ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Taking the lead out of a promising solar cell: Environmentally friendly solar cell pushes forward the 'next big thing in photovoltaics'
• Global warming not uniform around the globe: Some areas were recently cooling
• Functioning of aged brains and muscles in mice made younger: More progress with GDF 11, anti-aging protein
• New insight may help predict volcanic eruption behavior
• New method for measuring the temperature of nanoscale objects discovered
• Steroids after surgery do not help infants with rare liver disease
• Environmental factors as important as genes in understanding autism
• Receiving Tdap vaccine during pregnancy appears safe, study shows
• Low rate of cholesterol testing for children, adolescents
• Large increase in type 1, 2 diabetes among US youth, study shows
• Scores of bullying victims bringing weapons to school
• IV hormone infusion could treat common cause of infertility in women
• Drinking, Even Casual Amounts, Poses Much Greater Risk for Advanced Liver Disease in HIV/Hepatitis C Patients

Taking the lead out of a promising solar cell: Environmentally friendly solar cell pushes forward the 'next big thing in photovoltaics' Posted: 04 May 2014 10:32 AM PDT Researchers are the first to develop a solar cell with good efficiency that uses tin instead of lead perovskite as the harvester of light. The low-cost, environmentally friendly solar cell can be made easily using 'bench' chemistry -- no fancy equipment or hazardous materials. Perovskite solar cells are being touted as the 'next big thing in photovoltaics.' Lead perovskite has achieved 15 percent efficiency, and tin perovskite should be able to match -- and possibly surpass -- that.

Global warming not uniform around the globe: Some areas were recently cooling Posted: 04 May 2014 10:32 AM PDT New research shows the first detailed look at global land surface warming trends over the last 100 years, illustrating precisely when and where different areas of the world started to warm up or cool down.

Functioning of aged brains and muscles in mice made younger: More progress with GDF 11, anti-aging protein Posted: 04 May 2014 10:32 AM PDT Scientists have shown that a protein they previously demonstrated can make the failing hearts in aging mice appear more like those of young health mice, similarly improves brain and skeletal muscle function in aging mice. In two separate articles scientists report that injections of a protein known as GDF11, which is found in humans as well as mice, improved the exercise capability of mice equivalent in age to that of about a 70-year-old human.

New insight may help predict volcanic eruption behavior Posted: 04 May 2014 10:32 AM PDT A new discovery in the study of how lava dome volcanoes erupt may help in the development of methods to predict how a volcanic eruption will behave, say scientists. Volcanologists have discovered that a process called frictional melting plays a role in determining how a volcano will erupt, by dictating how fast magma can ascend to the surface, and how much resistance it faces en-route.

New method for measuring the temperature of nanoscale objects discovered Posted: 04 May 2014 10:32 AM PDT Pioneering research has now developed a method to accurately measure the surface temperature of nanoscale objects when they have a different temperature than their environment.

Steroids after surgery do not help infants with rare liver disease Posted: 04 May 2014 06:56 AM PDT Infants with biliary atresia -- a rare liver disease -- did not benefit from corticosteroid treatment after bile duct surgery and could face more harm, according to a new study. In biliary atresia, inflammation leads to blockage of the large bile ducts. Bile becomes trapped, causing damage to the liver and leading to scarring, loss of liver tissue and liver failure. Most infants with this serious disease require bile duct surgery and may later need a liver transplant. Worldwide, biliary atresia is the most common reason for liver transplantation in children.

Environmental factors as important as genes in understanding autism Posted: 04 May 2014 06:56 AM PDT Environmental factors are more important than previously thought in understanding the causes of autism, and equally as important as genes, according to the largest study to date to look at how autism runs in families. The study also provides measures of individual risk for children who have a relative with autism.

Receiving Tdap vaccine during pregnancy appears safe, study shows Posted: 04 May 2014 06:56 AM PDT A preliminary study finds that receipt of the tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis vaccine in the third trimester of pregnancy did not increase the risk of adverse events for the mother or infant. In addition, the authors found high concentrations of pertussis antibodies in infants during the first two months of life, a period during which infants are at the highest risk of pertussis-associated illness or death.

Low rate of cholesterol testing for children, adolescents Posted: 04 May 2014 06:56 AM PDT Although some guidelines recommend lipid screening for children and adolescents of certain ages, data indicate that only about 3 percent are having their cholesterol tested during health visits, according to a study. Abnormal lipid values occur in 1 in 5 U.S. children and adolescents, and are associated with cardiovascular disease in adulthood.

Large increase in type 1, 2 diabetes among US youth, study shows Posted: 04 May 2014 06:55 AM PDT The prevalence of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes increased significantly between 2001 and 2009, according to a study that included data from more than three million children and adolescents from diverse geographic regions of the United States. "The increases in prevalence reported herein are important because such youth with diabetes will enter adulthood with several years of disease duration, difficulty in treatment, an increased risk of early complications, and increased frequency of diabetes during reproductive years, which may further increase diabetes in the next generation," the researchers write.

Scores of bullying victims bringing weapons to school Posted: 04 May 2014 06:55 AM PDT An estimated 200,000 high school students who are bullied bring weapons to school, according to research. "Victims of bullying who have been threatened, engaged in a fight, injured, or had property stolen or damaged are much more likely to carry a gun or knife to school," said the study's senior investigator. Results showed that 20 percent of high school students reported being victims of bullying. Those who were bullied were more likely to be in lower grades, females and white.

IV hormone infusion could treat common cause of infertility in women Posted: 04 May 2014 06:53 AM PDT Researchers have succeeded in restoring hormones essential for fertility that are commonly lost in women who exercise intensively, according to research. Fertility depends on a range of reproductive hormones. In females, one of these, called luteinising hormone is released from the brain in short bursts every 1-2 hours. When women undergo strict exercise regimes and restrict their calorific intake, energy is diverted away from maintaining their reproductive system.

Drinking, Even Casual Amounts, Poses Much Greater Risk for Advanced Liver Disease in HIV/Hepatitis C Patients Posted: 02 May 2014 12:56 PM PDT There is a much stronger association between alcohol use and advanced liver fibrosis in co-infected patients compared to uninfected, research has demonstrated. Even light ("nonhazardous") drinking -- which typically poses a relatively low risk for uninfected persons -- was linked to an increased risk of liver fibrosis in the co-infected group of study participants.

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