University of Houston researchers have developed a method for creating single-crystal arrays of the material graphene, an advance that opens the possibility of a replacement for silicon in high-performance computers and electronics. The work by UH researchers and their collaborators is featured on the cover of the June issue of Nature Materials. Graphene is a one-atom-thick layer of carbon that was first fabricated in 2004. Single-crystal arrays of the material could be used to create a new class of high-speed transistors and integrated circuits that use less energy than ...

WASHINGTON, DC, May 24, 2011 — Children whose parents get divorced generally don't experience detrimental setbacks in the pre-divorce period, but often fall behind their peers—and don't catch up—when it comes to math and interpersonal social skills after their parents begin the divorce process, according to a new study. In addition, the study, which appears in the June issue of the American Sociological Review, finds that children of divorce are more likely to struggle with anxiety, loneliness, low self-esteem, and sadness. This increase in "internalizing problem behaviors" ...

WASHINGTON, DC, May 25, 2011 — Black and Mexican American doctors and lawyers aren't any more likely to play "high-status" sports such as golf or tennis than less educated people within their racial-ethnic groups, and more educated blacks may actually be less inclined to do so, suggests a new study in the June issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior Relying on nationally representative data from the 1998 National Health Interview Survey-Sample Adult Prevention Module, and focusing on 17,455 adults ages 25 to 60, the study finds that racial-ethnic differences ...

Contact: Jeff Haskins jhaskins@burnesscommunications.com 254-729-871-422 Burness Communications Michelle Geis mgeis@burnesscommunications.com 301-280-5712 Study maps global 'hotspots' of climate-induced food insecurity Scientists warn disaster looms for parts of Africa and all of India if chronic food insecurity converges with crop-wilting weather; Latin America also vulnerable This release is available in French and Spanish. COPENHAGEN (3 JUNE 2011)—A new study has matched future climate change "hotspots" with regions already suffering chronic food problems ...

New York - How can the world's 2.5 billion people with little or no access to electricity get hooked up to an affordable, sustainable supply? Projects created by a combination of public and private resources to bring clean, reliable electricity to two remote, impoverished South American communities could light a path to be followed around the world. In Argentina's Patagonia region a 86-kilowatt hydroelectric station will provide power to the tiny rural community of Cochico, while a wind and diesel hybrid system of the same size will supply the isolated village of ...

An article demonstrating how tools for modeling traffic on the Internet and telephone systems can be used to study information flow in brain networks will be published in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology on 2nd June 2011. The brain functions as a complex system of regions that must communicate with each other to enable everyday activities such as perception and cognition. This need for networked computation is a challenge common to multiple types of communication systems. Thus, important questions about how information is routed and emitted from individual ...

A new study published in the journal Clinical Cardiology reveals that in men with chronic heart failure, cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) improves patients' libido, erectile dysfunction, and sexual performance. Chronic heart failure (HF) is a common, complex clinical syndrome characterized by fatigue and exercise intolerance. HF patients experience decreased libido and erectile dysfunction (ED). CRT, which is a type of pacemaker that paces the right and left ventricle, is used to treat patients with HF. Led by Ahmet Vural of Kocaeli University, researchers investigated ...

WASHINGTON, DC, May 26, 2011 — Unwed mothers face poorer health at midlife than do women who have children after marriage, according to a new nationwide study, which appears in the June 2011 issue of the American Sociological Review. Researchers found that women who had their first child outside of marriage described their health as poorer at age 40 than did other moms. This is the first U.S. study to document long-term negative health consequences for unwed mothers, and it has major implications for our society, said Kristi Williams, lead author of the study and associate ...

The use of clot-busting drugs to treat acute ischemic stroke increased from 2005 through 2009 — but is still low, according to research reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Clot-busting drugs are known as thrombolytics, and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is the only FDA-approved thrombolytic for treating acute ischemic stroke, which is caused by a blood clot in the brain. Although the study didn't follow patients after hospital discharge, "we believe that the increased treatment rate has the potential to reduce the overall burden of stroke ...

TORONTO, ON - Quantum mechanics is famous for saying that a tree falling in a forest when there's no one there doesn't make a sound. Quantum mechanics also says that if anyone is listening, it interferes with and changes the tree. And so the famous paradox: how can we know reality if we cannot measure it without distorting it? An international team of researchers, led by University of Toronto physicist Aephraim Steinberg of the Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control, have found a way to do just that by applying a modern measurement technique to the historic ...

HOUSTON, June 2, 2011 – Working to better predict general patterns of evolution, a University of Houston (UH) biologist and his team have discovered some surprising things about gene mutations that might one day make it possible to predict the progression of chronic disease. UH evolutionary biologist Timothy Cooper and his colleagues describe their findings in a paper titled "Negative Epistasis Between Beneficial Mutations in an Evolving Bacterial Population." The report appears June 3 in Science, the world's leading journal of original scientific research, global news ...

Medical researchers may have uncovered a novel approach to treat an incurable and ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects hundreds of thousands of people. Two international studies, one led by the University of Leicester, and the other a collaboration with Leicester led by scientists in the USA, hold out promise for slowing down the development of Huntington's disease – and potentially, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. The research, which is in its early stages, represents an important milestone in understanding these debilitating conditions. Huntington's ...

HOUSTON (June 2, 2011) – The protein MeCP2 is porridge to the finicky neuron. Like Goldilocks, the neuron or brain cell needs the protein in just the right amount. Girls born with dysfunctional MeCP2 (methyl-CpG-binding protein 2) develop Rett syndrome, a neurological disorder. Too much MeCP2 can cause spasticity or developmental delay with autism-like symptoms in boys. Now, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) and Texas Children's Hospital (www.texaschildrens.org) have found that the neuron needs a steady supply of this protein for its entire existence. ...

TUCSON, Ariz. (June 2, 2011) -- In just 10 weeks, a group of University of Arizona engineering students took five crates of surplus hardware and two heavy-duty test vehicles, which didn't run, and mixed them with youthful enthusiasm, tenacity and many long hours to build two robotic vehicles that successfully drove themselves around UA's test mine. It was no easy task, and predicted by some as too big a project for a one semester course: ENGR 450/550, autonomous vehicle systems. But the naysayers didn't factor in the can-do attitude of 23 undergraduate and graduate students ...

2 players have struck it lucky at Sun Vegas Internet Casino on Monday the 30th May 2011. JK won CAD 23,373.50 playing on the video slot game Thunderstruck; CAD 21,453.50 on the 5-reel slot, Ladies Nite; and CAD 9,995.00 on the Egyptian-themed game, ISIS. Thus JK walked away with total winnings of CAD 54,822.00. Another winner, NJ, won $16,187.40 on Break Da Bank Again and $5,868.00 on Mega Moolah Summertime Progressive, giving her a total of $22,055.40. Casino Manager at Sun Vegas Casino, Austin Green, said, "Two winners in one day is what makes Sun Vegas Casino ...

New research identifies genetic mutations that cause an inherited form of cataracts in humans. The study, published online June 2 by Cell Press in the American Journal of Genetics, provides new insight into the understanding of lens transparency and the development of cataracts in humans. A cataract is a clouding of the crystalline lens in the eye. Opacity of the normally transparent lens obstructs the passage of light into the eye and can lead to blindness. Congenital cataracts (CCs) are a significant cause of vision loss worldwide and underlie about one-third of the ...

When people are depressed or anxious, they are much more likely to see their glass as half empty than half full. In tough times, evidence of that same pessimistic outlook can be seen in dogs, rats, and birds. Now, researchers reporting online on June 2 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, show that bees, too, share those very same hallmarks of negative emotion. "We have shown that the emotional responses of bees to an aversive event are more similar to those of humans than previously thought," said Geraldine Wright of Newcastle University. "Bees stressed by a ...

Following a spate of bookings during the last month, things are certainly looking rosier in terms of luxury yacht charter and the news regarding luxury yacht sales is similarly encouraging with an increase in numbers compared to the same period last year. Unfortunately the majority of these sales have been in the 24-35m categories, which represents the smaller end of the market, so while the volume is up the overall value of the market is somewhat down. Fortunately, however, over the last few days' negotiations have been completed with regard to a number of very large ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—June 2, 2011—Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have identified a drug candidate that diminishes the effects of both Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease in animal models, offering new hope for patients who currently lack any medications to halt the progression of these two debilitating illnesses. Gladstone Investigator Paul Muchowski, PhD, has identified a new compound called JM6 in experiments done in collaboration with an international team of researchers, and which are being published today in an online article in Cell. In laboratory ...

Levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) are increased in response to acute inflammation, infection and tissue damage. There are also reports that CRP levels are elevated because of cancer. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Breast Cancer Research shows that elevated CRP levels are predictive of a poor prognosis for breast cancer sufferers. C-reactive protein is produced by the liver, in response to infection or injury, when stimulated by the cytokine IL-6. Tumor sites are often associated with inflammation and this inflammation contributes to tumor ...

Researchers at King's College London have identified a way of eliminating leukaemic stem cells, which could lead to new treatments that may enable complete remission for leukaemia patients. An early study in mice has shown that leukaemic stem cells can be abolished by suppressing two proteins found in the body. Leukaemic stem cells sustain the disease and are likely to be responsible for relapse, so elimination of these cells is believed to be key for achieving complete remission. These encouraging findings highlight the two proteins as potential therapeutic targets ...

Students overall performed better – and educationally disadvantaged students generally made even greater strides than everyone else – in an introductory biology course at a university where recent budget woes doubled class sizes for the course, cut lab times and reduced the number of graduate teaching assistants. The keys to success are instructors who guide learning rather than lecture, and who structure courses so students are more likely to come to class having read assignments and where they undergo intensive practice to develop critical thinking and problem solving ...

Until a decade, it was believed that differences between people were due solely to the existence of genetic changes, which are alterations in the sequence of our genes. The discoveries made during these last ten years show that beings with the same genetics like the twins and cloned animals may have different characteristics and disease due to epigenetic changes. Epigenetics involves chemical signatures that are added to DNA and proteins that package it, to regulate their activity. The more recognized epigenetic brand is DNA methylation, a process based on the addition ...

Mutations of DNA that lead to one base being replaced by another don't have to happen as single, independent events in humans and other eukaryotes, a group of Indiana University Bloomington biologists has learned after surveying several creatures' genomes. And, the scientists argue, if "point mutations" can happen in twos, threes -- even nines – large evolutionary jumps are possible, especially when problems caused by a single point mutation are immediately compensated for by a second or third. The work appears in the latest issue of Current Biology. "A similar phenomenon ...

NEW YORK — June 2, 2011 — A new study by Columbia Business School Professor Paul Ingram, Kravis Professor Business, Management and senior scholar at the Jerome A. Chazen Institute for International Business at Columbia Business School; Hayagreeva Rao, Atholl McBean Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources, Stanford Graduate School of Business; and Qingyuan (Lori) Yue, Assistant Professor of Management and Organization, USC Marshall School of Business, found evidence of how firms engage in regulatory arbitrage and make decisions based on a state's regulatory ...