Tech | Page 1716 | Science Codex

New study turns up the heat on soot's role in Himalayan warming

Soot from fire in an unventilated fireplace wafts into a home and settles on the surfaces of floors and furniture. But with a quick fix to the chimney flue and some dusting, it bears no impact on a home's long-term environment.

A new modeling study from NASA confirms that when tiny air pollution particles we commonly call soot – also known as black carbon – travel along wind currents from densely populated south Asian cities and accumulate over a climate hotspot called the Tibetan Plateau, the result may be anything but inconsequential.

Physicists lay groundwork for cooler, faster computing

TORONTO, ON – University of Toronto quantum optics researchers Sajeev John and Xun Ma have discovered new behaviours of light within photonic crystals that could lead to faster optical information processing and compact computers that don't overheat.

Black carbon deposits on Himalayan ice threaten Earth's 'Third Pole'

WASHINGTON – Black soot deposited on Tibetan glaciers has contributed significantly to the retreat of the world's largest non-polar ice masses, according to new research by scientists from NASA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Soot absorbs incoming solar radiation and can speed glacial melting when deposited on snow in sufficient quantities.

Pandemic toolkit offers flu with a view

RICHLAND, Wash. – As communities brace for rising wintertime influenza cases, scientists are developing a mathematical and visual analytic toolkit to help health officials quickly analyze pandemics and craft better response strategies.

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have created a Pandemic Influenza Planning Tool to model the spread of a disease through various age groups and geographic populations. It also allows decision-makers to carefully assess the benefit of their decisions for different scenarios in advance.

Tracking new cancer-killing particles with MRI

HOUSTON -- (Dec. 14, 2009) -- Researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) have created a single nanoparticle that can be tracked in real time with MRI as it homes in on cancer cells, tags them with a fluorescent dye and kills them with heat. The all-in-one particle is one of the first examples from a growing field called "theranostics" that develops technologies physicians can use to diagnose and treat diseases in a single procedure.

Tool use in an invertebrate: The coconut-carrying octopus

Scientists once thought of tool use as a defining feature of humans. That's until examples of tool use came in from other primates, along with birds and an array of other mammals. Now, a report in the December 14th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, adds an octopus to the growing list of tool users.

Study finds significantly worse outcomes in cancer patients with cognitive impairment

Athens, Ga. – A new study published by researchers from the University of Georgia and the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., has found that cancer patients with dementia have a dramatically lower survival rate than patients with cancer alone, even after controlling for factors such as age, tumor type and tumor stage.

But the study, published in the early online edition of the journal Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology, also argues that a diagnosis of dementia shouldn't discourage the use of cancer screenings and appropriate cancer treatments.

Hospital re-admission high for dialysis patients treated in long-term care hospitals

CINCINNATI—A new study by University of Cincinnati (UC) nephrologists shows that most dialysis patients admitted to long-term care hospitals face readmission to acute care facilities, and those with acute kidney failure don't often recover full kidney function.

This study is being published in the advanced online edition of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation.

Study finds racial disparities exist in radiation therapy rates for early stage breast cancer

HOUSTON - Black women are less likely than white women to receive radiation therapy after a lumpectomy, the standard of care for early stage breast cancer, according to a new study by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The largest of its kind and the first to examine such racial disparities in radiation therapy, the study was published today in Cancer. It was first presented at the 2008 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Breast Cancer Symposium.

Mayo Clinic researchers say breast cancer survival improves Herceptin used with chemotherapy

SAN ANTONIO — Using Herceptin with chemotherapy, instead of after, clearly improves treatment of women with HER2+ breast cancer, and should be the new standard of care, says a Mayo Clinic researcher who led what is regarded to be a key clinical trial determining the best use of Herceptin.

M. D. Anderson study questions true favorability of rare breast cancer type

SAN ANTONIO - In a large review of breast cancer patients with mucinous carcinoma, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have identified an association between this rare type of breast cancer long-associated with a favorable prognosis and multiple tumors undetected by mammography or ultrasound.

Clinical trial advances new approach to re-sensitizing breast cancer

San Antonio, Tex. — A new drug cocktail might be the right mix to fight breast cancer after it becomes resistant to standard therapy. Details of a new study supporting this approach suggest it's possible to re-sensitize tumors thus allowing treatments to work again. The findings were presented today at the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

TRMM Satellite sees Cyclone Cleo coming to a close

Rainfall in the once-known Cyclone Cleo has really diminished over the last 24 hours, and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite has confirmed it. Cleo is fading and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center has acknowledged its demise, in its final warning on the storm today.

IOM report on national vaccine plan

WASHINGTON -- While vaccines help prevent many diseases in the United States, we lack immunization protection against several serious illnesses, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine that identifies priority areas for updating the National Vaccine Plan. The revised plan should include a strategy to accelerate development of high-priority vaccines, said the committee that wrote the report.

Physician advice a key motivator in baby's sleep position

DALLAS – Dec. 10, 2009 – The advice of a pediatrician to place infants on their backs to sleep appears to be the single most important motivator in getting parents to follow these recommendations and a key reason that the rate of sudden death syndrome (SIDS) has plummeted since the "Back to Sleep" campaign was launched in 1994, says a UT Southwestern researcher.

Multiple studies have shown that placing infants on their backs to sleep limits the risk of SIDS, the leading cause of death among children in the U.S. under the age of 1.