Heavens

Since its introduction in 1993, molecular adsorbent recirculating system (MARS) albumin dialysis has been a subject of research, with the hope of effectively treating patients with acute liver failure. The impact of MARS treatment on outcome as well as clinical and laboratory variables has been investigated widely in small non-randomized studies. However, larger studies with longer follow-up time are required to determine the true usefulness of MARS treatment in different liver failure etiologies.

Giving students personalised feedback on their drinking behaviour and how it compares to social norms might help to reduce alcohol misuse, according to a Cochrane Systematic Review.

Antimicrobial treatments for bacterial vaginosis (BV) are effective, but taking lactobacillus tablets alongside metronidazole antibiotic therapy increases effectiveness over taking this antibiotic alone, according to a Cochrane Systematic Review. The researchers also concluded that intravaginal lactobacillus was as effective as oral metronidazole, although they did note unexplained drop-outs from the trials.

Though the solar industry today predominately produces solar panels made from crystalline silicon, they remain relatively expensive to make. New players in the solar industry have instead been looking at panels that can harvest energy with CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-selenide) or CIGS-related materials. CIGS panels have a high efficiency potential, may be cheaper to produce and would use less raw materials than silicon solar panels. But unfortunately, manufacturing of CIGS panels on a commercial scale has thus far proven to be difficult.

(Boston) – Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have shown that endoscopic surgery is a valid treatment option for treating esthesioneuroblastoma (cancer of the nasal cavity), in addition to traditional open surgery and nonsurgical treatments. These findings appear in the July issue of Laryngoscope.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. civil space program should be aligned with widely acknowledged national challenges, says a new report from the National Research Council. Aligning the program with pressing issues – environmental, economic, and strategic – is a national imperative, and will continue to grow in importance. Coordination across federal agencies, combined with a competent technical work force, effective infrastructure, and investment in technology and innovation, would lay the foundation for a purposeful, strategic U.S. space program that would serve national interests.

WASHINGTON -- With NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, astronomers now are getting their best look at pulsars. In two studies published in Science Express, international teams have analyzed gamma-rays from two dozen pulsars, including 16 discovered by Fermi. Fermi is the first spacecraft able to identify pulsars by their gamma-ray emission alone.

A new report from the National Research Council, America's Future in Space: Aligning the Civil Space Program With National Needs, identifies overarching goals for the U.S. space program and discusses issues critically important to reaching those goals. The report also recommends a long-term plan for space policy that is scientifically, technically, and politically credible, and is based upon lessons learned from successes and realistic expectations for future resources.

Source: National Academy of Sciences

It is one of the largest among the giants: With two to three billion times the mass of our sun, the galaxy Messier 87 dominates the Virgo cluster. A supermassive black hole exists in the centre of this galaxy. So called jets (gigantic plasma flows) shoot out from the vicinity of the black hole at close to light speed. Scientists - among others from the Max Planck Institutes for Nuclear Physics and Physics - have observed, simultaneously in gamma and radio frequencies, this active galactic core region.

TEMPE, Ariz. – NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) has taken and received its first images of the Moon, kicking off the year-long mapping mission of Earth's nearest celestial neighbor.

Using a worldwide combination of diverse telescopes, astronomers have discovered that a giant galaxy's bursts of very high energy gamma rays are coming from a region very close to the supermassive black hole at its core. The discovery provides important new information about the mysterious workings of the powerful "engines" in the centers of innumerable galaxies throughout the Universe.

New research in the journal Science offers new details about the history of water on Mars, gathered from the 2008 NASA Phoenix Mars Mission.

Peter H. Smith, a scientist with the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the mission's principal investigator, is the first author of "H2O at the Phoenix Landing Site" in Science. Smith and his group of scientists and students used the lander to investigate the role of water and ice on Mars, as well as the changing weather patterns.

An international collaboration of 390 scientists reports the discovery of an outburst of very-high-energy (VHE) gamma radiation from the giant radio galaxy Messier 87 (M 87), accompanied by a strong rise of the radio flux measured from the direct vicinity of its super-massive black hole.

SANTA CRUZ, CA--A new class of pulsars detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is solving the mystery of previously unidentified gamma-ray sources and helping scientists understand the mechanisms behind pulsar emissions.

Mars gets as far as 250 million miles away, but many parts of it closely resemble places on Earth, including its landscape, history of water, soil and even its weather, says a Texas A&M University researcher in the current issue of "Science" magazine.

Mark Lemmon, a professor of atmospheric sciences who has been involved with Mars missions for years, says last year's Phoenix Mars Lander mission keeps revealing secrets about the planet, answering some questions but raising other big ones. He is one of several authors detailing the Phoenix discoveries.