Science News SciGuru.com

3-D MRI better evaluator for patients with mitral valve disease
Quantum Condensate of the Thirteenth Kind
Research reveals new clue in fight against TB in cattle
Better tests for sleeping sickness
Reaction Uses Carbon Dioxide to Make Carbon-Based Semiconductor
Effort to create first comprehensive tree of life
Mercury in Dolphins: Study Compares Toxin Levels in Captive and Wild Sea Mammals
Scientists decipher the structure of bacterial injection needles at atomic resolution
Rare neurons discovered in monkey brains

3-D MRI better evaluator for patients with mitral valve disease

Posted: 22 May 2012 07:11 AM PDT

Using MRI analysis with 3-D imaging instead of a traditional echocardiogram could help physicians better manage patients with mitral regurgitation and better predict when surgery for the condition is necessary, according to a study co-authored by University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers and published in the May 15, 2012, issue of Circulation.

Quantum Condensate of the Thirteenth Kind

Posted: 22 May 2012 07:07 AM PDT

Ultracold quantum gases have exceptional properties and offer an ideal system to study basic physical phenomena. By choosing erbium, the research team led by Francesca Ferlaino from the Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Innsbruck, selected a very exotic element, which due to its particular properties offers new and fascinating possibilities to investigate fundamental questions in quantum physics.

Research reveals new clue in fight against TB in cattle

Posted: 22 May 2012 04:59 AM PDT

The failure of the current bovine tuberculosis (TB) eradication programme could be partly due to a parasitic worm that hinders the tests used to diagnose TB in cows, according to new research published this week.

Scientists at The Universities of Nottingham and Liverpool have discovered that a parasitic flatworm often found in cattle reduces the sensitivity of skin tests used to diagnose TB in the animals. The flatworm is called Fasciola hepatica, otherwise known as the common liver fluke.

Better tests for sleeping sickness

Posted: 22 May 2012 04:49 AM PDT

Lies Van Nieuwenhove, researcher at the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine, has produced proteins imitating typical parts of the sleeping sickness parasite. They can be used in more efficient diagnostic tests, without the need for culturing dangerous parasites.

Reaction Uses Carbon Dioxide to Make Carbon-Based Semiconductor

Posted: 21 May 2012 04:03 PM PDT

A materials scientist at Michigan Technological University has discovered a chemical reaction that not only eats up the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, it also creates something useful. And, by the way, it releases energy.

Effort to create first comprehensive tree of life

Posted: 21 May 2012 12:34 PM PDT

Since Darwin, assembling an evolutionary tree that shows the relationships between all known species of life has been one of the grandest and most daunting challenges facing biologists.

Despite 150 years of effort, there's still no comprehensive tree of life, no single diagram that displays the links between all of the 1.8 million or so named species of animals, plants and microorganisms.

Mercury in Dolphins: Study Compares Toxin Levels in Captive and Wild Sea Mammals

Posted: 21 May 2012 10:24 AM PDT

Amid growing concerns about the spread of harmful mercury in plants and animals, a new study by researchers from The Johns Hopkins University and The National Aquarium has compared levels of the chemical in captive dolphins with dolphins found in the wild. The captive animals were fed a controlled diet, while the wild mammals dined on marine life that may carry more of the toxic metal.

Scientists decipher the structure of bacterial injection needles at atomic resolution

Posted: 21 May 2012 10:16 AM PDT

The plague, bacterial dysentery, and cholera have one thing in common: These dangerous diseases are caused by bacteria which infect their host using a sophisticated injection apparatus. Through needle-like structures, they release molecular agents into their host cell, thereby evading the immune response.

Rare neurons discovered in monkey brains

Posted: 21 May 2012 10:06 AM PDT

The anterior insular cortex is a small brain region that plays a crucial role in human self-awareness and in related neuropsychiatric disorders. A unique cell type – the von Economo neuron (VEN) – is located there. For a long time, the VEN was assumed to be unique to humans, great apes, whales and elephants. Henry Evrard, neuroanatomist at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, now discovered that the VEN occurs also in the insula of macaque monkeys.