Heavy metal pollution of lakes has a seriously detrimental impact on people and ecosystems that rely on such bodies of water. According to a study published in the current issue of Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, researchers have focused on the physicochemical properties and toxicology of water from and around Thane City of Maharashtra. Environmental chemist Pravin Singare of Bhavan's College, in Mumbai, and colleagues highlight the fact that fresh water bodies all over the world are becoming increasingly polluted day by day and that this represents a growing ...

Bladder cancer patients who have radical surgery at university hospitals can benefit from excellent local control of the disease, acceptable clinical outcomes and low death rates, according to research in the August issue of the urology journal BJUI. Researchers studied 2,287 patients who had radical cystectomy surgery, where the bladder is removed, together with nearby tissue and organs as required. The surgery was performed at eight Canadian academic centres between 1998 and 2008. The study found that there were three independent factors, apart from pathological ...

Researchers can now watch molecules move in living cells, literally millisecond by millisecond, thanks to a new microscope developed by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany. Published online today in Nature Biotechnology, the new technique provides insights into processes that were so far invisible. By combining light-sheet microscopy and single molecule spectroscopy, the new microscope can record the fluorescence of every pixel within view, and take snapshots at intervals of less than one millisecond. With it, scientists ...

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that male fruitflies experience a type of 'paranoia' in the presence of another male, which doubles the length of time they mate with a female, despite the female of the species only ever mating with one male. Females in many species of animal have multiple mates and males have evolved particular reproductive characteristics to ensure their sperm are successful when in competition with the sperm of other males. Adaptations include physical traits that result in increased sperm count, as well as behavioural alterations ...

Calculating the surface area of Gran Canaria is no easy task for a 14-year-old. It's not simply a question of learning the right formula. Students have to develop a strategy that enables them to put mathematical theory into practice – working out the information that is important and applying the right geometric models and tools. Realizing that the island has an almost circular shape and so its surface area can be approximated using the area of a circle is not as straightforward as it sounds. Are schoolchildren capable of developing these kinds of solutions themselves or ...

In Anna Gudmundsdottir's laboratory at the University of Cincinnati, dedicated researchers endeavor to tame the extremely reactive chemicals known as radicals. Highly reactive radicals are atoms, molecules or ions frantically trying to become something else. Their lifetimes are measured in fractions of seconds and typically occur in the middle of a chain of chemical reactions. They are also known as reactive intermediates. Much of Gudmundsdottir's work has focused on a family of radicals known as triplet nitrenes. "Triplet nitrenes are reactive intermediates with high ...

A new study from the University of Haifa has found that walking around the ward during hospitalization significantly reduces the length of the older patient's stay. "Given the over-occupancy of many hospitals, this finding can be of great importance," the researchers stated. Walking around the ward during hospitalization reduces the length of geriatric patients' stay in internal wards. This has been shown in a new study by Dr. Efrat Shadmi and Dr. Anna Zisberg of the University of Haifa's Department of Nursing, funded by the Israeli Science Foundation and published in ...

Nearly half of all women scientists and one-quarter of male scientists at the nation's top research universities said their career has kept them from having as many children as they had wanted, according to a new study by Rice University and Southern Methodist University (SMU). The study, "Scientists Want More Children," was authored by sociologists Elaine Howard Ecklund of Rice and Anne Lincoln of SMU and appears in the current issue of the journal PLoS ONE. For the past three years, Ecklund and Lincoln have been studying what junior and senior scientists in physics, ...

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are using a technology known as "Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflection" (FTIR-ATR) spectroscopy to rapidly identify with 95 percent accuracy citrus plant leaves infected with the devastating disease known as citrus greening. Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Subtropical Plant Pathology Research Unit in Fort Pierce, Fla., and the agency's Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit in Athens, Ga., collaborated on the use of FTIR-ATR spectroscopy to identify citrus greening in plants. ...

OTTAWA – August 8, 2011 – There are increasing pressures for health care providers to make individual-level data readily available for research and policy making. But Canadians are more likely to allow the sharing of their personal data if they believe that their privacy is protected. A new report by Dr. Khaled El Emam, the Canada Research Chair in Electronic Health Information at the University of Ottawa and the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, suggests that Canadians can be uniquely identified from their date of birth, postal code, and gender. ...

A liquid does not have to be a disordered bunch of particles: A team of researchers at Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) and the University of Vienna has discovered intriguing structures formed by tiny particles floating in liquids. Under mechanical strain, particle clusters in liquids can spontaneously form strings and dramatically alter the properties of the liquid. What is common to blood, ink and gruel? They are all liquids in which tiny particles are suspended – so called "colloids". In some of these liquids, the particles form groups (clusters), which ...

Hospitals vary markedly when it comes to the rate at which diagnostic coronary angiography or catheterization – an invasive procedure that allows doctors to see the vessels and arteries leading to the heart – actually finds obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) in people without known heart disease. In fact, while some U.S. hospitals report that 100 percent of patients undergoing this procedure were found to have CAD, others had rates as low as 23 percent, meaning the majority of patients selected for elective catheterization did not have blockages, according to ...

CINCINNATI—A new study supports the use of a DNA-based "biomarker" blood test as a complement to the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test currently offered to screen men for prostate cancer. University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers report their findings online ahead of print in the British Journal of Cancer. Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of existing published data related to DNA methylation in bodily fluids. The goal was to evaluate a specific cancer biomarker—known as GSTP1—as a screening tool for prostate cancer. The study was a cross-disciplinary collaborative ...

Nearly half of men undergoing surgery for prostate cancer expect better recovery from the side effects of the surgery than they actually attain one year after the operation, a University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center study finds. In addition, prior to surgery, a small proportion of men had expected to have better urinary continence and sexual functions a year after the surgery than they had before it – the exact opposite of what typically happens. "This is a belief that does not reflect preoperative counseling which, on the contrary, alerts men to urinary ...

FINDINGS: Whitehead Institute researchers have uncovered a novel association between two fungal recognition receptors on the surface of certain immune cells, called macrophages. The interaction of these receptors (dectin-1 and galectin-3) sheds new light on how the innate immune system discriminates between non-pathogenic and pathogenic fungi. RELEVANCE: Invasive fungal infections are a rising source of morbidity and mortality in healthy individuals, as well as in patients suffering from chronic diseases, such as cancer or AIDS. Research into the role of the dectin-1/galectin-3 ...

Researchers have found a potential new source for sexual problems among middle-aged and older men: the relationships between their female partners and the men's closest friends. A study published Monday, August 8, by scholars at the University of Chicago and Cornell University has found a connection between erectile dysfunction and the social networks shared by heterosexual men and their partners. They describe the situation as "partner betweenness." In such cases, a man's female partner has stronger relationships with his confidants than the man does — in effect, the ...

Modifying stomach acid levels may not be enough to treat symptoms in neonates suspected of having gastroesophageal reflux disease. According to a study from Nationwide Children's Hospital, this is the first study to classify reflux and its associated symptoms in neonates based on how and what is refluxed. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a frequent consideration in infants at risk of the life-threatening events chronic lung disease and dysphagia. Yet, the definition of GERD in neonates and infants and its treatment remains controversial. Acid suppressive medications ...

PHILADELPHIA - In a recent issue of Cancer Research, Daniel J. Powell, Jr., PhD, a research assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, showed for the first time that engineered human T cells can eradicate deadly human ovarian cancer in immune-deficient mice. Ovarian cancer is the most lethal reproductive cancer for women, with one-fifth of women diagnosed with advanced disease surviving five years. Nearly all ovarian cancers (90%) are characterized by their ...

PHILADELPHIA – In the latest issue of Nature, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania clarify the role of two proteins key to T-cell development. They found that one well-known protein called Notch passes off much of its role during T-cell maturation to another protein called TCF-1. T cells are required for many aspects of immunity, and understanding how these proteins influence the production of infection-fighting cells could improve treatments for immune-suppressed patients. The research group, led by senior author Avinash Bhandoola, ...

Almost everything we do leaves a digital trace, whether we send an email to a friend or make a purchase online. That includes law-abiding citizens — and criminals. And with digital information multiplying by the second, there are seemingly endless amounts of information for criminal investigators to gather and process. Now Prof. Irad Ben-Gal, Dr. Eugene Kagan and Ph.D. student Aviv Gruber of the Department of Industrial Engineering in Tel Aviv University's Ibi and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering are using these digital traces to catch criminals and beef up homeland ...

MANHATTAN, KAN. -- A Kansas State University professor is helping students improve their confidence and academic performance by creating a map of learning. Candice Shoemaker, professor of horticulture, has spent more than four years looking at students and self-efficacy. Self-efficacy involves student confidence in understanding topics and is often linked with academic motivation, learning and achievement. Shoemaker's published research appeared in a recent issue of HortTechnology. Shoemaker studied self-efficacy by creating a course map for students in the Principles ...

A female mosquito cannot tell if the male that she has mated with is fertile or 'spermless' and unable to fertilise her eggs, according to a new study from scientists at Imperial College London. The research, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help scientists in their mission to prevent the spread of malaria by interfering with the mosquitoes' ability to reproduce. Malaria is a debilitating disease that affects more than 300 million people every year, and kills nearly 800,000 annually. In Africa, a child dies of malaria ...

GREENBELT, Md. -- The NASA National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) has successfully completed its most comprehensive end-to-end compatibility test of the actual satellite and all five scientific instruments at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp's production and test facility in Boulder, Colo. During the four-week NPP Compatibility Test 4 (NCT4), all segments of the ground system were assessed including active commanding of the satellite as well as monitoring the flow of both satellite health and safety and ...

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, August 8, 2011—A Los Alamos National Laboratory research team has harnessed neutrons to view for the first time the critical role that an elusive molecule plays in certain biological reactions. The effort could aid in treatment of peptic ulcers or acid reflux disease, or allow for more efficient conversion of woody waste into transportation fuels. In a paper appearing this week in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Los Alamos researchers join an international team in describing the role played by the elusive hydronium ion in the transfer ...

It's pretty much a given that the more educated someone becomes, the more likely they are to question their religious beliefs, stop going to church and even abandon their faith entirely. Or is it? A new University of Nebraska-Lincoln study challenges that age-old notion with findings that show education actually has a positive effect on Americans' churchgoing habits, their devotional practices, their emphasis on religion in daily life and their support for religious leaders to weigh in on the issues of the day. The work, to be published in a forthcoming edition of ...