One of the trickiest parts of treating brain conditions is the blood brain barrier, a blockade of cells that prevent both harmful toxins and helpful pharmaceuticals from getting to the body's control center. But, a technique published in JoVE, uses an MRI machine to guide the use of microbubbles and focused ultrasound to help drugs enter the brain, which may open new treatment avenues for devastating conditions like Alzheimer's and brain cancers. "It's getting close to the point where this could be done safely in humans," said paper-author Meaghan O'Reilly, "there is ...

People often wonder if computers make children smarter. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, are asking the reverse question: Can children make computers smarter? And the answer appears to be 'yes.' UC Berkeley researchers are tapping the cognitive smarts of babies, toddlers and preschoolers to program computers to think more like humans. If replicated in machines, the computational models based on baby brainpower could give a major boost to artificial intelligence, which historically has had difficulty handling nuances and uncertainty, researchers ...

A major study led by the University of Adelaide has found that women who have had one prior cesarean can lower the risk of death and serious complications for their next baby - and themselves - by electing to have another cesarean. The study, known as the Birth After Caesarean (BAC) study, is the first of its kind in the world. It involves more than 2300 women and their babies and 14 Australian maternity hospitals. The results are published this week in the international journal, PLoS Medicine. The study shows that infants born to women who had a planned elective ...

TORONTO, Ont., March 13, 2012—Imagine that you have asthma, and rather than give you a set of instructions about what to do if you have an attack, your doctor invites you to help write them? Would that make patients feel more engaged and empowered in managing their health care, and would that ultimately make them happier if not healthier? These questions are being raised by Dr. Samir Gupta, a respirologist at St. Michael's Hospital. His research has found that a wiki – a website developed collaboratively by a community of users, allowing any user to add and edit content ...

With the NCAA men's college basketball tournament set to begin, college basketball fans around the United States are in the throes of March Madness. Anyone who has seen a game knows that the fans are like extra players on the court, and this is especially true during critical free throws. Fans of the opposing team will wave anything they can, from giant inflatable noodles to big heads, to make it difficult for players to focus on the basket. But one way a player might be able to improve his chances at making that free throw is by tricking himself into thinking the basket ...

Army scientists have demonstrated, for the first time, that antibody-based therapies can successfully protect monkeys from the deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses. In addition, the animals were fully protected even when treatment was administered two days post-infection, an accomplishment unmatched by any experimental therapy for these viruses to date. The work appears in this week's electronic edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The filoviruses, Ebola and Marburg, cause hemorrhagic fever with human case fatality rates as high as 90 percent. They ...

STORRS, Conn. – The American public's growing skepticism in recent years about the existence of man-made global warming is rooted in apprehension about the troubled economy, a University of Connecticut study suggests. Lyle Scruggs, associate professor of political science in UConn's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, says the public's belief in climate change dropped significantly as the economy dipped and unemployment climbed in the late 2000s. His research with UConn political science graduate student Salil Benegal found that popular alternative explanations -- ...

Evidence uncovered during research conducted in Florence's Palazzo Vecchio late last year appears to support the theory that a lost Leonardo da Vinci painting existed on the east wall of the Hall of the 500, behind Giorgio Vasari's mural "The Battle of Marciano." The data supporting the theoretical location of the da Vinci painting "The Battle of Anghiari" was obtained through the use of an endoscopic probe that was inserted through the wall on which the Vasari fresco was painted. The probe was fitted with a camera and allowed a team of researchers, led by scientist Maurizio ...

Do a Google image search for "Greece." Before you find pictures of the Parthenon or Acropolis, you'll see several beautiful photos of Santorini, the picturesque island in the Aegean Sea. The British Broadcasting Company named it the world's best island in 2011. Santorini is a tourist magnet, famous for its breathtaking, cliff side views and sunsets. It's also a volcanic island that has been relatively calm since its last eruption in 1950. Until now. The Santorini caldera is awake again and rapidly deforming at levels never seen before. Georgia Tech Associate Professor ...

South Dennis dentist Dr. Michael Bittrich's service to the community does not stop with his dental practice. For the fifth year in a row, he is riding his bike in the Pan Massachusetts Challenge to raise money for cancer research and treatment on Aug. 4 and 5th, 2012. Last year the event raised $35 million and the Dennis dentist and his "Miles for Mary" team were able to raise more than 55 thousand dollars. The money raised from the event is donated to the Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Both organizations strive to both provide expert cancer ...

From routine dental care to cosmetic procedures, including Dania dental implants, patients can now request an appointment with Dr. Tamara Rojas, dentist in Hollywood, FL. This new feature allows patients to easily request an appointment even when the office is closed. As many patients maintain a busy day-to-day schedule, it is often hard for them to find a moment to call the office during operating hours. With online appointment requesting patients can request an appointment with Dr. Rojas, Hallandale dentist, from their office, car or from the comfort of their own ...

To develop a prototype and then test it right away under everyday conditions of use is not an easy undertaking, and setbacks are practically preprogrammed. The hydrogen powered street cleaning vehicle, which took about 18 months to develop and began trials in Basel in 2009, is no exception. "It became clear relatively quickly that the fuel cell system, which had been developed as a one-of specially for the project, was not yet ready for use in a real-life setting," explains project leader Christian Bach, head of Empa's Internal Combustion Engines Laboratory. "On top of ...

At Smile Enhancement Studio, Dr. Mary Sue Stonisch, Grosse Pointe dentist, is dedicated to providing patients with the best quality dental care available at an affordable rate. Dr. Stonisch encourages patients to visit her interactive website at http://www.smileenhancementstudio.com to find updated practice specials for discounted dental care. When patients visit the specials page, the first offer is a "BOGO Special." With this special, patients can receive buy one, get one free teeth whitening in Grosse Pointe. For a discounted price of #361 patients can ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Candidates with lower-pitched voices may get more votes in the 2012 election. A new study by biologists and a political scientist shows that both men and women prefer political candidates with deeper voices. The results also suggest that biology -- not just partisanship or ideology – can shape voters' choices. "We often make snap judgments about candidates without full knowledge of their policies or positions. These findings might help explain why," said Duke University biologist Rindy Anderson. "It's clear that our voices carry more information than ...

When patients are suffering from foot or ankle pain, they are often in search of the quickest and easiest way to find relief. Dr. Scott Melamed, five star reviewed podiatrist in 10010, is dedicated to finding new and improved ways of making receiving podiatric care easy. Through his interactive website, Dr. Melamed is pleased to offer patients a new feature for easy, convenient appointment requesting. Foot pain in Gramercy Park, NY can interrupt a patient's daily schedule. If a patient experiences any pain or other complications with their foot or ankle, they can immediately ...

They can estimate whether native plants in the neighbourhood of invasive species incorporate the nitrogen fixed by the latter. The biologists examined the Sydney Golden Wattle (Acacia longifolia), an Australian shrub that has established itself in Mediterranean climates worldwide. They found that the invasive species threatens native ecosystems not only through its prolific growth but also by fertilizing the surrounding soil with nitrogen – this effect markedly extended beyond the area occupied by the invader. This innovative method (called 15N isoscapes) is being published ...

Puget Sound Computers now offers IT services, technology planning, support and project management to healthcare providers in both King and Snohomish counties. While new to the area, the company has more than 20 years' experience providing technological support to businesses. Puget Sound Computers supports healthcare providers, both medical and dental, with services such as network management, backup, disaster recovery and technology support and training. With their IT needs outsourced to Puget Sound Computers, businesses can relax, knowing that their technology requirements ...

Scientists have gained insight into why lithium salts are effective at treating bipolar disorder in what could lead to more targeted therapies with fewer side-effects. Bipolar disorder is characterised by alternating states of elevated mood, or mania, and depression. It affects between 1% and 3% of the general population. The extreme 'mood swings' in bipolar disorder have been strongly associated with disruptions in circadian rhythms – the 24-hourly rhythms controlled by our body clocks that govern our day and night activity. For the last 60 years, lithium salt (lithium ...

Might the "Twinkie defense" have a scientific foundation after all? Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have shown – by each of a range of measures, in men and women of all ages, in Caucasians and minorities – that consumption of dietary trans fatty acids (dTFAs) is associated with irritability and aggression. The study of nearly 1,000 men and women provides the first evidence linking dTFAs with adverse behaviors that impacted others, ranging from impatience to overt aggression. The research, led by Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, associate ...

CHICAGO (March 13, 2012) – According to the results of a new study published in the March 2012 issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, patients who score highest on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test–Consumption (AUDIT-C) experience longer postoperative hospital stays and more days in the intensive care unit (ICU); they are also more likely to return to the operating room (OR) within 30 days of a surgical procedure than patients with low AUDIT-C scores. As a result, study authors determined alcohol screening could be used to identify patients ...

Italian researchers at the Catholic University of Sacred Heart in Rome found an important molecular mechanism responsible for low back pain and other acute vertebral problems like cervical axial pain, all due to aging and degeneration of the vertebral column. The team led by Dr. Luigi Aurelio Nasto and Enrico Pola also developed an experimental drug to inhibit this degenerative mechanism, by blocking its principal culprit, the molecule, "NF-kB" and tested it successfully in mice. The study was carried out in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh research team ...

WASHINGTON, March 13—Ultrafast lasers, lasers that emit light pulses that are as short as a few femtoseconds, have enabled a wide-range of fundamental science and applications over the past two decades. To highlight recent state-of-the-art developments in femtosecond lasers, the Optical Society (OSA) today published a series of papers as part of an upcoming special Focus Issue on Modular Ultrafast Lasers in its open-access journal Optics Express. The issue is organized and edited by Wilson Sibbett and Tom Brown of the University of St Andrews in the United Kingdom, and ...

The study, appears this week in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, with Andrés J. López-Contreras and Paula Gutiérrez Martínez as first authors, focuses on the activity of Chk1, a gene known for its tumour suppressing effect. It is what Fernández-Capetillo calls "a genome guardian, a gene that keeps our genome free of mutations and, therefore, protects against the development of tumours". The team wished to ascertain whether the tumour-protective effect of Chk1 was magnified in organisms with a larger quantity of the protein it codes for, ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. ¬— For years, doctors have been able to treat defects in joint cartilage by grafting cartilage donated from cadavers into patients' bad joints. Using current methods, donated cartilage can be stored for 28 days for a transplant before the tissue becomes too degraded to transplant into a patient. Now, researchers from the University of Missouri have found a way to store donated cartilage more than twice as long. "Currently, nearly 80 percent of all donated tissue has to be discarded because it deteriorates before a transplant bank can find a match with a ...

Is the gambling industry recession-proof? The answer isn't as obvious today as it may have been in previous years. In the early days of gambling, the only legal options available in most countries were horse and dog racing. Until 1976, when gambling was legalized in Atlantic City, the only state that allowed players to gamble legally was Las Vegas. Casino games like slots and blackjack only made their way to the rest of the country in the late 1980's by way of riverboat and Indian casinos. Nowadays, with the exception of Utah and Hawaii, some form of legal gambling exists ...