ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Carbon Dioxide Helped Ancient Earth Escape Deathly Deep Freeze Posted: 07 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST The planet's present day greenhouse scourge, carbon dioxide, may have played a vital role in helping ancient Earth to escape from complete glaciation, say scientists.

Winter Brings Flu, Summer Brings Bacterial Infections Posted: 07 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST In the same way that winter is commonly known to be the "flu season," a new study suggests that the dog days of summer may well be the "bacterial infection" season.

Proteins Strangle Cell During Division Posted: 07 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST A Swedish research group has discovered a new mechanism for cell division in a microorganism found in extremely hot and acidic conditions. The results of the research offer insights into evolution, but also into the functioning of the human body.

Type Of Breast Reconstruction Impacts Radiation Therapy Outcomes, Study Finds Posted: 07 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST For breast cancer patients who underwent a mastectomy and who undergo radiation therapy after immediate breast reconstruction, autologous tissue reconstruction provides fewer long-term complications and better cosmetic results than tissue expander and implant reconstruction, according to a new study.

Cell Movements Totally Modular, Study Shows Posted: 07 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST A study describing how cells within blood vessel walls move en masse overturns an assumption common in the age of genomics -- that the proteins driving cell behavior are doing so much multitasking that it would be near impossible to group them according to a few discrete functions. But now researchers have shown that distinct groups of proteins each control one of four simple activities involved in the cells' collective migration.

Juries Not As Racially Diverse As The Communities From Which They Are Drawn, Study Finds Posted: 07 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST Results reveal that there is a wide range of factors that conspire to prevent juries from being as racially diverse as the communities they represent.

Climate Change Wiped Out Cave Bears 13 Millennia Earlier Than Thought Posted: 07 Dec 2008 11:00 AM PST Enormous cave bears, Ursus spelaeus, that once inhabited a large swathe of Europe, from Spain to the Urals, died out 27,800 years ago, around 13 millennia earlier than was previously believed, scientists have reported. The new date coincides with a period of significant climate change, known as the Last Glacial Maximum, when a marked cooling in temperature resulted in the reduction or loss of vegetation forming the main component of the cave bears' diet.

Presence Of Gum Disease May Help Dentists And Physicians Identify Risk For Cardiovascular Disease Posted: 07 Dec 2008 11:00 AM PST Individuals reporting a history of periodontal disease were more likely to have increased levels of inflammation, a risk factor for heart disease, compared to those who reported no history of periodontal disease, according to new research. The findings suggest persons with increased levels of inflammatory markers associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease might be identified by asking about oral health history.

Clue To Safer Obesity Drugs: Mechanism Links Serotonin With Regulation Of Food Intake Posted: 07 Dec 2008 11:00 AM PST Once hailed as a miracle weight-loss drug, Fen-phen was removed from the market more than a decade ago for inducing life-threatening side effects, including heart valve lesions. Scientists are trying to understand how Fen-phen behaves in the brain in order to develop safer anti-obesity drugs with fewer side effects.

New Drug For Skin Cancer Approaching Commercialization Posted: 07 Dec 2008 11:00 AM PST A drug that is activated by light can be a quick, simple, and cheap treatment for tens of thousands of patients with skin cancer in Sweden alone.

Reprogrammable Cell Type Depends On Single Gene To Keep Its Identity Posted: 07 Dec 2008 11:00 AM PST Scientists have discovered that a certain differentiated cell type is so ready to change its identity that it requires the constant expression of a gene called Prox1 to dissuade it.

Collaboration Of Soloists Makes The Best Science Posted: 07 Dec 2008 11:00 AM PST For the success of a major research university, which is better: large, well-funded laboratory empires with many investigators working toward the same end, or the individual scientist toiling alone in his own laboratory or at his own desk?

More Evidence The Aging Brain Is Easily Distracted Posted: 07 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST Researchers have found more evidence that older adults aren't able to filter out distracting information as well as younger adults. In an interesting twist, this latest discovery was made because of -- rather than in spite of -- the noisy environment that research participants must tolerate when having their brains scanned inside a donut-shaped magnet known as a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner.

New Imaging Technique Tracks Cancer-killing Cells Over Prolonged Period Posted: 07 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST Coaxing a patient's own cells to hunt down and tackle infected or diseased cells is a promising therapeutic approach for many disorders. Now, for the first time, researchers have devised a way to obtain repeated "snapshots" of the location and survival of such cells in a living human patient months and possibly years later.

Immune Cells Reveal Fancy Footwork Posted: 07 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST Our immune system plays an essential role in protecting us from diseases, but how does it do this exactly? Biologists discovered that before dendritic cells move to the lymph nodes they lose their sticky feet. This helps them to move much faster. Immature dendritic cells patrol the tissues in search of antigens.

Causes Of Bone Loss In Breast Cancer Survivors Include Cancer Drugs And Vitamin D Deficiency Posted: 07 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST Osteoporosis is a growing concern among breast cancer survivors and their doctors because certain cancer drugs can cause bone loss. But a new study has found that cancer drugs aren't the only culprits. Among 64 breast cancer patients referred to a bone health clinic, 78 percent had at least one other cause of bone loss, such as vitamin D deficiency and an overactive parathyroid gland.

PET Is Most Powerful Imaging Tool In Cancer Management, Nationwide Study Confirms Posted: 07 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST With the most recent release of data from the National Oncologic PET Registry, researchers may have reached the moment of critical mass by confirming the effectiveness of positron emission tomography in the monitoring of tumor activity across a wide range of cancers. In the article, researchers reported results by cancer type for the first two years of data collected from nearly 41,000 PET studies conducted at more than 1,300 cancer centers nationwide.

European Ancestry Increases Breast Cancer Risk Among Latinas Posted: 07 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST Latina women have a lower risk of breast cancer than European or African-American women generally, but those with higher European ancestry could be at increased risk, according to data published in the Dec. 1 issue of Cancer Research.

Novel Treatments Show Improvements In Survival And Response Rates For Leukemia And Lymphoma Posted: 05 Dec 2008 09:00 PM PST The use of dexamethasone early in the treatment of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common type of childhood cancer, may help reduce the risk of relapse according to study results being presented in a press conference on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 2 p.m., during the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in San Francisco, Calif.

Public Health Policy Expert Says U.S. Can Learn From Dutch Universal Healthcare Coverage Posted: 05 Dec 2008 09:00 PM PST The United States can learn from the Dutch Health Insurance System model, according to a new article. With several industrialized countries providing universal health care coverage, the Netherlands' model closely resembles the model that U.S. policymakers are looking to create, according to expert opinion.

Ultrasound Screening Helps Prevent Stroke In Children With Sickle Cell Disease Posted: 05 Dec 2008 09:00 PM PST Screening with an ultrasound machine has proved highly successful in preventing stroke among children with sickle cell disease, by identifying children who are then preventively treated with blood transfusions. Over an eight-year period at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, researchers found that the technique, transcranial Doppler ultrasonography, along with regular transfusions for children found to be at high risk, reduced stroke to one-tenth of the incidence found before TCD was introduced.

Novel Therapeutic Approaches May Improve Patient Outcomes In Several Platelet Disorders Posted: 05 Dec 2008 09:00 PM PST Four studies that highlight significant advances in treatment and survival outcomes for patients with various forms of thrombocytopenia, a group of bleeding disorders characterized by a low number of platelets in the blood, were presented at the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in San Francisco, Calif.

Pieces Coming Together For First Test Launch Of NASA's New Spacecraft Posted: 05 Dec 2008 09:00 PM PST NASA is using powerful computers and software programs to design the rocket that will carry crew and cargo to space after the space shuttle retires. But those computers will have their work checked the old-fashioned way with the first of several uncrewed demonstration launches beginning in 2009.

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