Science X Newsletter Week 17

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Dear Reader ,

Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for week 17:

	Shoe grows five sizes, fits needs of children for years A special kind of shoe has been created; you can call it Clever Engineering. The drivers behind the shoe describe the effort as Practical Compassion. "There are over 300 million children who do not have shoes. And countless more with shoes that do not fit. Sometimes they receive donations of shoes, but these are kids. Their feet grow. And they outgrow donated shoes within a year. Right back where they started," said The Shoe That Grows.org.
	University group reveals geo-inference attack threat that uses browser cache to reveal user location A team of researchers at the National University of Singapore has published a paper on their university web site outlining what they describe as geo-inference attacks—where hackers can set up a website and then use cache information in a user's browser to reveal their geographical location.
No long-term survival difference found between types of mitral valve replacements In a comparison of mechanical prosthetic vs bioprosthetic mitral valves among patients 50 to 69 years of age undergoing mitral valve replacement, there was no significant difference in survival at 15 years, although there were differences in risk of reoperation, bleeding and stroke, according to a study in the April 14 issue of JAMA.
	5 years after BP spill, drillers push into riskier depths Five years after the nation's worst offshore oil spill, the industry is working on drilling even further into the risky depths beneath the Gulf of Mexico to tap massive deposits once thought unreachable. Opening this new frontier, miles below the bottom of the Gulf, requires engineering feats far beyond those used at BP's much shallower Macondo well.
	Japan robot receptionist welcomes shoppers She can smile, she can sing and this robot receptionist who started work in Tokyo on Monday never gets bored of welcoming customers to her upmarket shop.
Shared risk factors lead to diabetes, heart disease and cancer In a major symposium at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2015, University of Colorado Cancer Center investigator Tim Byers, MD, MPH, describes research showing the link between cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
	Disney Research creates method enabling dialogue replacement for automated video redubbing A badly dubbed foreign film makes a viewer yearn for subtitles; even subtle discrepancies between words spoken and facial motion are easy to detect. That's less likely with a method developed by Disney Research that analyzes an actor's speech motions to literally put new words in his mouth.
	Broccoli sprout extract promising for head and neck cancer prevention Broccoli sprout extract protects against oral cancer in mice and proved tolerable in a small group of healthy human volunteers, the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), partner with UPMC CancerCenter, announced today at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.
	Gene signatures predict doxorubicin response in K9 osteosarcoma There are two chemotherapies commonly used to treat bone cancer in dogs: doxorubicin and carboplatin. Some dogs respond better to one drug than to the other. But until now, the choice has been left largely to chance. New work by University of Colorado Cancer Center members at Colorado State University Flint Animal Cancer Center presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2015 demonstrates a gene expression model that predicts canine osteosarcoma response to doxorubicin, potentially allowing veterinary oncologists to better choose which drug to use with their patients. The approach is adopted from and further validates a model known as COXEN (CO-eXpression gEne aNalysis), developed at the CU Cancer Center by center director Dan Theodorescu, MD, PhD, which is currently in clinical trials to predict the response of human tumors to drugs.
New combo of immunotherapy drugs is safe, shrinks tumors in metastatic melanoma patients Once again, researchers at Penn's Abramson Cancer Center have extended the reach of the immune system in the fight against metastatic melanoma, this time by combining the checkpoint inhibitor tremelimumab with an anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody drug. The first-of-its-kind study found the dual treatments to be safe and elicit a clinical response in patients, according to new results from a phase I trial to be presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2015 on Sunday, April 19.
Driver of non-small cell lung cancer, FGFR1, also in 23 percent of small cell lung cancer Significant new treatments are available or in clinical trials for non-small cell lung cancer. The same explosion in treatment options is not true for the disease's cousin, small cell lung cancer, the less common and more aggressive form of the disease. Results presented by the University of Colorado Cancer Center at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2015 show the presence of a known driver of non-small cell lung cancer in small cell lung cancer, implying that promising treatments in development for the first may be applicable to the second form of the disease as well.
Leading doctors warn that sepsis deaths will not be curbed without radical rethink of research strategy Leading doctors today [Monday 20 April, 2015] warn that medical and public recognition of sepsis—thought to contribute to between a third and a half of all hospital deaths—must improve if the number of deaths from this common and potentially life-threatening condition are to fall.
Animal study shows why long-time consumption of soyfoods reduces breast cancer recurrence Women diagnosed with breast cancer are often told not to eat soyfoods or soy-based supplements because they can interfere with anti-estrogen treatment. But new research being presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2015 could eventually impact that advice, because in animals, a long history of eating soyfoods boosts the immune response against breast tumors, reducing cancer recurrence.
Immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab shows promise for mesothelioma patients The PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab, a cancer immunotherapy drug, shrank or halted growth of tumors in 76 percent of patients with pleural mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of cancer that arises in the outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall, according to a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Patients diagnosed with the disease, which is tied to exposure to asbestos, have a median survival rate of about one year.
New subsets of lung cancer with KRAS gene mutations identified Mutations of the KRAS gene are commonly known to lead to cancer. However, deeper understanding of exactly how they do this continues to be explored by cancer researchers.
Investigational personalized cellular therapy tolerated well by patients Genetically modified versions of patients' own immune cells successfully traveled to tumors they were designed to attack in an early-stage trial for mesothelioma and pancreatic and ovarian cancers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The data adds to a growing body of research showing the promise of CAR T cell technology. The interim results will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2015, April 18-22.
Getting foster youth through college will take structured support, study concludes The college graduation rate for students who have lived in foster care is 3 percent, among the lowest of any demographic group in the country. And this rate is unlikely to improve unless community colleges institute formal programs to assist foster youth both financially and academically, concludes a new study by researchers at University of the Pacific.
Seeking new targets for ovarian cancer treatment Identifying molecular changes that occur in tissue after chemotherapy could be crucial in advancing treatments for ovarian cancer, according to research from Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation (MWRIF) and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), partner with UPMC CancerCenter, presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2015.
	Cold cosmic mystery solved: Largest known structure in the universe leaves its imprint on CMB radiation In 2004, astronomers examining a map of the radiation leftover from the Big Bang (the cosmic microwave background, or CMB) discovered the Cold Spot, a larger-than-expected unusually cold area of the sky. The physics surrounding the Big Bang theory predicts warmer and cooler spots of various sizes in the infant universe, but a spot this large and this cold was unexpected.
	Astronomers probe inner region of young star and its planets Astronomers have probed deeper than before into a planetary system 130 light-years from Earth. The observations mark the first results of a new exoplanet survey called LEECH (LBT Exozodi Exoplanet Common Hunt), and are published today in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

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