A study of more than 1 million Asians found that those who were a normal weight were far less likely to die from any cause than individuals whose body-mass index (BMI) was too high or low. A similar association was seen between BMI and the risk of death from cancer, cardiovascular disease or other causes.
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Clinicians have often referred to ultrasound technology as the "stethoscope of the future," predicting that as the equipment shrinks in size, it will one day be as common at the bedside as that trusty tool around every physician's neck. According to a new report in The New England Journal of Medicine, that day has arrived.
A team involving University of Tennessee, Knoxville, researchers has conducted the first-ever genetic sequencing of a harmful algal bloom (HAB) species, cracking the genome of the micro-organism responsible for the Eastern Seaboard's notorious brown tides.
New bird to science emphasizes the critical need to conserve the remaining dry forests of Madagascar
In a recent issue of the scientific journal Zootaxa, researchers from Madagascar and the United States described a new species of forest-dwelling rail. The new bird was named Mentocrex beankaensis, with the genus Mentocrex being endemic to Madagascar and the new species beankaensis being coined after the type locality, the Beanka Forest in western central Madagascar. This species was distinguished from another in the same genus, known from the eastern portion of the island, based on aspects of size, plumage, and DNA.
In an effort to develop therapeutic remedies for multiple sclerosis, scientists debate two possible interventional approaches - but they're on opposite sides of the spectrum. Researchers at Wayne State University's School of Medicine, however, have reached a definitive conclusion as to which approach is correct, putting an end to a long-disputed issue.
When people are feeling badly about themselves, they're more likely to show bias against people who are different. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, examines how that works.
HOUSTON -- (Feb. 23, 2011) -- A lab at Rice University has stepped forward with an efficient method to disperse nanotubes in a way that preserves their unique properties -- and adds more.
The new technique allows inorganic metal complexes with different functionalities to remain in close contact with single-walled carbon nanotubes while keeping them separated in a solution.
The current pace of population aging is without parallel in human history but surprisingly little is known about the human aging process, because lifespans of eight decades or more make it difficult to study. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have replicated premature aging in the lab, allowing them to study aging-related disease in a dish.
Emory postdoctoral fellow Sudhir Pai Kasturi, PhD, created tiny particles studded with molecules thatturn on Toll‑like receptors. He worked with colleague Niren Murthy, PhD, associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.
Gene transcription is central to cell function, as it converts the information stored in the DNA into RNA molecules of defined sequence, which then program protein synthesis. The enzyme RNA polymerase II (Pol II) is responsible for this genetic readout, but is prone to transcriptional arrest. The biochemist Professor Patrick Cramer, Director of LMU's Genzentrum, and his research associate Dr. Alan Cheung have now shown for the first time – and captured on film -- what happens when Pol II arrests at a "roadblock". They were even able to observe how transcript is reactivated.
In a finding that may potentially improve survival from war injuries and disasters, laboratory researchers report that refrigerated whole blood may have a shelf life well beyond the current standard of 24 to 48 hours.
A study by Rimma Teper, Michael Inzlicht, and Elizabeth Page-Gould of the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) on human morality has just been published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association of Psychological Science.
The study tested the difference between moral forecasting and moral action—and the reasons behind any mismatch. The findings look encouraging: people act more morally than they would have predicted.
With most people unable to get enough vitamin D from sunlight or foods, scientists are suggesting that a new vitamin D-fortified food — bread made with high-vitamin D yeast — could fill that gap. Their study, confirming that the approach works in laboratory tests, appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Most large wind turbines currently operate at variable speeds. When the wind is strong, the rotor turns fast; when it slows down, the rotor speed drops. Typically rotors complete 12 to 16 revolutions per minute. The generator is connected to the rotor via a gearbox. Here too, the speed of rotation varies with the speed of the wind.
CLEVELAND – February 21, 2011 – New research shows that medications which have raised safety concerns over heart attack and stroke risks may not have gotten approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) if the cardiovascular effects of fluid retention had been better understood. Fluid retention may explain the increased risk of heart attacks and strokes of medications such as Vioxx®, Bextra®, and Avandia®.