ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

---

• Burden of epilepsy in developing world described
• Honey bees fight back against Varroa
• Helicopter heroes save lives of severely injured patients
• Liver cells, insulin-producing cells, thymus can be grown in lymph nodes, team finds
• Researchers investigate aggression among kindergartners
• Colorectal cancer gene database helpful in furthering research
• Hearing brains are 'deaf' to disappearance of sounds, study reveals
• Genetic sleuthing uncovers deadly new virus in Africa
• Dollars for donors: Many support financial incentives to encourage organ donation
• World's first glimpse of a black hole 'launchpad'
• Surgery for crossed eyes not just for kids
• Work-family conflict translates to greater risk of musculoskeletal pain for hospital workers
• Soil heat shield concept passes arc jet testing
• Landsat satellites find the 'sweet spot' for crops
• NASA offers opportunity to use communications testbed on space station
• Simulations uncover 'flashy' secrets of merging black holes
• Nickelblock: An element's love-hate relationship with battery electrodes
• Deadly complication of stem cell transplants reduced in mice
• New fish species offers literal take on 'hooking up'
• Browser plugin helps people balance their political news reading habits
• Doctoral student developing next generation of lithium-ion batteries for longer lasting mobile devices, electric cars
• Measuring the universe’s 'exit door': For the first time, an international team has measured the radius of a black hole
• Peering to the edge of a black hole
• New clues about ancient water cycles shed light on U.S. deserts
• Dynamics of DNA packaging helps regulate formation of heart
• Napiergrass: A potential biofuel crop for the sunny Southeast
• NASA rover finds old streambed on Martian surface
• Increased hospital infections linked to nurse burnout
• Scientists capture clues to sustainability of fish populations
• It's not too late for troubled fisheries, experts say
• Tiny resorbable semiconductors: Smooth as silk 'transient electronics' dissolve in body or environment
• Uranium-contaminated site yields wealth of information on microbes 10 feet under
• Electronics that vanish in the environment or the body
• Disappearing act: Biocompatible electronics for health monitoring vanish when no longer needed
• 'Semi-dwarf' trees may enable a green revolution for some forest crops
• Key part of old mystery in generating muscle mass solved
• Probability maps help sniff out food contamination
• How tradition and tribal courts can end war
• The GOP has a feminine face, study finds
• Learning to overcome fear is difficult for teens
• Cyborg surgeon: Hand and technology combine in new surgical tool that enables superhuman precision
• Single-site laparoscopic surgery reduces pain of tumor removal
• New efficiency record for photovoltaic cells, thanks to heterojunction
• BMI and shuttle run among techniques new report recommends for youth fitness testing
• Retiring during economic booms could cause financial hardships for retirees
• First real indicator of longevity in mammals discovered
• Nature's misfits: Reclassifying protists helps answer how many species remain undiscovered
• Obesity-related hormone discovered in fruit flies
• Major cancer protein amplifies global gene expression
• Shared pathway links Lou Gehrig's disease with spinal muscular atrophy
• Study adds to efforts to find more effective anti-inflammatory drugs
• Cogmed working memory training: Does it actually work? The debate continues…
• Treating hepatitis C infection in prison is good public policy, study suggests
• Contrast-enhanced ultrasound better detects high-grade prostate cancers with fewer biopsies
• Unique genetic marker discovery may help predict multiple sclerosis relapse
• Nothing fishy about fish oil fortified nutrition bars
• Experts call on Congress to create first U.S. weather commission
• Smoking in movies increases in 2011, reverses five years of progress
• Aggressive cancer exploits Myc oncogene to amplify global gene activity
• Scientists find molecular link to obesity/insulin resistance in mice

Burden of epilepsy in developing world described Posted: 27 Sep 2012 05:54 PM PDT The burden of epilepsy in poorer parts of the world could be readily alleviated by reducing the preventable causes and improving access to treatment, according to a review article.

Honey bees fight back against Varroa Posted: 27 Sep 2012 05:53 PM PDT The parasitic mite Varroa destructor is a major contributor to the recent mysterious death of honey bee colonies. New research finds that specific proteins, released by damaged larvae and in the antennae of adult honey bees, can drive hygienic behavior of the adults and promote the removal of infected larvae from the hive.

Helicopter heroes save lives of severely injured patients Posted: 27 Sep 2012 05:53 PM PDT The benefits and cost effectiveness of helicopter transport for severely injured patients is of continued debate. New research shows that for severe blunt trauma, patients transported by helicopter had a lower risk of death, compared to those transported by road.

Liver cells, insulin-producing cells, thymus can be grown in lymph nodes, team finds Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:49 PM PDT Lymph nodes can provide a suitable home for a variety of cells and tissues from other organs, suggesting a cell-based alternative to whole organ transplantation might one day be feasible, according to researchers.

Researchers investigate aggression among kindergartners Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:49 PM PDT Not all aggressive children are aggressive for the same reasons, according to researchers, who found that some kindergartners who are aggressive show low verbal abilities while others are more easily physiologically aroused. The findings suggest that different types of treatments may be needed to help kids with different underlying causes for problem behavior.

Colorectal cancer gene database helpful in furthering research Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:47 PM PDT The CRCgene database, which gathers all genetic association studies on colorectal cancer, allows for researchers to accurately interpret the risk factors of the disease and provides insight into the direction of further colorectal cancer research, according to a new study.

Hearing brains are 'deaf' to disappearance of sounds, study reveals Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:47 PM PDT Our brains are better at hearing new and approaching sounds than detecting when a sound disappears, according to a new study. The findings could explain why parents often fail to notice the sudden quiet from the playroom that usually accompanies the onset of mischief.

Genetic sleuthing uncovers deadly new virus in Africa Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:43 PM PDT An isolated outbreak of a deadly disease known as acute hemorrhagic fever, which killed two people and left one gravely ill in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the summer of 2009, was probably caused by a novel virus scientists have never seen before.

Dollars for donors: Many support financial incentives to encourage organ donation Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:43 PM PDT Most Canadians view financial incentives for deceased kidney donation to be acceptable, according to a new study. Nearly half of the general public in Canada also find it acceptable for living kidney donation. Studies are now needed to determine whether acceptability of financial incentives translates to more available organs to patients in critical need of a transplant.

World's first glimpse of a black hole 'launchpad' Posted: 27 Sep 2012 01:26 PM PDT A strange thing about black holes: they shine. New research may shed light on the origin of the bright jets given off by some black holes. In a world first, scientists have been able to look at a distant black hole and resolve the area where its jets are launched from. This is the first empirical evidence to support the connection between black hole spin and black hole jets that has been long suspected on theoretical grounds.

Surgery for crossed eyes not just for kids Posted: 27 Sep 2012 01:26 PM PDT Strabismus (crossed eyes) can be psychologically debilitating. But many adults who have this defect wrongly believe there's no treatment.

Work-family conflict translates to greater risk of musculoskeletal pain for hospital workers Posted: 27 Sep 2012 01:26 PM PDT Nurses and other hospital workers, especially those who work long hours or the night shift, often report trying to juggle the demands of the job and family obligations. A study out suggests that the higher the work-family conflict the greater the risk that health care workers will suffer from neck and other types of musculoskeletal pain.

Soil heat shield concept passes arc jet testing Posted: 27 Sep 2012 01:10 PM PDT Arc jet testing under intense temperatures and pressures showed that heat shields made from the soil of other worlds will stand up to the conditions they would encounter plunging through Earth's atmosphere, researchers said this week.

Landsat satellites find the 'sweet spot' for crops Posted: 27 Sep 2012 01:07 PM PDT Farmers are using maps created with free data from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey's Landsat satellites that show locations that are good and not good for growing crops.

NASA offers opportunity to use communications testbed on space station Posted: 27 Sep 2012 01:04 PM PDT Want to be a part of International Space Station research? Here's your chance. NASA is offering opportunities for academia, industry and government agencies to develop and carry out research and technology demonstrations on the space station using the newly installed Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Testbed.

Simulations uncover 'flashy' secrets of merging black holes Posted: 27 Sep 2012 12:31 PM PDT Researchers are using computational models to explore the mergers of supersized black holes. Their most recent work investigates what kind of "flash" might be seen by telescopes when astronomers ultimately find gravitational signals from such an event.

Nickelblock: An element's love-hate relationship with battery electrodes Posted: 27 Sep 2012 12:25 PM PDT Battery materials on the nano-scale reveal how nickel forms a physical barrier that impedes the shuttling of lithium ions in the electrode, reducing how fast the materials charge and discharge. The research also suggests a way to improve the materials.

Deadly complication of stem cell transplants reduced in mice Posted: 27 Sep 2012 12:25 PM PDT Studying leukemia in mice, researchers have reduced a life-threatening complication of stem cell transplants, the only curative treatment when leukemia returns.

New fish species offers literal take on 'hooking up' Posted: 27 Sep 2012 12:25 PM PDT A new species of freshwater fish has several interesting -- and perhaps cringe-inducing -- characteristics, including a series of four hooks on the male genitalia.

Browser plugin helps people balance their political news reading habits Posted: 27 Sep 2012 12:21 PM PDT As the U.S. presidential election approaches, many voters become voracious consumers of online political news. A new tool tracks whether all those articles really provide a balanced view of the debate -- and, if not, suggests some sites that offer opinions from the other side of the political spectrum.

Doctoral student developing next generation of lithium-ion batteries for longer lasting mobile devices, electric cars Posted: 27 Sep 2012 12:21 PM PDT Researchers are developing new materials that could be used in future lithium-ion batteries. The materials look to improve the energy storage capacity of batteries so that laptops, cellphones, electric cars and other mobile devices will last longer between charges.

Measuring the universe’s 'exit door': For the first time, an international team has measured the radius of a black hole Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:45 AM PDT The point of no return: In astronomy, it's known as a black hole -- a region in space where the pull of gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. Black holes that can be billions of times more massive than our sun may reside at the heart of most galaxies. Such supermassive black holes are so powerful that activity at their boundaries can ripple throughout their host galaxies. Now, an international team has for the first time measured the radius of a black hole at the center of a distant galaxy -- the closest distance at which matter can approach before being irretrievably pulled into the black hole.

Peering to the edge of a black hole Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:42 AM PDT Using a continent-spanning telescope, an international team of astronomers has peered to the edge of a black hole at the center of a distant galaxy. For the first time, they have measured the black hole's "point of no return" -- the closest distance that matter can approach before being irretrievably pulled into the black hole.

New clues about ancient water cycles shed light on U.S. deserts Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:42 AM PDT The deserts of Utah and Nevada have not always been dry. Now a researcher has found a new water cycle connection between the U.S. southwest and the tropics, and understanding the processes that have brought precipitation to the western US will help scientists better understand how the water cycle might be perturbed in the future.

Dynamics of DNA packaging helps regulate formation of heart Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:25 AM PDT A new regulator for heart formation has been discovered by studying how embryonic stem cells adjust the packaging of their DNA. This approach to finding genetic regulators may have the power to provide insight into the development of any tissue in the body – liver, brain, blood and so on. The impetus for learning how stem cells turn into heart muscle cells was to further research on repairing damaged hearts through tissue regeneration. The work also holds promise for understanding congenital heart defects.

Napiergrass: A potential biofuel crop for the sunny Southeast Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:25 AM PDT A grass fed to cattle throughout much of the tropics may become a biofuel crop that helps the nation meet its future energy needs, according to a scientist.

NASA rover finds old streambed on Martian surface Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:23 AM PDT NASA's Curiosity rover mission has found evidence a stream once ran vigorously across the area on Mars where the rover is driving. There is earlier evidence for the presence of water on Mars, but this evidence -- images of rocks containing ancient streambed gravels -- is the first of its kind.

Increased hospital infections linked to nurse burnout Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:15 AM PDT New research concludes that the degree of "burnout" experienced by nurses could relate directly to the frequency with which patients acquire infections during hospital stays.

Scientists capture clues to sustainability of fish populations Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:15 AM PDT Thanks to studies of a fish that gives birth to live young and is not fished commercially, scientists have discovered that food availability is a critical limiting factor in the health of fish populations.

It's not too late for troubled fisheries, experts say Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:15 AM PDT New research confirms suspicions that thousands of "data-poor" fisheries, representing some 80 percent of the world's fisheries, are in decline but could recover with proper management.

Tiny resorbable semiconductors: Smooth as silk 'transient electronics' dissolve in body or environment Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:15 AM PDT Tiny, fully biocompatible electronic devices that are able to dissolve harmlessly into their surroundings after functioning for a precise amount of time have been created by researchers. Dubbed "transient electronics," the new class of silk-silicon devices promises a generation of medical implants that never need surgical removal, as well as environmental monitors and consumer electronics that can become compost rather than trash.

Uranium-contaminated site yields wealth of information on microbes 10 feet under Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:15 AM PDT At sites contaminated with heavy metals, remediation often involves feeding the naturally occurring bacteria in the soil to encourage them to turn soluble metals into solids that won't leech into aquifers and streams. To find out what these microbes are doing, scientists performed a metagenomic analysis of the underground microbial community at one former uranium mill site in Colorado, assigning more than 150,000 sequenced genes to 80 bacteria and Archaea.

Electronics that vanish in the environment or the body Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:15 AM PDT Physicians and environmentalists alike could soon be using a new class of electronic devices: small, robust and high performance, yet also biocompatible and capable of dissolving completely in water – or in bodily fluids. Researchers have demonstrated a new type of biodegradable electronics technology that could introduce new design paradigms for medical implants that resorb into the body, environmental monitors and compostable consumer devices.

Disappearing act: Biocompatible electronics for health monitoring vanish when no longer needed Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:15 AM PDT An interdisciplinary team of researchers is the first to demonstrate "transient electronics" -- electronics that gradually disappear on a specified schedule, whether it be a few days or six months. A magnesium oxide encapsulation layer and silk overcoat envelops the electronics, and the thickness determines how long the system will take to disappear into its environment. The novel technology opens up possibilities for implantable electronics for medical purposes and environmental monitoring.

'Semi-dwarf' trees may enable a green revolution for some forest crops Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:13 AM PDT The same "green revolution" concepts that have revolutionized crop agriculture and helped to feed billions of people around the world may now offer similar potential in forestry, scientists say, with benefits for wood, biomass production, drought stress and even greenhouse gas mitigation.

Key part of old mystery in generating muscle mass solved Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:13 AM PDT Working with mice, researchers have solved a key part of a muscle regeneration mystery plaguing scientists for years, adding strong support to the theory that muscle mass can be built without a complete, fully functional supply of muscle stem cells.

Probability maps help sniff out food contamination Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:13 AM PDT Uncovering the sources of fresh food contamination could become faster and easier thanks to analysis done at Sandia National Laboratories' National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center (NISAC). The study demonstrates how developing a probability map of the food supply network using stochastic network representation might shorten the time it takes to track down contaminated food sources.

How tradition and tribal courts can end war Posted: 27 Sep 2012 11:12 AM PDT Mostly isolated from outsiders until the 1950s, Papua New Guinea's Enga tribes fought with bows and arrows until 1990, when their young people and mercenary "Rambos" began using shotguns and semiautomatic rifles, igniting 20 years of warfare that killed 4,816 people. Wars diminished among some 110 Enga tribes when they tired of bloodshed and economic chaos. Clan and church leaders restored peace using traditional indigenous institutions: outdoor village courts sanctioned by the state, anthropologists report.

The GOP has a feminine face, study finds Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:09 AM PDT Female politicians with stereotypically feminine facial features are more likely to be Republican than Democrat, and the correlation increases the more conservative the lawmaker's voting record, find two researchers who looked at facial features among members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The findings raise questions about the extent to which constituents and party elites select women candidates on the basis of physical attributes that convey such values as traditional sex roles.

Learning to overcome fear is difficult for teens Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:06 AM PDT A new study shows that adolescents' reactions to threat remain high even when the danger is no longer present. According to researchers, once a teenager's brain is triggered by a threat, the ability to suppress an emotional response to the threat is diminished which may explain the peak in anxiety and stress-related disorders during this developmental period.

Cyborg surgeon: Hand and technology combine in new surgical tool that enables superhuman precision Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:02 AM PDT Normally, surgeons' tiny hand tremors are inconsequential to the task, but for doctors specializing in fine-scale surgery, such as operating inside the human eye, freehand tremors can pose a serious risk for patients. By harnessing a specialized optical fiber sensor, a new "smart" surgical tool can compensate for this unwanted movement by making hundreds of precise position corrections each second – fast enough to keep the surgeon's hand on target.

Single-site laparoscopic surgery reduces pain of tumor removal Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:02 AM PDT Researchers have found that recovery from an emerging, minimally invasive surgical technique called Laparo-Endoscopic Single-Site Surgery was less painful for kidney cancer patients than traditional laparoscopic surgery.

New efficiency record for photovoltaic cells, thanks to heterojunction Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:02 AM PDT Scientists have developed photovoltaic cells with an energy conversion efficiency of 21.4 percent, the highest obtained for the type of substrate they used. This breakthrough will contribute to lowering the cost of solar-cell-based installations.

BMI and shuttle run among techniques new report recommends for youth fitness testing Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:02 AM PDT Techniques ranging from running to push-ups to sit-and-reach tests have been used to measure various aspects of fitness.

Retiring during economic booms could cause financial hardships for retirees Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:02 AM PDT An expert has found that many Americans choose to retire when the economic markets are peaking, an action that can, ironically, cause major problems for the long-term financial stability of retirees.

First real indicator of longevity in mammals discovered Posted: 27 Sep 2012 10:02 AM PDT Scientists have demonstrated that longevity is defined at a molecular level by the length of telomeres. The work opens the door to further study of these cellular components in order to calculate the rate at which cells age and thus be able to determine life expectancy.

Nature's misfits: Reclassifying protists helps answer how many species remain undiscovered Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:42 AM PDT Since the Victorian era, categorizing the natural world has challenged scientists. No group has presented a challenge as tricky as the protists, the tiny, complex life forms that are neither plants nor animals. A new reclassification of eukaryotic life forms draws together the latest research to clarify the current state of protist diversity and categorization, as well as the many species that remain to be discovered.

Obesity-related hormone discovered in fruit flies Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:42 AM PDT Researchers have discovered in fruit flies a key metabolic hormone thought to be the exclusive property of vertebrates. The hormone, leptin, is a nutrient sensor, regulating energy intake and output and ultimately controlling appetite.

Major cancer protein amplifies global gene expression Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:41 AM PDT Scientists may have discovered why a protein called MYC can provoke a variety of cancers. Like many proteins associated with cancer, MYC helps regulate cell growth. A new study found that, unlike many other cell growth regulators, MYC does not turn genes on or off, but instead boosts the expression of genes that are already turned on.

Shared pathway links Lou Gehrig's disease with spinal muscular atrophy Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:41 AM PDT Scientists have long known the main proteins that lead to the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy, respectively. Now research shows that these two motor neuron diseases likely share a pathway that leads to the development of disease.

Study adds to efforts to find more effective anti-inflammatory drugs Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:41 AM PDT Researchers have discovered a previously unknown function for a protein that could add to the expanding arsenal of potential new drugs for battling inflammation and tissue fibrosis in a number of disease processes. Scientists report that a protein called TRPC6 mediates a molecular pathway critical to the body's repair processes following various forms of injury caused by disease.

Cogmed working memory training: Does it actually work? The debate continues… Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:38 AM PDT A new article concludes that evidence does not support the claims of Cogmed Working Memory Training.

Treating hepatitis C infection in prison is good public policy, study suggests Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:38 AM PDT Incarcerated patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are just as likely to respond to treatment for the disease as patients in the community, according to new findings.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound better detects high-grade prostate cancers with fewer biopsies Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:37 AM PDT Contrast-enhanced ultrasound was found to better detect high-grade prostate cancer than conventional methods, making it a more appropriate approach for screening clinically important cancers and monitoring low-risk ones with less biopsies, researchers conclude.

Unique genetic marker discovery may help predict multiple sclerosis relapse Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:36 AM PDT Scientists may be one step closer to predicting the uncertain course of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease that can lay dormant for months or years, thanks to the discovery of a unique genetic marker. The marker is the first of its kind to be directly linked to MS.

Nothing fishy about fish oil fortified nutrition bars Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:36 AM PDT In today's fast-paced society, consumers often reach for nutrition bars when looking for a healthy on-the-go snack. A new study found that partially replacing canola oil with fish oil in nutrition bars can provide the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids without affecting the taste.

Experts call on Congress to create first U.S. weather commission Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:36 AM PDT With the U.S. economy vulnerable to weather events costing billions of dollars, an expert panel has asked Congress to create the first U.S. Weather Commission. The commission would provide guidance to policymakers on leveraging weather expertise across government and the private sector to better protect lives and businesses.

Smoking in movies increases in 2011, reverses five years of progress Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:36 AM PDT Top box office films last year showed more onscreen smoking than the prior year, reversing five years of steady progress in reducing tobacco imagery in movies, according to a new study.

Aggressive cancer exploits Myc oncogene to amplify global gene activity Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:36 AM PDT Researchers have determined the mechanism used by c-Myc to increase the expression of all active genes in cancer cells. Elevated levels of c-Myc are linked to increased rates of metastasis, disease recurrence, and mortality in cancer patients. Guided by this new model, researchers hope to find ways to restrict c-Myc's activity to eradicate cancer cells that become dependent on c-Myc for their survival.

Scientists find molecular link to obesity/insulin resistance in mice Posted: 27 Sep 2012 09:36 AM PDT Researchers have identified a molecular link between thermogenesis and the development of inflammation in fat cells. Activating molecular switch in white fat cells enabled mice to eat a high-calorie diet without becoming obese or developing the inflammation that causes insulin resistance, report scientists.

You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Latest Science News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610