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.
Compound Found in Plant Products May Offer New Treatment for Malaria
In a new study researchers from France suggest that ellagic acid, a compound found in plant products, may be effective against malaria and ultimately lead to new forms of treatment. They report their findings in the March 2009 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA – Intensive insulin therapy significantly increases the risk of hypoglycemia in critically ill patients, found a new study in CMAJ (http://www.cmaj.ca/press/cmaj.090206.pdf).
Intensive insulin therapy is used in many intensive care units around the world as a means to tightly regulate blood sugar. Although labour intensive, it has been recommended as a standard of care for critically ill patients by many organizations including the American Diabetes Association and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.
CHICAGO (March 24, 2009) – New research published in the March issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons reveals shortages of qualified surgeons in many regions of Maryland, especially in rural areas. Excessive administrative demands and an aging physician and general population could push these shortages to critical levels over the next 10 years.
MELBOURNE, FLA. —Florida Institute of Technology researchers have
determined that where a person is standing in a room or other location during a suicide terrorist attack can have a great bearing on survival and injuries.
Florida Tech Fulbright Scholar Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani and Daniel Kirk,
assistant professor in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, will
present "Virtual Iraq-Simulation of Insurgent Attacks" at the Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers Symposium on Computational Intelligence. The conference
is in Nashville, Tenn., from March 30 to April 2. Usmani will present the paper on
April 2 at noon.
The two researchers have developed accurate physics-based models of a suicide
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--New research findings at MIT could lead to microchips that operate at much higher speeds than is possible with today's standard silicon chips, leading to cell phones and other communications systems that can transmit data much faster.
The key to the superfast chips is the use of a material called graphene, a form of pure carbon that was first identified in 2004. Researchers at other institutions have already used the one-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms to make prototype transistors and other simple devices, but the latest MIT results could open up a range of new applications.
St. Louis, March 20, 2009 — Detectives on television shows often spray crime scenes with a compound called luminol to make blood glow. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have applied the same compound to much smaller crime scenes: sites where the immune system attacks the body's own tissues.
The authors report in Nature Medicine that injected luminol glows blue at sites of active immune inflammation in living mice, and that they can detect this glow from outside the mice with scientific cameras.
A new article published in The Milbank Quarterly explores how food prices can affect weight outcomes, revealing that pricing interventions can have a significant effect on obesity rates. This article is part of the March special issue, which includes eleven articles focusing on the topic of obesity.
Raising the prices of less healthy foods (e.g., fast foods and sugary products) and lowering the prices of healthier foods (e.g., fruits and vegetables) are associated with lower body weight and lesser likelihood of obesity. Children and adolescents, the poor, and those already at a higher weight are most responsive to these changes in prices.
Increased schooling across sub-Saharan Africa may be lowering new HIV infections among younger adults, according to sociologists, suggesting a shift in a decades-long trend where formal education is considered an AIDS risk factor.
While education in general has a positive impact on global public health, when it comes to HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, education has had a completely opposite effect.
During the early stages of the HIV pandemic in the region, the disease passed unnoticed amidst the onslaught of other infections. When scientists took a closer look at the deadly new disease, they found that more often males with a higher than average education were contracting the disease.
Cancer patients who are malnourished experience significantly greater levels of psychological distress than those who are more adequately nourished, according to new results reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology's Symposium on Cancer and Nutrition (Zurich, 20-21 March 2009).
Malnutrition is a common problem in cancer. It is estimated that between 31% and 87% of cancer patients will experience weight loss and malnutrition during the course of their disease. Such patients are left with a poorer response to treatment, worse quality of life and reduced survival. Yet the problem often remains undiagnosed and untreated.
Leading statistician Professor David Spiegelhalter claims today that the number of murders in London last year was not out of the ordinary and followed a predictable pattern. Spiegelhalter's report, published today in Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society, argues that shocking headline numbers are not as surprising as one might think.
Violence in London attracts headlines. After four people were murdered in separate incidents in London on July 10th, 2008, BBC correspondent Andy Tighe said "To have four fatal stabbings in one day could be a statistical freak." But could it? On July 28th thelondonpaper had the front-page headline: "London's murder count reaches 90". But Professor Spiegelhalter states that this number was predictable.
Irvine, Calif., March 18, 2009 – Single events account for many of our most vivid memories – a marriage proposal, a wedding toast, a baby's birth. Until a recent UC Irvine discovery, however, scientists knew little about what happens inside the brain that allows you to remember such events.
In a study with rats, neuroscientist John Guzowski and colleagues found that a single brief experience was as effective at activating neurons and genes associated with memory as more repetitive activities.
Knowing how the brain remembers one-time events can help scientists design better therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer's in which the ability to form such memories is impaired.
Kids love sweet-tasting foods and new research indicates that this heightened liking for sweetness has a biological basis and is related to children's high growth rate.
Liking sweets is a cross-cultural phenomenon for kids, a pattern that declines during adolescence. To explore the biological underpinnings of this shift, Researchers looked at sweet preference and biological measures of growth and physical maturation in 143 children between the ages of 11 and 15.
