ScienceDaily: Latest Science News


Child born with HIV still in remission after 18 months off treatment

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 03:32 PM PDT

A three-year-old Mississippi child born with HIV and treated with a combination of antiviral drugs unusually early continues to do well and remains free of active infection 18 months after all treatment ceased, according to an updated case report.

Study focused on transitioning cystic fibrosis care

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:52 PM PDT

A new study on cystic fibrosis care has found that patients had a less rapid decline in pulmonary function and no other significant health-related changes after transitioning from pediatric to adult care.

Strategy to expand patient participation in hard-to-enroll clinical trials

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:52 PM PDT

Clinical trials are key to finding new cancer treatments, but with patient participation hovering around 5 percent, new strategies are needed to boost enrollment, particularly to study the rare cancers that have so few cases.

Child neurologist finds potential route to better treatments for Fragile X, autism

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:52 PM PDT

Researchers describe a major reason why current medications only moderately alleviate Fragile X symptoms. His team discovered that three specific drugs affect three different kinds of neurotransmitter receptors that all seem to play roles in Fragile X. As a result, current Fragile X drugs have limited benefit because most of them only affect one receptor.

Diabetes drug with chemo, radiation may improve outcomes for lung cancer

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:52 PM PDT

Treating aggressive lung cancer with the diabetes drug metformin along with radiation and chemotherapy may slow tumor growth and recurrence, suggests new preliminary findings from researchers.

Team uses forest waste to develop cheaper, greener supercapacitors

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:52 PM PDT

Researchers report that wood-biochar supercapacitors can produce as much power as today's activated-carbon supercapacitors at a fraction of the cost -- and with environmentally friendly byproducts.

Coral itself may play important role in regulating local climate: Coral chemicals protect against warming oceans

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:52 PM PDT

Australian marine scientists have found the first evidence that coral itself may play an important role in regulating local climate. They have discovered that the coral animal -- not just its algal symbiont -- makes an important sulfur-based molecule with properties to assist it in many ways, ranging from cellular protection in times of heat stress to local climate cooling by encouraging clouds to form.

Lower blood sugars may be good for the brain

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:50 PM PDT

Even for people who don't have diabetes or high blood sugar, those with higher blood sugar levels are more likely to have memory problems, according to a new study.

Cancer wasting due in part to tumor factors that block muscle repair, study shows

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 12:37 PM PDT

A new study reveals that tumors release factors into the bloodstream that inhibit the repair of damaged muscle fibers, and that this contributes to muscle loss during cancer wasting. The condition, also called cancer cachexia, accompanies certain cancers, causes life-threatening loss of body weight and is responsible for up to one-in-four cancer deaths. The condition has no treatment. The study points to new strategies and new drug targets for treating cancer cachexia.

Students text, a lot, during class

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 12:16 PM PDT

The typical student plays with smartphones, laptops, tablets and other digital devices an average of 11 times a day in class. More than 80 percent say their digital habits interfere with learning.

The math says Red Sox have a big edge in the World Series

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 11:46 AM PDT

Now that the World Series is about to begin, a math professor has announced the probability of each of the contenders winning the best 4 out of 7 game contest. "The Boston Red Sox have a nearly 70 percent chance of winning the series", he says. But he gives the caveat that the St. Louis Cardinals have defeated both the competition and his mathematical model in each of their previous series.

Early-life exposure of frogs to herbicide increases mortality from fungal disease

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 11:46 AM PDT

A new study shows the herbicide atrazine increased mortality from chytridiomycosis, a disease causing worldwide amphibian declines.

Anthropologist examines the motivating factors behind hazing

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 11:11 AM PDT

It happens in military units, street gangs and even among athletes on sports teams. In some cultures, the rituals mark the transition from adolescence to adulthood. And in fraternities and sororities, it's practically a given. With a long history of seemingly universal acceptance, the practice of hazing is an enduring anthropological puzzle.

Researchers capture images of open channel that moves proteins across cell membranes

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 11:11 AM PDT

Similar to passengers on an urban transit system, every protein made in the cell has a specific destination and function. Channels in cell membranes help direct these proteins to their appropriate target. Researchers have now captured images of these channels as they open to allow proteins to pass through a membrane, while the proteins are being made.

Protein safeguards against cataracts

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 11:11 AM PDT

The refractive power of the human eye lens relies on a densely packed mixture of proteins. Special protective proteins ensure that these proteins do not clump together as time passes. When this protective mechanism fails, the ocular lens becomes clouded -- the patient develops a cataract. Scientists have now resolved the activation mechanism of one of these protective proteins, laying the foundation for the development of new therapeutic alternatives.

Ignorance is sometimes bliss

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 11:11 AM PDT

Evolutionary biologist W.D. Hamilton predicted that organisms ought to evolve the ability to discriminate degrees of kinship so as to refine their ability to direct help to individuals with whom they shared the most genes. But two biologists point out that there seem to be many cases where "a veil of ignorance" prevents organisms from gaining this kind of information, forcing them to consider a situation from the perspective of all members of their group.

Vacuums provide solid ground for new definition of kilogram

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 11:11 AM PDT

The weight of the kilogram may soon rest on the emptiness of a vacuum.

Birthing a new breed of materials

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 11:11 AM PDT

New research shows scientists' first steps into the unexplored territory of interfacial materials that could someday yield smaller, faster, more energy-efficient devices.

Detailed look at a DNA repair protein in action

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 11:11 AM PDT

Researchers have invented a new technique for studying the process by which certain errors in the genetic code are detected and repaired. The technique is based on a combination of hybrid nanomaterials and SAXS imaging at the ALS SIBYLS beamline.

Uncovering the tricks of nature's ice-seeding bacteria

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 11:11 AM PDT

New discoveries could impact applications ranging from artificial snowmaking to global climate models.

TopoChip reveals the Braille code of cells

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 11:11 AM PDT

A new tool is uncovering the fundamentals of how cells respond to surfaces and could potentially improve the effectiveness of biomedical implants.

Deciding when 'not' to maximize profits: How and why some corporations sabotage their own subsidiaries

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 11:11 AM PDT

Corporate America doesn't always maximize profits -- companies sometimes deliberately leave money on the table in an effort to "get along" with and not upset their competitors. Corporate leaders "selectively intervene" in the everyday business of a subsidiary to deliberately sabotage decisions that could positively shift the balance of power in the marketplace. This "collusive behavior" and "mutual forbearance" reduces competitive aggressiveness in the market place and less competition usually hurts consumers.

Induced pluripotent stem cells reveal differences between humans and great apes

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 11:10 AM PDT

Researchers have, for the first time, taken chimpanzee and bonobo skin cells and turned them into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a type of cell that has the ability to form any other cell or tissue in the body.

Futuristic copper foam batteries get more bang for the buck

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 10:18 AM PDT

Scientists report steps toward safer, cheaper, longer-lasting, and faster-charging solid-state battery.

Prenatal diagnosis, birth location may significantly improve neonatal HLHS survival

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 10:18 AM PDT

A first-of-its-kind study has found that infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) born far from a hospital providing neonatal cardiac surgery for HLHS have increased neonatal mortality, with most deaths occurring before surgery. Researchers also concluded that efforts to improve prenatal diagnosis of HLHS and subsequent delivery near a large volume cardiac surgical center may significantly improve neonatal HLHS survival.

Common courtesy lacking among doctors-in-training

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 10:18 AM PDT

Investigators have found that doctors-in-training are unlikely to introduce themselves fully to hospitalized patients or sit down to talk to them eye-to-eye, despite research suggesting that courteous bedside manners improve medical recovery along with patient satisfaction.

Plants use sugars to tell the time of day

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 10:18 AM PDT

Scientists are studying how plants are able to set and maintain this internal clock. They have found that the sugars produced by plants are key to timekeeping.

Chemists use MRI to peek at temperatures of gases inside catalytic reactors

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 10:18 AM PDT

Chemists report a new "green chemistry" method that may have far-reaching applications. In a significant step toward improving the design of future catalysts and catalytic reactors, the chemists have developed a method to map the temperatures of reacting gases inside a catalytic reactor at the microscale.

Astronomers discover the most distant known galaxy: Galaxy seen as it was just 700 million years after Big Bang

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 10:18 AM PDT

Astronomers have discovered the most distant galaxy ever found. The galaxy is seen as it was just 700 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only about 5 percent of its current age of 13.8 billion years.

How liver 'talks' to muscle: A well-timed, coordinated conversation

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 10:17 AM PDT

A major collaborative research effort has uncovered a novel signal mechanism that controls how fat storage in the liver can communicate with fat burning in skeletal muscle.

H5N1 bird flu genes show nature can pick worrisome traits

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 10:17 AM PDT

In the beginning, all flu viruses came from birds. Over time, the virus evolved to adapt to other animals, including humans, as natural selection favored viruses with mutations that allowed them to more readily infect the cells of new host species.

Researchers discover new genetic errors that could cause deadly leukemia

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 09:57 AM PDT

Acute dendritic leukemia is a rare type of leukemia, but one with the worst prognosis -- the average patient survival rate is just 12-14 months, and it is difficult to treat. Now researchers have, for the first time, sequenced the exome of dendritic cell leukemia. The analyses uncover new genetic pathways that could revolutionize treatment guidelines for these patients.

Imaging breast cancer with light

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 09:56 AM PDT

Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer and cancer deaths among women worldwide. Routine screening can increase breast cancer survival by detecting the disease early and allowing doctors to address it at this critical stage. A team of researchers has developed a prototype of a new imaging tool that may one day help to detect breast cancer early, when it is most treatable.

A simple test may catch early pancreatic cancer

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 09:56 AM PDT

Reporting on a small preliminary study, researchers say a simple blood test based on detection of tiny epigenetic alterations may reveal the earliest signs of pancreatic cancer, a disease that is nearly always fatal because it isn't usually discovered until it has spread to other parts of the body.

Older siblings' cells can be passed from female dogs to their puppies in the womb

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 09:56 AM PDT

Researchers have found that microchimerism, a condition where some people possess a small number of cells in their bodies that are not genetically their own, can be passed from a female dog to her offspring while they are still in the womb. Microchimerism most often occurs when a mother gives birth to a child. In some cases, cells from that child are left in the mothers' body and continue to live, despite being of a different genetic makeup than surrounding cells. Researchers have identified evidence that those cells can then be passed on to other children the mother may give birth to at a later time.

The reins of Casimir: Engineered nanostructures could offer way to control quantum effect

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 09:56 AM PDT

You might think that a pair of parallel plates hanging motionless in a vacuum just a fraction of a micrometer away from each other would be like strangers passing in the night -- so close but destined never to meet. Thanks to quantum mechanics, you would be wrong.

'Getting the edge' on photon transport in silicon

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 09:56 AM PDT

Scientists have a new way to edge around a difficult problem in quantum physics, now they have demonstrated how particles of light flow within a novel device.

New research illustrates Mississippi River's role in the transport and fate of the oil following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 09:56 AM PDT

A new study has shown that the complex circulation from the Mississippi River plume played a substantial role in the transport and fate of the oil following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident. These findings provide new information on the transport of oil and other pollutants in the Gulf of Mexico.

Force to be reckoned with: Laser power measured with portable scale

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 09:56 AM PDT

Researchers have demonstrated a novel method for measuring laser power by reflecting the light off a mirrored scale, which acts as a force detector.

Researchers discover potential new treatment for colitis

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 09:56 AM PDT

A drug currently on the market to treat leukemia reversed symptoms of colitis in lab tests.

First-ever information systems job index shows healthy market for college students majoring in information systems

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 09:54 AM PDT

Despite a 7.2 percent national unemployment rate, the job market is a healthy one for college students majoring in information systems, with nearly three quarters of students receiving at least one job offer, according to the U.S. nationwide IS Job Index.

Development of novel robots funded to assist people with disabilities, aid doctors

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 09:54 AM PDT

As part of the National Robotics Initiative, NIH has awarded funding for three projects to develop the next generation of robots that work cooperatively with people.

What Should You Know About E-cigarettes?

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 09:54 AM PDT

E-cigarettes are becoming increasingly popular and widely available as the use of regular cigarettes drops. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that e-cigarette use by children doubled from 2011 and 2012. The health effects of e-cigarettes have not been effectively studied and the ingredients have little or no regulation.

A young Picasso or Beethoven could be the next Edison

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 08:27 AM PDT

Good news for parents: Those pricey piano lessons or random toy parts littering your floors may one day lead to the next scientific breakthrough. That's according to new research linking childhood participation in arts and crafts activities to patents generated and businesses launched as adults.

Paper-based device could bring medical testing to remote locales

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 08:26 AM PDT

In remote regions of the world where electricity is hard to come by and scientific instruments are even scarcer, conducting medical tests at a doctor's office or medical lab is rarely an option. Scientists are now reporting progress toward an inexpensive point-of-care, paper-based device to fill that void with no electronics required.

Vinyl flooring linked to potentially harmful substances at schools and daycare centers

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 08:26 AM PDT

Large areas of vinyl flooring in daycares and schools appear to expose children to a group of compounds called phthalates, which have been linked to reproductive and developmental problems, scientists are reporting.

Testosterone therapy may reduce risk of cardiovascular disease

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 08:26 AM PDT

Research suggests that testosterone treatment in hypogonadal (testosterone deficient) men restores normal lipid profiles and may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Stealth nanoparticles lower drug-resistant tumors' defenses

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 08:26 AM PDT

Some of the most dangerous cancers are those that can outmaneuver the very drugs designed to defeat them, but researchers are now reporting a new Trojan-horse approach. In a preliminary study focusing on a type of breast cancer that is highly resistant to current therapies, they describe a way to sneak small particles into tumor cells, lower their defenses and attack them with drugs, potentially making the therapy much more effective.

A step towards early Alzheimer's diagnosis

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 08:26 AM PDT

If Alzheimer's disease is to be treated in the future, it requires an early diagnosis, which is not yet possible. Now researchers at higher education institutions have identified six proteins in spinal fluid that can be used as markers for the illness.

Complete care improves patient outcomes

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 08:26 AM PDT

Complete Care, a collaborative approach to meeting patient needs, is improving outcomes for patients. Results from the program are described as, "a dramatic and impressive example of what is possible with a carefully designed and implemented system-level intervention."

Peer pressure can influence food choices at restaurants

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 08:25 AM PDT

If you want to eat healthier when dining out, research recommends surrounding yourself with friends who make healthy food choices. A study showed that when groups of people eat together at a restaurant at which they must state their food choice aloud, they tend to select items from the same menu categories.

Gilding the gum tree: Scientists strike gold in leaves

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 07:13 AM PDT

Eucalyptus trees -- or gum trees as they are known -- are drawing up gold particles from the earth via their root system and depositing it their leaves and branches.

Natural compound can be used for 3-D printing of medical implants

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 07:13 AM PDT

Biomedical engineering researchers have discovered that a naturally-occurring compound can be incorporated into three-dimensional printing processes to create medical implants out of non-toxic polymers. The compound is riboflavin, which is better known as vitamin B2.

Nanodiamonds: A cancer patient's best friend?

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 07:10 AM PDT

Real-time monitoring of cancer cell processes could soon be possible thanks to nanometric scale diamonds used as biosensors.

Self-rated health puts aging, health needs on the agenda

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 07:10 AM PDT

Implementation of national surveys where the population can estimate and assess their own health may give policy makers important insights into the different health interventions that should be implemented. This may include a simple tool that harmonizes the assessment of health in developing countries with the rest of the world.

Long-term memory helps chimpanzees in their search for food

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 07:10 AM PDT

Searching for bountiful fruit crops in the rain forest, chimpanzees remember past feeding experiences.

Burning Mouth Syndrome is often difficult to diagnose

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 07:09 AM PDT

Oral pain that feels like a scalded mouth and can last for months has baffled dental researchers since the 1970s, when burning oral sensations were linked to mucosal, periodontal, and restorative disorders and mental or emotional causes.

Changes in epigenetic DNA functions links diabetes predisposition to Alzheimer’s disease

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 07:09 AM PDT

Diabetes and dementia are rising dramatically in the United States and worldwide. In the last few years, epidemiological data has accrued showing that older people with diabetes are significantly more likely to develop cognitive deterioration and increased susceptibility to onset of dementia related to Alzheimer's disease.

Study links youth obesity to TV fast food advertising

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 07:09 AM PDT

Youth obesity is associated with receptiveness to TV fast food advertising researchers have found.

How did supermassive black holes grow so big?

Posted: 23 Oct 2013 06:09 AM PDT

Galaxies may look pretty and delicate, with their swirls of stars of many colors -- but don't be fooled. At the heart of every galaxy, including our own Milky Way, lies a supermassive black hole.