|  Eleven new genetic susceptibility factors for Alzheimer's disease discovered through the largest study  | The largest international study ever conducted on Alzheimer's disease (AD), the I-GAP (International Genomics Alzheimer's Project) consortium has identified 11 new regions of the genome involved in the onset of this neurodegenerative disease. This study gives an overview of the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease, opening up to a better understanding of the pathophysiology of AD. | Read More » Measuring blood sugar with light  | One key to healthful living with diabetes is monitoring sugar levels to ensure they remain stable. People can easily do this at home using devices that read sugar levels in a drop of blood. Now a team of researchers has devised a non-invasive way to make monitoring easier. Using infrared laser light applied on top of the skin, they measure sugar levels in the fluid in and under skin cells to read blood sugar levels. | Read More » Study reveals first effective medicine to treat cocaine dependence  | New research reveals that topiramate, a drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat epilepsy and migraine headaches also could be the first reliable medication to help treat cocaine dependence. | Read More » New material for quantum computing discovered out of the blue  | A common blue pigment used in the £5 note could have an important role to play in the development of a quantum computer, according to a new article. | Read More » Cell nucleus protein in brown fat cells governs daily control of body temperature  | Body temperature follows a 24-hour rhythm, peaking during the day, low at night. The benefit might be the conservation of energy while sleeping. It is also critical to be able to adapt to changes in ambient temperature regardless of the time of day. A new mouse study shows how body temperature rhythms are synchronized while maintaining the ability to adapt to changes in environmental temperature day or night. | Read More » Scientists eye longer-term forecasts of U. S. heat waves  | Scientists have fingerprinted a distinctive atmospheric wave pattern high above the Northern Hemisphere that can foreshadow the emergence of summertime heat waves in the United States more than two weeks in advance. The new research could potentially enable forecasts of the likelihood of U.S. heat waves 15-20 days out, giving society more time to prepare for these often-deadly events. | Read More » Enzyme restores function with diabetic kidney disease  | Researchers say that, while a prevailing theory suggests elevated cellular levels of glucose ultimately result in diabetic kidney disease, the truth may, in fact, be quite the opposite. The findings could fundamentally change understanding of how diabetes-related diseases develop – and how they might be better treated. | Read More » Positive personal growth following breast cancer diagnosis  | Although being diagnosed with breast cancer is usually an extremely stressful experience for most women, a new study by researchers has found that there also can be unexpected benefits. | Read More » Brief exposure to performance-enhancing drugs may be permanently 'remembered' by muscles  | Brief exposure to anabolic steroids may have long lasting, possibly permanent, performance-enhancing effects, shows a new study. | Read More » Stroke prevention surgery less effective than meds, lifestyle change  | The final results of a stroke prevention study in patients with narrowed brain arteries confirm earlier findings: Medication plus lifestyle changes are safer and more effective at preventing stroke than a surgical technique called stenting. | Read More » The most widespread ant and its new relative: A revision of the genus Paratrechina  | The long-horned crazy ant, Paratrechina longicornis, is one of the world's worst invasive ant species. Due to the ease with which it moves around with human activity, biologists have had difficulty in determining the native range of P. longicornis. A recent review of the genus in the open access Journal of Hymenoptera Research helps shed light on the native range of P. longicornis and announces the discovery of a second species, P. zanjensis, native to Africa. | Read More » Human impacts on top ocean predators along US west coast mapped  | The California Current System along the U.S. west coast is among the richest ecosystems in the world, driven by nutrient input from coastal upwelling and supporting a great diversity of marine life. Like coastal regions in general, it is also heavily impacted by human activities. A new study reveals areas along the west coast where human impacts are highest on marine predators such as whales, seals, seabirds, and turtles. | Read More » Tell-tale toes point to oldest-known fossil bird tracks from Australia  | Two fossilized footprints found at Dinosaur Cove in Victoria, Australia, were likely made by birds during the Early Cretaceous, making them the oldest known bird tracks in Australia. These tracks are evidence that we had sizeable, flying birds living alongside other kinds of dinosaurs on these polar, river floodplains, about 105 million years ago. | Read More » Study with totally blind people shows how light helps activate the brain  | Light enhances brain activity during a cognitive task even in some people who are totally blind, according to a new study. The findings contribute to scientists' understanding of everyone's brains, as they also revealed how quickly light impacts on cognition. "We were stunned to discover that the brain still respond significantly to light in these rare three completely blind patients despite having absolutely no conscious vision at all," said one of the authors | Read More » Disrupted phenological cues undermine ant/plant mutualism  | When early-foraging ant species are displaced by later-foraging ant species due to climate change, early blooming plant species suffer. The presence of effective dispersers is as important as abiotic requirements in shaping a plant's niche. | Read More » Young people report worse fibromyalgia than older patients  | It may seem counterintuitive, but young and middle-aged fibromyalgia patients report worse symptoms and poorer quality of life than older patients, a study shows. | Read More » Dangerous connection between rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease  | People with rheumatoid arthritis and other chronic inflammatory conditions are at higher risk of heart disease. Who is in the most danger, why and how best to prevent and detect cardiovascular complications are important questions for physicians and researchers. | Read More » Smoking long or ultralong cigarettes increases risk of lung cancer  | Smokers of long or ultralong cigarettes are at greater risk for lung and oral cancer than smokers of regular and king-size cigarettes. | Read More » Your pain, my gain: Feeling pleasure over the misfortune of those you envy is biological  | By measuring the electrical activity of cheek muscles and associated neural responses, researchers show that people are actually biologically responsive to taking pleasure in the pain of others, a reaction known as "Schadenfreude." | Read More » New study examines link between pregnancy weight gain, autism spectrum disorders  | Previous studies have identified links between women's prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and pregnancy weight gain to an increased risk for the development of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children. But in a new study, researchers build on prior research by identifying an association between autism spectrum disorder risk and prenatal weight gain, after accounting for important related factors such as a woman's prepregnancy BMI. | Read More » Flawed health care system causes doctors to 'bend' ethical norms to best serve patients  | A survey among rheumatologists finds many face moral dilemmas when trying to do what's best for their patients in the current health care environment. | Read More » Supermagnets present ongoing child health risks  | The continued sale and availability of powerful, neodymium magnets -- typically 10 to 20 times stronger than traditional magnets -- are causing an increase in pediatric ingestion-related injuries. | Read More » El Niño is becoming more active  | A new approach to analyzing geological and biological clues from the past to reconstruct El Niño activity during the past 600 years resolves disagreements and reveals that El Niño has become more active in recent decades. The work may also help yield more accurate El Niño projections with further global warming. | Read More » Virtually numbed: Immersive video gaming alters real-life experience  | Role-playing video games can alter our experience of reality and numb us to important real-life experiences, a new study finds. Spending time immersed as a virtual character or avatar in a role-playing video game can numb you to realizing important body signals in real life. | Read More » How rats and mice came to have a unique masticatory apparatus, key to their evolutionary success  | Rats and mice are rodents that have been highly successful in evolutionary terms, as evidenced by their 584 present day species and their ability to adapt to very different environments. The reasons for this success are not yet clearly understood: one of them may be their masticatory apparatus, which is unique among rodents. | Read More » Super-efficient rooftop units for heating and cooling  | Putting new super-efficient rooftop HVAC units in broad use would be about equal to taking 700,000 cars off the road each year in terms of saved energy and reduced pollution, according to a new study. | Read More » Urban underground holds sustainable energy  | Vast energy sources are slumbering below big cities. Sustainable energies for heating in winter and cooling in summer may be extracted from heated groundwater aquifers. Researchers developed an analytical heat flux model and found that increasing heat in the underground is mainly caused by an increase in surface temperatures and heat release from buildings. | Read More » Nursery provision improves career opportunities for mothers  | Switzerland lags behind compared with other countries when it comes to childcare. Availability of childcare in the French-speaking part of Switzerland is more widespread than in the German-speaking part of the country, and strengthens gender equality, researchers argue. | Read More » Nanomaterials inventory improved to help consumers, scientists track products  | Nanotechnologies are growing in commercial use after more than 20 years of research. This new resource gives the public the best available look at more than 1,600 manufacturer-identified, nanotechnology-based consumer products introduced to the market. | Read More » A noble yet simple way to synthesize new metal-free electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction  | Scientists have found a new way to synthesize highly efficient electrocatalysts based on heteroatom-doped graphene nanosheets. | Read More » New protein fold with a transport tunnel discovered  | The protein LIMP-2 is vital for both humans and animals. If it is absent – due, for example, to a hereditary disease – substances of an unknown nature, probably lipids, accumulate in the organism. Up to now, scientists were unsure what the protein looks like and how exactly it functions. | Read More » Making rubber from dandelion juice  | Rubber can be extracted from the juice of the dandelion. Yet the decisive breakthrough to industrial manufacturing is proving to be a tough step. Scientists are now building the first ever pilot system to extract vast quantities of dandelion rubber for making tires: an important milestone on the path to rubber procurement in Europe. | Read More » Sports specialization, hours spent in organized sports may predict young athlete injury  | Athletes ages eight to 18 who spend twice as many hours per week in organized sports than in free play, and especially in a single sport, are more likely to be injured. | Read More » Can pediatricians successfully promote safe driving agreements between teens, parents?  | Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among teens. A study evaluated a pediatric intervention that directed families to a new web-based Checkpoints™ safe driving program for parents of teen drivers. | Read More » Yields of new varieties of agricultural crops continue to increase  | Research into varieties of winter wheat, spring barley, potatoes grown for starch and sugar beet that have been introduced in the Netherlands by plant breeding companies between 1980-2010 shows that new varieties continue to yield more than their predecessors. Despite recent concerns that important crops in high-yielding regions have reached their production maximum, the rise in yield potential of new cultivars has not yet leveled off, demonstrating that plant breeding can still lead to increases in production. | Read More » Pain processes in tennis elbow illuminated by PET scanning  | Physiological processes in soft tissue pain, such as chronic tennis elbow, can be explored using diagnostic imaging methods. A new use of positron emission tomography (PET) and a tracer for the signal receptor NK1 for visualising a physiological process is associated with pain imaging. | Read More » Electronic cigarettes should be treated like tobacco  | Pennsylvania physicians recommend that electronic cigarettes be treated from a legislative and educational perspective just like tobacco cigarettes. | Read More » HPV strains affecting African-American women differ from vaccines  | Two subtypes of human papillomavirus (HPV) prevented by vaccines are half as likely to be found in African-American women as in white women with precancerous cervical lesions, according to researchers. | Read More » Keeping emotions in check may not always benefit psychological health  | Being able to regulate your emotions is important for well-being, but new research published in Psychological Science suggests that a common emotion regulation strategy called "cognitive reappraisal" may actually be harmful when it comes to stressors that are under our control. | Read More » Early skin-to-skin contact linked to higher breastfeeding rates  | Skin-to-skin contact between mother and infant in the delivery room is associated with an increased likelihood for exclusive breastfeeding. When combined with a mother's intent to breastfeed, the likelihood was even greater. | Read More » Can the 'right' helmet prevent concussions?  | While many football helmet and mouth guard manufacturers claim that their equipment will lessen impact forces and reduce concussion risk, neither a specific brand nor a higher cost were associated with fewer concussions in adolescent athletes. | Read More » New technology optimizes ear infection diagnosis, management  | A new, smartphone-enabled otoscope provides clear, transmittable images of the ear drum, or tympanic membrane, which someday may allow for ear infection diagnosis without a visit to the doctor's office. | Read More » Yoga practice beneficial to patients with COPD  | Patients with COPD who practice yoga can improve their lung function, according to a study. Researchers found that lung function, shortness of breath, and inflammation all showed significant improvement after patients completed 12 weeks of training. | Read More » X-rays overused in ICU: Ultrasound safer, just as effective  | A new study shows that the use of ultrasound testing, rather than x-rays or CT scans, in the ICU reduces patient radiation exposure and lowers costs of care. | Read More » Cafe toxins have decreased by 90% since the smoking ban  | Researchers, for a study on effects of the indoor smoking ban, measured the concentration of harmful compounds in a café in Barcelona before and after the anti-smoking law. The results show that toxic and carcinogenic substances dropped 90%, a finding that corroborates that of the Spanish Ministry of Health's latest report. | Read More » Regular cocaine, cannabis use may trigger addictive behaviors  | New cocaine and cannabis research reveals that regular cannabis users have increased levels of impulsive behavior. It had previously been argued that this increased impulsivity after cannabis administration was only experienced by occasional users, but that regular users were no longer affected in this way. The results provide evidence for how drug use may trigger addictive behaviors. | Read More » Carbon worlds may be waterless, NASA study finds  | Planets rich in carbon, including so-called diamond planets, may lack oceans, according to NASA-funded theoretical research. | Read More » NASA's great observatories begin deepest-ever probe of the universe  | NASA's Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes are teaming up to look deeper into the universe than ever before. With a boost from natural "zoom lenses" found in space, they should be able to uncover galaxies that are as much as 100 times fainter than what these three great observatories typically can see. | Read More » Cassini gets new views of Titan's Land of Lakes  | With the sun now shining down over the north pole of Saturn's moon Titan, a little luck with the weather, and trajectories that put the spacecraft into optimal viewing positions, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has obtained new pictures of the liquid methane and ethane seas and lakes that reside near Titan's north pole. The images reveal new clues about how the lakes formed and about Titan's Earth-like "hydrologic" cycle, which involves hydrocarbons rather than water. | Read More » Study of Brazilian Amazon shows 50,000 km of road was built in just three years  | Nearly 17,000 kilometers of road were built in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest every year between 2004 and 2007. Although road-building is a major contributor to deforestation and habitat loss, the way in which road networks develop is still poorly understood. A new study is among the first to measure the number of roads built in a rainforest ecosystem over an extended period of time. | Read More » Flow from a nanoscale fluid jet measured: Jet measures 20 to 150 nanometers in diameter, just a few hundred water molecules across  | Scientists have measured the flow from a fluid jet so tiny that it would require more than 8,000 years to fill a two-liter soda bottle. | Read More » Eliminating unexplained traffic jams  | If integrated into adaptive cruise-control systems, a new algorithm could mitigate the type of freeway backup that seems to occur for no reason. | Read More » Scientists wary of shale oil and gas as U.S. energy salvation  | After 10 years of production, shale gas in the United States cannot be considered commercially viable, according to scientists. They argue that while the use of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling for "tight oil" is an important contributor to U.S. energy supply, it is not going to result in long-term sustainable production or allow the U.S. to become a net oil exporter. | Read More » Climate change has silver lining for grizzy bears  | Global warming and forest disturbances may have a silver lining for threatened species of grizzly bears in Alberta, Canada. | Read More » Problems with Alzheimer's protein can jam up traffic in the brain  | Scientists have known for some time that a protein called presenilin plays a role in Alzheimer's disease, and a new study reveals one intriguing way this happens. It has to do with how important materials travel up and down brain cells. | Read More » First hospital in the world to offer patients new device for severely calcified arteries  | Leading interventional cardiologists in New York are the first in the world to use a newly U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved device for the treatment of severely calcified coronary arteries before the placement of a cardiac stent to open a blocked artery. | Read More » Electronic intensive care units effective in providing remote care  | A new study of electronic intensive care units shows them to be an effective way to provide 24-hour intensive care to patients in remote locations. | Read More » Exhaled breath biomarker may detect lung cancer  | Researchers recently discovered that lung cancer may be detected in patients by testing their exhaled breath. Preliminary studies suggest that an accurate exhaled breath biomarker could be developed for use as a clinical test. | Read More » | |
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