The "exceptionally simple theory of everything," proposed by a surfing physicist in 2007, does not hold water, says Emory University mathematician Skip Garibaldi.
Garibaldi did the math to disprove the theory, which involves a mysterious structure known as E8. The resulting paper (http://arxiv.org/abs/0905.2658 ), co-authored by physicist Jacques Distler of the University of Texas, will appear in an upcoming issue of Communications in Mathematical Physics.
This statement isn't new, but for years anthropologists, archaeologists and historians of art understood these artistic manifestations as purely aesthetic and decorative motives. Eduardo Palacio-Pérez, researcher at the University of Cantabria (UC), now reveals the origins of a theory that remains nowadays/lasts into our days.
Geologists from the University of Leicester are among four scientists- including a Nobel prize-winner – who suggest that the Earth has entered a new age of geological time.
The Age of Aquarius? Not quite - It's the Anthropocene Epoch, say the scientists writing in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. (web issue March 29; print issue April 1)
And they add that the dawning of this new epoch may include the sixth largest mass extinction in the Earth's history.
A medical student and faculty directors from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics analyzed depictions of bioethical issues and professionalism over a full season of two popular medical dramas—"Grey's Anatomy" and "House, M.D."—and found that the shows were "rife" with ethical dilemmas and actions that often ran afoul of professional codes of conduct.
Pneumonia is the leading cause of death amongst Chinese children, accounting for 17 per cent of deaths in under-5s, according to a new study.
But the number of children in China who die before reaching the age of five has dropped by 70 per cent since 1990 – from 6.5 per cent of live births to 1.9 per cent.
The team predicts that complications caused by premature birth will soon become the leading cause of childhood death in China as increased access to hospital treatment cuts the number of deaths from pneumonia.
Millions of Americans may have chronic kidney disease (CKD) and not know it, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).
"Our research indicates that much of the CKD burden in the United States is in persons with prediabetes and undiagnosed diabetes, who are not being screened for CKD," comments Laura C. Plantinga, ScM (University of California, San Francisco). The researchers believe that broader screening may be needed to detect patients with these two "relatively silent yet harmful diseases."
Identifying the causes of heat stress in cattle and finding ways to manage it are the goals of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and cooperators who are helping producers deal with this significant production problem.
Heat stress can have serious consequences. While some cattle exhibit little or no response to it, others may experience diminished appetite and feed intake, reduced growth rate, compromised disease resistance and, in extreme cases, death.
By enhancing the activity of immune cells that protect against runaway inflammation, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center may have found a novel therapy for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. In a new study published in the March 25, 2010 online edition of Science, the researchers reveal how treating these immune cells with an investigational drug wards off inflammation by holding a particular enzyme at bay.
A recent study found that sirolimus-based immunosuppression following liver transplantation in patients with non-resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) significantly increases survival rates for this patient population. Results of this study appear in the April issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Even during tough economic times, a school district's decision to cut support services aimed at helping Hispanic students and their families navigate through the public school system will prove to be a shortsighted one, especially given long-term demographic trends and the need for a highly educated workforce, says a University of Illinois expert in social services for vulnerable populations.
It has been a common opinion that inflammation in adipose tissue may cause insulin resistance, and thereby type 2 diabetes. However, recent research from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, question the theory that inflammation in the body fat is only pernicious. Instead the findings suggest that a certain form of body fat inflammation is necessary for fat cell turnover in the lean, healthy state.
The final experiment by the team was to test the MetAP inhibitors on TB bacteria in culture to see if it had any effect on bacteria growth.
"Judging from potency, a MetAP inhibibitor alone probably won't wipe out TB," Liu says. "TB is so hard to treat that the standard therapy involves a cocktail of multiple drugs; no single compound is powerful enough. Our hope is that someday an inhibitor of MetAP will become a new component to enhance the existing therapy."
This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
BOSTON – The Internet has had a profound effect on clinical practice by providing both physicians and patients with a wealth of information. But with those rewards come risks of incorrect or poorly interpreted information that require that a doctor "never be optional."
SAN FRANCISCO, March 24, 2010 — Scientists are reporting progress toward a test that could revolutionize the diagnosis of glaucoma — the second leading cause of vision loss and blindness worldwide — by detecting the disease years earlier than usually happens at present. They reported the findings here today at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
(Garrison, NY) Many egg donation agencies and private couples routinely exceed compensation recommendation limits for potential donors, a new study finds.
From a sample of over 300 college newspapers, findings revealed that almost one-quarter of advertisements offered payment in excess of $10,000, a violation of guidelines issued by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).