ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines
for Monday, July 7, 2008
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New Antibiotic Beats Superbugs At Their Own Game (July 7, 2008) -- By targeting the gene that confers resistance to antibiotics, a new drug may be able to finally outwit drug-resistant staph bacteria. ... > full story
Newly Identified Enzyme Treats Deadly Bacterial Infections In Mice (July 7, 2008) -- By the time antibiotics made their clinical debut 70 years ago, bacteria had long evolved strategies to shield themselves. For billions of years, bacteria hurled toxic molecules at each other in the struggle to prosper, and those that withstood the chemical onslaught marched on. Now, with an uptick in antibiotic-resistant bacteria reaching alarming proportions, scientists have identified an enzyme produced in viruses (called bacteriophages) that could stop these one-celled powerhouses dead in their tracks. ... > full story
Effects Of Healing Touch Therapy Being Studied (July 7, 2008) -- Researchers are pairing a complementary therapy known as Healing Touch with mild sedation to see if the technique truly calms patients undergoing minor procedures. ... > full story
Glaucoma Surgery Studied In Medicare Patients, New Hope For People With End-stage Glaucoma (July 7, 2008) -- Ophthalmologists continue to develop treatments to help the more than three million Americans with glaucoma. The July issue of Ophthalmology includes a large, national study of outcomes of incisional surgeries, used to reduce pressure inside the eye, in Medicare patients. Also covered is research that may brighten the outlook for patients with end-stage glaucoma. ... > full story
Search For Salt Tolerant Grasses Aims To Improve Roadside Plantings (July 7, 2008) -- Researcher aims to identify a salt tolerance limit for native and ornamental turf grasses in hopes of finding a variety that can be used along highways without being killed when roadway salt -- mixed with melting snow -- is splashed onto the grass. ... > full story
Proposal To Merge NOAA And US Geological Survey To Form An Earth Systems Science Agency (July 7, 2008) -- In a new article in the journal Science, a group of former senior federal officials call for the establishment of an independent Earth Systems Science Agency to meet the unprecedented environmental and economic challenges facing the nation. They propose forming the new agency by merging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the US Geological Survey. ... > full story
Nature Reserves Attract Humans, But At A Cost To Biodiversity (July 7, 2008) -- Countering a perception that establishing nature reserves in developing nations drives away local communities, a new study finds that human settlements are actually drawn to protected areas in Africa and Latin America. Unfortunately, the researchers also found a link between high rates of human population growth and illegal harvesting of timber, bushmeat hunting and species extinction. ... > full story
Mother's Vitamin D Status During Pregnancy Will Affect Her Baby's Dental Health (July 7, 2008) -- Low maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy may affect primary tooth calcification, leading to enamel defects, which are a risk factor for early-childhood tooth decay. ... > full story
Extended Cyclone Relief Efforts Aided From Space (July 7, 2008) -- Earth observation satellites have provided vital information to relief workers in Myanmar throughout a particularly long crisis response window following the devastating Cyclone Nargis that hit the country on May 2 and 3, 2008. ... > full story
'Multi-target' Immune Therapy Improves Outcomes Of Severe Lupus Nephritis (July 7, 2008) -- A new treatment using a combination of drugs targeting different parts of the immune system improves the recovery rate for patients with severe lupus involving the kidneys, according to a new report. ... > full story
New Car Navigation System Monitors Traffic To Avoid Traffic Jams (July 7, 2008) -- Researchers are developing a new in-car navigation system which informs motorists about traffic jams ahead and advises the driver of the best route for their journey before they reach the congestion. The 'Congestion Avoidance Dynamic Routing Engine' (CADRE) uses Artificial Intelligence to interpret live traffic information shared between vehicles fitted with a special GPS. ... > full story
Genetic Status Of North-east India's Adi Tribe Detailed (July 7, 2008) -- North-east India has always been a hotspot for population geneticists due to its unique, strategic geographic location and the presence of linguistically, culturally and demographically diverse populations practicing varied occupations (from hunter-gathering to settled agriculture). Researcher have now examined the genetic status of sub-tribes of a remotely located tribal cluster -- the Adi, a Tibeto-Burman-speaking tribe of Arunachal Pradesh in the north-east of India. Based on 15 autosomal microsatellite markers, the authors studied the genetic affinity, differentiation and sub-structuring among six Adi subgroups, as well as their genetic affinity with other groups. ... > full story
Acidifying Oceans Add Urgency To Carbon Dioxide Cuts (July 6, 2008) -- It's not just about climate change anymore. Besides loading the atmosphere with heat-trapping greenhouse gases, human emissions of carbon dioxide have also begun to alter the chemistry of the ocean. The ecological and economic consequences are difficult to predict but possibly calamitous, warn a team of chemical oceanographers, and halting the changes already underway will likely require even steeper cuts in carbon emissions than those currently proposed to curb climate change. ... > full story
Looking For The Founatain Of Youth? Cut Your Calories, Research Suggests (July 6, 2008) -- In addition to reducing one's risk for many common diseases, new research found that calorie restriction may slow the aging process. Calorie restriction has long been shown to slow the aging process in rats and mice. Calorie restriction - cutting approximately 300 to 500 calories per day - had a similar biological effect in humans, and, therefore, may slow the aging process. ... > full story
Rocketing Through Water: Space-age Swimsuit Being Tested At NASA (July 6, 2008) -- Swimmers around the world are breaking records this year like never before, including at this week's U.S. Olympic trials. Some attribute it to extensive training as athletes prepare to compete at this summer's games in Beijing. Others say one factor may be a new swimsuit -- a space-age swimsuit made of fabric tested at NASA. ... > full story
Calpain Inhibitors Never Forget: Improving Memory In Alzheimer's Disease Mice (July 6, 2008) -- Overactivation of proteins known as calpains, which are involved in memory formation, has been linked to Alzheimer disease. Researchers have now shown that two different drugs that inhibit calpains can improve memory in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, leading them to suggest drugs that target calpains might stop or slow down the memory loss that occurs as Alzheimer's disease progresses. ... > full story
Rare Plants And Endangered Species Such As Tigers At Risk From Traditional Medicine (July 6, 2008) -- Two reports from TRAFFIC, the world's largest wildlife trade monitoring network, on traditional medicine systems in Cambodia and Vietnam suggest that illegal wildlife trade, including entire tiger skeletons, and unsustainable harvesting is depleting the region's rich and varied biodiversity and putting the primary health care resource of millions at risk. ... > full story
Woman Aquires New Accent After Stroke (July 6, 2008) -- A woman in southern Ontario is one of the first cases in Canada of a rare neurological syndrome in which a person starts speaking with a different accent, researchers reported in the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences. ... > full story
Wild Orangutans Declining More Sharply In Sumatra And Borneo Than Thought (July 6, 2008) -- Endangered wild orangutan populations are declining more sharply in Sumatra and Borneo than previously estimated, according to new findings. Although other threats to orangutan survival exist, such as hunting in agricultural areas where human-orangutan conflicts exist, the biggest by far is forest destruction associated with the burgeoning palm oil industry in Indonesia and Malaysia. ... > full story
Statins Have Unexpected Effect On Pool Of Powerful Brain Cells (July 6, 2008) -- Cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins have a profound effect on an elite group of cells known as glial progenitor cells that are important to brain health as we age, scientists have found. The new findings shed light on a long-debated potential role for statins in the area of dementia. ... > full story
Bee Disease Still A Mystery, Despite New Advances In Undersanding Common Virus (July 6, 2008) -- Scientists are one step closer to understanding the recent demise of billions of honey bees after making an important discovery about the transmission of a common bee virus. Deformed wing virus is passed between adult bees and to their developing brood by a parasitic mite called Varroa destructor when it feeds. However, new research suggests that the virus does not replicate in Varroa, highlighting the need for further investigation. ... > full story
Endocrinology: Understanding The Genetics Of Congenital Hyperinsulinism (July 6, 2008) -- A number of congenital disorders characterized by low blood sugar levels (hypoglycemia) as a result of excessive secretion of the hormone insulin are collectively known as congenital hyperinsulinism. ... > full story
New Technique Produces Genetically Identical Stem Cells (July 6, 2008) -- Cells from mice created using genetically reprogrammed cells can be triggered via drug administration to enter an embryonic-stem-cell-like state without the need for further direct genetic manipulation. This technical advancement enables creation of large numbers of genetically identical cells that can be reprogrammed to an embryonic-stem-cell-like state simply by exposure to a drug. Researchers can exploit such cells to decipher and improve the reprogramming process. ... > full story
Don't Count On Long-term Success In Climate Policy, Warns Paper In Decision Analysis (July 6, 2008) -- Long-term climate change policy in the US and abroad is likely to change very slowly, warns a researcher who calls for stronger short-term goals to reduce carbon emissions. Although staging climate change policy decisions over time would seem to make sense, researchers point out that the tendency of U.S. and international policy to change extremely slowly requires front-loading the painful decisions. ... > full story
Mining For Molecules In The Milky Way (July 6, 2008) -- Scientists are prospecting in a rich molecular cloud in our Milky Way Galaxy. They seek to discover new, complex molecules in interstellar space that may be precursors to life. As molecules rotate and vibrate, they emit radio waves at specific frequencies. Each molecule has a unique pattern of such frequencies, called spectral lines, that constitutes a "fingerprint" identifying that molecule. Laboratory tests can determine the pattern of spectral lines that identifies a specific molecule. ... > full story
Blood Vessel Inhibitor Shows Promise Against Metastatic Thyroid Cancer (July 6, 2008) -- Thyroid cancer that has spread to distant sites has a poor prognosis, but an experimental drug that inhibits tumor blood vessel formation can slow disease progression in some patients, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. ... > full story
Volcanic Activity Shaped Mercury After All (July 6, 2008) -- Planetary geologists have determined that volcanism played a central role in forming Mercury's surface. The evidence of volcanic activity, published in Science, lends important insights into Mercury's geologic history. ... > full story
Bringing Stability To The Protein Defective In Phenylketonuria (July 6, 2008) -- Phenylketonuria is an inherited disease characterized by progressive mental retardation and seizures because the individual is deficient in the protein PAH. Most of the genetic mutations that cause PKU do so because the PAH protein that is generated by the mutated gene is not stable enough to function. New data now suggest that it might be possible to stabilize the mutated PAH protein in individuals with PKU such that it can function normally. ... > full story
Insights Into Tissue Only Micromillimeters Thick With Help From New High-Tech Robot (July 6, 2008) -- "TIGA," the new high-tech imaging center at the University of Heidelberg provides deep insights: a high-tech robot makes it possible for the first time to automatically reproduce and evaluate tissue slices only micromillimeters thick -- an important aid for researchers in understanding cancer or in following in detail the effect of treatment on cells and tissue. ... > full story
Clinicians Should Consider Economic Impact Of New Interventions, According To New Report (July 6, 2008) -- Cancer clinicians should understand and consider the economic impact of new interventions, which often have substantial costs, according to a new report. ... > full story
Agriculture Linked To Frog Sexual Abnormalities (July 5, 2008) -- A farm irrigation canal would seem a healthier place for toads than a ditch by a supermarket parking lot. But scientists have found the opposite is true. In a study with wide implications for a longstanding debate over whether agricultural chemicals pose a threat to amphibians, zoologists have found that toads in suburban areas are less likely to suffer from reproductive system abnormalities than toads near farms -- where some individual animals had both testes and ovaries. ... > full story
Bone Marrow Alternative: Stem Cells From Umbilical Cord May Be Used To Treat Hepatic Diseases (July 5, 2008) -- Researchers from the Universities of Granada and León have shown that mononuclear blood cells from human umbilical cord can be an effective alternative to bone marrow. This work, to be published in the journal Cell Transplantation, could potentially mean a great advance in regenerative hepatic medicine. ... > full story
Mercury's Surface Dominated By Volcanism And Iron-deficiency (July 5, 2008) -- Multispectral data on the composition of rock untis of the surface of Mercury show a widespread role for volcanism and an apparent deficiency in iron in the rocks' minerals. ... > full story
Women Over 90 More Likely To Have Dementia Than Men (July 5, 2008) -- Women over 90 are significantly more likely to have dementia than men of the same age, according UC Irvine researchers involved with the 90+ Study, one of the nation's largest studies of dementia and other health factors in the fastest-growing age demographic. ... > full story
Undergraduates Forge New Area Of Bioinformatics (July 5, 2008) -- A group of undergraduate students have forged a new area of bioinformatics that may improve genomic and proteomic annotations and unlock a collection of stubborn biological mysteries. Their work will be published in the journal Genome Research. ... > full story
Scientists Set Out To Measure How We Perceive Naturalness (July 5, 2008) -- Scientists at the National Physical Laboratory are working towards producing the world's first model that will predict how we perceive naturalness. The results could help make synthetic products so good that they are interpreted by our senses as being fully equivalent to the "real thing," but with the benefits of reduced environmental impact and increased durability. ... > full story
Music Went With Cave Art In Prehistoric Caves (July 5, 2008) -- Thousands of years later, we can view stone-age art on cave walls, but we can't listen to the stone-age music that would have accompanied many of the pictures. Researchers report that the most acoustically resonant place in a cave -- where sounds linger or reverberate the most -- was also often the place where the pictures were densest. In many sites, flutes made of bone are to be found nearby. ... > full story
Seizures In Newborns Can Be Detected With Small, Portable Brain Activity Monitors (July 5, 2008) -- Compact, bedside brain-activity monitors detected most seizures in at-risk infants. That means the compact units could assist clinicians in monitoring for electrical seizures until confirmation with conventional EEG, the researchers assert in an article in Pediatrics. ... > full story
Puzzle In The Control Of Cell Division Unraveled (July 5, 2008) -- A puzzle in the control of cell division, one of the most fundamental processes in all biology, has been unraveled. Although the steps of cell division are familiar to all pupils studying biology in schools, the details of how cell division is controlled and errors avoided have still to be sorted out. ... > full story
Coronary Arterial Calcium Scans Help Detect Overall Death Risk In The Elderly (July 5, 2008) -- Measuring calcium deposits in the heart's arteries can help predict overall death risk in American adults, even when they are elderly, according to a new study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. ... > full story
Researchers Use Supercomputer To Track Pathways In Myoglobin (July 5, 2008) -- Myoglobin is responsible for oxygen storage in cells. But how does oxygen travel through the solid protein wall to be anchored by an iron atom deep within the protein? Scientists have now provided a computational solution to the decades-old puzzle. ... > full story
Weight Watchers Vs. Fitness Centers (July 5, 2008) -- The nationally known commercial weight loss program, Weight Watchers, was compared to gym membership programs to find out which method wins in the game of good health. Researchers examined the real-life experiences of participants to determine which program helps people lose pounds, reduce body fat and gain health benefits. ... > full story
Breast Cancer: How Tumor Cells Break Free And Form Metastases (July 5, 2008) -- When tumor cells acquire the capacity to move around and invade other tissues, there is a risk of metastases and cancer treatment becomes more difficult. Scientists have just discovered how breast cancer cells break the bonds that tether them to the tumor. ... > full story
How Cold Sore Virus Hides During Inactive Phase (July 5, 2008) -- Now that scientists have figured out how the virus that causes cold sores hides out, they may have a way to wake it up and kill it. Cold sores, painful, unsightly blemishes around the mouth, have so far evaded a cure or even prevention. ... > full story
First Underwater Neutrino Telescope Has Been Constructed (July 5, 2008) -- Construction of the first underwater neutrino telescope has just been completed. Since early June, the last two detection lines of Antares have been probing the bottom of the Mediterranean for neutrinos of cosmic origin. There are now 12 detection lines aimed at observing these elementary particles, which provide insight into the most violent phenomena in the Universe. ... > full story
Healthy Or Diseased? Analysis Of Body's Metabolism Sheds New Light On The Question (July 5, 2008) -- Scientists have shown that biological indicators for diseases caused or influenced by environmental factors can be detected by the systemic analysis of the body's metabolism (metabolomics). The procedure presented here is also suitable for pre-clinical drug testing and allows for the early detection of possible side effects of a new medication. ... > full story
Researchers Coat Titanium With Polymer To Improve Integration Of Joint Replacements (July 5, 2008) -- New research shows that coating a titanium implant with a new biologically inspired material enhances tissue healing, improves bone growth around the implant and strengthens the attachment and integration of the implant to the bone. ... > full story
Depression Ups Risk Of Complications Following Heart Attack, Study Suggests (July 5, 2008) -- People who suffer from severe depression following a heart attack might be more likely to experience cardiac complications while hospitalized, according to a new study. "There is good evidence that if a person has depression after a heart attack, they are more likely to die from cardiac causes in the following months and years," said the lead author and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. "No one had yet studied whether depression impacts cardiac outcomes immediately after a heart attack -- the time we see the most complications." ... > full story
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