Scientists have reported that an experimental vaccine targeting one of the most common genetic drivers of pancreatic cancer, called mutant KRAS, is safe and generated a durable immune responses aimed at preventing the cancer.
A group of criminologists has an interesting reason why people who left crime-ridden cities should stick around - fear of crime is good for kids.
Most politicians and police officers seek to reduce crime, of course, and mitigate the causes where they can, so an argument that it's psychologically healthy is going against 50 years of sociological belief, which says that people who are afraid are likely to do less rational things to protect themselves, and have a lot of other chronic psychological issues.
The 340B program, a federal program that provides billions in drug discounts to safety net hospitals and other health care providers, is expanding under health care reform, but there is uncertainty for safety net providers and drug manufacturers.
The federal 340B program began in 1992 to help health care providers extend services to vulnerable populations, including the indigent and uninsured. The program allows some hospitals, clinics and health centers to buy outpatient prescription drugs at discounted prices that are generally lower than the amount paid by state Medicaid programs.
Dusty air blowing across the Pacific from Asia and Africa is playing a critical role in precipitation patterns throughout the drought-stricken western U.S.
The exact chemical make-up of that dust, including microbes found in it, is the key to how much rain and snow falls from clouds throughout the region and knowing this could help better predict rain events, as well as explain how air pollution from a variety of sources influences regional climate in general.
As countries try to rid themselves of toxic mercury pollution, some people are still slathering and even injecting creams containing the metal onto or under their skin to lighten it, putting themselves and others at risk for serious health problems.
The good news is, researchers can now identify these creams and intervene much faster than before using total reflection x-ray fluorescence.
Feedback from 130 16 to 18 year olds of diverse social and economic backgrounds living in different parts of the country - a northern industrial city in the UK, London, and a rural area in the southwest of the UK - reveals an oppressive culture around anal sex, with some young men apparently neglecting or not caring about young women's consent or pleasure - both when they have anal sex and when they talk about it with their friends.
The qualitative, longitudinal study interviews explored the range and meaning of different sexual practices, and included nine group and 71 individual in-depth discussions in 2010, and further interviews of 43 of the in-depth interviewees in 2011.
Actor comedian Robin Williams committed suicide after his wife went to their bedroom for the evening and he went to a guest room - there were no rumblings of trouble in the relationship so presumably he was being considerate and his poor sleep would have kept her awake. He had suffered from bouts of depression for decades but even without that, the poor sleep quality could have been a warning sign, finds a new paper.
Poor sleep quality, independent of a depressed mood, appears to be associated with an increased risk for suicide in older adults, finds a study written by Rebecca A. Bernert, Ph.D., of the Stanford University School of Medicine, California, and colleagues.
Humans train animals by rewarding them with tasty treats and trainers couple the reward with a sound, such as a buzz or a whistle. Once the animal has mastered the task, the trainer stops dispensing food, relying instead on the whistle or buzzer to inform the animal that it has performed successfully and that it will be rewarded - with food, but later.
Even though there may be no food reward at the time, whales and dolphins still squeal in response to the sound substituted for the food reward. And Sam Ridgway found that when he trained dolphins and beluga whales to switch off a sound after diving hundreds of meters, the animals produced the same squeals of victory when the sound stopped.
11 years ago, DARPA predicted that there was a physics-induced train wreck coming straight at the computer chip industry; the limits of what electricity and existing materials can do. Even then, quantum computers were touted as the answer, with black box magic occurring between the existing and the vision.
Scientists have reported discovery of a new ancient pterosaur species called Caiuajara dobruskii - and the bones of 47 members to go with it. Caiuajara dobruskii lived during the Cretaceous in southern Brazil, according to the paper.
There may be more among the hundreds of bones. The pterosaur bone bed in the interdunal lake deposit of a Cretaceous desert contains at least 47 individuals, with wing spans of between 0.65 and 2.35 meter. Caiuajara dobruskii is the southermost occurrence of the edentulous clade Tapejaridae (Tapejarinae, Pterodactyloidea) recovered so far.
A modified version of the Clostridium novyi (C. noyvi-NT) bacterium can produce a strong and precisely targeted anti-tumor response in rats, dogs and now humans, according to a new report from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers.
In its natural form, C. novyi is found in the soil and, in certain cases, can cause tissue-damaging infection in cattle, sheep and humans. The microbe thrives only in oxygen-poor environments, which makes it a targeted means of destroying oxygen-starved cells in tumors that are difficult to treat with chemotherapy and radiation. The Johns Hopkins team removed one of the bacteria's toxin-producing genes to make it safer for therapeutic use.
Researchers have discovered new evidence to suggest that the origins of mummification started in ancient Egypt 1,500 years earlier than previously thought.
Traditional theories on ancient Egyptian mummification suggest that in prehistory -- the Late Neolithic and Predynastic periods between c. 4500 and 3100 B.C. -- bodies were desiccated naturally through the action of the hot, dry desert sand.
Scientific evidence for the early use of resins in artificial mummification has, until now, been limited to isolated occurrences during the late Old Kingdom (c. 2200 BC). Their use became more apparent during the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000-1600 BC).
In quantitative genetics, genomic prediction is a statistical approach to predicting the value of an economically important trait in a plant, such as yield or disease resistance. The method works if the trait is heritable, as many traits tend to be, and can be performed early in the life cycle of the plant, helping reduce costs.
A research team led by plant geneticists at the University of California, Riverside and Huazhong Agricultural University, China, has used the method to predict the performance of hybrid rice (for example, the yield, growth-rate and disease resistance). The new technology could potentially revolutionize hybrid breeding in agriculture.
