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Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for January 1, 2013:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
- Face the facts: Neural integration transforms unconscious face detection into conscious face perception- Researchers provide definitive proof for receptor's role in synapse development
- Houston, we have another problem: Study shows space travel is harmful to the brain
- Microsoft gets busy on fix for IE watering hole attack
- Did Lucy walk, climb, or both? Australopithecine ancestors—arboreal versus terrestrial habitat and locomotion
- Sony stops making PlayStation 2 in Japan
- Hydrogen peroxide vapor enhances hospital disinfection of superbugs
- Facebook fixes "Midnight Delivery" privacy flaw
- Economic environment during infancy linked with substance use, delinquent behavior in adolescence
- Late-life depression associated with prevalent mild cognitive impairment, increased risk of dementia
- Differences in generic pill characteristics may lead to interruptions in essential medication use
- Road trip on tap for NASA's Mars rover in new year (Update)
- Entrepreneur launches first Africa-designed smartphone
- China's Chengdu aiming to be world's next Silicon Valley
- SUGAR Volt: Boeing puts vision to work in hybrid electric aircraft
Space & Earth news
Hope for polluted lagoon near Rio Olympic village?
Near Rio's future 2016 Olympic village the Marapendi lagoon emits a foul stench from waters that have been turned into a cesspool by unfiltered sewage from surrounding upscale condominiums.
NASA satellites saw Cyclone Freda's widening eye
Tropical Cyclone Freda intensified over the last couple of days in the warm waters of the Southern Pacific Ocean, and NASA's TRMM and Aqua satellites measured the rainfall within the storm, and noticed the eye grew larger.
Road trip on tap for NASA's Mars rover in new year (Update)
Since captivating the world with its acrobatic landing, the Mars rover Curiosity has fallen into a rhythm: Drive, snap pictures, zap at boulders, scoop up dirt. Repeat.
Hubble image: Don't trust your eyes
(Phys.org)—The Universe loves to fool our eyes, giving the impression that celestial objects are located at the same distance from Earth. A good example can be seen in this spectacular image produced by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The galaxies NGC 5011B and NGC 5011C are imaged against a starry background.
Houston, we have another problem: Study shows space travel is harmful to the brain
As if space travel was not already filled with enough dangers, a new study out today in the journal PLOS ONE shows that cosmic radiation – which would bombard astronauts on deep space missions to places like Mars – could accelerate the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
Technology news
Sweden's Gothenburg to introduce tolls to cut traffic
Sweden's second city Gothenburg will introduce a road toll on January 1 for all motorists entering or leaving the city, similar to one already in place in the capital Stockholm.
Tribune leaves bankruptcy after 4 years
(AP)—Tribune Company says it has emerged from a Chapter 11 restructuring more than four years after the media company sought bankruptcy protection.
Fukushima 'unprecedented challenge': new Japan PM
The clean-up at Fukushima after its tsunami-sparked nuclear meltdowns is unlike anything humanity has ever undertaken, Japan's prime minister said on Saturday during a tour of the plant.
Pakistan expected to unblock YouTube
Pakistan is expected to unblock access to the popular video sharing website YouTube on Saturday after taking measures to filter blasphemous material and pornography, a cabinet minister said.
S. Korea restarts troubled nuclear reactor
South Korea on Monday restarted one of three nuclear reactors shut down for safety reasons, easing fears of power shortages during the harsh winter.
Tech rival not getting Taiwan New Year's spotlight
South Korea's high-tech sector won't be taking the spotlight at Taiwan's biggest annual extravaganza.
Amazon apologizes for outage that sidelined Netflix
Amazon on Monday said it was sorry for a Web Services mishap that put online film streaming service Netflix out of commission on Christmas Eve.
Microsoft describes 2012 as 'epic,' but 2013 has its obstacles
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has been known to use hyperbolic adjectives, but was he on the mark when he described 2012 as "the most epic in Microsoft history"?
Apple dominated tech news in 2012, but how much longer?
Apple dominated tech news in 2012. Ho hum.
China's Chengdu aiming to be world's next Silicon Valley
Entrepreneurs in China's southwest are dreaming of turning the city of Chengdu into the world's next Silicon Valley as the government encourages more investment outside the booming coastal regions.
SUGAR Volt: Boeing puts vision to work in hybrid electric aircraft
(Phys.org)—Boeing has been working on a project that signifies the future of commercial air transportation. As the story goes, about five years ago at a conference on advanced aircraft technologies, posing questions on what the future of aircraft would look like, somebody stood up and said, "What about an electric airplane?" Almost everyone laughed. Boeing personnel did not laugh. Can we make an airplane that has batteries that actually works? They took it as a challenge, in designing a commercial plane capable of low-emission flights. Marty Bradley, technical fellow with Boeing Research & Technology, and part of its SUGAR (Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research) project, has been talking about the company's hybrid electric design, the SUGAR Volt, ever since.
Facebook fixes "Midnight Delivery" privacy flaw
Facebook sidestepped a privacy gaffe on Monday by fixing a flaw that made it possible to snoop on private New Year's Eve messages sent using a "Midnight Delivery" service.
Microsoft gets busy on fix for IE watering hole attack
(Phys.org)—Microsoft has published a security advisory about a vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8. "We are only aware of a very small number of targeted attacks at this time," a Microsoft team blog said. The company acknowledged the vulnerability in its Microsoft Security Advisory (2794220) published on Saturday. Reports about the problem pointed to affected users who had visited the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) website. According to network security company FireEye, "we can also confirm that the CFR website was also hosting the malicious content as early as Friday, December 21."
Medicine & Health news
Toxic cough syrup kills 16 in Pakistan
At least 24 people, mostly drug addicts seeking a fix, have died after drinking toxic cough syrup in an eastern Pakistani city, officials said on Saturday.
Philippine president approves contraceptives law
(AP)—The Philippine president has signed a law that will promote contraception, sexual education and family planning programs vigorously opposed by the country's Roman Catholic Church.
UN chief names special advisor for Haiti cholera
The UN chief on Friday named a US health expert as special advisor in fighting Haiti's cholera epidemic, which has claimed more than 7,750 lives and is widely blamed on UN peacekeepers.
Swine flu kills nine Palestinians
Nine Palestinians have died in an outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain known as swine flu, the office of Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad said on Saturday.
Philippines 'sin tax' introduced, dampens New Year fun
A "sin tax" on cigarettes and alcohol dampened the New Year party spirit when it was introduced in the Philippines Tuesday, as part of a government bid to boost finances.
The science of neurosurgical practice
The January 2013 issue of Neurosurgical Focus is dedicated to the science of neurosurgical practice and is edited by Drs. Anthony L. Asher (Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates & Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC), Paul C. McCormick (Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY), and Douglas Kondziolka (New York University, New York, NY).
US issues revised Haiti travel warning
The U.S. State Department has issued a revised Haiti travel advisory, warning Americans planning to travel to the Caribbean island nation about robbery, lawlessness, infectious disease and poor medical facilities.
Derm-path training linked to fewer diagnosis discrepancies
(HealthDay)—Fewer diagnostic discrepancies are seen for pathologists with dermatopathology fellowship training, according to a study published in the January issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
rhBMP-2 linked to increased rate of retrograde ejaculation
(HealthDay)—For patients with lumbar spondylosis or spondylolisthesis of the lowest lumbar levels who undergo open anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF), use of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) is associated with an increased rate of retrograde ejaculation (RE), according to research published in the October issue of The Spine Journal.
Low insulin secretion tied to depressive symptoms in women
(HealthDay)—Middle-aged women with insulin secretion levels in the lowest quintile appear to have more than twice the risk of developing new-onset depressive symptoms compared with those with higher insulin secretion levels, according to research published online Dec. 10 in Diabetes Care.
Recent U.S. food-linked listeriosis outbreaks shorter
(HealthDay)—Compared with earlier outbreaks, more recent food-associated listeriosis outbreaks in the United States have been shorter and affected fewer people, according to research published online Dec. 12 in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Suspected norovirus outbreak kills four in Japan hospital
A suspected norovirus outbreak has killed four people and infected almost 100 others at a hospital in the Japanese city of Yokohama south of Tokyo, officials said.
Suspected norovirus hits 400 on two Christmas cruises
An outbreak of vomiting and diarrhea has sickened more than 400 vacationers and crew members aboard two Christmas-time cruises in the Caribbean, the CDC said Saturday.
Watch out for eyes when champagne corks fly
(HealthDay)—If you plan to pop a bottle of Champagne or sparkling wine over the holidays, make sure you do it safely, the American Academy of Ophthalmology says.
Nobel scientist Rita Levi-Montalcini dies in Rome
Rita Levi-Montalcini, a biologist who conducted underground research in defiance of Fascist persecution and went on to win a Nobel Prize for helping unlock the mysteries of the cell, died at her home in Rome on Sunday. She was 103 and had worked well into her final years.
FDA approves first new tuberculosis in 40 years
The Food and Drug Administration says it has approved a Johnson & Johnson tuberculosis drug that is the first new medicine to fight the deadly infection in more than four decades.
Paired CT scans catch chemo-killing of liver tumors in real time
Using two successive pairs of specialized CT scans, a team of Johns Hopkins and Dutch radiologists has produced real-time images of liver tumors dying from direct injection of anticancer drugs into the tumors and their surrounding blood vessels. Within a minute, the images showed whether the targeted chemotherapy did or did not choke off the tumors' blood supply and saved patients a month of worry about whether the treatment, known as chemoembolization, was working or not, and whether repeat or more powerful treatments were needed.
Sperm donor offspring call for privacy changes
Hideaki Kato discovered his true identity by accident. During his medical training a decade ago, the now 39-year-old Japanese doctor was performing blood tests on family members when he learned something startling: his dad was not his biological father.
Pakistan child measles deaths surge in 2012
Measles cases surged in Pakistan in 2012 with hundreds of children dying of the disease, an international health body said Tuesday.
Second impact syndrome: A devastating injury to the young brain
Physicians at Indiana University School of Medicine and the Northwest Radiology Network (Indianapolis, Indiana) report the case of a 17-year-old high school football player with second impact syndrome (SIS). A rare and devastating traumatic brain injury, SIS occurs when a person, most often a teenager, sustains a second head injury before recovery from an earlier head injury is complete. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case in which imaging studies were performed after both injuries, adding new knowledge of the event.
Open-angle glaucoma up 22 percent in last 10 years
(HealthDay)—The prevalence of open-angle glaucoma has increased more than 20 percent in the last 10 years and currently affects more than 2.7 million Americans age 40 years and older, according to a report from Prevent Blindness America and the National Eye Institute.
Higher levels of obesity associated with increased risk of death
In an analysis of nearly 100 studies that included approximately 3 million adults, relative to normal weight, overall obesity (combining all grades) and higher levels of obesity were both associated with a significantly higher all-cause risk of death, while overweight was associated with significantly lower all-cause mortality, according to a study in the January 2 issue of JAMA.
Imaging study examines effect of fructose on brain regions that regulate appetite
In a study examining possible factors regarding the associations between fructose consumption and weight gain, brain magnetic resonance imaging of study participants indicated that ingestion of glucose but not fructose reduced cerebral blood flow and activity in brain regions that regulate appetite, and ingestion of glucose but not fructose produced increased ratings of satiety and fullness, according to a preliminary study published in the January 2 issue of JAMA.
Real-world patient survival with defibrillators matches trial expectations
Patients who received an implantable heart defibrillator in everyday practice had survival benefits on par with those who received the same devices in carefully controlled clinical trials, according to a new study that highlights the value of defibrillators in typical medical settings.
Economic environment during infancy linked with substance use, delinquent behavior in adolescence
The larger economic environment during infancy may be associated with subsequent substance use and delinquent behavior during adolescence, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry, a JAMA Network publication.
Late-life depression associated with prevalent mild cognitive impairment, increased risk of dementia
Depression in a group of Medicare recipients ages 65 years and older appears to be associated with prevalent mild cognitive impairment and an increased risk of dementia, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Neurology, a JAMA Network publication.
Differences in generic pill characteristics may lead to interruptions in essential medication use
Generic medications currently account for over 70 percent of prescriptions dispensed. However, while generic drugs are clinically bioequivalent to the brand-name version, they often differ in their physical characteristics, such as color and shape. Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have found that some patients who receive generic drugs that vary in their color are over 50 percent more likely to stop taking the drug, leading to potentially important and potentially adverse clinical effects.
Hydrogen peroxide vapor enhances hospital disinfection of superbugs
Infection control experts at The Johns Hopkins Hospital have found that a combination of robot-like devices that disperse a bleaching agent into the air and then detoxify the disinfecting chemical are highly effective at killing and preventing the spread of multiple-drug-resistant bacteria, or so-called hospital superbugs.
Study: Use of anti-depressants during pregnancy not linked with increased risk of stillbirth, infant death
In a study that included nearly 30,000 women from Nordic countries who had filled a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) prescription during pregnancy, researchers found no significant association between use of these medications during pregnancy and risk of stillbirth, neonatal death, or postneonatal death, after accounting for factors including maternal psychiatric disease, according to a study in the January 2 issue of JAMA.
Researchers provide definitive proof for receptor's role in synapse development
Jackson Laboratory researchers led by Associate Professor Zhong-wei Zhang, Ph.D., have provided direct evidence that a specific neurotransmitter receptor is vital to the process of pruning synapses in the brains of newborn mammals.
Face the facts: Neural integration transforms unconscious face detection into conscious face perception
(Medical Xpress)—The apparent ease and immediacy of human perception is deceptive, requiring highly complex neural operations to determine the category of objects in a visual scene. Nevertheless, the human brain is able to complete operations such as face category tuning (the ability differentiate faces from other similar objects) completely outside of conscious awareness. Apparently, such complex processes are not sufficient for us to consciously perceive faces. Now, scientists from the University of Amsterdam used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) to show that while visible and invisible faces produce similar category-selective responses in the brain's ventral visual cortex, only visible faces caused widespread response enhancements and changes in neural oscillatory synchronization. The team concluded that sustained neural information integration is a key factor in conscious face perception.
Biology news
Bird watching brings new discoveries
A recent study used bird watching records to build up the first bird watching database in China, which found a batch of new records of national level and a trend of of species moving to higher latitude and higher elevation regions.
Cambodia battles to save rare Mekong dolphins
The sight of two dolphins twisting playfully in the murky waters of the Mekong river elicits barely stifled squeals of delight from a boatload of eco-tourists.
Jellyfish experts show increased blooms are a consequence of periodic global fluctuations
Scientists have cast doubt on the widely held perception that there has been a global increase in jellyfish.
As climate warms, bark beetles march on high-elevation forests
Trees and the insects that eat them wage constant war. Insects burrow and munch; trees deploy lethal and disruptive defenses in the form of chemicals.
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