ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines
for Monday, September 1, 2008
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Bone That Blends Into Tendons Created By Engineers (August 31, 2008) -- Engineers have used skin cells to create artificial bones that mimic the ability of natural bone to blend into other tissues such as tendons or ligaments. The artificial bones provide for better integration with the body and handle weight more successfully. ... > full story
More Genes Are Controlled By Biological Clocks Than Previously Thought (August 31, 2008) -- The tick-tock of your biological clock may have just gotten a little louder. The number of genes under control of the biological clock in a much-studied model organism is dramatically higher than previously reported. The new study implies that the clock may be much more important in living things than suspected only a few years ago. ... > full story
Life Under The Laser: Unique Technology Illuminates Microscopic Activity In Body's Chemical Messenger System (August 31, 2008) -- Researchers have developed a unique technology that will allow scientists to look at microscopic activity within the body's chemical messenger system for the very first time, live as it happens. ... > full story
Flu Shot Does Not Reduce Risk Of Death, Research Shows (August 31, 2008) -- The widely-held perception that the influenza vaccination reduces overall mortality risk in the elderly does not withstand careful scrutiny, according to researchers. The vaccine does confer protection against specific strains of influenza, but its overall benefit appears to have been exaggerated by a number of observational studies that found a very large reduction in all-cause mortality among elderly patients who had been vaccinated. ... > full story
NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Ascends To Level Ground (August 31, 2008) -- NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has climbed out of the large crater that it had been examining from the inside since last September. ... > full story
Reducing Risky Health Behaviors In Teens: A Tall Order (August 31, 2008) -- Programs targeting at-risk kids must tackle a constellation of issues in order to be effective. "To really improve adolescent health, programs should seek to reduce risk taking, improve social capital and improve levels of affluence," said co-author of a new study. ... > full story
No More Big Stink: Scent Lures Mosquitoes, But Humans Can't Smell It (August 31, 2008) -- Mosquito traps that reek like latrines may be no more. Chemical ecologists have discovered a low-cost, easy-to-prepare attractant that lures blood-fed mosquitoes without making humans hold their noses. ... > full story
Memory Trick Shows Brain Organization (August 31, 2008) -- A simple memory trick has helped show researchers how an area of the brain called the perirhinal cortex can contribute to forming memories. ... > full story
Hearing Specialist Craft First Professional Guidelines For Earwax (August 31, 2008) -- The age-old advice to routinely clean out earwax is discouraged under the first published guidelines from health care professionals about removing wax from the ear. ... > full story
Heavy Breathing: An Obscure Link In Asthma And Obesity (August 31, 2008) -- There is a strong link between obesity and asthma and as the prevalence of both conditions has been increasing steadily, epidemiologists have speculated that there is an underlying condition that connects the two. But one long-suspected link, the systemic inflammation associated with obesity, has been essentially ruled out by a recent study that found no evidence of its involvement. ... > full story
Incidence Of Intestinal Parasite Coccidia Is Increasing In Broilers (August 31, 2008) -- Coccidia are single-celled intestinal parasites that currently represent one of the greatest challenges to the broiler industry. To keep the level of infection low, farmers commonly add coccidia-inhibiting chemicals (coccidiostats) to broiler feed. While this does not kill the parasites, it greatly reduces the incidence of overt sickness and death from infection. While clinical coccidiosis is therefore not a problem, veterinary authorities have never been able to gauge the extent of subclinical coccidiosis and the consequences this may have for animal welfare issues and production costs. ... > full story
Public Involvement Usually Leads To Better Environmental Decision Making (August 31, 2008) -- When done correctly, public participation improves the quality of federal agencies' decisions about the environment, says a new report from the National Research Council. ... > full story
Treatment For Hearing Loss? Scientists Grow Hair Cells Involved in Hearing (August 30, 2008) -- Scientists have successfully produced functional auditory hair cells in the cochlea of the mouse inner ear. The breakthrough suggests that a new therapy may be developed in the future to successfully treat hearing loss. ... > full story
Young Type-2 Diabetic Men Suffer Low Testosterone Levels, Study Shows (August 30, 2008) -- Young men with type 2 diabetes have significantly low levels of testosterone, endocrinologists at the University at Buffalo have found -- a condition that could have a critical effect on their quality of life and on their ability to father children. ... > full story
Magmatically Triggered Slow Earthquake Discovered At Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii (August 30, 2008) -- From June 17-19, 2007, Kilauea experienced a new dike intrusion, where magma rapidly moved from a storage reservoir beneath the summit into the east rift zone and extended the rift zone by as much as 1 meter. ... > full story
One Cause Of Higher Rates Of Transplanted Kidney Rejection In Blacks (August 30, 2008) -- Scientists may have an explanation for at least some of the higher organ rejection rates seen among black -- as compared to white -- kidney transplant recipients. ... > full story
Novel Approach In Molecular Differentiation Of Prion Strains (August 30, 2008) -- Scientists have identified a prion protein characteristic that is unique to some natural but unusual sheep scrapie cases. This finding may provide a novel method by which to study prion diversity and their possible changes during cross-species transmission. ... > full story
Global Survey Highlights Need For Cancer Prevention Campaigns To Correct Misbeliefs, Survey Finds (August 30, 2008) -- Many people hold mistaken beliefs about what causes cancer, tending to inflate the threat from environmental factors that have relatively little impact while minimizing the hazards of behaviors well established as cancer risk factors, according to the first global survey on the topic. People in high-income countries were the least likely to believe that drinking alcohol increases the risk of cancer. ... > full story
Antarctic Research Helps Shed Light On Climate Change On Mars (August 30, 2008) -- Eroded gullies on the flanks of Martian craters may have been formed by snowmelt as recently as a few hundred thousand years ago and in sites once occupied by glaciers. Similar conditions can be found in Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys. Rather than being a dead planet, the new data are consistent with dynamic climate changes on Mars. ... > full story
Location, Location, Location Important For Genes, Too (August 30, 2008) -- To better understand how cells become cancerous, a new study by cancer researchers looks at four genes that help regulate cell growth in embryos and contribute to cancer in adults. The genes are generally believed to work together to help control cell proliferation. But this study shows that mice need just one of the four genes to develop from fertilized eggs through adulthood. ... > full story
Antidepressants Need New Nerve Cells To Be Effective, Researchers Find (August 30, 2008) -- Researchers have discovered in mice that the brain must create new nerve cells for either exercise or antidepressants to reduce depression-like behavior. ... > full story
ABC-transporters Expressed On Endothelial Cell Membranes Efflux Anti-HIV Drugs (August 30, 2008) -- Researchers have discovered that drug-efflux pumps, belonging to the ATP-binding cassette transporter family, are constitutively expressed on vascular endothelial cells. The study has crucial implications in the persistence of sub-endothelial HIV reservoirs and will be important to the development of future therapies. ... > full story
Tiny 3-D Ultrasound Probe Guides Catheter Procedures (August 30, 2008) -- An ultrasound probe small enough to ride along at the tip of a catheter can provide physicians with clearer real-time images of soft tissue without the risks associated with conventional X-ray catheter guidance. ... > full story
Newly-defined Factors May Prevent Postpartum Smoking Relapse (August 30, 2008) -- Although many women quit smoking during pregnancy to protect their unborn children from the effects of cigarettes, half resume the habit within a few months of giving birth. By shedding light on the factors that enable the other half to put down that cigarette for good, a study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill could lead to programs designed to help women quit and stay quit. ... > full story
Scientists Discover Why Flies Are So Hard To Swat (August 29, 2008) -- Over the past two decades, Michael Dickinson has been interviewed by reporters hundreds of times about his research on the biomechanics of insect flight. One question from the press has always dogged him: Why are flies so hard to swat? "Now I can finally answer," says Dickinson, the Esther M. and Abe M. Zarem Professor of Bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology. ... > full story
New Approach To Detect Early Progression Of Brain Tumors Identified (August 29, 2008) -- New research suggests a certain type of MRI scanning can detect when a patient is failing brain tumor treatment before symptoms appear. The results of the study pave the way for a proactive treatment approach. ... > full story
Katrina And Rita Provide Glimpse Of What Could Happen To Offshore Drilling If Gustav Hits Gulf (August 29, 2008) -- Shortly after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the US, engineers studied damage done to offshore drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. If tropical storm Gustav strengthens into a Category 3 hurricane, as forecasters are predicting, the damage could be extensive. ... > full story
Doctors Performing Heart Surgery Face Risks To Eyes (August 29, 2008) -- Patients are not the only ones at risk during cardiac procedures. Doctors performing heart surgery also face health risks, namely to their eyes. The IAEA is helping to raise awareness of threats, through training in radiation protection related to medical uses of X-ray imaging systems. ... > full story
Atomic Bomb Effect Results In Adult-onset Thyroid Cancer Identified (August 29, 2008) -- Radiation from the atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, likely rearranged chromosomes in some survivors who later developed papillary thyroid cancer as adults, according to Japanese researchers. ... > full story
Americans Show Little Tolerance For Mental Illness Despite Growing Belief In Genetic Cause (August 29, 2008) -- While more Americans believe that mental illness has genetic causes, the nation is no more tolerant of the mentally ill than it was 10 years ago. ... > full story
Unexpected Large Monkey Population Discovered In Cambodia: Tens Of Thousands Of Threatened Primates (August 29, 2008) -- Biologists have discovered surprisingly large populations of two globally threatened primates in a protected area in Cambodia. The report counted 42,000 black-shanked douc langurs along with 2,500 yellow-cheeked crested gibbons in Cambodia's Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area, an estimate that represents the largest known populations for both species in the world. ... > full story
Rapid Changes In Key Alzheimer's Protein Described In Humans (August 29, 2008) -- For the first time, researchers have described hour-by-hour changes in the amount of amyloid beta, a protein that is believed to play a key role in Alzheimer's disease, in the human brain. ... > full story
Rosetta Spacecraft On Its Way To Meet Asteroid Steins (August 29, 2008) -- ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft will make a historic encounter with asteroid (2867) Steins on 5 September 2008. The spacecraft will rendezvous with the asteroid in the course of its first incursion into the asteroid belt located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, while on its way to comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ... > full story
Growth Factor Predicts Poor Outcome In Breast Cancer (August 29, 2008) -- The response to insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-I) in breast cancer cells predicts an aggressive tumor that is less likely to respond to treatment, according to new research. The finding gives impetus to the movement to tailor cancer treatments to attributes of the various tumors. ... > full story
How Blood Vessel Cells Know To Form Tube-like Structures And Not Just Layers (August 29, 2008) -- How do blood vessel cells understand that they should organize themselves in tubes and not in layers? A special type of "instructor" molecule is needed, according to new research. This might be an important step towards using stem cells to build new organs. ... > full story
Physical And Sexual Abuse Linked To Asthma In Puerto Rican Kids (August 29, 2008) -- Children who are physically or sexually abused are more than twice as likely to have asthma as their peers, according to a recent study of urban children in Puerto Rico. In fact, physical and sexual abuse was second only to maternal asthma in all the risk factors tested, including paternal asthma and indicators of socioeconomic status. ... > full story
'Pristine' Amazonian Region Hosted Large, Urban Civilization (August 29, 2008) -- They aren't the lost cities early explorers sought fruitlessly to discover. But ancient settlements in the Amazon, now almost entirely obscured by tropical forest, were once large and complex enough to be considered "urban" as the term is commonly applied to both medieval European and ancient Greek communities. ... > full story
Treadmill Exercise Retrains Brain And Body Of Stroke Victims (August 29, 2008) -- People who walk on a treadmill even years after stroke damage can significantly improve their health and mobility, changes that reflect actual "rewiring" of their brains, according to new research. ... > full story
Black Raspberries Slow Cancer By Altering Hundreds Of Genes (August 29, 2008) -- New research strongly suggests that a mix of preventative agents, such as those found in concentrated black raspberries, may more effectively inhibit cancer development than single agents aimed at shutting down a particular gene. Researchers examined the effect of freeze-dried black raspberries on genes altered by a chemical carcinogen in an animal model of esophageal cancer. ... > full story
Variation Of Normal Protein Could Be Key To Resistance To Common Cancer Drug (August 29, 2008) -- Researchers have found evidence explaining why a common chemotherapy drug, cisplatin, may not always work for every cancer patient. They have shown that when a variant version of a key protein that normally causes cell death is active, patients may be resistant to the cancer-killing drug. ... > full story
Saving Lives Through Smarter Hurricane Evacuations (August 29, 2008) -- Hundreds of lives and hundreds of millions of dollars could potentially be saved if emergency managers could make better and more timely critical decisions when faced with an approaching hurricane. Now, an MIT graduate student has developed a computer model that could help do just that. ... > full story
Antidepressants In Suicide Prevention Reviewed (August 29, 2008) -- Scientists have presented the state of evidence concerning the relation of antidepressants and suicidal behavior and critically commented on the current discussion with regard to the role of antidepressive treatment in real-life clinical practice. ... > full story
Origin Of High Energy Emission From Crab Nebula Identified (August 29, 2008) -- Another piece of the jigsaw in understanding how neutron stars work has been put in place following the discovery by scientists of the origin of the high energy emission from rotation-powered pulsars. ... > full story
Cystic Fibrosis: Engineered Proteins Can 'Bypass' Genetic Defect (August 29, 2008) -- By manipulating the machinery used by our cells for quality control, researchers have found a way to restore the function of cystic fibrosis (CF) airway cells. This could significantly reduce the sticky mucus that plugs the lungs of CF patients, which leads to antibiotic-resistant infections and untimely death. ... > full story
Quantum 'Traffic Jam' Revealed: Findings May Help Get Current Flowing At Higher Temperatures (August 29, 2008) -- Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators have uncovered the first experimental evidence for why the transition temperature of high-temperature superconductors cannot simply be elevated by increasing the electrons' binding energy. The research demonstrates how, as electron-pair binding energy increases, the electrons' tendency to get caught in a quantum mechanical "traffic jam" overwhelms the interactions needed for the material to act as a superconductor -- a freely flowing fluid of electron pairs. ... > full story
Common Treatment To Delay Labor Decreases Pre-term Infants' Risk For Cerebral Palsy (August 29, 2008) -- Pre-term infants born to mothers receiving intravenous magnesium sulfate -- a common treatment to delay labor -- are less likely to develop cerebral palsy than are pre-term infants whose mothers do not receive it, report researchers in a large National Institutes of Health research network. ... > full story
Robots Learn To Predict Where Their Leader Is Going, And Follow Along (August 29, 2008) -- Researchers have come up with a control system that allows a robot to pick up on cues that the leader is about to turn, predict where it is going and follow it. ... > full story
Risk Of Repeat Attacks In Heart Patients Causes Concern For Doctors (August 29, 2008) -- The risk of heart attack patients having repeat attacks after they are discharged from hospital is being underestimated, research has shown. An international study raises concerns that some patients may not be receiving the optimum medical treatment and follow-up care because doctors are misjudging the risk of a further heart attack. ... > full story
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