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Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for December 28, 2011:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
- Swimming upstream: Flux flow reverses for lattice bosons in a magnetic field- China tests 500 kilometers per hour train
- Time for a change? Scholars say calendar needs serious overhaul
- GSM phones -- call them unsafe, says security expert
- China's satellite navigation system live
- Elderly can be as fast as young in some brain tasks, study shows
- Mutation in gene that's critical for human development linked to arrhythmia
- Members of small monkey groups more likely to fight
- The pros and cons of Helicobacter pylori
- To children (but not adults) a rose by any other name is still a rose
- A new theory emerges for where some fish became four-limbed creatures
- Frogs use calls to find mates with matching chromosomes
- Suit filed in US over Twitter feed in test case
- China plans Asia's biggest coal-fired power plant
- Kraft uses Intel technology in vending machine to target customers by age
Space & Earth news
France has had hottest year since 1900
This year was the hottest in France since the start of the 20th century, Meteo France said Tuesday, with average national temperatures 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the norm.
India 'won't sign binding emissions pact': minister
India said Tuesday it would reject any global pact legally binding it to cut greenhouse gas emissions as such a move could stifle economic growth needed to eradicate poverty.
Oil on Nigerian coast after major Shell spill: NGO
An environmental group said Tuesday that an oil slick had approached Nigeria's coastline after a major Shell spill last week, but the company insisted that its spill had been largely dispersed.
China's satellite navigation system live
China's home-grown satellite navigation system launched a limited positioning service Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency said, as the country seeks to break its dependence on foreign technology.
Technology news
GOP wins battle of the bulb
Congress has dodged a government shutdown, agreeing to a $1 trillion spending bill that features a variety of rare compromises. Both Democrats and Republicans won some concessions, and it's too early to say who came out on top. But there's one issue where the GOP seems to have won lights-out: the battle of the bulb.
Stratfor warns hacking victims of further woes
US intelligence analysis firm Stratfor has warned its members whose emails and credit card information were hacked that they could be targeted a second time for speaking out on behalf of the company.
Italy fines Apple for misleading consumers
Italy's anti-trust authority said Tuesday it was imposing a 900,000-euro ($1.2-million) fine on US tech giant Apple for misleading consumers on assistance services and guarantees for its products.
Japan may put nuclear power firm under state control
Japan's government on Tuesday floated the idea of putting the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant under temporary state control, as it asked for $8.9 billion more in compensation aid.
Samsung, Sharp in LCD price-fixing settlement
South Korea's Samsung, Japan's Sharp and five other Asian firms have agreed to a $553 million settlement for illegally fixing liquid crystal display prices, New York state's attorney general said Tuesday.
Kraft uses Intel technology in vending machine to target customers by age
(PhysOrg.com) -- In a clever mix of technology and marketing, Kraft Foods has teamed up with Intel to create a vending machine, called the iSample, that can dispense free pudding samples to adults only; it’s intended target audience for its new product. The result is a machine currently in place at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Patrons who approach the machine are scanned, and if deemed old enough, are urged to use their smart phone to type in or swipe a code that then allows the assumed grown-up to pick a flavor, which is then dropped down for them to grab and eat. All for free. If a kid tries to do the same, they are denied a free sample and asked to step aside so that a deserving adult can get a treat.
China plans Asia's biggest coal-fired power plant
China's Shenhua Group will build the largest coal-fired power station in Asia over the next five years, the official Xinhua news agency said Tuesday, as the country struggles to meet its energy needs.
Suit filed in US over Twitter feed in test case
A former blogger for a US mobile phone news site is being sued by his erstwhile employer over ownership of his Twitter feed in a social media test case for the Internet age.
China tests 500 kilometers per hour train
(PhysOrg.com) -- China tested a 500 kilometers per hour (311 mph) train over the weekend. Government officials call the record-breaking speedster a “useful reference” for China’s current high speed railway operations. The test train’s speed, according to a Monday report in China Daily, exceeds the world speed record of 300 kilometers per hour held by the Beijing Shanghai High Speed Railway. China’s latest high-speed train has a maximum tractive power of 22,800 kilowatts, compared with the 9,600 kilowatts for China Railways High-Speed (CRH) trains in service on the Beijing-Shanghai High Speed line.
GSM phones -- call them unsafe, says security expert
(PhysOrg.com) -- A German security expert has issued a warning that billions of mobile phone users who depend on GSM networks are vulnerable to having their personal mail hacked. He blames the problem on network operators that use outdated network security. Karsten Nohl, head of Germany's Security Research Labs, a Berlin-based consulting company, was readying his presentation of study findings for a security convention and highlighted his troubling study results.
Medicine & Health news
French breast implant maker faced US lawsuits
Breast implants made by troubled French firm PIP have been at the heart of multiple lawsuits in the United States, where they were sold up until 2000, documents filed with the US government show.
Beneficial or not beneficial: that is the question for IL-1 inhibition in atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is a disease of the major arterial blood vessels. It is one of the major causes of heart attack and stroke.
Another potential obstacle to developing an HIV vaccine
A clinical trial testing a candidate HIV vaccine known as the STEP study was halted in September 2007 after interim analysis indicated that the vaccine did not work.
Perception of inappropriate care frequent among ICU workers
A survey of nurses and physicians in intensive care units (ICUs) in Europe and Israel indicated that the perception of inappropriate care, such as excess intensity of care for a patient, was common, and that these perceptions were associated with inadequate decision sharing, communication and job autonomy, according to a study in the December 28 issue of JAMA.
Unhealthy eating: a new form of occupational hazard?
The poor diet of shift workers should be considered a new occupational health hazard, according to an editorial published in this month's PLoS Medicine. The editorial draws on previous work published in the journal, which showed an association between an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and rotating patterns of shift work in US nurses.
Association of cognitive function in adolescence and subsequent risk of subdural hematoma
Anna Nordström and Peter Nordström of Umea University, Sweden, report their analysis of a prospective nationwide cohort of 440,742 Swedish men in this week's PLoS Medicine, finding that reduced cognitive function in young adulthood was associated with increased risk of subdural hematoma later in life, whereas a higher level of education and physical fitness were associated with a decreased risk.
More information on trial site investigators needed
Despite the importance of site investigators to the success of multicentre clinical trials, inadequate public information is available about their recruitment performance.
State cuts to Medicaid affect patients, providers
(AP) -- Just as Medicaid prepares for a vast expansion under the federal health care overhaul, the 47-year-old entitlement program for the poor is under increasing pressure as deficit-burdened states chip away at benefits and cut payments to doctors.
Breast implant maker used non-approved gels: lawyer
The founder of the French firm that made breast implants feared to be at risk of rupturing has admitted using non-approved but non-toxic silicone gels, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Coloradans can make money by losing weight
(AP) -- Insurance company Kaiser Permanente Colorado is offering cash to Coloradans to lose weight and keep it off.
US warned French implant maker as far back as 2000
The US Food and Drug Administration warned a French maker of breast implants now feared to be at risk of rupture of "serious" quality control violations involving saline implants back in 2000.
Beliefs battle hypertension
As you are weighing whether or not to go to church services this Christmas, consider this: Does a belief in God confer any health benefits? With the help of a large Norwegian longitudinal health study called HUNT, researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) were able to find a clear relationship between time spent in church and lower blood pressure in both women and men.
Doctors look to treat sick children in virtual worlds
Doctors in a domed laboratory in Canada are designing a virtual world where they hope to one day treat traumatized children with colorful avatars using toy-like medical gadgets.
Schizophrenia: when experience doesn't help social interaction
Schizophrenia is a mental illness that seriously affects social interaction. Recent studies have shown that people with schizophrenia have difficulty in interpreting others' intentions. One of the causes has just been identified by researchers at the Centre de Recherches Cerveau et Cognition (France) and the Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive de Lyon (France). They showed that schizophrenic patients use past experience wrongly when trying to anticipate the intentions of others. These results are published in the online version of the journal Brain.
How obesity alters the brain area involved in body weight control
The number of people who suffer from one or more of the adverse complications of obesity, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease is rapidly increasing.
Oxidative DNA damage repair
Oxidative stress damages DNA. Researchers in the Vetsuisse Faculty have now decoded the mechanism that repairs DNA damaged in this way. This repair mechanism could lead to less invasive approaches in cancer therapy and contribute to the development of new tests for the early diagnosis of cancer.
Analysis does not support genetic test before use of anti-clotting drug
Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended that a certain type of genetic testing (for the genotype CYP2C19) be considered before prescribing the drug clopidogrel to identify individuals who may be less responsive to the medication, a review and analysis of previous studies did not find an overall significant association between the CYP2C19 genotype and cardiovascular events, according to a study in the December 28 issue of JAMA.
Tests for biomarker may help determine diagnosis of heart attack within hours
For patients admitted to an emergency department with chest pain, use of a contemporary or highly sensitive test for levels of troponin I (a protein in muscle tissue) may help rule-out a diagnosis of heart attack, while changes in the measured levels of this biomarker at 3 hours after admission may be useful to confirm a diagnosis of heart attack, according to a study in the December 28 issue of JAMA.
Having epilepsy is not linked to committing violent crime
Despite current public and expert opinion to the contrary, having the neurological condition epilepsy is not directly associated with an increased risk of committing violent crime. However, there is an increased risk of individuals who have experienced previous traumatic brain injury going on to commit violent crime according to a large Swedish study led by Seena Fazel from the University of Oxford, UK, and colleagues at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and Swedish Prison and Probation Service, and published in this week's PLoS Medicine.
Childhood hypersensitivity linked to OCD
In childhood, rituals like regular schedules for meal, bath, and bed times are a healthy part of behavioral development. But combined with oral and tactile sensitivities, such as discomfort at the dentist or irritation caused by specific fabrics, these rituals could be an early warning sign of adult Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Researchers trace origins of malaria parasite from African slave trade to South America
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study done using DNA analysis and partly undertaken by the University of California, Irvine, has found evidence to support the premise that malaria was brought to South America via the African slave trade in the sixteenth century, rather than much earlier as some have suggested. The results of the study, led by evolutionary biologist Francisco Ayala, are to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that the malaria parasite apparently had two sites of introduction, one in the northern part of South America and another in the south.
Scientists fixate on Ric-8 to understand trafficking of popular drug receptor targets
Half the drugs used today target a single class of proteins – and now scientists have identified an important molecular player critical to the proper workings of those proteins critical to our health.
To children (but not adults) a rose by any other name is still a rose
New research challenges the conventional thinking that young children use language just as adults do to help classify and understand objects in the world around them.
Elderly can be as fast as young in some brain tasks, study shows
Both children and the elderly have slower response times when they have to make quick decisions in some settings.
Mutation in gene that's critical for human development linked to arrhythmia
Arrhythmia is a potentially life-threatening problem with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat, causing it to go too fast, too slow or to beat irregularly. Arrhythmia affects millions of people worldwide.
The pros and cons of Helicobacter pylori
(Medical Xpress) -- The debate over the bacteria Helicobacter pylori continues as a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases shows that people carrying H. pylori have a reduced risk of diarrhea from other bacterial causes.
Biology news
Escaped Siberian tiger shot dead in East China park
A rare Siberian tiger escaped from an east China zoo, frightening locals in a downtown public park before she was shot dead by more than 12 police, the official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.
Mystery hummingbird's species identified
A mystery that puzzled Chicago-area birders was solved when Field Museum scientists identified the unusual hummingbird living in an Oak Park, Ill., yard as a member of the rufous species rarely seen in the Midwest.
New light shed on chromosome fragility
Why are certain chromosome regions prone to breakages? The answer is crucial, as this fragility is involved in the development of tumors. A team from the Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire (CNRS, France) has partially lifted the veil on the mystery. Laszlo Tora and his colleagues have discovered that breakages in the longest human genes are due to a phenomenon previously considered improbable in mammalian cells: an interference between two key gene processes, DNA transcription and replication. Published in the review Molecular Cell of 23 December 2011, this work could give rise to novel anti-tumor strategies in the longer term.
A different kind of immigrant problem
The Harlequin ladybeetle, Japanese knotweed and the American lobster – while this trio of creatures may have friendly sounding names, they are all introduced species in Norway, and may be anything but friendly to the Norwegian environment. But determining exactly how damaging introduced species may be in their new environment has always been something of a challenge for biologists and land managers – until now.
Researchers evaluate conservation of island bird species in the context of climate change
The island scrub-jay is the only island endemic passerine species in the continental United States. Although it is not classified as endangered, the species faces a number of threats to its long-term survival, and climate change is expected to exacerbate those challenges. A new study discusses the conservation management of the island scrub-jay, and highlights how management of this species may set the stage for management planning of many species in a changing world.
Frogs use calls to find mates with matching chromosomes
When it comes to love songs, female tree frogs are pretty picky. According to a new study from the University of Missouri, certain female tree frogs may be remarkably attuned to the songs of mates who share the same number of chromosomes as they do. The discovery offers insight into how new frog species may have evolved.
Members of small monkey groups more likely to fight
Small monkey groups may win territorial disputes against larger groups because some members of the larger, invading groups avoid aggressive encounters. In a new report published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Margaret Crofoot and Ian Gilby of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Max Planck Institute of Ornithology show that individual monkeys that don't participate in conflicts prevent large groups from achieving their competitive potential.
Japan scientists hope slime holds intelligence key
A brainless, primeval organism able to navigate a maze might help Japanese scientists devise the ideal transport network design. Not bad for a mono-cellular being that lives on rotting leaves.
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