Culture | Page 2841 | Science Codex

Clues about controlling cholesterol rise from yeast studies

Having discovered how a lowly, single-celled fungus regulates its version of cholesterol, Johns Hopkins researchers are gaining new insight about the target and action of cholesterol-lowering drugs taken daily by millions of people to stave off heart attacks and strokes. Their work appears in the December issue of Cell Metabolism.

In humans, statin drugs inhibit an enzyme, HMG-CoA reductase, to lower blood cholesterol. What's not as well understood are the multiple layers of control for the enzyme, especially the regulatory protein Insig.

India terrorism by the numbers

COLLEGE PARK, MD. - A long history of terrorism in India precedes the recent coordinated attacks in Mumbai. The Global Terrorism Database (GTD), maintained at the University of Maryland by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) counts more than 4,100 terrorist attacks in India since 1970. Fatalities number in the thousands. This information is freely available online.

The GTD is the most comprehensive and detailed open-source terrorism database available. Funding comes from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Particulate emissions from laser printers

We regularly hear reports that laser printers release pathogenic toner dust into the ambient air. How much of it can we believe? What kind of particles do the printers really emit, and in what quantities? Researchers at the Fraunhofer Wilhelm Klauditz Institute WKI in Braunschweig are investigating this question in collaboration with colleagues from Queensland University of Technology QUT in Brisbane, Australia. The results are surprising: Contrary to numerous reports, laser printers release hardly any particles of toner into the air.

Avalanches -- triggered from the valley

Everybody knows that skiers swishing down steep slopes can cause extensive slab avalanches. But there is a less well known phenomenon: A person skiing a gentle slope in the valley triggers a slab avalanche on a steeper slope, sometimes several hundred meters further uphill. This scenario doesn't seem to make sense – yet it claims human lives year after year.

Field test to demonstrate the anti-crack model.

(Photo Credit: A. van Herwijnen, Institut für Schnee- und Lawinenforschung, Davos)

Carnegie Mellon CyLab survey unveils major gap

PITTSBURGH— A recent Carnegie Mellon University CyLab survey of corporate board directors reveals a gap in board and senior executive oversight in managing cyber risks.

Based upon data from 703 individuals (primarily independent directors) serving on U.S-listed public company boards, only 36 percent of the respondents indicated that their board had any direct involvement with oversight of information security.

The survey also said that cybersecurity issues need to be seen as an enterprise risk management problem rather than an IT issue.

Most US organizations not adapting to climate change

New Haven, Conn.—Organizations in the United States that are at the highest risk of sustaining damage from climate change are not adapting enough to the dangers posed by rising temperatures, according to a Yale report.

New approach eliminates software deadlocks using discrete control theory

ANN ARBOR, Mich.--- Software deadlocks are the Catch-22s of the computer world. These common bugs can freeze the machine when different parts of a program end up in an endless cycle of waiting for one another as they access shared data.

University of Michigan researchers developed a new way around this problem with a controller that can anticipate and prevent situations that might cause deadlock.

Their controller is called Gadara. It's a plug-in that operates using feedback techniques similar to those that give us cruise control in cars and thermostats in heating systems.

Hospitalist Interventions May Reduce Emergency Room Crowding

Emergency room crowding is a national crisis. However, emergency room-focused interventions have seen little success. Researchers sought to determine if an active bed management, quality improvement initiative could have a positive effect on emergency room throughput and ambulance diversion.

Foretelling a major meltdown

BINGHAMTON, NY -- By discovering the meaning of a rare mineral that can be used to track ancient climates, Binghamton University geologist Tim Lowenstein is helping climatologists and others better understand what we're probably in for over the next century or two as global warming begins to crank up the heat — and, ultimately, to change life as we know it.

U of Minnesota Institute on Race and Poverty reports dismal results for charter schools

The University of Minnesota Law School's Institute on Race and Poverty has released a report that reveals very troubling data concerning the success rates of charter schools in the Twin Cities metro area.

Entitled "Failed Promises: Assessing Charter Schools in the Twin Cities," the new study is one of very few to evaluate the academic performance of charter schools and their competitive impact on traditional public school systems within the context of racial and economic segregation.

Tool helps identify gene function in soybeans

COLUMBIA, Mo. – In the race for bioengineered crops, sequencing the genome could be considered the first leg in a multi-leg relay. Once the sequence is complete, the baton is passed forward to researchers to identify genes' functions. A draft sequence of the soybean genome is now available, and the complete genome will be available soon. Taking the next step in a new study, University of Missouri Interdisciplinary Plant Group researchers have demonstrated the applicability of a genomic tool for identifying gene function in soybeans.

Towards improved immunotherapy

Amsterdam, December 1, 2008 – A study (doi:10.1016/j.clim.2008.07.027) published by Elsevier this month in Clinical Immunology, the official journal of the Clinical Immunology Society (CIS), describes a new method that facilitates the induction of a specific type of immune suppressive cells, called 'regulatory T cells' for therapeutic use. These immune suppressive cells show great potential for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and improving transplantation outcomes.

Sex life of killer fungus finally revealed

Biologists at The University of Nottingham and University College Dublin have announced a major breakthrough in our understanding of the sex life of a microscopic fungus which is a major cause of death in immune deficient patients and also a cause of severe asthma.

Organic attitude

Are consumers under too much pressure to be healthy? Has the global financial crisis sidelined the promotion of sustainable food? And how much do consumers actually know or care about the subject?

These are some of the questions being asked exclusively of people in Nottinghamshire in a major new study, by a researcher at The University of Nottingham.

PhD candidate Angie Clonan, from the Division of Nutritional Sciences, will send out 2,500 questionnaires in an unprecedented survey that will find out what consumers really think about sustainable foods.

Laser deposition welding and milling in a single machine

The IWS's manufacturing experts will be exhibiting their two-in-one machining solution on the joint Fraunhofer stand at the EUROMOLD trade show in Frankfurt from December 3 to 6, 2008 (Hall 8, Stand L113).