The News:
Staph bug "steadily growing"
Hospitalizations for a drug-resistant strain nearly doubled, mostly because of skin infections.
By Jia-Rui Chong Los Angeles Times
Article Last Updated: 11/30/2007 12:44:37 AM MST
Hospitalizations associated with a drug-resistant form of a Staphylococcus bacterium doubled over six years in the U.S. to nearly 280,000 cases in 2005, according to a study published Thursday that provides a wider picture of the bug's effects. The rise in illnesses from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA, stemmed mostly from increased skin and soft-tissue infections, which typically are associated with strains acquired outside hospitals, the study found.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Research News: CT scans' risks often needless
The News:
CT scans' risks often needless, report warns.
The 3-D X-rays boost cancer risks, especially in children, argue the authors of the report.
By Marilynn Marchione The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 11/29/2007 02:23:38 AM MST
Millions of Americans, especially children, are needlessly getting dangerous radiation from "super X-rays" that raise the risk of cancer and are increasingly used to diagnose medical problems, a new report warns.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the New England Journal of Medicine.
CT scans' risks often needless, report warns.
The 3-D X-rays boost cancer risks, especially in children, argue the authors of the report.
By Marilynn Marchione The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 11/29/2007 02:23:38 AM MST
Millions of Americans, especially children, are needlessly getting dangerous radiation from "super X-rays" that raise the risk of cancer and are increasingly used to diagnose medical problems, a new report warns.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Research News: Scientists in Colorado acclaim stem-cell feat
The News:
Scientists in Colorado acclaim stem-cell feat
The achievement not only holds hope for treating diseases but disarms the moral and political issues, one biologist says.
By Karen AugeThe Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 11/22/2007 12:06:01 AM MST
The creation of human stem cells without destroying an embryo holds promise both for defusing the moral and political debate and accelerating a variety of work on diseases, Colorado researchers say. "This is good news for everybody, actually," said Christopher Hogan, a stem-cell biologist at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine.
Lab coup could take years to harness
Some scientists call the fervor premature, as many questions remain.
By Malcolm RitterThe Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 11/22/2007 12:39:22 AM MST
NEW YORK — For all the excitement, big questions remain about how to turn this week's stem-cell breakthrough into new treatments for the sick. And it's not clear when that will happen. Scientists have to learn more about the new kind of cell that the landmark research produced. They have to find a different way to make it, to avoid a risk of cancer. And even after that, there are plenty of steps needed to harness this laboratory advance for therapy.
The Research:
Read the research behind these stories in the journals Science and Nature.
Scientists in Colorado acclaim stem-cell feat
The achievement not only holds hope for treating diseases but disarms the moral and political issues, one biologist says.
By Karen AugeThe Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 11/22/2007 12:06:01 AM MST
The creation of human stem cells without destroying an embryo holds promise both for defusing the moral and political debate and accelerating a variety of work on diseases, Colorado researchers say. "This is good news for everybody, actually," said Christopher Hogan, a stem-cell biologist at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine.
Lab coup could take years to harness
Some scientists call the fervor premature, as many questions remain.
By Malcolm RitterThe Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 11/22/2007 12:39:22 AM MST
NEW YORK — For all the excitement, big questions remain about how to turn this week's stem-cell breakthrough into new treatments for the sick. And it's not clear when that will happen. Scientists have to learn more about the new kind of cell that the landmark research produced. They have to find a different way to make it, to avoid a risk of cancer. And even after that, there are plenty of steps needed to harness this laboratory advance for therapy.
The Research:
Read the research behind these stories in the journals Science and Nature.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Research News: Use of pedometer associated with increased physical activity, decreased blood pressure and weight
The News:
Use of pedometer associated with increased physical activity, decreased blood pressure and weight.
Biology News Net, November 21, 2007. A review of previous studies indicates that use of a pedometer, especially with a daily step goal, is associated with significant increases in physical activity (additional walking of about a mile a day) and decreases in body mass index and blood pressure.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Use of pedometer associated with increased physical activity, decreased blood pressure and weight.
Biology News Net, November 21, 2007. A review of previous studies indicates that use of a pedometer, especially with a daily step goal, is associated with significant increases in physical activity (additional walking of about a mile a day) and decreases in body mass index and blood pressure.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Research news: Scientists Make Advances in Extracting Hydrogen
The News:
Scientists Make Advances in Extracting Hydrogen
Talk of the Nation, November 16, 2007 · Researchers have developed a more efficient way to extract hydrogen from biological materials using a bacterial fuel cell. Bruce Logan, one of the scientists working on the project, discusses the efforts and whether the new method might change the debate over biofuels.
The Research:
Read the research behind the news in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Scientists Make Advances in Extracting Hydrogen
Talk of the Nation, November 16, 2007 · Researchers have developed a more efficient way to extract hydrogen from biological materials using a bacterial fuel cell. Bruce Logan, one of the scientists working on the project, discusses the efforts and whether the new method might change the debate over biofuels.
The Research:
Read the research behind the news in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Research news: Bugged into conformity
The News:
Bugged into conforming
Robotic cockroaches shed light on power of group behavior
By Kenneth Chang and John Schwartz The New York Times
Article Last Updated: 11/16/2007 01:20:18 AM MST
Many moms have said, with a sigh, "If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?" The answer, for cockroaches at least, may well be yes.
Researchers using robotic roaches were able to persuade real cockroaches to do things that their instincts told them were not the best idea.
This experiment in bug peer pressure combined entomology, robotics and the study of ways that complex and even intelligent patterns can arise from simple behavior. Animal-behavior research shows that swarms working together can prosper where individuals might fail, and robotics researchers have been experimenting with simple robots that, together, act a little like a swarm.
"We decided to join the two approaches," said Jose Halloy, a biology researcher at the Free University of Brussels and lead author of a paper describing the research in today's issue of the journal Science.
Halloy and his colleagues worked with roaches because their societies are simple, egalitarian and democratic, with none of the social stratification that marks some other insect societies - no queen bees, no worker ants.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Science.
Bugged into conforming
Robotic cockroaches shed light on power of group behavior
By Kenneth Chang and John Schwartz The New York Times
Article Last Updated: 11/16/2007 01:20:18 AM MST
Many moms have said, with a sigh, "If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?" The answer, for cockroaches at least, may well be yes.
Researchers using robotic roaches were able to persuade real cockroaches to do things that their instincts told them were not the best idea.
This experiment in bug peer pressure combined entomology, robotics and the study of ways that complex and even intelligent patterns can arise from simple behavior. Animal-behavior research shows that swarms working together can prosper where individuals might fail, and robotics researchers have been experimenting with simple robots that, together, act a little like a swarm.
"We decided to join the two approaches," said Jose Halloy, a biology researcher at the Free University of Brussels and lead author of a paper describing the research in today's issue of the journal Science.
Halloy and his colleagues worked with roaches because their societies are simple, egalitarian and democratic, with none of the social stratification that marks some other insect societies - no queen bees, no worker ants.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Science.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Research news: Stem-Cell Researchers Clone Monkey Embryo
The News:
Stem-Cell Researchers Clone Monkey Embryo
by Joe Palca All Things Considered, November 14, 2007 ·
Scientists have announced another first in cloning: They have cloned a primate embryo. The researchers in Oregon say they used those cloned monkey embryos to derive embryonic stem cells.
A few years ago, South Korean scientists said they had done the same thing with human cells, but that turned out to be a fraud. The journal that published this new work took the unusual step of having an independent laboratory verify the results.
Researchers hope to one day use such a process in humans to create customized stem-cell therapies for individual patients.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Nature.
Stem-Cell Researchers Clone Monkey Embryo
by Joe Palca All Things Considered, November 14, 2007 ·
Scientists have announced another first in cloning: They have cloned a primate embryo. The researchers in Oregon say they used those cloned monkey embryos to derive embryonic stem cells.
A few years ago, South Korean scientists said they had done the same thing with human cells, but that turned out to be a fraud. The journal that published this new work took the unusual step of having an independent laboratory verify the results.
Researchers hope to one day use such a process in humans to create customized stem-cell therapies for individual patients.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Nature.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Research news: Men talk more than women overall, but not in all circumstances
The News:
Men Talk More Than Women Overall, But Not In All Circumstances
ScienceDaily (Nov. 13, 2007) — A Gallup poll recently confirmed that men and women both believe that it is women who are most likely to possess the gift of gab. Some even believe that women are biologically built for conversation. This widespread belief is challenged in new research.
The article* describes a recent set of meta-analyses conducted by Campbell Leaper and Melanie Ayres. These analyses collect all of the available evidence from decades of scientific study and systematically combine the findings into an overall picture of the differences between men and women regarding talkativeness.
The authors found a small but statistically reliable tendency for men to be more talkative than women overall -- especially in certain contexts, such as when they were conversing with their wives or with strangers. Women talked more to their children and to their college classmates.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Review.
Men Talk More Than Women Overall, But Not In All Circumstances
ScienceDaily (Nov. 13, 2007) — A Gallup poll recently confirmed that men and women both believe that it is women who are most likely to possess the gift of gab. Some even believe that women are biologically built for conversation. This widespread belief is challenged in new research.
The article* describes a recent set of meta-analyses conducted by Campbell Leaper and Melanie Ayres. These analyses collect all of the available evidence from decades of scientific study and systematically combine the findings into an overall picture of the differences between men and women regarding talkativeness.
The authors found a small but statistically reliable tendency for men to be more talkative than women overall -- especially in certain contexts, such as when they were conversing with their wives or with strangers. Women talked more to their children and to their college classmates.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Review.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Research news: Yellowstone Volcano Inflating With Molten Rock At Record Rate
The News:
Yellowstone Volcano Inflating With Molten Rock At Record Rate
ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2007) — The Yellowstone "supervolcano" rose at a record rate since mid-2004, likely because a Los Angeles-sized, pancake-shaped blob of molten rock was injected 6 miles beneath the slumbering giant, University of Utah scientists report in the journal Science.
"There is no evidence of an imminent volcanic eruption or hydrothermal explosion. That's the bottom line," says seismologist Robert B. Smith, lead author of the study and professor of geophysics at the University of Utah. "A lot of calderas [giant volcanic craters] worldwide go up and down over decades without erupting."
The upward movement of the Yellowstone caldera floor -- almost 3 inches (7 centimeters) per year for the past three years -- is more than three times greater than ever observed since such measurements began in 1923, says the study in the Nov. 9 issue of Science by Smith, geophysics postdoctoral associate Wu-Lung Chang and colleagues.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Science.
Yellowstone Volcano Inflating With Molten Rock At Record Rate
ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2007) — The Yellowstone "supervolcano" rose at a record rate since mid-2004, likely because a Los Angeles-sized, pancake-shaped blob of molten rock was injected 6 miles beneath the slumbering giant, University of Utah scientists report in the journal Science.
"There is no evidence of an imminent volcanic eruption or hydrothermal explosion. That's the bottom line," says seismologist Robert B. Smith, lead author of the study and professor of geophysics at the University of Utah. "A lot of calderas [giant volcanic craters] worldwide go up and down over decades without erupting."
The upward movement of the Yellowstone caldera floor -- almost 3 inches (7 centimeters) per year for the past three years -- is more than three times greater than ever observed since such measurements began in 1923, says the study in the Nov. 9 issue of Science by Smith, geophysics postdoctoral associate Wu-Lung Chang and colleagues.
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Science.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Research news: Florida Red Tides Linked To Mississippi River Nutrient Outflow
The News:
Florida Red Tides Linked To Mississippi River Nutrient Outflow.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2007) — A new NOAA research model indicates nutrients flowing from the Mississippi River may stimulate harmful algal blooms to grow on the continental shelf off the west coast of Florida. The peer-reviewed hypothesis is being published in a special issue on Florida red tide in the journal "Continental Shelf Research."
According to the model, algal blooms form on the Florida coast because of weather and gulf currents. The algae grows offshore, supplied with additional nutrients that appear to have originated from the Mississippi River, in a process driven by normal seasonal wind patterns.
"We found that the concentrations of nutrients needed to start the Florida red tides is much lower than previously suspected," said NOAA oceanographer and lead author of the paper, Richard Stumpf, Ph.D. "The hypothesis means that offshore areas should be examined for both small increases in nutrients and modest concentrations of the algae at the start of the bloom season."
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Continental Shelf Research.
Florida Red Tides Linked To Mississippi River Nutrient Outflow.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2007) — A new NOAA research model indicates nutrients flowing from the Mississippi River may stimulate harmful algal blooms to grow on the continental shelf off the west coast of Florida. The peer-reviewed hypothesis is being published in a special issue on Florida red tide in the journal "Continental Shelf Research."
According to the model, algal blooms form on the Florida coast because of weather and gulf currents. The algae grows offshore, supplied with additional nutrients that appear to have originated from the Mississippi River, in a process driven by normal seasonal wind patterns.
"We found that the concentrations of nutrients needed to start the Florida red tides is much lower than previously suspected," said NOAA oceanographer and lead author of the paper, Richard Stumpf, Ph.D. "The hypothesis means that offshore areas should be examined for both small increases in nutrients and modest concentrations of the algae at the start of the bloom season."
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Continental Shelf Research.
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