Over the past couple of decades, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has emerged as a powerful tool for imaging surfaces at astonishing resolutions—fractions of a nanometer in some cases. But suppose you're more concerned with what lies below the surface? Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have shown that under the right circumstances, surface science instruments such as the AFM can deliver valuable data about sub-surface conditions.
Tech
Analysis of a series of public health campaigns in the Swiss media has shown that, although the campaign was entirely focussed on positive messages, the resulting stories often featured 'negative' threats and warnings. The study, published in the open access journal BMC Research Notes, also found that the campaign was much more successful in the German media, compared to French or Italian.
Babies who are looked after by relatives, friends, and neighbours while their mothers are at work, are less likely to be breastfed, suggests research published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
This applies to both full time and part time care, and all strata of society, the research indicates.
The findings are based on 18,050 infants, who were part of the UK Millennium Cohort Study, which tracks the long term health and wellbeing of children born between 2000 and 2002.
CHICAGO—June 23, 2010 -- The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) task force charged with reassessing resident training program standards today presented a comprehensive set of draft standards that revise requirements for supervision and duty hours to better match residents' levels of experience and emerging competencies, advancing both graduate medical education and quality patient care in the nation's teaching hospitals.
Personal computers in enterprise environments save energy and money by "sleep-working," thanks to new software called SleepServer created by computer scientists from the University of California, San Diego.
The fifth tropical depression of the Eastern Pacific Ocean hurricane season developed and quickly strengthened into Tropical Storm Darby during the early morning hours of June 23. NASA's Aqua satellite captured a large area of strong convection that indicated that speedy strengthening.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Toxic contamination from pesticides, the burning of fossil fuels, agriculture, industrial operations and other sources are a continuing concern in national parks of the West, two new studies confirm.
Scientists are reporting development of a new use for magnetic levitation, or "maglev," the futuristic technology best known for enabling high-speed passenger trains to float above the tracks. In ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, they describe putting maglev to use in an inexpensive sensor for analyzing food, water, and other beverages.
Scientists at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have discovered that a diet with high levels of fructose, sucrose, and of trans fats not only increases obesity, but also leads to significant fatty liver disease with scar tissue.
Moreover, the researchers conducted the study in a new mouse model of obesity and liver disease that so closely models human disease they will now be able to test therapies to determine their effectiveness, according to Rohit Kohli, M.D., a gastroenterologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the study's main author.
"The objective was to evaluate the utility of cryo-preserved human amniotic membrane (HAM) as a support for repairing human articular cartilage injuries, which have a very limited capacity for self-healing", Francisco J. Blanco, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Institute of Biomedical Research of La Coruña (INIBIC), tells SINC.
VANCOUVER, Wash.—Mothers of children with autism see their careers disproportionally affected as they confront greater demands on their time, inflexible workplaces and increased medical costs, according to a new study by researchers at Washington State University Vancouver.