ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Lensless imaging of whole biological cells with soft X-rays
• Molecular marker could help spot pancreatic cancer early
• Paper wasps and honey bees share a genetic toolkit
• SSRIs and cardiovascular health: Popular antidepressants may have beneficial side effects for cardiovascular health
• Magnetic fields drive drug-loaded nanoparticles to reduce blood vessel blockages in an animal study
• More than half of liver patients experience neurocognitive impairments
• Toddlers and TV: Early exposure has negative and long-term impact
• Naturally occurring microbe fights potentially deadly Clostridium difficile infection
• Making serial parts out of metal powder
• New therapy for cocaine toxicity: Enzyme break downs cocaine into inactive products nearly 1,000 times faster than human body does
• Feeling stressed? So is the poplar -- but hormone suppression could help the tree
• Human working memory is based on dynamic interaction networks in the brain
• Climate change and mountain building led to mammal diversity patterns
• Antibiotic prevents irritable bowel syndrome symptoms for weeks after final dose
• Minilab can quickly identify antibiotic residues in milk, before it leaves the barn
• Exercise can forestall osteoporosis
• First-ever landscape-wide study of elephants and great apes
• Consumer remorse: Difficult choices can lead to second-guessing
• New protein involved in longevity identified
• Coffee and soft drinks have little or no association with colon cancer risk, study finds
• Engineers diagnosing Voyager 2 data system
• Same disease, different stem cell models
• Envisat captures renewed volcanic activity
• Words to the wise: Experts define wisdom
• Coral and global warming: Diversity in some coral populations may affect their survival
• Transplanted adult stem cells provide lasting help to injured hearts
• Baby swimmers have better balance, study suggests
• Heart attack risk doubles after COPD exacerbation, study finds
• Could new fiber optics technology replace semi-conductors?
• Early childhood experiences have lasting emotional and psychological effects
• Peptides may hold 'missing link' to life
• Obese patients with methane on their breath have significantly higher body mass index, study finds
• Unmasking anthrax for immune destruction
• Preventing blindness caused by diabetic retinopathy?
• Unearthing the truth about volcanic ash: Spain has been spared for 40,000 years, and other facts
• Children's well-being another casualty of recession: Researchers see marked increase in abusive head trauma cases during economic downturn

Lensless imaging of whole biological cells with soft X-rays Posted: 08 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT Scientists have used X-ray diffraction microscopy to make images of whole yeast cells, achieving the highest resolution -- 11 to 13 nanometers (billionths of a meter) -- ever obtained with this method for biological specimens. Their success indicates that full 3-D tomography of whole cells at equivalent resolution should soon be possible.

Molecular marker could help spot pancreatic cancer early Posted: 08 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT Researchers have identified a molecular marker of pancreatic cancer that may help spot the disease at its earliest stages, when it can be treated more successfully with surgery.

Paper wasps and honey bees share a genetic toolkit Posted: 08 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT They are both nest-building social insects, but paper wasps and honey bees organize their colonies in very different ways. In a new study, researchers report that despite their differences, these insects rely on the same network of genes to guide their social behavior.

SSRIs and cardiovascular health: Popular antidepressants may have beneficial side effects for cardiovascular health Posted: 08 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT A class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may provide a boost to cardiovascular health by affecting the way platelets, small cells in the blood involved in clotting, clump together.

Magnetic fields drive drug-loaded nanoparticles to reduce blood vessel blockages in an animal study Posted: 08 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT Scientists and engineers have used uniform magnetic fields to drive iron-bearing nanoparticles to metal stents in injured blood vessels, where the particles deliver a drug payload that successfully prevents blockages in those vessels. In this animal study, the novel technique achieved better results at a lower dose than conventional non-magnetic stent therapy.

More than half of liver patients experience neurocognitive impairments Posted: 08 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT Fifty-four percent of liver patients also display neurocognitive impairments such as short term memory loss, a study found. The average score of impaired patients was lower than that of patients with early-stage Alzheimer's disease.

Toddlers and TV: Early exposure has negative and long-term impact Posted: 08 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT Want kids who are smarter and thinner? Keep them away from the television set as toddlers. A shocking study from child experts has found that television exposure at age two forecasts negative consequences for kids, ranging from poor school adjustment to unhealthy habits.

Naturally occurring microbe fights potentially deadly Clostridium difficile infection Posted: 08 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT An international team of researchers has discovered a naturally occurring microorganism that directly targets a bacteria that causes a sometimes deadly intestinal disease in young children and the elderly.

Making serial parts out of metal powder Posted: 08 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT Complex-shaped components in aircraft engines can be produced quickly and at a reasonable price using selective laser melting, as researchers in Germany recently demonstrated.

New therapy for cocaine toxicity: Enzyme break downs cocaine into inactive products nearly 1,000 times faster than human body does Posted: 08 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT Researchers have developed and tested a modified enzyme that can break down cocaine into inactive products nearly 1,000 times faster than the human body does regularly. The engineered enzyme, called CocE, may be an excellent candidate for clinical use.

Feeling stressed? So is the poplar -- but hormone suppression could help the tree Posted: 08 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT Scientists have identified the molecular mechanism that poplar trees use to adapt to changing soil conditions, as well as some of the genes that turn the process on or off.

Human working memory is based on dynamic interaction networks in the brain Posted: 08 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT A new study sheds light on the neuronal mechanisms sustaining memory traces of visual stimuli in the human brain. The results show that the maintenance of working memory is associated with synchronization of neurons, which facilitates communication between different parts of the brain. On the basis of interaction between the brain areas, it was even possible to predict the subject's individual working memory capacity.

Climate change and mountain building led to mammal diversity patterns Posted: 08 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT Travel from the tropics to the poles, and you'll notice that the diversity of mammals declines with distance from the equator. Move from lowland to mountains, and you'll see diversity increase as the landscape becomes more varied. Ecologists have proposed various explanations for these well-known "biodiversity gradients," invoking ecological, evolutionary and historical processes. New findings suggest that the elevational patterns of diversity we see today have appeared, disappeared and reappeared over Earth's history and that these patterns arise from interactions between climate change and mountain building.

Antibiotic prevents irritable bowel syndrome symptoms for weeks after final dose Posted: 08 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT A targeted antibiotic provides effective and long-lasting relief of irritable bowel syndrome symptoms, according to the results of two multisite Phase III clinical trials. Rifaximin is the first drug treatment for IBS that relieves symptoms while it's being administered and continues to benefit patients after they stop taking the drug.

Minilab can quickly identify antibiotic residues in milk, before it leaves the barn Posted: 08 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT Routine antibiotic residue tests used by the dairy industry take hours to produce a result and do not test for all antibiotics dairy cows are typically treated with. Scientists in Germany have developed a microarray chip that identifies residues from one or more of the 14 most important antibiotics with certainty and in parallel. In conjunction with an automated minilab, this enables rapid testing of raw, unpasteurized milk.

Exercise can forestall osteoporosis Posted: 08 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT The stage for osteoporosis is set well before menopause -- but exercise can help rewrite the script, according to researchers. They hypothesize that higher levels of follicle-stimulating hormone decrease bone mineral density by influencing the production of cytokines.

First-ever landscape-wide study of elephants and great apes Posted: 08 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT The Wildlife Conservation Society announced the results of the first-ever evaluation of a large, "landscape-wide" conservation approach to protect globally important populations of elephants and great apes.

Consumer remorse: Difficult choices can lead to second-guessing Posted: 08 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT Consumers who choose between two good product options build a "positivity bubble" to justify their choices. But according to a new study, that bubble is easy to burst.

New protein involved in longevity identified Posted: 07 May 2010 05:00 PM PDT Researchers have found that the level of a single protein in the tiny roundworm C. elegans determines how long it lives. Worms born without this protein, called arrestin, lived about one-third longer than normal, while worms that had triple the amount of arrestin lived one-third less.

Coffee and soft drinks have little or no association with colon cancer risk, study finds Posted: 07 May 2010 05:00 PM PDT Drinking even large amounts of coffee and sugar-sweetened, carbonated soft drinks is not associated with the risk of colon cancer, according to a large study.

Engineers diagnosing Voyager 2 data system Posted: 07 May 2010 05:00 PM PDT Engineers have shifted NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft into a mode that transmits only spacecraft health and status data while they diagnose an unexpected change in the pattern of returning data. Preliminary engineering data received on May 1 show the spacecraft is basically healthy, and that the source of the issue is the flight data system, which is responsible for formatting the data to send back to Earth. The change in the data return pattern has prevented mission managers from decoding science data.

Same disease, different stem cell models Posted: 07 May 2010 05:00 PM PDT In the last three years, a new technique for reprogramming adult cells has given scientists an easier and less controversial way to harness the power of embryonic-like stem cells to study human disease from its earliest beginnings in hopes of gleaning new insights into the root causes of disease and developing new therapies.

Envisat captures renewed volcanic activity Posted: 07 May 2010 05:00 PM PDT New eruptions from Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano have produced a 1600 km-wide ash cloud over the Atlantic. The brownish plume, traveling east and then south, is clearly visible in stark contrast to white clouds framing this Envisat image from May 6.

Words to the wise: Experts define wisdom Posted: 07 May 2010 05:00 PM PDT Could sagacity might have a neurobiological basis? In a new article, psychiatry experts attempt to identify the central, unifying elements that define wisdom.

Coral and global warming: Diversity in some coral populations may affect their survival Posted: 07 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT Diversity in some coral populations may significantly influence their response to extreme temperature disturbances -- such as those predicted from climate warming. A team demonstrated natural selection acting on the species of algae living within corals may determine survival in extreme temperatures.

Transplanted adult stem cells provide lasting help to injured hearts Posted: 07 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT Human adult stem cells injected around the damage caused by a heart attack survived in the heart and improved its pumping efficiency for a year in a mouse model, researchers report. Injection of a patient's own adult stem cells into the heart has shown some efficacy in assisting recovery after a heart attack in early human clinical trials. But how they work has been unknown, until now.

Baby swimmers have better balance, study suggests Posted: 07 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT Teaching babies to swim turns out to be more than just fun. Baby swimmers have better balance and are also better at grasping at things than non-swimmers. This difference persists even when children are five years old, when babies who have been taught to swim still outperform their peers.

Heart attack risk doubles after COPD exacerbation, study finds Posted: 07 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who experience an exacerbation have an increased risk for both myocardial infarctions (MI) and ischemic stroke, according to a new study.

Could new fiber optics technology replace semi-conductors? Posted: 07 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT Scientists have developed a new technology for the nano-photonics market, which manufactures optical devices and components. The plastic-based "filter" is made from nanometer-sized grooves embedded into the plastic. When used in fiber optics cable switches, this new device will make our communication devices smaller, more flexible and more powerful.

Early childhood experiences have lasting emotional and psychological effects Posted: 07 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT Experiences between birth and age 5 matter significantly to children's long-term emotional and psychological health, and changing these experiences for the better pays dividends, according to an editorial and several new reports.

Peptides may hold 'missing link' to life Posted: 07 May 2010 11:00 AM PDT Scientists have discovered that simple peptides can organize into bi-layer membranes. The finding suggests a "missing link" between the pre-biotic Earth's chemical inventory and the organizational scaffolding essential to life.

Obese patients with methane on their breath have significantly higher body mass index, study finds Posted: 07 May 2010 11:00 AM PDT New research shows obese patients who test positive for methane on their breath have a significantly higher body mass index than their peers.

Unmasking anthrax for immune destruction Posted: 07 May 2010 11:00 AM PDT Anthrax-causing bacteria can be engineered to shed their invisibility cloaks, making it easier for the immune system to eradicate it, according to a new study. The work could lead to new measures to treat anthrax infection in the event of a biological warfare attack.

Preventing blindness caused by diabetic retinopathy? Posted: 07 May 2010 11:00 AM PDT A new company envisions its product helping to preserve the sight of millions of people at risk of vision loss from diabetic retinopathy.

Unearthing the truth about volcanic ash: Spain has been spared for 40,000 years, and other facts Posted: 07 May 2010 11:00 AM PDT Research from scientists in the UK shows Spain has been spared volcanic ash falls for the past 40,000 years and so could serve as an emergency flight hub in the event of future eruptions.

Children's well-being another casualty of recession: Researchers see marked increase in abusive head trauma cases during economic downturn Posted: 07 May 2010 11:00 AM PDT The incidence of abusive head trauma among children has skyrocketed since the beginning of the recession in late 2007, according to new research.

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