Monday, March 9, 2015

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News


Advanced thyroid cancer responds to targeted therapy with sunitinib

Posted: 08 Mar 2015 09:45 AM PDT

In patients with advanced thyroid cancer, sunitinib, a drug approved for treatment of several other cancers, showed significant cancer-fighting activity t, a new phase 2 clinical trial has found.

Decreased sexual activity, desire may lead to decline in serum testosterone in older men

Posted: 08 Mar 2015 06:14 AM PDT

In older men, decreased sexual activity and desire, not erectile dysfunction, may cause serum testosterone to decline, a new study from Australia finds.

Female fetuses exposed to tobacco smoke may have increased diabetes risk in middle age

Posted: 08 Mar 2015 06:14 AM PDT

A fetus exposed to tobacco smoke may be at increased risk for diabetes in adulthood, a new study of adult daughters finds.

Men's heart disease risk linked to high testosterone and low estrogen

Posted: 08 Mar 2015 06:14 AM PDT

Why men have more heart disease than premenopausal women has been unclear, but a new study shows that the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen alter cardiovascular risk factors in a way that raises a man's risk of heart disease.

High need for treatment of transgender youth

Posted: 08 Mar 2015 06:14 AM PDT

A new study has confirmed that transgender youth often have mental health problems and that their depression and anxiety improve greatly with recognition and treatment of gender dysphoria.

Liraglutide may help overweight and obese adults lose weight safely and effectively

Posted: 08 Mar 2015 06:14 AM PDT

Obesity guidelines recommend an initial weight loss goal of 5 to 10 percent of start weight to improve health. A recent study found that patients who received liraglutide 3.0 mg, combined with fewer calories and more physical activity, were more than twice as likely to achieve at least that level of weight loss, compared to patients on placebo who made similar lifestyle changes.

Sleep apnea is common in women with gestational diabetes

Posted: 08 Mar 2015 06:13 AM PDT

Obstructive sleep apnea is prevalent in obese, pregnant Asian women with gestational diabetes, even when their diabetes is controlled by diet, a new study from Thailand finds. Study results also connect the severity of sleep disordered breathing with higher blood glucose (sugar) levels and greater daytime sleepiness.

Testosterone nasal gel works best at three doses a day, study finds

Posted: 08 Mar 2015 06:13 AM PDT

A new testosterone nasal gel raises men's low testosterone levels to normal, with few side effects, according to the results of a phase 3 clinical trial.

Longer life cycle for lithium-ion batteries?

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 03:17 PM PST

Lithium-ion batteries are common in consumer electronics. They are one of the most popular types of rechargeable batteries for portable electronics, with a high energy density, no memory effect and only a slow loss of charge when not in use. Beyond consumer electronics, lithium-ion batteries have also grown in popularity for military, electric vehicle and aerospace applications. Researchers are exploring new energy storage technology that could give the battery an even longer life cycle.

Habitat degradation, climate shifts impact survival of the white-collared manakin

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 03:17 PM PST

To better understand the interacting effects of habitat degradation and climate on bird populations, researchers spent 12 years studying the white-collared manakin, a fruit-eating tropical bird, in mature and young forests along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.

Is the tasty blue crab's natural range creeping north?

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 03:17 PM PST

Scientists have observed the Atlantic (or Chesapeake) blue crab, a commercially important species, moving north of its native range into the Gulf of Maine.

Study investigates conflict of interest in biomedical research proposals

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 03:17 PM PST

New research found that peer review managers play an important role in identifying potential conflicts of interest in biomedical research grant peer reviews.

Data driven discoveries: Imagine smart cities with thousands of strategically placed sensors

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 03:11 PM PST

The Array of Things, The Internet of Things, ultimately, "smart" cities have to feature hundreds, maybe thousands, of strategically placed sensors. These devices would record everything from air pressure and temperature to microbial content. The newly developed Waggle platform is the system on a chip that will enable this to happen.

Tiger dad: Rare family portrait of amur tigers the first-ever to include an adult male

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 11:35 AM PST

Biologists have released a camera trap slideshow of a family of Amur tigers in the wild showing an adult male with family. Shown following the "tiger dad" along the Russian forest is an adult female and three cubs. Scientists note this is a first in terms of photographing this behavior, as adult male tigers are usually solitary. Also included was a photo composite of a series of images showing the entire family as they walked past the a camera trap over a period of two minutes.

Atmosphere above Africa: Clouds and aerosol measurements

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 10:28 AM PST

From Saharan dust storms to icy clouds to smoke on the opposite side of the continent, the first image from NASA's newest cloud- and aerosol-measuring instrument, CATS, provides a profile of the atmosphere above Africa.

Squeezing out new science from material interfaces

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 10:27 AM PST

With more than five times the thermal conductivity of copper, diamond is the ultimate heat spreader. By applying extreme pressure in a diamond anvil cell to metal films on diamond, researchers have now determined the physical process dominating this unexplained heat flow, which has implications for understanding and improving heat flow between any two materials.

Evidence from glacier ice: Until it was banned, leaded gasoline dominated the humanmade lead emissions in South America

Posted: 06 Mar 2015 10:26 AM PST

Leaded gasoline was a larger emission source of the toxic heavy metal lead than mining in South America - even though the extraction of metals from the region's mines historically released huge quantities of lead into the environment. Researchers have discovered evidence of the dominance of leaded gasoline based on measurements in an ice core from a Bolivian glacier. The scientists found that lead from road traffic in the neighboring countries polluted the air twice as heavily as regional mining from the 1960s onwards.