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New mathematical framework formalizes oddball programming techniques - 23-05-2012
Two years ago, Martin Rinard's group at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory proposed a surprisingly simple way to make some computer procedures more efficient: Just skip a bunch of steps. Although the researchers demonstrated several practical applications of the technique, dubbed loop perforation, they realized it would be a hard sell.
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New research dashes notions of benign brain plaque - 23-05-2012
The time may have come to scrub the idea that brain plaque — deposits of protein that clog passages between brain cells — might not be all that bad.
University of Florida researchers have discovered that people with no signs of dementia during their lives, even though their brains contained the debris typical of Alzheimer’s disease, probably would have experienced health problems had they lived longer, according to a study to appear this week in the open access journal Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy.
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Strengthening proteins with polymers - 23-05-2012
Proteins are widely used as drugs — insulin for diabetics is the best known example — and as reagents in research laboratories, but they react poorly to fluctuations in temperature and are known to degrade in storage.
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Cycling may negatively affect male reproductive health, UCLA study finds - 23-05-2012
A study by researchers at the UCLA School of Nursing has found that serious male cyclists may experience hormonal imbalances that could affect their reproductive health.
The study, "Reproductive Hormones and Interleukin-6 in Serious Leisure Male Athletes," was recently published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.
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Probability of contamination from severe nuclear reactor accidents is higher than expected - 23-05-2012
Catastrophic nuclear accidents such as the core meltdowns in Chernobyl and Fukushima are more likely to happen than previously assumed. Based on the operating hours of all civil nuclear reactors and the number of nuclear meltdowns that have occurred, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz have calculated that such events may occur once every 10 to 20 years (based on the current number of reactors) — some 200 times more often than estimated in the past.
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The living fossils of brain evolution - 23-05-2012
In the course of its evolution, the architecture of the mouse brain may have barely changed. Similar to the tiny ancestors of modern mammals that lived about 80 million years ago, nerve cells in the mouse visual cortex are densely packed in a small area of ??the brain. However, during the subsequent evolution of larger brains the architecture of the cerebral cortex was radically restructured.
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New TB test promises to be cheap and fast - 23-05-2012
Biomedical engineers at UC Davis have developed a microfluidic chip to test for latent tuberculosis. They hope the test will be cheaper, faster and more reliable than current testing for the disease.
"Our assay is cheaper, reusable, and gives results in real time," said Ying Liu, a research specialist working with Professor Alexander Revzin in the UC Davis Department of Biomedical Engineering.
The team has already conducted testing of blood samples from patients in China and the United States.
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Newly discovered breast milk antibodies help neutralize HIV - 23-05-2012
Antibodies that help to stop the HIV virus have been found in breast milk. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center isolated the antibodies from immune cells called B cells in the breast milk of infected mothers in Malawi, and showed that the B cells in breast milk can generate neutralizing antibodies that may inhibit the virus that causes AIDS.
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GPS for the brain: UGA researchers develop new brain map - 22-05-2012
University of Georgia researchers have developed a map of the human brain that shows great promise as a new guide to the inner workings of the body's most complex and critical organ.
With this map, researchers hope to create a next-generation brain atlas that will be an alternative option to the atlas created by German anatomist Korbinian Brodmann more than 100 years ago, which is still commonly used in clinical and research settings.
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Metastable Material: Study Shows Availability of Hydrogen Controls Chemical Structure of Graphene Oxide - 22-05-2012
A new study shows that the availability of hydrogen plays a significant role in determining the chemical and structural makeup of graphene oxide, a material that has potential uses in nano-electronics, nano-electromechanical systems, sensing, composites, optics, catalysis and energy storage.
The study also found that after the material is produced, its structural and chemical properties continue to evolve for more than a month as a result of continuing chemical reactions with hydrogen.
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Bias found in mental health drug research presented at major psychiatric meeting - 22-05-2012
When thousands of psychiatrists attend their field’s largest annual meeting each year, the presentations they hear about research into drug treatments report overwhelmingly on positive results.
That’s the finding of a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology by two young psychiatrists from the University of Michigan and Yale University, who analyzed the presentations given at two recent meetings of the American Psychiatric Association.
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Food fight or romantic dinner? Communication between couples is key to improving men?s diets - 22-05-2012
Married men will eat their peas to keep the peace, but many aren't happy about it, and may even binge on unhealthy foods away from home.
"The key to married men adopting a healthier diet is for couples to discuss and negotiate the new, healthier menu changes as a team," said Derek Griffith, assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
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Neuron-nourishing cells appear to retaliate in Alzheimer?s - 22-05-2012
When brain cells start oozing too much of the amyloid protein that is the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, the astrocytes that normally nourish and protect them deliver a suicide package instead, researchers report.
Amyloid is excreted by all neurons, but rates increase with aging and dramatically accelerate in Alzheimer’s. Astrocytes, which deliver blood, oxygen and nutrients to neurons in addition to hauling off some of their garbage, get activated and inflamed by excessive amyloid.
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3-D MRI better evaluator for patients with mitral valve disease - 22-05-2012
Using MRI analysis with 3-D imaging instead of a traditional echocardiogram could help physicians better manage patients with mitral regurgitation and better predict when surgery for the condition is necessary, according to a study co-authored by University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers and published in the May 15, 2012, issue of Circulation.
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Quantum Condensate of the Thirteenth Kind - 22-05-2012
Ultracold quantum gases have exceptional properties and offer an ideal system to study basic physical phenomena. By choosing erbium, the research team led by Francesca Ferlaino from the Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Innsbruck, selected a very exotic element, which due to its particular properties offers new and fascinating possibilities to investigate fundamental questions in quantum physics.
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Research reveals new clue in fight against TB in cattle - 22-05-2012
The failure of the current bovine tuberculosis (TB) eradication programme could be partly due to a parasitic worm that hinders the tests used to diagnose TB in cows, according to new research published this week.
Scientists at The Universities of Nottingham and Liverpool have discovered that a parasitic flatworm often found in cattle reduces the sensitivity of skin tests used to diagnose TB in the animals. The flatworm is called Fasciola hepatica, otherwise known as the common liver fluke.
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Better tests for sleeping sickness - 22-05-2012
Lies Van Nieuwenhove, researcher at the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine, has produced proteins imitating typical parts of the sleeping sickness parasite. They can be used in more efficient diagnostic tests, without the need for culturing dangerous parasites.
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Reaction Uses Carbon Dioxide to Make Carbon-Based Semiconductor - 22-05-2012
A materials scientist at Michigan Technological University has discovered a chemical reaction that not only eats up the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, it also creates something useful. And, by the way, it releases energy.
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Effort to create first comprehensive tree of life - 22-05-2012
Since Darwin, assembling an evolutionary tree that shows the relationships between all known species of life has been one of the grandest and most daunting challenges facing biologists.
Despite 150 years of effort, there's still no comprehensive tree of life, no single diagram that displays the links between all of the 1.8 million or so named species of animals, plants and microorganisms.
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Mercury in Dolphins: Study Compares Toxin Levels in Captive and Wild Sea Mammals - 22-05-2012
Amid growing concerns about the spread of harmful mercury in plants and animals, a new study by researchers from The Johns Hopkins University and The National Aquarium has compared levels of the chemical in captive dolphins with dolphins found in the wild. The captive animals were fed a controlled diet, while the wild mammals dined on marine life that may carry more of the toxic metal.
