http://www.sciencecentric.com/ Latest news in natural sciences and technology provided by Science Centric en-gb Copyright 2009, Science Centric contact@sciencecentric.com (Stanislav Abadjiev) Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:00:00 GMT Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:00:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss/ http://www.sciencecentric.com/images/sc_logo_news.jpg http://www.sciencecentric.com/ Although the tiny roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans has only 302 neurones in its entire nervous system, studies of this simple animal have significantly advanced our understanding of human brain function because it shares many genes and neurochemical signalling molecules with humans. Now MIT researchers have found novel C. elegans neurochemical receptors, the discovery of which could lead to new therapeutic targets for psychiatric disorders if similar receptors are found in humans... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070243-scientists-find-new-actions-neurochemicals http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070243-scientists-find-new-actions-neurochemicals Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:00:00 GMT El Nino years typically result in fewer hurricanes forming in the Atlantic Ocean. But a new study, published in the 3 July issue of Science, suggests that the form of El Nino may be changing potentially causing not only a greater number of hurricanes than in average years, but also a greater chance of hurricanes making landfall, according to climatologists at the Georgia Institute of Technology... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070242-new-form-el-nino-could-mean-more-hurricanes-make-landfall http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070242-new-form-el-nino-could-mean-more-hurricanes-make-landfall Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:00:00 GMT The forests of the Pacific Northwest hold significant potential to increase carbon storage and help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in coming years, a recent study concludes, if they are managed primarily for that purpose through timber harvest reductions and increased rotation ages... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070241-pacific-northwest-forests-could-store-more-carbon-help-address-greenhouse-issues http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070241-pacific-northwest-forests-could-store-more-carbon-help-address-greenhouse-issues Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:12:00 GMT As childhood obesity rates continue to increase, experts agree that more information is needed about the implications of being overweight as a step toward reversing current trends. Now, a new University of Missouri study has found that overweight children, especially girls, show signs of the negative consequences of being overweight as early as kindergarten... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070240-overweight-kids-experience-more-loneliness-anxiety http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070240-overweight-kids-experience-more-loneliness-anxiety Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:12:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Centre have found a way to use a natural compound to stop one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States. The research appears online this month in the journal Diabetes, a publication of the American Diabetes Association... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070239-natural-compound-stops-retinopathy http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070239-natural-compound-stops-retinopathy Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:07:00 GMT As flowering plants like giant trees quickly rose to dominate plant communities during the Cretaceous period, the ferns that had preceded them hardly saw it as a disappointment... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070238-ferns-took-the-trees-thrived http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070238-ferns-took-the-trees-thrived Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:01:00 GMT Sexist jokes (and all the variants of this kind of humour) favour the mental mechanisms which urge to violence and battering against women in individuals with macho attitudes. Those are the conclusions of a study carried out at the University of Granada, that will be released today in the framework of the world most renowned international symposium about humour and its scientific applications ('International Summer School and Symposium on Humour and Laughter: Theory, Research and Applications') that will be held in Granada... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070237-sexist-jokes-favour-the-mental-mechanisms-that-justify-violence-against-women http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070237-sexist-jokes-favour-the-mental-mechanisms-that-justify-violence-against-women Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:56:00 GMT A major change in education is the shift towards sustainable development. The United Nations has declared 2005-2014 as the decade for integrating sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. Ellen Almers, at the School of Education and Communication, Joenkoeping, Sweden, based her thesis on her investigation into what prompts young people to take positive action to promote sustainable development... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070236-what-prompts-young-people-take-positive-action-promote-sustainable-development http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070236-what-prompts-young-people-take-positive-action-promote-sustainable-development Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:52:00 GMT Synote, an innovative Web-based annotation tool developed at the University of Southampton, which does for multimedia resources what indexes do for textbooks, has just won an international award. According to Dr Mike Wald at the University's School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), who led the team which developed Synote, the tool won the EUNIS Dorup E-Learning Award 2009 because of its innovation and the opportunities it offers to students... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070235-synote-web-based-annotation-tool-wins-international-award http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070235-synote-web-based-annotation-tool-wins-international-award Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:47:00 GMT Hurricane Katrina was the largest natural disaster in U.S. history, claiming the lives of more than 1,800 victims and causing well over $100 billion in damage along the Gulf Coast. The 2005 storm breached every levee in New Orleans, flooding almost the entire city as well as the neighbouring parishes. Yet a surprising number of people stayed behind and rode out the storm... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070234-in-the-eye-the-storm-why-some-people-stayed-behind http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070234-in-the-eye-the-storm-why-some-people-stayed-behind Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:03:00 GMT In times of doubt and uncertainty, many Americans turn to self-help books in search of encouragement, guidance and self-affirmation. The positive self-statements suggested in these books, such as 'I am a loveable person' or 'I will succeed,' are designed to lift a person's low self-esteem and push them into positive action. According to a recent study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, however, these statements can actually have the opposite effect... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070233-study-shows-the-negative-side-positive-self-statements http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070233-study-shows-the-negative-side-positive-self-statements Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:58:00 GMT Panel physicians are increasingly offering individual health services (IHS) to patients with statutory health insurance. This is documented by Susanne Richter et al. of the Department of Social Medicine, Luebeck University, in the new edition of Deutsches Aerzteblatt (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2009; 106 (26): 433-9). IHS include medical health services which are not reimbursed by the health insurance funds and which the patient has to pay for himself... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070232-visit-the-doctor-the-supply-additional-private-services-is-increasing http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070232-visit-the-doctor-the-supply-additional-private-services-is-increasing Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:46:00 GMT Since the 1970s, there has been much debate surrounding the fact that individuals with autism have difficulty in understanding speech in situations where there is background speech or noise... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070231-children-with-autism-need-be-taught-smaller-groups-pilot-study-confirms http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070231-children-with-autism-need-be-taught-smaller-groups-pilot-study-confirms Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:41:00 GMT Scientists are to study a group of proteins that are highly effective at killing bacteria and which could hold the key to developing new types of antibiotics... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070230-biological-warfare-bacteria-offers-hope-new-antibiotics http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070230-biological-warfare-bacteria-offers-hope-new-antibiotics Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:30:00 GMT Cancer experts at Johns Hopkins say a study tracking 774 prostate cancer patients for a median of eight years has shown that a three-way combination of measurements has the best chance yet of predicting disease metastasis... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070229-predicting-the-return-prostate-cancer-new-study-betters-the-odds-success http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070229-predicting-the-return-prostate-cancer-new-study-betters-the-odds-success Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:25:00 GMT A new study published in the July issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine shows that positron emission tomography (PET) scans in mice can be used to determine whether a novel type of breast cancer treatment is working as intended. Researchers successfully used PET and a specially-developed radioactive compound to image HER2 - a protein often associated with aggressive breast cancer - in breast cancer cells before and after treatment aimed at decreasing HER2 expression... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070228-study-shows-pet-can-measure-effectiveness-novel-breast-cancer-treatment http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070228-study-shows-pet-can-measure-effectiveness-novel-breast-cancer-treatment Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:45:00 GMT For a long time, batteries were bulky and heavy. Now, a new cutting-edge battery is revolutionising the field. It is thinner than a millimetre, lighter than a gram, and can be produced cost-effectively through a printing process... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070227-printable-batteries http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070227-printable-batteries Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:12:00 GMT Viruses can cost winegrowers an entire harvest. If they infest the grapevines, even pesticides are often no use. What's more, these chemicals are harmful to the environment. Researchers are growing plants that produce antibodies against the viruses and are thus immune... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070226-virus-resistant-grapevines http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070226-virus-resistant-grapevines Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:07:00 GMT Researchers from the University of Southampton have drawn together 200 years' worth of oceanographic knowledge to investigate the distribution of a notorious deep-sea giant - the king crab. The results, published this week in the Journal of Biogeography, reveal temperature as a driving force behind the divergence of a major seafloor predator; globally, and over tens of millions of years of Earth's history... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070225-new-study-reveals-king-crabs-go-deep-avoid-hot-water http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070225-new-study-reveals-king-crabs-go-deep-avoid-hot-water Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:02:00 GMT Major new book shows rare and endemic flora of Brazil have been grossly underestimated... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070224-brazil-incredible-endemic-plant-life-on-the-verge-mass-extinction http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070224-brazil-incredible-endemic-plant-life-on-the-verge-mass-extinction Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:21:00 GMT Life on Earth is under serious threat, despite the commitment by world leaders to reverse the trend, according to a detailed analysis of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070223-wildlife-crisis-worse-than-economic-crisis http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070223-wildlife-crisis-worse-than-economic-crisis Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:16:00 GMT Declining bumblebee populations are at greater risk of inbreeding, which can trigger a downward spiral of further decline. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology have provided the first proof that inbreeding reduces colony fitness under natural conditions by increasing the production of reproductively inefficient 'diploid' males... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070222-inbred-bumblebees-less-successful http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070222-inbred-bumblebees-less-successful Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:11:00 GMT Researchers from across Europe have united to build the largest quantum key distribution network ever built. The efforts of 41 research and industrial organisations were realised as secure, quantum encrypted information was sent over an eight node, mesh network... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070221-researchers-unite-distribute-quantum-keys http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070221-researchers-unite-distribute-quantum-keys Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:06:00 GMT Even the most spectacular Fourth of July fireworks display pales in comparison to what takes place in nature. In a matter of seconds, a supernova releases more energy than the Sun radiates in its 10 billion-year life span, and the explosive event can briefly outshine its host galaxy. Neutron stars, the remnants of such 'cosmic fireworks,' exhibit the strongest magnetic fields observed in the universe... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070220-cosmic-fireworks http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070220-cosmic-fireworks Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:40:00 GMT Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) in collaboration with scientists at the University of Louisville and the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in France, have identified the target antigen PLA2R in patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy (kidney disease), which has implications for the diagnosis and treatment of this disease. These findings appear in the 2 July issue of the New England Journal of Medicine... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070219-new-discovery-aid-diagnosis-treatment-kidney-disease http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070219-new-discovery-aid-diagnosis-treatment-kidney-disease Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:35:00 GMT New research, conducted by Charles Wingo and his colleagues, at the University of Florida, Gainsville, suggests a link between the circadian rhythm and control of sodium (salt) levels in mice... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070218-clocking-salt-levels-the-blood-link-between-the-circadian-rhythm-salt-balance http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070218-clocking-salt-levels-the-blood-link-between-the-circadian-rhythm-salt-balance Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:30:00 GMT Even under favourable assumptions, including lifelong protection against 70% of all cervical cancers and no side effects, vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) is not cost-effective in the Netherlands, according to a study published online 1 July in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070217-cost-effectiveness-hpv-vaccination-the-netherlands http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070217-cost-effectiveness-hpv-vaccination-the-netherlands Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:25:00 GMT A team of Penn State scientists has shed light on the processes that lead to certain human DNA mutations that are implicated in hundreds of inherited diseases such as tuberous sclerosis and neurofibromatosis type 1. The results one day could influence the way couples who seek to have children receive genetic counselling. The team, led by Kateryna Makova, an associate professor of biology, also includes Erika Kvikstad, a graduate student in the Department of Biology, and Francesca Chiaromonte, an associate professor of statistics. Their findings will be published in the July 2009 issue of the journal Genome Research... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070216-secrets-revealed-about-how-disease-causing-dna-mutations-occur http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070216-secrets-revealed-about-how-disease-causing-dna-mutations-occur Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:20:00 GMT Scientists at UC Santa Barbara and several other institutions have found laboratory evidence that a cluster of peptides may be the toxic agent in Alzheimer's disease. Scientists say the discovery may lead to new drugs for the disease... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070215-alzheimer-research-yields-potential-drug-target http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070215-alzheimer-research-yields-potential-drug-target Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:15:00 GMT Researchers at the Moores UCSD Cancer Centre are injecting a modified herpes virus into melanoma tumours, hoping to kill the cancer cells while also bolstering the body's immune defences against the disease... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070214-researchers-testing-virus-gene-therapy-combination-against-melanoma http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070214-researchers-testing-virus-gene-therapy-combination-against-melanoma Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:10:00 GMT After enrolling in Medicare Part D, seniors who previously had limited or no drug coverage spent more on prescriptions and less on other medical care services such as hospitalisations and visits to the doctor's office, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health study. Published in the 2 July issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the study also found that seniors who had relatively good drug benefits prior to enrolling in Medicare Part D spent somewhat more on prescriptions and, at the same time, increased their spending on other medical care services... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070213-nejm-study-addresses-impact-medicare-part-d-on-medical-spending http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070213-nejm-study-addresses-impact-medicare-part-d-on-medical-spending Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:05:00 GMT The rain band near the equator that determines the supply of freshwater to nearly a billion people throughout the tropics and subtropics has been creeping north for more than 300 years, probably because of a warmer world, according to research published in the July issue of Nature Geoscience... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070212-earth-most-prominent-rainfall-feature-creeping-northward http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070212-earth-most-prominent-rainfall-feature-creeping-northward Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:00:00 GMT Diets high in protein and cholesterol are associated with a higher risk of hospitalisation or death due to cirrhosis or liver cancer, while diets high in carbohydrates are associated with a lower risk. These findings are in the July issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley and Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). The article is also available online at Wiley Interscience... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070211-study-examines-dietary-influences-liver-disease http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070211-study-examines-dietary-influences-liver-disease Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:55:00 GMT Organisational norms and social cues, not communication overload, are the strongest predictors of whether individuals use their laptops or smart phones to electronically multitask during a meeting, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070210-peer-behaviour-not-communication-overload-determines-mobile-device-use-meetings http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070210-peer-behaviour-not-communication-overload-determines-mobile-device-use-meetings Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:50:00 GMT Microbial populations have traditionally been studied in carefully controlled, laboratory-grown cultures. New metagenomic approaches are being developed to study these organisms in environmental or medical samples. The July issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols presents a method developed by Holger Daims from the University of Vienna for quantifying populations of microorganisms in a variety of naturally occurring conditions such as plankton samples or biofilms. 'Use of Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization and the daime Image Analysis Program for the Cultivation-Independent Quantification of Microorganisms in Environmental and Medical Samples' combines fluorescent in situ hybridisation using rRNA-targeted probes with digital image analysis... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070209-microbial-analysis-micropatterning-methods-featured-cold-spring-harbor-protocols http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070209-microbial-analysis-micropatterning-methods-featured-cold-spring-harbor-protocols Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:45:00 GMT The single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) known as 2q35-rs13387042 is associated with increased risk of oestrogen receptor (ER) -positive and -negative breast cancer, according to a study published online 1 July in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070208-risk-breast-cancer-single-nucleotide-polymorphism http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070208-risk-breast-cancer-single-nucleotide-polymorphism Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:40:00 GMT Tooth-coloured fillings may be more attractive than silver ones, but the bonds between the white filling and the tooth quickly age and degrade. A Medical College of Georgia researcher hopes a new nanotechnology technique will extend the fillings' longevity... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070207-nanotechnology-may-increase-longevity-dental-fillings http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070207-nanotechnology-may-increase-longevity-dental-fillings Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:35:00 GMT A molecule called telomerase, best known for enabling unlimited cell division of stem cells and cancer cells, has a surprising additional role in the expression of genes in an important stem cell regulatory pathway, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The unexpected finding may lead to new anticancer therapies and a greater understanding of how adult and embryonic stem cells divide and specialise... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070206-stanford-discovery-pinpoints-new-connection-between-cancer-cells-stem-cells http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070206-stanford-discovery-pinpoints-new-connection-between-cancer-cells-stem-cells Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:30:00 GMT A scary unknown for many children, the prospect of surgery can cause intense preoperative anxiety. While some amount of stress is normal, what many parents do not know is that extreme anxiety before surgery can contribute to the occurrence of emergence delirium, a distressing incidence of acute behavioural changes experienced when 'waking up' from anaesthesia... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070205-hormone-treatment-eases-post-surgery-distress-children http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070205-hormone-treatment-eases-post-surgery-distress-children Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:25:00 GMT Because females carry two copies of the X chromosome to males' one X and one Y, they harbour a potentially toxic double dose of the over 1000 genes that reside on the X chromosome... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070204-unc-study-rewrites-textbook-on-key-genetic-phenomenon http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070204-unc-study-rewrites-textbook-on-key-genetic-phenomenon Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:20:00 GMT A human growth factor that stimulates blood stem cells to proliferate in the bone marrow reverses memory impairment in mice genetically altered to develop Alzheimer's disease, researchers at the University of South Florida and James A. Haley Hospital found. The granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (GCSF) significantly reduced levels of the brain-clogging protein beta amyloid deposited in excess in the brains of the Alzheimer's mice, increased the production of new neurones and promoted nerve cell connections... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070203-blood-stem-cell-growth-factor-reverses-memory-decline-mice http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070203-blood-stem-cell-growth-factor-reverses-memory-decline-mice Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:15:00 GMT Counselling patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) on how to increase physical activity leads to health benefits that are independent of changes in weight. These findings are in a new study in the July issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley and Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). The article is also available online at Wiley Interscience... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070202-exercise-helps-patients-with-non-alcoholic-fatty-liver-disease http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070202-exercise-helps-patients-with-non-alcoholic-fatty-liver-disease Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:10:00 GMT Liver transplantation offers a good chance for survival for patients with drug induced acute liver failure, however, certain pre-transplant factors are associated with worse outcomes. Patients who are on life support, who have elevated serum creatinine, and children whose liver failure was caused by antiepileptic drugs did not fare as well after transplantation. These findings are in the July issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal published by John Wiley and Sons. The article is also available online at Wiley Interscience... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070201-study-examines-liver-transplantation-after-drug-induced-acute-liver-failure http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070201-study-examines-liver-transplantation-after-drug-induced-acute-liver-failure Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:05:00 GMT This new guide for astronomers, known as the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL) shows the Milky Way in submillimetre-wavelength light (between infrared light and radio waves). Images of the cosmos at these wavelengths are vital for studying the birthplaces of new stars and the structure of the crowded galactic core... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070188-astronomer-new-guide-the-galaxy-largest-map-cold-dust-revealed http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070188-astronomer-new-guide-the-galaxy-largest-map-cold-dust-revealed Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:03:00 GMT A groundbreaking non-invasive breast cancer treatment will be unveiled at this year's Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. Scientists led by world-renowned breast cancer expert, Mr Mo Keshtgar, are the first to use photodynamic therapy (PDT) to treat what is now the most common cancer in the UK... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070187-light-therapy-offers-new-hope-breast-cancer-patients http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070187-light-therapy-offers-new-hope-breast-cancer-patients Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:02:00 GMT Miniature devices for trapping ions (electrically charged atoms) are common components in atomic clocks and quantum computing research. Now, a novel ion trap geometry demonstrated at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) could usher in a new generation of applications because the device holds promise as a stylus for sensing very small forces or as an interface for efficient transfer of individual light particles for quantum communications... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070186-nist-develops-novel-ion-trap-sensing-force-light http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070186-nist-develops-novel-ion-trap-sensing-force-light Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:57:00 GMT Tufts dental researchers conducted a three-year follow-up study that examined the stability of a treatment option for receding gums and found that complete root coverage - the goal of the surgery - had been maintained. This specific tissue regeneration application, developed at Tufts, reduces the considerable pain and recovery time of gum grafting surgery. The case study of six patients is published in the July 2009 issue of the Journal of Periodontology... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070185-new-treatment-receding-gums-no-pain-lots-gain http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070185-new-treatment-receding-gums-no-pain-lots-gain Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:52:00 GMT New research, which reconstructs the extent of ice in the sea between Greenland and Svalbard from the 13th century to the present indicates that there has never been so little sea ice as there is now. The research results from the Niels Bohr Institute, among others, are published in the scientific journal, Climate Dynamics... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070184-the-least-sea-ice-800-years http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070184-the-least-sea-ice-800-years Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:47:00 GMT A low dose of oral interferon alpha shows promise in preserving beta cell function for patients with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes, or juvenile diabetes, according to researchers at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070183-interferon-alpha-can-delay-full-onset-type-1-diabetes http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070183-interferon-alpha-can-delay-full-onset-type-1-diabetes Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:42:00 GMT Researchers from the Department of Science Education-Biology at the University of Haifa-Oranim have managed to make out the 'self-irrigating' mechanism of the desert rhubarb, which enables it to harvest 16 times the amount of water than otherwise expected for a plant in this region based on the quantities of rain in the desert. This is the first example of a self-irrigating plant worldwide... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070182-desert-rhubarb-self-irrigating-plant http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070182-desert-rhubarb-self-irrigating-plant Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:37:00 GMT Deleting two genes in mice responsible for repairing DNA strands damaged by oxidation leads to several types of tumours, providing additional evidence that such stress contributes to the development of cancer. That's the conclusion of a recent study in DNA Repair by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) and the New York University School of Medicine (NYUSM)... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070181-genetically-engineered-mice-yield-clues-knocking-out-cancer http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070181-genetically-engineered-mice-yield-clues-knocking-out-cancer Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:32:00 GMT A tiny grid pattern has led materials scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Institute of Solid State Physics in Russia to an unexpected finding - the surprisingly strong and long-range effects of certain electromagnetic nanostructures used in data storage. Their recently reported findings may add new scientific challenges to the design and manufacture of future ultra-high density data storage devices... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070180-unexpectedly-long-range-effects-advanced-magnetic-devices http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070180-unexpectedly-long-range-effects-advanced-magnetic-devices Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:27:00 GMT The joint research, funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the UK MS Society as well as the National Institutes of Health and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, was conducted by scientists at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and University of Cambridge and was published today (1 July) in the journal Genes and Development... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070179-new-clue-into-how-brain-stem-cells-develop-into-cells-which-repair-damaged-tissue http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070179-new-clue-into-how-brain-stem-cells-develop-into-cells-which-repair-damaged-tissue Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:22:00 GMT The composer Richard Wagner is well-known, even notorious, for writing operas that can challenge both performers and listeners. A new study published in the Journal of the Acoustic Society of America reveals that Wagner set his text to music in a way that uses the acoustics of the soprano voice in a manner that helps both performers and listeners... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070178-wagner-difficult-reputation-unwarranted-says-research http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070178-wagner-difficult-reputation-unwarranted-says-research Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:17:00 GMT The great controversy over the use of agricultural crops as a source of energy is well known - fundamentally due to its possible competition with crops for food. The use of sources of an organic nature for the production of biofuels, different from the traditional use for crops, could be the solution to the social debate that has arisen in this sector... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070177-microalgae-as-source-alternative-energy http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070177-microalgae-as-source-alternative-energy Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:12:00 GMT The detection of an ultraluminous X-ray source is now the strongest observational evidence for the existence of intermediate-mass black holes, as reported in a paper titled 'An intermediate-mass black hole of over 500 solar masses in the galaxy ESO 243-49' in the most recent issue (2 July) of the journal Nature... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070176-intermediate-mass-black-hole http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070176-intermediate-mass-black-hole Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:00:00 GMT An optical transistor that uses photons to carry and manipulate information is revealed in a paper titled 'A single-molecule optical transistor' in the current issue of Nature (2 July 2009), bringing the prospect of quantum computers one step closer. Researchers, led by J. Hwang of the ETH Zurich, demonstrate that a single dye molecule can operate as an optical transistor, weakening or amplifying a 'source' laser beam depending on the power of a second 'gating' beam... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070175-a-single-molecule-optical-transistor http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070175-a-single-molecule-optical-transistor Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:00:00 GMT Salamanders, Ambystoma mexicanum, re-growing amputated limbs do so by producing tissue-specific progenitor cells. The finding, reported in a paper titled 'Cells keep a memory of their tissue origin during axolotl limb regeneration' in the most recent issue of Nature (2 July), challenges dogma and has important implications for our understanding of limb regeneration... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070174-cells-keep-memory-their-tissue-origin http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070174-cells-keep-memory-their-tissue-origin Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:00:00 GMT Fifty million years ago, the North and South Poles were ice-free and crocodiles roamed the Arctic. Since then, a long-term decrease in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has cooled the Earth. Now researchers at Yale University, the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the University of Sheffield, writing in the current issue (2 July) of Nature, show that land plants saved the Earth from a deep frozen fate by buffering the removal of atmospheric CO2 over the past 24 million years... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070173-land-plants-saved-the-earth-from-deep-frozen-fate http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070173-land-plants-saved-the-earth-from-deep-frozen-fate Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:00:00 GMT An international team has discovered that many common genetic variants contribute to a person's risk of schizophrenia and explain at least a third of the risk of inheriting the disease, providing the first molecular evidence that this form of genetic variation is involved in schizophrenia. The researchers also found that many of these DNA variations also are involved in bipolar disorder but not in several non-psychiatric diseases. The findings, published in the current issue of Nature, represent a new way of thinking about the genetics of psychiatric diseases, which seem to involve not only rare variants but also a significant number of common ones as well... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070172-schizophrenia-bipolar-disorder-originate-from-some-common-vulnerability http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070172-schizophrenia-bipolar-disorder-originate-from-some-common-vulnerability Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:00:00 GMT Survivors of childhood cancer run particular risks when pregnant and should be closely monitored, the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology heard today (Wednesday 1 July). Dr Sharon Lie Fong, of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, said that, although such women may have conceived spontaneously and considered themselves to be perfectly healthy, their deliveries should always take place in a hospital... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070171-cancer-survivors-at-greater-risk-birth-complications http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070171-cancer-survivors-at-greater-risk-birth-complications Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:59:00 GMT The largest study to date of endometriosis in pregnant women has found that the condition is a major risk factor for premature birth, the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology heard today (Wednesday 1 July). Dr Henrik Falconer, of the Department of Woman and Child Health, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, said that his team had found that women with endometriosis also had a higher risk of other pregnancy complications, as well as being more likely to give birth through Caesarean section. The research is published on-line in the journal Human Reproduction today... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070170-women-with-endometriosis-need-special-care-avoid-risk-premature-birth http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070170-women-with-endometriosis-need-special-care-avoid-risk-premature-birth Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:54:00 GMT For the first time, scientists have shown that chromosomal abnormalities are present in more than 90% of IVF embryos, even those produced by young, fertile couples. Ms Evelyne Vanneste, a PhD student in the Centre for Human Genetics and the University Fertility Centre, Leuven University, Belgium, told the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Wednesday 1 July), that the surprising finding meant that current techniques used in preimplantation genetic screening (PGS), where embryos are screened genetically in order to select the best embryo for transfer, do nothing to improve pregnancy and live birth rates. Indeed, it can lead to potentially viable embryos being discarded, she said... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070169-chromosomal-problems-affect-nearly-all-human-embryos http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070169-chromosomal-problems-affect-nearly-all-human-embryos Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:49:00 GMT For the first time, researchers have been able to identify genetic predictors of the potential success or failure of IVF treatment in blood. Dr Cathy Allen, from the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, Ireland, told the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Wednesday 1 July) that her research would help understand why IVF works for some patients but not for others... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070168-will-ivf-work-particular-patient-the-answer-may-be-found-her-blood http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070168-will-ivf-work-particular-patient-the-answer-may-be-found-her-blood Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:44:00 GMT Conservationists worry that further deforestation will follow from Brazil now allowing squatting on Amazon land - regulations that encompass parcels equal to the combined size of Germany and Italy... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070167-amazon-squatter-law-fuels-deforestation-worries http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070167-amazon-squatter-law-fuels-deforestation-worries Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:39:00 GMT More than 40 percent of a sample of amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds that are restricted to mangrove ecosystems are globally threatened with extinction, according to an assessment published in the July/August issue of BioScience. The study, by David A. Luther of the University of Maryland and Russell Greenberg of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Centre, was based on an extensive literature search and expert consultations. The conclusions emphasise the vulnerability of animals that are dependent on a habitat rapidly being lost or degraded through coastal development, overexploitation, pollution, and changes in sea level and salinity... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070166-mangrove-dependent-animals-globally-threatened http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070166-mangrove-dependent-animals-globally-threatened Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:55:00 GMT New research shows that the amount of carbon stored in frozen soils at high latitudes is double previous estimates and could, if emitted as carbon dioxide and methane, lead to a significant increase in global temperatures by the end of this century... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070165-permafrost-melt-poses-major-climate-change-threat http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070165-permafrost-melt-poses-major-climate-change-threat Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:50:00 GMT Scientists have performed the first DNA-based reconstruction of the giant extinct moa bird, using prehistoric feathers recovered from caves and rock shelters in New Zealand... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070164-scientists-rebuild-giant-moa-using-ancient-dna http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070164-scientists-rebuild-giant-moa-using-ancient-dna Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:45:00 GMT A study in the 1 July issue of the journal SLEEP suggests that postpartum depression may aggravate an already impaired sleep quality, as experiencing difficulties with sleep is a symptom of depression. Twenty-one percent of depressed postpartum women included in the study reported having also been depressed during pregnancy and 46 percent reported at least one previous depressive episode prior to conception, suggesting that new mothers diagnosed with postpartum depression are not merely reporting symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070163-poor-sleep-is-independently-associated-with-depression-postpartum-women http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070163-poor-sleep-is-independently-associated-with-depression-postpartum-women Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:40:00 GMT Treatment with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for eight weeks induces acid-related symptoms like heartburn, acid regurgitation and dyspepsia once treatment is withdrawn in healthy individuals, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070162-acid-reducing-medicines-may-lead-dependency http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070162-acid-reducing-medicines-may-lead-dependency Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:35:00 GMT Charles Darwin and his contemporaries postulated that food consumption in birds and mammals was limited by resource levels, that is, animals would eat as much as they could while food was plentiful and produce as many offspring as this would allow them to. However, recent research has shown that, even when food is abundant, energy intake reaches a limit, even in animals with high nutrient demands, such as lactating females. Scientists at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Vienna suggest that this is due to active control of maternal investment in offspring in order to maintain long-term reproductive fitness... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070161-key-evolutionary-fitness-cut-the-calories http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070161-key-evolutionary-fitness-cut-the-calories Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT We swim in a sea of information, but filter out most of what we see and hear. A new analysis of data from dozens of studies sheds new light on how we choose what we do and do not hear. The study found that while people tend to avoid information that contradicts what they already think or believe, certain factors can cause them to seek out, or at least consider, other points of view... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070160-people-sometimes-seek-the-truth-but-most-prefer-like-minded-views http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070160-people-sometimes-seek-the-truth-but-most-prefer-like-minded-views Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:25:00 GMT Cyber criminals are exploiting public interest in the death of singer Michael Jackson with spam messages that infect computers with a virus able to steal bank account numbers and passwords, according to Gary Warner, UAB's director of research in computer forensics. Warner and the other researchers at the UAB Spam Data Mine began tracking the celebrity-focused spam early on Tuesday, 30 June... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070159-computer-spammers-link-virus-e-mail-on-michael-jackson-death-investigation http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070159-computer-spammers-link-virus-e-mail-on-michael-jackson-death-investigation Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:20:00 GMT A new statistical analysis technique that identifies and removes systematic bias, noise and equipment-based artefacts from experimental data could lead to more precise and reliable measurement of nanomaterials and nanostructures likely to have future industrial applications... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070158-statistical-technique-improves-nanotechnology-data http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070158-statistical-technique-improves-nanotechnology-data Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:15:00 GMT An otherwise effective treatment for cystic fibrosis (CF) places patients at a high risk of sensorineural hearing loss, according to new research published in the July edition of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070157-common-antibacterial-treatment-linked-sensorineural-hearing-loss-cf-patients http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070157-common-antibacterial-treatment-linked-sensorineural-hearing-loss-cf-patients Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:10:00 GMT A study in the 1 July issue of the journal SLEEP demonstrates that levels of inflammatory markers varied significantly with self-reported sleep duration in women but not men... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070156-sleep-duration-is-associated-with-variations-levels-inflammatory-markers-women http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070156-sleep-duration-is-associated-with-variations-levels-inflammatory-markers-women Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:05:00 GMT We are all familiar with the fact that cognitive function declines as we get older. Moreover, recent studies have shown that the specific kind of daily activities we engage in during the course of our lives appears to influence the extent of this decline. A team of researchers from Technische Universitaet Berlin are studying how division of labour among honey bees affects their learning performance as they age. Surprisingly, they have found that, by switching their social role, ageing honey bees can keep their learning ability intact or even improve it... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070155-a-young-brain-an-old-bee http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070155-a-young-brain-an-old-bee Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:00:00 GMT Scientists in the UK and Denmark have shown that if elderly men were given growth hormone and exercised their legs showed an appreciable muscle mass increase. Dr Geoff Goldspink (Royal Free and University College Medical School, UK) says: 'This raises the question: Can age-related loss of muscle strength and increased fragility be ameliorated by the therapeutic application of mechano growth factor (MGF)?'. There is hope that MGF can also help sufferers of diseases such as muscular dystrophy, ALS, renal disease or cancer, for whom intensive exercise is not an option... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070154-triggering-muscle-development-therapeutic-cure-muscle-wastage http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070154-triggering-muscle-development-therapeutic-cure-muscle-wastage Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:55:00 GMT Stressed out, dude? Don't go to Vegas. New research, to be published 1 July in the journal PLoS One, shows that men under stress may be more likely to take risks, correlating to such real-life behaviour as gambling, smoking, unsafe sex and illegal drug use... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070153-risky-business-stressed-men-more-likely-gamble http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070153-risky-business-stressed-men-more-likely-gamble Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:50:00 GMT Transcriptomic tests have uncovered the protein composition of venom from the Scorpiops jendeki scorpion. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Genomics have carried out the first ever venom analysis in this arachnid, and discovered nine novel poison molecules, never before seen in any scorpion species... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070152-genetic-analysis-reveals-secrets-scorpion-venom http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070152-genetic-analysis-reveals-secrets-scorpion-venom Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:22:00 GMT Clinical pathways have been used in surgeries since the 1980s, but their nature and usefulness are still subjects of much debate, especially as procedures such as hip and knee joint replacement represent a significant cost to hospitals. Now authors publishing in the open access journal BMC Medicine have concluded that using clinical pathways can effectively improve the quality of the care provided to patients undergoing joint replacement... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070151-joint-replacement-treatment-using-clinical-pathways-works http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070151-joint-replacement-treatment-using-clinical-pathways-works Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:17:00 GMT According to new research published online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) on 1 July, a new fossil primate from Myanmar (previously known as Burma) suggests that the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from primates in Asia, not Africa as many researchers believe... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070150-new-fossil-primate-suggests-common-asian-ancestor-challenges-primates-such-as-ida http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070150-new-fossil-primate-suggests-common-asian-ancestor-challenges-primates-such-as-ida Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:12:00 GMT Our Milky Way galaxy only survived because it was already immersed in a large clump of dark matter which trapped gases inside it, scientists led by Durham University's Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC) found... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070149-intense-heat-killed-the-universe-would-be-galaxies-researchers-say http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070149-intense-heat-killed-the-universe-would-be-galaxies-researchers-say Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:07:00 GMT The U.S. Government will announce that it will forgive nearly $30 million of debt payments owed by Indonesia in return for increased protection of Sumatra's forests, in a deal supported financially by and negotiated with the help of Conservation International... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070148-us-forgive-30-million-debt-protect-sumatra-forests http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070148-us-forgive-30-million-debt-protect-sumatra-forests Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:02:00 GMT An observer feels more empathy for someone in pain when that person is in the same social group, according to new research in the 1 July issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The study shows that perceiving others in pain activates a part of the brain associated with empathy and emotion more if the observer and the observed are the same race. The findings may show that unconscious prejudices against outside groups exist at a basic level... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070147-imaging-study-shows-decrease-empathic-responses-outsiders http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070147-imaging-study-shows-decrease-empathic-responses-outsiders Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:57:00 GMT An international team of researchers led by a UC Riverside astronomer has completed the largest ever survey designed to find very distant clusters of galaxies... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070146-largest-ever-survey-very-distant-galaxy-clusters-completed http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070146-largest-ever-survey-very-distant-galaxy-clusters-completed Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:52:00 GMT A new report on infection rates from the New York State Department of Health singles out Hospital for Special Surgery as the only hospital in New York State with a statistically lower rate of surgical site infection (SSI) compared to the state average for hip replacement/revision surgery... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070145-hss-singled-out-significantly-lower-infection-rate-hip-replacement http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070145-hss-singled-out-significantly-lower-infection-rate-hip-replacement Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:47:00 GMT A research report in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution suggests that individuals prefer to be involved in a collective contribution to green electricity that involve everyone paying more, rather than having individual higher bills... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070144-who-wants-pay-more-green-electricity http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070144-who-wants-pay-more-green-electricity Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:42:00 GMT In an article in Science, Noam Zelcer from the LACDR describes a previously unknown mechanism for regulating the amount of LDL cholesterol. This offers opportunities for supplementing and improving the effect of so-called statins: medicines that remove 'bad' cholesterol from the bloodstream... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070143-newly-discovered-gene-regulates-balance-bad-cholesterol http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070143-newly-discovered-gene-regulates-balance-bad-cholesterol Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:37:00 GMT Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester have developed a new synthesis method, which has led them to the discovery of fluorescent silicon nanoparticles and may ultimately help track the uptake of drugs by the body's cells... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070142-university-leicester-researchers-discover-new-fluorescent-silicon-nanoparticles http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070142-university-leicester-researchers-discover-new-fluorescent-silicon-nanoparticles Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:32:00 GMT IBM and Container Centralen today announced that by February 1, 2010, Danish Container Centralen - Europe's largest provider of re-usable transport equipment and services - will use IBM sensor technology to allow participants in the horticultural supply chain to track the progress of shipments as they move from growers to wholesalers and retailers across 40 countries in Europe. The project is the largest of its kind in the horticulture business... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070141-ibm-keeps-the-european-horticultural-industry-blooming-with-sensor-technology http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070141-ibm-keeps-the-european-horticultural-industry-blooming-with-sensor-technology Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:27:00 GMT An international team of researchers has modified chlorophyll from an alga so that it resembles the extremely efficient light antennae of bacteria. The team was then able to determine the structure of these light antennae... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070140-structure-artificial-light-harvesting-antenna-determined http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070140-structure-artificial-light-harvesting-antenna-determined Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:22:00 GMT At the annual meeting of the British Society for the History of Science, Rebekah Higgitt, a curator at the National Maritime Museum, will reveal how 19th-century astronomers at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, used the daily and periodical press and popular science books to bolster support for the growth of the government-funded Observatory... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070139-the-royal-observatory-greenwich-science-popularisation-the-19th-century http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070139-the-royal-observatory-greenwich-science-popularisation-the-19th-century Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:17:00 GMT An imaginary mouse (temporarily) occupied part of the sky, as the winning entry for a competition to design a new constellation for the International Year of Astronomy (IYA 2009). The mouse or 'Wee Sleekit Beastie' (or 'Ode to a Mouse') was created by Laura, a year 7 pupil at Dalmeny Primary School in Edinburgh. She received the award from Liz Lochead, the Scottish Poet Laureate, in a ceremony in the planetarium at Glasgow Science Centre on 30th June... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070138-scottish-children-make-new-constellation http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070138-scottish-children-make-new-constellation Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:12:00 GMT Dutch-sponsored researcher Christian Althaus has used mathematical models to demonstrate that cells infected with HIV could live even shorter than was thought until now. If infected cells have a shorter lifespan then this increases the chances of the virus escaping the attention of the immune system... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070137-lifespan-hiv-infected-cells-might-be-shorter-than-previously-anticipated http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070137-lifespan-hiv-infected-cells-might-be-shorter-than-previously-anticipated Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:07:00 GMT It is time to reconsider the adage that bigger is better,' according to scientists writing in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters today. Rebecca Sear from the London School of Economics and Frank Marlowe from Florida State University found that traditional hunter-gatherers aren't influenced by size when picking a mate, unlike in the industrialised west where both height and body size affect mate choice... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070136-bigger-isnt-always-better http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070136-bigger-isnt-always-better Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:02:00 GMT Additional research is called for and patients with moderate to severe periodontitis should receive evaluation and possible treatment to reduce their risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a special consensus paper by editors of The American Journal of Cardiology and Journal of Peridontology in the July 1, 2009 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology (http://www.ajconline.org), published by Elsevier... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070135-patients-with-moderate-severe-periodontitis-need-evaluation-heart-disease-risk http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070135-patients-with-moderate-severe-periodontitis-need-evaluation-heart-disease-risk Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:57:00 GMT Physiological changes associated with the metabolic syndrome may play a role in the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, according to study results published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070134-metabolic-factors-may-play-role-risk-breast-cancer http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070134-metabolic-factors-may-play-role-risk-breast-cancer Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:52:00 GMT While screening for possible pulmonary emboli using pulmonary CT angiography, a new study shows that radiologists can effectively lower the patient radiation dose by approximately 44% and improve vascular enhancement without deterioration of image quality, according to a study performed at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070133-researchers-find-way-reduce-patient-radiation-dose-during-pulmonary-ct-angiography http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070133-researchers-find-way-reduce-patient-radiation-dose-during-pulmonary-ct-angiography Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:47:00 GMT Daily sex (or ejaculating daily) for seven days improves men's sperm quality by reducing the amount of DNA damage, according to an Australian study presented Tuesday to the 25th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070132-daily-sex-helps-reduce-sperm-dna-damage-improve-fertility http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070132-daily-sex-helps-reduce-sperm-dna-damage-improve-fertility Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:42:00 GMT Women who have a diminished number of eggs in their ovaries, either because they are older or for some other reason such as ovarian surgery, may be more at risk of a trisomic pregnancy than women with an ovarian reserve within the normal, fertile range... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070131-reduced-ovarian-reserve-associated-with-increased-risk-trisomic-pregnancy http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070131-reduced-ovarian-reserve-associated-with-increased-risk-trisomic-pregnancy Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:37:00 GMT Women with cystic fibrosis can have fertility treatment to help them have babies without any long-term adverse effects on either themselves or their children, according to new research presented at the 25th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam Tuesday... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070130-women-with-cystic-fibrosis-can-have-safe-successful-fertility-treatment http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070130-women-with-cystic-fibrosis-can-have-safe-successful-fertility-treatment Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:32:00 GMT Scientists from Texas are batty over a new discovery which could lead to the single most important medical breakthrough in human history - significantly longer lifespans. The discovery, featured on the cover of the July 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), shows that proper protein folding over time in long-lived bats explains why they live significantly longer than other mammals of comparable size, such as mice... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070129-scientists-find-biological-fountain-youth-new-world-bat-caves http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070129-scientists-find-biological-fountain-youth-new-world-bat-caves Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:27:00 GMT Pigeons could be art critics yet, according to a new study which shows that like humans, pigeons can be trained to tell the difference between 'good' and 'bad' paintings. According to Professor Shigeru Watanabe from Keio University in Japan, pigeons use both colour and pattern cues to judge the paintings' beauty as defined by humans, as well as their texture. Professor Watanabe's work has just been published online in Springer's journal, Animal Cognition... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070128-a-bird-eye-view-art http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070128-a-bird-eye-view-art Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:22:00 GMT It is well documented that police officers have a higher risk of developing heart disease: The question is why... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070127-police-work-undermines-cardiovascular-health-comparison-general-population-shows http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070127-police-work-undermines-cardiovascular-health-comparison-general-population-shows Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:17:00 GMT An unusual study at the Department of Surgery at Heidelberg University Hospital examined for the first time whether the incision technique used in major abdominal surgery had an effect on the results. Neither physician nor patient knew what kind of incision had been made. The study of 200 patients showed that pain perception and the healing process were unrelated to the technique used to open the abdominal cavity. Complications were also just as frequent, except for wound infections, which were more frequent for transverse incisions, possibly due to circulatory problems. The surgeons in Heidelberg thus recommend that the surgeon make an individual, case-by-case decision on the incision technique... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070126-the-decision-about-the-incision-is-midline-or-transverse-better-abdominal-surgery http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070126-the-decision-about-the-incision-is-midline-or-transverse-better-abdominal-surgery Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:12:00 GMT The equipment used for biomedical research is shrinking, but the physical properties of the fluids under investigation are not changing. This creates a problem: the reservoirs that hold the liquid are now so small that forces between molecules on the liquid's surface dominate, and one can no longer shake the container to mix two fluids. Instead, researchers must bide their time and wait for diffusion to occur... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070125-stirred-not-shaken-bio-inspired-cilia-mix-medical-reagents-at-small-scales http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070125-stirred-not-shaken-bio-inspired-cilia-mix-medical-reagents-at-small-scales Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:07:00 GMT The sky's the limit for students from the Simon Langton Grammar School for boys who will be proving that age is no obstacle for science as they join top scientists to exhibit their work at the Royal Society's Summer Science exhibition... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070124-schoolroom-scientists-scanning-outer-space-dangerous-objects http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070124-schoolroom-scientists-scanning-outer-space-dangerous-objects Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:02:00 GMT Norwegian fisheries regulators in a landmark decision have banned all fishing of the critically endangered European eel starting in 2010 and cut 2009 catch quotas by 80 percent... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070123-norway-helps-endangered-eel-wriggle-from-fish-nets http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070123-norway-helps-endangered-eel-wriggle-from-fish-nets Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:57:00 GMT In the past, even modern technologies have failed to produce high-resolution fluorescence images from this depth because of the strong scattering of light. In the Nature Photonics journal, the Munich researchers describe how they can reveal genetic expression within live fly larvae and fish by 'listening to light.' In the future this technology may facilitate the examination of tumours or coronary vessels in humans... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070122-innovative-technology-shatters-the-barriers-modern-light-microscopy http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070122-innovative-technology-shatters-the-barriers-modern-light-microscopy Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:52:00 GMT As scientists continue to decode the human genome and the information becomes publicly available, private companies that offer online genetic testing are multiplying. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health were concerned that perhaps these tests posed a risk... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070121-possible-benefit-from-online-genetic-testing-lung-cancer http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070121-possible-benefit-from-online-genetic-testing-lung-cancer Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:47:00 GMT A front portion of the brain that handles tasks like decision-making also helps decipher different phonetic sounds, according to new Brown University research... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070120-brain-section-multitasks-handling-phonetics-decision-making http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070120-brain-section-multitasks-handling-phonetics-decision-making Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:42:00 GMT One-step screening for both genetic and chromosomal abnormalities has come a stage closer as scientists announced that an embryo test they have been developing has successfully screened cells taken from spare embryos that were known to have cystic fibrosis... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070119-new-test-can-detect-both-genetic-chromosomal-abnormalities-embryos http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070119-new-test-can-detect-both-genetic-chromosomal-abnormalities-embryos Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:37:00 GMT Transferring just one embryo at a time to a woman's womb after embryos have undergone preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and freezing at the blastocyst stage has become a real option after researchers achieved pregnancy rates that were as good as those for blastocysts that had not had a cell removed for PGD before freezing. Their results mean that it will be possible to reduce the number of multiple pregnancies after PGD and the consequent complications associated with these pregnancies... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070118-single-thawed-embryo-transfer-after-pgd-does-not-affect-pregnancy-rates http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070118-single-thawed-embryo-transfer-after-pgd-does-not-affect-pregnancy-rates Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:32:00 GMT A team of Harvard scientists has taken an important first step toward the development of new treatments to help people with HIV battle Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) infection. In their report, appearing in the July 2009 print issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology (http://www.jleukbio.org) they describe how HIV interferes with the cellular and molecular mechanisms used by the lungs to fight TB infection. This information is crucial for researchers developing treatments to help people with HIV prevent or recover from TB infection... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070117-scientists-solve-mystery-about-why-hiv-patients-are-more-susceptible-tb-infection http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070117-scientists-solve-mystery-about-why-hiv-patients-are-more-susceptible-tb-infection Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:27:00 GMT The potential of forest biotechnology to help address significant social and environmental issues is being 'strangled at birth' by the rigid opposition of some groups and regulations that effectively preclude even the testing of genetically modified trees, scientists argue in a new report... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070116-anti-biotech-groups-obstruct-forest-biotechnology http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070116-anti-biotech-groups-obstruct-forest-biotechnology Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:22:00 GMT Researchers have found that men and women who feel sensitive to rejection based on their physical appearance are more likely to express interest in having cosmetic surgery than those who are less sensitive to appearance-based rejection. This effect is particularly true when people recall negative comments about their physical appearance... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070115-cosmetic-surgery-appeals-men-women-with-appearance-based-rejection-sensitivity http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070115-cosmetic-surgery-appeals-men-women-with-appearance-based-rejection-sensitivity Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:17:00 GMT During the past decade, residents of Pasto, Colombia, and neighbouring villages near Galeras, Colombia's most dangerous volcano, have been threatened with evacuation, but compliance varies. With each new eruption - the most recent explosion occurred 7-9 June - Colombian officials have grown increasingly concerned about the safety of the residents who live within striking distance of Galeras, located 700 km from Bogota... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070114-ub-geologists-help-communicate-the-dangers-colombian-volcano http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070114-ub-geologists-help-communicate-the-dangers-colombian-volcano Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:12:00 GMT With the increasing popularity of whitening one's teeth, researchers at the Eastman Institute for Oral Health, part of the University of Rochester Medical Centre, set out to learn if there are negative effects on the tooth from using whitening products... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070113-oj-worse-teeth-than-whitening-says-eastman-institute-researchers http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070113-oj-worse-teeth-than-whitening-says-eastman-institute-researchers Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:07:00 GMT The misleading 'health' halo surrounding highly-publicised marketing campaigns regarding sweetener reformulations is starting to dim... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070112-recent-news-reports-sweetener-reformulations-raise-questions-about-motivations http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09070112-recent-news-reports-sweetener-reformulations-raise-questions-about-motivations Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:02:00 GMT