RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) -- A team led by a professor at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering has made a discovery in semiconductor nanowire laser technology that could potentially do everything from kill viruses to increase storage capacity of DVDs. Ultraviolet semiconductor diode lasers are widely used in data processing, information storage and biology. Their applications have been limited, however, by size, cost and power. The current generation of ultraviolet lasers is based on a material called gallium nitride, but Jianlin ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - One of the peskiest household pests, while disastrous to homes, could prove to be a boon for cars, according to a Purdue University study. Mike Scharf, the O. Wayne Rollins/Orkin Chair in Molecular Physiology and Urban Entomology, said his laboratory has discovered a cocktail of enzymes from the guts of termites that may be better at getting around the barriers that inhibit fuel production from woody biomass. The Scharf Laboratory found that enzymes in termite guts are instrumental in the insects' ability to break down the wood they eat. The findings, ...

A new study finds high folate intake is associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer, a finding consistent with the findings of most previous epidemiologic studies. The study is reassuring, as previous recent evidence has suggested that consumption of very high levels of folate through supplements and from folate-fortified diet may increase risk of some cancers. Nonetheless, the potential importance of folate in colorectal cancer prevention remains in question because at least one other study found folate supplementation had no effect on recurrence of colorectal ...

VERNON – Access to swine effluent or waste water can help a producer grow more grass. But a Texas AgriLife Researcher says the grass is "greener" economically if it is a cool-season rather than a warm-season variety. Dr. Seong Park, AgriLife Research economist in Vernon, said while the warm-season grasses appear to have a greater growth boost with swine effluent application, the cool-season grasses have marketing advantages that make it a more viable economic option for producers in the Oklahoma Panhandle and Southern Plains. Park recently had the results of his study ...

A big part of coping with life is having a flexible reaction to the ups and downs. Now, a study which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that people choose to respond differently depending on how intense an emotion is. When confronted with high-intensity negative emotions, they tend to choose to turn their attention away, but with something lower-intensity, they tend to think it over and neutralize the feeling that way. Emotions are useful—for example, fear tells your body to get ...

The question seems simple enough: What happens to the Earth's temperature when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increase? The answer is elusive. However, clues are hidden in the fossil record. A new study by researchers from Syracuse and Yale universities provides a much clearer picture of the Earth's temperature approximately 50 million years ago when CO2 concentrations were higher than today. The results may shed light on what to expect in the future if CO2 levels keep rising. The study, which for the first time compared multiple geochemical and temperature proxies ...

Candidates gain votes by taking a "green" position on climate change -- endorsing the existence of warming, human causation, and the need for taking action to address it, according to a new study of U.S. adults. Among citizens who are Democrats and Independents, a hypothetical U.S. Senate candidate gained votes by making a green statement on climate change and lost votes by making a not-green statement, compared to making no statement on climate. Among citizens who are Republicans, the candidate's vote share was unaffected by taking a green position or a not-green position, ...

WASHINGTON, July 5 – Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been changing the way we see the world since the 1960s. Their usage in everyday life is pervasive and continues to increase thanks to the cutting-edge research being done in the field of optics. To highlight breakthroughs in LEDs, the editors of Energy Express, a bi-monthly supplement to Optics Express, the open-access journal of the Optical Society (OSA), today published a special Focus Issue on Optics in LEDs for Lighting. The issue is organized and edited by Guest Editors Jae-Hyun Ryou and Russell Dupuis of the Georgia ...

Using ovarian surface epithelial cells from mice, researchers from Virginia Tech have released findings from a study that they believe will help in cancer risk assessment, cancer diagnosis, and treatment efficiency in a technical journal: Nanomedicine http://www.nanomedjournal.com/article/S1549-9634%2811%2900184-5/abstract By studying the viscoelastic properties of the ovarian cells of mice, they were able to identify differences between early stages of ovarian cancer and more advanced and aggressive phenotypes. Their studies showed a mouse's ovarian cells are stiffer ...

After an 88-year-long hiatus North America's tallest bird, the statuesque whooping crane (Grus americana), is once again on exhibit at the Bird House at the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park. An 11-year-old male whooping crane named Rocky left Homosassa Springs State Park in Florida and is now on exhibit in the nation's capital. Whooping cranes are one of only two crane species native to the United States. There are only eight other zoos in the U.S. which exhibit these birds. "It is an honor for the National Zoo to once again exhibit this magnificent species," said ...

BOSTON -- Eating a diet high in vitamin D, as well as the nutrients betaine and methionine, might help reduce the risk of macular degeneration, according to new research conducted by Tufts Medical Center scientists. Their study of identical twins from the US World War II Twin Registry also found that the more a person smoked, the higher their risk of developing macular degeneration. The study, "Smoking, Dietary Betaine, Methionine, and Vitamin D in Monozygotic Twins with Discordant Macular Degeneration: Epigenetic Implications" published in the journal Ophthalmology on ...

LOS ANGELES (July 5, 2011) – Researchers at The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles have successfully created a tissue-engineered small intestine in mice that replicates the intestinal structures of natural intestine—a necessary first step toward someday applying this regenerative medicine technique to humans. The study led by Tracy C. Grikscheit, MD —"A Multicellular Approach Forms a Significant Amount of Tissue-Engineered Small Intestine in the Mouse"— has been published in the July issue of Tissue Engineering Part A, a premier biomedical journal. ...

The University of Colorado Boulder is involved with five different space science payloads ranging from antibody tests that may lead to new bone-loss treatments to an experiment to improve vaccine effectiveness for combating salmonella when Atlantis thunders skyward July 8 on the last of NASA's 135 space shuttle missions. One experiment, sponsored by the global pharmaceutical companies Amgen and UCB, will test an antibody to sclerostin -- a protein that has a negative effect on bone formation, mass and strength -- on lab mice flying on the shuttle. Researchers on the project ...

One of nature's most perfect foods may be even better for us than previously thought. While eggs are well known to be an excellent source of proteins, lipids, vitamins and minerals, researchers at the University of Alberta recently discovered they also contain antioxidant properties, which helps in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Jianping Wu, Andreas Schieber and graduate students Chamila Nimalaratne and Daise Lopes-Lutz of the U of A Department of Agricultural Food and Nutritional Science examined egg yolks produced by hens fed typical diets of ...

HOUSTON- (July 5, 2011) - The self-paced walking test, known as the 400-meter walk test, is effective in measuring improved physical function in postmenopausal women who have lost weight through healthy physical activity and dietary changes, according to collaborative research conducted by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and The University of Pittsburgh. "The 400-meter self-paced walk test is a simple, cost-efficient and effective test clinicians or researchers can use to evaluate progress in a weight loss or physical activity program," ...

The size of leaves can vary by a factor of 1,000 across plant species, but until now, the reason why has remained a mystery. A new study by an international team of scientists led by UCLA life scientists goes a long way toward solving it. In research federally funded by the National Science Foundation, the biologists found that smaller leaves are structurally and physiologically better adapted to dry soil because of their distinct vein systems. The research will be published in an upcoming print issue of the journal Plant Physiology and is currently available in ...

A team of researchers led by Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) oncologist Heinz-Josef Lenz, M.D., has identified a genetic marker that may predict which patients with rectal cancer can be cured by certain chemotherapies when combined with surgery. The discovery, scheduled for publication in the August 1 edition of Clinical Cancer Research, brings doctors closer to customizing cancer treatment to individual patients. Lenz, professor of medicine and preventive medicine in the division of medical oncology at the Keck School and the study's ...

Archaea are among the oldest known life-forms, but they are not well understood. It was only in the 1970s that these single-celled microorganisms were designated as a domain of life distinct from bacteria and multicellular organisms called eukaryotes. Robert Gunsalus, a UCLA professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, developed an interest in Archaea because of their ability to thrive in harsh environments. Now, using state-of-the-art imaging equipment at the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCLA, he has shown for the first time that a type ...

EUGENE, Ore. -- Emerging from the heads of most cud-chewing mammals, headgear inspire an almost mystical and certainly majestic aura. But, scientists say, we know shockingly little about them. In a paper appearing online ahead of regular publication in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a London-based international journal dedicated to biology, a three-member scientific team spells out what is known -- and not known -- about antlers, horns, pronghorns and ossicones. For antlers, think deer, moose and elk. Horns are worn by cattle, sheep and goats; ossicones by ...

Increasing a specific protein in areas of the pancreas that produce insulin blocks the immune attack that causes type 1 diabetes, researchers reported in the August issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, published early online. The discovery could lead to a drug that prevents the progression of type 1 diabetes in people newly diagnosed who are in the "honeymoon" phase of the disease, when the immune system has not yet destroyed all of the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. The finding could also lead to new drugs for overcoming organ rejection in ...

July 5, 2011– Anxiety, stress and depression during pregnancy may lead to a greater risk of asthma for your child, according to researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Study results are published in the July issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). "Approximately 70% of mothers who said they experienced high levels of anxiety or depression while they were pregnant reported their child had wheezed before age 5," said Marilyn Reyes, senior research ...

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have developed a technique that delivers gene therapy into human brain cancer cells using nanoparticles that can be freeze-dried and stored for up to three months prior to use. The shelf-stable particles may obviate the need for virus-mediated gene therapy, which has been associated with safety concerns. The report appears in the August issue of Biomaterials. "Most nonviral gene therapy methods have very low efficacy," says Jordan Green, Ph.D., an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins. ...

A significant discovery by University of Adelaide researchers shows that the loss of a twin during early pregnancy explains the increased risk of birth defects in multiple IVF pregnancies. The annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Stockholm today will hear Associate Professor Michael Davies explain how the "vanishing twin" phenomenon is linked to a nearly two-fold increased risk of congenital malformation in the surviving baby, and a threefold increase in multiple birth defects. The phenomenon occurs when there are fewer babies ...

ST. PAUL, Minn. – New research finds breastfeeding doesn't appear to protect against multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses, despite previous studies suggesting there may be a protective role. The research is published in the July 6, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). "Breastfeeding should not be encouraged by doctors to protect against MS relapses, especially among women with MS who have high disease activity and high risk of postpartum relapses," said study author Emilio Portaccio, MD, of the University of Florence ...

If Canada's smoking rates were cut by half to an average national rate of 11% within five years, it would result in 35,900 fewer cases of lung cancer by 2030 and save $656 million in treatment costs, according to analysis using a new web-enabled platform developed for the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and presented at the 14th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Amsterdam, hosted by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). "The Cancer Risk Management simulation model developed for the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer simulates the demographic ...