Using an experimental apparatus reminiscent of a classic Frankenstein movie, French researchers have coaxed laboratory-generated lightning into striking the same place, not just twice, but over and over. This feat of electrical reorientation used femtosecond (one quadrillionth of a second) pulses of laser light to create a virtual lightning rod out of a column of ionized gas. This is the first time that these laser-induced atmospheric filaments were able to redirect an electrical discharge away from its intended target and guide it to a normally less-attractive electrode. ...

More than one hundred years after the pioneering inventor Nikola Tesla first became fascinated with wireless energy transfer, the spread of mobile electronic devices has sparked renewed interest in the ability to power up without plugging in. Now researchers from Duke University in Durham, N.C., and the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories in Cambridge, Mass., have proposed a way to enhance the efficiency of wireless power transfer systems by incorporating a lens made from a new class of artificial materials. When a changing electric current flows through a wire ...

Boulder, Colo., USA - Highlights include several studies based in the U.S. Sierra Nevada, including a description of "magma fingers" and the formation of granite in the high Sierra crest near Yosemite National Park. Other studies investigate knickzones in the South Fork of the Eel River, California; the Rodgers Creek-Maacama fault system in the northern California Coast Ranges and its relation to the San Andreas fault; and the frequency and severity of destructive debris flows in the Pacific Northwest. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary copies of Geosphere ...

An analysis of the UK Obstetric Surveillance System published in this week's PLoS Medicine shows that uterine rupture—a serious complication of pregnancy in which the wall of the uterus (womb) tears during pregnancy or early labour—is rare but for women who have previously had a caesarean section, the risk of rupture increases with the number of previous caesarean deliveries, a short interval since the last caesarean section, and with induced labour. Kathryn Fitzpatrick and colleagues from the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit based at the University of Oxford in the ...

A team of scientists has found a novel road-block in the pain pathway, which could be used to treat chronic pain. Their results are published March 13 in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology. Pain is an important physiological function that protects our bodies from harm. Pain-sensing nerves transduce harmful stimuli into electrical signals and transmit this information to the brain via the spinal cord. However, when these nerves get activated persistently, such as after injury or inflammation, the information flow into the spinal cord is remarkably amplified. ...

A study by a group of Australian researchers—the Birth After Caesarean Study Group— published in this week's PLoS Medicine, suggests that in women who had a previous caesarean section, delivering their next baby by a planned repeat caesarean section was linked to better health outcomes for the mother during her stay in hospital and also better outcomes for her baby compared to having a vaginal birth. The researchers, led by Caroline Crowther from the Australian Research Centre for Health of Women and Babies based at the University of Adelaide, recruited 2345 suitable ...

There are concerns that the revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM—an internationally recognised classification of mental disorders produced by the American Psychiatric Association), scheduled for publication in May 2013, has been unduly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry despite the APA's instigating a policy of disclosing all financial conflicts of interest. Writing in this week's PLoS Medicine, Lisa Cosgrove from Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts and Sheldon Krimsky from Tufts University in Boston, USA state that ...

In the second paper in a three-part series on health systems guidance, John Lavis of McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada and colleagues explore the challenge of linking guidance development and policy development at global and national levels. Writing in this week's PLoS Medicine, the authors call for a division of labour between global guidance developers, global policy developers, national guidance developers, and national policy developers, and argue that a panel charged with developing health systems guidance at the global level could best add value by ensuring that ...

VIDEO: Kurt Brunden, Ph.D., Director of Drug Discovery at Penn's Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, explains a new Journal of Neuroscience study which shows that the compound epothilone D is effective... Click here for more information. PHILADELPHIA – A study published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience shows that the compound epothilone D (EpoD) is effective in preventing further neurological damage and improving cognitive performance in a mouse model of ...

CHICAGO – Among hospitals in Ontario, Canada, those with higher levels of spending, which included higher intensity nursing and greater use of specialists and procedures, had an associated lower rate of deaths, hospital readmissions, and better quality of care for severely ill hospitalized patients, according to a study in the March 14 issue of JAMA. Studies have investigated whether higher health care spending produces better patient outcomes and higher quality of care, with conflicting evidence in the United States and other countries. "The extent to which better spending ...

CHICAGO – Certain mutations of the gene ATRX were associated with age at diagnosis in children and young adults with advanced-stage neuroblastoma, a cancer that grows in parts of the nervous system, according to a study in the March 14 issue of JAMA. Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial (outside the cranium) solid tumor of childhood and accounts for 15 percent of all cancer-related deaths in children. "Half of the patients (50 percent) with neuroblastoma present with metastatic disease; with current treatment approaches, the age at diagnosis has proven to be ...

CHICAGO – In a small, preliminary trial, patients with infected necrotizing pancreatitis (severe form of the disease involving devitalized pancreatic tissue) who received a less-invasive procedure, endoscopic transgastric necrosectomy (removal of the pancreatic tissue), had an associated lower risk of major complications and death compared to patients who had surgical necrosectomy, according to a study in the March 14 issue of JAMA. "Acute pancreatitis is a common and potentially lethal disorder. In the United States alone, more than 50,000 patients are admitted with ...

CHICAGO – In the E coli outbreak in Germany in May 2011, treatment with azithromycin was associated with a lower frequency of long-term carriage of the bacteria and shorter duration of shedding of the bacteria in stool specimens, according to a study in the March 14 issue of JAMA. "Since May 2011, a large outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) has caused 3,816 documented infections in Germany, including 845 confirmed cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome [HUS; a condition characterized by the breakup of red blood cells and kidney failure]," the authors ...

Washington, DC — A compound that previously progressed to Phase II clinical trials for cancer treatment slows neurological damage and improves brain function in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study in the March 14 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings suggest the drug epothilone D (EpoD) may one day prove useful for treating people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease. Nerve cells in people with Alzheimer's disease contain tangles — distorted clumps made up of the protein tau. Under normal circumstances, tau helps stabilize structures ...

A nightly breathing treatment may do more than help people with obstructive sleep apnea get a good night's rest — it may also help prevent heart failure. In a study published in Circulation: Heart Failure, a journal of the American Heart Association, researchers in the U.K. discovered that moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can cause changes in the heart's shape and function, similar to the effects of hypertension. These changes include increased mass, thickening of the heart wall and reduced pumping ability. But, six months after continuous positive airway ...

Mobile phones could play a valuable role in helping HIV patients to take their medication every day, according to a new Cochrane Systematic Review. The researchers found that patients were less likely to miss doses if they were sent weekly mobile phone text message reminders. Text messaging is increasingly being used as a means of support in health care, including to help promote attendance at clinics and hospitals, and to increase contact between patients and care workers. There is also some evidence that text messaging helps tuberculosis patients to take their daily ...

Survival rates for cancer patients may be improved by treatment in specialised cancer centres, according to Cochrane researchers. In a review of recent studies, they found that women diagnosed with gynaecological cancer lived longer when treated in specialist compared to non-specialist units. In the past, cancer patients were often treated by non-specialist surgeons and hospitals. This is changing and in developed countries, most cancer care is now organised into networks of specialised centres, with on-site experts and specialised nursing staff. This centralised approach, ...

There is better evidence for the effectiveness of drug-based approaches for relieving labour pains than non-drug approaches. These are the findings of an all-encompassing publishing in The Cochrane Library, which draws together results from a number of previous reviews on the subject. Many different approaches are used to relieve pain in labour, but not all are supported by strong evidence. The researchers brought together the results of 15 previous Cochrane reviews and three non-Cochrane reviews, including data from 310 trials in total. To try to distinguish between ...

The odds of surviving their hospital stay for heart failure differ between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white patients according to their level of heart function, even when they received equal care in hospitals participating in the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines®–Heart Failure quality improvement program, researchers said. The study, published in the American Heart Association journal, Circulation: Heart Failure, is the first in which researchers compare the care and outcomes of Hispanic to non-Hispanic heart failure patients admitted to U.S. hospitals ...

Scientists say they have identified five eating patterns for U.S. adults that are strongly influenced by age, race, region, gender, income and education. Presenting their findings at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2012 Scientific Sessions, the scientists said the five dietary patterns are: Southern — fried, processed meats, and sugar sweetened beverages Traditional — Chinese and Mexican food, pasta dishes, pizza, soup and other mixed dishes including frozen or take-out meals Healthy — mostly ...

Cooling the palms of the hands while working out could help you stick with a physical activity program, according to a small study presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2012 Scientific Sessions. In the study, obese women who exercised while using the AvaCore Rapid Thermal Exchange (RTX palm cooling device) improved their exercise tolerance and cardiovascular fitness. "Obese women often complain about sweating and getting tired because they're walking around with extra insulation," said Stacy ...

Men's diets, in particular the amount and type of different fats they eat, could be associated with their semen quality according to the results of a study published online in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction [1] today (Wednesday). The study of 99 men in the USA found an association between a high total fat intake and lower total sperm count and concentration. It also found that men who ate more omega-3 polyunsaturated fats (the type of fat often found in fish and plant oils) had better formed sperm than men who ate less. However, the ...

Inadequate training or supervision of clinical staff and the absence of, or failure to follow clinical protocols were more important than a shortage of equipment or staff as causing harm to hospitalised patients in the developing world, claims a study published on bmj.com today. The researchers estimate that on average, these failures account for more than one death per day in each hospital studied, the vast majority of which are preventable. The authors from the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation of the study initiated by the World Health Organization, ...

China's groundwater irrigation system is responsible for polluting the atmosphere with more than 30 million tonnes of CO2 per year – according to research from the University of East Anglia. Groundwater used for crop irrigation in China has grown from 10 billion cubic metres in 1950 to more than 100 billion today. A research paper, published today in Environmental Research Letters, estimates that the pumping systems which support this immense irrigation network annually produce 33.1 MtCO2e (33.1 mega tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent). China is the largest greenhouse ...

A protein involved in inflammation, the interleukin-6 receptor (IL6R), is a contributing cause in the development of heart disease, new research led by the University of Cambridge has discovered. The research was published today, 15 March, in the journal The Lancet. The findings suggest that targeting the IL6R signalling pathway might therefore be an effective way of combatting heart disease. Dr Adam Butterworth, who co-led the study from the University of Cambridge, said: "Typically, it can take many years to make safe and effective drugs to target new disease pathways. ...