A non-stick coating for a substance found in semen dramatically lowers the rate of infection of immune cells by HIV a new study has found. The new material is a potential ingredient for microbicides designed to reduce transmission of HIV, a team from the University of Rochester Medical Center and the University of California, San Diego reports in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The coating clings to fibrous strings and mats of protein called SEVI–for semen-derived enhancer of viral infection–which was first discovered just three years ago. ...

Like a well-crafted football play designed to block the opposing team's offensive drive to the end zone, the body constantly executes complex 'plays' or sequences of events to initiate, or block, different actions or functions. Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center recently discovered a potential molecular playbook for blocking cardiac hypertrophy, the unwanted enlargement of the heart and a well-known precursor of heart failure. Researchers uncovered a specific molecular chain of events that leads to the inhibition of this widespread risk factor. ...

Troy, N.Y. – Individuals within a networked system coordinate their activities by communicating to each other information such as their position, speed, or intention. At first glance, it seems that more of this communication will increase the harmony and efficiency of the network. However, scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that this is only true if the communication and its subsequent action are immediate. Using statistical physics and network science, the researchers were able to find something very fundamental about synchronization and coordination: ...

In research led by a Saint Louis University surgeon, investigators found that women who give birth after suffering pelvic fractures receive C-sections at more than double normal rates despite the fact that vaginal delivery after such injuries is possible. In addition, women reported lingering, yet often treatable, symptoms following their pelvic fracture injuries, from urinary complications to post-traumatic stress disorder. The study, published in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, retrospectively reviewed the cases of 71 women who had suffered pelvic fractures, ...

PASADENA, Calif.—Computers, light bulbs, and even people generate heat—energy that ends up being wasted. With a thermoelectric device, which converts heat to electricity and vice versa, you can harness that otherwise wasted energy. Thermoelectric devices are touted for use in new and efficient refrigerators, and other cooling or heating machines. But present-day designs are not efficient enough for widespread commercial use or are made from rare materials that are expensive and harmful to the environment. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) ...

RENO, Nev. – Like the little engine that could, the University of Nevada, Reno experiment to transform wastewater sludge to electrical power is chugging along, dwarfed by the million-gallon tanks, pipes and pumps at the Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility where, ultimately, the plant's electrical power could be supplied on-site by the process University researchers are developing. "We are very pleased with the results of the demonstration testing of our research," Chuck Coronella, principle investigator for the research project and an associate professor of chemical ...

WASHINGTON– In recent decades, the rate at which humans worldwide are pumping dry the vast underground stores of water that billions depend on has more than doubled, say scientists who have conducted an unusual, global assessment of groundwater use. These fast-shrinking subterranean reservoirs are essential to daily life and agriculture in many regions, while also sustaining streams, wetlands, and ecosystems and resisting land subsidence and salt water intrusion into fresh water supplies. Today, people are drawing so much water from below that they are adding enough ...

University of Southern Mississippi scientists recently imitated Mother Nature by developing, for the first time, a new, skinny-molecule-based material that resembles cilia, the tiny, hair-like structures through which organisms derive smell, vision, hearing and fluid flow. While the new material isn't exactly like cilia, it responds to thermal, chemical, and electromagnetic stimulation, allowing researchers to control it and opening unlimited possibilities for future use. This finding is published in today's edition of the journal Advanced Functional Materials. The ...

Archaeologists who interpret Stone Age culture from discoveries of ancient tools and artifacts may need to reanalyze some of their conclusions. That's the finding suggested by a new study that for the first time looked at the impact of water buffalo and goats trampling artifacts into mud. In seeking to understand how much artifacts can be disturbed, the new study documented how animal trampling in a water-saturated area can result in an alarming amount of disturbance, says archaeologist Metin I. Eren, a graduate student at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, and ...

University of California, Berkeley, and Yale University scientists have recreated the tremendous pressures and high temperatures deep in the Earth to resolve a long-standing puzzle: why some seismic waves travel faster than others through the boundary between the solid mantle and fluid outer core. Below the earth's crust stretches an approximately 1,800-mile-thick mantle composed mostly of a mineral called magnesium silicate perovskite (MgSiO3). Below this depth, the pressures are so high that perovskite is compressed into a phase known as post-perovskite, which comprises ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers report this month that MALAT1, a long non-coding RNA that is implicated in certain cancers, regulates pre-mRNA splicing – a critical step in the earliest stage of protein production. Their study appears in the journal Molecular Cell. Nearly 5 percent of the human genome codes for proteins, and scientists are only beginning to understand the role of the rest of the "non-coding" genome. Among the least studied non-coding genes – which are transcribed from DNA to RNA but generally are not translated into proteins – are the long non-coding RNAs ...

The fifteenth tropical depression of the Atlantic Ocean season has formed in the south-central Caribbean Sea, and the GOES-13 satellite captured its swirling mass of clouds and showers in a visible image today. Watches and warnings are already up for Central America. At 2 p.m. EDT today, Sept. 23, Tropical Depression 15 had maximum sustained winds near 35 mph. It was located about 485 miles east of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, near 13.9 North and 76.2 West. It was moving west at 15 mph, and had a minimum central pressure of 1007 millibars. The government of Nicaragua ...

NASA's Aqua satellite has peered into the cloud tops of Tropical Storm Malakas and derived just how cold they really are, giving an indication to forecasters of the strength of the storm. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument, known as AIRS has the ability to determine cloud top and sea surface temperatures from its position in space aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. Cloud top temperatures help forecasters know if a storm is powering up or powering down. When cloud top temperatures get colder it means that they're getting higher into the atmosphere which means the ...

Tropical Depression Lisa has had a struggle, and it appears that she's in for more of the same. Infrared satellite imagery from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite shows that the convection (rapidly rising air that forms thunderstorms that make up a tropical cyclone) is increasing in Lisa. The convection is becoming a little better organized and stronger which is will make for some heavy rainfall over the northwestern Cape Verde Islands. It's also an indication that she may be strengthening back into a tropical storm today. That ...

Researchers have identified a gene that appears to increase a person's risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of the disease. The gene, abbreviated as MTHFD1L, is on chromosome six, and was identified in a genome-wide association study. Details are published September 23 in the journal PLoS Genetics. The collaborative team of researchers was led by Margaret A. Pericak-Vance, PhD, Director of the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Joseph D. Buxbaum, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, ...

Pakistan is facing tremendous water issues. This summer's flooding has left millions of people without homes and without access to clean drinking water. But water issues - both quantity and quality - are not new to this strategically important country. Waterborne diseases account for 30 percent of all deaths in Pakistan, and kill some 250,000 children each year. Per capita water availability in Pakistan is less than one-ninth of what it is in the U.S. And what's more, researchers say if Pakistan doesn't manage its water resources differently, it's going to actually run ...

One touch directs a robotic arm to grab objects in a new computer program designed to give people in wheelchairs more independence. University of Central Florida researchers thought the ease of the using the program's automatic mode would be a huge hit. But they were wrong – many participants in a pilot study didn't like it because it was "too easy." Most participants preferred the manual mode, which requires them to think several steps ahead and either physically type in instructions or verbally direct the arm with a series of precise commands. They favored the manual ...

African-American victims of motorcycle crashes were 1.5 times more likely to die from their injuries than similarly injured whites, even though many more of the African-American victims were wearing helmets at the time of injury, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers. Results of the research revealing these racial disparities, published in the August issue of the American Journal of Surgery, suggest that injury-prevention programs — like state laws mandating the use of motorcycle helmets — may not be sufficient to protect all riders equally. "For reasons ...

Contrary to a thousand face cream adverts, the secret of fertility might not be eternal youth. Research by the ecologist Dr. Carlos Herrera, a Professor of Research at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas in Seville, Spain has shown that the withering action of flowers may have evolved to protect their seeds. His research is published in the October 2010 issue of the Annals of Botany (http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcq160). Prof. Herrera said: "No one has paid much attention to the corollas, collections of petals on a flower, when they shrivel. Their job ...

Comic collectors and art aficionados have the opportunity to acquire a unique piece of cartoon art history. This week, Sketch Maven is offering a tremendous piece of cartoon artwork featuring the characters of Moon Mullins, one of the longest running comic strips in American history. "This is beautiful artwork by Ferd and Tom Johnson, measuring over six feet tall and nearly four feet wide. I haven't seen anything like it before," comments Mike Todasco, founder of Sketch Maven, the World's Greatest Original Comic Art Marketplace. "We are fortunate to have this artwork ...

VivaPrime expands its U.S. team with the strategic hire of Diane Rich, who will lead the holistic lifestyle supplement company in its efforts to promote wellness to U.S. consumers through its line of condition specific nutritional solutions, which were introduced in the U.S. earlier this year. The primary purpose of Diane's role is to steer VivaPrime's business in the U.S. and make Vivaprime a leading brand in the dietary supplement category. We are pleased to have Ms. Rich join the VivaPrime's dynamic team and lead our efforts in promoting wellness and preventative ...

Promotional Items Inc. serves a wide clientele both offline and online offering high quality products at discount prices for bulk order promotional items. This is not your one time supplier for products branded with a company logo but uniquely qualified for your continual promotions all year long. Distribution of high quality yet inexpensive logo items keyed toward summertime use only enhances your promotional results. Late summer is the time when people move outdoors and it is the perfect opportunity to gift them your logo-bearing gift articles with a suitable summer-time ...

We at Mountain Bike Lights.net Understand Your Need for Proper Lighting during Casual and Dedicated Cycling ExcursionsâEUR, Says Jonathan Website Product Manager. A firm believer of the notion âEUR˜the world is different at nightâEUR , Mountain Bike Lights.net has provided their customers with a great way in which to choose Mountain Bike Lights via their easy to use website. Ideally, they have done this by firstly listing the important bike lights brand in categories as well as provided an easy view in which buyers can easily access new mountain bike lights added to ...

Lanner Group, the business transformation and simulation modeling solutions provider, has cautioned business leaders in its latest free white paper that in order to achieve future goals they must accept the new realities of risk mitigation through simulation and process optimization. Published ahead of the company's free webinar, explaining the power of simulation and simulation software, on September 28th, the new executive briefing paper, "Fortune's Accomplice? The Simulation of Risks and Controls", is aimed at executives leading manufacturing, financial services, ...

Startup Weekend is coming to Phoenix October 22-24, 2010, and will be held downtown at CO-HOOTS, the fantastic new co-working space. Help us tell the story of passionate entrepreneurs coming together and creating new ventures. Startup Weekend is a 54-hour startup event that provides the networking, resources, and incentives for individuals and teams to start with an idea and launch a company. Startup Weekend's motto is "Build Community. Start Companies. No Talk. All Action." The event kicks off Friday evening when attendees pitch their ideas in rapid-fire - 60 seconds ...