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Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for May 22, 2011:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
- Radio telescopes capture best-ever snapshot of black hole jets (w/ video)- Scientists find new drug target in breast cancer
- Scientists find odd twist in slow 'earthquakes': Tremor running backwards
- Scientists cultivate human brain's most ubiquitous cell in lab dish
- Japan 'plans solar panels for all new buildings'
- 'Jeopardy!'-winning computer delving into medicine
- Spacewalking astronauts encounter bolt trouble
- Researchers develop platform to monitor hematopoietic stem cells
- Study identifies novel role for a protein that could lead to new treatments for rheumatoid arthritis
- Apple nears music deal with labels
- The dance of the cells: A minuet or a mosh?
- A direct path for understanding and treating brittle bones
- Time to shift view of seismic risk - experts
Space & Earth news
NASA sees Tropical Storm 04W's thunderstorms grow quickly
Tropical Storm 04W formed from the low pressure System 98W this morning in the northwestern Pacific. NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite watched the towering thunderstorms in the center of the tropical storm grow to almost 10 miles (16 km) high as it powered up quickly.
Astronauts inspect gouge on space shuttle's belly
(AP) -- Space shuttle Endeavour's astronauts took a close, detailed look at a small gash in the belly of their ship Saturday, to ensure their safety when they return to Earth in 1 1/2 weeks.
Icelandic volcano flings up ash, shuts airport
(AP) -- Iceland closed its main international airport and canceled all domestic flights Sunday as a powerful volcanic eruption sent a plume of ash, smoke and steam 12 miles (20 kilometers) into the air.
Gulf currents primed bacteria to degrade oil spill
A new computer model of the Gulf of Mexico in the period after the oil spill provides insights into how underwater currents may have primed marine microorganisms to degrade the oil.
Time to shift view of seismic risk - experts
Knowledge of seismic risk is badly skewed in favour of earthquakes that occur on plate boundaries, such as the March 11 temblor that hit northeast Japan, rather than those that strike deep inland, a pair of scientists said on Sunday.
Spacewalking astronauts encounter bolt trouble
A spacewalking astronaut ran into trouble Sunday while trying to lubricate a joint in the life-sustaining solar power system of the International Space Station, losing one bolt and getting a washer stuck in a crevice.
Radio telescopes capture best-ever snapshot of black hole jets (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team, including NASA-funded researchers, using radio telescopes located throughout the Southern Hemisphere has produced the most detailed image of particle jets erupting from a supermassive black hole in a nearby galaxy.
Scientists find odd twist in slow 'earthquakes': Tremor running backwards
Earthquake scientists trying to unravel the mysteries of an unfelt, weeks-long seismic phenomenon called episodic tremor and slip have discovered a strange twist. The tremor can suddenly reverse direction and travel back through areas of the fault that it had ruptured in preceding days, and do so 20 to 40 times faster than the original fault rupture.
Technology news
2 killed in explosion at China electronics plant
(AP) -- Two people died in an explosion at a factory in southwestern China belonging to electronics maker Foxconn Technology Group, a company official and state media reported.
'Miracle on the Hudson' plane preps for final trip
(AP) -- The trays of food that never got served have been removed, along with some of the seat cushions and the mold from dried river mud. Aside from that, the damaged Airbus A320 jet is largely frozen in time from the day it splashed down safely on the Hudson River in 2009 and gave a country reeling from economic calamity something to cheer about.
Designer of Chinese web controls hit by shoe
(AP) -- Chinese police were seeking the man who allegedly threw an egg and shoes Thursday at the computer scientist famous for designing China's Great Firewall of Web controls.
Ankle bracelet will be Strauss-Kahn companion
As former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn settles into house arrest awaiting trial on sexual assault charges his constant companion will be a GPS-equipped ankle bracelet tracking his every move.
Sony faces another hack attack
Another unit of Sony Corp. has come under attack from hackers - this time a mobile Internet service provider in Japan called So-net Entertainment Corp.
Malone's Barnes & Noble bid a bet on the Nook
Why buy a bookstore? John Malone, who made a fortune in cable television, is offering $1 billion for Barnes & Noble - trying to jump into a business so sick that its No. 2 competitor, Borders Group Inc., is on life support.
Google stops digitizing old newspapers
Google on Friday had stopped digitizing old newspapers as publishers sought to make money off story archives instead of having them hosted free online.
Facebook and Microsoft battle child porn
Facebook and Microsoft on Friday formally unveiled an alliance to ferret out child porn and those that share such images at the world's leading online social network.
Google Advisor helps manage money
Google on Friday began providing US Internet users with tools for making financial decisions.
IBM briefly tops Microsoft in market value
IBM briefly topped Microsoft in market value on Wall Street on Friday to become the second-largest technology company after Apple.
Smartphone app lets workers track wages
(AP) -- Workers who don't trust the boss to keep track of their wages can now do it themselves with a new smartphone application from the Department of Labor. But employers worry that the time sheet app, along with other new initiatives, could encourage even more wage and hour lawsuits.
Merkel backs proposal to end nuclear power in 2022
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday that 2022 was "a good time" for Germany to end nuclear power, backing a proposal by the Bavarian wing of her party.
Apple nears music deal with labels
Apple Inc. is close to securing deals with all four major recording companies on a music service that will allow users to stream songs stored on remote computer servers, presumably to an array of portable Apple-made devices, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.
Japan 'plans solar panels for all new buildings'
Japan is considering a plan that would make it compulsory for all new buildings and houses to come fitted with solar panels by 2030, a business daily said Sunday.
Medicine & Health news
Artificial disc a viable alternative to fusion for 2-level disc disease
When two adjacent discs in the low back wear out, become compressed and cause unmanageable pain, numbness or other symptoms, replacement with artificial discs can be a viable alternative to standard fusion surgery, based on two-year post-surgery data from a randomized, multicenter trial recently published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.
Telemonitoring can improve overall survival of HF patients
Two trials presented at the Heart Failure Congress 2011, organized by the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology (HFA of the ESC), will help to define the precise populations of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) in whom telemedical management delivers benefits. Both the TIM-HF and TEHAF studies - presented in Late Breaking Session 1 - revealed that telemonitoring showed significant benefits in defined subgroups of patients. The results, which will be used to help in the design of future trials, come after the overall results from both trials demonstrated no statistical benefit for telemonitoring.
EMPHASIS HF: Study shows epleronone to reduce atrial fibrillation
The aldosterone antagonist eplerenone (Inspra, Pfizer) significantly reduced the development of new onset atrial fibrillation and flutter (AFF) in patients with class 2 heart failure, concludes a sub-analysis of the EMPHASIS-HF trial, presented at the Heart Failure Congress 2011, organized by the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The analysis, presented in Late Breaking Session 1, furthermore showed that the beneficial effects of eplerenone in reducing major CV events were similar in patients with and without AFF at the start of the study.
Heart Failure: Targeting the right patients for CRT-D
Patients with dyssynchronous yet viable ventricles are most likely to benefit from cardiac resynchronization therapy combined with defibrillation, concludes the latest analysis of the MADIT CRT trial. The CRT-MADIT-CRT trial - presented at the Heart Failure Congress 2011, organized by the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in Late Breaking Session 1 - showed that CRT produced improvements in both synchrony and contractile function, and that the extent of this benefit relates to subsequent outcomes.
Gene-modified stem cells help protect bone marrow from toxic side effects of chemotherapy
Although chemotherapy is used to kill cancer cells, it can also have a strong toxic effect on normal cells such as bone marrow and blood cells, often limiting the ability to use and manage the chemotherapy treatment. Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center reported at today's annual meeting of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy in Seattle that one possible approach to reduce this toxic effect on bone marrow cells is to modify the cells with a gene that makes them resistant to chemotherapy.
US approves new HIV drug
The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a new drug, Edurant, to fight HIV in combination with other antiretrovirals already on the market.
Australia rules out total smoking ban
Australia plans the world's toughest laws on tobacco promotion but Health Minister Nicola Roxon denied Sunday the government's ultimate goal was a complete ban on smoking.
Ulcer bacteria may contribute to development of Parkinson's disease
The stomach bacteria responsible for ulcers could also play a role in the development of Parkinson's disease according to research presented today at the 111th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
Genomics and social network analysis team up to solve disease outbreaks
Combining the cutting-edge technology of whole genome sequencing of bacteria with social networking analysis, public health officials can get a more detailed picture of disease outbreaks that will better help track and stop them, say researchers today at the 111th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
'Jeopardy!'-winning computer delving into medicine
Some guy in his pajamas, home sick with bronchitis and complaining online about it, could soon be contributing to a digital collection of medical information designed to help speed diagnoses and treatments.
A direct path for understanding and treating brittle bones
A study by researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and collaborators at other institutions has provided new insights into the means by which bone cells produce new bone in response to mechanical stresses, such as exercise. Their findings lay a path for developing new strategies for treating diseases characterized by low bone density, such as osteoporosis in adults and osteogenesis imperfecta in children.
Study identifies novel role for a protein that could lead to new treatments for rheumatoid arthritis
A new study by rheumatologists at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York has shown that a powerful pro-inflammatory protein, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), can also suppress aspects of inflammation. The researchers say the identification of the mechanism of how this occurs could potentially lead to new treatments for diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. The study was published May 22 online in advance of publication in the journal Nature Immunology.
Scientists find new drug target in breast cancer
Researchers have identified a new protein involved in the development of drug resistance in breast cancer which could be a target for new treatments, they report today in the journal Nature Medicine.
Biology news
The dance of the cells: A minuet or a mosh?
The physical forces that guide how cells migrate—how they manage to get from place to place in a coordinated fashion inside the living body— are poorly understood. Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) have, for the first time, devised a way to measure these forces during collective cellular migration. Their surprising conclusion is that the cells fight it out, each pushing and pulling on its neighbors in a chaotic dance, yet together moving cooperatively toward their intended direction.
Researchers develop platform to monitor hematopoietic stem cells
A Canadian research team has developed an automated microfluidic cell culture platform to monitor the growth, survival and responses of hundreds of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) at the single cell level.
Scientists cultivate human brain's most ubiquitous cell in lab dish
Pity the lowly astrocyte, the most common cell in the human nervous system.
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