Tech

For those who do not drink, researchers have found that six essential oils –from thyme, clove, rose, eucalyptus, fennel and bergamot—can suppress the inflammatory COX-2 enzyme, in a manner similar to resveratrol, the chemical linked with the health benefits of red wine. They also identified that the chemical carvacrol was primarily responsible for this suppressive activity.

(MIAMI) —A reduction in hospital mortality from severe sepsis and septic shock was associated with participation in the Surviving Sepsis Campaign performance improvement initiative, according to an article published simultaneously in the February issues of Critical Care Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine and posted ahead of print at www.ccmjournal.com.

The drill bit gradually burrows deeper into the earth, working its way through the rock. Meanwhile, dozens of sensors are busily engaged in tasks such as taking pressure readings and evaluating porosity. The conditions they face are extreme, with the sensors being required to withstand high temperatures and pressures as well as shocks and vibrations. The sensors send the data to the surface to help geologists with work such as searching for oil deposits.

Literally hundreds of people are hurrying through the long airport corridor between Terminals A and B. Among them are two terrorists, who've hidden themselves in the crowd. They're carrying small containers of chemicals in their jacket pockets, individual components for an explosive. But there's something the criminals don't know. As well as being observed by security cameras, they're also being "sniffed out" by chemical noses hidden in the corridor wall.

Research shows that, nationally, states are facing more than $550 billion in unfunded liabilities associated with health care and other non-pension benefits for retired state employees, a situation many states are now struggling to fix. New research from North Carolina State University has identified a number of trends that are consistent among those states with the biggest funding problems – information that may help states find a solution to the funding shortfall.

After a decade of remarkable growth, total annual funding for biomedical research in the U.S. has decelerated and may have even fallen when adjusted for inflation. That is the conclusion of a study today published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Washington, Jan. 12, 2010 – The American College of Physicians (ACP) today was one of 118 organizations that joined to send a letter to House and Senate leaders supporting equality of Medicaid and Medicare rates for primary care services. The co-signers include national and state organizations representing physicians, nurses, hospitals, and other health care providers; and consumer, labor, and other patient advocacy groups.

Emory University researchers believe they have come up with the cheapest, most efficient way yet to monitor adult mosquitoes and the deadly diseases they carry, from malaria to West Nile Virus. Emory has filed a provisional patent on the Prokopack mosquito aspirator, but the inventors have provided simple instructions for how to make it in the Journal of Medical Entomology.

New York subway commuters may worry more about rats and rising fares than dust floating through the system, but for the workers who spend their whole shift below ground, air quality has long been a concern. Results from a new pilot study using miniaturized air samplers to look at steel dust exposure may help them breathe easier.

Compared to conventional chemotherapy, autologous stem cell transplantation can extend "event-free survival" for breast cancer patients. Clinical trials provide proof of this for breast cancer with and without distant metastases. However, there are indications that this type of stem cell transplantation can more frequently give rise to severe complications affecting almost all organ systems. This is the conclusion of the final report of the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) published on 16 December 2009.

NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite captured a clear picture of what's happening within Tropical Storm Edzani, including where the rainfall is happening and where the center of the storm has been breached. Edzani is fading and will continue to fade over the next couple of days.

Also known as TRMM, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite is managed by NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA and the satellite acts like a rain gauge in space by measuring rainfall of storms on Earth from its orbit.

PHILADELPHIA, January 12, 2010 -- The American College of Physicians (ACP) has issued a position paper to guide ethical relationships among patients, physicians, and caregivers.

Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC (January 12, 2010) More than a third of National Football League (NFL) players who sustained an Achilles tendon injury were never able to return to professional play according to research in the current issue of Foot & Ankle Specialist (published by SAGE). The injured players who did return to active play averaged a 50% reduction in their power ratings.

A new predictor of cornea transplant success has been identified by the Cornea Donor Study (CDS) Investigator Group. New analysis of data from the 2008 Specular Microscopy Ancillary Study (SMAS), a subset of the CDS, found that the preoperative donor cell count of endothelial cells, previously considered to be an important predictor of a successful transplant, did not correlate with graft success. Instead the study found that a patient's endothelial cell count six months post-cornea transplant is a better indicator of subsequent failure of the graft rather than the donor's cell count.

Northwestern University researchers have developed compact, mid-infrared laser diodes that generate more light than heat – a breakthroughs in quantum cascade laser efficiency.

The results are an important step toward use of quantum cascade lasers in a variety of applications, including remote sensing of hazardous chemicals.

The research, led by Manijeh Razeghi, the Walter P. Murphy Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, was published online in the journal Nature Photonics on Jan. 10.