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High Cardiovascular Hormone/Peptide Levels In Cancer Patients Linked To Shorter Survival

High Cardiovascular Hormone/Peptide Levels In Cancer Patients Linked To Shorter Survival

High circulating levels of cardiovascular hormones/peptides in cancer patients have been linked to shorter survival, regardless of disease type and stage of progression in a new paper.
These chemicals, known as biomarkers, are apparent in the absence of any clinical signs of heart disease or infection, and before the start of anti-cancer treatment, some of which is known to damage heart tissue, say the researchers.
Levels of cardiovascular hormones/peptides have been used to monitor the severity and progression of heart tissue damage as a result of either chemotherapy or radiotherapy. But what has not been clear is whether the cancer itself may affect the levels of these chemicals.

Ancient Flea Bacteria May Be Ancestor Of The Black Death

Ancient Flea Bacteria May Be Ancestor Of The Black Death

About 20 million years ago a single flea became entombed in amber with tiny bacteria attached to it, providing what researchers believe may be the oldest evidence on Earth of a dreaded and historic killer - an ancient strain of the bubonic plague.
If indeed the fossil bacteria are related to plague bacteria, Yersinia pestis, the discovery would show that this scourge, which killed more than half the population of Europe in the 14th century, actually had been around for millions of years before that, traveled around much of the world, and predates the human race.

Understanding Self-Control: Eating And Spending Are Different Public Policy Issues

Understanding Self-Control: Eating And Spending Are Different Public Policy Issues

You can resist buying a candy bar while you're waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store--but you'll buy any pair of shoes that are on sale. Your best friend, in contrast, wouldn't dream of buying a pair of shoes he thinks he doesn't need, no matter how low the price--but he can't resist buying that same candy bar you so easily ignore. According to a new study in the Journal of Public Policy&Marketing, it is precisely those differences in self-control that researchers need to pay attention to when assessing the impact of public policies.
As the study reports, if you want to understand the effectiveness of a regulation or tax on a specific behavior, use a measure of self-control specific to that behavior.

And The NASA Mars Mystery Is...

And The NASA Mars Mystery Is...

Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters,  Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters, Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Mary Beth Wilhelm of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and  Alfred McEwen, principal investigator for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) at the University of Arizona, promised a major announcement on Mars research today, and they delivered.

The Fukushima Disaster Was Preventable

The Fukushima Disaster Was Preventable

The worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown never should have happened, according to a new study.
In Philosophical Transactions A of the Royal Society, researchers Costas Synolakis of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Utku Kâno'lu of the Middle East Technical University in Turkey distilled thousands of pages of government and industry reports and hundreds of news stories, focusing on the run-up to the disaster. They found that "arrogance and ignorance," design flaws, regulatory failures and improper hazard analyses doomed the costal nuclear power plant even before the tsunami hit.

β-glucan-enriched Pasta Boosts Good Gut Bacteria, Reduces Bad Cholesterol

β-glucan-enriched Pasta Boosts Good Gut Bacteria, Reduces Bad Cholesterol

People fed β-glucan-enriched pasta for two months showed increased populations of beneficial bacteria in their intestinal tracts, and reduced populations of non-beneficial bacteria. They also showed reduced LDL (bad) cholesterol. This work is part of a broad effort to identify potential prebiotics--foods that could encourage the growth of health-promoting bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract.

Flowing Electrons Help Ocean Microbes Gulp Methane

Flowing Electrons Help Ocean Microbes Gulp Methane

Good communication is crucial to any relationship, especially when partners are separated by distance. This also holds true for microbes in the deep sea that need to work together to consume large amounts of methane released from vents on the ocean floor. Recent work at Caltech has shown that these microbial partners can still accomplish this task, even when not in direct contact with one another, by using electrons to share energy over long distances.
This is the first time that direct interspecies electron transport--the movement of electrons from a cell, through the external environment, to another cell type--has been documented in microorganisms in nature.

Better Trap For Greenhouse Gases

Better Trap For Greenhouse Gases

Emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels like coal, petroleum and natural gas tend to collect within Earth's atmosphere as "greenhouse gases" that are blamed for escalating global warming.
So researchers around the globe are on a quest for materials capable of capturing and storing greenhouse gases. This shared goal led researchers at Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur to team up to explore the feasibility of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) to trap and store two greenhouse gases in particular: carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2).

Artificial Intelligence To Improve Breast Cancer Patient Outcomes

Artificial Intelligence To Improve Breast Cancer Patient Outcomes

Western University researchers are working on a way to use artificial intelligence to predict a patient's response to two common chemotherapy medications used to treat breast cancer - paclitaxel and gemcitabine.
Peter Rogan, PhD, and a team of researchers, including Stephanie Dorman, PhD, and Katherina Baranova, BMSc, at Western's Schulich School of Medicine&Dentistry, are hoping to one day remove the guesswork from breast cancer treatment with this technique.
Based on personal genetic analysis of their tumours, patients with the same type of cancer can have different responses to the same medication. While some patients will respond well and go into remission, others will develop a resistance to the medication.

Types Of Athletic Training Affect How Brain Communicates With Muscles

Types Of Athletic Training Affect How Brain Communicates With Muscles

Using endurance training or strength and resistance training not only prepares an athlete for different types of sports, they can also change the way the brain and muscles communicate with each other.
A University of Kansas study shows that the communication between the brain and quadriceps muscles of people who take part in endurance training, such as running long distances, is different than those who regularly took part in resistance training and those who were sedentary. The findings may offer clues to the type of physical activity humans are most naturally suited to.

Technology, Not Bans, Could Solve America's Violence Problem

Technology, Not Bans, Could Solve America's Violence Problem

Though England, Scotland and Wales hold the top three spots as the most violent countries in the developed world, in America the ability to obtain a gun until after you have committed a crime leads even the ultra-violent UK to claim America needs to change.
Many in America contend guns do not cause crime any more than spoons cause obesity and instead point to the mental health - and drug-use to combat it - relationship. There haven't been any mass shootings that have occurred which did not involve mental health drugs.
Donald Spector, inventor and Chairman of the Board of New York College of Health Professions, believes that technology could be used to curb violence better than gun bans, which are the reason why the UK has so much crime.

Gender Quotas In Academia -- Will They Mean Better Research?

Gender Quotas In Academia -- Will They Mean Better Research?

Authors of a new report have examined the use of gender quotas to increase the number of women at the highest career levels in academia. 'Exploring quotas in academia', a report of a study conducted by EMBO in collaboration with the Robert Bosch Stiftung, looks at the potential benefits and challenges that could arise from the use of quotas as one way to achieve better gender balance in academia. The report describes options for introducing quotas and provides information for decision makers who might consider implementing them.