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Environment17 Jul 2012

Carbon-based transistors ramp up speed and memory for mobile devices

Though smartphones and tablets are hailed as the hardware of the future, their present-day incarnations have some flaws. Most notoriously, low RAM memory limits the number of applications that can be run at one time and quickly consumes battery power. Now, a Tel Aviv University researcher has found a creative solution to these well-known problems. As silicon technology gets smaller, creating a large and powerful memory grows harder, say PhD candidate Elad Mentovich and his supervisor Dr. Shachar Richter of TAU's Department of Chemistry and Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

Brain power shortage

Can you teach an old dog (or human) new tricks? Yes, but it might take time, practice, and hard work before he or she gets it right, according to Hans Schroder and colleagues from Michigan State University in the US. Their work shows that when rules change, our attempts to control our actions are accompanied by a loss of attention to detail. Their work is published online in the Springer journal Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience. In order to adapt to changing conditions, humans need to be able to modify their behavior successfully. Overriding the rules ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

Helper T cells, not killer T cells, might be responsible for clearing hepatitis A infection

Helper cells traditionally thought to only assist killer white blood cells may be the frontline warriors when battling hepatitis A infection. These are the findings from a Nationwide Children's Hospital study appearing in a recent issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine. Hepatitis A is a highly contagious liver infection caused by the hepatitis A virus. Despite the availability of an effective vaccine, the virus infects millions of people worldwide each year and remains a global public health problem, especially in underdeveloped countries. Unlike the hepatitis ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

Laser treatment improves appearance in burn scars, study shows

CINCINNATI—In a collaboration among researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC), Shriners Hospitals for Children–Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, burn and skin specialists have shown that use of a pulsed-dye laser tool improves the appearance, texture and elasticity of burn scars. The study, published online ahead of print in the journal Dermatological Surgery, compared the use of the pulsed-dye laser and compression therapy on scars against compression therapy alone for pediatric burn patients. Lead author and UC burn surgery researcher ...

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Science17 Jul 2012

Global warming harms lakes

Global warming also affects lakes. Based on the example of Lake Zurich, researchers from the University of Zurich demonstrate that there is insufficient water turnover in the lake during the winter and harmful Burgundy blood algae are increasingly thriving. The warmer temperatures are thus compromising the successful lake clean-ups of recent decades. Many large lakes in Central Europe became heavily overfertilized in the twentieth century through sewage. As a result, algal blooms developed and cyanobacteria (photosynthetic bacteria) especially began to appear en masse. ...

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Science17 Jul 2012

Synthetic Biology Scorecard finds federal agencies responding to bioethics report

WASHINGTON – Federal agencies have started taking steps to address the recommendations in a 2010 report from the presidential bioethics commission to improve the governance of synthetic biology research and development, though the government has not fully addressed any of the report recommendations, according to a scorecard tracking the efforts. The Synthetic Biology Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars launched the web-based Synthetic Biology Scorecard in February to track federal and non-federal efforts to implement the recommendations in ...

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Science17 Jul 2012

Human eye inspires clog-free ink jet printer invented by MU researcher

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Clogged printer nozzles waste time and money while reducing print quality. University of Missouri engineers recently invented a clog-preventing nozzle cover by mimicking the human eye. "The nozzle cover we invented was inspired by the human eye," said Jae Wan Kwon, associate professor in the College of Engineering. "The eye and an ink jet nozzle have a common problem: they must not be allowed to dry while, simultaneously, they must open. We used biomimicry, the imitation of nature, to solve human problems." Kwon's invention uses a droplet of silicone ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

Deadly liver cancer may be triggered by cells changing identity, UCSF study shows

A rare type of cancer thought to derive from cells in the bile ducts of the liver may actually develop when one type of liver cell morphs into a totally different type, a process scientists used to consider all but impossible. UCSF researchers triggered this kind of cellular transformation—and caused tumors to form in mice—by activating just two genes. Their discovery suggests that drugs that are able to target those genes may provide a way to treat the deadly cancer, known as cholangiocarcinoma. It also shows, yet again, how the process of scientific discovery involves ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

Force of nature: Defining the mechanical mechanisms in living cells

VIDEO: This brief video shows a cell division within a tissue and the mechanical forces clearly at play in the cell's placement in the tissue. Click here for more information. If you place certain types of living cells on a microscope slide, the cells will inch across the glass, find their neighbors, and assemble themselves into a simple, if primitive tissue. A new study at Stanford University may help explain this phenomenon, and then some, about the mechanical structure ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

Mayo Clinic begins to unravel rare heart condition that strikes young, healthy women

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), a tear of the layers of the artery wall that can block normal blood flow into and around the heart, is a relatively rare and poorly understood condition. It often strikes young, otherwise healthy people -- mostly women -- and can lead to significant heart damage, even sudden death. Now, in the first study of its kind of such patients, Mayo Clinic researchers have started to uncover important clues about SCAD, including its potential risk factors, optimal treatment approaches and short- and long-term cardiovascular ...

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Science17 Jul 2012

US Army: Pre-injury cartilage biomarkers associated with subsequent ACL injuries

Baltimore, Md., July 16, 2012 – U.S. Army researchers made a surprising discovery while examining the impact of an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear (a common knee injury), on four serum biomarkers associated with cartilage health. The researchers found that pre-injury concentrations for all but one of the four serum biomarkers studied were associated with the subsequent likelihood of ACL injury. The findings were presented Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM). "We expected to see post-injury differences in ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

Increase in RDA for vitamin C could help reduce heart disease, stroke, cancer

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The recommended dietary allowance, or RDA, of vitamin C is less than half what it should be, scientists argue in a recent report, because medical experts insist on evaluating this natural, but critical nutrient in the same way they do pharmaceutical drugs and reach faulty conclusions as a result. The researchers, in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, say there's compelling evidence that the RDA of vitamin C should be raised to 200 milligrams per day for adults, up from its current levels in the United States of 75 milligrams for women and ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

RIH study: Emergency patients prefer technology-based interventions for behavioral issues

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Rhode Island Hospital researcher has found that emergency department patients prefer technology-based interventions for high-risk behaviors such as alcohol use, unsafe sex and violence. ER patients said they would choose technology (ie text messaging, email, or Internet) over traditional intervention methods such as in-person or brochure-based behavioral interventions. The paper by Megan L. Ranney, M.D., is available now online in advance of print in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. The study was a cross-sectional survey of urban emergency department ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

Uncommon BRAF mutation in melanoma sensitive to MEK inhibitor drug therapy

An uncommon mutation of the BRAF gene in melanoma patients has been found to respond to MEK inhibitor drugs, providing a rationale for routine screening and therapy in melanoma patients who harbor the BRAF L597 mutation. The new study by co-first-authors Kimberly Brown Dahlman, Ph.D., Junfeng Xia, Ph.D., and Katherine Hutchinson, B.S., Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), Nashville, Tenn., was published online July 14 in Cancer Discovery. The research was led by co-senior authors William Pao, M.D., Ph.D., Jeffrey Sosman, M.D., and Zhongming Zhao, Ph.D., VICC, and ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

Low-cal diet's effects seen in fly brain, mouthpart

SAN ANTONIO (July 16, 2012) — A novel technique for measuring tiny, rapid-fire secretions in the brains and mouthparts of fruit flies (drosophila) is providing insights into the beneficial effects of eating less — information that ultimately could help people suffering from neuromuscular disorders. Using the method, researchers uncovered never-before-seen brain chemistry that helps explain why fruit flies genetically manipulated to mimic conditions such as Parkinson's disease and myasthenia gravis are more vigorous and live longer when fed a restricted diet. Published ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

Gene therapy treatment extends lives of mice with fatal disease, MU study finds

COLUMBIA, Mo. — A team of University of Missouri researchers has found that introducing a missing gene into the central nervous system could help extend the lives of patients with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) – the leading genetic cause of infantile death in the world. SMA is a rare genetic disease that is inherited by one in 6,000 children who often die young because there is no cure. Children who inherit SMA are missing a gene that produces a protein which directs nerves in the spine to give commands to muscles. The MU team, led by Christian Lorson, professor in ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

U of S researchers discover cannabis 'pharma factory'

U of S researchers have discovered the chemical pathway that Cannabis sativa uses to create bioactive compounds called cannabinoids, paving the way for the development of marijuana varieties to produce pharmaceuticals or cannabinoid-free industrial hemp. The research appears online in the July 16 early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). U of S adjunct professor of biology Jon Page explains that the pathway is an unusual one, involving a specialized version of one enzyme, called hexanoyl-CoA synthetase, and another enzyme, called olivetolic ...

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Science17 Jul 2012

Victory stance may be a universal gesture of triumph -- not pride -- study suggests

When Olympic athletes throw up their arms, clench their fists and grimace after a win, they are displaying triumph through a gesture that is the same across cultures, a new study suggests. New findings due to be published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior suggest this victory pose signals feelings of triumph, challenging previous research that labeled the expression pride. "We found that displays of triumph include different behaviors to those of pride and occur more immediately after a victory or win," said David Matsumoto, professor of psychology at San Francisco ...

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Science17 Jul 2012

Weight loss today keeps the doctor away

Montreal, July 16, 2012 – Statistics show that today, almost one in four Canadians is obese. A deadly trend that has been on the rise for the last thirty years, obesity is associated with diabetes, heart disease and cancer. But is the obesity epidemic putting more pressure on an already strained Canadian health care system? James McIntosh, a professor in the Department of Economics at Concordia University, is the first to look at the impact of obesity on the number of doctor visits nation-wide. According to his research, obese individuals visit the doctor more frequently ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

Neurons derived from cord blood cells may represent new therapeutic option

LA JOLLA, CA----For more than 20 years, doctors have been using cells from blood that remains in the placenta and umbilical cord after childbirth to treat a variety of illnesses, from cancer and immune disorders to blood and metabolic diseases. Now, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found a new way-using a single protein, known as a transcription factor-to convert cord blood (CB) cells into neuron-like cells that may prove valuable for the treatment of a wide range of neurological conditions, including stroke, traumatic brain injury and spinal ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

AGU Journal highlights -- July 16

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences (JGR-G), Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres (JGR-D), Journal of Geophysical Research-Planets (JGR-E), Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (G3), and Geophysical Research Letters (GRL). 1. Droughts threaten Bornean rainforests At 130 million years old, the rainforests of Southeast Asia are the oldest in the world and home to thousands of plant and animal species, some endemic to these forests. The rainforests ...

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Science17 Jul 2012

AAAS joins more than 3000 organizations in urging Congress to avoid 'devastating' budget cuts

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has joined more than 3000 national, state, and local organizations in warning the U.S. Congress and President Barack Obama that automatic budget cuts set for January could have "devastating" effects on research, education, social services, security, and international relations. The planned cuts threaten federal programs that "support economic growth and strengthen the safety and security of every American in every state and community across the nation," the groups wrote in a 12 July letter to Congress. "We ...

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Technology17 Jul 2012

Toughened silicon sponges may make tenacious batteries

HOUSTON – (July 16, 2012) – Researchers at Rice University and Lockheed Martin reported this month that they've found a way to make multiple high-performance anodes from a single silicon wafer. The process uses simple silicon to replace graphite as an element in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, laying the groundwork for longer-lasting, more powerful batteries for such applications as commercial electronics and electric vehicles. The work led by Sibani Lisa Biswal, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Rice, and lead author Madhuri Thakur, ...

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Science17 Jul 2012

Poor people value marriage as much as the middle class and rich, study shows

Poor people hold more traditional values toward marriage and divorce than people with moderate and higher incomes, UCLA psychologists report in the current issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family. The findings are based on a large survey about marriage, relationships and values, analyzed across income groups. They raise questions about how effectively some $1billion in government spending to promote the value of marriage among the poor is being spent. "A lot of government policy is based on the assumption that low-income people hold less traditional views about ...

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Medicine17 Jul 2012

New York Stem Cell Foundation scientists featured for new model of Alzheimer's disease

NEW YORK, NY (July 16, 2012) – A team of scientists at The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Laboratory led by Scott Noggle, PhD, NYSCF–Charles Evans Senior Research Fellow for Alzheimer's Disease, has developed the first cell-based model of Alzheimer's disease (AD) by reprogramming skin cells of Alzheimer's patients to become brain cells that are affected in Alzheimer's. This will allow researchers to work directly on living brain cells suffering from Alzheimer's, which until now had not been possible. Andrew Sproul, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in Dr. Noggle's laboratory, ...

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