Dear Reader ,
Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for October 4, 2011:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
- The brain on drugs: Defining the neural anatomy and physiology of morphine on dopamine neurons- Physicists move one step closer to quantum computer
- Study shows humans still evolving
- Studies of universe's expansion win physics Nobel (Update 3)
- Dawn at Vesta: Massive mountains, rough surface, and old-young dichotomy in hemispheres
- Team discovers unusual multi-planet solar system with Kepler spacecraft
- Advance offers new opportunities in chemistry education, research
- Researchers reveal one reason why fat cells fail
- Orexin: A hormone that fights fat with fat
- Natural compound helps reverse diabetes in mice
- Ambrosia beetles have highly socialized systems
- City-wide sensor system could make cities run more smoothly
- Apple unveils faster, more powerful iPhone 4S
- Electricity from the nose: Engineers make power from human respiration
- Keeping track of reality: Why some of us better at remembering what really happened
Space & Earth news
NASA Mars rovers win Popular Mechanics 'Breakthrough' award
(PhysOrg.com) -- More than seven years after completing their three-month prime missions on opposite sides of Mars, NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity have been selected for lifetime achievement award honors as part of the Breakthrough Awards presented by Popular Mechanics magazine.
NASA invites students to name moon-bound spacecraft
NASA has a class assignment for U.S. students: help the agency give the twin spacecraft headed to orbit around the moon new names.
Pumice proposed as home to the first life forms: A new hypothesis in Astrobiology journal
The glassy, porous, and once gas-rich rock called pumice may have given rise to early life forms, according to a provocative new hypothesis on the origin of life published in Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc..
Planet 'far away' on climate goals: study
The world remains far away from meeting UN-backed goals on holding back climate change, setting the stage for major damage without more ambitious efforts to cut emissions, a study said Tuesday.
Second Pacific island declares drought emergency
A second South Pacific community has declared a state of emergency in a drought crisis that has seen water rationing imposed in parts of the region, officials in Wellington said Tuesday.
Saturn's geyser moon Enceladus shows off for Cassini
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft successfully completed its Oct. 1 flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus and its jets of water vapor and ice. At its closest approach, the spacecraft flew approximately 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the moon's surface. The close approach was designed to give some of Cassini's instruments, including the ion and neutral mass spectrometer, the chance to "taste" the jets themselves.
Students building satellite that's seen as future of space research
Using needle-thin solder, tweezers and a very steady hand, Anna Espinal peers through a microscope and attaches capacitors the size of large grains of sand to boards no bigger than a credit card.
Swiss warn massive ice chunk may break off glacier
A massive part of a glacier the size of 12 football fields in the Swiss Alps could break off, local authorities warned, after the discovery of an enormous crevasse in the glacier.
STAR TRAK for October
As the short nights of summer give way to the longer nights of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, Jupiter will come into view above the southeastern horizon as the sun sets. The huge planet will be much brighter than any other object in the sky this month, reaching opposition on the night of Oct. 28-29. Since it will be opposite the sun in our sky, it will be visible all night, reaching its highest point in the south around midnight.
New study of Glover's Reef challenges whether corals will benefit from Marine Reserves' protection
The ability of marine reserves to replenish fish stocks has been studied extensively, but evidence of their ability to benefit shallow-water communities to thrive remains a mystery. A team of scientists from the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science recently tested whether 10 years of reserve designation has translated into positive impacts on coral communities in Glover's Reef Marine Reserve, Belize. Results from their surveys of 87 patch reefs both inside and outside the marine reserve showed no clear indication of reserve implementation benefiting coral cover, colony size or the abundance of juvenile corals. The study, conducted by Brittany Huntington, Mandy Karnauskas and UM Professor Diego Lirman appears in the journal Coral Reefs.
Titanic Jigsaw Challenge: Piecing together a global colour map of Saturn's largest moon
An international team led by the University of Nantes has pieced together images gathered over six years by the Cassini mission to create a global mosaic of the surface of Titan. The global maps and animations of Saturn’s largest moon are being presented by Stéphane Le Mouélic at the EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011 in Nantes, France on Tuesday 4th October.
Hyperactive Hartley 2 has a split history
The latest analysis of data from NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft shows that comet 103P/Hartley 2 is hyperactive in terms of the material it spews out, compared to the other comets observed up close to date. The comet also shows surprising diversity - ice on the comet’s sunlit surface is found in patches that are isolated from areas of dust. In addition, one lobe of the dog-bone shaped comet may have lost much more of the primordial material from the formation of the comet than the other, suggesting that Hartley 2 was originally two comets that came together in a gentle collision. Mike A’Hearn and Lori Feaga will be presenting their findings at the EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011 in Nantes, France.
Panama REDD: Getting what you pay for
A new report by researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and Canada's McGill University identifies gaps in forest monitoring and ways to improve data collection. This will produce reliable estimates of greenhouse gas emission reductions from activities aimed at reducing deforestation.
'Dark energy' targeted in European space mission
So-called dark energy, believed to play a role in the accelerated expansion of the Universe, will be studied in a major science mission to be launched later this decade, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Tuesday.
Dream is over for Virgin Galactic space tourist
Venture capitalist Alan Walton has trekked to the North Pole, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and skydived over Mount Everest. A hop into space to enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness would have been the ultimate adventure.
Universe's 'standard candles' are white dwarf mergers
(PhysOrg.com) -- The largest survey to date of distant exploding stars is giving astronomers new clues to what’s behind the Type Ia supernovae they use to measure distances across the cosmos.
Dawn at Vesta: Massive mountains, rough surface, and old-young dichotomy in hemispheres
NASA’s Dawn mission, which has been orbiting Vesta since mid-July, has revealed that the asteroid’s southern hemisphere boasts one of the largest mountains in the Solar System. Other results show that Vesta’s surface, viewed at different wavelengths, has striking diversity in its composition particularly around craters. The surface appears to be much rougher than most asteroids in the main asteroid belt. Preliminary results from crater age dates indicate that areas in the southern hemisphere are as young as 1-2 billion years old, much younger than areas in the north. The findings are being presented today at the EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011 in Nantes, France.
Team discovers unusual multi-planet solar system with Kepler spacecraft
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of researchers led by Bill Cochran of The University of Texas at Austin has used NASA’s Kepler spacecraft to discover an unusual multiple-planet system containing a super-Earth and two Neptune-sized planets orbiting in resonance with each other. They will announce the find today in Nantes, France at a joint meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division of Planetary Science and the European Planetary Science Conference. The research will be published in a special Kepler issue of The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series in November.
Technology news
IBM donating cooperative web technology that enables life changing healthcare solutions
IBM today announced that the company is donating new software code to help health care and other industries work on shared content in real-time, on the Web. The code is from IBM Project Blue Spruce and will be donated to the Dojo Foundation's Open Cooperative Web Framework (OpenCoweb).
Blackwater game aims for fun, not controversy
(AP) -- In the world of video games, realism reigns supreme, but the makers of a game based on the infamous private security firm Blackwater are intentionally steering clear of it.
Chinese economic spying 'intolerable': US lawmaker
A US lawmaker said on Tuesday that Chinese economic espionage, including cyber spying, has reached an "intolerable level" and called for the United States and its allies to confront Beijing.
HP gains control of Autonomy
Hewlett-Packard said Monday that it has closed its $10.24 billion purchase of British software company Autonomy, a deal which contributed to the downfall of former HP chief executive Leo Apotheker.
Samsung and Apple 'distance apart', court hears
Samsung and Apple Inc are yet to reach a deal which would permit the South Korean firm to sell its tablet computers in Australia, and are "a considerable distance apart", a court heard Tuesday.
Nuclear experts to help Fukushima decontamination
The UN atomic agency IAEA said Tuesday it was sending 12 international experts to Japan on October 7-15 to assist the country with clean-up efforts after the nuclear accident of Fukushima in March.
Certain biofuel mandates unlikely to be met by 2022; unless new technologies, policies developed
It is unlikely the United States will meet some specific biofuel mandates under the current Renewable Fuel Standard by 2022 unless innovative technologies are developed or policies change, says a new congressionally requested report from the National Research Council, which adds that the standard may be an ineffective policy for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. Achieving this standard would likely increase federal budget outlays as well as have mixed economic and environmental effects.
Like a TV network, Yahoo launches fall programming
(AP) -- With TV network style, Yahoo is launching a fall slate of shows in a bid to strengthen its original programming.
Apple begins event where new iPhone expected
(AP) -- An Apple event has started during which the company is expected to unveil a new iPhone. It's the first major product event in years that Steve Jobs isn't presiding over.
Apple's app sends shares of card makers tumbling
(AP) -- A brief mention of a new app that lets people design and send greeting through the mail with an iPhone is sending the stocks of greeting card companies tumbling.
Sprint gets iPhone, evens odds vs. AT&T, Verizon
(AP) -- Sprint subscribers will be able to use the iPhone for the first time, giving them one more reason to stay with the ailing company.
Asia's biggest tech fair opens in Japan
Smartphones detecting bad breath and radiation, twistable remote controls and a super-thin tablet computer were just some of the gadgets on show at Asia's biggest tech fair in Japan Tuesday.
Ten-minute charge makes battery spectacle at CEATEC
(PhysOrg.com) -- CEATEC Japan, the Tokyo event focused on new devices in electronics and IT, opens this week with lots of pre-buzz circling around a little gadget that keeps smartphones from dying, courtesy of NTT DoCoMo and NEC. Engadget seeded the interest after visiting NTT DoCoMo’s booth to examine an NTT smartphone battery. The charge takes only ten minutes. The battery lives in an external pack.
Student-built electric car sets land speed record at Salt Flats
(PhysOrg.com) -- An electric car designed and built by BYU engineering students set a world land speed record for its weight class, averaging 155.8 mph over its two required qualifying runs, one of which was clocked at 175 mph.
New startup believes it has a way to cheaply convert methane to ethylene
(PhysOrg.com) -- When people think of uses for petroleum, they generally think of oil and gasoline, but doing so means ignoring the production of ethylene, a compound used to make many of the products most people use every day, such as plastics. Unfortunately though, as the price of petroleum goes up, so too does the cost of producing ethylene and all the products that come from it. This is why chemical researchers have been searching for years for a way to produce ethylene via anther process. Now, startup company San Francisco based Siluria, believes it has found a pathway there using methane instead of petroleum, and has received some $20 million in investment capital from various groups that are confident that Siluria is on the right track.
People as 'sensors': Twitter messages reveal NFL's big plays and fans'
Using millions of Twitter subscribers as living "sensors," engineers from Rice University and Motorola Mobility have found a way to monitor fans' levels of excitement and to keep track of the action in National Football League (NFL) games -- without ever switching on a TV. SportSense is a computer program the engineers created to analyze NFL fan tweets in real time. The program can tell within seconds when touchdowns, interceptions and other big plays occur, and it can show how excited fans are about every game that's being played.
City-wide sensor system could make cities run more smoothly
(PhysOrg.com) -- By installing millions of sensors throughout a city and hooking them up to an urban operating system, the Portuguese-based company Living PlanIT envisions that, in the future, cities could monitor and manage themselves more efficiently without the need for additional human supervision.
Electricity from the nose: Engineers make power from human respiration
(PhysOrg.com) -- The same piezoelectric effect that ignites your gas grill with the push of a button could one day power sensors in your body via the respiration in your nose.
Medicine & Health news
Sentinel lymph node biopsy predicts outcomes for Merkel cell carcinoma
Patients with Merkel Cell Carcinoma who underwent a procedure called sentinel lymph node biopsy (SNLB) had a lower risk of cancer recurrence after two years, according to a study by researchers from Fox Chase Cancer Center. When the biopsy's results were used to guide subsequent tests and treatment, these patients had longer survival rates than patients who had not undergone the procedure.
Referral to talking therapies may cut use of health services and sick leave
Referring patients with mental health problems to talking therapies seems to cut their use of healthcare services and the amount of sick leave they take, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Significant variation in organ donations across all 4 UK countries
There are significant variations in the number and type of organ donations made across all four UK countries, reveals research published online in BMJ Open.
California slaps down attempts to ban circumcision
California has banned local authorities from outlawing male circumcision, striking a final blow to a San Francisco group that had hoped to put the matter to a popular vote.
Stroke rate 25 percent higher for Metis
The stroke rate among Manitoba Metis is nearly 25 percent higher than for other Manitobans, according to a study by the University of Manitoba and the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress.
Telestroke the next best thing
The use of long-distance video and data hookups to link remote community hospitals with stroke neurologists in large centres provides the same level of care as having everyone in the same room, according to a new study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress.
Practical play: Interactive video games appear valuable for patients
Interactive video games, already known to improve motor function in recovering stroke patients, appear to safely enhance physical therapy for patients in intensive care units (ICU), new research from Johns Hopkins suggests.
Complications of chronic kidney disease occur earlier in children
(Medical Xpress) -- In what may lead to a shift in treatment, the largest prospective study of children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) has confirmed some experts’ suspicions that complications occur early. The findings suggest the need for earlier, more aggressive management of blood pressure, anemia and other problems associated with kidney disease, according to Dr. Marva Moxey-Mims, a pediatric kidney specialist at the NIH.
Combination therapy beneficial for head and neck skin carcinomas, study shows
Patients who have high-risk non-melanoma skin carcinomas of the head and neck may benefit from concomitant radiotherapy and chemotherapy, according to a UNC-led study. Their study is the first to report on multiple patients with these skin carcinomas treated simultaneously with radio-and chemotherapy.
Study finds non-English speaking head and neck cancer patients have significantly worse outcomes
Researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found that among advanced head and neck cancer (HNC) patients receiving radiation-based treatment (RT), being non-English speaking (NES) was a more significant predictor of treatment outcome than being of non-white race. The findings, to be presented at the 53rd annual American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting in Miami, Florida, suggest that language barriers may play a role in health-care disparities and that further interpreter/translation services are warranted in the care of such diverse patients.
People experiencing mental distress less likely to have health insurance
People with frequent mental distress are markedly more likely that than those with frequent physical distress to lack health insurance, according to research appearing the October issue of Psychiatric Services, a journal of the American Psychiatric Association. Uninsured adults have less access to recommended care, receive poorer quality care, and experience worse health outcomes than insured adults.
Does MRI pose more than minimal risk in pediatric research?
(Garrison, NY) Shedding light on a question that has baffled research ethics review boards, a new analysis of the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in pediatric clinical trials finds that the risks of physical and psychological harm associated with this procedure are no greater than the risks that healthy children face from everyday activities, such as playing soccer or riding in motor vehicles. However, adding an intravenous contrast dye or sedation to an MRI increases the odds of harm and makes them unacceptably high.
An important breakthrough at the IRCM associated with osteoporosis
Researchers at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), directed by Dr. Jean Vacher, identified a new gene that modulates bone mass and that could become a risk factor for developing osteoporosis. This scientific breakthrough will be published tomorrow in the scientific journal Cell Metabolism.
Making the healthy choice the easy choice
It is no secret that Americans are facing an obesity epidemic, exacerbated by high consumption of unhealthy foods and too little physical activity. According to the National Cancer Institute, the U.S. does not produce or import enough fruits and vegetables for Americans to consume the recommended daily amount. Now, a national grant has allowed University of Missouri Extension to expand two projects that promote healthy diets and physical activity for Missourians.
Children with spina bifida need personal 'starter'
Children born with spina bifida often have difficulties to perform everyday activities. This is not primarily due to being confined to a wheelchair or to parental overprotection as was previously believed – new research from the University of Gothenburg shows that it is down to an inability to initiate and complete a task towards a specific goal.
Calorific controversy for intensive care patients
Patients who are fed more calories while in intensive care have lower mortality rates than those who receive less of their daily-prescribed calories, according to a recent study of data from the largest critical care nutrition database in the world.
Biological fingerprints improve diagnosis of dementia
Differentiating between the various forms of dementia is crucial for initiating appropriate treatment. Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy have discovered that the underlying diseases leave different "fingerprints" in the cerebrospinal fluid, paving the way for more reliable diagnoses.
Results of new drug for pancreatic cancer patients published
Patients at Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials at Scottsdale Healthcare were the first in the nation to participate in a clinical trial to determine the safety, tolerability and effectiveness for usage of a new drug combination consisting of a standard drug called gemcitabine and a drug called nab-paclitaxel for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.
Oral supervised HIV self-testing in Malawi is acceptable and accurate
In this week's PLoS Medicine, Augustine Choko of the Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, Malawi and colleagues assess the uptake and accuracy of home-based supervised oral HIV self-testing in Malawi, demonstrating the feasibility of this approach in a high-prevalence, low-income setting. Their findings indicate that there is strong community readiness to adopt self-testing alongside other HIV counseling and testing strategies in high HIV prevalence settings in urban Africa.
Health and forensic databases may contribute to racial disparities
There is too little attention paid in national and international public policy circles to the digital divide in health and law enforcement databases, says a new article in this week's PLoS Medicine.
Study in Lancet finds use of hormonal contraception doubles HIV risk
Women using hormonal contraception --such as a birth control pill or a shot like Depo-Provera – are at double the risk of acquiring HIV, and HIV-infected women who use hormonal contraception have twice the risk of transmitting the virus to their HIV-uninfected male partners, according to a University of Washington-led study in Africa of nearly 3,800 couples. The study was published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Faulty intellectual disability genes linked to older dads at conception
Chromosomal abnormalities linked to intellectual disability can be traced back to the father, particularly those who are older when the child is conceived, finds research published online in the Journal of Medical Genetics.
Priming with DNA vaccine makes avian flu vaccine work better
The immune response to an H5N1 avian influenza vaccine was greatly enhanced in healthy adults if they were first primed with a DNA vaccine expressing a gene for a key H5N1 protein, researchers say. Their report describes results from two clinical studies conducted by researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.
Pale people may need vitamin D supplements
Researchers at the University of Leeds, funded by Cancer Research UK, suggest that people with very pale skin may be unable to spend enough time in the sun to make the amount of vitamin D the body needs - while also avoiding sunburn.
A shot of cortisone stops traumatic stress
As soldiers return home from tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, America must cope with the toll that war takes on mental health. But the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is becoming increasingly expensive, and promises to escalate as yet another generation of veterans tries to heal its psychological wounds.
Preterm infants exposed to stressors in NICU display reduced brain size
New research shows that exposure to stressors in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is associated with alterations in the brain structure and function of very preterm infants. According to the study now available in Annals of Neurology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society, infants who experienced early exposure to stress displayed decreased brain size, functional connectivity, and abnormal motor behavior.
Alzheimer's might be transmissible in similar way as infectious prion diseases: study
The brain damage that characterizes Alzheimer's disease may originate in a form similar to that of infectious prion diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob, according to newly published research by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).
Nobel winner sees insect research helping humans
Nobel laureate Jules Hoffmann, whose father helped foster his study of bugs, said his decades of research into the immunity of insects could enable scientists to find a cure for human disorders.
Study shows increased Alzheimer's biomarkers in patients after anesthesia and surgery
(Medical Xpress) -- The possibility that anesthesia and surgery produces lasting cognitive losses has gained attention over past decades, but direct evidence has remained ambiguous and controversial. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania provide further evidence that Alzheimer's pathology may be increased in patients after surgery. The new research is published in the October 2011 issue of the journal Anesthesiology.
Study shows different anesthetics affects sleep cycles in different ways
(Medical Xpress) -- In the ongoing quest to find the exact way that anesthetics interact with the central nervous system, anesthesiology researchers have been examining whether the state induced by anesthetics resembles natural sleep. One way to measure this is to determine whether undergoing general anesthesia results in a sleep debt for patients. Previous research has shown that the injected anesthetic propofol does not cause a sleep deficit. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown in animal models that another group of anesthetics, commonly used in the operating room, do not substitute for natural sleep and may cause complications for surgery patients already at-risk for sleep-related issues. The new research is published in the October 2011 issue of the journal Anesthesiology.
Blood tests may hold clues to pace of Alzheimer's disease progression
(Medical Xpress) -- A team of scientists, led by Johns Hopkins researchers, say they may have found a way to predict how quickly patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) will lose cognitive function by looking at ratios of two fatty compounds in their blood. The finding, they say, could provide useful information to families and caregivers, and might also suggest treatment targets for this heartbreaking and incurable neurodegenerative disorder.
A vaccine for nicotine?
(Medical Xpress) -- When Peter Burkhard first heard the idea of a nicotine vaccine eight years ago, he thought it was funny – how could a vaccine affect something that’s not technically a disease?
Undetected strokes increase risk
Everyday, 1,000 people in Canada turn 65, entering a stage of life that has increasing risk of stroke and Alzheimer's disease.
Young children show improved verbal IQ
Canadian scientists who specialize in learning, memory and language in children have found exciting evidence that pre-schoolers can improve their verbal intelligence after only 20 days of classroom instruction using interactive, music-based cognitive training cartoons.
'Benevolent sexism' is not an oxymoron and has insidious consequences for women
Recent debate about whether acts of "benevolent sexism" harm women are addressed in a new commentary published in Psychology of Women Quarterly.
New findings validate the accuracy of autism diagnosis in children with Down syndrome
New findings from a 16-year study confirm that the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the gold-standard for the classification of mental health conditions, can be used to accurately identify autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children with Down syndrome, according to research from Kennedy Krieger Institute.
Green tea helps mice keep off extra pounds
Green tea may slow down weight gain and serve as another tool in the fight against obesity, according to Penn State food scientists.
Experiments suggest research avenues for treating excess fat storage and obesity
A team of scientists at the Gladstone Institutes and Yale University have begun to unravel the complex process by which cells take in and store microscopic fat molecules, suggesting new directions for further research into solutions for obesity and its related conditions, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease.
This is your brain on estrogen
It's no secret that women often gain weight as they get older. The sex hormone estrogen has an important, if underappreciated, role to play in those burgeoning waistlines.
CDC: Self-reported drunk driving is down
(AP) -- Drunken driving incidents have fallen 30 percent in the last five years, and last year were at their lowest mark in nearly two decades, according to a new federal report.
Hysterectomy is associated with increased levels of iron in the brain
The human body has a love-hate relationship with iron. Just the right amount is needed for proper cell function, yet too much is associated with brain diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
Same-day discharge after coronary artery stenting safe, yet not used
Patients discharged the same day they undergo coronary artery stenting do just as well as patients hospitalized overnight for observation, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center. And yet, they say, same-day discharge is rarely used.
Advance directives related to use of palliative care, lower Medicare end-of-life spending
Advance directives do have an impact on health care at the end of life, especially in regions of the country with high spending on end-of-life care, according to a University of Michigan study.
Researchers question key quality measure for asthma
Researchers studying the first national quality measure for hospitalized children have found that no matter how strictly a health care institution followed the criteria, it had no actual impact on patient outcomes.
Efforts to defund or ban infant male circumcision are unfounded and potentially harmful
Johns Hopkins infectious disease experts say the medical benefits for male circumcision are clear and that efforts in an increasing number of states (currently 18) to not provide Medicaid insurance coverage for male circumcision, as well as an attempted ballot initiative in San Francisco earlier this year to ban male circumcision in newborns and young boys, are unwarranted. Moreover, they say these actions ignore the last decade of medical evidence that the procedure can substantially protect men and their female partners from certain sexually transmitted infections.
Infected cantaloupes have killed 18 in US
Eighteen people have died and 100 people have fallen ill since late July in the United States from eating cantaloupes infected with listeria, health authorities said Tuesday.
MRI study finds that depression uncouples brain's hate circuit
A new study using MRI scans, led by Professor Jianfeng Feng, from the University of Warwick's Department of Computer Science, has found that depression frequently seems to uncouple the brain's "Hate Circuit". The study entitled "Depression Uncouples Brain Hate Circuit" is published today in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
Circadian clock may impact organ transplant success
Health care providers assess blood and tissue type as well as organ size and health to enhance transplant success. New research indicates that checklist might also need to include the circadian clock.
Orexin: A hormone that fights fat with fat
The fat we typically think of as body fat is called white fat. But there's another type—known as brown fat—that does more than just store fat. It burns fat. Scientists used to think that brown fat disappeared after infancy, but recent advances in imaging technology led to its rediscovery in adult humans. Because brown fat is so full of blood vessels and mitochondria—that's what makes it brown—it's very good at converting calories into energy, a process that malfunctions in obesity. In a study published October 5 in Cell Metabolism, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) discovered that orexin, a hormone produced in the brain, activates calorie-burning brown fat in mice. Orexin deficiency is associated with obesity, suggesting that orexin supplementation could provide a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of obesity and other metabolic disorders. Most current weight loss drugs are aimed at reducing a person's a! ppetite. An orexin-based therapy would represent a new class of fat-fighting drugs—one that focuses on peripheral fat-burning tissue rather than the brain's appetite control center.
Researchers reveal one reason why fat cells fail
Yale University researchers have found one of the mechanisms that cause fat cells to lose their ability to efficiently store and use energy -- a scientific mystery and a phenomenon that contributes to a major public health problem.
Natural compound helps reverse diabetes in mice
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have restored normal blood sugar metabolism in diabetic mice using a compound the body makes naturally. The finding suggests that it may one day be possible for people to take the compound much like a daily vitamin as a way to treat or even prevent type 2 diabetes.
Keeping track of reality: Why some of us better at remembering what really happened
A structural variation in a part of the brain may explain why some people are better than others at distinguishing real events from those they might have imagined or been told about, researchers have found.
Sociability may depend upon brain cells generated in adolescence
Mice become profoundly anti-social when the creation of new brain cells is interrupted in adolescence, a surprising finding that may help researchers understand schizophrenia and other mental disorders, Yale researchers report.
The brain on drugs: Defining the neural anatomy and physiology of morphine on dopamine neurons
(Medical Xpress) -- Morphine's analgesic properties are as potent as its addictive potential are problematic. The neural pathway for that addiction is typically associated with dopamine (DA) neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA), despite the fact that the specific neuronal mechanisms involved are not well articulated. Recently, however, research conducted at the Université de Bordeaux and Université de Strasbourg in France found that morphine increases the firing of dopamine neurons by activating μ opioid receptor (μOR) receptors on the rostromedial tegmental nucleus (the VTA's GABAergic tail) – and that there is no morphine-induced activation of dopamine neurons in the absence of tonic VTA glutamatergic modulation.
Biology news
Cell transformation a la carte
Researchers from the Haematopoietic Differentiation and Stem Cell Biology group at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), have described one of the mechanisms by which a cell (from the skin, for example) can be converted into another which is completely different (e.g., a neuron or hepatic cell). They have discovered that the cell transcription factor C/EBPα is a determinant factor in cell transdifferentiation. This differentiation mechanism can be applied to any of the cells of an organism. The scope of the study, published in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could profoundly influence the development of cell therapies. In all tissues, stem cells specialise to produce very different cell types.
Japan to continue Antarctic whaling: farm minister
Japan will go ahead with its annual whale hunt in Antarctica while boosting security to guard against possible harassment by environmental protesters, the agriculture and fisheries minister said Tuesday.
Research uncovers what increases chicken wellbeing
Researchers from the University of Bristol's School of Veterinary Sciences have concluded that the wellbeing of barn chickens is increased if they have activity objects, perches and other stimulation.
For common toy breed dog windpipe issue, veterinarians use technology and precision
Jack, a 12-year-old Yorkshire terrier, was lethargic and gasping for air when he arrived at the University of Missouri Veterinary Hospital. His tongue and gums were a bluish-purple. But, just one day following an innovative procedure, Jack bounced back to his former youthful exuberance.
Found in New York at long last: nine-spotted ladybugs
(PhysOrg.com) -- The nine-spotted ladybug, New York's official state insect, was feared to be extinct in this state until citizen scientists rallied to Cornell's call to help look for it. Several nine-spotted ladybugs were spotted by citizen scientists on Long Island this summer.
Long bone shape: A family affair
Although humans and chimpanzees move quite differently, muscle attachment sites at their thighbones are similar. This result, which has recently been published by anthropologists of Zurich University in the scientific journal Anatomical Record, has major consequences for the interpretation of fossil hominid finds.
Herbivore populations will go down as temperatures go up, study says
As climate change causes temperatures to rise, the number of herbivores will decrease, affecting the human food supply, according to new research from the University of Toronto.
Fishy behaviour
A fish's personality may determine how it is captured. This association between personality difference and capture-technique could have significant evolutionary and ecological consequences for affected fish populations, as well as for the quality of fisheries.
Across the Atlantic on flotsam: New fossil findings shed light on the origins of the mysterious bird Hoatzin
A team comprising German, Brazilian and French scientists, including an ornithologist from the Senckenberg Research Institute Frankfurt, has examined fossil relatives of the South American Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin), which point to African origins for the enigmatic bird. The accompanying study is being published by the journal Naturwissenschaften today.
Culling can't save the Tasmanian devil
Culling will not control the spread of facial tumour disease among Tasmanian devils, according to a new study published this week in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology. Unless a way of managing the disease is found, the iconic marsupial could become extinct in the wild within the next 25 years.
Study shows cell-penetrating peptides for drug delivery act like a Swiss Army Knife
(PhysOrg.com) -- Cell-penetrating peptides, such as the HIV TAT peptide, are able to enter cells using a number of mechanisms, from direct entry to endocytosis, a process by which cells internalize molecules by engulfing them.
Dragonflies: The flying aces of the insect world
Next time you see a dragonfly, try to watch it catch its next meal on the go. Good luck!
Ambrosia beetles have highly socialized systems
(PhysOrg.com) -- Ambrosia beetles have long eluded scientists when it comes to being able to study their natural social structure. These beetles live deep within the solid wood of trees and when you disturb their natural nest, the beetles disappear.
Lungfish provides insight to life on land
A study into the muscle development of several different fish has given insights into the genetic leap that set the scene for the evolution of hind legs in terrestrial animals. This innovation gave rise to the tetrapods—four-legged creatures, and our distant ancestors—that made the first small steps on land some 400 million years ago.
Study shows humans still evolving
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides evidence of human evolution and rapid genetic changes suggesting that, contrary to modern claims, technological and cultural advancements have not halted the evolutionary process in humans.
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