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PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories
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Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine.
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Physical punishment of children potentially harmful to their long-term development
An analysis of research on physical punishment of children over the past 20 years indicates that such punishment is potentially harmful to their long-term development, states an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
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How autoreactive T cells slip through the cracks
Immune cells capable of attacking healthy organs "see" their targets differently than do protective immune cells that attack viruses, according to work published online this week in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
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Drugs targeting chromosomal instability may fight a particular breast cancer subtype
Another layer in breast cancer genetics has been peeled back. A team of researchers at Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center (KCC) led by Richard G. Pestell, M.D., PhD., FACP, Director of the KCC and Chair of the Department of Cancer Biology, have shown in a study published online Feb. 6 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation that the oncogene cyclin D1 may promote a genetic breakdown known as chromosomal instability (CIN). CIN is a known, yet poorly understood culprit in tumor progression.
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Heart hormone helps shape fat metabolism
It's well known that exercising reduces body weight because it draws on fat stores that muscle can burn as fuel. But a new study at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) suggests that the heart also plays a role in breaking down fat. In their study, published February 6 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Sheila Collins, Ph.D. and colleagues detail how hormones released by the heart stimulate fat cell metabolism. These hormones turn on a molecular mechanism similar to what's activated when the body is exposed to cold and burns fat to generate heat. This study adds another dimension to our understanding of how the body regulates fat tissue and may someday lead to new ways to manipulate the process with drugs to reduce weight in obese patients or maintain it in individuals who experience pathological weight loss during chronic heart failure.
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Solvay hails world's largest fuel cell of type in Flanders, one can power 1,400 homes
Chemicals giant Solvay hailed Monday the successful entry into service in Flanders of what it said was the largest fuel cell of its type in the world.
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Scientists make strides toward fixing infant hearts
Researchers at Rice University and Texas Children's Hospital have turned stem cells from amniotic fluid into cells that form blood vessels. Their success offers hope that such stem cells may be used to grow tissue patches to repair infant hearts.
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Donation opens new opportunities for more effective diabetes treatment
The Swedish medical university, Karolinska Institutet, has received a grant of 1.6 million Euro from the Stichting af Jochnick Foundation for research into the fundamental causes of diabetes. The grant will make it possible to use unique methods to study how the release of insulin is regulated in living organisms – and this will create new opportunities for developing more effective drugs against diabetes.
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New database aims to improve emergency general surgery care and outcomes
Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC, have successfully created and implemented an emergency general surgery registry (EGSR) that will advance the science of acute surgical care by allowing surgeons to track and improve surgical patient outcomes, create performance metrics, conduct valid research and ensure quality care for all emergency general surgery (EGS) patients. The registry, featured in a study published in the February 2012 issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, was modeled after the American College of Surgeons (ACS) National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) and components of the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP). It is the first registry of its kind to establish ICD-9 codes (International Classification of Diseases) that help to define and evaluate EGS patients.
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Does online dating really work?
Whether enlisting the help of a grandmother or a friend or the magic of Cupid, singles long have understood that assistance may be required to meet that special someone.
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'ROCK' off: Study establishes molecular link between genetic defect and heart malformation
UNC researchers have discovered how the genetic defect underlying one of the most common congenital heart diseases keeps the critical organ from developing properly. According to the new research, mutations in a gene called SHP-2 distort the shape of cardiac muscle cells so they are unable to form a fully functioning heart.
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Easy-to-use blood thinners likely to replace Coumadin
Within a few years, a new generation of easy-to-use blood-thinning drugs will likely replace Coumadin for patients with irregular heartbeats who are at risk for stroke, according to a journal article by Loyola University Medical Center physicians.
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The right recipe: Engineering research improves laser detectors, batteries
Think of it as cooking with carbon spaghetti: A Kansas State University researcher is developing new ways to create and work with carbon nanotubes -- ultrasmall tubes that look like pieces of spaghetti or string.
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Geometry, not gender: New study may shed light on why women, and some men, are at greater risk for ACL injuries
Much orthopaedic research has been devoted to determining why women are far more susceptible to knee ligament injuries than men. According to a new study, the answer may lie in geometry – the length and shape of a patient's knee bone – more than gender.
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Political leaders play key role in how worried Americans are by climate change: study
More than extreme weather events and the work of scientists, it is national political leaders who influence how much Americans worry about the threat of climate change, new research finds.
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Nanorod-assembled order affects diffusion rate and direction
Some of the recent advancements in nanotechnology depend critically on how nanoparticles move and diffuse on a surface or in a fluid under non-ideal to extreme conditions. Georgia Tech has a team of researchers dedicated to advancing this frontier.
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Combined asthma medication therapy shown to reduce attacks
A Henry Ford Hospital study has found that using two types of common asthma medications in combination reduces severe asthma attacks.
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A new species of bamboo-feeding plant lice found in Costa Rica
Several periods of field work during 2008 have led to the discovery of a new species of bamboo-feeding plant lice in Costa Rica's high-altitude region "Cerro de la Muerte". The discovery was made thanks to molecular data analysis of mitochondrial DNA. The collected records have also increased the overall knowledge of plant lice (one of the most dangerous agricultural pests worldwide) from the region with more that 20%. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.
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Time = money = less happiness, study finds
What does "free time" mean to you? When you're not at work, do you pass the time -- or spend it?
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New methodology assesses risk of scarce metals
Yale researchers have developed a methodology for governments and corporations to determine the availability of critical metals, according to a paper in Environmental Science & Technology.
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Gender wage gap shrunk faster than previously thought
The gap in wages between men and women has decreased sharply over the past 30 years, and a new University of Georgia study reveals that decline was even greater than previously recognized.
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The butterfly effect in nanotech medical diagnostics
Tiny metallic nanoparticles that shimmer in the light like the scales on a butterfly's wing are set to become the color-change components of a revolutionary new approach to point-of-care medical diagnostics, according to a study published in International Journal of Design Engineering.
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ESO team succeeds in linking telescopes at Paranal Observatory into giant VLT
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers working as part of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at the Cerra Paranal Mountain Observatory in the Atacama Desert in Chile, have succeeded in virtually connecting all four main Unit Telescopes (UTs) at the site, completing a project ten years in the making. Connecting the telescopes together virtually allows for the creation of a single virtual mirror that allows researchers to capture images from space as if all of the telescopes were in fact one giant telescope with a mirror 130m in diameter. Combined, the telescopes are known as the Very Large Telescope (VLT).
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Women born to older mothers have a higher risk of developing breast cancer
A new study analyses the influence that certain birth and infancy characteristics have on mammographic density – an important indicator of breast cancer risk. The results reveal that women born to mothers aged over 39 years and women who were taller and thinner than the average girl prior to puberty have a higher breast density. This brings with it an increased risk of developing breast cancer.
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Progress and promise in DIAL LIDAR
For climatologists and environmental policy makers who need to determine the flux of greenhouse gases (GHG), there are three paramount questions: Where is it, how much is there, and how is it moving? A new measurement approach is being developed and tested by a PML research team and NIST colleagues that may provide answers of unprecedented accuracy to all three.
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Asteroid Vesta floats in space in high resolution 3-D
The giant Asteroid Vesta literally floats in space in a new high resolution 3-D image of the battered bodies Eastern Hemisphere taken by NASA’s Dawn Asteroid Orbiter.
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