U.S. and European mandates for subsidies of cellulosic ethanol production and use have uncertain environmental consequences according to an international group of scientists which includes researchers from the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.
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New Rochelle, NY, October 3, 2008—Novel platform technologies and key advances in genomics are rapidly driving the development of molecular diagnostics, reports Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News (GEN). The payoff for successful molecular diagnostic products can be significant as Kalorama Information predicts that this market currently exceeds $3.2 billion worldwide and will reach $5.4 billion in four years, according to an article in the October 1 issue of GEN.
Batavia, IL and Upton, NY—The world's largest computing grid is ready to tackle mankind's biggest data challenge from the earth's most powerful accelerator. Today, three weeks after the first particle beams were injected into the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid combines the power of more than 140 computer centers from 33 countries to analyze and manage more than 15 million gigabytes of LHC data every year.
Some animal species have developed conspicuous traits produced by melanin pigments (for instance, dark manes in lions, black stripes in some birds and fishes). These traits are used as signals during contests for resources and/or contribute to increase the mating opportunities. However, the efficiency of these traits as signals depends on the fact that they transmit honest information about the quality of the bearer. This would be only assured by the fact that producing or maintaining the signal inevitability implies a cost.
RESTON, Va.—Coinciding with the observance of Nuclear Medicine Week (October 5 to 11) and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October), SNM released today a new fact sheet highlighting recent developments in molecular imaging technologies that are dramatically improving the ways in which breast cancer is diagnosed and treated.
INDIANAPOLIS – Despite performing equally to their male peers in the classroom and the clinic, female medical students consistently report decreased self-confidence and increased anxiety, particularly over issues related to their competency. A new study published in the September 2008 issue of Patient Education and Counseling found that female medical students also appeared less confident to patients.
The latest breakthrough in a 120 year-old debate on the evolution of the bird wing was published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, October 3, by Alexander Vargas and colleagues at Yale University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.
(Boston) – Researchers from Boston Medical Center have recently found that as household energy insecurity increases, the odds of infants and toddlers experiencing food insecurity, negative health, hospitalizations and developmental risks also increases. A household experiences energy insecurity when it lacks consistent access to the amount or the kind of energy needed for a healthy and safe life. These findings appear in the Vol. 122, No. 4, October 2008, issue of the journal Pediatrics.
More money and effort needs to be directed to understanding the causes and treatment of mental disorders to ensure improvements in the health of the community and the one in five people that experience mental illness in any one year.
Experts from AFFIRM – The Australia Foundation for Mental Health Research and the ANU Centre for Mental Health Research (CMHR) said that Mental Health Week, which begins on Sunday, is an opportunity for the community to support research on an illness which impacts many Australians.
German athlete Wojtek Czyz, running with a space-tech enhanced prosthetic leg, set a new world record at the Paralympics 2008 in Beijing, reaching an amazing 6.50 m and beating the previous world record by 27 cm.
LOS ANGELES (October 3, 2008) – Surgeons at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Institute for Spinal Disorders have combined three innovative minimally invasive spine surgery procedures to treat spinal curvature in adults, a common consequence of aging. An article in the October issue of the Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques is believed to be the first to document the use of these procedures in combination to correct this condition, known as adult lumbar degenerative scoliosis.
In a discovery that counters prevailing thought, a study in mice has found that inactivating a pair of key genes involved in "fat-burning" can actually increase energy expenditure and help lower diet-induced obesity. These unusual findings, appearing this week in the JBC, might lead to some new roads in weight-loss therapy.
It moves as quickly in sand as a fish moves through water, which is why this lizard, a species of skink (Scincus scincus) that grows to about 15 cm long and lives in the deserts of North Africa and the Near East, is commonly known by the name "sandfish."Although it looks fairly unremarkable, this desert animal has a thing or two to teach materials-handling and process-technology specialists,as it spends most of its time below the surface of the sand and moves through its element extremely efficiently,and scientists hope to apply the insights they gain from nature to improve industria
It's one of the hallmarks of spring: a swarm of bees on the move. But how a swarm locates a new nest site when less than 5% of the community know the way remains a mystery.
Researchers at the University of Toronto have shown that the EBNA1 protein of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) disrupts structures in the nucleus of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cells, thereby interfering with cellular processes that normally prevent cancer development. The study, published October 3rd in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, describes a novel mechanism by which viral proteins contribute to carcinogenesis.