The way blood pressure is diagnosed and treated is set to be revolutionised following new guidelines for the medical profession issued by NICE and developed in conjunction with the British Hypertension Society (BHS). It will mark the first time in over a century that the way blood pressure is routinely monitored by GPs has been changed. A major feature of the new guideline is the recommendation that high blood pressure should be diagnosed using ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, a technique in which the patient wears a monitor for 24 hours to gauge how high their ...

Researchers at the University of Leeds have discovered a pain-free way of tackling dental decay that reverses the damage of acid attack and re-builds teeth as new. The pioneering treatment promises to transform the approach to filling teeth forever. Tooth decay begins when acid produced by bacteria in plaque dissolves the mineral in the teeth, causing microscopic holes or 'pores' to form. As the decay process progresses these micro-pores increase in size and number. Eventually the damaged tooth may have to be drilled and filled to prevent toothache, or even removed. The ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — All the excitement about nanotechnology comes down to this: Structures of materials at the scale of billionths of a meter take on unusual properties. Technologists often focus on the happier among these newfound capabilities, but new research by an interdisciplinary team of scientists at Brown University finds that nanoparticles of nickel activate a cellular pathway that contributes to cancer in human lung cells. "Nanotechnology has tremendous potential and promise for many applications," said Agnes Kane, chair of the Department of ...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23–Current advanced femtosecond laser systems offer myriad possibilities to modify materials, from implementing new optical functionality to improving existing materials properties. Femtosecond direct laser writing exhibits enormous potential in the development of a new generation of powerful components in 3-D for micro-optics, telecommunications, optical data storage, imaging, micro-fluidics, and biophotonics at the micro- and nano-scale. To highlight breakthroughs in femtosecond laser systems, the editors of the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal ...

Scientists have discovered that bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella have a sneaky way of making minor alterations to their genes to boost their chances for infection. It's a fascinating discovery made at Ohio State University, which is featured in the Aug. 14 issue of Nature Chemical Biology. This discovery shows how bacteria make tweaks in their genes, and their proteins to gain strength. The team includes research scientist Herve Roy, who joined the University of Central Florida faculty at the College of Medicine this month. He co-authored the paper after conducting ...

If you'd like to cool off fast in hot summer weather, take a dip in a newly discovered ocean current called the North Icelandic Jet (NIJ). You'd need to be far, far below the sea's surface near Iceland, however, to reach it. Scientists have confirmed the presence of the NIJ, a deep-ocean circulation system off Iceland. It could significantly influence the ocean's response to climate change. The NIJ contributes to a key component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), critically important for regulating Earth's climate. As part of the planet's ...

MANHATTAN, KAN. -- We see it in the movies and on television when a character realizes they desperately want to have a child. Often it is connected with a ticking biological clock. Or we may experience it ourselves when we see baby toys and clothes in the store. "It" can be summarized in two words: Baby fever. Not only does the phenomenon called baby fever exist, it is found in both men and women, according to researchers from Kansas State University. Gary Brase, associate professor of psychology, and his wife, Sandra Brase, a project coordinator with the university's ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Researchers from The Miriam Hospital have found that patients who have completed cardiac rehabilitation and who receive telephone counseling that supports exercise are more likely to adhere to an exercise program. Results of the study, funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, are published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Traditionally, patients who complete Phase II cardiac rehabilitation often have low rates of maintaining exercise after program completion. If patients who have completed cardiac rehabilitation do not ...

If so many poor people live around national parks in developing countries, does that mean that these parks are contributing to their poverty? Yes, according to the conventional wisdom, but no, according to a 10-year study of people living around Kibale National Park in Uganda that was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Often people have lamented that the poorest of the poor live on the edge of the parks, and the assumption is that it's the parks that are keeping people poor," said Lisa Naughton, a professor of geography at the ...

Baylor University environmental researchers have proposed in a new study a different approach to predict the environmental safety of chemicals by using data from other similar chemicals. For many chemicals in use every day, scientists do not have enough information to understand all of the effects on the environment and human health. In response to this, the European Union enacted the REACH regulation, which places greater responsibility on industry to manage the risks from chemicals and to provide safety information on the substances. The Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation ...

MADISON, WI, AUGUST 19, 2011 -- In the Mid-South, twin-row soybean production is becoming a popular growing technique for soybean producers. An estimated 80% of the total hectares grown in the Mississippi Delta are planted in this configuration. While growers report this method increases seed yields, especially when used with specific cultivars planted in April or early May, there is no research data to support their claims. Arnold Bruns, a USDA-ARS scientist at Stoneville, MS and author of this study, compared the effects of planting soybeans in twin-rows versus single-rows. ...

Amid the controversy surrounding the Food and Drug Administration's ruling that Avastin should no longer be used to treat metastatic breast cancer, a new multinational Phase III clinical trial shows that Avastin significantly increased tumor response rates in breast cancer patients when given before surgery. At the annual meeting for the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the nation's premier association of clinical oncologists, Harry D. Bear, M.D., Ph.D., Chair, Division of Surgical Oncology at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center, presented the ...

Afghan patients treated at a U.S. military hospital in Afghanistan often carry multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria, according to a report in the September issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. The findings underscore the need for effective infection control measures at deployed hospitals where both soldiers and local patients are treated, the study's authors say. The research team, led by Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Deena Sutter of the San Antonio Military Medical Center, studied U.S. ...

AURORA, Colo. (Aug. 23, 2011) – A new study of children's hospitals nationwide has found them underequipped to handle a major surge of patients in the event of a pandemic, and urges health care institutions and government agencies to immediately review emergency preparedness plans as flu season approaches. "Every year we get lucky," said the study's lead author, Marion Sills, MD, MPH, and associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "But it wouldn't take much of an epidemic to put us over capacity. If that happens where do the children ...

NEW YORK (Aug. 23, 2011) -- For men with erectile dysfunction (ED), 65 percent are unable to have an orgasm and 58 percent have problems with ejaculation, according to new research led by physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The study followed 12,130 men with mild to severe ED and is the largest-ever analysis of orgasmic and ejaculatory dysfunction. Results are published in today's edition of the British Journal of Urology International. Approximately 30 million American men, or half of all men aged 40 to 70, have trouble ...

This press release is available in Spanish. A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist has created a new weapon in the war being waged against the potato cyst nematode-a diagnostic test that identifies the type of nematode infesting a grower's field. Xiaohong Wang, a molecular biologist with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health in Ithaca, N.Y., has filed a patent application on the monitoring tool, developed in part by cloning and sequencing key genes. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research ...

Skewed skulls may have helped early whales find the direction of sounds in water and are not solely, as previously thought, a later adaptation related to echolocation. Scientists affiliated with the University of Michigan and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) report the finding in a paper published online this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Asymmetric skulls are a well-known characteristic of the modern whale group known as "odontocetes" or toothed whales. These whales also have highly modified nasal structures with ...

CHESTNUT HILL, MA (August 23, 2011) – Throughout the ages, fine art has been accorded a special significance and recognized as a powerful communication tool. Art has been used to sell everything from products to politics to religion. But art can be stripped of its special status if used carelessly by advertisers, according to a new study by researchers from Boston College and the University of Houston. If the artwork is viewed as a product-relevant illustration, then consumers no longer view it as art. Suddenly, they can take a critical view of its message, according ...

Studies from the University of Toronto's psychology department show that people who use more invasive anti-aging methods such as Botox injections or surgery are viewed more negatively than those who use milder techniques such as sun-avoidance and facial creams and younger adults are more negative about using anti-aging methods than older adults. "These results suggest that despite the rapid growth of the anti-aging cosmetic industry, age concealment has not yet become universally accepted," said lead author and associate professor, Alison Chasteen. "This is important ...

We make decisions all our lives—so you'd think we'd get better and better at it. Yet research has shown that younger adults are better decision makers than older ones. Some Texas psychologists, puzzled by these findings, suspected the experiments were biased toward younger brains. So, rather than testing the ability to make decisions one at a time without regard to past or future, as earlier research did, these psychologists designed a model requiring participants to evaluate each result in order to strategize the next choice, more like decision making in the real world. The ...

Safetyshop, the UK's leading safety equipment manufacturer, has launched an industry news feed on the homepage of its website. Designed to be a useful resource for regular customers and new visitors alike, the latest news section contains stories which relate to all aspects of health and safety, from new legislation and prosecutions brought by the Health and Safety Executive, to road safety initiatives and changes affecting first aid kits in the workplace. The feed is updated on a daily basis to ensure breaking news makes it onto the site as quickly as possible. The ...

Pretty much everybody thinks they're better than average. But in some cultures, people are more self-aggrandizing than in others. Until now, national differences in "self-enhancement" have been chalked up to an East-West individualism-versus-collectivism divide. In the West, where people value independence, personal success, and uniqueness, psychologists have said, self-inflation is more rampant. In the East, where interdependence, harmony, and belonging are valued, modesty prevails. Now an analysis of data gathered from 1,625 people in 15 culturally diverse countries ...

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, August 23, 2011—Researchers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory's Pulsed Field Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory have set a new world record for the strongest magnetic field produced by a nondestructive magnet. The scientists achieved a field of 92.5 tesla on Thursday, August 18, taking back a record that had been held by a team of German scientists and then, the following day, surpassed their achievement with a whopping 97.4-tesla field. For perspective, Earth's magnetic field is 0.0004 tesla, while a junk-yard magnet is 1 ...

The carnage on America's roads is so constant that it's easy to become desensitized it. It's important, however, to take a moment and ponder the scale of the pain -- and consider what can be done to lessen the terrible toll. In 2010, an estimated 32,788 people died in car accidents. These numbers represented a slight reduction from the year before, in which more than 33,000 people were killed and over two million more were injured in traffic-related crashes. Even so, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its participation in the United Nations' ...

Graphene, considered the most exciting new material under study in the world of nanotechnology, just got even more interesting, according to a new study by a group of researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder. The new findings -- that graphene has surprisingly powerful adhesion qualities -- are expected to help guide the development of graphene manufacturing and of graphene-based mechanical devices such as resonators and gas separation membranes, according to the CU-Boulder team. The experimentsshowed that the extreme flexibility of graphene allows it to conform ...