Thursday, November 14, 2013

Phys.org Newsletter Wednesday, Nov 13

Dear Reader ,

Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for November 13, 2013:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

- Novel gene therapy works to reverse heart failure
- Creating simpler, cheaper solar cells
- Researchers find way to boost lithium-air battery performance, with help of modified viruses
- Fantastic phonons: Blocking sound, channeling heat with 'unprecedented precision'
- Study: Your brain sees things you don't
- Structure of bacterial nanowire protein hints at secrets of conduction (w/ Video)
- Oldest big cat fossil found in Tibet
- Astronomers reveal contents of mysterious black hole jets
- Researchers discover new treatment to cure MRSA infection
- Plasma experiment demonstrates admirable self-control
- Fatty acid produced by gut bacteria boosts the immune system
- Finding antitumor T cells in a patient's own cancer
- Motorola unveils 'affordable' Moto G smartphone
- Cycle Computing uses Amazon computing services to do work of supercomputer
- Researchers discover sea slugs that stab each other in the head after copulation (w/ Video)

Space & Earth news

Chevron ordered to pay Ecuador $9.51 bn on appeal
An Ecuadoran court upheld a ruling that US oil giant Chevron was liable for environmental damage in its Amazon basin region by sister company Texaco, but ordered it to pay a reduced $9.51 billion.

Verdict due in Spain Prestige oil disaster
A Spanish court will Wednesday deliver a verdict on one of Europe's worst oil spills, 11 years after the tanker Prestige spilled 50,000 tonnes of fuel off the Spanish coast.

Australia PM moves to repeal climate tax
Australia's new conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott Wednesday moved to abolish a carbon tax designed to combat climate change as his first major economic reform since taking office.

Image: MAVEN Spacecraft Positioned Atop Atlas V Rocket
NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft, inside a payload fairing, is hoisted to the top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41.

Island biodiversity in danger of total submersion with climate change
Sea level rise caused by global warming can prove extremely destructive to island habitats, which hold about 20% of the world's biodiversity. Research by C. Bellard, C. Leclerc and F. Courchamp of the University of Paris Sud look at 3 possible scenarios, from optimistic to very pessimistic, to bring attention to the dangers in store for some of the richest biodiversity hotspots worldwide. The study was published in the open access journal Nature Conservation.

Natural disasters of the past can help solve future problems
Were you one of the many people who got stuck in an airport when the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted in 2010? It wasn't a major eruption, and it happened a long way from the heart of Europe. But it cost society an absolute fortune by paralysing air traffic across northern Europe.

NASA sees Veteran's Day solar flare
The sun emitted a significant solar flare that peaked at 12:14 a.m. EST on Nov. 10, 2013. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however—when intense enough—they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.

NASA says new deep space vehicle on track for 2014 test
The first test mission of a new deep space capsule that could one day take humans to Mars is on track for September 2014, the US space agency said Tuesday.

Prairies vanish in the US push for green energy
Robert Malsam nearly went broke in the 1980s when corn was cheap. So now that prices are high and he can finally make a profit, he's not about to apologize for ripping up prairieland to plant corn.

Cosmic oddball
Some bodies have a very disturbing effect on the order in the solar system - P/2013 P5 is one of them. With several clearly visible tails, it may look like a comet, but orbits around the Sun within the asteroid belt - and thus cannot be unequivocally classified into either of these two categories. An international team which includes scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research has now used the Hubble space telescope to investigate this mysterious body. Their diagnosis: P/2013 P5 is an asteroid that rotates so rapidly under the radiation pressure of the Sun that it loses material into space.

NASA brings Earth science 'big data' to the cloud with Amazon web services
(Phys.org) —NASA and Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS) of Seattle, Wash., are making a large collection of NASA climate and Earth science satellite data available to research and educational users through the AWS cloud.

Curiosity out of safe mode
(Phys.org) —NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project received confirmation from Mars Sunday (Nov. 10) that the Curiosity rover has successfully transitioned back into nominal surface operations mode. Curiosity had been in safe mode since Nov. 7, when an unexpected software reboot (also known as a warm reset) occurred during a communications pass with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Mission science planning will resume tomorrow, and Curiosity science operations will recommence on Thursday.

Life may have arrived from space
New research shows that organic molecules, on which life is based, can survive the impact from a meteorite.

South Pole telescope detector aids study of the universe
Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) users from Argonne's High Energy Physics and Materials Science divisions helped design and operate part of the South Pole Telescope, a project that aims a large telescope at the night sky to track radiation from the period just after the universe was born. Developing and designing the detectors for the camera required expertise from several Argonne facilities and research divisions, including the expertise and capabilities in CNM's Nanofabrication & Devices Group.

Largest lake in Britain and Ireland has lost three-quarters of winter water birds
The largest lake in Britain and Ireland, Lough Neagh, has lost more than three quarters of its overwintering water birds according to researchers at Queen's University Belfast.

Carbon dioxide's new-found signalling role could be applied to blood flow, birth and deafness
New research reveals exactly how the body measures carbon dioxide and suggests that far from being a metabolic waste product, it could play a key role as a biological signalling molecule.

2013 marked by 'record sea level, weather extremes'
Sea levels this year posted a record high, making low-lying coastal populations ever more vulnerable to extreme weather like super-storm Haiyan, the UN said Wednesday.

UN: Besides Haiyan, 2013 storm season near average
Apart from Typhoon Haiyan, which has devastated the Philippines, it's been an average year for tropical cyclones, the U.N. weather agency said Wednesday in its annual climate report.

NASA sees a re-awakening of ex-Depression 30W in a different ocean
The former tropical storm known as 30W that moved from the western North Pacific Ocean basin into the northern Indian Ocean appears to be ramping up for a short stint at depression status again. NASA's TRMM satellite noticed some areas of heavy rainfall in the re-generating low pressure area.

Buried leaves reveal precolonial eastern forests and guide stream restoration
Sediment behind milldams in Pennsylvania preserved leaves deposited just before European contact that provide a glimpse of the ancient forests, according to a team of geoscientists, who note that neither the forests nor the streams were what they are today.

Snow melts faster under trees than in open areas in mild climates
It's a foggy fall morning, and University of Washington researcher Susan Dickerson-Lange pokes her index finger into the damp soil beneath a canopy of second-growth conifers. The tree cover is dense here, and little light seeps in among the understory of the Cedar River Municipal Watershed about 30 miles east of Seattle.

Young stars paint spectacular stellar landscape
Astronomers at ESO have captured the best image so far of the clouds around the star cluster NGC 3572. This image shows how these clouds of gas and dust have been sculpted into bubbles, arcs and the odd features known as elephant trunks by the stellar winds flowing from this gathering of hot stars. The brightest of these cluster stars are much heavier than the Sun and will end their short lives as supernova explosions.

MAVEN Solar Wind Electron Analyzer seeks answers at microscopic levels
When the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission launches in November to study why the Red Planet is losing its atmosphere, one of its instruments will look to electrically charged particles called electrons for answers.

It's hot... super hot: Finding answers around the sun
(Phys.org) —Astronomers have collectively puzzled over two working theories for a conundrum involving the sun that have been discussed in Astronomy 101 classes for decades: Why is the sun's corona (the atmosphere beyond the sun) so hot? The sun's core is a searing 15 million degrees Kelvin, but by the time that heat reaches the sun's surface, it cools off to a mere 6,000 degrees, only to again heat up to more than a million degrees in the corona.

Cassini spacecraft provides new view of Saturn and Earth
(Phys.org) —On July 19, 2013, in an event celebrated the world over, NASA's Cassini spacecraft slipped into Saturn's shadow and turned to image the planet, seven of its moons, its inner rings—and, in the background, our home planet, Earth.

What happened to Mars? A planetary mystery
Billions of years ago when the planets of our solar system were still young, Mars was a very different world. Liquid water flowed in long rivers that emptied into lakes and shallow seas. A thick atmosphere blanketed the planet and kept it warm. In this cozy environment, living microbes might have found a home, starting Mars down the path toward becoming a second life-filled planet next door to our own.

'Missing heat' discovery prompts new estimate of global warming
An interdisciplinary team of researchers say they have found 'missing heat' in the climate system, casting doubt on suggestions that global warming has slowed or stopped over the past decade.

Astronomers reveal contents of mysterious black hole jets
An international team of astronomers has answered a long standing question about the enigmatic jets emitted by black holes, in research published today in prestigious journal Nature.

Technology news

Netflix spruces up service for television screens
Netflix is reprogramming the way its Internet video subscription service appears on millions of television screens in an attempt to hook viewers for even longer periods.

Getting more out of your satellite TV
Thanks to Global Invacom and ESA, you could one day distribute satellite TV programmes to devices around your home via the Internet.

Milestone for breakthrough wireless technology
CSIRO's breakthrough invention that paved the way for fast high data rate wireless networking (often referred to today as Wi-Fi) is now an internationally known Australian success story that, to date, has returned to our national research agency more than $430 million in royalties.

Old windscreens meet the recycling bin
While the metal used for vehicles can be recycled fairly easily, a solution for recovering the glass used for windows has not been so readily at hand.

Achieving cost-effective laser manufacturing through cutting-edge inspection
The cost-effective manufacture and validation of miniature components for the aerospace and automotive sectors has taken a significant step forward thanks to a recently-completed EU project. A series of systems for the rapid in-line inspection of laser powder deposited layers has been developed and trialled, using cutting edge non-destructive testing techniques.

Fujitsu releases new 4 mbit FRAM with non-volatile memory with SRAM-compatible parallel interface
Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited announced the development of the MB85R4M2T, a 4 Mbit FRAM chip with an SRAM-compatible parallel interface. The new product will be made available in sample quantities starting January 2014. It uses a 44-pin TSOP package compatible with standard low-power SRAM, so it can substitute for SRAM in industrial machinery, office equipment, medical devices, security systems, and other equipment that currently uses SRAM. Because it stores data persistently with no need of a battery, it contributes to hardware that is more compact, less power-hungry, and lower in total cost.

DOCOMO achieves world's first 1.2 gbps transmission with single-size antenna using smart vertical MIMO for LTE-advanced
NTT DOCOMO, a personalized mobile solutions provider for smarter living, announced today that it has achieved the world's first transmission exceeding 1.2 Gbps in a field test using a single-size antenna incorporating a new transmission technology, Smart Vertical MIMO, for LTE-Advanced systems.

Vehicle fuel economy up in October
Gas mileage of new vehicles sold in the U.S. rose 0.2 mpg last month, say researchers at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

'Apple investigated for Italy tax fraud'
Apple is under investigation in Italy for allegedly failing to declare over 1.0 billion euros ($1.34 billion) to the tax man, Italian media reported on Wednesday.

LA education board approves continuing iPad plan
The nation's second-largest school district will move ahead with an ambitious $1 billion plan to provide iPads to all students after problems emerged when some of the first to get them used the tablets to tweet, text and play games instead of studying.

Three injured at Tesla factory in California
Tesla Motors says three employees have been injured after an aluminum casting press failed at its factory in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Testimony to begin in Apple-Samsung patent trial
The billion dollar patent fight between the world's two biggest smartphone makers is resuming in a Silicon Valley courtroom.

Small bag offers solution to Kenyan slum's 'flying toilets'
The usually straightforward act of going to the toilet ls is far from simple in Kibera, the sprawling slum on the edge of Kenya's capital.

Obtaining data from the "brains" of cars
For the first time, a car manufacturer has opened the way for Norwegian research scientists to log data directly from the innermost systems of cars. If this practice becomes widespread, the transport industry will have a tool enabling vital decision-making at a national level.

EU follows US in allowing portable electronics in-flight
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said Wednesday it will allow passengers to use a range of mobile electronic devices in flight with very few restrictions.

SDSC uses Meteor Raspberry Pi cluster to teach parallel computing
Researchers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, have built a Linux cluster using 16 Raspberry Pi computers as part of a program to teach children and adults the basics of parallel computing using a simple model that demonstrates how computers leverage their capacity when working together.

China Internet firms sue Baidu in piracy battle
Two major Chinese Internet firms—backed by Hollywood—are suing the Asian giant's leading search engine Baidu over copyright violations, they said Wednesday, in a rare internal challenge to the country's rampant piracy.

Smartphone accelerometers distinguish between different motorized transportation modalities
Identifying the individual's transportation behavior is a fundamental problem, as it reveals information about the user's physical activity, personal CO2 -footprint and preferred transit type. On a larger scale, this information could be aggregated to discover information about the utilization of different transportation options to aid urban planning.

Scripps to end 96-year-old newswire, refocus
E.W. Scripps is ending its newswire launched in 1917 and will refocus on new media platforms, underscoring the troubles facing the newspaper industry.

Beyond Twitter: The next wave of tech IPOs brews (Update)
Just as one high-tech breakthrough often paves the way for the next big thing, technology IPOs move in virtuous cycles, too.

Apple wants $380M in patent trial with Samsung (Update)
Apple demanded Wednesday that Samsung Electronics pay it $380 million for copying vital iPhone and iPad features, as a billion-dollar patent fight between the world's two biggest smartphone makers resumed in a Silicon Valley courtroom.

Yelp effect reshapes how businesses interact with customers
Cassie Piasecki navigates by the stars. Where to dine next? Where to work out when she's traveling? She scans the Web, favoring those places with four- and five-star reviews, disregarding the rest.

'Elite' Yelp reviewers live like stars
Few writers live a more glamorous lifestyle than Sukhraj "Suki" Beasla.

Samsung says it owes Apple $52 million (Update)
How much does Samsung Electronics owe Apple for copying vital features of the iPhone and iPad, such as scrolling and the "bounce-back" function at the end of documents?

Cisco's 1Q revenue falls below estimates
Cisco's fiscal first-quarter revenue grew slower than expected and net income declined, which sent the technology company's stock lower in extended trading.

Twitter customized timelines offer new perspective
Twitter said Tuesday it would offer its users the ability to create custom "timelines" for fresh perspectives on the Twittersphere.

Smithsonian makes push in 3D imaging of artifacts
With most of its 137 million objects kept behind the scenes or in a faraway museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum complex, is launching a new 3D scanning and printing initiative to make more of its massive collection accessible to schools, researchers and the public worldwide.

Cycle Computing uses Amazon computing services to do work of supercomputer
(Phys.org) —Computer services company Cycle Computing has announced that it has used Amazon's servers to run software for a client that simulated the properties of 205,000 molecules over an 18 hour period using 156,000 Amazon cores to get the job done. The cost to the client, the University of Southern California, was $33,000.

Snapchat rejected $3 bn offer from Facebook
The mobile messaging service Snapchat recently rejected a $3 billion cash offer from Facebook, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Creating simpler, cheaper solar cells
Over the last four years, solar cells made from materials called perovskites have reached efficiencies that other technologies took decades to achieve, but until recently no-one quite knew why.

Researchers find way to boost lithium-air battery performance, with help of modified viruses
Lithium-air batteries have become a hot research area in recent years: They hold the promise of drastically increasing power per battery weight, which could lead, for example, to electric cars with a much greater driving range. But bringing that promise to reality has faced a number of challenges, including the need to develop better, more durable materials for the batteries' electrodes and improving the number of charging-discharging cycles the batteries can withstand.

Medicine & Health news

Therapists help with Philippine typhoon mental health
Dozens of psychologists were starting work in the typhoon-raked Philippines Wednesday to help dazed survivors deal with the psychological fallout of one of the country's worst ever disasters.

House oversight panel probes health website woes
The House's chief investigator will delve Wednesday into the technical issues behind the dysfunctional rollout of President Barack Obama's health care website.

Clinton adds to Obama's health care headache
Bill Clinton weighed in on the crisis over the troubled new US health care law Tuesday, handing President Barack Obama a new political headache.

More research needed into substitution principle and the regulation of potentially hazardous chemical materials
Professor Ragnar Lofstedt, Professor of Risk Management and the Director of the King's Institute for Risk Research, King's College London and Editor of the Journal of Risk Research, has published a paper suggesting that the substitution principle is not the "white knight" as described by a number of regulatory agencies and NGOs and proposes that chemical substitution can only work effectively on a case-by-case basis.

UCLA doctors test stem-cell therapy to improve blood flow in angina patients
Marty Greenfield lives with crushing pain every day due to angina, a condition that is caused by an inadequate supply of blood to the heart. He has suffered a heart attack, and a coronary bypass procedure and angioplasty have provided little relief. His doctor referred him to UCLA to be considered for a heart transplant.

Don't fry yourself when you deep-fry the Thanksgiving turkey
Thanksgiving Day has more than double the number of home cooking fires than an average day, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. More than 4,000 fires occur annually on Thanksgiving Day as celebrants deep-fry turkeys, boil potatoes, bake pies and more.

Smart jacket for premature babies
Together with the Máxima Medical Center (MMC), Eindhoven University of Technology has developed a prototype wireless 'baby jacket' for very premature babies in intensive care units. The jacket, which includes monitoring sensors, is comfortable to wear and was designed to reduce the baby's stress and make it easier for the parents to hold their baby outside the incubator. This is expected to benefit the later development of the baby. Industrial Design engineer Sibrecht Bouwstra received her PhD cum laude on 30 October for her "smart jacket" design.

Hungary: Baby delivered from brain-dead mother
A university hospital in Hungary says a premature but healthy baby was delivered after doctors kept the child's brain-dead mother on life support for three months.

Study finds few patients with newly-diagnosed hyperlipidemia receive recommended thyroid screening
Despite current guidelines that recommend newly diagnosed high-cholesterol patients have a TSH blood test done to make sure they do not have hypothyroidism, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have found that only about half of these patients were screened for thyroid dysfunction. The findings, which appear online in JAMA Internal Medicine, show the current guidelines may be underutilized.

CVI puts research into practice on firearms and domestic violence
The Crime Victims' Institute (CVI) at Sam Houston State University initiated a new series of reports to help victim advocates translate the latest research in the field into practical services and resources for victims, beginning with a study on firearms and intimate partner violence.

UN: 21 nations take up polio 'emergency'
Some 21 nations in the Middle East and nearby regions have jointly made the eradication of polio an emergency priority and recognized that Pakistan is a key part of the problem, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

Polio cases in Pakistan pass 2012 total
Polio is on the rise in Pakistan, health officials said Wednesday, as the number of infections in 2013 passed the total for the whole of 2012.

Researchers test bandaging for swollen arm
As a complication of treatment, breast cancer patients may develop swelling in the arm, called lymphedema, which can last a long time.

Woman challenges Ireland's abortion ban at UN
An Irishwoman whose fetus bore a fatal heart defect has filed a United Nations petition against Ireland because the predominantly Catholic country outlaws abortions in such circumstances.

HIVMA praises passage of the HOPE Act, urges swift enactment into law
The U.S. Congress took an important step Tuesday evening with House passage of the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act, which will allow research on donation of organs from deceased HIV-infected donors to HIV-infected recipients. Having been passed by the Senate in June, the bill is now positioned to move to the White House to be signed into law. The HOPE Act modernizes outdated federal law to reflect the current medical understanding of HIV infection and to allow for scientific research. As HIV clinicians and researchers, we applaud Congressional passage of the Act and look forward to its swift enactment after it is signed by the President.

Geranylgeraniol suppresses the viability of human prostate cancer cells and HMG CoA reductase
Researchers at Texas Woman's University have shown that a diterpene geranylgeraniol found in linseed oil, Cedrela toona wood oil, sucupira branca fruit oil and more recently, annatto seed oil, suppressed the viability of human DU145 prostate carcinoma cells via cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase and the initiation of apoptosis. This finding, reported in the November 2013 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, supplies recent evidence supporting the tumor-suppressive potential of dietary isoprenoids, a class of phytochemicals encompassing ~55,000 mevalonate-derived secondary metabolites.

Only 100,000 'select' Obamacare plans in October
Just over 100,000 people enrolled in the new US Obamacare health plan in its first month, and fewer than 27,000 made it through a faulty federal sign-up website, the government said Wednesday.

Doctors are told to get serious about obesity
Next time you go for a checkup, don't be surprised if your doctor gets on your case about your weight.

Mindfulness inhibits implicit learning—the wellspring of bad habits
Being mindful appears to help prevent the formation of bad habits, but perhaps good ones too. Georgetown University researchers are trying to unravel the impact of implicit learning, and their findings might appear counterintuitive—at first.

No hot flashes? Then don't count on hormones to improve quality of life
Hormones at menopause can help with sleep, memory, and more, but only when a woman also has hot flashes, find researchers at Helsinki University in Finland. Their study was published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

Danish researchers predict risk of valvular heart disease
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen, Herlev Hospital and Rigshospitalet have identified a clear link between narrowed heart valves and a special lipoprotein in the blood. In the long term, the research may well help to prevent valvular heart disease. The new findings have just been published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Our relationship with food: What drives us to eat and new insights into eating disorders
A growing body of evidence shows the impact of diet on brain function, and identifies patterns of brain activity associated with eating disorders such as binge eating and purging. The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2013, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.

Clinical trial finds concurrent therapy not necessary to achieve high pathological in breast cancer
Giving trastuzumab and anthracyclines at the same time is effective at treating HER-2-positive breast cancer, but there is concern that this combination can be associated with an increased risk of cardiac toxicity. New research from Aman Buzdar M.D., professor and vice president of clinical research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues in the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, shows these agents do not need to be given concurrently to achieve a high rate of complete pathological remission.

US doctors urge wider use of cholesterol drugs
US doctors are calling for the wider use of cholesterol-fighting statin drugs to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Bullies more likely to engage in risky sex, study finds
(HealthDay)—Teenage bullies are prone to engage in risky sexual behavior, a new study finds.

Magnetic brain stimulation shows promise against eating disorders
(HealthDay)—New research suggests that some patients with anorexia or bulimia who receive targeted, noninvasive magnetic brain stimulation may experience relief from their binge eating and purging behaviors.

Hospitalizations for about 70 percent of ER visits for A-fib
(HealthDay)—Nationwide, 69 percent of emergency department visits for atrial fibrillation (AF) result in hospitalization, with patient- and hospital-level factors affecting hospitalization, according to a study published in the Nov. 1 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology.

Study confirms benefit of back braces in treating scoliosis
(Medical Xpress)—For years, adolescents instructed to wear back braces to correct scoliosis have protested having to wear the rigid plastic devices. Considering the lack of evidence in support of bracing, some may have felt they were justified in their complaints. While bracing has been recommended for decades to treat curvature of the spine, studies of its effectiveness have produced conflicting results.

States continue to place clinicians where they are in short supply, despite recession
(Medical Xpress)—Despite the recent recession, states increased the overall number of loan repayment programs designed to recruit health care professionals to live and practice in underserved communities, according to research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Living in disordered neighborhoods gets under the skin
Living in a violence-plagued neighborhood may cause such great stress that a person's gene expression may be altered. These are the findings of Katherine Theall, Stacy Drury and an interdisciplinary team of Tulane University researchers.

Retirement makes people more active
(Medical Xpress)—Retirement may make people more active, at least in the short term, suggests new research from ageing experts at Newcastle University.

Personalized medicine: New biomarker for oral cancer
(Medical Xpress)—University of Toronto researchers have identified a protein that can help doctors predict whether a patient will develop oral cancer – one of the most common cancers in Asia.

Gene linked to common intellectual disability
(Medical Xpress)—University of Adelaide researchers have taken a step forward in unravelling the causes of a commonly inherited intellectual disability, finding that a genetic mutation leads to a reduction in certain proteins in the brain.

For people with diabetes, aggressive blood pressure goals may not help
Many people with diabetes also have high blood pressure. Clinical guidelines have suggested blood pressure levels in people with diabetes should be kept lower than the standard for people without diabetes. However, a new review from The Cochrane Library does not find support for this practice.

Study finds new explanation for resistance to breast cancer treatment
Breast cancers that initially respond to hormone therapies such as tamoxifen eventually become resistant to treatment, and a new study finds this may be because of a mutation in the receptor present in the cancer cell to which tamoxifen binds, according to data published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Chronic pain and emotional distress often treated with risky medications
People suffering from chronic non-cancer pain and severe emotional distress, such as depression, anxiety and substance use, are likely to receive long-term opioid therapy despite a lack of evidence that this treatment helps, reports a new review in General Hospital Psychiatry. The review also noted serious unmet needs for psychiatric care for people with chronic pain.

Don't let pre-Thanksgiving drinking end in tragedy
The day before Thanksgiving, nicknamed Black Wednesday, is a time when college students are home and reunite with friends over beers or other alcoholic drinks in bars and restaurants. But what often starts out as a joyous celebration all too often ends up as a senseless tragedy.

Diabetes: Changes in lifestyle can prevent illness in early stages developing further
In Austria approximately 600,000 people, roughly eight percent of the total population, are affected by diabetes. These are the latest figures from the Health Ministry's current 2013 Austrian Diabetes Report, to which the MedUni Vienna diabetologist and gender medicine researcher Alexandra Kautzky-Willer from the University Department of Internal Medicine III also made a significant contribution. On the occasion of the World Diabetes Day on 14 November she points out that there are possibilities of preventing the full onset of the illness whilst it is still in its early stages.

Does brain training make you smarter?
No one who has kept their head out of the sand over the past several years needs to be told "brain training" is a hot topic. And it's big business too, with advocates using claims such as "personal training design by scientists" to market their wares.

New study turns autism research upside-down
Information from the families of 1200 children with autism will be collected from next month to begin the largest autism data study in Australia which includes a team of WA researchers.

What preschoolers know about healthy eating
When you hand a preschooler a donut, does she know it's junk food? The answer is yes, says University of Michigan researcher Kristen Harrison.

Nursery toothbrushing reduces decay
A nursery toothbrushing programme has produced a saving to the cost of children's dental treatment of just under £6million.

New study shows 'slow-onset' heart attack symptoms directly contribute to delay in accessing emergency treatment
A major new Irish study carried out by researchers at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin and recently published in the leading international peer reviewed journal, the Journal of Emergency Medicine has revealed that a majority of heart attack sufferers do not experience the classic 'Hollywood' style fast-onset heart attack expected by most patients and that current expectations and perceptions about heart attack symptoms are a major contributing factor in pre-hospital treatment delays in patients experiencing heart attacks.

Students advised to sleep it off
Sleepless schoolies are being urged to take a nap or sleep-in when the party dies down, with new QUT research revealing young people are "significantly" riskier when tired.

New links between social status and brain activity
New studies released today reveal links between social status and specific brain structures and activity, particularly in the context of social stress. The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2013, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.

Human stem cells used to elucidate mechanisms of beta-cell failure in diabetes
Scientists from the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute and Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have used stem cells created from the skin of patients with a rare form of diabetes—Wolfram syndrome—to elucidate an important biochemical pathway for beta-cell failure in diabetes. The findings by Linshan Shang and colleagues were published today in Diabetes.

Back to the future: Nostalgia increases optimism
New research from the University of Southampton shows that feeling nostalgic about the past will increase optimism about the future.

New compound inhibits cognitive impairment in animal models of Alzheimer's disease
The novel compound IRL-1620 may be useful in treating Alzheimer's disease (AD) as it has been shown to prevent cognitive impairment and oxidative stress in animal models. This research is being presented at the 2013 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition, the world's largest pharmaceutical sciences meeting, in San Antonio, Nov. 10-14.

Breathalyzer technology detects acetone levels to monitor blood glucose in diabetics
A novel hand-held, noninvasive monitoring device that uses multilayer nanotechnology to detect acetone has been shown to correlate with blood-glucose levels in the breath of diabetics. This research is being presented at the 2013 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition, the world's largest pharmaceutical sciences meeting, in San Antonio, Nov. 10-14.

Redesigned protein opens door for safer gene therapy
A fusion protein engineered by researchers at KU Leuven combining proteins active in HIV and Moloney murine leukaemia virus (MLV) replication may lead to safer, more effective retroviral gene therapy.

Study finds gymnasts' face high exposure to flame retardants
Competitive gymnasts have a higher exposure to potentially harmful flame-retardants than the general population, likely because such contaminants are present in foam used in gym equipment, a study led by Boston University School of Public Health researchers has found.

Schools help kids choose carrots over candy bars
When schools adopt healthful nutrition policies and practices, kids' diets improve.

Menstrual cycle influences concussion outcomes
How well a woman recovers from a concussion may depend on that time of the month.

Can the eyes help diagnose Alzheimer's disease?
An international team of researchers studying the link between vision loss and Alzheimer's disease report that the loss of a particular layer of retinal cells not previously investigated may reveal the disease's presence and provide a new way to track disease progression.

Kuwait discovers first MERS virus case
Kuwait has discovered its first case of the MERS coronavirus for a citizen who is in "critical condition," the health ministry said on Wednesday.

Tomato therapy: Engineered veggies target intestinal lipids, improve cholesterol
UCLA researchers report that tiny amounts of a specific type of lipid in the small intestine may play a greater role than previously thought in generating the high cholesterol levels and inflammation that lead to clogged arteries.

Many would give private info to health insurers to save money
(HealthDay)—Many Americans say they'd submit to insurance company medical tests and lifestyle monitoring in exchange for lower-cost premiums, a new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll finds.

US adults with autism may face housing crisis
(HealthDay)—Adults with autism face a shortage of housing and support services in the United States, according to a new survey.

Scientific issues relating to inorganic arsenic explored
(HealthDay)—The critical scientific issues in evaluating cancer and non-cancer effects of oral exposure to inorganic arsenic have been identified, according to a report published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Academy of Sciences.

Guidelines agree on opioid risk mitigation strategies
(HealthDay)—Recent guidelines on chronic pain management agree on several opioid risk mitigation strategies, according to a review published online Nov. 12 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Population aging crisis may have been overestimated
(HealthDay)—Use of an alternative measure for assessing the number of dependent older people suggests that the population aging crisis may have been overestimated, according to an analysis published online Nov. 12 in BMJ.

Study shows decrease in sepsis mortality rates
A recent study from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) shows a significant decrease in severe sepsis mortality rates over the past 20 years. Looking at data from patients with severe sepsis enrolled in clinical trials, researchers found that in-hospital mortality rates decreased from 47 percent between 1991 and 1995 to 29 percent between 2006 and 2009, a time period when no new pharmacological treatments were developed for severe sepsis. The results suggest that substantial improvements in patient outcomes can be accomplished by improving processes of care and working with existing treatments in a novel way.

High blood pressure in middle age versus old age may better predict memory loss
People in middle age who have a high blood pressure measure called pulse pressure are more likely to have biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease in their spinal fluid than those with lower pulse pressure, according to research published in the November 13, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Intranasal insulin improves cognitive function in patients with type 2 diabetes
In recent years, the link between type 2 diabetes and dementia has become widely recognized. Older individuals with diabetes develop Alzheimer's disease at an earlier age, and are more likely to develop vascular dementia than people who do not have diabetes.

Wireless sensors used to study meditation's effect on heart health
Demystifying meditation with science, researchers at the Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) have teamed with The Chopra Foundation and The Chopra Center for Wellbeing in a novel study of the ancient practice that uses wireless health sensors to collect physiological data from meditators.

Study finds widespread use of opioid medications in nonsurgical hospital patients
Amid a growing climate of concern regarding the overuse of opioid pain medications, a comprehensive analysis of more than 1 million hospital admissions has found that over 50 percent of all nonsurgical patients were prescribed opioids during their hospitalizations—often at very high doses—and that more than half of those exposed were still receiving these medications on the day they were discharged from the hospital.

Low-intensity therapy for Burkitt lymphoma is highly effective, study finds
Adult patients with a type of cancer known as Burkitt lymphoma had excellent long-term survival rates—upwards of 90 percent—following treatment with low-intensity chemotherapy regimens, according to a new clinical trial finding. Standard treatment for Burkitt lymphoma involves high-dose chemotherapy, which has a high rate of toxicity, including death, and cures only 60 percent of adult patients. This trial was conducted by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and appeared Nov. 14, 2013, in the New England Journal of Medicine.

NHS 111 increases ambulance and urgent and emergency care use
The call handling service NHS 111 increased the use of ambulance and urgent and emergency care services during its first year of operation, shows a detailed evaluation, published in the online journal BMJ Open.

Impulsivity, rewards and Ritalin: Monkey study shows tighter link
Even as the rate of diagnosis has reached 11 percent among American children aged 4 to 17, neuroscientists are still trying to understand attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). One classic symptom is impulsivity—the tendency to act before thinking.

Sobriety, spirituality linked for teens in treatment
If the spirit is truly willing, perhaps the flesh is not so weak, after all.

Gut microbes in healthy kids carry antibiotic resistance genes
Friendly microbes in the intestinal tracts (guts) of healthy American children have numerous antibiotic resistance genes, according to results of a pilot study by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The genes are cause for concern because they can be shared with harmful microbes, interfering with the effectiveness of antibiotics in ways that can contribute to serious illness and, in some cases, death.

Deadly brain illness discovered in British family
(HealthDay)—A British family harbors a deadly inherited illness that destroys the brain in a way that is similar to the dreaded mad cow disease, researchers report.

Most US taxpayer-funded heart studies take years to get published, report says
(HealthDay)—U.S. taxpayers help fund many of the trials testing heart disease treatments, but the results of those studies often take years to be published, a new government study finds.

US health care lags behind other affluent countries, study finds
(HealthDay)—American adults are far more likely than those in 10 other high-income countries to go without health care due to cost, or to have trouble paying their medical bills, a new study finds.

Urine tests don't always confirm urinary infections, study finds
(HealthDay)—When doctors suspect a patient has a urinary tract infection, they often request a urine sample so they can test for the presence of bacteria. Now, new research suggests this step may be unnecessary.

Time to tackle cryptosporidiosis: Scientists call for crypto cure
A recent study involving more than 22,000 children in Africa and Asia revealed that the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium is one of four pathogens responsible for the largest part of severe diarrhea in infants and toddlers.

Study finds context is key in helping us to recognize a face
Why does it take longer to recognise a familiar face when seen in an unfamiliar setting, like seeing a work colleague when on holiday? A new study published today in Nature Communications has found that part of the reason comes down to the processes that our brain performs when learning and recognising faces.

Researcher finds potential new use for old drugs
A class of drugs used to treat parasitic infections such as malaria may also be useful in treating cancers and immune-related diseases, a new WSU-led study has found.

Brain differences seen in social butterflies
(HealthDay)—A small new study suggests that parts of your brain may differ depending on whether you're a social butterfly or a lone wolf.

New research shows how brain prepares to start searching
Many of us have steeled ourselves for those 'needle in a haystack' tasks of finding our vehicle in an airport car park, or scouring the supermarket shelves for a favourite brand.

Compound stymies polyomaviruses in lab tests
A team of scientists reports that a small molecule compound showed significant success in controlling the infectivity and spread of three polyomaviruses in human cell cultures. To date there has been no medicine approved to treat such viruses, which prey on transplant recipients, people with HIV, and others whose immune systems have been weakened.

Finding antitumor T cells in a patient's own cancer
Patients with tumors that contain increased numbers of T lymphocytes generally survive longer than those with tumors without T-cell involvement, suggesting that T cells with potent antitumor function naturally exist in cancer and control tumor progression. With the exception of melanoma, it has been difficult to identify and isolate the tumor-reactive T cells from common cancers, however, the ability to do so could be used to fight a patient's own cancer.

Fatty acid produced by gut bacteria boosts the immune system
New research from the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences in Japan sheds light on the role of gut bacteria on the maturation of the immune system and provides evidence supporting the use of butyrate as therapy for inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease.

Mystery explained: How a common chemo drug thwarts graft rejection in bone marrow transplants
Results of a Johns Hopkins study may explain why a chemotherapy drug called cyclophosphamide prevents graft-versus-host (GVHD) disease in people who receive bone marrow transplants. The experiments point to an immune system cell that evades the toxic effects of cyclophosphamide and protects patients from a lethal form of GVHD.

Newly discovered mechanism suggests novel approach to prevent type 1 diabetes
New research led by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) demonstrates a disease mechanism in type 1 diabetes (T1D) that can be targeted using simple, naturally occurring molecules to help prevent the disease. The work highlights a previously unrecognized molecular pathway that contributes to the malfunction of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells in T1D in human patients and in mice, and shows that a chemical intervention can help beta cells function properly and survive. Currently, there is no preventive regimen or cure for T1D, and the only treatment is insulin therapy by injection or pump.

Researchers discover new treatment to cure MRSA infection
Recent work from University Distinguished Professor of Biology Kim Lewis promises to overcome one of the leading public health threats of our time. In a groundbreaking study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, Lewis' team presents a novel approach to treat and eliminate methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a potent bacterium whose resistance to antibiotics has kept it one step ahead of researchers. That is, until now.

Cognitive scientists ID new mechanism at heart of early childhood learning and social behavior
Shifting the emphasis from gaze to hand, a study by Indiana University cognitive scientists provides compelling evidence for a new and possibly dominant way for social partners—in this case, 1-year-olds and their parents—to coordinate the process of joint attention, a key component of parent-child communication and early language learning.

Deletion of any single gene provokes mutations elsewhere in the genome
Johns Hopkins researchers report that the deletion of any single gene in yeast cells puts pressure on the organism's genome to compensate, leading to a mutation in another gene. Their discovery, which is likely applicable to human genetics because of the way DNA is conserved across species, could have significant consequences for the way genetic analysis is done in cancer and other areas of research, they say.

Novel gene therapy works to reverse heart failure
Researchers at the Cardiovascular Research Center at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have successfully tested a powerful gene therapy, delivered directly into the heart, to reverse heart failure in large animal models.

Study: Your brain sees things you don't
University of Arizona doctoral degree candidate Jay Sanguinetti has authored a new study, published online in the journal Psychological Science, that indicates that the brain processes and understands visusal input that we may never consciously perceive. The finding challenges currently accepted models about how the brain processes visual information.

Biology news

Fungus kills ticks
Ticks may be facing a dangerous fate. In the TICLESS project, Bioforsk, the Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research, is hoping to determine whether fungus can kill ticks in sheep pastures. This would also benefit future hikers.

Ticks kill sheep
In some lamb herds, a mortality rate of 30 percent has been recorded, albeit, no predators have been involved in these losses. The situation is so serious that the sheep industry could be under threat. It is therefore crucial to identify the causes and implement preventative measures. The answer may be found somewhere within the genetics of the sheep and the course of the disease, assessment and control of tick populations and biological control of ticks.

Researchers find 16,000 tree species in the Amazon
After decades of research, scientists from around the world have quantified the number of individual trees and species scattered throughout the Amazon Basin.

Combating key viral diseases in livestock in Ethiopia
Gelagay Ayelet Melesse's doctoral research reveals that there are several serotypes of the virus causing foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and the African horse sickness virus (AHSV) and several different hosts for these viruses in Ethiopia.

Don't hold the anchovies: Study shows Peruvian fish worth more as food than as feed
The true potential of Peruvian anchovy lies not in fishmeal but as food for people and as part of the ocean food web, according to Canadian and Peruvian researchers.

Amateur divers share species data for science
Species observations from thousands of scuba divers all over the world are now freely accessible via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Generation length for mammals: An essential reference point for conservation studies
Life history traits are the basic ecological descriptors of a species. These include physical traits, such as body mass and physiological traits, such as reproductive rate. Ecologists have investigated the variation in life history traits and their role in determining the response of species to changing conditions, such as climate change, as well as to anthropogenic stressors.

Zanzibar police seize 40-foot container of ivory
Police in the semi-autonomous Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar on Wednesday said they had seized a 40-foot (12-metre) container hiding an estimated several tonnes' worth of ivory.

Power of poison explored in New York museum exhibit
The powers of poison will be on full display in New York's Museum of Natural History starting Saturday, when a new exhibit opens.

Endangered limpets change sex to improve their chances of survival
The Ribbed Mediterranean Limpet is one of the most endangered invertebrates of the Mediterranean Sea and is classed as being in danger of extinction. Researchers at the Spanish National Museum of Natural Sciences have discovered their reproductive strategy, consisting in changing sex from male to female and vice versa, which improves their ability to adapt to changes in their environment.

Close encounters with tuatara
Anna Carter is conducting a climate modelling study on Stephens Island in Cook Strait, home to New Zealand's largest tuatara population.

Incredible 'gannet cam' captures birds-eye view
Scientists from the University of Exeter and the RSPB have captured incredible footage of what it's like to fly with the UK's largest seabird.

OSU review details negative impact of pesticides and fertilizers on amphibians
Common pesticides and fertilizers can damage both the development and survival of amphibians to varying degrees, according to a new analysis by Oregon State University.

New flasher wrasse species discovered in Indonesia
A new fish of the flasher wrasse species with striking orange color and rounded fins has been found in Indonesia's coral reefs, a conservation group announced Wednesday.

Healing powers: Team detects mechanism in cell division relevant for closing wounds
How do cells spread to cover and close a wound? A team of researchers led by IST Austria professor Carl-Philipp Heisenberg, including first author Pedro Campinho, Ph.D. student in the Heisenberg group, publishes new insights into epithelial cell spreading in this week's edition of Nature Cell Biology.

Feral cats avoid urban coyotes, are surprisingly healthy
Cats that live outdoors in the city do their darnedest to steer clear of urban coyotes, a new study says.

Scorpions use strongest defense mechanisms when under attack
Scorpions tend to use their strongest defense mechanisms, according to new research published November 13 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Arie van der Meijden and colleagues at Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos (CIBIO) in Vairão, Portugal.

Study reveals why timing of bird migration is changing
Researchers at the University of East Anglia have found out why birds are migrating earlier and earlier each year.

Cooler climate helped evolution of penguins
Penguins waddled into the book of life around 20 million years ago and diversified thanks to global cooling which opened up Antarctica for habitation, a study said on Wednesday.

Photo in Vietnam shows mammal unseen for 15 years
A camera trap in a forest in central Vietnam has managed to snap a photo of one of earth's rarest mammals, the saola, which hadn't been seen in 15 years.

Study finds molecular recognition mechanism that assists outer membrane fusion in myxobacteria
(Phys.org) —Molecular biologists at the University of Wyoming have found a molecular mechanism that allows myxobacteria to recognize related strains that lead to the transient fusion of their outer membranes to exchange lipids and proteins.

Monkeys 'understand' rules underlying language musicality
Many of us have mixed feelings when remembering painful lessons in German or Latin grammar in school. Languages feature a large number of complex rules and patterns: using them correctly makes the difference between something which "sounds good", and something which does not. However, cognitive biologists at the University of Vienna have shown that sensitivity to very simple structural and melodic patterns does not require much learning, or even being human: South American squirrel monkeys can do it, too.

Researchers discover sea slugs that stab each other in the head after copulation (w/ Video)
(Phys.org) —A trio of researchers, two from Australia and one from Germany has discovered a new kind of sea slug that lives on the Great Barrier Reef—a kind that also stab each other in the head after copulating. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, the team describes how they found the new slug and its unique mating style.

Queen bee's honesty is the best policy for reproduction signals
Queen bees convey honest signals to worker bees about their reproductive status and quality, according to an international team of researchers, who say their findings may help to explain why honey bee populations are declining.

Lignin-feasting microbe holds promise for biofuels
Nature designed lignin, the tough woody polymer in the walls of plant cells, to bind and protect the cellulose sugars that plants use for energy. For this reason, lignin is a major challenge for those who would extract those same plant sugars and use them to make advanced biofuels. As part of their search for economic ways to overcome the lignin challenge, researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have characterized the enzymatic activity of a rain forest microbe that breaks down lignin essentially by breathing it.

Nature's glowing slime: Scientists peek into hidden sea worm's light
Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and their colleagues are unraveling the mechanisms behind a little-known marine worm that produces a dazzling bioluminescent display in the form of puffs of blue light released into seawater.


This email is a free service of Phys.org
You received this email because you subscribed to our list.
If you no longer want to receive this email use the link below to unsubscribe.
http://phys.org/profile/nwletter/
You are subscribed as jmabs1@gmail.com

No comments: