Rather than count sheep, drink warm milk or listen to soothing music, many insomniacs probably wish for a switch they could flick to put themselves to sleep. Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered such a switch in the brains of fruit flies. In a study appearing June 24 in Science, the researchers show that a group of approximately 20 cells in the brains of fruit flies controls when and how long the flies sleep. Slumber induced through this sleep switch was essential to the creation of long-term memory, directly proving a connection ...

Researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have developed a novel iPhone application that may enable persons with Parkinson's disease and certain other neurological conditions to use the ubiquitous devices to collect data on hand and arm tremors and relay the results to medical personnel. The researchers believe the application could replace subjective tests now used to assess the severity of tremors, while potentially allowing more frequent patient monitoring without costly visits to medical facilities. The program – known as iTrem – could be offered ...

HOUSTON – (June 23, 2011) – The remoteness and resource limitations of spaceflight pose a serious challenge to astronaut health care. One solution is ultrasound. Scientists with the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) have developed tools that expand the use of ultrasound during spaceflight and on Earth, especially in rural and underserved locations. These tools include techniques that streamline training and help remote experts guide non-physician astronauts to perform ultrasound exams. Ultrasound can be used to assess numerous conditions – fractured ...

NEW YORK (June 23, 2011)—Fish communities in the 21st Century live fast and die young. That's the main finding of a recent study by researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society who compared fish recently caught in coastal Kenya with the bones of fish contained in ancient Swahili refuse heaps in order to understand how to rebuild the current fisheries. Of course, modern fish communities are not victims of reckless living, but of overfishing which has caused an ecosystem-level transition that may not be easily reversible, according to the study. Over the ...

PITTSBURGH, June 23 – Outpatient care for certain low-risk patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) can be safely and effectively used in place of inpatient care, according to a randomized, multi-center study in 19 emergency departments. The findings, published June 23 online in the Lancet, support current practice guidelines that are rarely followed by physicians. "This is the most rigorous study to date to compare inpatient and outpatient care for a selected group of stable patients with pulmonary embolism," said Donald M. Yealy, M.D., senior author of the study and chairman ...

WASHINGTON — Limiting television and other media use, encouraging infants and young children in preschool and child care to spend more time in physically active play, and requiring child care providers to promote healthy sleeping practices are some of the actions needed to curb high rates of obesity among America's youngest children, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. The report recommends steps that should be taken by child care centers, preschools, pediatricians' offices, federal nutrition programs, and other facilities and programs that shape children's ...

This week MeetMyKind announced the launch of an all-in-one, intelligent social networking site (MeetMyKind.com). Similar to how the website Netflix recommends movies to its customers and the website Amazon.com recommends books and other products to its customers, MeetMyKind learns each user's social preferences and proactively recommends people, events, blogs, and other social content to its users. MeetMyKind is looking to be a "one stop shop" for those seeking social connection on the Web. While many existing sites focus primarily on connecting users with ...

For most people, listening to the ocean means contemplating the soothing sound of waves breaking gently on a sandy beach. But for researchers studying everything from whale migration to fisheries populations, and from underwater mapping to guiding robots trying to repair leaking undersea oil wells, listening to the ocean from the other side – underwater – can reveal volumes of valuable data. Stanford researchers have developed a highly sensitive underwater microphone that can capture the whole range of ocean sounds, from the equivalent of a soft whisper in a library ...

Ian Jonsen, a research associate and adjunct professor in the Department of Biology at Dalhousie University and co-lead investigator of the Future of Marine Animal Populations Project (FMAP), has teamed up with Barbara Block at Stanford University and several other American researchers to conclude a two year study entitled, "Tracking apex marine predator movements in a dynamic ocean" published in the science journal Nature released June 22. The study summarized the results from a ten year tagging program called the Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP). The TOPP program ...

(Boston) – A new study conducted by a team of researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) sheds light on a possible new approach to treat the bone marrow disease known as myelofibrosis by inhibiting an enzyme that connects extracellular fibers. The study, published online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, was conducted under the direction of Katya Ravid, PhD, professor of medicine and biochemistry and director of the Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research at BUSM. Myelofibroisis, which currently affects between 16,000 and 18,500 Americans, ...

RICHLAND, Wash. – A new computer model of blue-green algae can predict which of the organism's genes are central to capturing energy from sunlight and other critical processes. Described in a paper published in the journal Molecular BioSystems, the model could advance efforts to produce biofuel and other energy sources from blue-green algae, known as cyanobacteria. Researchers from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Washington University in St. Louis and Purdue University developed the model, which was made for the single-celled marine ...

A Brooklyn purveyor of unlocked cell phones is celebrating the arrival of summer with the latest releases from Nokia, Samsung, HTC, and more. In the spirit of Spring Break, Cellification.com is offering price breaks of ten percent or more on select phones and models on a first-come/first-served basis for a limited time only. The sale is also being held to honor the upcoming one-year anniversary of an FCC ruling that finds unlocked cell phones to be entirely legal. It was only last year that the FCC released their revised rules governing a number of intellectual property ...

If the obvious reasons for avoiding recreational drug use aren't off-putting enough, physicians have yet another detrimental consequence to add to the list – crusty, purplish areas of dead skin that are extremely painful and can open the door to nasty infections. The condition is called purpura. Typical causes include a range of rare disorders, but it is also associated with the use of cocaine. Not just any cocaine, though: Physicians, researchers and health officials believe cocaine contaminated with a de-worming drug commonly used by veterinarians is the culprit. ...

DALLAS – June 23, 2011 – UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have identified compounds that appear to inhibit a signaling pathway in Huntington's disease, a finding that may eventually lead to a potential drug therapy to help slow the progression of degenerative nerve disorders. "Our studies have uncovered a new therapeutic target for Huntington's disease treatment and possibly for other neurodegenerative diseases," said Dr. Ilya Bezprozvanny, professor of physiology and senior author of the study, published in today's issue of Chemistry and Biology. "In addition, ...

Children love to succeed and do well in school. Watch a child being praised, and you will see his or her face light up with pride. Have you noticed when children do good and receive positive feedback, they want to continue to do good? Unfortunately the opposite is true as well. If young children are not consistently reminded of their manners, they often tend to get in trouble, which can lead to feelings of embarrassment and sadness. In a recent survey, more than 70 percent of U.S. adults said they thought people are ruder now than they were 20 years ago. Guaranteed Success ...

The Northwestern Pacific Ocean is active with two tropical cyclones today, Tropical Storm Meari near the Philippines, and Tropical Depression Haima moving over China and now toward Vietnam. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the region on June 22 and captured an infrared image of both storms in one image. One of the instruments onboard NASA's Aqua satellite is the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). AIRS captures cloud top temperatures in tropical cyclones to determine the strength of convection and thunderstorms. The strongest thunderstorms have cloud tops with icy cold ...

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, June 23, 2011—Two papers in this week's issue of Science report the first oxygen and nitrogen isotopic measurements of the Sun, demonstrating that they are verydifferent from the same elements on Earth. These results were the top two priorities of NASA's Genesis mission, which was the first spacecraft to return from beyond the Moon, crashing in the Utah desert in 2004 after its parachute failed to deploy during re-entry. Most of the Genesis payload consisted of fragile solar-wind collectors, which had been exposed to the solar particles over a ...

Boston, MA—Researchers have discovered a new mechanism for the origin of Barrett's esophagus, an intestine-like growth in the esophagus that is triggered by chronic acid reflux and often progresses to esophageal cancer. Studying mice, the researchers found that Barrett's esophagus arises not from mutant cells in the esophagus but rather a small group of previously overlooked cells present in all adults that can rapidly expand to cancer precursors when the normal esophagus is damaged by acid. This research will be published online in the June 24th issue of Cell. Decades ...

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who use inhaled corticosteroids to improve breathing for more than six months have a 27 percent increased risk of bone fractures, new Johns Hopkins-led research suggests. Because the research subjects were mostly men age 60 and older, the findings raise perhaps more troubling questions about the medication's effects on women with COPD, a group already at a significantly higher risk than men for fractures. "There are millions of COPD patients who use long-term inhaled corticosteroids in the United States and ...

Suburban Hobby Farmer asked us what was the most important lesson children have learned in a garden in my classes. My answer comes from our walks through the forest, an empty lot, a patch of earth on a farm, a small tract of woodland while wearing a pair of Daddy's socks. At the end of these walks the children plant the socks into a flat full of potting soil and a magic journey full of promise and faith begins. From here on out every child who plants their daddy's socks after walking through a forest with the socks over their tennis shoes is intimately connected to any ...

A team led by Johns Hopkins researchers has found that a hereditary colon cancer syndrome, familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), is associated with abnormally dense blood vessel growth in the skin lining the mouth. The finding, reported in the June issue of Familial Cancer, could lead to a quick screening test for FAP, which is normally diagnosed with expensive DNA tests and colonoscopies, and sometimes goes unnoticed until cancer develops. "This higher blood vessel density in the mouth may reflect an abnormal state of cells lining the digestive tract – including the ...

Johns Hopkins researchers have found a likely explanation for the slow growth of the most common childhood brain tumor, pilocytic astrocytoma. Using tests on a new cell-based model of the tumor, they concluded that the initial process of tumor formation switches on a growth-braking tumor-suppressor gene, in a process similar to that seen in skin moles. The findings, published in the June 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, could lead to better ways of evaluating and treating pilocytic astrocytomas. "These tumors are slow-growing to start with, and sometimes stop growing, ...

SUWON, KOREA—Formaldehyde is a major contaminant of indoor air, originating from particle board, carpet, window coverings, paper products, tobacco smoke, and other sources. Indoor volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde can contribute to allergies, asthma, headaches, and a condition known as ''sick building syndrome". The concern is widespread; a 2002 report from the World Health Organization estimated that undesirable indoor volatiles represent a serious health problem that is responsible for more than 1.6 million deaths per year and 2.7% of the global burden ...

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL); Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (G-Cubed); and Paleoceanography (PA). In this release: Estimating climate effects of contrails Did Aboriginal forest burning affect Australian summer monsoon? Determining the trigger of East Asian dust storms El Niño–Southern Oscillation variability persisted in warmer world Constraining the trigger for ancient warming episode Next generation atmospheric model improves hurricane forecasting Theorized magnetic ...

University of Illinois researchers identified the top pathogens, pests and weeds affecting soybean production in a recent article in Food Security. Soybean aphid, soybean rust, soybean cyst nematode, Sclerotina stem rot and the exotic pathogen, red leaf blotch, were featured as some of the top biotic constraints that may affect soybean production now and in the future. "Enormous potential exists to increase future soybean production," said Glen Hartman, U of I professor of crop sciences and USDA-ARS research scientist. "Genetic resources, used through both traditional ...