Saturday, June 12, 2010

Research behind the news: Accupuncture works - the how and why

The News:
As explained in this presentation at ArsTechica.com, the researchers discovered that acupuncture needles reduce pain by tricking the body into producing high levels of its own natural pain killer, called adenosine. Working with mice, they found that acupuncture treatments increased levels of adenosine by some 24 times above normal, and that the levels of the pain killer remained high even well after the treatment ended. More from the article by Carl Laron in the Consumersearch blog from June 3, 2010.


The Research:
Read the research behind this story: "Adenosine A1 receptors mediate local anti-nociceptive effects of acupuncture," by Nanna Goldman, Michael Chen, et al. in Nature Neuroscience, published online: 30 May 2010.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Research behind the news: Imagine a foldable iPad

The News:
A team of Duke University chemists has perfected a simple way to make tiny copper nanowires in quantity. The cheap conductors are small enough to be transparent, making them ideal for thin-film solar cells, flat-screen TVs and computers, and flexible displays. More from the article by Mary-Russell Roberson reprinted in ScienceDaily on June 2, 2010.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in The Growth Mechanism of Copper Nanowires and Their Properties in Flexible, Transparent Conducting Films by Aaron R. Rathmell, Stephen M. Bergin, Yi-Lei Hua, Zhi-Yuan Li, Benjamin J. Wiley. Published online in Advanced Materials, May 28 2010.

Research behind the news: Tanning bed use linked to melanoma risk

The News:
People with melanoma are more likely than those without it to have visited an indoor tanning salon, researchers find. More in Science News by Nathan Seppa, Thursday, May 27, 2010. More too in these two NPR reports by Patti Neighmond: Not so healthy glow and Tanning beds substantially raise cancer risks June 2, 2010 and May 27, 2010.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in Cancer Epidemiology and Biomarkers Preview; 19(6) June 2010 by DeAnn Lazovich and others. More research from JAMA related to tanning beds.