ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• 'Pac-Man' in space: 1980s video game icon glows on Saturn's moon Mimas
• Clues to pregnancy-associated breast cancer found
• Preventing road deaths: New research focuses on worldwide problem
• Disease-causing mutation disrupts movement of cell's 'power house'
• Compound screening for drug development made simpler
• Can animal models of disease reliably inform human studies?
• Hyenas' laughter signals deciphered
• Scorpion venom provides clues to cause, treatment of pancreatitis
• Bat navigation: After the next sunset, please turn right
• Dangerous custodians: Immune cells as possible nerve-cell killers in Alzheimer’s disease
• Flaxseed lowers high cholesterol in men, study suggests
• Predicting what people are about to say
• Scientists reverse Alzheimer's-like memory loss in fruit flies
• Potential new target for treating hepatitis C
• Microorganisms in toxic groundwater fine-tuned to survive
• C. difficile: Intervention drops hospital infection rate by a third
• Toward a 3-in-1 'dipstick' test for early detection of parasitic diseases
• Patients shouldn't navigate Internet without physician guide, experts say
• Urine sprays during courtship send mixed messages
• Possible 'superbug' status for gonorrhea
• An archaeological mystery in a half-ton lead coffin
• Living longer: Colon cancer patients gain time with radiofrequency ablation treatment
• Robot sub equipped with sensory system inspired by blind fish
• Protein linked to problems with executive thinking skills
• For one tiny instant, physicists may have broken a law of nature
• Mutations in one gene can cause many cancers, study shows
• Orange corn holds promise for reducing blindness, child death
• Radiation after mastectomy underused, study finds
• Vital role for bacteria in climate-change gas cycle
• Acupuncture calms highly anxious dental patients, study suggests
• Moral judgments can be altered: Neuroscientists influence people’s moral judgments by disrupting specific brain region
• Alzheimer's rat created for human research
• Chemistry discovery may revolutionize cooking oil production
• Deep vein thrombosis is more likely to occur on the left side of pregnant women
• Chicken house attics can be tapped to warm broilers
• Children's sense of threat from parental fighting determines trauma symptoms
• World's smallest superconductor developed: Sheet of four pairs of molecules less than one nanometer wide
• Targeting cell pathway may prevent relapse of leukemia
• Dangerous plaques in blood vessels rupture by overproducing protein-busting enzymes
• Women with radial scars should undergo a surgical excision to rule out an underlying malignancy
• Opportunity Surpasses 20 Kilometers of Total Driving
• Having plenty of supportive relatives increases fear of dying
• Did climate influence Angkor's collapse? Evidence suggests changing environment can bring down a civilization
• Associations between pregnancy, breastfeeding, breast cancer and survival detailed
• Protected forest areas may be critical strategy for slowing climate change
• Dual-energy CT accurately diagnoses gout in acute, emergency settings
• New method for predicting and describing how materials break
• Fibromyalgia symptoms improved by lifestyle adjustments

'Pac-Man' in space: 1980s video game icon glows on Saturn's moon Mimas Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:00 PM PDT The highest-resolution-yet temperature map and images of Saturn's icy moon Mimas obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft reveal surprising patterns on the surface of the small moon, including unexpected hot regions that resemble "Pac-Man" eating a dot, and striking bands of light and dark in crater walls.

Clues to pregnancy-associated breast cancer found Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:00 PM PDT Expression of inflammatory-related genes in breast tissue of women who have previously given birth may explain the aggressiveness and frequency of pregnancy-associated breast cancer, according to new research.

Preventing road deaths: New research focuses on worldwide problem Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:00 PM PDT A recent WHO report on inadequate road safety opened with some stark figures: 1.2 million deaths and up to 50 million nonfatal injuries occur every year on the world's roads.

Disease-causing mutation disrupts movement of cell's 'power house' Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:00 PM PDT New research shows how a mutation causes a common inherited neurodegenerative disease. The study shows that the mutation of a specific protein known to cause Charcot-Marie-Tooth disrupts the movement of mitochondria, the energy-supplying machines inside each cell. The regulated movement of mitochondria along nerve cell fibers is vital to normal communication between the brain and muscles.

Compound screening for drug development made simpler Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:00 PM PDT The identification of compounds that could be promising candidates for drug development has become easier following new research. Scientists have developed a series of "filters" that can be used to weed out those molecules likely to come up as false positives when screening a chemical library for compounds that could be useful in drug development.

Can animal models of disease reliably inform human studies? Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:00 PM PDT "The value of animal experiments for predicting the effectiveness of treatment strategies in clinical trials has remained controversial, mainly because of a recurrent failure of interventions apparently promising in animal models to translate to the clinic," say the authors of a new article in which they discuss the controversies and possibilities of translating the results of animal experiments into human clinical trials.

Hyenas' laughter signals deciphered Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:00 PM PDT Acoustic analysis of the "giggle" sound made by spotted hyenas has revealed that the animals' laughter encodes information about age, dominance and identity. Researchers recorded the calls of 26 hyenas in captivity and found that variations in the giggles' pitch and timbre may help hyenas to establish social hierarchies.

Scorpion venom provides clues to cause, treatment of pancreatitis Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:00 PM PDT A Brazilian scorpion has provided researchers insight into venom's effects on the ability of certain cells to release critical components. The findings may prove useful in understanding diseases like pancreatitis or in targeted drug delivery.

Bat navigation: After the next sunset, please turn right Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:00 PM PDT Despite the fact that bats are active after sunset, they rely on the sun as their most trusted source of navigation. Researchers found that the greater mouse-eared bat orients itself with the help of the Earth's magnetic field at night and calibrates this compass to the sun's position at sunset.

Dangerous custodians: Immune cells as possible nerve-cell killers in Alzheimer’s disease Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:00 PM PDT Progressive dementia of Alzheimer's patients is due to an inexorable loss of nerve cells from the brain. Neuroscientists have now shown that microglia may actually make a significant contribution to the loss of neurons associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Flaxseed lowers high cholesterol in men, study suggests Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:00 PM PDT A new study may give men a way to combat high cholesterol without drugs -- if they don't mind sprinkling some flaxseed into their daily diet.

Predicting what people are about to say Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:00 PM PDT Researchers have made novel discoveries about the human ability to predict what other people are about to say. Their findings could have significant applications for educators, speech therapists, entrepreneurs, and many others interested in communication and comprehension.

Scientists reverse Alzheimer's-like memory loss in fruit flies Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:00 PM PDT By blocking the cellular signaling activity of the protein PI3 kinase, a team of neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has prevented memory loss in fruit flies caused by brain plaques similar to those thought to cause Alzheimer's disease in humans. The study also resolves a long-standing controversy about the role of PI3 kinase, which was previously thought to have a protective function against the disease.

Potential new target for treating hepatitis C Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:00 PM PDT Scientists have discovered that binding of a potent inhibitor of the hepatitis C virus to the genetic material of the virus causes a major conformational change that may adversely affect the ability of the virus to replicate.

Microorganisms in toxic groundwater fine-tuned to survive Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:00 PM PDT Microorganisms can indeed live in extreme environments, but the ones that do are highly adapted to survive and little else, according to researchers.

C. difficile: Intervention drops hospital infection rate by a third Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:00 PM PDT Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is the one of the leading pathogens causing hospital-acquired infection in the United States. It may cause diarrhea, colitis, sepsis and lead to prolonged hospitalization and death. Researchers say they've found a way to reduce the acquisition of this infection and drop its frequency to a fraction of what it had been.

Toward a 3-in-1 'dipstick' test for early detection of parasitic diseases Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:00 PM PDT A new simple, inexpensive three-in-one test to diagnose a terrible trio of parasitic diseases that wreak havoc in the developing world is passing preliminary tests, scientists report. The test is for Chagas' disease, leishmaniasis and "sleeping sickness" or African trypanosomiasis.

Patients shouldn't navigate Internet without physician guide, experts say Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:00 PM PDT The Internet has had a profound effect on clinical practice by providing both physicians and patients with a wealth of information. But with those rewards come risks of incorrect or poorly interpreted information that require that a doctor "never be optional," say experts.

Urine sprays during courtship send mixed messages Posted: 30 Mar 2010 11:00 AM PDT Walking through urine drives crayfish into an aggressive sexual frenzy. Researchers suggest that a urine-mediated combination of aggressive and reproductive behavior ensures that only the strongest males get to mate.

Possible 'superbug' status for gonorrhea Posted: 30 Mar 2010 11:00 AM PDT The rise of multi-drug resistance in gonorrhea-causing bacteria is threatening to make this sexually-transmitted infection extremely difficult to treat. Medical researchers have highlighted the very real possibility that strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae resistant to all current treatment options could emerge in the near future.

An archaeological mystery in a half-ton lead coffin Posted: 30 Mar 2010 11:00 AM PDT In the ruins of a city that was once Rome's neighbor, archaeologists last summer found a 1,000-pound lead coffin.

Living longer: Colon cancer patients gain time with radiofrequency ablation treatment Posted: 30 Mar 2010 11:00 AM PDT Approximately half of Americans living with colorectal cancer will develop liver metastases at some point during the course of their disease. Radiofrequency ablation, a minimally invasive treatment that applies heat directly in the tumor causing cancer cell death with minimal associated injury to the surrounding healthy liver, contributes to prolongation of their life by nearly three years, note researchers.

Robot sub equipped with sensory system inspired by blind fish Posted: 30 Mar 2010 11:00 AM PDT Researchers have equipped an underwater robot with a sensory system they expect will eventually prove effective, reliable, and energy-efficient in environments ranging from the sea floor to turbid rivers to sewer pipes. Their model is the lateral-line system, an organ that enables fish and some amphibians to orient themselves, avoid danger, and hunt prey in dark or murky waters. The researchers are simultaneously exploring basic principles, developing biomimetic technology, and demonstrating potential applications.

Protein linked to problems with executive thinking skills Posted: 30 Mar 2010 11:00 AM PDT New research shows that a high level of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker for inflammation in the blood, is associated with brain changes that are linked to problems with executive thinking skills.

For one tiny instant, physicists may have broken a law of nature Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:00 AM PDT For a brief instant, it appears, scientists at Brook­haven National Laboratory on Long Island recently discovered a law of nature had been broken. For the tiniest fraction of a second at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), physicists created a symmetry-breaking bubble of space where parity no longer existed.

Mutations in one gene can cause many cancers, study shows Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:00 AM PDT An important gene that normally protects the body from cancer can itself cause a variety of cancers depending on the specific mutation that damages it. People who inherit a mutated copy of the PTEN gene have Cowden syndrome, a condition that carries a high risk of cancer in organs such as the breast, thyroid and ovary. This study linked specific mutations in the gene to distinct kinds of cancer in organs targeted by the syndrome.

Orange corn holds promise for reducing blindness, child death Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:00 AM PDT Decreasing or increasing the function of a newly discovered gene in corn may increase vitamin A content and have significant implications for reducing childhood blindness and mortality rates, according to a new study.

Radiation after mastectomy underused, study finds Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:00 AM PDT While radiation therapy is common after breast conserving surgery, it's much less frequent after mastectomy, even among women for whom it would have clear life-saving benefit.

Vital role for bacteria in climate-change gas cycle Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:00 AM PDT Isoprene is a Jekyll-and-Hyde gas that is capable of both warming and cooling the Earth depending on the prevailing conditions. It is an important industrial gas, necessary for the manufacture of important compounds such as rubber and vitamins, but very little is known about how isoprene is cycled in the environment. Researchers have now revealed the identity of some crucial players in the gas cycle: isoprene-degrading bacteria.

Acupuncture calms highly anxious dental patients, study suggests Posted: 30 Mar 2010 08:00 AM PDT Acupuncture can calm highly anxious dental patients and ensure that they can be given the treatment they need, suggests a small study.

Moral judgments can be altered: Neuroscientists influence people’s moral judgments by disrupting specific brain region Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:00 AM PDT Neuroscientists have shown they can influence people's moral judgments by disrupting a specific brain region -- a finding that helps reveal how the brain constructs morality.

Alzheimer's rat created for human research Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:00 AM PDT Researchers have genetically manipulated rats that can emulate Alzheimer's disease in humans, enabling research that will include the development of new treatments.

Chemistry discovery may revolutionize cooking oil production Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:00 AM PDT A chemistry professor has invented a special solvent that may make cooking oil production more environmentally friendly. He has created a solvent that -- when combined with carbon dioxide -- extracts oil from soybeans. Industries currently make cooking oils using hexane, a cheap, flammable solvent that is a neurotoxin and creates smog. The process also involves distillation, which uses large amounts of energy.

Deep vein thrombosis is more likely to occur on the left side of pregnant women Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:00 AM PDT Deep vein thrombosis in pregnant patients is more likely to occur on the left side, and in particular in the left leg, according to new research.

Chicken house attics can be tapped to warm broilers Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:00 AM PDT Reducing the cost of keeping broiler chickens warm could result from research by agricultural scientists and university cooperators.

Children's sense of threat from parental fighting determines trauma symptoms Posted: 30 Mar 2010 05:00 AM PDT If children feel threatened by even very low levels of violence between their parents, they may be at increased risk for developing trauma symptoms, such as bad dreams and nightmares, new research suggests. A new study found that children who witness parental violence report fewer symptoms if they don't perceive the violence as threatening. The research highlights the importance of assessing how threatened a child feels.

World's smallest superconductor developed: Sheet of four pairs of molecules less than one nanometer wide Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:00 AM PDT Scientists have developed the world's smallest superconductor, a sheet of four pairs of molecules less than one nanometer wide. The new study provides the first evidence that nanoscale molecular superconducting wires can be fabricated, which could be used for nanoscale electronic devices and energy applications.

Targeting cell pathway may prevent relapse of leukemia Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:00 AM PDT About 40 percent of children and up to 70 percent of adults in remission from acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) will have a relapse. In recent years, doctors have come to believe that this is due to leukemia stem cells, endlessly replicating cancer cells that generate the immature blood cells characteristic of leukemia and are resistant to typical cancer treatments.

Dangerous plaques in blood vessels rupture by overproducing protein-busting enzymes Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:00 AM PDT Researchers have gathered evidence that dangerous plaques in blood vessels can rupture by overproducing protein-digesting enzymes. Such ruptures can lead to artery-blocking clots. Almost everyone over age 60 has arterial plaque. Ruptures are what convert atherosclerosis from an indolent disease to a life-threatening emergency. The findings suggest ideas for diagnosing vulnerable plaques and developing new approaches to preventing and treating heart attacks and strokes by decreasing production of protein-destroying enzymes in vulnerable plaques or blocking their actions.

Women with radial scars should undergo a surgical excision to rule out an underlying malignancy Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:00 AM PDT Any patient with a breast lesion classified as a radial scar classified at percutaneous biopsy should undergo a surgical excision to rule out an underlying malignancy, according to a new study.

Opportunity Surpasses 20 Kilometers of Total Driving Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:00 AM PDT NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has now surpassed 20 kilometers (12.43 miles) of total driving since it landed on Mars 74 months ago. The drive taking the rover past that total covered 67 meters (220 feet) southward as part of the rover's long-term trek toward Endeavour Crater to the southeast. It was on the 2,191st Martian day, or sol, of the mission and brought Opportunity's total odometry to 20.0433 kilometers. To reach Endeavour, the healthy but aging rover will need to drive about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) farther.

Having plenty of supportive relatives increases fear of dying Posted: 30 Mar 2010 02:00 AM PDT Having a large number of supportive relatives increases the fear of dying among the elderly from ethnic minority groups, suggests new research.

Did climate influence Angkor's collapse? Evidence suggests changing environment can bring down a civilization Posted: 29 Mar 2010 11:00 PM PDT Decades of drought, interspersed with intense monsoon rains, may have helped bring about the fall of Cambodia's ancient Khmer civilization at Angkor nearly 600 years ago, according to an analysis of tree rings, archeological remains and other evidence. The study may also shed light on what drives -- and disrupts -- the rainy season across much of Asia, which waters crops for nearly half the world's population.

Associations between pregnancy, breastfeeding, breast cancer and survival detailed Posted: 29 Mar 2010 11:00 PM PDT Two news studies present new evidence on the associations between pregnancy, breastfeeding, breast cancer and survival.

Protected forest areas may be critical strategy for slowing climate change Posted: 29 Mar 2010 11:00 PM PDT A new study states that forest protection offers one of the most effective, practical, and immediate strategies to combat climate change. The study makes specific recommendations for incorporating protected areas into overall strategies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses from deforestation and degradation (nicknamed REDD).

Dual-energy CT accurately diagnoses gout in acute, emergency settings Posted: 29 Mar 2010 11:00 PM PDT A medical imaging technique called dual-energy computed tomography is an effective and reliable way to diagnose gout in the acute, emergency setting, according to a new study.

New method for predicting and describing how materials break Posted: 29 Mar 2010 11:00 PM PDT a new mathematical model describes the fracture process for materials such as glass, polymers, concrete, ceramics, metals, rocks, and even certain geological fractures. The simulation model is powerful enough to predict and describe crack patterns in structures ranging in size from the microscopic to others as large as certain geological faults.

Fibromyalgia symptoms improved by lifestyle adjustments Posted: 29 Mar 2010 11:00 PM PDT Short bursts of physical activity can ease fibromyalgia symptoms. Researchers have shown that encouraging patients to undertake "Lifestyle Physical Activity" can markedly increase the average number of steps taken per day and produce clinically relevant reductions in perceived disability and pain.

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