Science X Newsletter Wednesday, May 27

COMSOL News: The Multiphysics Simulation Magazine

Read about new modeling and simulation projects and see the latest from engineers at organizations like Nestle, Newtecnic, Daimler, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Complimentary access to COMSOL News 2015: http://goo.gl/HsM9Xv

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Dear Reader ,

Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for May 27, 2015:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

- Quantum computer emulated by a classical system
- Experiment confirms quantum theory weirdness
- Scientists one step closer to mimicking gamma-ray bursts
- New human ancestor species from Ethiopia lived alongside Lucy's species
- Discovery shows what the solar system looked like as a 'toddler'
- Linking superconductivity and structure
- Robots can recover from damage in minutes (w/ Video)
- Sustaining biomedical research: Med school deans speak out
- Research team explores a novel way to fabricate preforms for composites
- How spacetime is built by quantum entanglement
- Physicists solve quantum tunneling mystery
- Researchers use mobile phone data to predict employment shocks
- Cooperation among viral variants helps hepatitis C survive immune system attacks
- Physicists simulate for the first time charged Majorana particles
- Study reveals flaws in gene testing; results often conflict

Astronomy & Space news

	Discovery shows what the solar system looked like as a 'toddler' Astronomers have discovered a disc of planetary debris surrounding a young sun-like star that shares remarkable similarities with the Kuiper Belt that lies beyond Neptune, and may aid in understanding how our solar system developed.
	Image: XMM-Newton self-portraits with planet Earth This series of images was taken 15 years ago, a couple of months after the launch of ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory. These unique views, showing parts of the spacecraft main body and solar wings, feature a guest of honour – Earth – which crosses the field of view from left to right, as the satellite slews across our planet.
	A bubbly cosmic celebration In the brightest region of the nebula RCW 34, gas is heated and expands through the surrounding cooler gas. Once the heated hydrogen reaches the borders of the gas cloud, it bursts outwards into the vacuum like the contents of an uncorked champagne bottle—this process is referred to as champagne flow. But the young RCW 34 has more to offer; there seem to have been multiple episodes of star formation within the same cloud.
	Gravitational wave detection likely within five years, according to researcher Built to look for gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space itself that were predicted by Einstein in 1916, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is the most ambitious project ever funded by the National Science Foundation. LIGO consists of two L-shaped interferometers with four-kilometer-long arms; at their ends hang mirrors whose motions are measured to within one-thousandth the diameter of a proton. Managed jointly by Caltech and MIT, Initial LIGO became operational in 2001; the second-generation Advanced LIGO was dedicated on May 19.
	Hawaii governor: Telescope can continue, but changes needed A project to build a giant telescope near the summit of Mauna Kea has the right to move forward, but Hawaii has failed the mountain in many ways, Gov. David Ige said Tuesday.
	SpaceX cleared for US military launches The US Air Force has certified private company SpaceX to launch military satellites, opening the doors to a lucrative market previously held solely by a Lockheed and Boeing joint venture.
	SUrface Dust Mass Analyzer (SUDA) selected for Europa mission A University of Colorado Boulder instrument has been selected to fly on a NASA mission to Jupiter's icy moon, Europa, which is believed to harbor a subsurface ocean that may provide conditions suitable for life.
	Image: Europa's Jupiter-facing hemisphere This 12-frame mosaic provides the highest resolution view ever obtained of the side of Jupiter's moon Europa that faces the giant planet. It was obtained on Nov. 25, 1999 by the camera onboard the Galileo spacecraft, a past NASA mission to Jupiter and its moons which ended in 2003. NASA will announce today, Tuesday, May 26, the selection of science instruments for a mission to Europa, to investigate whether it could harbor conditions suitable for life. The Europa mission would conduct repeated close flybys of the small moon during a three-year period.
	Similarities between aurorae on Mars and Earth An international team of researchers has for the first time predicted the occurrence of aurorae visible to the naked eye on a planet other than Earth.

Technology news

	Robots can recover from damage in minutes (w/ Video) Robots will one day provide tremendous benefits to society, such as in search and rescue missions and putting out forest fires—but not until they can learn to keep working if they become damaged.
	104,000 taxpayers have personal info stolen from IRS website More than 100,000 taxpayers have had their personal tax information stolen from an IRS website as part of an elaborate scheme to claim fraudulent tax refunds.
	Smartphones, Twitter help gauge crowd size Data from smartphones and Twitter can accurately show the size of a crowd, helping first responders in an emergency, a study on Wednesday said.
	Audi R8 e-tron aims for high performance and self-driving tech Audi raised the curtains on an elegant all-electric car with self-driving capabilities recently at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Asia in Shanghai, China. This is the Audi R8 e-tron piloted driving concept car— an impressive high-performance sports car from Audi with self-driving technology, all-electrically powered.
	New algorithm lets autonomous robots divvy up assembly tasks Today's industrial robots are remarkably efficient—as long as they're in a controlled environment where everything is exactly where they expect it to be.
	Research team explores a novel way to fabricate preforms for composites In the 1967 movie The Graduate, young Benjamin Braddock gets a now-famous one-word piece of advice about the future from a family friend: plastics.
Tech blog spinoff Re/code is acquired by online media chain Tech news blog Re/code said Tuesday it's been acquired by online publishing company Vox Media, just 18 months after spinning off from its former parent, The Wall Street Journal.
Snapchat has IPO plan, CEO says The chief of vanishing-image service Snapchat on Tuesday said the company has a plan for going public with an offering of stock but did not reveal when it might happen.
	'Very exciting time' ahead for power industry, energy expert says New developments in the field of power electronics could lead to greater flexibility for the nation's electrical power grid, says an expert in power engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology.
	Germany auctions off new mobile phone frequencies Germany on Wednesday started an auction of frequencies for mobile phone operators, pledging that users will soon enjoy nationwide super-fast 4G coverage without "black holes" in rural areas.
	Interconnecting distant NZ windfarms could be boon for grid Variable winds—even in New Zealand's most blustery locations—make it difficult for windfarms to contribute more fully to the national grid, but now University of Otago research points the way to achieving a highly reliable supply of wind power.
	Voice synthesis software delivers high-quality singing automatically Whether you give it your best—or worst—effort, I2R Speech2Singing technology will make you sound like the melodious singer you've always wanted to be. The voice synthesis software developed by A*STAR researchers is the first to deliver high-quality singing automatically, while still preserving the original character of your natural voice.
	Turning traditional textiles smart Mexican researcher Paulino Vacas Jacques invented a "motherboard" able to turn textiles smart. This technology could be included in bed sheets to measure the hours slept by a person.
	3-D printed anatomy kit is now available A unique kit containing anatomical body parts produced by 3D printing is now available for medical students to use worldwide.
	Marriage of maths and microalgae a good export A spatial model developed in WA to identify suitable locations for farming microalgae can be applied internationally and adapted to locate other renewable technology infrastructures, according to developers.
	Tablets can help elderly cross the 'digital divide' One way to help the elderly cross what's known as the "digital divide" is the use of tablets, those smaller, lighter, easy-to-use computers that seem to be taking the place of laptops.
Medical millirobots offer hope for less-invasive surgeries Seeking to advance minimally invasive medical treatments, researchers have proposed using tiny robots, driven by magnetic potential energy from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners.
	Congress wants to know how thieves stole tax info from IRS Congress is demanding answers about how identity thieves were able to steal the personal tax information of more than 100,000 taxpayers from an IRS website.
Machine-learning breakthrough paves way for medical screening, prevention and treatment A breakthrough in machine learning has also brought about a "game changer" for the science of metabolomics - and will hasten the development of diagnostic and predictive tests for Alzheimer's, cancer, diabetes and numerous other conditions, leading to improved prevention and treatment.
	Job-sharing with nursing robot Given the aging of the population and the low birthrate both in Japan and elsewhere, healthcare professionals are in short supply and unevenly distributed, giving rise to a need for alternatives to humans for performing simple tasks. Although increasing numbers of medical institutions have introduced electronic medical records, a variety of issues remain unresolved, such as the inconvenience of data recording and the high costs associated with data input.
	Review: Online stylists for the shopping-averse Though my grandmother was a fashion designer, I hate buying clothes, and I still wear outfits from high school—in the last century.
	Recharging in private An electronic payment system developed in Singapore will protect the privacy of customers recharging their electric vehicles.
	Extracting useful scientific information from social media In the second it takes to 'like' this article, 6,000 tweets, 5,000 profile updates, 4,000 photos and 500 blogs will have been posted on multiple social media platforms. As that second extends to a minute, a day and even a year, more than 2 billion people around the world will have checked in and out of their virtual networks hundreds and thousands of times. Researchers at A*STAR are putting this wealth of 'breaking news' about what people are thinking, feeling and doing to good use, whether to visualize the spread of the avian influenza virus in virtual space, or to gain new insights into human psychology for better marketing.
How to accelerate energy efficiency in BC's buildings British Columbia could significantly speed up progress on achieving energy-efficient buildings and homes by adopting the more stringent approaches used by the "green leader" states of California (CA) and Massachusetts (MA), according to research out today from the University of Victoria-led Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS).
Researchers to put cutting edge wave power technology to the test in real ocean conditions Oceans – which after all cover some 71 % of the earth's surface – represent an untapped source of clean, renewable energy. Early demonstrations have already shown that the energy stored in waves can be captured by floating energy converters. Now scientists want to rigorously test this technology on a much larger scale, to see whether the concept is truly viable and whether hardware is capable of surviving rough sea conditions over a period of several years.
Fortinet buying Meru Networks for about $39.6 million Tech security company Fortinet is buying Meru Networks Inc. for about $39.6 million in a move aimed at strengthening its position in the wireless market.
	Love not war wins for small businesses and large companies Imagine a world where David and Goliath are best buds. Well it's becoming reality more frequently in the business world.

Medicine & Health news

	Grammar can influence the perception of motion events Different languages can have subtly different effects on the way we think and perceive, a phenomenon known as linguistic relativity. In a new paper in the journal Cognition, researcher Monique Flecken from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, together with colleagues, shows that even when we are not speaking, the grammar of our native language may influence the way we perceive motion events.
	Cooperation among viral variants helps hepatitis C survive immune system attacks Warring armies use a variety of tactics as they struggle to gain the upper hand. Among their tricks is to attack with a decoy force that occupies the defenders while an unseen force launches a separate attack that the defenders fail to notice.
	Study reveals flaws in gene testing; results often conflict The first report from a big public-private project to improve genetic testing reveals it is not as rock solid as many people believe, with flaws that result in some people wrongly advised to worry about a disease risk and others wrongly told they can relax.
	Brain signals contain the code for your next move Is it possible to tap into the signalling in the brain to figure out where you will go next? Hiroshi Ito, a researcher at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), can now say yes. Ito has just published a description of how this happens in this week's edition of Nature.
	Faced with decisions, humans may be wired to say, 'no' We may cave in to peer pressure, marketing and persuasion, but faced with decisions, the default response programmed into our brains is to say "no", a recent study suggests.
	How ovarian cancers evade chemotherapy Ovarian cancer cells can lock into survival mode and avoid being destroyed by chemotherapy, an international study reports.
	Origin of chromosomal oddity in some cancer cells identified Surveys of the genomic terrain of cancer have turned up a curious phenomenon in some tumor cells: a massive rearrangement of DNA in one or a few chromosomes, thought to be produced during a single cell cycle. In a new study, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute demonstrate how this sudden, isolated shuffling of genetic material - known as chromothripsis - can occur.
	Scientists identify key to preventing secondary cancers Leading scientists from the University of Sheffield and University of Copenhagen have identified a possible key to preventing secondary cancers in breast cancer patients, after discovering an enzyme which enhances the spread of the disease.
	Diagnosing cancer with help from bacteria Engineers at MIT and the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) have devised a new way to detect cancer that has spread to the liver, by enlisting help from probiotics—beneficial bacteria similar to those found in yogurt.
	Sustaining biomedical research: Med school deans speak out Cuts in federal support and unreliable funding streams are creating a hostile work environment for scientists, jeopardizing the future of research efforts and ultimately clinical medicine, according to leaders of the nation's top academic medical centers in today's online issue of Science Translational Medicine.
	Study links better 'good cholesterol' function with lower risk of later heart disease HDL is the 'good cholesterol' that helps remove fat from artery walls, reversing the process that leads to heart disease. Yet recent drug trials and genetic studies suggest that simply pushing HDL levels higher doesn't necessarily reduce the risk of heart disease. Now, a team led by scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has shown in a large, forward-looking epidemiological study that a person's HDL function—the efficiency of HDL molecules at removing cholesterol—may be a better measure of coronary heart disease risk and a better target for heart-protecting drugs. Cardiovascular diseases, characterized by the buildup of cholesterol-laden plaques in arteries, currently account for more than 17 million deaths annually, or about a third of the global total.
Psychedelic drugs should be legally reclassified as they may benefit patients, psychiatrist says Legal restrictions imposed on medical use of psychedelic drugs, such as LSD and psilocybin (the compound found in 'magic' mushrooms), are making trials almost impossible and authorities should 'downgrade their unnecessarily restrictive class A, schedule 1 classification,' writes a psychiatrist in The BMJ this week.
	Imaging test may identify biomarker of Alzheimer's disease Degeneration of the white matter of the brain may be an early marker of specific types of Alzheimer's disease (AD), including early-onset AD, according to results of a new study published in the journal Radiology.
	When children with autism grow old In the public consciousness, autism spectrum disorder only affects children. In truth, ASD is a lifelong condition. But how it affects older adults is a gaping unknown in autism research. Now, a new and significant grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will help researchers at San Diego State University understand how the disorder plays out across the lifespan.
Endoscopic removal of spinal tumor with the patient awake at Rhode Island Hospital The spinal tumor grew back. Even though the 16-year old patient endured surgery a year earlier to remove and diagnose the lesion, it was back and its cause unknown. Determined to identify the tumor tissue and set the patient on an appropriate treatment regimen, Albert Telfeian, M.D., a neurosurgeon at Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children's Hospital, performed the first reported case of extracting the tumor endoscopically while the patient was awake and under a local anesthetic. The minimally invasive procedure enabled accurate diagnosis, which evaded multiple physicians previously. The case report was published online in the journal, Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery, and will appear in the July 2015 issue.
	Better, more affordable prosthetic knees bound for developing world Backed with a blend of private and Government of Canada investments catalyzed by Grand Challenges Canada, a new Toronto-based company will contribute to a better life for amputees in developing countries. With the new funding, LegWorks will mass produce its innovative, affordable prosthetic knee, the All-Terrain Knee (AT-Knee), the functionality and durability of which makes it ideal for amputees living in the developing world.
	False breast cancer alarm has negative impact on health The psychological strain of being told that you may have breast cancer may be severe, even if it turns out later to be a false alarm. This is the finding of new research from the University of Copenhagen, which has just been published in the scientific journal Annals of Family Medicine. Researchers call for improving screening accuracy, thus reducing the number of false-positive mammograms.
The controversial stop-smoking drug Champix is safe The controversial smoking cessation drug Champix has been linked to suicidal side-effects but, according to a leading Adelaide respiratory researcher, Champix is safe and can improve someone's chances of kicking the habit.
	Mega-doses of Vitamin D may decrease hospital stays for critical care patients, study suggests Hospitalized patients often have insufficient levels of vitamin D because of the lack of physical activity and exposure to the sun. Vitamin D is thought to increase the ability of immune cells to fight infection.
	Career advancement a strong incentive for medical practitioners to 'go rural' The shortage of medical practitioners in regional rural and remote areas of Australia continues despite government initiatives.
	More more than four espressos a day can harm health, EU food safety agency says (Update 2) Drinking the caffeine equivalent of more than four espressos a day is harmful to health, especially for minors and pregnant women, the EU food safety agency said on Wednesday.
	An egg a day may help keep the doctor away What if eating an egg for breakfast is just as good as a bowl of oatmeal for people with diabetes? Maybe even better? Maria-Luz Fernandez, a professor of nutritional sciences in the College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources, says that this may be the case.
	Mental health care access for teens improving, but less for communities with disparities Teens in the U.S. have more availability of mental health care than they did two years ago, according to a new survey from the University of Michigan National Voices Project, but access is not equal in all communities.
Novel drug combo improves function of protein underlying cystic fibrosis A novel two-drug combination has the potential to target and restore a defective protein underlying cystic fibrosis (CF), according to two phase III clinical trials conducted at 187 medical centers around the world, including Johns Hopkins.
	Research reveals social media skews drinking habits Social media is a cause, and a solution to young people's binge drinking habits according to new research from the University of Sydney.
Reducing noise pollution nationwide could reap big savings Reducing noise pollution in the United States wouldn't just impact hearing but could save $3.9 billion in health care spending by lowering the prevalence of health issues associated with excess noise.
	3D printer generates realistic model of a cancerous tumour An international scientific team has successfully created a three-dimensional model of a cancerous tumour using a 3D printer. Their model could ultimately help discover new drugs and cast new light on how tumours develop, grow and spread.
	A diagnostic robot for remote prenatal ultrasound exams A Japanese researcher is developing a robot that can conduct prenatal ultrasound exams on pregnant women in remote locations.
	Making an impact on concussions The crash test dummy head is weighted and hauled with a pulley up the track. After a final check of the instruments and a quick countdown, the helmeted head plummets into an inevitable collision, moving at 4.5 metres per second. You and I can only guess what the impact would be with a concrete sidewalk or asphalt bike path. But the researchers in the University of Alberta's Department of Mechanical Engineering know.
	Study reports rise in psychotic symptoms in Kenya A large-scale epidemiological study led by researchers from King's College London has found an increase in psychotic symptoms amongst adults in rural Kenya between 2004 and 2013. These findings could reflect the mental health impact of widespread violence and poverty in the region over the past decade, according to the authors.
	Eating a Mediterranean diet could cut womb cancer risk Women who eat a Mediterranean diet could cut their risk of womb cancer by more than half (57 per cent), according to a study published today in the British Journal of Cancer.
	Molecular mechanism for regulating blood sugar could enhance understanding of diabetes A key mechanism in the regulation of blood sugar levels has been identified in work led by A*STAR researchers. The findings could help us understand the mechanisms of diabetes and might lead to new treatments.
State regulations for indoor tanning could lead to a national regulatory framework A national regulatory framework designed to prevent and limit indoor tanning is needed to alleviate the cancer burden and reduce the billions in financial costs from preventable skin cancer, say two Georgetown University public health experts.
	Gene that inhibits tumor growth is shown to promote aggressive breast cancers A*STAR researchers have shown that the RASAL2 gene, which is known to inhibit tumor growth in some breast cancers, actually advances tumor formation and metastasis in more aggressive forms of breast cancer and have suggested its use as a diagnostic marker.
	Genome-wide association study identifies six new susceptibility loci tied to the age-old disease of leprosy A*STAR researchers have conducted a genome-wide association study that has important implications for the early diagnosis, and therefore prevention, of leprosy—one of the oldest documented diseases in human history.
A new era for genetic interpretation Millions of genetic variants have been discovered over the last 25 years, but interpreting the clinical impact of the differences in a person's genome remains a major bottleneck in genomic medicine. In a paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine on May 27, a consortium including investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Partners HealthCare present ClinGen, a program to evaluate the clinical relevance of genetic variants for use in precision medicine and research.
	Scorpion venom has toxic effects against cancer cells A study has found over a hundred proteins identified as possible anti-cancer agents in Centruroides tecomanus scorpion venom from Colima, south-west state of Mexico.
	Researchers taking bold steps toward engineering new lungs According to the World Health Organization, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) currently affects more than 64 million people worldwide and is poised to become the third leading cause of mortality by 2030.
Beliefs and family crucial in South Asian people's management of diabetes Researchers from The University of Manchester in collaboration with Keele and Southampton Universities have published new findings which shed light on the poor outcomes of South Asian people with diabetes in the UK.
	Why single mothers are more likely to get ill when they get older Evidence shows lone mothers suffer from poorer health on average than women with partners. But the situation isn't as clear cut as this might suggest.
	Link between alcohol outlets and assaults A study exploring the established link between off-premise alcohol outlets and the rate of assaults and injuries in Australia has found that large bottleshops and liquor chains contribute most substantially to trauma risk.
	Flavored fruit drink or poisonous cleaning product? How to prevent accidental poisonings The summer months often mean more time spent at home for kids. While the break from the books can be enjoyable, one University of Alabama at Birmingham child safety expert says there is one important lesson both children and parents still need to learn: how to prevent poisoning.
Study seeks to learn from breast and cervical screening programmes to improve uptake of bowel cancer tests Bowel cancer is the UK's second-biggest cancer killer, accounting for 10% of all cancer deaths, yet only just over half of women eligible for the screening programme in Scotland take part.
	Quadruplets born to 65-year-old mom still in critical phase Doctors say the week-old quadruplets born prematurely to 65-year-old Annegret Raunigk in Berlin are still in intensive care, but have been gaining a little weight and are being given their mother's milk through feeding tubes.
	Are antidepressants more effective than usually assumed? Many have recently questioned the efficacy of the most common antidepressant medications, the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The conclusion that these drugs are ineffective is however partly based on a misinterpretation of the outcome of the clinical trials once conducted to demonstrate their efficacy. This was the finding of a study conducted by researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy.
Precision medicine is 'personalized, problematic, and promising' The rapidly emerging field of precision medicine is a "disruptive innovation" that offers the possibility of remarkably fine-tuned remedies to improve patient health while minimizing the risk of harmful side effects, says J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, dean of the Perelman School of Medicine and executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System, in this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Writing with oncologist Dan L. Longo, MD, a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, in a "Sounding Board" piece, Jameson surveys the terrain of the new field.
Challenging students benefit from limit setting The teacher's interaction style can either foster or slow down the development of math skills among children with challenging temperaments. This was shown in the results of the study "Parents, teachers and children's learning" carried out at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
	New online tool to predict genetic resistance to tuberculosis drugs Finding out what drugs can be used to treat a patient with tuberculosis (TB) can be can sped up by days or weeks, thanks to a new free online tool.
Researchers examine obesity perceptions among Chinese-American adults in NYC Worldwide, obesity is becoming more prevalent. According to The World Health Organization, worldwide obesity has nearly doubled since 1980, and in 2008 25% of adults aged 20 and over were overweight, and another 11% were obese. Obesity has been identified as a major source of unsustainable health costs and numerous adverse outcomes, including morbidity and mortality due to hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and certain types of cancer.
	Zebrafish model gives new insight on autism spectrum disorder Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurological condition that affects approximately two percent of people around the world. Although several genes have been linked to multiple concurring conditions of ASD, the process that explains how specific genetic variants lead to behaviors characteristic of the disorder remains elusive.
	Homely men who misbehave can't win for losing Women tolerate an unattractive man up to a point, but beware if he misbehaves. Then they'll easily shun him. So says Jeremy Gibson and Jonathan Gore of the Eastern Kentucky University in the U.S., after finding that a woman's view of a man is influenced by how handsome and law-abiding he is. Their study in Springer's journal Gender Issues has significance for those using dating sites or doing jury duty.
	'Hidden' fragrance compound can cause contact allergy Linalyl acetate, a fragrance chemical that is one of the main constituents of the essential oil of lavender, is not on the list of allergenic compounds pursuant to the EU Cosmetics Directive. Thus, it does not need to be declared on cosmetic products sold within the EU. Recent studies at the University of Gothenburg have shown that linalyl acetate can cause allergic eczema.
	Autism and rare childhood speech disorder often coincide Some children with autism should undergo ongoing screenings for apraxia, a rare neurological speech disorder, because the two conditions often go hand-in-hand, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.
Telemedicine exams result in antibiotics as often as regular exams, study finds Patients treated for an acute respiratory infection by a doctor on a telephone or live video are as likely to be prescribed an antibiotic as patients who are treated by a physician face-to-face for the same illness, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
Zogenix says former obesity drug reduced seizures in study Drugmaker Zogenix said Wednesday that a drug once used to fight obesity before it was taken off the market may help treat a rare disease that causes severe seizures in young children.
Pre-surgery beta blockers, risk of death examined in noncardiac surgery The controversial practice of administering pre-surgery beta-blockers to patients having noncardiac surgery was associated with an increased risk of death in patients with no cardiac risk factors but it was beneficial for patients with three to four risk factors, according to a report published online by JAMA Surgery.
Team finds differences in RORA levels in brain may contribute to autism sex bias George Washington University (GW) researcher Valerie Hu, Ph.D., has found an important sex-dependent difference in the level of RORA protein in brain tissues of males and females. Specifically, females without autism have a slightly higher level of RORA in the frontal cortex of the brain than males without autism, while the levels of the protein are comparably lower in the brain of both males and females with autism. The new study, published this month by Molecular Autism in a special issue on sex differences in autism, further shows a stronger correlation between the expression level of RORA and that of genes regulated by RORA in males. This finding suggests males may be more susceptible than females to dysregulation of multiple genes under conditions of RORA deficiency.
Internet acne education with automated counseling tested in clinical trial An Internet-based acne education program that included automated counseling was not better than a standard educational website in improving acne severity and quality of life in adolescents, according to an article published online by JAMA Dermatology.
Global study finds psychotic experiences infrequent in general population Psychotic experiences were infrequent in the general population, with an average lifetime prevalence of ever having such an episode estimated at 5.8 percent, according to an article published online by JAMA Psychiatry.
	Hallucinations and delusions more common than thought Hallucinations and delusions in the general population are more common than previously thought.
	Signal identified that prompts one kidney to grow larger when the other is lost Scientists have found an explanation for the century-old observation that if you end up with just one kidney, the lone organ gets bigger.
	Study in Nigeria finds one in ten malaria drugs are poor quality A rigorous analysis of more than 3,000 antimalarials purchased in Enugu, Nigeria found 9.3% to be of poor quality, according to new research published in PLOS ONE.
	People with multiple sclerosis may have double the risk of dying early New research suggests people with multiple sclerosis (MS) may have double the risk of dying early compared to people without MS, with those younger than 59 at a three times higher risk. The study is published in the May 27, 2015, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
African-Americans at lower socioeconomic levels have increased risk of heart disease African Americans at lower socioeconomic levels, particularly women and younger adults, are at greater risk of heart disease and stroke than those in higher socioeconomic positions, according to research in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Large-scale analysis of medication data provides insights into who is covered by ACA As the U.S. Supreme Court considers the legality of tax subsidies to buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), an investigation by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, the RAND Corporation and Express Scripts provides an unprecedented look at prescription data gleaned from over a million initial enrollees.
Research identifies potential proteins to target in osteosarcoma treatment New models developed at the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota reveal the genes and pathways that, when altered, can cause osteosarcoma. The information could be used to better target treatments for the often-deadly type of cancer.
	Study identifies brain regions activated when pain intensity doesn't match expectation Picture yourself in a medical office, anxiously awaiting your annual flu shot. The nurse casually states, "This won't hurt a bit." But when the needle pierces your skin it hurts, and it hurts a lot. Your expectations have been violated, and not in a good way.
	ASCO: Many cancer patients interested in genetic profiling (HealthDay)—Many patients with cancer are interested in comprehensive tumor genetic profiling (CGP), and most are willing to pay out-of-pocket costs for CGP, according to a study scheduled for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, to be held from May 29 to June 2 in Chicago.
	Electrical acupoint stimulation beneficial for heroin addicts (HealthDay)—Transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation (TEAS) is associated with alleviation of withdrawal syndrome in heroin addicts, according to a study published in the May issue of Pain Medicine.
	Fat, protein, glycemic index all modify postprandial glycemia (HealthDay)—Dietary fat, protein, and glycemic index (GI) modify postprandial glycemia in type 1 diabetes, according to a review published in the June issue of Diabetes Care.
Understanding cancer onset Researchers in Malaysia have analysed the genomes of people with a rare genetic disorder to better understand their predisposition to cancer across generations.
	Mobilising against hypertension in South Africa Lifestyle-related disease is on the rise in South Africa, including high blood pressure. An ingenious partnership involving Oxford University is putting the nation's extensive mobile phone network to work in beating the disease.
Hip fractures in the elderly caused by falls, not osteoporosis Anti-osteoporotic medication is not an effective means for preventing hip fractures among the elderly, concludes a study recently published in the BMJ.
	The analogy that builds human thought When Niels Bohr hypothesised his model of atom with the electrons orbiting the nucleus just like satellites orbit a planet, he was engaging in analogical reasoning. Bohr transferred to atoms the concept of "a body orbiting another", that is, he transferred a relation between objects to other, new objects. Analogical reasoning is an extraordinary ability that is unique to the human mind, is not seen in animals (except very rarely in primates) and that forms the basis of highly sophisticated human thoughts. Scientists have wondered about the origin of this cognitive function: for example, is it necessary to have developed linguistic abilities or are we born already cognitively equipped for this type of abstraction? According to a new study carried out with the collaboration of the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) of Trieste and just published in Child Development, the second hypothesis is probably true: analogical a! bilities precede language and are already present in infants just a few months old.
New model for identifying total hip replacement candidates Researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy have designed a new model to help doctors and patients decide whether or not to proceed with total hip replacement surgery. The researchers have also surveyed patient wellbeing after surgery: patients with high education achieve greater outcome scores, while those with antidepressant prescriptions do not.
Federal appeals court rejects Arkansas' 12-week abortion ban A federal appeals court struck down a key abortion restriction in Arkansas on Wednesday, agreeing with a lower court judge that it was inappropriate to ban most abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy if a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat.

Biology news

	On the trail of the clever snail: Animals, like humans, excel at some tasks but not others Animals, like humans, excel at some tasks but not others according to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
	Researchers find migration risks likely led to drab colored female birds (Phys.org)—A trio of researchers with Trinity University in Texas has found that the development of dimorphism (physical differences between male and females of the same species) in songbirds appears to have been most strongly caused by migration. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Richard Simpson, Michele Johnson and Troy Murphy describe a study they undertook of wood-warblers, a type of songbird and what they learned.
	Fly-catching robot expands the scope of biomedical research Since the early 20th century, an unheralded star of genetics research has been a small and essentially very annoying creature: the fruit fly.
	Better mouse model enables colon cancer research Every day, it seems, someone in some lab is "curing cancer." Well, it's easy to kill cancer cells in a lab, but in a human, it's a lot more complicated, which is why nearly all cancer drugs fail clinical trials.
	'Dementor' wasp, giant stick insect among new Mekong finds From a soul-sucking 'dementor' wasp named after a creature from the Harry Potter books to a half-metre long stick insect, scientists identified 139 new species in the Greater Mekong Region in 2014, according to a new report.
	Study suggests genetic basis for same-sex sexual behavior offers evolutionary advantage (Phys.org)—A trio of researchers with the University of St. Andrews in the U.K. has found what appears to be an evolutionary advantage for same-sex sexual behavior in fruit flies. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Jessica Hoskins, Michael Ritchie and Nathan Bailey describe their research with the flies and what they found by doing so.
	Faster evolution not responsible for tropical biodiversity It's been known for more than 150 years that the tropics are home to far greater numbers of animal and plant species than the planet's temperate regions. But despite decades of study, the causes of this striking biodiversity pattern remain poorly understood and hotly debated.
	Highly endangered 100-year-old turtle given last chance to breed A female Yangtze giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) - potentially the last female of her species - has been artificially inseminated at the Suzhou Zoo in China. The procedure, an international effort, brought together top scientists from the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), San Diego Zoo Global, WCS's Bronx Zoo, Changsha Zoo, Suzhou Zoo and the China Zoo Association, and provides a ray of hope in a continuing effort to save the world's most endangered turtle.
	How to lure a pest of pistachio, almond and walnut An Agricultural Research Service entomologist in California is helping the state's almond, pistachio, and walnut growers decide whether to use a new lure to monitor their fields for navel orangeworm (NOW) infestations and to maximize its potential if they do use it.
	Online mapping tool shows fishery managers how to reduce bycatch Spotting a scarlet tanager perched delicately on a nearby branch, David Wiedenfeld peers through his binoculars to get a closer look at the small bird's ruby plumes. Wiedenfeld, a long-time birder, often stops at a favorite wooded area near his home just west of Washington D.C. for an early-morning songbird sighting. He also appreciates the beauty of the seabirds he observes just a few dozen miles down the road at the Chesapeake Bay.
	Potential of seagrass in combating climate change Seagrass ecosystems could play a key role in combating climate change, researchers at the University of York have discovered.
	Study finds shade, cover can reduce predation by birds on trout As snowpack levels decline with the warming climate, many streams will experience less water flow, especially during summer months, potentially exposing more fish to predation by birds and other animals.
	Can we easily distinguish male and female protoceratops? Anatomical and behavioral differences distinguish males and females in many extant and extinct animals. For instance, male peacocks have a large and flashy tail, whereas females are smaller and less brightly colored. Male lions have a mane and are larger than females. Red deer male sport antlers, lacking in females. This phenomenon is called sexual dimorphism and represents a product of sexual selection. It represents a key factor in the success of breeding within many species, as originally stated by Darwin, and mate choice.
	Protein silences endogenous retroviral genomes integrated in cellular DNA An LMU team has uncovered a new role for the protein Atrx, which is involved in various aspects of gene expression. The new work shows that the protein is also involved in silencing endogenous retroviral genomes integrated in cellular DNA.
	Using leeches to measure mammal biodiversity In order to get a better grasp on the biodiversity of mammals in Sumatra, University of Delaware graduate student Sarah Weiskopf spent two weeks collecting leeches in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park and conducting genetic analyses of their blood meals.
	Protein scaffold Right before a cell starts to divide to give birth to a daughter cell, its biochemical machinery unwinds the chromosomes and copies the millions of protein sequences comprising the cell's DNA, which is packaged along the length of the each chromosomal strand. These copied sequences also need to be put back together before the two cells are pulled apart. Mistakes can lead to genetic defects or cancerous mutations in future cell generations.
	Tiny parasite may contribute to declines in honey bee colonies by infecting larvae Biologists at UC San Diego have discovered that a tiny single-celled parasite may have a greater-than expected impact on honey bee colonies, which have been undergoing mysterious declines worldwide for the past decade.
Court hearing in NYC on whether chimps have rights Lawyers for two chimpanzees are heading to court to argue that the animals have "personhood" rights and should be freed from the Long Island university where they are kept.
	Development decisions made today will fundamentally alter Africa's ecological future WWF and the African Development Bank today launched the 2015 African Ecological Futures report, highlighting a development path that can bring long-term well-being and prosperity while valuing and safeguarding Africa's rich natural resources.
Treatments of hot water with calcium found effective for kiwifruit Following the introduction of kiwifruit to the world market from New Zealand in the 1950s, increased export of kiwi led to rapid expansion in consumer demand and production. One of the challenges for growers is kiwifruit's short storage life; the popular fruit is susceptible to severe disorders during storage. A new study from Iran recommends treatments that can extend storage life and improve quality in kiwifruit.
Sandwich system found effective in organic apple orchards In organic apple orchards, one of the most serious challenges for growers is determining ways to limit weed competition while improving soil quality and ensuring high yields of quality apples. Scientists from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences published a study of orchard floor management systems (HortScience, March 2015) that revealed the benefits of using "sandwich systems" in organic orchards.
Effective season extension technologies identified for strawberry production Fruit growers in the U.S. Intermountain West (the region including the states of Montana, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado) are faced with challenges that include decreased agricultural land availability, harsh climatic conditions, and significant competition from both domestic production and imports. In order to keep fruit production viable in the region, growers need to adopt strategies that minimize these challenges. The authors of a new report have identified production technologies that can extend the growing season for strawberry crops and result in higher net incomes for growers.
	Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force releases National Invasive Lionfish Management Plan An intergovernmental task force just released a new plan to prevent the spread of the invasive lionfish and to help manage lionfish in an effort to prevent further harm to marine ecosystems.
	NYC judge hears arguments on the rights of two chimpanzees A New York City judge has heard arguments over the rights of two chimpanzees that advocates hope to free from a state university where they're kept.

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