News Articles

A new paper in the Journal of Food Science says the buffaloberry could be the next super food du jour because it contains large amounts of lycopene and a related acidic compound, methyl-lycopenoate, which are important antioxidants and nutrients beneficial for human health.
The bright red fruit has a tart flavor, and was historically used as a source of nutrients for Native Americans. The sugar and acidity of the fruit make it desirable as a fresh or dried product.
In addition to its potential health benefits, lycopenoate may also be used as a natural food colorant. Recently the buffaloberry has drawn attention from several commercial wine producers.

A comprehensive analysis of more than 1 million hospital admissions has found that over 50 percent of non-surgical patients were prescribed 
opioid pain medications
 during their hospitalizations, often at very high doses, and that more than half of those exposed were still receiving these medications on the day they were discharged from the hospital.
Opioids are narcotic pain medications including morphine, oxycodone and fentanyl. In recent years, the problem of opioid addiction and overdoses has grown more acute, with updated figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting that the rate of fatal overdoses from opioids nearly quadrupled over the last decade, with estimates of more than 14,000 deaths from opioid overdoses annually.

Regular, moderate coffee consumption may decrease an individual's risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to research in a report published by the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee. 
More than 370 million people worldwide have diabetes making it one of the most significant health problems. To mark World Diabetes Day, 
the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee
 released an updated report outlining the latest research on coffee and type 2 diabetes. 
The updated report is based on a report from the World Congress on Prevention of Diabetes, held in 2012 and is updated with the latest research from this field published over the past year. 

Key research findings include:

Panthera blytheae is the oldest big cat fossil ever found and fills a significant gap in the fossil record, according to results announced today.
The Panthera blytheae skull was excavated and described by a team led by Jack Tseng, a postdoctoral fellow at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York.

There's no mystery like the mystery of folk lore. Scientists will find the missing link and dark matter before historians will definitely figure out the phylogeny of ancient tales - but for only $1,200 you can write a paper and get it published in a journal.

An international team say they know what is inside the enigmatic jets emitted by black holes. Jets are narrow beams of matter spat out at high speed from near a central object, like a black hole.

If the spirit is willing the flesh is not so weak. 

It's a common enough tale, told throughout the history of literature. A parent prefers their 'real' children and the life of the step-child is miserable as a result, compared to the biological child.
That "Cinderella effect" claims that it is biologically inevitable that parents care less for stepchildren because they do not spread their genes - as you might expect, actual biologists did not come up with it, anthropologists did. And the authors of a new paper recognize something you knew all along; in many cases, the value and personality of a step-child matters more than biological inheritance, just like with biological children. 

Trastuzumab and anthracyclines given concurrently are effective at treating HER-2-positive breast cancer but there is worry that this could lead to increased risk of cardiac toxicity.
New research shows these agents do not need to be given concurrently to achieve a high rate of complete pathological remission. The findings investigated the timing of trastuzumab administration with anthracycline and taxane chemotherapy.
The randomized phase III trial enrolled 280 women with operable HER-2 positive invasive breast cancer at 36 centers across the United States from September 2007 through December 2011.

In 2008, an estimated 500,000,000 people were obese globally, which could result in a 2-4 year shorter life span, which increases to 8-10 years in those morbidly obese. Obesity is also a risk factor for adverse pregnancy and perinatal outcomes (relating to the time immediately before and after birth). 
Weight reduction is imperative to improve maternal health and bariatric surgery (the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity) is currently the most effective method. Its use has increased rapidly since the 1990s.
A paper in BMJ says that women with a history of obesity surgery are at increased risk of giving birth to preterm or small-for-gestational age babies and should be regarded as an at-risk group. 

Type 2 diabetes brings with it a long list of complementary issues: vascular and heart disease, eye problems, nerve damage, kidney disease, hearing problems and Alzheimer's disease.
A new study in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research adds skeletal problems to that list, namely osteoporosis.

The sun uses fusion energy and everyone likes the idea of solar power but it requires a lot of infrastructure to translate that fusion energy to our usable kind. Fusion energy on Earth has been studied for decades, and it really isn't close, but if it takes another 50 years, it will be worth it. For that to happen, some known obstacles have to be overcome.