ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Got to go? Scientists figure out how you know
• Studying ice cores from West Antarctica for clues as to why the Earth began to emerge from the Ice Age
• Scientists prevent development of deafness in animals engineered to have Usher syndrome
• New drug is first to help patients with recurrent low-grade ovarian cancer
• Paralyzed man uses thoughts alone to control robot arm, touch friend's hand, after seven years
• Evaluating evolutionary rates could shed light into functions of uncharacterized genes
• Imaging acute ischemic stroke patients' brains did not lead to improved outcomes
• Rheumatoid arthritis prevented in mice: Infusions of regulatory T cells turn off autoimmune attack on joints
• Scientists using holiday snaps to identify whale sharks
• Sunitinib benefits patients with renal cell carcinoma, study suggests
• Synthetic marijuana dangerous for kidneys
• New NASA mission to help us better estimate asteroid impact hazard
• Nucleus structure crucial to understanding diseases discovered
• Researchers explore quantum entanglement
• Support needed for children losing parent at early age
• New insight on relationship between parents, preschoolers and obesity
• Using Twitter to predict the influence of lifestyle on health
• 3-D printing on the micrometer scale
• New brain-test app
• Implants make light work of fixing broken bones
• To quiver or to shiver: Explaining warning signal diversity in wood tiger moths
• Forensic pathology: Tracing the origin of the Usutu virus in blackbirds
• Histone modification controls development: Chemical tags on histones regulate gene activity
• U.S. Healthcare: New children’s electronic health record format announced
• Predictions of the human cost of climate change
• Innovative water purification tablet for developing world
• Putting our heads together: Canines may hold clues to human skull development
• New way to identify which El Niño events will have biggest impact on U.S. winter weather
• New study highlights Chagas disease as a growing health and socio-economic challenge
• Stress at work very unlikely to cause cancer
• Scientists find key to growth of 'bad' bacteria in inflammatory bowel disease
• HIV exploits a human cytokine in semen to promote its own transmission
• Poll: Americans back climate change regulation, not taxes

Got to go? Scientists figure out how you know Posted: 08 Feb 2013 03:28 PM PST Help is on the way for overactive bladder or incontinence. According to new research the epithelium, a layer of cells lining the bladder's surface, senses bladder fullness through proteins called integrins. As the bladder becomes full, the epithelium stretches and becomes thinner, activating the integrins, which sends information to nerves and other cells. This research may help design drugs that target this mechanism to treat incontinence and overactive bladder.

Studying ice cores from West Antarctica for clues as to why the Earth began to emerge from the Ice Age Posted: 08 Feb 2013 03:26 PM PST Scientists made history this year by retrieving additional ice from the main borehole in West Antarctica. Researchers will now work on a section of ice from 17,500 years ago that offers clues as to why the Earth began to emerge from the Ice Age.

Scientists prevent development of deafness in animals engineered to have Usher syndrome Posted: 08 Feb 2013 12:28 PM PST Most cases of congenital deafness are due to a mutation in a gene that is required for normal development of the sensory hair cells in the inner ear that are responsible for detecting sound. To cure deafness caused by such mutations, the expression of the gene must be corrected, a feat that has been elusive until recently.

New drug is first to help patients with recurrent low-grade ovarian cancer Posted: 08 Feb 2013 12:27 PM PST Low-grade serous ovarian cancer is less common and aggressive than the high-grade variety, yet exceptionally difficult to treat when frontline therapy fails.

Paralyzed man uses thoughts alone to control robot arm, touch friend's hand, after seven years Posted: 08 Feb 2013 09:48 AM PST Researchers have described how an electrode array on top of the brain enabled a 30-year-old man to control the movement of a character on a computer screen in three dimensions with just his thoughts. It also enabled him to reach out with a robot arm to touch a friend's hand for the first time in the seven years since he was paralyzed.

Evaluating evolutionary rates could shed light into functions of uncharacterized genes Posted: 08 Feb 2013 09:47 AM PST Genes that have roles in the same biological pathways change their rate of evolution in parallel, a finding that could be used to discover their functions, said a researcher. Humans have nearly 21,000 genes that make as many proteins, but the functions of most of those genes have not been fully determined.

Imaging acute ischemic stroke patients' brains did not lead to improved outcomes Posted: 08 Feb 2013 09:47 AM PST The use of advanced imaging shortly after the onset of acute stroke failed to identify a subgroup of patients who could benefit from a clot-removal procedure, a study has found.

Rheumatoid arthritis prevented in mice: Infusions of regulatory T cells turn off autoimmune attack on joints Posted: 08 Feb 2013 09:47 AM PST Scientists have demonstrated a new strategy for treating autoimmune disease that successfully blocked the development of rheumatoid arthritis in a mouse model. They say it holds promise for improved treatment of arthritis and other autoimmune disorders in people.

Scientists using holiday snaps to identify whale sharks Posted: 08 Feb 2013 09:46 AM PST Holidaymakers' photos could help scientists track the movements of giant endangered sharks living in the waters of the Indian Ocean. A new study show that these publicly sourced photographs are suitable for use in conservation work. Tourists scuba diving and snorkeling in the Maldives frequently take underwater pictures of the spectacular and docile whale shark, often called the world's largest fish.

Sunitinib benefits patients with renal cell carcinoma, study suggests Posted: 08 Feb 2013 09:46 AM PST Findings from clinical trial patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, a common kidney cancer, show they did not have accelerated tumor growth after treatment with sunitinib, in contrast to some study results in animals.

Synthetic marijuana dangerous for kidneys Posted: 08 Feb 2013 09:45 AM PST Nephrologists have reported for the first time in medical literature cases of acute kidney injury directly linked with synthetic marijuana use.

New NASA mission to help us better estimate asteroid impact hazard Posted: 08 Feb 2013 08:20 AM PST Every year, sensors designed to detect nuclear explosions see harmless bursts in Earth's upper atmosphere from the breakup of an asteroid a few yards across. Tiny asteroids are much more numerous than big ones, so destructive hits to Earth are very rare. However, because of their potential for devastation, NASA's Near-Earth Object (NEO) observations program supports surveys which are undertaking sustained searches to find the largest objects and predict their impact threat to Earth.

Nucleus structure crucial to understanding diseases discovered Posted: 08 Feb 2013 08:02 AM PST Scientists from Singapore and Germany have identified that the proteins lamin A and lamin B receptor are essential for holding silent genes in their correct position at the edge of the nucleus, in the form of heterochromatin . A deviation from their normal position will cause the genes to malfunction, leading to heart failure, vascular disease and muscle wasting.

Researchers explore quantum entanglement Posted: 08 Feb 2013 08:02 AM PST Researchers propose a way in which "spooky action at a distance" can be shown experimentally.

Support needed for children losing parent at early age Posted: 08 Feb 2013 08:02 AM PST A study exploring the impact of early parental death has revealed the long-term damage and suffering that can be experienced by individuals in adult life if appropriate levels of support are not provided at the time of bereavement.

New insight on relationship between parents, preschoolers and obesity Posted: 08 Feb 2013 08:00 AM PST While sugary drinks, lack of exercise and genetics contribute to a growing number of overweight American children, new research reveals how a mom's eating habits and behavior at the dinner table can influence her preschooler's obesity risk.

Using Twitter to predict the influence of lifestyle on health Posted: 08 Feb 2013 08:00 AM PST Researchers showed last year how Twitter can be used to predict how likely it is for a Twitter user to become sick. They have now used Twitter to model how other factors -- social status, exposure to pollution, interpersonal interaction and others -- influence health.

3-D printing on the micrometer scale Posted: 08 Feb 2013 07:59 AM PST Scientists have developed the world's fastest 3D printer of micro- and nanostructures. With this printer, smallest three-dimensional objects, often smaller than the diameter of a human hair, can be manufactured with minimum time consumption and maximum resolution. The printer is based on a novel laser lithography method.

New brain-test app Posted: 08 Feb 2013 07:58 AM PST Smartphones offer a wealth of possibilities for psychological research. A new study shows that an iPhone app yields as reliable results as laboratory tests.

Implants make light work of fixing broken bones Posted: 08 Feb 2013 07:58 AM PST Artificial bone, created using stem cells and a new lightweight plastic, could soon be used to heal shattered limbs. The use of bone stem cells combined with a degradable rigid material that inserts into broken bones encourages real bone to re-grow. Researchers have developed the material with a honeycomb scaffold structure that allows blood to flow through it, enabling stem cells from the patient's bone marrow to attach to the material and grow new bone. Over time, the plastic slowly degrades as the implant is replaced by newly grown bone.

To quiver or to shiver: Explaining warning signal diversity in wood tiger moths Posted: 08 Feb 2013 07:57 AM PST A central question in evolutionary biology is what causes the diversity of appearance seen in animals of the same species? Diversity is the raw material evolution has to act on, and this is why it is important to study the processes causing diversity. However, organisms that possess warning signals telling that they are unpalatable are not really expected to have very diverse forms of coloration. Such organisms are known as "aposematic," and a similar looking coloration which acts as a warning signal is a way to make sure that potential predators will recognize and avoid them. It is especially interesting to take a look at the cause of diversity in the appearance of aposematic species because it is not predicted.

Forensic pathology: Tracing the origin of the Usutu virus in blackbirds Posted: 08 Feb 2013 07:57 AM PST It is generally a mystery how new diseases arise and how the pathogens that cause them first enter countries.  However, clues may come from examination of specimens from similar outbreaks.  This approach has recently been taken by scientists in order to trace the origin of the virus that caused a sudden decrease in the number of blackbirds in Vienna in 2001.

Histone modification controls development: Chemical tags on histones regulate gene activity Posted: 08 Feb 2013 07:57 AM PST Every gene in the nucleus of an animal or plant cell is packaged into a beads-on-a-string like structure called nucleosomes: the DNA of the gene forms the string and a complex of proteins called histones forms the beads around which the DNA is wrapped. Scientists have now established that adding chemical tags on histones is critical for regulating gene activity during animal development. Studies over the past two decades revealed that many proteins that control the activity of genes are enzymes that add small chemical tags on histone proteins but also on a variety of other proteins. With their studies the researchers have now shown that it is the tags on the histones that control if genes are active or inactive.

U.S. Healthcare: New children’s electronic health record format announced Posted: 08 Feb 2013 07:53 AM PST Many existing EHR systems are not tailored to capture or process health information about children. The new format allows for child-specific data elements.

Predictions of the human cost of climate change Posted: 08 Feb 2013 07:53 AM PST Scientists predict a grim future for billions of people by 2050 if climate change issues are not addressed now.

Innovative water purification tablet for developing world Posted: 08 Feb 2013 07:53 AM PST Scientists have invented a simple ceramic water purification tablet. Called MadiDrop, the tablet is impregnated with silver or copper nanoparticles. It can repeatedly disinfect water for up to six months simply by resting in a vessel where water is poured.

Putting our heads together: Canines may hold clues to human skull development Posted: 08 Feb 2013 07:53 AM PST Researchers have reviewed research on dog cranium development, suggest future research and how it may inform human skull development.

New way to identify which El Niño events will have biggest impact on U.S. winter weather Posted: 08 Feb 2013 07:49 AM PST Weather forecasters have long known that El Niño events can throw seasonal climate patterns off kilter, particularly during winter months. Now, new research suggests that a different way to detect El Niño could help forecasters predict the unusual weather it causes.

New study highlights Chagas disease as a growing health and socio-economic challenge Posted: 07 Feb 2013 04:22 PM PST A new report examines the global economic burden of Chagas disease. In the first study of its kind, researchers measured the health and economic impact of Chagas disease and found that the total economic burden of Chagas disease matches or exceeds that of many more well-known diseases such as rotavirus, Lyme disease and cervical cancer.

Stress at work very unlikely to cause cancer Posted: 07 Feb 2013 04:22 PM PST Work-related stress is not linked to the development of colorectal, lung, breast or prostate cancers, a new study suggests.

Scientists find key to growth of 'bad' bacteria in inflammatory bowel disease Posted: 07 Feb 2013 02:21 PM PST Scientists have long puzzled over why "bad" bacteria such as E. coli can thrive in the guts of those with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), causing serious diarrhea. Now researchers have discovered the answer -- one that may be the first step toward finding new and better treatments for IBD.

HIV exploits a human cytokine in semen to promote its own transmission Posted: 07 Feb 2013 02:20 PM PST A new report suggests that the concentration of one human cytokine, interleukin 7 (IL-7), in the semen of HIV-1-infected men may be a key determinant of the efficiency of HIV-1 transmission to an uninfected female partner. Scientists report that the increased IL-7 concentration in semen facilitates HIV transmission to cervical tissue ex vivo.

Poll: Americans back climate change regulation, not taxes Posted: 07 Feb 2013 10:16 AM PST Now that President Obama has put climate change back on the table in his second inaugural address, a new national poll finds growing public support for regulating greenhouse gas emissions and requiring utilities to switch to lower-carbon fuel sources.

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