http://www.sciencecentric.com/ Latest news in natural sciences and technology provided by Science Centric en-gb Copyright 2010, Science Centric contact@sciencecentric.com (Stanislav Abadjiev) Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:49:00 GMT Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:49:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss/ http://www.sciencecentric.com/images/sc_logo_news.jpg http://www.sciencecentric.com/ A parent's existing health habits or behaviours, like cigarette smoking, may influence the likelihood that they will have their daughters vaccinated against HPV... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020817-more-smokers-than-non-smokers-accept-hpv-vaccination-their-daughters http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020817-more-smokers-than-non-smokers-accept-hpv-vaccination-their-daughters Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:49:00 GMT Workers exposed to tricholorethylene (TCE), a chemical once widely used to clean metal such as auto parts, may be at a significantly higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020816-industrial-cleaner-linked-increased-risk-parkinson-disease http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020816-industrial-cleaner-linked-increased-risk-parkinson-disease Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:46:00 GMT Oestrogen-only hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may increase the risk of developing asthma after the menopause, suggests a large scale study published ahead of print in the journal Thorax... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020815-oestrogen-only-hrt-may-increase-risk-asthma-after-menopause http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020815-oestrogen-only-hrt-may-increase-risk-asthma-after-menopause Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:43:00 GMT A new analysis has found that women with medium or low levels of income are particularly susceptible to anxiety and depression after being diagnosed with the precancerous breast condition, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study suggests that women with financial hardship may benefit from psychosocial interventions that are designed to accommodate their unique needs... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020814-financial-hardship-contributes-diagnosis-anxiety http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020814-financial-hardship-contributes-diagnosis-anxiety Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:40:00 GMT Tiny circles of DNA are the key to a new and easier way to transform stem cells from human fat into induced pluripotent stem cells for use in regenerative medicine, say scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Unlike other commonly used techniques, the method, which is based on standard molecular biology practices, does not use viruses to introduce genes into the cells or permanently alter a cell's genome... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020813-virus-free-technique-enables-stanford-scientists-easily-make-stem-cells-pluripotent http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020813-virus-free-technique-enables-stanford-scientists-easily-make-stem-cells-pluripotent Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:37:00 GMT Deafness is the most common disorder of the senses. Tragically, it commonly strikes in early childhood, severely damaging an affected child's ability to learn speech and language. In many cases, children gradually lose their hearing to become profoundly deaf over a long period of months to years, but scientists know very little about how this progressive loss happens, making prospects for prevention and cure very slim. Over half the cases of childhood deafness are estimated to be due to defects in just one gene passed from either the mother or father, and many of these deafness genes have been identified. However, as the way we hear is so complicated, it has been really difficult to work out exactly how these genes cause such wholesale effects... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020812-mice-shed-new-light-on-causes-childhood-deafness http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020812-mice-shed-new-light-on-causes-childhood-deafness Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:34:00 GMT Scientists announced 7 February they have identified for the first time definitive variants associated with biological ageing in humans. The team analysed more than 500,000 genetic variations across the entire human genome to identify the variants which are located near a gene called TERC... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020811-scientists-identify-first-genetic-variant-linked-biological-ageing-humans http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020811-scientists-identify-first-genetic-variant-linked-biological-ageing-humans Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:31:00 GMT The Faculty of Science at the University of Gothenburg has presented the recipient of their third annual Faculty of Science Research Award. The winner of the SEK 250 000 prize is a chemist whose research may eventually help prevent the spread of malaria... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020810-research-award-puts-focus-on-future-malaria-prevention http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020810-research-award-puts-focus-on-future-malaria-prevention Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:28:00 GMT Researchers with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have found that the prevalence of tamoxifen use for the prevention of breast cancer among women without a personal history of breast cancer is very low... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020809-few-women-take-tamoxifen-prevent-breast-cancer http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020809-few-women-take-tamoxifen-prevent-breast-cancer Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:25:00 GMT Consuming two or more soft drinks per week increased the risk of developing pancreatic cancer by nearly twofold compared to individuals who did not consume soft drinks, according to a report in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020808-soft-drink-consumption-may-increase-risk-pancreatic-cancer http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020808-soft-drink-consumption-may-increase-risk-pancreatic-cancer Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:22:00 GMT Increased Medicare payments to physicians for outpatient surgeries for bladder cancer have led to a dramatic rise in the number of these procedures being performed and an overall increase in cost to the healthcare system. That is the conclusion of a new study published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The findings indicate that some Medicare policies aimed at decreasing costs may instead be contributing to an increase in healthcare expenditures... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020807-medicare-reimbursement-change-meant-save-money-has-opposite-effect http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020807-medicare-reimbursement-change-meant-save-money-has-opposite-effect Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:19:00 GMT Women with gout are at greater risk of a heart attack than men with the disease, indicates research published ahead of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020806-women-with-gout-at-greater-risk-heart-attack-than-men http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020806-women-with-gout-at-greater-risk-heart-attack-than-men Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:16:00 GMT An investigational drug that inhibits serotonin synthesis in the gut, administered orally once daily, effectively cured osteoporosis in mice and rats reports an international team led by researchers from Columbia University Medical Centre, in the Feb. 7 issue of Nature Medicine. Serotonin in the gut has been shown in recent research to stall bone formation. The finding could lead to new therapies that build new bone; most current drugs for osteoporosis can only prevent the breakdown of old bone... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020805-inhibiting-serotonin-gut-could-cure-osteoporosis http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020805-inhibiting-serotonin-gut-could-cure-osteoporosis Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:13:00 GMT Endometrial cancer is the most common cancer of the female reproductive tract, representing 6% of all cancers. There is currently no screening method or biomarker to indicate early presence of disease. 'It is a very common malignancy that affects women of all ages' comments paper author Dr Diego Castrillon. The cancer forms from the cells that grow along the inner lining of the uterus, which is called the endometrium, and usually it is diagnosed following patient reports of abnormal bleeding... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020804-a-potent-suppressor-endometrial-cancer-is-revealed http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020804-a-potent-suppressor-endometrial-cancer-is-revealed Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:10:00 GMT The benefits of marijuana in tempering or reversing the effects of Alzheimer's disease have been challenged in a new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020803-marijuana-ineffective-as-an-alzheimer-treatment http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020803-marijuana-ineffective-as-an-alzheimer-treatment Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:07:00 GMT A peasant-friendly policy combined with opportunities to buy freeholds. According to a history thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, these were the two key reasons for the major agricultural developments in Sweden during the 18th and 19th centuries... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020802-improved-conditions-peasants-fuelled-agricultural-revolution http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020802-improved-conditions-peasants-fuelled-agricultural-revolution Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:04:00 GMT A new study suggests that beer is a significant source of dietary silicon, a key ingredient for increasing bone mineral density. Researchers from the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis studied commercial beer production to determine the relationship between beer production methods and the resulting silicon content, concluding that beer is a rich source of dietary silicon. Details of this study are available in the February issue of the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Society of Chemical Industry... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020801-research-reveals-link-between-beer-bone-health http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020801-research-reveals-link-between-beer-bone-health Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:01:00 GMT NASA has released the most detailed and dramatic images ever taken of the distant dwarf planet Pluto. The images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show an icy, mottled, dark molasses-coloured world undergoing seasonal surface colour and brightness changes... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020766-pluto-white-dark-orange-charcoal-black-terrain-captured-by-hubble http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020766-pluto-white-dark-orange-charcoal-black-terrain-captured-by-hubble Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:56:00 GMT A study published in Science, by researchers at Rothamsted Research (an institute of the BBSRC), the Met Office, the Natural Resources Institute, and the Universities of Exeter, Greenwich and York, sheds new light on the flight behaviours that enable insects to undertake long-distance migrations, and highlights the remarkable abilities of these insect migrants... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020765-migrating-insects-fly-the-fast-lane http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020765-migrating-insects-fly-the-fast-lane Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:56:00 GMT Prions are a special class of proteins best known as the source for mad cow and other neurodegenerative diseases. Despite this negative reputation, according to a new report in the February 5th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, a prion may also have important and very positive roles in brain function. The researchers suggest that a prion-like protein may participate in memory in higher eukaryotes, from sea slugs on up... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020764-prion-leaves-lasting-mark-on-memory http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020764-prion-leaves-lasting-mark-on-memory Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:53:00 GMT An ultra-lightweight sponge made of clay and a bit of high-grade plastic draws oil out of contaminated water but leaves the water behind... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020763-new-material-absorbs-conserves-oil http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020763-new-material-absorbs-conserves-oil Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:50:00 GMT Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder affect tens of millions of individuals around the world. These disorders have a typical onset in the early twenties and in most cases have a chronic or recurring course. Neither disorder has an objective biological marker than can be used to make diagnoses or to guide treatment... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020762-in-schizophrenia-bipolar-disorder-life-is-not-black-white http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020762-in-schizophrenia-bipolar-disorder-life-is-not-black-white Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:47:00 GMT Hubble shows that the beautiful spirals galaxies of the modern Universe were the ugly ducklings of six billion years ago... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020761-where-did-today-spiral-galaxies-come-from http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020761-where-did-today-spiral-galaxies-come-from Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:44:00 GMT The suitcases are in the boot, the kids in the back seat - the only thing left to do as you get in the car is to quickly check the holiday route on the navigator. As you wait at the traffic lights, you select your favourite song on the MP3 player, while the passenger next to you sifts through her digital travel guide looking for the main tourist sights. Users of mobile devices like to access information on the go - anytime, anywhere... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020760-mwc-2010-flashfind-lightning-fast-search-on-mobile-devices http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020760-mwc-2010-flashfind-lightning-fast-search-on-mobile-devices Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:41:00 GMT In the natural stream communities of Trinidad, guppy populations live close together, but evolve differently. Upstream, fewer predators mean more guppies but less food for each; they grow slowly and larger, reproduce later and less, and die older. Downstream, where predators thrive, guppies eat more, grow rapidly, stay small, reproduce quickly and die younger... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020759-yes-ecology-shapes-evolution-but-guppies-show-reverse-also-true http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020759-yes-ecology-shapes-evolution-but-guppies-show-reverse-also-true Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:38:00 GMT The entry of oil companies into the realm of renewable energy could present major obstacles for the development of a sustainable economy that is not based on carbon resources, according to a report in the International Journal of Green Economics... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020758-renewable-oil-companies http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020758-renewable-oil-companies Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:35:00 GMT Using an elaborate sleuthing system they developed to probe how cells manage their own division, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that common but hard-to-see sugar switches are partly in control... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020757-sweet-sugar-plays-key-role-cell-division http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020757-sweet-sugar-plays-key-role-cell-division Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:32:00 GMT MIT researchers have demonstrated the first laser built from germanium that can emit wavelengths of light useful for optical communications. It's also the first germanium laser to operate at room temperature. Unlike the materials typically used in lasers, germanium is easy to incorporate into existing processes for manufacturing silicon chips. So the result could prove an important step toward computers that move data - and maybe even perform calculations - using light instead of electricity... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020756-mit-researchers-build-first-germanium-laser http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020756-mit-researchers-build-first-germanium-laser Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:29:00 GMT A Monash University-led nationwide study into the health beliefs and behaviours of obese people has found that the more severely obese a person is, the less likely they feel they can reduce their weight... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020755-winning-the-war-on-weight http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020755-winning-the-war-on-weight Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:26:00 GMT Countries participating in a major endangered species trade conference in March must back better protections for red and pink coral, which are disappearing because of overfishing to make jewellery... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020754-international-protection-needed-coral-used-jewellery http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020754-international-protection-needed-coral-used-jewellery Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:23:00 GMT The chemical composition of our oceans is not constant but has varied significantly over geological time. In a study published this week in Science, researchers describe a novel method for reconstructing past ocean chemistry using calcium carbonate veins that precipitate from seawater-derived fluids in rocks beneath the seafloor. The research was led by scientists from the University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science (SOES) hosted at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS)... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020753-carbonate-veins-reveal-chemistry-ancient-seawater http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020753-carbonate-veins-reveal-chemistry-ancient-seawater Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:20:00 GMT Chemists at Oregon State University have discovered and synthesised a new compound that in laboratory and animal tests appears to be similar to, but may have advantages over one of the most important antidepressant medications in the world... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020752-compound-created-at-osu-could-become-important-new-antidepressant http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020752-compound-created-at-osu-could-become-important-new-antidepressant Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:17:00 GMT A major hurdle in the ambitious quest to design and construct a radically new kind of quantum computer has been finding a way to manipulate the single electrons that very likely will constitute the new machines' processing components or 'qubits'... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020751-princeton-scientist-makes-leap-quantum-computing http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020751-princeton-scientist-makes-leap-quantum-computing Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:14:00 GMT Bacteria that infect chronic wounds can be deadly to maggot 'biosurgeons' used to treat the lesions, show researchers writing in the journal Microbiology. The findings could lead to more effective treatment of wounds and the development of novel antibiotics... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020750-bacteria-toxic-wound-treating-maggots http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020750-bacteria-toxic-wound-treating-maggots Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:11:00 GMT Although children can be depressed for many reasons, new evidence suggests that there are physiological differences among depressed children based on their experiences of abuse before age 5. Early abuse may be especially damaging due to the very young age at which it occurs... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020749-early-abuse-tied-more-depression-children http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020749-early-abuse-tied-more-depression-children Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:08:00 GMT A new study of children in Ukraine has found that for the growing number of HIV-infected children, the quality of care and the relationship between children and their caregivers play an important role in their development. Based on their findings, the researchers highlight the importance of comprehensive but focused intervention efforts to improve these relationships by changing caregivers' working schedules and providing training to enhance the stability and sensitivity of care... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020748-for-hiv-infected-children-quality-caregiver-relationship-is-crucial http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020748-for-hiv-infected-children-quality-caregiver-relationship-is-crucial Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:05:00 GMT The amount of time children spend in institutional care may affect how their brains develop... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020747-length-time-institutional-care-may-influence-children-learning http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020747-length-time-institutional-care-may-influence-children-learning Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:02:00 GMT Executive functioning is a set of advanced cognitive functions - such as the ability to control impulses, remember things, and show mental flexibility - that help us plan and monitor what we do to reach goals. Although executive functioning develops speedily between ages 1 and 6, children vary widely in their skills in this area. Now a new longitudinal study tells us that moms play a role in how their children develop these abilities... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020746-moms-influence-how-children-develop-advanced-cognitive-functions http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020746-moms-influence-how-children-develop-advanced-cognitive-functions Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:59:00 GMT A new study identifies earthquakes through July 2007 that have produced 100 of the strongest peak accelerations (PGA) and 100 of the strongest peak velocities (PGV) ever recorded. The threshold for the first list is acceleration of the ground exceeding 7.31 m/s2 (74% of gravity), while the threshold for the second is velocity exceeding 0.65 m/s. Crustal earthquakes dominate the lists. Exceptionally strong ground motions exceeding these levels have been observed on sites with the softest soils and sites with the hardest rock... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020745-seismology-highlights-from-bssa-february-issue http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020745-seismology-highlights-from-bssa-february-issue Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:56:00 GMT The increasing acidity of the world's oceans - and that acidity's growing threat to marine species - are definitive proof that the atmospheric carbon dioxide that is causing climate change is also negatively affecting the marine environment, says world-renowned Antarctic marine biologist Jim McClintock, Ph.D., professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Biology... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020744-oceans-reveal-further-impacts-climate-change http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020744-oceans-reveal-further-impacts-climate-change Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:53:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have become the first in the world to synthesise the entire protein that is responsible for life-threatening malaria in pregnant women and their unborn children. The protein known as VAR2CSA enables malaria parasites to accumulate in the placenta and can therefore potentially be used as the main component in a vaccine to trigger antibodies that protect pregnant women against malaria. The research team is now planning to test the efficacy of the protein-based vaccine on humans. The hope is that within 10 years all African girls could be vaccinated against maternal malaria, thereby preventing more than 200,000 deaths a year... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020743-breakthrough-by-danish-scientists-preventing-maternal-malaria http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020743-breakthrough-by-danish-scientists-preventing-maternal-malaria Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:50:00 GMT Scientists in Cambridge have made a significant step towards developing a so-called 'artificial pancreas' system for managing type 1 diabetes in children. The team has developed and successfully tested a new algorithm, providing a stepping stone to home testing for the artificial pancreas... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020742-artificial-pancreas-step-nearer-children-with-type-1-diabetes http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020742-artificial-pancreas-step-nearer-children-with-type-1-diabetes Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:47:00 GMT On Tuesday, representatives of the Eastern Illinois Foodbank shared results of a national study sponsored by Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organisation. The study is completed every four years by nearly 200 food banks and analyses the effectiveness of emergency food distribution throughout the United States. Craig Gundersen, an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois, is a member of the Technical Advisory Group for this report... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020741-u-i-faculty-assist-evaluating-us-food-security-programs http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020741-u-i-faculty-assist-evaluating-us-food-security-programs Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:44:00 GMT Sure, some delicacies might taste just like chicken, but they usually feel and look much different. Soy meat alternatives, such as the soy burger, have become more popular recently, with increased sales of eight percent from 2007 to 2008. Now, scientists at the University of Missouri have created a soy substitute for chicken that is much like the real thing. The new soy chicken also has health benefits, including lowering cholesterol and maintaining healthy bones... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020740-it-looks-feels-tastes-like-chicken-but-it-made-soy http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020740-it-looks-feels-tastes-like-chicken-but-it-made-soy Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:41:00 GMT A novel finding, described 4 February on the Science Express Web site by teams from the National Cancer Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Centre at San Antonio and the University of Toronto, offers a clue as to how genes can have what you might call multiple personalities... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020739-scientists-id-protein-that-splices-dices-genes http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020739-scientists-id-protein-that-splices-dices-genes Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:38:00 GMT The commonly-used painkiller Paracetamol can protect against kidney failure after severe muscle injury, according to research at the University of Essex... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020738-paracetamol-protects-against-kidney-failure-after-muscle-injury http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020738-paracetamol-protects-against-kidney-failure-after-muscle-injury Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:35:00 GMT The best way to track a moving object with a flashlight might be to aim it to one side, catching the object in the edge of the beam rather than the centre. New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science reveals that bats, which 'see' with beams of sound waves, skew their beams off-centre when they want to locate an object. The research, which recently appeared in Science, shows that this strategy is the most efficient for locating objects... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020737-aiming-the-side http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020737-aiming-the-side Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:32:00 GMT Although several studies pertaining to the natural history of subepithelial tumours have been published, they have been limited by small sample size and relatively short follow-up. The natural history of subepithelial lesions has not been clearly elucidated, and the appropriate management strategy for small subepithelial tumours is still controversial... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020736-clinical-course-subepithelial-lesions http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020736-clinical-course-subepithelial-lesions Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:29:00 GMT Colonoscopy is operator-dependent and substantial numbers of pre-cancerous polyps are missed during colonoscopy. Colonoscopies are often poorly documented, with only a few still photographs taken of anatomic landmarks and abnormal findings. Video recording is rarely used in colonoscopy except for teaching purposes; therefore, the potential impact of systematic video recording on the quality of colonoscopy is unknown... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020735-patient-interest-video-recording-colonoscopy http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020735-patient-interest-video-recording-colonoscopy Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:26:00 GMT Researchers at Yale School of Medicine believe they may have discovered how the hormone progesterone acts to prevent preterm birth... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020734-researchers-may-have-uncovered-the-mechanism-by-which-progesterone-prevents-preterm-birth http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020734-researchers-may-have-uncovered-the-mechanism-by-which-progesterone-prevents-preterm-birth Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:23:00 GMT Male homosexuality doesn't make complete sense from an evolutionary point of view. It appears that the trait is heritable, but because homosexual men are much less likely to produce offspring than heterosexual men, shouldn't the genes for this trait have been extinguished long ago? What value could this sexual orientation have, that it has persisted for eons even without any discernible reproductive advantage?... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020733-study-reveals-potential-evolutionary-role-same-sex-attraction http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020733-study-reveals-potential-evolutionary-role-same-sex-attraction Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:20:00 GMT Within a virus's tiny exterior is a store of energy waiting to be unleashed. When the virus encounters a host cell, this pent-up energy is released, propelling the viral DNA into the cell and turning it into a virus factory. For the first time, Carnegie Mellon University physicist Alex Evilevitch has directly measured the energy associated with the expulsion of viral DNA, a pivotal discovery toward fully understanding the physical mechanisms that control viral infection and designing drugs to interfere with the process... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020732-carnegie-mellon-first-measure-energy-released-from-virus-during-infection http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020732-carnegie-mellon-first-measure-energy-released-from-virus-during-infection Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:17:00 GMT Children who were exposed to acetaminophen prenatally were more likely to have asthma symptoms at age five in a study of 300 African-American and Dominican Republic children living in New York City. Building on prior research showing an association between both prenatal and postnatal acetaminophen and asthma, this is the first study to demonstrate a direct link between asthma and an ability to detoxify foreign substances in the body. The findings were published this week in the journal Thorax... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020731-use-acetaminophen-pregnancy-associated-with-increased-asthma-symptoms-children http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020731-use-acetaminophen-pregnancy-associated-with-increased-asthma-symptoms-children Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:14:00 GMT An advancement in hybrid electric vehicle technology is providing powerful benefits beyond transportation... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020730-new-ornl-system-provides-hybrid-electric-autos-with-power-spare http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020730-new-ornl-system-provides-hybrid-electric-autos-with-power-spare Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:11:00 GMT Smart control units that learn householders' energy habits and provide immediate feedback on consumption could give home energy savings of up to 20% without compromising comfort... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020729-habit-learning-device-will-lower-energy-bills-under-new-clean-energy-cashback-scheme http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020729-habit-learning-device-will-lower-energy-bills-under-new-clean-energy-cashback-scheme Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:08:00 GMT Ancient human teeth are telling secrets that may relate to modern-day health: Some stressful events that occurred early in development are linked to shorter life spans... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020728-ancient-remains-put-teeth-into-barker-hypothesis http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020728-ancient-remains-put-teeth-into-barker-hypothesis Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:05:00 GMT Exposure to ecstasy or cocaine during adolescence increases the 'reinforcing effects' that make people vulnerable to developing an addiction. This is the main conclusion of a research team from the University of Valencia (UV), which has shown for the first time how these changes persist into adulthood... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020727-cocaine-or-ecstasy-consumption-during-adolescence-increases-risk-addiction http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020727-cocaine-or-ecstasy-consumption-during-adolescence-increases-risk-addiction Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:02:00 GMT Online programs that provide information and tips about fruits and vegetables may be the key to getting more Americans to eat healthier, say researchers at Henry Ford Hospital... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020726-online-programs-improve-fruit-vegetable-consumption http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020726-online-programs-improve-fruit-vegetable-consumption Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:59:00 GMT An approach to decision making based on soft metrics could allow problems to be solved where no definitive 'yes-no' answer is possible in fields as diverse as healthcare, defence, economics, engineering, public utilities and science. Writing in the International Journal of Intelligent Defence Support Systems Mihaela Quirk of Los Alamos National Laboratory explains how... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020725-soft-intelligence-hard-decisions http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020725-soft-intelligence-hard-decisions Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:56:00 GMT The state of Michigan, which used a five-step checklist developed at Johns Hopkins to virtually eliminate bloodstream infections in its hospitals' intensive care units, has been able to keep the number of these common, costly and potentially lethal infections near zero - even three years after first adopting the standardised procedures. A report on the work is being published in the February 20 issue of BMJ (British Medical Journal)... http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020724-3-years-out-safety-checklist-continues-keep-hospital-infections-check http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=10020724-3-years-out-safety-checklist-continues-keep-hospital-infections-check Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:53:00 GMT