Sunday, August 03, 2008

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Alzheimer's Drug May Help Mild Memory Loss, Imaging Study Suggests

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 07:00 PM CDT

New UCLA research suggests that the treatment of early symptoms of memory loss may protect the brain and help people with mild age-related memory impairment. The finding also shows how PET offers researchers a tool for tracking the effectiveness of drugs prescribed to treat age-related cognitive decline.

Common Vaginal Infection May Increase Risk Of HIV Infection

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 07:00 PM CDT

A common vaginal infection may make women more susceptible to contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, researchers have found.

Timing Is Everything: How Vulnerable To Flooding Is New York City?

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 07:00 PM CDT

A new high-resolution storm surge modeling system will better be able to predict flood levels and when flooding will occur in the New York metropolitan area, information crucial to emergency managers when planning for impending storms.

Cutting The Brakes On The Immune System; Newly Discovered Gene Variant Implicated In Lupus

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 07:00 PM CDT

A new study has found that variation of a particular gene -- known as TNFAIP3 -- may cause the immune system to lose its ability to shut off, leading to the autoimmune disease lupus. The research appears in the August issue of the journal Nature Genetics.

Emerging Scientific Discipline Of Aeroecology

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 07:00 PM CDT

Aeroecology is the emerging discipline for studying how airborne organisms -- birds, bats, arthropods and microbes -- depend on the support of the lower atmosphere that is closest to the Earth's surface. Called the aerosphere, it influences the daily and seasonal movements, development traits, such as size and shape, and evolution of behavioral, sensory, metabolic and respiratory functions of airborne organisms. Understanding how they respond to altered landscapes and atmospheric conditions can also help mitigate adverse effects.

Cancer Patients Are Not Given Enough Information, Experts Say

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 07:00 PM CDT

Two thirds of cancer patients receive little or no information about the survival benefits of having palliative chemotherapy before making a decision about treatment, according to a new study.

Mother Earth Naked: A Modern Masterpiece

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 01:00 PM CDT

Have you ever wondered what our world would look like stripped bare of all plants, soils, water and human-made structures? Well wonder no longer -- images of the Earth as never seen before have been unveiled in what is the world's biggest geological mapping project ever.

How 'Hidden Mutations' Contribute To HIV Drug Resistance

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 01:00 PM CDT

One of the major reasons that treatment for HIV/AIDS often doesn't work as well as it should is resistance to the drugs involved. Now, scientists have determined how mutations hidden in previously ignored parts of the HIV genome play an important role in the development of drug resistance in AIDS patients.

Brain Plays Key Role In Appetite By Regulating Free Radicals

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 01:00 PM CDT

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found the brain's appetite center uses fat for fuel by involving oxygen free radicals -- molecules associated with aging and neurodegeneration. The findings suggest that antioxidants could play a role in weight control.

Treatment Corrects Severe Insulin Imbalance In Animal Studies

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 01:00 PM CDT

Researchers have used a drug to achieve normal levels of blood sugar in animals genetically engineered to have abnormally high insulin levels. If this approach succeeds in humans, it could become an innovative medicine for children with congenital hyperinsulinism, a rare but potentially devastating genetic disease in which insulin levels become dangerously high. There is currently no effective medical treatment for children with the most common type of congenital hyperinsulinism.

Superfluid-superconductor Relationship Is Detailed

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 01:00 PM CDT

Scientists have studied superconductors and superfluids for decades. Now researchers have drawn the first detailed picture of the way a superfluid influences the behavior of a superconductor. In addition to describing previously unknown superconductor behavior, these calculations could change scientists' understanding of the motion of neutron stars.

Free Academic Articles Get Read But Don't Generate More Citations

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 01:00 PM CDT

When academic articles are "open access" or free online, they get read more often, but they don't -- going against conventional wisdom -- get cited more often in academic literature, finds a new study.

Brightest, Sharpest, Fastest X-ray Holograms Yet

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 07:00 AM CDT

An international group of scientists working at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and at FLASH, the free-electron laser in Hamburg, Germany, has produced two of the brightest, sharpest x-ray holograms of microscopic objects ever made, thousands of times more efficiently than previous x-ray-holographic methods.

Fruit-fly Study Adds Weight To Theories About Another Type Of Adult Stem Cell

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 07:00 AM CDT

Researchers have found that mature, specialized cells naturally regress to serve as a kind of de facto stem cell during the fruit-fly life cycle.

Mussels To Determine How Much Contamination Is In The Ports

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 07:00 AM CDT

New research aimed at monitoring contamination of ports is using mussels to measure the levels of contaminants as they feed by filtering water and so accumulate any contaminant substances in their organs.

High Resolution Heart Images Now Available At Peak Stress

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 07:00 AM CDT

Researchers have designed equipment to provide high resolution images of the heart at a critical stage of testing that have previously been difficult to obtain using standard testing procedures. Superior images of the heart are obtained with a test lasting less than one hour.

Hybrid Cars Could Be More Reliable And Cheaper With New Fuel Cell Technology

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 07:00 AM CDT

Scientists have revolutionized the design of fuel cells used in the latest generation of hybrid cars which could make the vehicles more reliable and cheaper to build. The breakthrough, published in the journal Science, revolves around the design of a fuel cell in which a specially-coated form of popular hi tech outdoor and sporting clothing material Goretex® is the key component.

Watching Too Much TV Is Causing Some University Students To Pack On The Pounds

Posted: 03 Aug 2008 07:00 AM CDT

What's causing some university students to pack on the pounds? University of Alberta researchers say the culprit could be television commercials. Researchers discovered students who reported medium or high television viewership snacked more frequently while watching TV and recognized more advertising than students who were considered low TV viewers.

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