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Stretchable Silicon Camera Next Step To Artificial Retina Posted: 07 Aug 2008 10:00 AM CDT Digital cameras have transformed the world of photography. Now new technology inspired by the human eye could push the photographic image farther forward by producing improved images with a wider field of view. By combining stretchable optoelectronics and biologically inspired design, scientists have created a remarkable imaging device, with a layout based on the human eye.

Use Of Cleaning Products During Pregnancy Increases Risk Of Asthma In Young Children Posted: 07 Aug 2008 10:00 AM CDT Chemicals in household cleaning products linked to risk of asthma in young children. This finding may explain why excessive hygiene is linked to increased asthma and allergies.

Some African Drought Linked To Warmer Indian Ocean, NASA Data Show Posted: 07 Aug 2008 10:00 AM CDT A new study, co-funded by NASA, has identified a link between a warming Indian Ocean and less rainfall in eastern and southern Africa. Computer models and observations show a decline in rainfall, with implications for the region's food security.

A New Look At How Memory And Spatial Cognition Are Related Posted: 07 Aug 2008 10:00 AM CDT In a study that sheds new light on how memory and spatial cognition are related to each other in the brain, researchers studied memory-impaired patients as they navigated their environment.

Measuring Cancer Therapy Success With Oxygen Posted: 07 Aug 2008 10:00 AM CDT Scientists have identified a way to predict very early in the treatment process the outcome of radiation and chemotherapy for cervical cancer patients -- based on oxygen levels within the tumor.

Alcohol Consumption Declining, According To Results Of New Study Posted: 07 Aug 2008 10:00 AM CDT Overall alcohol use -- particularly consumption of beer -- is declining in the US, according to a new study. Researchers examined 50 years of data and found several changes in alcohol intake but no change in alcohol use disorders. Americans are drinking significantly less beer and more wine, while hard liquor use has remained fairly constant. More people now report that they are nondrinkers.

Jupiter And Saturn Full Of Liquid Metal Helium Posted: 07 Aug 2008 07:00 AM CDT A strange metal brew lies buried deep within giant gaseous planets such as Jupiter and Saturn. A new study demonstrates that metallic helium is less rare than was previously thought, and is produced under the kinds of conditions present at the centers of giant gaseous planets such as Jupiter and Saturn, mixing with metal hydrogen to form a liquid metal alloy.

Remedial Instruction Rewires Dyslexic Brains, Provides Lasting Results, Study Shows Posted: 07 Aug 2008 07:00 AM CDT A new brain imaging study of dyslexic students and other poor readers shows that the brain can rewire itself and overcome reading deficits, if students are given 100 hours of intensive remedial instruction. The study shows that the remedial instruction resulted in a brain activity increase in cortical regions associated with reading, and that neural gains solidified further during the year following instruction.

Weird Oxygen Bonding Under Pressure Explained Posted: 07 Aug 2008 07:00 AM CDT Oxygen, the third most abundant element in the cosmos and essential to life on Earth, changes its forms dramatically under pressure transforming to a solid with spectacular colors. Eventually it becomes metallic and a superconductor. Now, researchers have found for the first time that under pressure the molecules interact through their outermost electron clouds or "orbitals."

Stent Grafts: A Better Way To Treat Blunt Trauma Injuries Posted: 07 Aug 2008 07:00 AM CDT Endovascular repair -- fixing an injury in a blood vessel from inside that vessel -- is a better option for individuals who receive highly lethal injuries from high-speed collisions or falls (together referred to as blunt trauma) and is shown to save more lives and nearly eliminate paraplegia (the loss of the ability to move and/or feel both legs), a complication of surgical repair for thoracic aortic aneurysms.

Breast CT Scanners Promise Painless Alternative To Mammography Posted: 07 Aug 2008 07:00 AM CDT The discomfort of a mammogram can drive some women to avoid the valuable screening, occasionally with dire consequences. Now a new procedure, dedicated breast computed tomography (CT), promises to take the pain out of breast cancer detection.

When It Comes To Abstinence Teens, Adults Aren't Speaking The Same Language Posted: 07 Aug 2008 07:00 AM CDT Abstinence can mean different things to adolescents than to adults. That's one reason why abstinence-only programs do not have strong effects in preventing teenage sexual activity, according to new research.

Neurobiologists Discover Individuals Who 'Hear' Movement Posted: 07 Aug 2008 04:00 AM CDT Individuals with synesthesia, or cross-activated senses, perceive the world differently from others, with some perceiving numbers or letters as having colors or days of the week as possessing personalities. Now, researchers have discovered a type of synesthesia in which individuals hear sounds when they see things move or flash. The scientists say auditory synesthesia, which had never been identified, may represent an enhanced form of how the brain normally processes visual information.

How Bacteria Attach To Human Tissues During Infection Process: New Clues Posted: 07 Aug 2008 04:00 AM CDT Scientists have helped to reveal more about the way bacteria can attach to human tissues. The researchers studied the way a protein found on the surface of the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus binds to a human protein called fibronectin. Their discovery is an important step in understanding how bacteria attach to the surface of blood vessels during infection.

Shape, Not Just Size, Impacts Effectiveness Of Emerging Nanomedicine Therapies Posted: 07 Aug 2008 04:00 AM CDT In the budding field of nanotechnology, scientists already know that size does matter. But now, researchers have shown that shape matters even more -- a finding that could lead to new and more effective methods for treating cancer and other diseases, from diabetes and multiple sclerosis to arthritis and obesity.

Is There A Connection Between AIDS Epidemic In Africa And Intestinal Worms? Posted: 07 Aug 2008 04:00 AM CDT Scientists are beginning an intensive program in Ethiopia this August to eradicate intestinal worms which affect as much as 50 percent of the population in Africa. These researchers believe there is a possible connection between the AIDS epidemic in Africa and intestinal worms.

Metabolic Insight To Illuminate Causes Of Iron Imbalance Posted: 07 Aug 2008 04:00 AM CDT New insight into key players in iron metabolism has yielded a novel tool for distinguishing among root causes of iron overload or deficiency in humans, researchers report. While the body needs iron to produce hemoglobin, a substance in red blood cells that enables them to carry oxygen, too much iron can build up and eventually damage organs.

Context And Personality Key In Understanding Responses To Emotional Facial Expressions Posted: 07 Aug 2008 04:00 AM CDT It is well-appreciated that facial expressions play a major role in nonverbal social communication among humans and other primates, because faces provide rapid access to information about the identity and the internal states and intentions of others. New data now suggests that both the social context of a person's facial expression and certain facets of the viewer's personality could affect how our brain interprets the social meaning of someone else's smile or frown.

Water Is 'Designer Fluid' That Helps Proteins Change Shape Posted: 07 Aug 2008 01:00 AM CDT According to new research, old ideas about water behavior are all wet. Ubiquitous on Earth, water also has been found in comets, on Mars and in molecular clouds in interstellar space. Now, scientists say this common fluid is not as well understood as we thought.

Why Treatment Isn't Effective For HIV Posted: 07 Aug 2008 01:00 AM CDT Researchers have answered a key question as to why antiretroviral therapy isn't effective in restoring immunity in HIV-infected patients. Once a person is infected with the virus, fibrosis, or scarring, occurs in the lymph nodes -- the home of T cells that fight infection. And once fibrosis occurs, T cells can't repopulate the lymph nodes when HIV therapy begins, according to a professor of medicine and principal investigator on the study.

Switching On First Neutrons At UK's ISIS Second Target Station Posted: 07 Aug 2008 01:00 AM CDT The UK's ISIS Second Target Station Project moved a major step closer to completion when the first neutrons were created in the ISIS Second Target Station. ISIS uses neutrons to study materials at the atomic level with a suite of instruments, often described as 'super-microscopes.' By scattering neutrons off sample materials, scientists can visualize the positions and motions of atoms and make discoveries that have the potential to affect almost every aspect of our lives.

Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy Of Similar Benefit For HIV-infected Injection Drug Users Posted: 07 Aug 2008 01:00 AM CDT Contrary to the belief that HIV-infected injection drug users receive less benefit from highly active antiretroviral therapy, new research finds little difference in the survival rate between IDUs and non-IDUs after 4-5 years of receiving HAART, according to a study in the Aug. 6 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on HIV/AIDS.

Evaluating Ecosystem Services Posted: 07 Aug 2008 01:00 AM CDT Environmental conservation efforts have traditionally focused on protecting individual species or natural resources. Scientists are discovering, however, that preserving the benefits that whole ecosystems provide to people is more economically and environmentally valuable. Ecologists will explore the application of ecosystem services approaches to conservation.

Voluntary Exercise Does Not Appear To Alleviate Anxiety And Depression Posted: 07 Aug 2008 01:00 AM CDT Voluntary physical activity does not appear to cause a reduction in anxiety and depression, but exercise and mood may be associated through a common genetic factor, according to a new article.

ALife Conference To Reveal Bio-inspired Spam Detection Posted: 06 Aug 2008 11:00 PM CDT An algorithm for spam recognition inspired by the immune system will be presented at the first European conference on Artificial Life (ALIFE XI).

Olympic Games: Researchers Explore What Makes Better Athletes, The Physiology Of Performance, And More Posted: 06 Aug 2008 10:00 PM CDT The world-record pace for the marathon continues to improve for both men and women. For men, the record pace for the marathon is now about as fast as the record pace for the 10,000-meter run just after World War II. Today, champion athletes are running more than four times farther at speeds of well under five minutes per mile.

'Exercise Pill' Is No Replacement For Real Exercise, Expert Cautions Posted: 06 Aug 2008 10:00 PM CDT Recent media reports have described a new substance that potentially eliminates the need for exercise. Now, an expert on the science of inactivity says the "exercise pill" study did not test all of the commonly known benefits of exercise, and taking the pill cannot be considered a replacement for exercise.

Male Circumcision Efforts Lag In Africa Despite Evidence Of Dramatic Impact In Preventing HIV Posted: 06 Aug 2008 10:00 PM CDT With millions of lives at stake over the next two decades, researchers and advocates at the AIDS 2008 Conference today called on the global health community to ramp up male circumcision to significantly reduce risk of HIV infection in Africa, and to move quickly to integrate the life-saving procedure into other comprehensive efforts to prevent transmission of the disease in the vulnerable nations of eastern and southern Africa.

Keeping Migrant Workers' Children Healthy Posted: 06 Aug 2008 10:00 PM CDT As Ohio and Michigan fruit and vegetable farms yield this year's harvest, they also will provide data about the eating choices of Latino migrant children for a Case Western Reserve University researcher. Information gathered this summer will help migrant families understand why their children are part of the growing national obesity epidemic and contribute to new interventions to combat this serious health issue.

Bacterial Persistence In Streams Posted: 06 Aug 2008 10:00 PM CDT Ecological researchers have completed a study on an East Tennessee river to determine the connection between watershed hydrology and fecal bacteria statistical time series analysis. A new article presents a study of the temporal patterns and statistical persistence of total coliform based on data gathered from the Little River near an intake at a public water supply plant.

Risk Of Unintentional Injury Death Is High For Young Children Living With Unrelated Adults Posted: 06 Aug 2008 10:00 PM CDT In a new study, a University of Missouri professor found that children living in households with unrelated adults are six times more likely to die of maltreatment-related unintentional injuries, compared to children living with two biological parents. The risk of maltreatment death is double for children living with foster or step-parents, or other related adults. However, the risk is not higher for children living in households with a single biological parent and no other adults.

Acidification Of Sea Hampers Reproduction Of Marine Species Posted: 06 Aug 2008 07:00 PM CDT By absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and from the human use of fossil fuels, the world's seas function as a giant buffer for the Earth's life support system. The chemical balance of the sea has long been regarded as immovable. Today researchers know that the pH of the sea's surface water has gone down by 0.1, or 25 percent, just since the beginning of industrialization just over a century ago. This acidification process affects marine animal life.

Less REM Sleep Associated With Being Overweight Among Children And Teens Posted: 06 Aug 2008 07:00 PM CDT Children and teens who get less sleep, especially those who spend less time in rapid eye movement sleep, may be more likely to be overweight, according to a report in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Rock Art Marks Transformations In Traditional Peruvian Societies Posted: 06 Aug 2008 07:00 PM CDT Peru is one of the Latin American countries, like Argentina and Brazil, where rock art is thought to have developed throughout a period stretching from 10,000 BC to 1500 AD. The wealth and diversity of the series of pictorial representations made during this period are now beginning to be appreciated by archaeologists. Recent investigations have given insights into the daily lives of human communities who lived in the coastal and mountainous areas of Peru during that era.

Researchers Find Differences In Swallowing Mechanism Of Rett Syndrome Patients Posted: 06 Aug 2008 07:00 PM CDT Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have found that the reflux and swallowing problems that are common symptoms in patients with Rett syndrome and other neurological impairments, may be caused by a different mechanism than they are in healthy individuals. The finding leaves researchers to wonder if these patients truly benefit from anti-reflux surgery commonly performed in these children.

Why The Slow-Paced World Could Make It Difficult To Catch A Ball Posted: 06 Aug 2008 07:00 PM CDT Researchers have uncovered new information about how we perceive fast moving, incoming objects -- such as tennis or cricket balls. The new research studies why the human brain has difficulty perceiving fast moving objects coming from straight ahead; something that should be a key survival skill. This has implications for understanding how sportspeople make decisions about playing a shot but could also be important for improving road safety and for the development of robotic vision systems.

US Immigrant Children May Be Less Physically Active Than US-born Children Posted: 06 Aug 2008 07:00 PM CDT Immigrant children in the United States appear to be less physically active and less likely to participate in sports than US--born children, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Arctic Map Plots New 'Gold Rush' Posted: 06 Aug 2008 04:00 PM CDT Researchers have drawn up the first ever "Arctic Map" to show the disputed territories that states might lay claim to in the future. The new map design follows a series of historical and ongoing arguments about ownership, and the race for resources, in the frozen lands and seas of the Arctic.

HIV Drug Can Persist In Mothers' Milk, Increasing Risk To Them And Their Babies Posted: 06 Aug 2008 04:00 PM CDT A drug commonly used in the developing world to prevent transmission of HIV from mother to child persists in the breast milk and blood of the mothers, putting them and their babies at risk for developing drug-resistant strains of the virus, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Mobile Phone Technology Brings Robot Swarm To Research Labs Posted: 06 Aug 2008 04:00 PM CDT A new low cost platform for swarm robotics research which makes it possible to produce robots for as little as £24 each is being presented at the first European conference on Artificial Life.

Rectal Gel Prevents Transmission Of AIDS-like Virus In Macaques Posted: 06 Aug 2008 04:00 PM CDT The HIV drug tenofovir may prevent AIDS transmission when applied rectally as a gel, according to results from a macaque study published in PLoS Medicine.

Guiding Lasers To Their Target Posted: 06 Aug 2008 04:00 PM CDT Like most treatments, laser therapy can benefit from image guidance. A Houston-based company has developed an MRI-guided system that has been tested and is now FDA-approved.

Students With Food Allergies Often Not Prepared Posted: 06 Aug 2008 04:00 PM CDT Many students with food allergies aren't taking the threat of a reaction seriously enough, or are regularly in environments where they could not be properly treated during an emergency.

Massive Numbers Of Critically Endangered Western Lowland Gorillas Discovered In Republic Of Congo Posted: 06 Aug 2008 01:00 PM CDT The world's population of critically endangered western lowland gorillas recently received a huge boost when the Wildlife Conservation Society released a census showing massive numbers of these secretive great apes alive and well in the Republic of Congo.

Novel Method To Create Personalized Immunotherapy Treatments Posted: 06 Aug 2008 01:00 PM CDT Researchers have a new process for developing dendritic cell-based immunotherapies for HIV. They have demonstrated that loading monocyte-derived dendritic cells with combinations of HIV antigen RNA stimulates the expansion of HIV-specific T cells, which attack and kill HIV-infected cells.

Lab-on-a-chip Technology: Microfluidics Aids Major Advance In Environmental Testing Posted: 06 Aug 2008 01:00 PM CDT Microfluidics experts have announced the development of a new generation of microfluidics-based environmental testing equipment for use in air quality monitoring.

Preventing Friendly Fire: A Role For The Thymic Cortex In Stopping Your Body From Attacking Itself Posted: 06 Aug 2008 01:00 PM CDT A new study investigates the inner mechanics of the thymus, the organ that creates the foot soldiers of the immune system. The study helps shed light on the timing and regulation of negative selection, a crucial developmental process.

Physicists Provide 'Guiding Hands' For Proton Therapy Posted: 06 Aug 2008 01:00 PM CDT Proton therapy offers great benefits as a treatment modality in radiation oncology for a variety of hard to treat tumors. While physicians manage the treatment of people, behind the scenes, proton physicists play a crucial role, providing support and guidelines for treatment planning for calculation of dose distributions, measurements of radiation delivery, measurements of proton beam data, quality assurance of all measuring equipment and of the proton accelerator, and calibration of proton beams, all essential to successful treatment outcomes.

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