Detecting ever lower amounts of ionising radiation with ever better methods – sci-entists have had this goal since the start of the nuclear age. In addition to natural radiation, mankind is exposed to a multitude of other sources of radiation which result from the military and technical use of radioactive substances. To protect health, but also for technical and medical applications, it is necessary to determine even the smallest amounts of radionuclides with high precision.
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Millions of American children are exposed to violence in their homes each year, putting them at risk for a variety of emotional and behavioral problems. According to a new study in the September/October 2008 issue of the journal Child Development, children who are maltreated tend to have a lot of re-exposure to family violence, and this re-exposure often leads to increased psychological problems.
Society holds that when it comes to aggression, boys hit and punch, while girls spread rumors, gossip, and intentionally exclude others, a type of aggression that's called indirect, relational, or social. Now a new analysis of almost 150 studies of aggression in children and adolescents has found that while it's true that boys are more likely to engage in physical aggression, girls and boys alike take part in social aggression.
OAK BROOK, Ill. – Canadian researchers have used three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (3-D MRI) to accurately detect bleeding within the walls of diseased carotid arteries, a condition that may lead to a stroke. The results of the study published in the October issue of Radiology suggest the technique may prove to be a useful screening tool for patients at high risk for stroke.
Montreal, September 16, 2008 – Young girls from poor neighbourhoods need to review more than the birds and bees with their parents – they need to hear about contraception and potential dangers of hanging out with older boys. A new study by researchers from the Université de Montréal, the University of New Brunswick and Tufts University, published in the journal Child Development, has found that girls living in poor neighbourhoods were more likely to engage in sexual intercourse in early adolescence and to be doing so with older boys.
A winter free from colds and flu? Not yet. But a new study offers new evidence that Canada's top cold and flu-fighting product provides significant help. The three-year study showed that trial participants who took COLD-FX were about one-third less likely to get a "Jackson" cold or flu. The very sensitive Jackson scoring method is a well-accepted scientific approach for judging clinical symptoms, which include coughing, sneezing, runny noses and others. COLD-FX is a unique extract of North American ginseng discovered by 25 Canadian scientists.
A team of biologists from UC San Diego, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Oregon State University has identified the genes that enable plants to undergo bursts of rhythmic growth at night and allow them to compete when their leaves are shaded by other plants.
Inadequate treatment of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis (TB) can leave patients highly infectious, and small numbers of such patients may drive transmission of the disease in the very health care facilities intended to treat it, according to research published in PLoS Medicine.
Every year, more than nine million people develop tuberculosis—a contagious infection usually involving the lungs—and nearly two million people die from the disease. The bacteria that cause TB are spread in airborne droplets when people with the disease cough or sneeze.
YAOUNDE (16 September 2008) – A new report from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB) and partners warns that an upsurge in hunting bushmeat—including mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians — in tropical forests is unsustainable and that it poses serious threats to food security for poor inhabitants of forests in Africa, who rely largely on bushmeat for protein.
In a study published this week in PLoS Biology, Eric Xu and colleagues have determined the molecular structure of a nuclear receptor, which regulates the expression of specific genes within cells, that may serve as a drug target for diseases related to heart and blood vessel development, human embryonic development and female infertility. Researchers also found that the receptor, named COUP-TFII, is activated by retinoic acid, a form of Vitamin A.
Just over five years ago, an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-coronavirus killed over 750 people. SARS (corona)virus, a positive-stranded RNA virus, replicates in the cytoplasm of host cells, attaching its replication complex to intracellular membranes that it has modified for this purpose.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – More than 125 years ago Charles Darwin first reported that most plants grow in a spurt during the night, not the day – and this week, scientists are reporting the discovery of the genes that control this phenomenon.
Scientists have discovered that certain fish are capable of glowing red. Research published today in BMC Ecology includes striking images of fish fluorescing vivid red light.
The inventor of a revolutionary new forensic fingerprinting technique claims criminals who eat processed foods are more likely to be discovered by police through their fingerprint sweat corroding metal.
Dr John Bond, a researcher at the University of Leicester and scientific support officer at Northamptonshire Police, said processed food fans are more likely to leave tell-tale signs at a crime scene.
SEATTLE – A team of researchers led by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center reports online today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology the validation of a potential "HIV-test" equivalent for the early detection of lung cancer. The test, which relies on immune-system signals, much like an HIV test, can detect the presence of lung cancer a year prior to diagnosis, long before symptoms appear.