WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Nov. 17, 2011 – The nation's preterm birth rate slipped under 12 percent for the first time in nearly a decade, the fourth consecutive year it declined, potentially sparing tens of thousands of babies the serious health consequences of an early birth. The national preterm birth rate declined to 11.99 percent last year, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, which released its report "Births: Preliminary Data for 2010," today, the first-ever World Prematurity Day. Despite the improvement, still too many babies, one out of every eight, ...

Researchers the world over are seeking reliable ways to predict earthquakes, focusing on identifying seismic precursors that, if detected early enough, could serve as early warnings. New research, published this week in the journal Applied Physics Letters, suggests that ozone gas emitted from fracturing rocks could serve as an indicator of impending earthquakes. Ozone is a natural gas, a byproduct of electrical discharges into the air from several sources, such as from lightning, or, according to the new research, from rocks breaking under pressure. Scientists in the ...

For people who initially survive a heart attack, a significant cause of death in the next few days is cardiac rupture -- literally, bursting of the heart wall. A new study by University of Iowa researchers pinpoints a single protein as the key player in the biochemical cascade that leads to cardiac rupture. The findings, published Nov. 13 as an Advance Online Publication (AOP) of the journal Nature Medicine, suggest that blocking the action of this protein, known as CaM kinase, may help prevent cardiac rupture and reduce the risk of death. After a heart attack, the ...

Irvine, Calif., Nov. 17, 2011 – A team of researchers from UC Irvine, HRL Laboratories and the California Institute of Technology have developed the world's lightest material – with a density of 0.9 mg/cc – about 100 times lighter than Styrofoam. Their findings appear in the Nov. 18 issue of Science. The new material redefines the limits of lightweight materials because of its unique "micro-lattice" cellular architecture. The researchers were able to make a material that consists of 99.99 percent air by designing the 0.01 percent solid at the nanometer, micron and millimeter ...

Caused by four related parasites in the genus Plasmodium, malaria is transmitted to humans via the bite of an infected mosquito. Once the bite occurs, the parasites travel to the liver, where they usually multiply rapidly for about a week without causing symptoms. Symptoms begin when the parasites spread from the liver to the rest of the body through the bloodstream. However, the parasites can lay dormant in the liver for periods ranging from several months to years before an infected person demonstrates symptoms. Most of the malaria drugs currently in development target ...

EUGENE, Ore. -- Human domestication of soybeans is thought to have first occurred in central China some 3,000 years ago, but archaeologists now suggest that cultures in even earlier times and in other locations adopted the legume (Glycine max). Comparisons of 949 charred soybean samples from 22 sites in northern China, Japan and South Korea -- found in ancient households including hearths, flooring and dumping pits -- with 180 modern charred and unburned samples were detailed in the Nov. 4 edition of the online journal PLoS ONE, a publication of the Public Library ...

Many infections, even those caused by antibiotic-sensitive bacteria, resist treatment. This paradox has vexed physicians for decades, and makes some infections impossible to cure. A key cause of this resistance is that bacteria become starved for nutrients during infection. Starved bacteria resist killing by nearly every type of antibiotic, even ones they have never been exposed to before. What produces starvation-induced antibiotic resistance, and how can it be overcome? In a paper appearing this week in Science, researchers report some surprising answers. "Bacteria ...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A University of Louisville scientist has determined for the first time how the bacterium that causes Legionnaires' disease manipulates our cells to generate the amino acids it needs to grow and cause infection and inflammation in the lungs. The results are published online today (Nov. 17) in "Science." Yousef Abu Kwaik, Ph.D., the Bumgardner Endowed Professor in Molecular Pathogenesis of Microbial Infections at UofL, and his team believe their work could help lead to development of new antibiotics and vaccines. "It is possible that the process we have ...

New observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope are expanding astronomers' understanding of the ways in which galaxies continuously recycle immense volumes of hydrogen gas and heavy elements. This process allows galaxies to build successive generations of stars stretching over billions of years. This ongoing recycling keeps some galaxies from emptying their "fuel tanks" and stretches their star-forming epoch to over 10 billion years. This conclusion is based on a series of Hubble Space Telescope observations that flexed the special capabilities of its Cosmic Origins ...

GREENBELT, Md. -- The cleanroom at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. has received a giant structural steel frame that will be used to assemble the mirrors and instruments of the James Webb Space Telescope. "This milestone is important as it marks the transition to the integration and testing phase for the Webb telescope's optical telescope element," said Lee Feinberg, Optical Telescope Element Manager for the Webb telescope at Goddard. The Webb telescope is the world's next-generation space observatory and scientific successor to the Hubble Space ...

Athens, Ga. – Researchers at the University of Georgia have developed a "super strain" of yeast that can efficiently ferment ethanol from pretreated pine -- one of the most common species of trees in Georgia and the U.S. Their research could help biofuels replace gasoline as a transportation fuel. "Companies are interested in producing ethanol from woody biomass such as pine, but it is a notoriously difficult material for fermentations," said Joy Doran-Peterson, associate professor of microbiology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "The big plus for softwoods, ...

The debate about using menopausal hormone therapies to relieve symptoms in post-menopausal women has been ongoing. Is the combination therapy of estrogen and progestin better or worse than just giving women estrogen alone? In women who still have a uterus (those who have not had a hysterectomy), progestin counteracts the increased risk of uterus cancer when estrogen is given alone, but at the expense of an increase in breast cancer risk compared to estrogen alone. Now a study by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has found that women taking the ...

A detonation wave is a chemical reaction wave propagating at the velocity of a shock wave along the explosive charge. There is great demand for a detonation model that can accurately simulate the detonation process, which would provide a theoretical basis for highly efficient military destruction, the initiation of an atomic bomb, and calculations relating to the supernova SN Ia explosion. Detonation is complicated in that it involves mechanics, chemistry and thermodynamics simultaneously. The detonation product particles move multi-dimensionally, and there are transport ...

Australian scientists have thrown new light on the mechanism behind the mass death of corals worldwide as the Earth's climate warms. Coral bleaching, one of the most devastating events affecting coral reefs around the planet, is triggered by rising water temperatures. It occurs when the corals and their symbiotic algae become heat-stressed, and the algae which feed the corals either die or are expelled by the coral. There have been seven major bleaching events globally in the past 30 years, the most recent being in 2010 across the Indian Ocean and Coral Triangle. Australia's ...

Heart rate recovery at one minute after a six-minute walking distance (6MWD) test is highly predictive of clinical worsening and time to clinical worsening in patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH), according to a new study. "Ours is the first study to show that heart rate recovery at one minute of rest (HRR1) following a 6MW test is a strong predictor of clinical worsening in IPAH patients," said Omar A. Minai, MD, staff physician in the Department of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. "Predicting long-term ...

Metabolic syndrome biomarkers predict subsequent decline in lung function after particulate exposure, according to new research involving rescue personnel exposed to World Trade Center (WTC) dust. In a nested case-control study of 327 non-smoking FDNY 9/11 rescue workers, metabolic syndrome biomarkers measured within six months of exposure to WTC dust predicted decline of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) over the next six years. "Study participants with dyslipidemia, elevated heart rate or elevated leptin levels had a significantly increased risk of developing ...

GAITHERSBERG, MD, Nov. 18 – As clinical studies continue to validate the use of probiotics to help promote general gastrointestinal health, a growing U.S. market1 for probiotics indicates that the U.S. healthcare community and consumers alike are recognizing the value of these beneficial microorganisms. However, because most probiotics are classified as dietary supplements, directing patients to the best probiotic for their individual needs can be challenging. And, as the category matures, one probiotic preparation -- VSL#3 -- stands apart and ahead because it is not a ...

Researchers at the Juan March foundation and the Duke University (USA) have analysed the reason for casting a protest vote as a way of expressing unhappiness with a party during elections. Moderate voters are more likely to vote in this way than those at the extreme left or extreme right of the political spectrum. Daniel Kselman, researcher at the Juan March Foundation and co-author of the study that analyses such behaviour states that "the protest vote is just a way of expressing discontent. In order for it to be effective, a lot more voters from your party need to vote ...

WASHINGTON -- Researchers at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Marine Meteorology Division (MMD), Monterey, Calif., have developed the Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System Tropical Cyclone (COAMPS-TC™) model, achieving a significant research milestone in predictions of tropical cyclone intensity and structure. While the predictions of the paths or tracks of hurricanes, more generally referred to as tropical cyclones (TC), have steadily improved over the last few decades, improvements in the predictions of storm intensity have proven much more difficult. "Over ...

Why do people with a hereditary mutation of the red blood pigment hemoglobin (as is the case with sickle-cell anemia prevalent in Africa) not contract severe malaria? Scientists in the group headed by Prof. Michael Lanzer of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Heidelberg University Hospital have now solved this mystery. A degradation product of the altered hemoglobin provides protection from severe malaria. Within the red blood cells infected by the malaria parasite, it blocks the establishment of a trafficking system used by the parasite's special adhesive proteins ...

Scientists at Chalmers University of Technology have succeeded in creating light from vacuum – observing an effect first predicted over 40 years ago. The results is published tomorrow (Wednesday) in the journal Nature. In an innovative experiment, the scientists have managed to capture some of the photons that are constantly appearing and disappearing in the vacuum. The experiment is based on one of the most counterintuitive, yet, one of the most important principles in quantum mechanics: that vacuum is by no means empty nothingness. In fact, the vacuum is full of various ...

This press release is available in German. With few exceptions, all known proteins are built up from only twenty amino acids. 25 years ago scientists discovered a 21st amino acid, selenocysteine and ten years ago a 22nd, the pyrrolysine. However, how the cell produces the unusual building block remained a mystery. Now researchers at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen have elucidated the structure of an important enzyme in the production of pyrrolysine. The scientific journal Angewandte Chemie reports on their results in its "Early View" online section. Proteins ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – In the fast-paced world of health care, doctors are often pressed for time during patient visits. Researchers at the University of Missouri developed a tool that allows doctors to view electronic information about patients' health conditions related to diabetes on a single computer screen. A new study shows that this tool, the diabetes dashboard, saves time, improves accuracy and enhances patient care. The diabetes dashboard provides information about patients' vital signs, health conditions, current medications, and laboratory tests that may need to be ...

Since the 1970s, U.S. mortality rates due to colorectal cancer have declined overall, yet among blacks and Hispanics, the death rates rose. Evidence suggests that underuse of colonoscopy screening among these groups is one reason for the large disparities. In 2003, New York City launched a multifaceted campaign to improve colonoscopy rates among racial and ethnic minorities and women. A new study conducted by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene demonstrates the notable success of the campaign. ...

Many experts believe that advanced biofuels made from cellulosic biomass are the most promising alternative to petroleum-based liquid fuels for a renewable, clean, green, domestic source of transportation energy. Nature, however, does not make it easy. Unlike the starch sugars in grains, the complex polysaccharides in the cellulose of plant cell walls are locked within a tough woody material called lignin. For advanced biofuels to be economically competitive, scientists must find inexpensive ways to release these polysaccharides from their bindings and reduce them to fermentable ...