ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Pig pheromone proves useful in curtailing bad behavior in dogs

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 06:31 PM PDT

Androstenone can stop dogs from barking, jumping, researchers report. Androstenone is produced by pigs in their saliva or fat, but Boar Mate androstenone is synthesized in a laboratory. One spray of Boar Mate on Toto was all it took to set the wheels of experimentation in motion.

Nurse anesthetist care not equal to physician anesthesiologist-led care, comprehensive evidence-based review finds

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 06:31 PM PDT

A recent literature review found no scientific evidence that care provided by a nurse anesthetist is as safe and effective as patient-centered, physician-led anesthesia care, prompting experts to call for further examination to measure patient safety and anesthesia care delivery.

When a health risk is close to home, health care professionals base their positions on vaccines on their own emotions, personal experiences

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 06:31 PM PDT

On what health care professionals basing their decision, regarding vaccines? Research shows that when a health risk gets closer to home, health care professionals base their positions on vaccines more on emotions and personal experiences than on scientific and analytical knowledge.

Neuroscience and big data: How to find simplicity in the brain

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 12:23 PM PDT

Scientists can now monitor and record the activity of hundreds of neurons concurrently in the brain, and ongoing technology developments promise to increase this number. However, simply recording the neural activity does not automatically lead to a clearer understanding of how the brain works. In a new article, researchers describe the scientific motivations for studying the activity of many neurons together, along with a class of machine learning algorithms for interpreting the activity.

Haven't my neurons seen this before? What happens in the brain with familiar pictures?

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 12:23 PM PDT

The world grows increasingly more chaotic year after year, and our brains are constantly bombarded with images. A new study reveals how neurons in the part of the brain responsible for recognizing objects respond to being shown a barrage of images. Researchers found that when subjects were exposed to familiar and unfamiliar images in a rapid succession, their neurons -- especially the inhibitory neurons -- fired much more strongly and selectively to images the subject had seen many times before.

Are you as old as what you eat? Researchers learn how to rejuvenate aging immune cells

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 12:23 PM PDT

Researchers have demonstrated how an interplay between nutrition, metabolism and immunity is involved in the process of aging. It has been suspected for a long time that these are linked, and this paper provides a prototype mechanism of how nutrient and senescence signals converge to regulate the function of T lymphocytes.

Bioengineers close to brewing opioid painkillers without using opium from poppies

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 12:23 PM PDT

A process that uses genetically engineering yeast cells to replicate the entire opioid production process, eliminating the need to grow poppies, is close to conclusion, one researcher reports. Her ultimate goal is to produce opioid medicines, from start to finish, in fermentation vats.

Driving brain rhythm makes mice more sensitive to touch

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 12:23 PM PDT

In a new study researchers show that they could make faint sensations more vivid by triggering a brain rhythm that appears to shift sensory attention. The study in mice provides the first direct evidence that the brain's 'gamma' rhythms have a causal role in processing the sense of touch.

Cutting emissions pays for itself, study concludes

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 12:23 PM PDT

Health care savings can greatly defray costs of carbon-reduction policies, experts report. But just how large are the health benefits of cleaner air in comparison to the costs of reducing carbon emissions? Researchers looked at three policies achieving the same reductions in the U.S., and found that the savings on health care spending and other costs related to illness can be big -- in some cases, more than 10 times the cost of policy implementation.

Repurposing anti-depressant medication to target medulloblastoma

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 12:23 PM PDT

A novel molecular pathway that causes an aggressive form of medulloblastoma has been identified by researchers. Now scientists suggest repurposing an anti-depressant medication to target medulloblastoma to help combat one of the most common brain cancers in children. The scientists say their laboratory findings in mouse models of the disease could lead to a more targeted and effective molecular therapy that would also reduce the harmful side effects of current treatments.

Mimicking natural evolution with 'promiscuous reactions' to improve the diversity of drugs

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 12:23 PM PDT

A revolutionary new scientific method will improve the diversity of 'biologically active molecules', such as antibiotics and anti-cancer agents. "Nature produces some amazing structures with really interesting biological activity, but the plant or animal did not design them. Instead the organisms gradually evolved both the chemical structures and the methods to produce them over millennia because they were of benefit. We wanted to capture the essence of this in our approach to discovering new drugs," said the lead author.

Signatures of selection inscribed on poplar genomes

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 12:23 PM PDT

A team of researchers used a combination of genome-wide selection scans and analyses to understand the processes involved in shaping the genetic variation of natural poplar (Populus trichocarpa) populations. The approach applied genomics to ecological questions, and could help developing more accurate predictive climate change models.

Simply complex: The origin of our body axes

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 12:22 PM PDT

One fundamental question in biology is what constitutes the basic type of the animal body plan and how did all the more complex forms, including that of humans, evolve from it. At the simplest level, this body plan can be described by the three axes. These three axes -- the familiar X, Y and Z axes from geometry -- are the anterior-posterior axis, which determines the position of the mouth in front and the anus at the rear, the dorsal-ventral axis, which in vertebrates separates the front of the body from the back, and the left-right axis, which creates a mirror-like symmetry of our extremities and left-right asymmetry of the organs.

Evolutionary history of honeybees revealed by genomics

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 12:22 PM PDT

The first global analysis of genome variation in honeybees has been revealed by scientists. The findings show a surprisingly high level of genetic diversity in honeybees, and indicate that the species most probably originates from Asia, and not from Africa as previously thought. The honeybee (Apis mellifera) is of crucial importance for humanity. One third of our food is dependent on the pollination of fruits, nuts and vegetables by bees and other insects. Extensive losses of honeybee colonies in recent years are a major cause for concern.

More common procedures for painful facial tics carry high costs

Posted: 22 Aug 2014 09:45 AM PDT

For patients who need surgery for facial pain caused by trigeminal neuralgia, the most cost-effective procedure is the least often used, reports a study. Trigeminal neuralgia is a relatively common chronic pain condition, especially among older adults. Sometimes called "tic douloureux," trigeminal neuralgia is associated with a typical pattern of painful facial tics. Pain is thought to be caused by blood vessels placing pressure on the trigeminal nerve in the face.

Online screening for rare lung cancer mutation opens door to new kind of clinical trial

Posted: 22 Aug 2014 09:44 AM PDT

Cancer subtypes are like rare diseases; a new kind of clinical trial uses Dr. Google to find enough needles in enough haystacks to test drug ponatinib against FGFR positive lung cancer.

Treatment of renal artery stenosis

Posted: 22 Aug 2014 09:44 AM PDT

Renal artery stenting to open blockages in the kidney arteries may benefit patients who have historically been excluded from modern clinical trials, according to new recommendations for renal artery stenosis.

Many patients discharged without diagnosis

Posted: 22 Aug 2014 06:41 AM PDT

One out of four acutely admitted medical patients leave the hospital again without getting a diagnosis, a Danish study has found. The study is the first in the world to map out diagnoses and chronic disease on a national level for all medical patients that are acutely admitted to hospital during the course of a year.

Scientists map risk of premature menopause after cancer treatment

Posted: 22 Aug 2014 06:41 AM PDT

Women treated for the cancer Hodgkin lymphoma will be able to better understand their risks of future infertility after researchers estimated their risk of premature menopause with different treatments. The findings are based on the experience of more than 2,000 young women in England and Wales treated for the cancer over a period of more than 40 years.

Surgery associated with better survival for patients with advanced laryngeal cancer

Posted: 21 Aug 2014 01:13 PM PDT

Patients with advanced laryngeal cancer appear to have better survival if they are treated with surgery than nonsurgical chemoradiation. Approximately 11,000 to 13,000 cases of laryngeal cancer are diagnosed each year and squamous cell carcinoma accounts for the vast majority of these tumors. Prior to 1991, total surgical removal of the larynx with postoperative radiation was the standard of care for advanced cancer. Since then, chemoradiation has become increasingly popular treatment because it can preserve the larynx.