PhysOrg Newsletter Thursday, Dec 8

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Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for December 8, 2011:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

- Physicists find that an ultrahigh-energy proton looks like a black disk
- UIUC team will show can't-tell photo inserts at Siggraph (w/ video)
- House-hunting honey bees work like complex brains: study
- Changes in London taxi drivers' brains driven by acquiring 'the Knowledge', study shows
- Atoms dressed with light show new interactions, could reveal way to observe enigmatic particle
- Functionalized graphene oxide plays part in next-generation oil-well drilling fluids
- Researchers link patterns seen in spider silk, melodies
- Learning high-performance tasks with no conscious effort may soon be possible (w/ video)
- Opportunity rover finds mineral vein deposited by water
- Helping your fellow rat: Rodents show empathy-driven behavior
- The heart of the plant
- Breaking oncogene's hold on cancer cell provides new treatment direction
- Twitter revamps to connect the world
- The birth of a telescope 30 times larger than Earth
- 77,000-year-old evidence for early 'bedding', use of medicinal plants at South African rock shelter

Space & Earth news

Scientists reveal where growing conditions today mirror future climates
With climate change posing a threat to food production around the world, scientists are developing a form of virtual time travel that can offer farmers in many countries a glimpse of their future by identifying regions where growing conditions today match those that will exist 20 years from now, according to a new report from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).

Mekong nations meet on controversial Laos dam
Energy-starved Laos sought the green light from Southeast Asian neighbours on Thursday for a proposed hydropower dam on the Mekong River that faces fierce opposition from conservationists.

Waiting on climate is 'escapism': top UN scientist
Leaders who wait for further evidence about the perils of greenhouse gases are flirting with escapism, the head of the UN's Nobel-winning climate scientists says.

Keeping our beaches safe: New wireless sensor device rapidly detects E. coli in water samples
Fecal contamination of public beaches caused by sewage overflow is both dangerous for swimmers and costly for state and local economies. Current methods to detect Escherichia coli, a bacterium highly indicative of the presence of fecal matter in water, typically require 24-48 hours to produce a result. A new, accurate, and economical sensor-based device capable of measuring E. coli levels in water samples in less than 1-8 hours could serve as a valuable early warning tool and is described in an article in Environmental Engineering Science.

The world's biggest radar laboratory
In the past year, the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility deployed 18 new scanning radars at its research sites in Oklahoma, Alaska, and the tropical western Pacific. These highly sophisticated new radars are providing extraordinary 4-dimensional information to help scientists better understand the lifecycle of clouds.

Japan plant operator mulls new nuclear water dump
Japan's embattled Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday it was considering dumping more nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima power plant into the sea.

Climate talks see some progress as clock ticks
World climate talks late Thursday inched towards common ground that would bring China, the United States and Europe into a deal on tackling global warming.

National interests hinder climate accord attempt
(AP) -- Delegates attending a 194-nation climate conference agree the world needs to send less carbon into the atmosphere, but national interests and economic worries have so far hindered attempts to reach an agreement that would oblige governments to curb the emissions that are warming the planet.

China's pollution data shrouded in official fog
(AP) -- Armed with a device that looks like an old transistor radio, some Beijing residents are recording pollution levels and posting them online. It's an act that borders on subversion.

Rapid retreat of Chile glacier captured in images
(AP) -- Researchers in Chile released a series of time-lapse photos Wednesday showing the dramatic retreat of a glacier in Patagonia.

NASA's Jason-1 achieves a one-decade landmark
(PhysOrg.com) -- On Dec. 7, 2001, NASA and the French Space Agency Centre Nationale d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) launched the Jason-1 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., embarking on a planned three-to-five-year mission to study Earth's ocean from space. Today, Jason-1 celebrates 10 years of precisely measuring ocean surface topography. The mission continues to reveal new insights into the ocean's complicated circulation patterns, while providing a critical measure of climate change by contributing to a nearly 20-year record of global sea level monitoring from space.

Biodiversity and climate change - from bad to worse
(PhysOrg.com) -- A major new scientific review, involving more than 30 scientists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands sets out our current knowledge of the impacts of climate change on biodiversity in the latest special edition of the scientific journal Pacific Conservation Biology.

Gaia spreads its wings
(PhysOrg.com) -- ESA’s Gaia star-mapper has passed a critical test ahead of its launch in 2013: the spacecraft’s sunshield has been deployed for the first time.

Via research aircraft instead of dog sled
With dog food and a pack of huskies Dr. Veit Helm would not get far on his Antarctic expeditions. Instead, the geophysicist at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association conducts research on the icy continent from on board an aircraft and successfully completed the first measurement campaign of the new Polar 6 research plane a few days ago.

Europe's Vega rocket launch set for early 2012
Europe's new Vega rocket, which can place a 1.5-ton satellite into low-Earth orbit, is expected to see its first launch early next year, Arianespace chief Jean-Yves Le Gall said Thursday.

Revolutionary navigation system for future Mars rovers
(PhysOrg.com) -- An autonomous navigation system that will enable a future planetary rover vehicle to be in complete control of its own actions as it explores the surface of Mars is being designed by top-calibre scientists and engineers at STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. The team from the UK, France and Canada are joining forces to design ‘Seeker’ as part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) StarTiger initiative, which tackles specific space-related challenges through targeted projects with fixed timeframes.  Details of Seeker’s development were unveiled today on the day STFC’s RAL Space is holding its 7th Appleton Space conference.

Study shows more shrubbery in a warming world
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have used satellite data from NASA-built Landsat missions to confirm that more than 20 years of warming temperatures in northern Quebec, Canada, have resulted in an increase in the amount and extent of shrubs and grasses.

NASA sees Alenga become a cyclone in the Southern Indian Ocean
NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Cyclone Alenga and captured a visible image of the rounded and more powerful storm is it makes its way toward Western Australia.

For Midwesterners, more boxcars mean cleaner air
Shifting a fraction of truck-borne freight onto trains would have an outsized impact on air quality in the Midwest, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Landsat satellites track Yellowstone's underground heat
(PhysOrg.com) -- Yellowstone National Park sits on top of a vast, ancient, and still active volcano. Heat pours off its underground magma chamber, and is the fuel for Yellowstone's famous features -- more than 10,000 hot springs, mud pots, terraces and geysers, including Old Faithful.

Astronomers reveal a rapidly spinning core inside old stars
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have made a new discovery about how old stars called 'red giants' rotate, giving an insight into what our sun will look like in five billion years.

With 'Google Earth' for Mars, explore the red planet from home
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new software tool developed by the HiRISE team in the UA's Lunar and Planetary Lab allows members of the public to download high-resolution images of the Martian landscape almost instantaneously and explore the surface of the Red Planet from their own desktops.

National security expert warns of Asian space race
(PhysOrg.com) -- James Clay Moltz, an associate professor in the department of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, has published a commentary paper in the journal Nature where he warns of a possible space race involving many Asian nations, possibly leading to an arms race.

Research study shows link between earthquakes and tropical cyclones
A groundbreaking study led by University of Miami (UM) scientist Shimon Wdowinski shows that earthquakes, including the recent 2010 temblors in Haiti and Taiwan, may be triggered by tropical cyclones (hurricanes and typhoons). Wdowinski will discuss his findings during a presentation at the 2011 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

The birth of a telescope 30 times larger than Earth
(PhysOrg.com) -- On 15 November 2011, the Effelsberg 100-meter radio telescope, together with three Russian and one Ukrainian telescope, took part in the first interferometric observations with the orbiting 10-meter antenna Spektr-R of the Russian RadioAstron project. The observations were made at a wavelength of 18 centimeters, targeting the distant, bright, and very compact quasar 0212+735. Interferometric signals have been successfully detected by the RadioAstron team between Spektr-R and the ground antennas, setting a new world record for the size of a radio interferometer and opening a new era in interferometric studies of cosmic radio emission.

The Misplaced Stuff: NASA loses moon, space rocks
Astronauts may have had the `right stuff' to go to the moon, but when it comes to keeping track of what they brought back, NASA seems to have misplaced some of that stuff.

Paleoclimate record points toward potential rapid climate changes
(PhysOrg.com) -- New research into the Earth's paleoclimate history by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies director James E. Hansen suggests the potential for rapid climate changes this century, including multiple meters of sea level rise, if global warming is not abated.

Opportunity rover finds mineral vein deposited by water
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found bright veins of a mineral, apparently gypsum, deposited by water. Analysis of the vein will help improve understanding of the history of wet environments on Mars.

Technology news

World's richest casino exec opposes online wagers
(AP) -- Sheldon Adelson, the world's richest casino executive and chief of the industry's largest publicly traded company, says he opposes online gambling because he doesn't believe available technology is good enough to prevent young people from making wagers on the Internet, a spokesman said Wednesday.

ICANN names Chinese scholar as VP for Asia
(AP) -- The organization in charge of Internet domain names has selected a Chinese scholar as vice president for Asia.

Justice Dept looking into e-book sales practices
(AP) -- The Justice Department is looking into possible anticompetitive practices involving e-book sales.

US calls for Internet freedom amid India plan
The United States called for freedom of expression on the Internet after the India said it planned to find ways to ban offensive content before it is posted.

Cable firms branch out into home-security services
For decades, the only theft the cable industry worried about was people trying to get MTV and HBO without paying for them.

Google ramps up marketing
Facing a competitive landscape for its expanding menu of products, as well as antitrust investigations, privacy blowups and other PR problems that have dinged its once-spotless image, Google Inc. is spending more money on sales and marketing than ever before.

How sustainable is nuclear power for the UK?
The research into the sustainability of nuclear and other electricity options in the UK shows that nuclear power could make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. However, that would require a huge expansion of nuclear, constituting 35% of the electricity mix by 2035, almost double the current contribution.

Federal judge: Montana blogger is not journalist
A federal judge in Oregon has ruled that a Montana woman sued for defamation was not a journalist when she posted online that an Oregon lawyer acted criminally during a bankruptcy case, a decision with implications for bloggers around the country.

Netflix sharing on Facebook may be coming to US
(AP) -- It may not be much longer before there's an easier way for Netflix's U.S. subscribers to share their tastes in movies on Facebook.

Google eyes Asia growth with new data centres
Google has begun construction of a new data centre in Hong Kong, the first of three planned for Asia as the Web giant expands to meet the region's growing thirst for information technology.

Yahoo! awarded $610 million in spammer case
Yahoo! on Wednesday said that a judge ordered spammers to pay $610 million for running a larcenous lottery scheme using the Internet pioneer's name.

Coveted TED prize goes to city of the future
TED for the first time awarded its coveted annual prize to an idea instead of a person, naming the smart city of the future as winner of the prestigious group's backing.

Imec reports smallest fully-functional HfO2-based Resistive RAM cell
At today's 2011 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), imec presents the world’s smallest, fully-functional HfO2-based Resistive RAM (RRAM) cell, with an area of less than 10x10nm². The new cell shows potential to meet the major requirements for future device-level nonvolatile memory. RRAM is an emerging technology for nonvolatile memory, a candidate to replace NAND Flash technology in the scaling race to sub-10nm memories.

NREL releases report on testing electric vehicles to optimize their performance with power grids
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have released a technical report that could help improve the performance of electric vehicles (EVs) and the efficiency of the electric utility grids that power them.

A new visualization method makes research more organized and efficient
The National Science Foundation- (NSF) funded Action Science Explorer (ASE) allows users to simultaneously search through thousands of academic papers, using a visualization method that determines how papers are connected, for instance, by topic, date, authors, etc.   The goal is to use these connections to identify emerging scientific trends and advances.

Transportation fuels expert says policy makers need to think about practical ways to reach new energy goals
(PhysOrg.com) -- A transportation fuels expert from Sandia National Laboratories says policy makers should consider such practical issues as the number of gas stations selling ethanol and how long it takes to get new transportation technologies to market as they introduce aggressive federal and state energy policies.

Hollywood flubs movie system launch, miffs users
(AP) -- Warner Bros. is learning a hard lesson about launching an ill-conceived product in the age of social media.

China court rejects Apple lawsuit over iPad name
A court in southern China has rejected a claim by Apple Inc. that a Hong Kong-headquartered tech company has violated its iPad trademark, in the latest development in a case that could affect the U.S. company's financial prospects in the country.

Building a sustainable hydrogen economy
The concept of the hydrogen economy (HE), in which hydrogen would replace the carbon-based fossil fuels of the twentieth century was first mooted in the 1970s. Today, HE is seen as a potential solution to the dual global crises of climate change and dwindling oil reserves. A research paper to be published in the International Journal of Sustainable Design suggests that HE is wrong and SHE has the answer in the sustainable hydrogen economy.

More drivers texting at wheel, despite state bans
(AP) -- For all the criticism and new legal bans, texting by drivers just keeps increasing, especially among younger motorists.

Study: Twitter users tough on Republicans, Obama
(AP) -- The 2012 presidential contenders have had a rough go of it on Twitter, according to an analysis of the political conversation taking place on the popular social network.

LivingSocial seeks $400 million in funding
(AP) -- LivingSocial, the No. 2 online deals site behind Groupon, plans to raise $400 million in a private offering that will likely give it a cushion to put off an initial public offering.

Game streaming service OnLive coming to tablets
(AP) -- OnLive, the startup whose technology streams high-end video games over an Internet connection, is expanding its service to tablets and mobile devices.

S. Korea tightens monitoring of social media
South Korea has tightened monitoring of popular social networking sites to curb illicit content including an upsurge in North Korean propaganda, officials said Thursday.

Streamlining chip design
In the same way that computing power moved from mainframes to the desktop in the 1980s, it’s now moving from the desktop to handheld devices. But that’s putting new demands on chip designers. Because handhelds are battery powered, energy conservation is at a premium, and many routine tasks that would be handled by software in a PC are instead delegated to special-purpose processors that do just one thing very efficiently. At the same time, handhelds are now so versatile that not everything can be hardwired: Some functions have to be left to software.

CAFE standards create profit incentive for larger vehicles
(PhysOrg.com) -- The current Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards create a financial incentive for auto companies to make bigger vehicles that are allowed to meet lower targets, according to a new University of Michigan study.

New study is first to test the actual impact of branded apps on consumers
A new research study co-authored by an Indiana University professor suggests that interactive applications for mobile phones such as Apple's iPhone and Google's Android may be some of the most powerful forms of advertising yet developed.

Majority of smartphone owners shop on the go, study finds
When many Americans enter a store these days, they have three things: a wallet, a shopping list and a smartphone.

Judge dismisses claims in Intel antitrust lawsuit
A federal judge is dismissing several claims against Intel in an antitrust lawsuit filed by New York's attorney general.

Twitter revamps to connect the world
Twitter on Thursday began rolling out overhauled pages crafted to boost the appeal of the message-sharing service to worldwide users.

Internet domain name expansion comes under fire
A plan to expand the number of Internet domain names came under fire in the US Congress on Thursday, a day after the head of the Federal Trade Commission said it could potentially be a "disaster."

UIUC team will show can't-tell photo inserts at Siggraph (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Visitors to this month's Siggraph Asia conference on computer graphics from December 12 to 15 will witness a presentation from a team at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign on how to tweak photos by adding in something that was not there before. They will present their study, Rendering Synthetic Objects into Legacy Photographs, which details their approach.

Medicine & Health news

Heart health risk of prostate cancer treatment being ignored, warn specialists
Heart disease and stroke are emerging complications of treating prostate cancer with drugs to suppress testosterone production, yet standard management of the disease is ignoring this risk, warn specialists in a viewpoint published online in Heart.

Should nuns be given the pill for health reasons?
Like any other women who do not have children (nulliparous women), Catholic nuns find themselves with an increased risk of dying from breast, ovarian, and uterine cancer compared with women who bear children. A Comment published Online First by the Lancet suggests that, since the contraceptive pill reduces overall mortality and mortality due to ovarian and uterine cancer, Catholic nuns should be given the pill for health, rather than contraceptive, reasons. The Comment is by Dr Kara Britt, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, and Professor Roger Short, University of Melbourne, Australia.

Bowel Cancer Screening Programme announces first results
The Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in England is on track to cut bowel cancer deaths by its target of 16%, reveals an analysis of the first one million test results, published in Gut.

Dual HER2 blockade significantly extends progression-free survival
Adding pertuzumab to a combination of trastuzumab and docetaxel chemotherapy extended progression-free survival by a median of 6.1 months in patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer compared with patients who received the combination therapy with placebo.

Addition of bevacizumab to conventional therapy improved progression-free survival in HER2-positive breast cancer
Data evaluated by an independent review committee revealed that the addition of bevacizumab to trastuzumab and docetaxel significantly improved progression-free survival in HER2-positive breast cancer, despite findings from an investigator assessment that the improvement was present but statistically non-significant.

Breast cancer mortality higher in Hispanic women
Hispanic women are more likely to die from breast cancer than non-Hispanic white women, according to research presented at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 6-10, 2011.

Obesity linked to worse outcomes in early breast cancer treatment
Obesity is associated with worse outcomes overall in early-stage breast cancer, researchers reported at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 6-10, 2011.

Majority of jailed women face mental issues
(Medical Xpress) -- While University of South Carolina researcher Dana DeHart was visiting jails to interview inmates about their backgrounds, she kept seeing a woman who clearly had mental health issues, yet continued to cycle in and out of the jail.

Obese patients with HER2-positive breast cancer may have worse outcomes
Obese patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer may have worse outcomes than patients who are normal weight or overweight, Mayo Clinic researchers found in a study presented today at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. HER2-positive breast cancer gets its name from a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 that promotes cancer cell growth.

MRI may be noninvasive method to measure breast cancer prognosis
Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging measures were associated with prognostic tumor markers, demonstrating the potential of magnetic resonance imaging for prediction of disease prognosis and stratification of patients to appropriate therapies, according to preliminary data presented at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 6-10, 2011.

Barrow physicians chronicle Vladimir Betz in Brain
A team of physicians and scientists at Barrow Neurological Institute, in collaboration with colleagues in the Ukraine, have written a first-of-its-kind biography of Ukranian anatomist and histologist Vladimir Betz. The article, "The Discovery of the Pyramidal Neurons: Vladimir Betz and a New Era of Neuroscience," appears in the November 2011 issue of the medical journal, Brain.

Study sheds light on cancer burden in Australia
Over the past quarter century in Australia, cancer incidence rates have increased while deaths from cancer have steadily decreased. Those are some of the findings of a recent study published early online in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Women advised to avoid ZEN bust-enhancing supplements because of possible cancer risk
Women who use bust-enhancing dietary supplements containing the mycoestrogen zearalenone (ZEN), a naturally occurring toxin that widely contaminates agricultural products, could be increasing their risk of breast cancer. That is the warning from breast health experts in a paper published online ahead of print publication in the January issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

To keep nurses, improve their work environments
Nurses working in hospitals around the world are reporting they are burned out and dissatisfied with their jobs, reported researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing's Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research in a study of 100,000 nurses in nine countries.

Journal supplement presents strategies for introducing health care delivery innovation
The health care system in the United States faces numerous challenges: how to bring innovation from the laboratory to the bedside, how to ensure more equitable use of medical services and, in a time of increasing financial strain, how to pay for that care.

New imaging agent has an appetite for dangerous prostate tumors
Non-invasive imaging detects prostate cancer earlier than ever before, but can't accurately distinguish between malignant and benign disease. According to Lawson Health Research Institute's Drs. John Lewis and Len Luyt, a new molecular imaging probe could be the answer.

Obama calls morning-after pill call 'common sense'
(AP) -- President Barack Obama on Thursday endorsed but said he did not steer his administration's decision to halt the over-the-counter sale of an anti-pregnancy drug to girls under 17, saying it was common sense to keep a morning-after pill away for children who may misuse it. Citing his own daughters, he said: "I think most parents would probably feel the same way."

Panel endorses active monitoring and delay of treatment for low-risk prostate cancer
An independent panel convened this week by the National Institutes of Health has concluded that many men with localized, low-risk prostate cancer should be closely monitored, permitting treatment to be delayed until warranted by disease progression. However, monitoring strategies—such as active surveillance—have not been uniformly studied and available data do not yet point to clear follow-up protocols. The panel recommended standardizing definitions and conducting additional studies to clarify which monitoring strategies are most likely to optimize patient outcomes.

Risk for developing new cancer in other breast increased for survivors with BRCA mutation
Breast cancer survivors who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genetic mutation are at high risk for developing contralateral breast cancer — a new primary tumor in the other breast — and certain women within this group of carriers are at an even greater risk based on age at diagnosis and first tumor status, according to data presented at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 6-10, 2011.

Bilateral oophorectomy associated with higher prevalence of low bone mineral density and arthritis in younger women
Women who underwent surgery to remove their ovaries before the age of 45 years were more likely to have arthritis and low bone mineral density compared with women with intact ovaries, researchers found.

Many women do not undergo breast reconstruction after mastectomy
Despite the benefits, only a small minority of women, regardless of age, are opting for immediate reconstructive breast surgery after undergoing mastectomy for treatment of breast cancer, according to data presented at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 6-10, 2011.

Patients with persistent kidney injuries rarely see specialists
Most patients with an abrupt kidney injury that does not get better do not see a kidney specialist within a year, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The findings indicate that efforts are needed to identify and treat kidney injury patients who require subsequent care.

Similar blood pressure drugs could have different impacts on dialysis patients' heart health
Two seemingly similar blood pressure–lowering drugs have different effects on the heart health of dialysis patients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The results indicate that certain dialysis patients may benefit more from one drug while some should opt for the other.

Kidney injury: A serious risk to the health and survival of today's soldiers
Acute kidney injury (AKI), an abrupt or rapid decline in kidney function, is a serious and increasingly prevalent condition. Little information has been available about how common or how severe AKI is in military personnel who are injured during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. A new study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN) investigates this question in those burned during combat.

Sound and vision work hand in hand, psychologists report
Our senses of sight and hearing work closely together, perhaps more than people realize, a new UCLA psychology study shows.

Chronic pain in children and adolescents becoming more common
Children who suffer from persistent or recurring chronic pain may miss school, withdraw from social activities, and are at risk of developing internalizing symptoms such as anxiety, in response to their pain. In the first comprehensive review of chronic pain in children and adolescents in 20 years, a group of researchers found that more children now are suffering from chronic pain and that girls suffer more frequently from chronic pain than boys.

Federal study: ER visits related to highly caffeinated drinks up tenfold
Emily Marchant had a can of Red Bull at her elbow as she went over an assignment in a Harper College library carrel. She is a long-standing fan of the beverage, she said, usually drinking one a day when she needs a boost.

Hormone therapy making comeback; Doctors say risks can be minimized
A decade after millions of women went cold turkey on the hormone pills that controlled their hot flashes, mood swings and other menopausal symptoms, some doctors say the therapy is safe to try again.

Multiple sclerosis often starts in brain's outer layers: study
Multiple sclerosis (MS) may progress from the outermost layers of the brain to its deep parts, and isn't always an "inside-out" process as previously thought, reported a new collaborative study from researchers at the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic. The traditional understanding is that the disease begins in the white matter that forms the bulk of the brain's inside, and extends to involve the brain's superficial layers, the cortex. Study findings support an opposite, outside-in process: from the cerebrospinal fluid-filled subarachnoid space, that cushions the outside of the brain and the cortex, into the white matter. The new findings will guide researchers as they seek to further understand and treat the disease. The study was published in the December issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Long non-coding RNA prevents the death of maturing red blood cells
A long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) regulates programmed cell death during one of the final stages of red blood cell differentiation, according to Whitehead Institute researchers. This is the first time a lncRNA has been found to play a role in red blood cell development and the first time a lncRNA has been shown to affect programmed cell death.

Extreme cold good for exercise recovery
Athletes go to great lengths to protect their muscles and recover from exercise-induced muscle damage, but there has been little work to determine what methods are most effective.

Time estimation ability predicts mathematical intelligence
Being good at estimating time can be a useful skill on its own, but it may also indicate higher mathematical intelligence as well, according to a new study published in the Dec. 7 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE.

Unique genetic marker may improve detection of recurrent ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is a major health concern for women and the identification of sensitive biomarkers for early detection and/or monitoring of disease recurrence is of high clinical relevance.

Those who stay together yawn together
You're more likely to respond to a yawn with another yawn when it comes from family member or a friend than from a stranger, says a study published Dec. 7 in the online journal PLoS ONE.

Binge drinking by freshman women tied to sexual assault risk, according to new research
Many young women who steer clear of alcohol while they're in high school may change their ways once they go off to college. And those who take up binge drinking may be at relatively high risk of sexual assault, according to a University at Buffalo-led study in the January issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

New approach to management of overeating in children
Overeating, whether in children or adults, often takes place even in the absence of hunger, resulting in weight gain and obesity. Current methods to treat such overeating in youth focus on therapies that restrict what kids may eat, requiring them to track their food intake and engage in intensive exercise.

Depressed? Crossed wires in the brain
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a severely debilitating illness characterized by sadness and an inability to cope. Not only does it affect a person's ability to concentrate and make decisions, it also alters their ability to experience pleasurable emotion, and instead prolongs negative thoughts and feelings. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Biology of Mood & Anxiety Disorders used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to show aberrant connectivity in depressed brains.

Public health insurance offers insured infants better, less costly care than private plans
In the fierce national debate over a new federal law that requires all Americans to have health insurance, it's widely assumed that private health insurance can do a better job than the public insurance funded by the U.S. government.

Few hospitals aggressively combat catheter-associated urinary tract infections
Hospitals are working harder than ever to prevent hospital-acquired infections, but a nationwide survey shows few are aggressively combating the most common one – catheter-associated urinary tract infections.

Contralateral prophylactic mastectomy offers limited gains for breast cancer patients
Contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM), a procedure that removes the unaffected breast in patients with cancer in one breast, provides only a modest increase in life expectancy, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In fact, the study shows that the surgery may actually reduce the quality-adjusted life expectancy – a measure of life expectancy that takes into account quality of life – among women whose breast cancer is not hereditary. Since only around 10% of breast cancers are known to be caused by genetic factors, the findings of the study apply to the vast majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer who are treated with mastectomy.

Combination of everolimus and exemestane improves survival for women with metastatic breast cancer
In an international Phase III randomized study, everolimus, when combined with the hormonal therapy exemestane, has been shown to dramatically improve progression-free survival, according to research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Big promise is seen in 2 new breast cancer drugs
(AP) -- Breast cancer experts are cheering what could be some of the biggest advances in more than a decade: two new medicines that significantly delay the time until women with very advanced cases get worse.

Stress in early pregnancy can lead to shorter pregnancies, more pre-term births and fewer baby boys
Stress in the second and third months of pregnancy can shorten pregnancies, increase the risk of pre-term births and may affect the ratio of boys to girls being born, leading to a decline in male babies. These are the conclusions of a study that investigated the effect on pregnant women of the stress caused by the 2005 Tarapaca earthquake in Chile.

Block of OTC morning-after pill sparks debate
It's the morning after and the controversy over how to sell emergency contraception still looms.

Drug combination highly effective for newly diagnosed myeloma patients, study finds
(Medical Xpress) -- A three-drug combination treatment for the blood cancer multiple myeloma compares favorably to the best established therapy for newly diagnosed patients, according to a multi-center study led by Andrzej Jakubowiak, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and director of the multiple myeloma program at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

UF veterinarians hope new gene chip will help detect, treat West Nile virus in horses and humans
(Medical Xpress) -- A new “gene chip” developed at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine sheds light on brain response in horses infected with West Nile virus and could lead to better ways to diagnose and treat both equines and humans, researchers said.

African sleeping sickness: a tale of two parasites
(Medical Xpress) -- The savannahs and rainforests of Africa bring to mind romantic notions of wildlife, adventure and exploration. But beneath this natural beauty lies a deadly, long-neglected disease: trypanosomiasis, otherwise known as African sleeping sickness.

Women become aggressive around sexual rivals
(Medical Xpress) -- New research conducted at McMaster University suggests women vying for male attention become aggressive towards other women they see as sexual rivals, a scene often played out in the media and popular reality television shows like The Bachelor.

Babies born 32-36 weeks fare less well at school
(Medical Xpress) -- Only 71 per cent of babies born between 32 and 36 weeks are successful in key stage 1 (KS1) tests (defined as achieving at least level 2 in reading, writing and maths), compared to 79 per cent of babies born at full term (37-41 weeks).

Children from lower-socioeconomic area more likely to be exposed to smoke in cars
(Medical Xpress) -- Children from a lower socio-economic area in Wellington, Wainuiomata, are 11 times more likely to be exposed to cigarette smoking in cars than in the wealthier suburb of Karori, according to recent research.

National pride brings happiness -- but what you're proud of matters
(Medical Xpress) -- Research shows that feeling good about your country also makes you feel good about your own life—and many people take that as good news. But Matthew Wright, a political scientist at American University, and Tim Reeskens, a sociologist from Catholic University in Belgium, suspected that the positive findings about nationalism weren’t telling the whole story. “It’s fine to say pride in your country makes you happy,” says Wright. “But what kind of pride are we talking about? That turns out to make a lot of difference.” The intriguing—and politically suggestive—differences they found appear in a commentary in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science.

Young Australians lack good quality fruit and vegetable knowledge
A new survey of young Australians has found one in two don't know how many servings of fruit and vegetables to eat in a day, and even fewer know the serving sizes of common fruit and vegetables.

Study looks at fast-food restaurant response to first limits on free toys with kids' meals
(Medical Xpress) -- Some of the first fast-food restaurants in the nation prohibited from giving free toys with children’s meals that don’t meet nutritional standards reacted by curbing the marketing of the toys and highlighting their healthier meals, but did not increase the number of healthful items on their menus, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Tiny electric currents may aid stroke recovery
(Medical Xpress) -- Tiny electric currents applied across regions of the brain can improve hand movements in recovering stroke patients for a short period, an Oxford University study has demonstrated.

Are sex offenders and lads' mags using the same language?
(Medical Xpress) -- Psychologists from Middlesex University and the University of Surrey found that when presented with descriptions of women taken from lads’ mags, and comments about women made by convicted rapists, most people who took part in the study could not distinguish the source of the quotes.

For children, some sarcastic comments can be lost in translation
(Medical Xpress) -- It turns out irony and sarcasm are completely lost on youth. Yeah, right.

Comfort food may be 'self-medication' for stress, dialing down stress response
(Medical Xpress) -- A new study indicates that many humans might be “self-medicating” when faced with chronic stress, by eating more comfort foods containing sugar and fat. In the long term, the habit may dampen down the body’s stress response, governed by the hormone cortisol, according to UCSF researchers.

Study aims to understand adolescent risky behavior
(Medical Xpress) -- A new study has found that providing preventive services to adolescents in a primary care setting can lessen certain kinds of risky behavior.

Eating more dairy linked to $2 billion in healthcare savings
(Medical Xpress) -- At least two billion dollars could be slashed from the annual healthcare budget if Australians increased their dairy intake, according to a new study.

Beating superbugs with a high-tech cleanser
(Medical Xpress) -- According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic-resistant bacteria are one of the top three threats to human health. Patients in hospitals are especially at risk, with almost 100,000 deaths due to infection every year in the U.S. alone.

Tart cherry juice drinkers gain sleep advantage
Americans seeking a better night's sleep may need to look no further than tart cherry juice, according to a new study in the European Journal of Nutrition.1 An international team of researchers found that when adults had two daily glasses of tart cherry juice, they slept 39 minutes longer, on average, and had up to 6 percent increase in overall sleep efficiency (significantly less non-sleep time in bed), compared to when they drank a non-cherry, fruit cocktail.

Pharmaceutical spam: Medical disinformation on the internet
Spam advertising of pharmaceutical products is leading patients to seek out information about prescription drugs online, according to a report to be published in the International Journal Business and Systems Research. If those drugs are not available to the internet user through their physician there is a risk that they may obtain such products via illicit means.

Promising results in mice on needle-free candidate universal vaccine against various flu viruses
Scientists from the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) have discovered that an antigen common to most influenza viruses, and commonly referred to as matrix protein 2 (M2), when administered under the tongue could protect mice against experimental infection caused by various influenza viruses, including the highly pathogenic avian H5 virus and the pandemic H1 ("swine flu") virus.

Extra weight loss from dietary fibers extracted from seaweed
A new research project conducted at the Faculty of Life Sciences (LIFE), University of Copenhagen, shows that dietary fibres from brown algae boost the sensation of satiety, thereby making people eat less and lose more weight.

New advance announced in reducing 'bad' cholesterol
Scientists from the University of Leicester and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) have announced a breakthrough advance in tackling dangerous 'bad' cholesterol in the body.

First genome sequencing clinical trial for triple negative cancer points to new treatments
Initial results from an ongoing clinical trial, the first designed to examine the utility of whole-genome sequencing for triple negative breast cancer, were reported today during the CRTC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Danish mushroom inspires cancer researchers
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have explored the active principles of a Danish mushroom and found that some of the substances it contains are particularly toxic towards cancer cells. The goal is to synthesise and refine substances in the mushroom that may be useful in future drug development.

Cancer-related pathway reveals potential treatment target for rare pediatric disease
Cancer researchers studying genetic mutations that cause leukemia have discovered a connection to the rare disease cherubism, an inherited facial bone disorder in children.

Personalized treatment for Crohn's Disease a step closer following gene mapping
Three new locations for Crohn's Disease genes have been uncovered by scientists at UCL using a novel gene mapping approach.

Scientists capture single cancer molecules at work
Researchers have revealed how a molecule called telomerase contributes to the control of the integrity of our genetic code, and when it is involved in the deregulation of the code, its important role in the development of cancer. The University of Montreal scientists involved explain how they were able to achieve their discovery by using cutting edge microscopy techniques to visualize telomerase molecules in real time in living cells in Molecular Cell on December 9, 2011.

Neuroscientists boost memory using genetics and a new memory-enhancing drug
When the activity of a molecule that is normally elevated during viral infections is inhibited in the brain, mice learn and remember better, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine reported in a recent article in the journal Cell.

PSA testing, combined with other relevant patient data can reduce unnecessary prostate biopsies
Prostate cancer screening that combines an adjusted blood test with other factors including the size of the gland, the patient's overall weight and family history, can help up to one-quarter of men avoid biopsies and the risks associated with them, a Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center-led research team says.

US urges shorter treatment for TB
US health authorities on Thursday urged a 12-week drug regimen for people with latent tuberculosis as an effective alternative to the current nine-month regimen which many people do not finish.

Blood pressure medicines reduce stroke risk in people with prehypertension
People with prehypertension had a lower risk of stroke when they took blood pressure-lowering medicines, according to research reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Changing the locks: HIV discovery could allow scientists to block virus's entry into cell nucleus
Scientists have found the 'key' that HIV uses to enter our cells' nuclei, allowing it to disable the immune system and cause AIDS The finding, published today in the open access journal PLoS Pathogens, provides a potential new target for anti-AIDS drugs that could be more effective against drug-resistant strains of the virus.

Football could contribute to strokes in adolescents
Young football players may be at higher risk for stroke, according to a new study released in Journal of Child Neurology (JCN).

New technique diagnoses non-periodic arrhythmias in a single heartbeat
Thanks to a new study from Columbia Engineering School, doctors may now be able to diagnose in their offices non-periodic arrhythmias—noninvasively and at low cost—within a single heartbeat. Non-periodic arrhythmias include atrial and ventricular fibrillation, which are associated with severely abnormal heart rhythm that can in some cases be life-threatening.

Study probes genetic link to sickle cell pain management
A study that may help personalize pain medication management for sickle cell disease patients is underway at Georgia Health Sciences University.

Anonymization remains a powerful approach to protecting the privacy of health information
De-identification of health data has been crucial for all types of health research, but recent articles in medical and scientific literature have suggested that de-identification methods do not sufficiently protect the identities of individuals and can be easily reversed. A recent review conducted by researchers at CHEO entitled "A Systematic Review of Re-identification Attacks on Health Data" and published in PLoS ONE, did not uncover evidence to support this. "If re-identification rates were as high as some of these articles suggest, it would be worrisome," says lead author, Dr. Khaled El-Emam. "But our review did not support these claims – there is no broad empirical support for a failure of anonymization."

New paper calls for strong steps to tackle antibiotic resistance
Shahriar Mobashery, a University of Notre Dame researcher, is one of the coauthors of a new paper by a group of the world's leading scientists in academia and industry that calls for strong steps to be taken to control the global crisis of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. The group issued a priority list of steps that need to be taken on a global scale to resolve the crisis.

Researchers find smoking is strongly associated with squamous cell carcinoma among women
Women who have non-melanoma skin cancers are more likely to have smoked cigarettes compared to women without skin cancer, said researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., who published study results in a recent issue of Cancer Causes & Control.

Premature babies harbor fewer, but more dangerous microbe types
One of the most comprehensive studies to date of the microbes that are found in extremely low-birthweight infants found that hard-to-treat Candida fungus is often present, as well as some harmful bacteria and parasites.

From stimulus to emotion: A role for cortex in emotional learning
(Medical Xpress) -- A team of neurobiologists around Andreas Lüthi at the Friedrich Miescher Institute of Biomedical Research has shown for the first time that cortex, the largest area of the brain that is typically associated with higher functions such as perception and cognition, is also a prominent site of emotional learning. Letzkus and colleagues used a set of recently developed methods to observe through which neuronal circuits activity is conveyed during learning. This study, published in Nature, demonstrates a causal link between neuronal activity patterns and animal behavior, and provides pioneering work exploring emotions in the brain.

Research team uses optogenetics to reverse effects of cocaine
(Medical Xpress) -- A team of Swiss researchers, led by Christian Lüscher of the University of Geneva, has found the first casual link between cocaine use and physical brain changes and in so doing, as they describe in their paper published in Nature, have also come up with a means to reverse it.

Breakthrough in regulating fat metabolism
Scientists at Warwick Medical School have made an important discovery about the mechanism controlling the body's 'fat switch', shedding new light on our understanding of how proteins regulate appetite control and insulin secretion.

Breaking oncogene's hold on cancer cell provides new treatment direction
Just as people's bodies and minds can become addicted to substances such as drugs, caffeine, alcohol, their cancers can become addicted to certain genes that insure their continued growth and dominance.

Nighttime images help track disease from the sky
(Medical Xpress) -- Normally used to spot where people live, satellite images of nighttime lights can help keep tabs on the diseases festering among them, too, according to new research.

Changes in London taxi drivers' brains driven by acquiring 'the Knowledge', study shows
Acquiring 'the Knowledge' – the complex layout of central London's 25,000 streets and thousands of places of interest – causes structural changes in the brain and changes to memory in the capital's taxi drivers, new research funded by the Wellcome Trust has shown.

Learning high-performance tasks with no conscious effort may soon be possible (w/ video)
(Medical Xpress) -- New research published today in the journal Science suggests it may be possible to use brain technology to learn to play a piano, reduce mental stress or hit a curve ball with little or no conscious effort. It's the kind of thing seen in Hollywood's "Matrix" franchise.

Biology news

Lightweight GPS tags help research track animals of all sizes
GPS tracking has shown its utility for wildlife studies, and now, development of light-weight GPS tags will allow researchers access to information about a broader range of small- to medium-sized animals than was previously available, according to a study to be published in the Dec. 7 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE.

Medical dye is good news for frogs
A readily available medical dye could become an key tool in amphibian conservation and management and the research is soon to be published in the Herpetological Journal.

Crows remember colours for a year: Japanese study
Crows have a long-term memory so good that they can recall colours for at least a year, a Japanese study has shown.

Wine dregs shown to improve cows' milk
Feeding dairy cows the stems, seeds and skins from wine grapes boosts milk production and dramatically cuts the animal's methane emissions, Australian researched published Thursday shows.

Seeing the forest under the trees
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists recently discovered nitrogen that falls from the atmosphere in acid rain can influence large tracts of sugar maples in North America.

Citizen scientists help reveal bumblebee decline
The great British public has helped scientists uncover what looks like a substantial decline in one of the UK's most common bumblebees over the last 20 years.

Early lineage of Larkspur and Monkshood plants rediscovered in Southern Europe
Larkspurs, monkshoods, and aconites are plants, widely cultivated for their beauty and medicinal properties. They all belong to the Delphinieae, a natural group of 650-700 species ranging from Eurasia into North America, with a few species on tropical African mountains. The study was published in the open access journal PhytoKeys.

Law enforcement vital for great ape survival
Recent studies show that the populations of African great apes are rapidly decreasing. Many areas where apes occur are scarcely managed and weakly protected. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have carried out an international collaborative project together with field researchers and park managers. The project aim was to evaluate how the lack of conservation effort influences the extinction risk of African great apes. Records were collected over the last 20 years from 109 resource management areas. The researchers found that the long-term presence of local and international non-governmental organization support and of law enforcement guards are the most crucial factors affecting ape survival, and that they have a clear measurable impact. Conversely, national development, often cited as a driver of conservation success, and high human population density had a negative impact on the likelihood of ape survival.

Research raises new questions about animal empathy
The emotions of rats and mice and the mental infrastructure behind them promise to illuminate the nature of human emotions, including empathy and nurturance, a Washington State University neuroscientist writes in this Friday's issue of the journal Science.

Evolution reveals missing link between DNA and protein shape
Fifty years after the pioneering discovery that a protein's three-dimensional structure is determined solely by the sequence of its amino acids, an international team of researchers has taken a major step toward fulfilling the tantalizing promise: predicting the structure of a protein from its DNA alone.

Researchers discover that changes in bioelectric signals cause tadpoles to grow eyes in back, tail
For the first time, scientists have altered natural bioelectrical communication among cells to directly specify the type of new organ to be created at a particular location within a vertebrate organism. Using genetic manipulation of membrane voltage in Xenopus (frog) embryos, biologists at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences were able to cause tadpoles to grow eyes outside of the head area.

Seal study shows diverse parenting styles
To most of us, one seal seems much like another. But a new study shows they have varied personalities that lead to distinctive approaches to parenting.

How Salmonella forms evil twins to evade the body's defenses
An unusual regulatory mechanism that controls the swimmer/non-swimmer option in genetically identical Salmonella also impacts the bacteria's ability to cause infection.

Study shows species can change
A study of South American songbirds completed by the Department of Biology at Queen's University and the Argentine Museum of Natural History, has discovered these birds differ dramatically in colour and song yet show very little genetic differences which indicates they are on the road to becoming a new species.

Climate change driving tropical birds to higher elevations
Tropical birds are moving to higher elevations because of climate change, but they may not be moving fast enough, according to a new study by Duke University researchers.

Researchers identify key plant immune response in fight against bacteria
Researchers at the University of Missouri have found a key process in a plant's immune system response that may help future crops fight off dangerous diseases.

The heart of the plant
Food prices are soaring at the same time as the Earth's population is nearing 9 billion. As a result the need for increased crop yields is extremely important. New research led by Carnegie's Wolf Frommer into the system by which sugars are moved throughout a plant -- from the leaves to the harvested portions and elsewhere -- could be crucial for addressing this problem. Their work is published Dec. 8 by Science Express .

Fear affects predator-prey relationship: study
(PhysOrg.com) -- Franklin D. Roosevelt famously warned the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. New research from The University of Western Ontario reveals that FDR’s rhetorical flourish also accurately reflects a fundamental truth within the animal kingdom too.  

Helping your fellow rat: Rodents show empathy-driven behavior
The first evidence of empathy-driven helping behavior in rodents has been observed in laboratory rats that repeatedly free companions from a restraint, according to a new study by University of Chicago neuroscientists.

House-hunting honey bees work like complex brains: study
Swarms of bees and brains made up of neurons make decisions using strikingly similar mechanisms, says a new study in the Dec. 9 issue of Science.

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