-scale cosmic wrinkles now, we can learn about the initial conditions of the universe. But is now really the best time to look, or would we get better information billions of years into the future - or the past? New calculations by Harvard theorist Avi Loeb show that the ideal time to study ...

WASHINGTON— The uproar that began last year when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force stated that doctors should no longer offer regular prostate-cancer tests to healthy men continued this week when the task force released their final report. Overall, they stuck to their guns, stating that a blood test commonly used to screen for prostate cancer, the PSA test, causes more harm than good — it leads men to receive unnecessary, and sometimes even dangerous, treatments. But many people simply don't believe that the test is ineffective. Even faced with overwhelming evidence, ...

A special feature in this week's issue of the journal Science highlights protein array technology, touching on research conducted by Joshua LaBaer, director of the Biodesign Institute's Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics. With the successful completion of the Human Genome Project, research attention is increasingly focusing on proteins. Versatile products produced from genetic templates, proteins are principle actors in both the maintenance of health and the onset of illness. Protein microarrays are a means of bridging the gap between analysis of the ...

On May 21, NASA satellites were monitoring Tropical Depression 02E in the eastern Pacific Ocean, and 24 hours later it strengthened into the second tropical storm of the season. Tropical Storm Bud was captured by NOAA's GOES-13 satellite on May 22, and appears to be well-formed. Tropical Storm Bud isn't going to stop there, however. According to the forecasters at the National Hurricane Center, Bud is expected to become a hurricane because of light to moderate wind shear and warm sea surface temperatures. On May 22 at 0900 UTC (2 a.m. PDT/5 a.m. EDT), Tropical Storm ...

Tropical Depression 03W in the western North Pacific did exactly what forecasters expected over the last twenty-four hours: it became a tropical storm named Sanvu and passed west of Guam on a northwesterly track. On May 22 at 0900 UTC (5 a.m. EDT), Tropical Storm Sanvu was more than 100 miles west-northwest of Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and still over 600 nautical miles south of Iwo To, Japan and headed in that direction. Sanvu's center was located near 15.2 North and 141.9. East. It was still churning up rough surf around Guam. Sanvu has maximum sustained winds near ...

(Phoenix, AZ May 22, 2012) -- Researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center have unveiled how and why the public perceives some magic tricks in recent studies that could have real-world implications in military tactics, marketing and sports. Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD, of Barrow's Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience, and Stephen Macknik, PhD, of Barrow's Laboratory of Behavioral Neurophysiology are well known for their research into magic and illusions. Their most recent original research projects, published in Frontiers in Human ...

Infrared satellite imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite revealed Alberto weakened from a tropical storm to a tropical depression as it appears more disorganized. At 10:30 a.m. EDT on May 21, Tropical Storm Alberto weakened to a tropical depression, and has maintained that status today, May 22. As of 5 a.m. EDT on May 22, Alberto's maximum sustained winds were near 35 mph (55 kph) but he is expected to weaken in 24 hours. Alberto was centered about 220 miles south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, near 32.0 North and 75.5 West. Alberto was moving to the northeast near 15 ...

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Children born with cleft lip, cleft palate and other craniofacial disorders face numerous medical challenges beyond appearance. Patients can face serious airway, feeding, speech and hearing problems, as well as social and psychological challenges, Laura Swibel Rosenthal, MD, of Loyola University Medical Center and colleagues write in the June 2012 issue of Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America. "The management of patients with craniofacial syndromes is complex," Rosenthal and colleagues write. "Otolaryngologic [ear-nose-throat] evaluation is of paramount ...

This press release is available in French. VIDEO: Stephanie Fulton of Université de Montréal and its affiliated research hospital studies the behavior of mice and their brain chemistry to reveal how humans may act in similar circumstances. Click here for more information. Fat Bastard's revelation "I eat because I'm depressed and I'm depressed because I eat" in the Austin Powers ...

ATS 2012, SAN FRANCISCO –Weight loss improved both metabolic parameters and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) in obese children in a new study from researchers in Belgium, confirming links between metabolic dysregulation, SDB and obesity. "SDB is highly prevalent in childhood obesity, and may be a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome. In our population of 224 obese children and adolescents, 30% had SDB, which was significantly correlated with metabolic parameters, including aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT), alanine aminotransferase (ALAT) and HDL cholesterol at baseline," ...

ATS 2012, SAN FRANCISCO –The severity of sleep disordered breathing and nocturnal hypoxemia independently predict both glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), according to a new study. "Because people with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) are often overweight or obese it has been difficult to interpret earlier studies of the relationship between sleep disordered breathing and metabolic disorders," said Brian Kent, MBBCh, research fellow at St. Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin. "We found that obstructive sleep apnea syndrome ...

Oniqua MRO Analytics (www.oniqua.com), the leading provider of analytics-based MRO optimization solutions for asset-intensive organizations, today announced significant enhancements to its Oniqua Standards Dictionary (OSD) database solution. Available on an online subscription basis, OSD is a comprehensive material and catalog standards environment specifically designed, built and optimized for asset-intensive industries. OSD 3.0 maximizes efficiencies in cataloging while minimizing inconsistencies and errors in completed cataloged records. It is designed to assist ...

ATS 2012, SAN FRANCISCO – The number of viral infections during infancy is not associated with wheezing later in childhood, according to a new study from researchers in the Netherlands. While viral illnesses with wheezing in infancy predicted wheezing later in childhood, this association was due in part to decreased neonatal lung function. "Viral infections in infancy, particularly rhinovirus, are thought to be a risk factor for later asthma development, but it is unclear whether this association is due to the viruses themselves or whether rhinovirus-associated wheeze ...