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Profiling based on mobile, online behavior: A privacy issue

2010-12-07
CORVALLIS, Ore. – It's illegal for businesses and law enforcement to profile a person based on their race, gender, or ethnicity, yet millions of Americans are being profiled every day based on their online consumer behavior and demographics. Known as consumer profiling for behavioral advertising purposes, this type of profiling is largely unregulated. The result, according to two recent articles in the journal of Computer Law & Security Review, is that consumers have less privacy and are being targeted by advertisers using increasingly sophisticated measures, which ...

The taster in your water line

The taster in your water line
2010-12-07
It is supposed to be cool, colorless, tasteless and odorless. It may not have any pathogens or impair your health. This is the reason why drinking water is put to a whole series of screenings at regular intervals. Now, the AquaBioTox project will be added to create a system for constant real-time drinking water monitoring. At present, the tests required by the German Drinking Water Ordinance are limited to random samples that often only provide findings after hours and are always attuned to specific substances. In contrast, the heart of the AquaBioTox system is a bio-sensor ...

Scientists find gene linked to congenital heart defect

Scientists find gene linked to congenital heart defect
2010-12-07
A gene that can cause congenital heart defects has been identified by a team of scientists, including a group from Princeton University. The discovery could lead to new treatments for those affected by the conditions brought on by the birth defect. Princeton researchers focused on identifying and studying the gene in zebrafish embryos, and the team's work expanded to include collaborations with other groups studying the genetics of mice and people. "This work really showcases the use of collaborative science and multiple model systems to better understand human disease," ...

Parkinson's drug could treat restless leg syndrome

Parkinsons drug could treat restless leg syndrome
2010-12-07
AUGUSTA, Ga. – A drug prescribed for Parkinson's disease may also treat restless leg syndrome without the adverse side effects of current therapies, Medical College of Georgia researchers say. Rasagaline works by prolonging the effect of dopamine, a chemical that transmits signals between nerve cells in the brain. The cause of RLS is unknown, but research suggests a dopamine imbalance. Parkinson's is caused by a dopamine insufficiency. "The hope is that Rasagaline, because it prolongs the effect of existing dopamine, instead of producing more, will not come with adverse ...

Mayo Clinic finds long-term prognosis is excellent for most children with seizures

2010-12-07
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic researchers studied more than 200 children with epilepsy and found that even if the cause of focal-onset seizures cannot be identified and they do not fit into a known epilepsy syndrome, long-term prognosis is still excellent. This study was presented at the American Epilepsy Society's (http://www.aesnet.org/) annual meeting in San Antonio on Dec. 4. Epilepsy (http://www.mayoclinic.org/epilepsy/) is a disorder characterized by the occurrence of two or more seizures. It affects almost 3 million Americans, and approximately 45,000 children ...

Scientists announce discovery of first horned dinosaur from South Korea

2010-12-07
Cleveland - Scientists from South Korea, the United States and Japan analyzed fossil evidence found in South Korea and published research describing a new horned dinosaur. The newly identified genus, Koreaceratops hwaseongensis, lived about 103 million years ago during the late Early Cretaceous period. The specimen is the first ceratopsian dinosaur from the Korean peninsula. The partial skeleton includes a significant portion of the animal's backbone, hip bone, partial hind limbs and a nearly complete tail. Results from the analysis of the specimen were published in ...

Penn study on skin formation suggests strategies to fight skin cancer

Penn study on skin formation suggests strategies to fight skin cancer
2010-12-07
PHILADELPHIA - In a study published in the journal Developmental Cell, Sarah Millar PhD, professor of Dermatology and Cell & Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and colleagues demonstrate that a pair of enzymes called HDACs are critical to the proper formation of mammalian skin. The findings, Millar says, not only provide information about the molecular processes underlying skin development, they also suggest a potential anticancer strategy. "Inhibition of these HDAC enzymes might be able to shut down the growth of tumors that ...

Bacteria seek to topple the egg as top flu vaccine tool

2010-12-07
Only the fragile chicken egg stands between Americans and a flu pandemic that would claim tens of thousands more lives than are usually lost to the flu each year. Vaccine production hinges on the availability of hundreds of millions of eggs – and even with the vaccine, flu still claims somewhere around 36,000 lives in the United States during a typical year. Now scientists have taken an important step toward ending the dominance of the oval. In a paper published in the Dec. 6 issue of the journal Vaccine, scientists showed that an experimental flu vaccine grown entirely ...

NIH scientists identify mechanism responsible for spreading biofilm infections

2010-12-07
What: Scientists from the National Institutes of Health have discovered how catheter-related bacterial infection develops and disseminates to become a potentially life-threatening condition. The study, which included research on Staphylococcus epidermidis in mice implanted with catheters, could have important implications for understanding many types of bacterial biofilm infections, including those caused by methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Biofilms are clusters of microbes that almost always are found with healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) involving medical ...

Iron deficiency in soil threatens soybean production

2010-12-07
Madison, WI December 6 2010 -- An expansion of soybean production into areas where soybean has seldom, if ever, been grown can be problematic for some farmers. Soils having high pH values and large amounts of calcium and/or magnesium carbonate are notoriously iron deficient. Iron deficient soils in the North Central United States are estimated to reduce soy bean production by 12.5 million bushels every year. John Wiersma, a researcher at the University of Minnesota Northwest Research and Outreach Center at Crookston, concluded a study examining the effect of nitrogen based ...

UNC expert: Combining exenatide with insulin may be 'best result ever' for diabetes patients

2010-12-07
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A new study finds that combining the newer diabetes drug exenatide with insulin provides better blood sugar control in patients with type 2 diabetes than insulin alone and helps promote weight loss. "This study may be the best result ever for patients whose diabetes is inadequately controlled on a combination of pills and insulin," said John Buse, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. "Until now, it was inconceivable that you ...

Personalized vaccine for lymphoma patients extends disease-free survival by nearly 2 years

2010-12-07
(ORLANDO, Fla.) – A personalized vaccine is a powerful therapy to prevent recurrence among certain follicular lymphoma patients, according to the latest results of ongoing research led by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The new findings show that when these patients – whose tumors are marked by a specific protein that may be present in up to half of people with this type of cancer -- receive a vaccine made from their own tumor cells, disease-free survival is improved by nearly two years, compared with patients who receive a placebo. Based on the new analysis, ...

Learning the language of bacteria

2010-12-07
MADISON — Bacteria are among the simplest organisms in nature, but many of them can still talk to each other, using a chemical "language" that is critical to the process of infection. Sending and receiving chemical signals allows bacteria to mind their own business when they are scarce and vulnerable, and then mount an attack after they become numerous enough to overwhelm the host's immune system. This system, called "quorum sensing," is an interesting example of sophistication among microbes, says Helen Blackwell, an associate professor of chemistry at the University ...

Mammogram sensitivity depends on menstrual cycle

2010-12-07
SEATTLE—Try to schedule your screening mammogram during the first week of your menstrual cycle. It might make breast cancer screening more accurate for pre-menopausal women who choose to have regular mammograms. This recommendation comes from an article published online December 3 in Radiology by Diana Miglioretti, PhD, a senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute. Dr. Miglioretti and her co-authors are working on an issue at the heart of recent controversies about breast cancer screening mammograms. In November 2009, new recommendations—including that women ...

Metabolism models may explain why Alzheimer's disease kills some neuron types first

Metabolism models may explain why Alzheimers disease kills some neuron types first
2010-12-07
Bioengineers from the University of California, San Diego developed an explanation for why some types of neurons die sooner than others in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. These insights, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology on November 21, come from detailed models of brain energy metabolism developed in the Department of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. The Alzheimer's insights demonstrate how fundamental insights on human metabolism can be gleaned from computer models that incorporate large genomic and proteomic ...

Fewer guessing games for lung cancer patients

2010-12-07
Reston, Va. — A study published in the December issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine identified positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans as a potentially useful tool for predicting local recurrence in lung cancer patients treated with radiofrequency ablation (RFA). RFA, which uses localized thermal energy to kill cancer cells, is increasingly used as an alternative treatment for patients unable to undergo surgery or other therapies to treat lung cancer. "This study reinforces the utility of 18F-FDG-PET imaging in cancer detection and follow-up ...

Imitating someone's accent makes it easier to understand them

2010-12-07
In conversation, we often imitate each other's speech style and may even change our accent to fit that of the person we're talking to. A recent study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that imitating someone who speaks with a regional or foreign accent may actually help you understand them better. "If people are talking to each other, they tend to sort of move their speech toward each other," says Patti Adank, of the University of Manchester, who cowrote the study with Peter Hagoort and Harold Bekkering from Radboud ...

Missouri grapes hold key to improving world grape production

2010-12-07
In a few years, a sip of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Pinot Noir may include a taste of the "Show-Me" State. The state grape of Missouri – the Norton variety grown at many vineyards around the state – is resistant to powdery mildew, a fungal pathogen that affects winemaking grapes around the world. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri are working to identify valuable genes from the Norton grape for eventual transfer into other grapes to make them less susceptible to mildew, decrease fungicide use and increase world-wide grape production. Walter Gassmann, ...

Early physical therapy for low back pain associated with less subsequent health care utilization

2010-12-07
The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) is pointing to a new study on low back pain in Medicare patients in its efforts to encourage the newly established Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to promptly launch a demonstration project on direct access to physical therapist services that was recommended in the recent health reform law. The study, published in the journal Spine, showed Medicare patients who received physical therapy in the acute phase following an episode of low back pain were less likely to receive epidural steroid injections, lumbar surgery, ...

Illinois study: Ginseng just got better -- not as bitter

2010-12-07
URBANA – University of Illinois scientists have learned to mask the bitterness of ginseng, a common ingredient of energy drinks. "Consumers like to see ginseng on a product's ingredient list because studies show that it improves memory, enhances libido and sexual performance, boosts immunity, and alleviates diabetes. But the very compounds that make ginseng good for you also make it taste bitter," said Soo-Yeun Lee, a U of I associate professor of food science and human nutrition. In an earlier study, Lee and U of I professor of food chemistry Shelly J. Schmidt found ...

Optics Express focus issue on chalcogenide photonics: Fabrication, devices and applications

2010-12-07
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6—Recent progress in chalcogenide glass photonics has been driven by scientific and technological challenges in a variety of areas. These range from increased demand for bandwidth in optical communications, to the emergence of bio-health hazards associated with hazardous microorganisms that absorb at mid-infrared wavelengths, to defense applications that require bright mid-infrared sources. Additionally, chalcogenide glass provides a platform for fundamental investigations of light-matter interactions in nanophotonic structures, such as photonic crystals ...

Fleshing out the life histories of dead whales

Fleshing out the life histories of dead whales
2010-12-07
Dead whales that sink down to the seafloor provide a feast for deep-sea animals that can last for years. Previous research suggested that such "whale falls" were homes for unique animals that lived nowhere else. However, after sinking five whale carcasses in Monterey Canyon, researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) found that most of the animals at these sites were not unique to whale falls, but were common in other deep-sea environments as well. Nonetheless, the whale-fall communities did include a few very abundant animals that were "bone ...

A flu vaccine that lasts

2010-12-07
WHAT: The costly, time-consuming process of making, distributing and administering millions of seasonal flu vaccines would become obsolete if researchers could design a vaccine that confers decades-long protection from any flu virus strain. Making such a universal influenza vaccine is feasible but licensing it may require innovation on several fronts, including finding new ways to evaluate the efficacy of vaccine candidates in clinical trials, conclude scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. ...

Rice physicists help unravel mystery of repetitive DNA segments

Rice physicists help unravel mystery of repetitive DNA segments
2010-12-07
HOUSTON -- (Dec. 6, 2010) -- With new tools that can grab individual strands of DNA and stretch them like rubber bands, Rice University scientists are working to unravel a mystery of modern genomics. Their latest findings, which appear in Physical Review Letters, offer new clues about the physical makeup of odd segments of DNA that have just one DNA base, adenine, repeated dozens of times in a row. These mysterious "poly(dA) repeats" are sprinkled throughout the human genome. Scientists have also found them in the genomes of animals, plants and other species over the ...

Why married men tend to behave better

Why married men tend to behave better
2010-12-07
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Researchers have long argued that marriage generally reduces illegal and aggressive behaviors in men. It remained unclear, however, if that association was a function of matrimony itself or whether less "antisocial" men were simply more likely to get married. The answer, according to a new study led by a Michigan State University behavior geneticist, appears to be both. In the December issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, online today, S. Alexandra Burt and colleagues found that less antisocial men were more likely to get married. Once ...
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