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Drinking alcohol during a rich meal slows down digestion, but doesn't increase indigestion

2010-12-15
People can be reassured that while alcohol may slow down digestion after a rich calorific meal, enjoyed by many during the Christmas season, it will not cause indigestion symptoms such as heartburn, belching and bloating, finds research in the Christmas issue published on bmj.com today. In order to determine the effects of alcohol on the digestive system when rich meals are consumed, investigators at the University Hospital of Zurich, led by Dr Mark Fox now at the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham, studied 20 individuals who either drank wine or black tea with cheese ...

Submerging your feet in alcohol will not get you drunk

2010-12-15
Research in the Christmas issue published on bmj.com today explodes the Danish myth that it is possible to get drunk by submerging your feet in alcohol. The authors, led by Dr Peter Lommer Kristensen from the Hillerød Hospital in Denmark, say it was important that the myth underwent scientific scrutiny to prevent students wasting their time experimenting with this activity. Three adult volunteers took part in the study. None of them suffered from any chronic skin or liver disease and they were not addicted to alcohol or psychoactive drugs. The participants were not ...

Sovereign's head identified after more than 4 centuries

2010-12-15
The skeletons of kings and queens lying in mass graves in the Royal Basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris could finally have the solemn funeral ceremonies they deserve, say experts in the Christmas issue published on bmj.com today. Many of the graves in the Royal Basilica were destroyed by revolutionaries in 1793 and very few remains of the mummified bodies have been preserved and identified. Dr Philippe Charlier led the scientific breakthrough that has identified the head of the French King, Henri IV. A team of scientists from different fields of expertise including ...

Iridium memories

2010-12-15
Washington, D.C. (December 14, 2010) -- One of the rarest metals on Earth may be an excellent option for enabling future flash memory chips to continue to increase in speed and density, according to a group of researchers in Taiwan. "Incorporating nanocrystals of iridium into the critical floating gate portion of flash memory designs shows both excellent memory properties as well as stability in the high temperatures used in processing such semiconductor devices," says the research team leader, Wen-Shou Tseng of Taiwan's Center for Measurement Standards, Industrial Technology ...

Making wafers faster by making features smaller

Making wafers faster by making features smaller
2010-12-15
Washington, D.C. (December 14, 2010) -- The manufacturing of semiconductor wafers used in all types of electronics involves etching small features onto a wafer with lasers, a process that is ultimately limited by the wavelength of the light itself. The semiconductor industry is rapidly approaching this fundamental limit for increasing the speed of the microchip. The development of a new intense 13.5-nm (extreme ultraviolet or EUV) light source will resolve this issue by reducing the feature size by an order of magnitude or so, according to Purdue researchers in the Journal ...

Single quantum dot nanowire photodetectors

Single quantum dot nanowire photodetectors
2010-12-15
Washington, D.C. (December 14, 2010) -- Moving a step closer toward quantum computing, a research team in the Netherlands recently fabricated a photodetector based on a single nanowire, in which the active element is a single quantum dot with a volume of a mere 7,000 cubic nanometers. The device is described in the American Institute of Physics' journal Applied Physics Letters. Photodetectors based on single quantum dots are expected to find uses in optoelectrical interfaces in future quantum computers, where single photons will carry information over long distances and ...

Robot arm improves performance of brain-controlled device

2010-12-15
The performance of a brain-machine interface designed to help paralyzed subjects move objects with their thoughts is improved with the addition of a robotic arm providing sensory feedback, a new study from the University of Chicago finds. Devices that translate brain activity into the movement of a computer cursor or an external robotic arm have already proven successful in humans. But in these early systems, vision was the only tool a subject could use to help control the motion. Adding a robot arm that provided kinesthetic information about movement and position ...

Attempting to predict epileptic seizure

2010-12-15
Washington, D.C. (December 14, 2010) -- While the causes of epileptic seizures continue to confound brain researchers, scientists have been exploring how changes in the coordinated activity of brain networks, as monitored through electrodes, might help predict impending seizures. A report in the American Institute of Physics' journal CHAOS offers new insight into this possibility. Two properties are commonly used to measure fluctuations in the activity of a brain network; one, known as L, relates to the overall connectedness between the activities of brain regions (or ...

Qatar-led international team finds its first alien world

Qatar-led international team finds its first alien world
2010-12-15
In an exciting example of international collaboration, a Qatar astronomer teamed with scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and other institutions to discover a new alien world. This "hot Jupiter," now named Qatar-1b, adds to the growing list of alien planets orbiting distant stars. Its discovery demonstrates the power of science to cross political boundaries and increase ties between nations. "The discovery of Qatar-1b is a great achievement - one that further demonstrates Qatar's commitment to becoming a leader in innovative science and ...

Unique orangutan reintroduction project under imminent threat

2010-12-15
JAMBI, Indonesia – A Sumatran rainforest named a global priority for tigers and home to a unique orangutan rescue project is targeted for clearcutting by one of the world's largest paper suppliers. An investigation found that since 2004, companies affiliated with Asia Pulp & Paper/Sinar Mas Group have sought out selective logging concessions with dense natural forests in the Bukit Tigapuluh landscape. The companies obtained government licenses to switch the forest status to industrial timber plantation concessions, sometimes under legally questionable circumstances. ...

UA engineering tests underground border security system

2010-12-15
TUCSON, Ariz. (Dec. 14, 2010) -- A unique underground surveillance system tested by UA researchers could be used to watch the entire U.S.-Mexico border continuously. The border-monitoring system, known as Helios, consists of laser pulses transmitted through fiber-optic cables buried in the ground that respond to movements on the surface above. A detector at one or both ends of the cable analyzes these responses. Helios is sensitive enough to detect a dog and can discriminate between people, horses and trucks. The system can be set to avoid being triggered by small animals, ...

Vaccine boosts your immune system

Vaccine boosts your immune system
2010-12-15
YOUR BODY'S OWN VACCINE: Researchers at BRIC, the University of Copenhagen, have discovered for the first time a protein normally found in the body that can act to prevent chronic tissue inflammation. When administered in the form of a therapeutic vaccine it is able to effectively prevent and treat a number of different inflammatory disease models for multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), skin hypersensitivity and allergic asthma (AA). The article, entitled, "Endogenous collagen peptide activation of CD1d-restricted NKT cells ameliorates multiple tissue-specific ...

The AVE pollutes 29 percent less than traditional trains

The AVE pollutes 29 percent less than traditional trains
2010-12-15
High-speed trains consume 29% less energy than conventional trains per passenger transported, and reduce CO2 emissions by the same proportion. These are the conclusions of a study by the Spanish Railways Foundation published in the journal Transportation Research Record. "A high speed train operating in normal conditions consumes less energy and produces less CO2 emissions per passenger transported (on average 29% less) than a conventional train travelling between the same two points at a lower speed", Alberto García, author of the study and a researcher at the Spanish ...

New asthma research breaks the mold

2010-12-15
Scientists investigating the allergic reactions that asthmatics suffer towards a common mould have discovered that many people with asthma actually had the mould growing in their own lungs. The research led by University of Leicester scientists at Glenfield Hospital has been published in the December 2010 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The team based in the Institute for Lung Health at the University of Leicester and Glenfield Hospital examined the impact on asthmatics of a common environmental mould, Aspergillus fumigates, ...

Scientists identify how virus triggers cervical and mouth cancer

2010-12-15
University of Manchester scientists have discovered for the first time an important new way in which the human papilloma virus (HPV) triggers cancer in what could lead to new treatments for cervical and mouth cancer. HPV infection is known to increase the risk of developing cancers of the cervix and mouth with the two high-risk forms of the virus accounting for approximately 70% of all cervical cancer cases. Vaccinations against these high-risk forms of HPV should reduce the incidence of cervical cancer but the frequency of mouth cancer actually increased in the UK ...

More than 25 percent of teenagers have suffered cyber bullying in the past year

More than 25 percent of teenagers have suffered cyber bullying in the past year
2010-12-15
Cyber bullying is an emerging phenomenon that is becoming increasingly common among teenagers. Research by the University of Valencia (UV), based on a study carried out in the region, shows that between 25% and 29% of all teenagers have been bullied via their mobile phone or the internet over the past year. "The data from our study shows that technological bullying affects 24.6% of teenagers in the case of mobile telephony, and 29% with regard to the internet. In the large majority of cases, this abuse lasts for a month or less", Sofía Buelga, co-author of the study and ...

100 percent of most challenging Christmas plastic wrapping could be recycled by new tech

100 percent of most challenging Christmas plastic wrapping could be recycled by new tech
2010-12-15
On average we each consume 120 grammes of plastic wrapping on Christmas gifts most of which is of a type which is almost impossible to recycle. Now researchers at the University of Warwick have devised a new technique which could process 100% of Christmas and other household plastic instead of the tiny fraction that currently actually gets processed - typically only 12% of such waste is truly recycled often the rest is often put into land fill or simply burnt as fuel. Some plastic still goes straight to land fill but householders currently spend a great deal of effort ...

The sweetness of biodegradable plastics

The sweetness of biodegradable plastics
2010-12-15
Tel Aviv ― Environmentalists around the world agree ― plastic bags are choking our landfills and polluting our seas. Now a Tel Aviv University researcher is developing new laboratory methods using corn starch and sugar to help sustainable plastics –– those that biodegrade and are even tougher than those made from petrochemicals –– compete in the industry. The answer to the problem, Prof. Moshe Kol of Tel Aviv University's School of Chemistry says, is a new variety of catalysts ― substances that initiate or sustain chemical reactions in other substances. ...

Fighter pilots' brains are 'more sensitive'

2010-12-15
Cognitive tests and MRI scans have shown significant differences in the brains of fighter pilots when compared to a control group, according to a new study led by scientists from UCL. The study, published today in the Journal of Neuroscience, compares the cognitive performance of 11 front-line RAF (Royal Air Force) Tornado fighter pilots to a control group of a similar IQ with no previous experience of piloting aircraft. All the participants completed two 'cognitive control' tasks which were used to investigate rapid decision making. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a ...

Environmental pharmaceutical contamination removed by Octolig

2010-12-15
An article in the current issue of TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION, Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors ™ http://www.cognizantcommunication.com/filecabinet/Technology/techinnovation.html reports on the removal of certain dyes and the antibiotic amoxicillin from water samples using Octolig ®, a commercially available material. "Because of their properties and the magnitude of their production and use, pharmaceuticals can represent a serious disposal problem," said corresponding author* Dean F. Martin, PhD, of the University of South Florida's Institute for Environmental ...

2 people receive kidney transplants in pilot program using CMU software

2010-12-15
PITTSBURGH—A man in St. Louis and a woman in New Hampshire have received the first kidney transplants made possible through a new national program of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) that uses a Carnegie Mellon University computer algorithm to match transplant candidates with living donors. Both recipients — Ken Crowder of St. Louis and Kathy Niedzwiecki of Pelham, N.H. — had loved ones who were willing to donate a kidney but who were medically incompatible with them. So, through a paired donation, Mr. Crowder's fiancée, Rebecca Burkes, donated ...

A protein called cFLIP makes tumor cells in breast cancer resistant to treatments

2010-12-15
Researchers at the Andalusian Institute for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine (CABIMER) and the University of Granada found that cFLIP –an inhibitor of death ligand-induced apoptosis– is not only essential in breast tumor cells resistance to TRAIL treatments (a death ligand with a potent therapeutic potential against cancer), but this protein is also key to the survival of such cancer cells. Researchers proved that a variation in the expression of this protein may lead to the normal development of breast epithelium. This is an important finding to be considered ...

Hubble spots a celestial bauble

Hubble spots a celestial bauble
2010-12-15
The delicate shell, photographed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, appears to float serenely in the depths of space, but this apparent calm hides an inner turmoil. The gaseous envelope formed as the expanding blast wave and ejected material from a supernova tore through the nearby interstellar medium. Called SNR B0509-67.5 (or SNR 0509 for short), the bubble is the visible remnant of a powerful stellar explosion in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small galaxy about 160 000 light-years from Earth. Ripples seen in the shell's surface may be caused either by subtle ...

What 'pine' cones reveal about the evolution of flowers

What pine cones reveal about the evolution of flowers
2010-12-15
From southern Africa's pineapple lily to Western Australia's swamp bottlebrush, flowering plants are everywhere. Also called angiosperms, they make up 90 percent of all land-based, plant life. New research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides new insights into their genetic origin, an evolutionary innovation that quickly gave rise to many diverse flowering plants more than 130 million years ago. Moreover, a flower with genetic programming similar to a water lily may have started it all. "Water lilies and avocado flowers ...

Unique case study on Alzheimer's disease

2010-12-15
A case study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet sheds light on the pathological course of Alzheimer's disease. The brain of the first Alzheimer's patient to display amyloids demonstrable with a PET scanner has been studied, both during progression of the disease and after death. One pathological characteristic of Alzheimer's disease is the accumulation in the brain of beta-amyloid proteins to form amyloid plaques. However, it is not known how early the plaques forms in the brain, whether they are the primary cause of the disease or what pathogenic ...
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