When will men have their own birth control pill? Scientists have been predicting the debut of a male pill within 5 years for the last 30 years. The factors accounting for that delay — and new optimism that a male pill will emerge within a decade — are the topic of a story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. In the story, Michael M. Torrice, C&EN associate editor, describes the need for a male version of the oral contraceptive pill that revolutionized ...

High biodiversity acts as an insurance policy for nature and society alike as it increases the likelihood that at least some species will be sufficiently resilient to sustain important functions such as water purification and crop pollination in a changing environment. "It's the same principle as an investment portfolio – you'd be mad to put all your eggs in one basket," says researcher Johan Eklöf. Experiments with eelgrass meadows in shallow inlets on the west coast of Sweden are now showing that climate change can exacerbate the negative effects of losing sensitive ...

A recent study in The Journal of General Physiology characterizes the movement of rhodopsin, a GPCR and member of a large family of transmembrane receptors responsible for many cellular responses and involved in many human diseases. In living Xenopus rod photoreceptor cells, rhodopsin is found in stacks of disc membranes that are difficult to study due to their small size. Now, Peter Calvert (SUNY Upstate Medical University) and colleagues have developed an approach with two-photon microscopy that, for the first time, allows direct examination within the living cell ...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 26, 2012) — A study by a team of University of Kentucky researchers has shed new light on the potential habit-forming properties of the popular pain medication tramadol, in research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The paper is slated to appear in an upcoming edition of the academic journal Psychopharmacology. Prescription pain killer abuse is a major public health problem in the U.S. In 2010, more individuals over the age of 12 reported nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers in the past month than use of cocaine, methamphetamine ...

CFTR is an important protein that, when mutated, causes the life-threatening genetic disease cystic fibrosis. A study in The Journal of General Physiology (JGP) details how an accidental discovery has provided new understanding about CFTR functionality. From a scientific standpoint, CFTR is unique in that it is the only known ion channel—a protein pore that enables the passive diffusion of ions across cell membranes—in the enormous superfamily of ABC proteins, which normally operate as active transporters. As active transporters, ABC proteins use energy derived from ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Federal law ought to play a stronger role in regulating social networking sites by allowing users to determine what happens to their "digital afterlives," says a recently published paper by a University of Illinois expert in intellectual property law. Allowing social networking sites to set their own policies regarding the content associated with the accounts of deceased users does not adequately protect individual and collective interests, especially with people spending an increasing part of their lives online using social networking sites, says Jason ...

DURHAM, N.C. – The structures of key bacterial proteins have revealed one of the biochemical secrets that enables bacteria to outwit antibiotics. In a paper published Sept. 20, 2012 in the journal Cell Reports, Duke University School of Medicine researchers and their colleagues describe the results of a series of experiments exploring multi-drug tolerance, a phenomenon that allows bacteria to become dormant and tolerate antibiotics, only to later awaken and re-infect the host. Drug tolerance is a factor in several types of stubborn, recurring infectious diseases caused ...

With more than half of all adults allergic to poison ivy, oak and sumac, scientists are reporting an advance toward an inexpensive spray that could reveal the presence of the rash-causing toxic oil on the skin, clothing, garden tools, and even the family cat or dog. Using the spray, described in ACS' The Journal of Organic Chemistry would enable people to wash off the oil, or avoid further contact, in time to sidestep days of misery. Rebecca Braslau and colleagues explain that allergic reactions to oils of the toxic trio are more than a nusiance. They claim a huge human ...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2012 — The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series concludes that the larger the wind turbine, the greener the electricity it produces. The study could solidify the trend toward construction of gigantic windmills. Based on a report by Marloes Caduff in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology, the new podcast is available without charge at iTunes and from www.acs.org/globalchallenges. In the new episode, Caduff, a graduate student, and Stefanie Hellweg, ...

Exposure to school-age children raises the odds that a person with lung disease who catches a cold will actually suffer symptoms like a runny nose, sore throat and cough, according to a study just published in the Journal of Clinical Virology. That finding, the result of a study that drew upon a databank of 1,000 samples of sputum and nasal secretions from people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, comes as a surprise, says Ann Falsey, M.D., professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester and an infectious disease expert at Rochester General Hospital. ...

It sounds like an artifact from an Indiana Jones film; a 1,000 year-old ancient Buddhist statue which was first recovered by a Nazi expedition in 1938 has been analysed by scientists and has been found to be carved from a meteorite. The findings, published in Meteoritics and Planetary Science, reveal the priceless statue to be a rare ataxite class of meteorite. The statue, known as the Iron Man, weighs 10kg and is believed to represent a stylistic hybrid between the Buddhist and pre-Buddhist Bon culture that portrays the god Vaisravana, the Buddhist King of the North, ...

DETROIT– While more men than women develop kidney stones and other obstructions in the urinary tract, women are more than twice as likely to suffer infections related to the condition, according to a new study led by Henry Ford Hospital researchers. The researchers also found significantly higher rates of complications following one of two urgent treatments for the effects of urolithiasis – or stones in the kidneys and urinary tract – but stressed that this finding is based on preliminary and more research is needed. The findings were published today in the peer-reviewed ...

DNA extracted from the skins of koalas displayed in European and North American museums shows that a retrovirus has been a problem for the animals for much longer than was thought, according to Alfred Roca, an assistant professor of animal sciences at the University of Illinois, and Alex Greenwood of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (LZW) in Berlin. "The process by which a retrovirus invades the host germ line appears to be quite drawn out in this case, so that the koala population has suffered the strongly pathological effects of the virus for many ...

New research showing how the HIV virus targets "veterans" or memory T-cells could change how drugs are used to stop the virus, according to new research by George Mason University. The research will appear in the Journal of Biological Chemistry's October edition and currently is available online. "It's a big breakthrough for us," says Yuntao Wu, an author of the study and professor at the Mason-based National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases. "I think this will impact the field." Helper T-cells support the body's immune system by organizing forces to ...

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Penn., September 26, 2012 – Despite just modest gains in population and participation in outdoor recreation compared to the rest of the nation, there is a strong likelihood of increasing pressure on forest and other undeveloped lands in northern states as the population grows and recreation demands shift. "Outdoor Recreation in the Northern United States," a report recently published by the U.S. Forest Service's Northern Research Station as GTR NRS-100, evaluates recent population trends and forecasts within the context of other U.S. regions, demographic ...

The most cost-effective treatment for cryptococcal meningitis (a serious infection of the brain membranes, usually in people with AIDS or other immune system deficiencies) is different to that currently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), warranting a review of policy, according to the findings of a study published in this week's PLOS Medicine. Researchers from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and from the University of Minnesota in the US found that a short (7-day) course of amphotericin along with high-dose fluconazole for at least 2 weeks is ...

The current practice of large donors is forcing the World Health Organization and the World Bank to reflect on how to reform to remain more appealing to the wider set of stakeholders and interests at play, according to Devi Sridhar from the University of Oxford writing in this week's PLOS Medicine. Sridhar argues that since the priorities of funding bodies largely dictate what health issues and diseases are studied, a major challenge in the governance of global health research funding is agenda-setting, which in turn is a consequence of a larger phenomenon—"multi-bi ...

In this month's editorial, the PLOS Medicine Editors comment on the World Health Organization's (WHO) latest World Health Report, originally planned for publication in 2012, and the outcomes of the journal's collaboration with WHO on the intended theme of "no health without research." As part of that collaboration, the journal editors and WHO previously called for submission of papers to a joint collection on that theme, inviting "the submission of articles, especially from low- and middle-income countries, on topics related to the strengthening of key functions and components ...

CHICAGO – There has been an increase in total knee arthroplasty (TKA; knee replacement) procedures over the past 20 years that has been driven by both an increase in the number of Medicare enrollees and increase in per capita utilization, according to a study in the September 26 issue of JAMA. There has also been a decrease in hospital length of stay for TKA, but increased hospital readmission rates and increased rates of infectious complications. "Total knee arthroplasty is a common and safe procedure typically performed for relief of symptoms in patients with severe ...

CHICAGO – Administration of the corticosteroid dexamethasone to children during a tonsillectomy was not associated with excessive, serious bleeding events following surgery compared to patients who received placebo, according to a study in the September 26 issue of JAMA. Tonsillectomy is exceedingly common, with a reported increase in tonsillectomy rates in children younger than 15 years from 287,000 to 530,000 per year over the past decade. Although safe, adenotonsillectomy can result in significant complications, according to background information in the article. ...

Boston (Sept. 25, 2012) — Tonsillectomy is exceedingly common, with a reported increase in tonsillectomy rates in children younger than 15 years from 287,000 to 530,000 per year over the past decade. Although safe, adenotonsillectomy can result in significant complications, such as aspiration and bleeding. Complications are infrequent, but because tonsillectomy is so common, the absolute number of children experiencing tonsillectomy complications is formidable. Corticosteroids are often given to children undergoing tonsillectomy to reduce postoperative nausea and vomiting; ...

Scientists from The University of Manchester were part of a European team of researchers who concluded that digital assistance for 21 of the 30 languages investigated is 'non-existent' or 'weak' at best. The report coincides with the European Day of Languages [SEPTEMBER 26], a day which recognises the importance of fostering and developing the rich linguistic and cultural heritage of our continent. Languages spoken by a small number of people could be at risk because they do not have technological support, the report by META-NET, a European network of excellence that ...

Research: Cardiovascular disease risk in healthy children and its association with body mass index: systematic review and meta-analysis Editorial: Obesity in children and adolescents Being obese as a child or adolescent may have a larger effect on future health than previously thought, suggests a study published on bmj.com today. It comes as New York City passes a ban on large-size sugary drinks to help tackle obesity and related health problems in the US. MPs are now calling on the government to introduce similar legislation in the UK. Researchers at the University ...

Simon Chapman, Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney thinks the extra publicity that celebrities provide can help promote public health. He acknowledges that celebrities are not experts but says, unlike many experts, they "often speak personally and bring compelling authenticity to public discourse." He says those concerned about celebrities in health campaigns "invariably point to examples which have gone badly wrong or which fail to change the world forever" but argues "they are silent about the many examples of celebrity engagement that have massively ...

Personal View: Medical screening of older drivers is not evidence based Medical screening of older drivers is misguided and typifies a "worrying lack of due diligence" by the medical profession, warns a senior doctor on bmj.com today. Professor Desmond O'Neill, Consultant Physician in Geriatric and Stroke Medicine at Trinity College Dublin, argues that older drivers not only have an enviable crash record, but they also raise traffic safety among other generations: the risk of serious injury to children is halved if driven by grandparents rather than parents. "Yet the ...