One of astronomy's big questions is why galaxies forming as recently as 1 billion years after the Big Bang contain so much dust. The leading hypothesis is that supernovae, stars that explode at the end of their lives, contain large amounts of metal-enriched material that, in turn, harbors key ingredients of dust, like silicon, iron and carbon.
ROSEMONT, IL–While low-level shoulder separations can commonly be treated nonsurgically and high-level injuries often require surgery, a literature review published in the April 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS) finds that many surgeons still disagree on the best course of treatment for those injuries that fall in between.
Philadelphia, 1 April 2009 – In children with vascular birthmarks around the eye, even partial blockage of vision can lead to visual loss due to amblyopia. Now a simple test can detect early evidence of amblyopia in infants too young for conventional vision testing, reports a study in the April issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ajo) published by Elsevier.
Philadelphia, PA, 1 April 2009 – If a drug took the fun out of stealing, would it reduce crime? A new study scheduled for the April 1st issue of Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier, suggests that this may be so.
These new insights represent an important contribution to future clinical therapeutic approaches. The study was published in the prestigious science journal Nature and will be a central topic of the international symposium on the molecular mechanisms of hematopoiesis, which will take place in Munich from April 2nd to 4th.
There is so far a lack of scientific evidence that glitazones are better than alternative therapies at reducing mortality or complications caused by blood vessel damage in people with type 2 diabetes. As long-term studies are lacking, reliable conclusions on the long-term benefit or harm of these oral antidiabetics are presently possible only to a limited extent.
Is today's academic and corporate culture stifling science's risk-takers and stopping disruptive, revolutionary science from coming to the fore? In April's Physics World the science writer Mark Buchanan looks at those who have shifted scientific paradigms and asks what we can do to make sure that those who have the potential to change our outlook on the world also have the opportunity to do so.
Research carried out by Key Laboratory for Terrain Machine Bionics Engineering of Ministry of Education, Jilin University in Changchun, China, has shown that the co-coupling effect of scale biomaterial, micron-class shape and nanometer-class structure of vertical gibbosities of scale can induce surface hydrophobicity and self-cleaning function of the moth wing. The study is reported in Volume 54, Issue 4 (February, 2009) of Chinese Science Bulletin because of its significant research value.
Tapping industrial waste heat could reduce fossil fuel demands in the short term and improve efficiency of countless manufacturing processes, according to scientists in Japan writing in the International Journal of Exergy.
Lihua Zhang and Tomohiro Akiyama of Hokkaido University, Sapporo, explain that heat waste from industrial processes, such as combustion and electricity generation is sometimes of low energy and diffuse. Capturing this low-quality heat for re-use elsewhere on an industrial plant is usually not practical. However, given current environmental and economic pressures the recuperation of such heat energy could become viable.
Beijing Institute of Technology researchers have developed a unique multi-living agent concept that may be used to investigate the CIS under the SRSC environment. The study is reported in Issue 52 (January, 2009) of Sci China Ser F-Inf Sci because of its significant import for the constructing and analyzing the CIS.
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Several studies have suggested there is a connection between organisms that cause gum disease, known scientifically as periodontal disease, and the development of heart disease, but few studies have tested this theory.
A study conducted at the University at Buffalo, where the gum disease/heart disease connection was uncovered, now has shown that two oral pathogens in the mouth were associated with an increased risk of having a heart attack, but that the total number of germs, regardless of type, was more important to heart health.
Results of the study will be presented during a poster session at the International Association of Dental Research (IADR) General Session being held in Miami, Fla., from April 1-4.
DALLAS – April 1, 2009 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a new biological indicator that may help identify which brain-cancer patients have the most aggressive forms of the disease.
The researchers found that an inflammation-related molecule called RIP1 is commonly found in high levels in glioblastoma, the most common primary malignant brain tumor in adults. The protein RIP1 is a component of the complex NF-kB signaling network – a family of proteins that play a key role in inflammation-induced cancer.
