Saturday, September 29, 2007

Research News: Satellite Images Corroborate Eyewitness Accounts of Human Rights Abuses in Burma

The News:
Satellite Images Corroborate Eyewitness Accounts of Human Rights Abuses in Burma
A new analysis of high-resolution satellite images completed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) pinpoints evidence consistent with village destruction, forced relocations, and a growing military presence at 25 sites across eastern Burma where eyewitnesses have reported human rights violations.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the AAAS's full report.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Research News: Researchers Pin Down Genome of Parasitic Worms

The News:
Researchers Pin Down Genome of Parasitic Worms
by Joe Palca
Morning Edition, September 25, 2007 · Filarial nematodes are thread-like parasitic worms. They cause painful and disfiguring swelling of the legs — a condition known as elephantiasis. Now scientists have sequenced the genome of one of the worms and hope for new treatments for the disease.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Science.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Research News: Even fake acupuncture beats usual care for back pain

The News:
Even fake acupuncture beats usual care for back pain, study finds
By Carla K. Johnson The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 09/25/2007 12:25:20 AM MDT
Chicago - Fake acupuncture works nearly as well as the real thing for low back pain, and either kind performs much better than usual care, German researchers have found. Almost half the patients treated with acupuncture needles felt relief that lasted months. In contrast, only about a quarter of the patients receiving medications and other Western medical treatments felt better. Even fake acupuncture worked better than conventional care, leading researchers to wonder whether pain relief came from the body's reactions to any thin needle pricks or, possibly, the placebo effect.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Research News: Secondhand Smoke Increases High School Test Failure

The News:
Secondhand Smoke Increases High School Test Failure, Study Suggests
Science Daily
— Teens exposed to secondhand smoke at home are at increased risk of test failure in school, suggests a new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Research news: Tracing Your Ancestry--Computer Program Accurately Analyzes Anonymous DNA Samples

The News:
Tracing Your Ancestry: Computer Program Accurately Analyzes Anonymous DNA Samples
Science Daily
— A group of computer scientists, mathematicians, and biologists from around the world have developed a computer algorithm that can help trace the genetic ancestry of thousands of individuals in minutes, without any prior knowledge of their background.
Unlike previous computer programs of its kind that require prior knowledge of an individual's ancestry and background, this new algorithm looks for specific DNA markers known as single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs (pronounced snips), and needs nothing more than a DNA sample in the form of a simple cheek swab. The researchers used genetic data from previous studies to perform and confirm their research, including the new HapMap database, which is working to uncover and map variations in the human genome.
"Now that we have found that the program works well, we hope to implement it on a much larger scale, using hundreds of thousands of SNPs and thousands of individuals," said Petros Drineas, the senior author of the study and assistant professor of computer science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal PLoS Genetics.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Research news: Google bugs

The News:
Goggle bugs
"Giant search engine helps scientists find where the tiny creatures live."
Satellite imagery is helping researchers to pinpoint the whereabouts of rare insects, according to evidence published recently in the Journal of Insect Conservation. Using freely available, high resolution satellite images from Google Earth, and Microsoft Terraserver, Smithsonian Institute entomologist Jonathan Mawdsley located nineteen potential oases for tiger beetles at the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s, Maryland.

The Research:
Read the research behind the news in the Journal of insect conservation.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Research news: Binocular vision gene is discovered

The News:
Binocular vision gene is discovered
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 17 (UPI) -- A team of U.S., Australian, and German researchers have identified the gene needed for binocular vision in mice.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Mriganka Sur and colleagues from the University of Sydney and the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Germany studied normal mice, as well as mice in which the activity of the critical gene was suppressed.
They noted many animals, including mice and humans, are able to perceive depth because of the successful coordination of different images from each eye.
The scientists found mice with the suppressed gene were blind, although their eyes worked normally. The investigators discovered the image from one eye suppressed the image from the other eye. When the neural signals from one eye were blocked, the affected mice could once again see, though only with monocular vision.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal PLoS Biology.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Research news: Value of some prenatal genetic tests questioned in study

The News:
Value of some prenatal genetic tests questioned in study
By Judy Peres Chicago Tribune
Article Last Updated: 09/18/2007 11:28:39 PM MDT
Chicago - Illustrating the complications of prenatal genetic testing, researchers reported Tuesday that some couples chose to terminate pregnancies even though the mutation carried by their fetus probably would not have resulted in serious health problems.
The researchers, from several medical centers in Israel, analyzed information about Gaucher disease, a genetic condition the symptoms of which range from severe to nonexistent. It occurs mainly in Ashkenazi Jews, or those of Eastern or Central European descent.
Experts say the new findings, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, raise questions about the appropriateness of screening for treatable or non-life-threatening diseases - a practice that is likely to increase as scientists continue to discover the functions of individual genes.
Already, pregnant Ashkenazi women are usually screened for a battery of genetic diseases, including Tay Sachs, which invariably leads to extreme disability and early death. But the typical "Jewish panel" also includes some less serious conditions, such as Gaucher (pronounced go-SHAY).

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Research news: Specific exercises could reduce diabetes symptoms

The News:
Specific exercises could reduce diabetes symptoms
DENVER - Kaiser Permanente's chief of endocrinology is impressed by a new study that shows the benefits of both aerobic exercise and resistance training, when it comes to Type 2 diabetes.
"I think it was an excellent design for the study. And I think it answers a very relevant question," said Dr. Bill Georgitis. The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine follows 251 people. One group did aerobic exercises. Another group did resistance training. A third group did both. In the group that did both types of exercise, hemoglobin levels – which regulate blood sugar levels - decreased by an average of one percent. "It's comparable to what drugs would do. Pills. Not insulin. Pills, for diabetes," said Georgitis. Study participants all had Type 2 diabetes. Researchers followed them for 22 weeks. All of the participants exercised three times a week. The group that saw the largest decrease in hemoglobin levels did aerobic and resistance exercises for 45 minutes a piece, on each of the three days.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Research News: Find may help fight hantavirus

The News:
Find may help fight hantavirus A UNC researcher says certain cells protect mice. But treatment may cause cancer, a doctor says.
By Allison Sherry Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Launched: 09/18/2007 01:00:00 AM MDT
A University of Northern Colorado researcher said Monday that his studies of deer mice infected by the hantavirus could lead to a treatment for humans who come down with the serious respiratory disease. A leading doctor and cancer researcher at National Jewish Medical and Research Center said, however, that the potential treatment, published in an online edition of a medical journal, could cause cancer. The idea is a "disaster," said Dr. Yosef Refaeli, a National Jewish immunologist and cancer researcher. UNC immunologist Tony Schountz has been studying hantavirus - a lung disease carried by rodents and passed along to humans through saliva, droppings or urine - since 1998, after a woman in Meeker survived the disease. Schountz looked at why deer mice, the primary carriers of the virus, never get sick or die from it.

The Research:

Read the research behind this story in the journal BMC Immunology.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Research news: Research Links Smelling Differences to Gene

The News:
Research Links Smelling Differences to Gene
by Nell Greenfieldboyce
All Things Considered, September 16, 2007 · A new study suggests that people smell scents differently because of their genes.
For example, a smell found in male body odor, called androstenone, has intrigued researchers for decades. Some people say it's like vanilla, others compare it to sweat or urine and some people can't smell it at all. Scientists have linked the difference to variations in the gene for the receptor that responds to the odor.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Nature.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Research news: Mathematics might save you a trip to the ER

The News:
Mathematics Might Save You A Trip To The ER
Science Daily
— Since the days of Hippocrates, people have known that certain illnesses come and go with the seasons. More recently, researchers have learned that these cyclic recurrences of disease, known as seasonality, are often related to the weather.
In order to accurately predict when outbreaks of disease will occur, and how many people will be effected, Elena Naumova, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Public Heath and Family Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, and colleagues, are studying seasonality by creating mathematical models based on environmental factors like outdoor temperature.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Epidemiology and infection.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Research news: Hunger influences food choices

The News:
Hunger influences food choices
LEUVEN, Belgium, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- People are especially hungry and presented with a range of menu choices are more likely to deviate from their favorite meal, a Belgian study found.
Researchers at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium had participants who were hungry and participants who were satiated quickly decide whether they liked or disliked 28 different snacks by pressing either a red or green button.
Hungry participants were asked not to eat within four hours of the experiment. Satiated participants were presented with a large piece of cake upon arrival and told they had to finish the entire thing.
On average, the participants who were hungry liked two more snacks than the participants who had cake.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the Journal of consumer research.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Research news: Salmon spawn baby trout in experiment

The News:
Salmon spawn baby trout in experiment
WASHINGTON (AP) — Papa salmon plus mama salmon equals ... baby trout?
Japanese researchers put a new spin on surrogate parenting as they engineered one fish species to produce another, in a quest to preserve endangered fish.
Idaho scientists begin the next big step next month, trying to produce a type of salmon highly endangered in that state — the sockeye — this time using more plentiful trout as surrogate parents.
The new method is "one of the best things that has happened in a long time in bringing something new into conservation biology," said University of Idaho zoology professor Joseph Cloud, who is leading the U.S. government-funded sockeye project.
The Tokyo University inventors dubbed their method "surrogate broodstocking." They injected newly hatched but sterile Asian masu salmon with sperm-growing cells from rainbow trout — and watched the salmon grow up to produce trout.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Science.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Research news: 'Red List' Sheds Light on Species Extinction Crisis

The News:
'Red List' Sheds Light on Species Extinction Crisis
by John Nielsen
Morning Edition, September 13, 2007 · Scientists have released an updated list of the world's most endangered plants and animals. It's called the Red List, and it's widely viewed as the world's most authoritative guide to the status of disappearing plants animals. Scientists from all over the world help the World Conservation Union keep the Red List up to date.

The Research:
Check out the online version of the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Research News: Physicists get two atoms to communicate

The News:
Physicists get two atoms to communicate
ANN ARBOR, Mich., Sept. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. physicists have, for the first time, coaxed two atoms to communicate with a type of quantum intuition that Albert Einstein once called "spooky."
The University of Michigan researchers said their accomplishment marks an advance toward super-fast quantum computing and might also be the start of a quantum internet.
The scientists used light to establish what's called "entanglement" between two atoms, which were trapped 1 meter apart in separate enclosures. They described entangling as similar to controlling the outcome of one coin flip with the outcome of a separate coin flip.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Nature.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Research news: Reports rise of death, harm from medicine

The News:
Reports rise of death, harm from medicine
Incidents more than doubled from 1998 to '05, which may fuel calls for better federal regulation.
By Bruce Japsen Chicago Tribune
Article Last Updated: 09/10/2007 11:26:04 PM MDT
Chicago - The number of serious injuries and deaths reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from drugs more than doubled between 1998 and 2005, according to a report in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine published by the American Medical Association.
The report is expected to add momentum to reform the federal government's monitoring of prescription drugs.
The study said the dramatic rise in "adverse events" reported to the FDA point out myriad problems with the monitoring of drugs before approval and after they are on the market.
Incidents resulting in death or serious injuries such as birth defects, disability and hospitalization were examined.
The report suggested that the FDA and the health care system, including doctors, hospitals and other caregivers, are lacking in their ability to manage medications.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in Archives of Internal Medicine.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Research news: Liberal, conservative brains work differently

The News:
Liberal, conservative brains work differently
By the Los Angeles Times
Article Last Updated: 09/09/2007 11:36:48 PM MDT
Exploring the neurobiology of politics, scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work.
Scientists at New York University and the University of California at Los Angeles report today in the journal Nature Neuroscience that political orientation is related to differences in how the brain processes information.
Previous psychological studies have found that conservatives tend to be more structured and persistent in their judgments, whereas liberals are more open to new experiences. The latest study found those traits are not confined to political situations but also influence daily decisions.
Participants' politics ranged from "very liberal" to "very conservative." Scientists instructed them to tap a keyboard when an M appeared on a computer monitor and to refrain from tapping when they saw a W. M appeared four times as frequently as W.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Research News: Spike in suicide rate spurs worry

The News:
Spike in suicide rate spurs worry
Real numbers remain small, but climb reverses a downward trend
By Thomas H. Maugh II and Jia-Rui Chong, Los Angeles Times
Article Last Updated: 09/06/2007 11:16:22 PM MDT
After a decade of decline, the suicide rate for girls ages 10 to 14 spiked by 76 percent in 2004, and their method of choice changed from firearms to suffocation and hanging, federal officials said Thursday. The rate among older boys and girls also increased substantially, driving the overall suicide rate among 10- to 24-year- olds to an 8 percent increase in 2004, the largest jump in 15 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The rate had declined by 28 percent between 1990 and 2003 before the jump in 2004.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Research News: Toddlers Outsmart Chimps in Some Tasks, Not All

The News:
NPR's Morning Edition, September 7, 2007 · What makes humans different from our closest primate relatives? Scientists have grappled with the question for centuries – even more so since the discovery, in the late 1980s, that humans and apes share pretty much the same genetic code. Just think about it, says anthropologist Brian Hare: The two species share practically the same DNA, and yet live such different lives.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Science.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Research News: Dinosaur-killing asteroid traced to breakup event

The News:
Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Traced to Breakup Event
NPR All Things Considered, September 5, 2007
The reason humans rule the Earth could be due to a huge collision that took place 160 million years ago. Somewhere between Jupiter and Mars, two asteroids smashed into each other. The debris hurtled into space, and eventually a big piece hit the Earth. This was the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs and gave mammals a chance.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Nature.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Research news: Microchip patterning technology created

The News:
Microchip patterning technology created
PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. engineers have developed a low-cost technology that patterns microchips.
Princeton University engineers said the "fracture-induced structuring" results in the self-formation of periodic lines, or gratings, separated by as few as 60 nanometers. Such features, researchers said, have many uses in optical, biological and electronic devices, including the alignment of liquid crystals in displays.
The process begins by the painting of a thin polymer film onto a rigid plate, such as a silicon wafer. Then, a second plate is placed on top, creating a polymer sandwich that is heated to ensure adhesion. Finally, the two plates are pried apart.
As the film fractures, it automatically breaks into two complementary sets of nanoscale gratings, one on each plate.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in Nature Nanotechnology.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Research News: Some Children Being Misdiagnosed with Asthma

The News:
Study Finds Some Children Being Misdiagnosed with Asthma
Friday, August 31, 2007
Fox News
It's believed that six million American children suffer from asthma. However, new research shows that some children who have been diagnosed with the condition may actually suffer from a vocal cord affliction. Doctors at Columbus Children's Hospital believe that at least some children diagnosed with asthma may actually suffer from vocal cord dysfunction (VCD), a sudden, abnormal narrowing of the vocal cords during inhalation causing obstruction of the airflow, and characterized by a noise that can mimic the sound of wheezing.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in Pediatric Pulmonology.