ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Come on baby, (re)light my fire
• Titanium and gold equals new gold standard for artificial joints
• Screening for suicide risk among urban children vitally important
• Putting the Sloth in Sloths: Arboreal Lifestyle Drives Slow Motion Pace
• Groundwater discharge to upper Colorado River Basin varies in response to drought
• Potential drug candidates could intervene in deadly diseases
• 3-D-printing lab instruments one block at a time
• Scientists apply new imaging tool to common brain disorders
• New dinosaur species may give clues to evolutionary origin of megaraptorid clade
• Underwater terrain may be key factor in little auk foraging
• Scientists call for replacement of animals in antibody production
• More for less in pastures
• New superconducting coil improves MRI performance
• New device lengthens the life of quantum information
• Synthetic biology used to limit bacterial growth and coordinate drug release
• A recent pause in Antarctic Peninsula warming
• Uncovering a new principle in chemotherapy resistance in breast cancer
• Asteroid that formed moon's Imbrium Basin may have been protoplanet-sized
• RNA: How cells master the art of reading life's recipes
• Anti-tumor antibodies could counter atherosclerosis, study finds
• Map provides detailed picture of how the brain is organized
• Liquid biopsies offer hope for earlier treatment, better tracking of ovarian cancer
• Cancer stem cells in 'robbers cave' may explain poor prognosis for obese patients
• New reaction for the synthesis of nanostructures
• New probe developed for improved high resolution measurement of brain temperature
• First atmospheric study of Earth-sized exoplanets points to possible habitability
• Improving health facility efficiency could markedly expand HIV treatment
• Plant-based Polio booster vaccine
• Majority of physicians have favorite patients, study finds
• Rationing healthcare: More than half of US doctors say no to clinical services
• Urocortin-3: A signaling molecule for making friends
• Neuroscientists' study sheds light on how words are represented in the brain
• New data on bird population trends and the climate conditions they occupy
• Higher-income students have an edge when it comes to working memory
• Neurons form synapse clusters
• Rapid, low-temperature process adds weeks to milk's shelf life
• Minimally traumatic and inexpensive ceramic laser scalpel
• Ocean acidification: The limits of adaptation
• How do cells recover their shape after being subjected to external forces?
• Effectiveness of treatment for individuals with brain injury or stroke
• Surgeons' disclosures of clinical adverse events
• Study examines opioid agonist therapy use in Medicare patients
• 'Perfect storm' brought sea louse epidemic to BC salmon
• Preventing HIV in transgender people
• Three Alzheimer's genetic risk factors linked to immune cell dysfunction
• People estimate their own abilities based on others' performance
• Changes in brain activity after mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in adolescents
• Indoor tanning rates among New Jersey teens remain stable following state enactment of under age 17 ban
• Wolves seeks refuge from hunters during breeding periods
• Birds on top of the world, with nowhere to go
• Using bed bug shed skins to combat the pest
• Infections, antibiotic use linked to manic episodes in people with serious mental illness
• New treatment developed to prevent nausea, vomiting caused by chemo
• World first discovery gets to the heart of birth defects
• Functionalized surfaces with tailored wettability determine Influenza A infectivity
• Diseases that run in families not all down to genes, study shows
• New sun cream compound offers unprecedented protection against UVA radiation
• Female birds call the shots in divorce
• Garnet-type fast ionic conductor for all-solid-state lithium battery
• North American forests unlikely to save us from climate change

Come on baby, (re)light my fire Posted: 20 Jul 2016 06:53 PM PDT Many couples find that their sexual desire has dwindled over time. It's not unusual for partners who could not keep their hands off each to gradually lose interest. But new research indicates that there are ways that couples can sustain -- or relight -- their passion.

Titanium and gold equals new gold standard for artificial joints Posted: 20 Jul 2016 06:51 PM PDT Titanium is the leading material for artificial knee and hip joints because it's strong, wear-resistant and nontoxic, but an unexpected discovery by physicists shows that the gold standard for artificial joints can be improved with the addition of some actual gold.

Screening for suicide risk among urban children vitally important Posted: 20 Jul 2016 02:04 PM PDT Screening for suicide risk among publicly insured urban children who are experiencing psychological distress is vitally important, finds a new study.

Putting the Sloth in Sloths: Arboreal Lifestyle Drives Slow Motion Pace Posted: 20 Jul 2016 02:04 PM PDT Scientists set out to measure the energetics of wild two- and three-toed sloths at a field site in in northeastern Costa Rica. The purpose of the study was to help explain why arboreal folivores are indeed so rare and why more animals have not evolved to take advantage of a widespread ecological niche.

Groundwater discharge to upper Colorado River Basin varies in response to drought Posted: 20 Jul 2016 01:48 PM PDT Groundwater discharge that flows into the Upper Colorado River Basin varies in response to drought, which is likely due to aquifer systems that contain relatively young groundwater, according to a new study.

Potential drug candidates could intervene in deadly diseases Posted: 20 Jul 2016 01:48 PM PDT Scientists have identified drug candidates that can boost a cell's ability to catch the 'typos' in protein production that can cause a deadly disease called amyloidosis, revealing a new approach to intervene in human disease.

3-D-printing lab instruments one block at a time Posted: 20 Jul 2016 11:35 AM PDT Building lab instruments for chemistry and biology experiments used to be an expensive, time consuming process only done by scientists with specialized training. A 3-D printed, Lego-like system of blocks is changing that. In addition to real research applications, the system can also be used for STEM education, where students gain both an engineering experience by building the instruments and a science experience as they use them.

Scientists apply new imaging tool to common brain disorders Posted: 20 Jul 2016 11:35 AM PDT A new approach has been developed to scanning the brain for changes in synapses that are associated with common brain disorders. The technique may provide insights into the diagnosis and treatment of a broad range of disorders, including epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease, say authors of a new report.

New dinosaur species may give clues to evolutionary origin of megaraptorid clade Posted: 20 Jul 2016 11:35 AM PDT A new species of megaraptorid dinosaur discovered in Patagonia may help discern the evolutionary origins of the megaraptorid clade.

Underwater terrain may be key factor in little auk foraging Posted: 20 Jul 2016 11:35 AM PDT Little auks forage in the same areas off East Greenland -- the continental shelf and its edge -- regardless of whether sea ice is present or absent, according to a new study.

Scientists call for replacement of animals in antibody production Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:58 AM PDT Routine scientific procedures using millions of animals are still being authorized when there is a tried and tested alternative, according to a group of scientists investigating the production of antibodies.

More for less in pastures Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:58 AM PDT Research comparing pastures with multiple types of plants to those with less variety shows surprising results in land productivity and soil health.

New superconducting coil improves MRI performance Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:57 AM PDT A multidisciplinary research team has developed a high-temperature superconducting coil that allows magnetic resonance imaging scanners to produce higher resolution images or acquire images in a shorter time than when using conventional coils.

New device lengthens the life of quantum information Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:56 AM PDT For the first time, researchers have crossed the 'break even' point in preserving a bit of quantum information for longer than the lifetime of its constituent parts. They have created a novel system to encode, spot errors, decode, and correct errors in a quantum bit, also known as a 'qubit.' The development of such a robust method of Quantum Error Correction has been one of the biggest remaining hurdles in quantum computation.

Synthetic biology used to limit bacterial growth and coordinate drug release Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:56 AM PDT Researchers have engineered a clinically relevant bacterium to produce cancer drugs and then self-destruct and release the drugs at the site of tumors. The approach enables continual production and release of drugs at disease sites in mice while simultaneously limiting the size, over time, of the populations of bacteria engineered to produce the drugs. The strategy represents the use of synthetic biology in therapeutics.

A recent pause in Antarctic Peninsula warming Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:56 AM PDT The rapid warming of the Antarctic Peninsula, which occurred from the early-1950s to the late 1990s, has paused. Stabilization of the ozone hole along with natural climate variability were significant in bringing about the change. Together these influences have now caused the peninsula to enter a temporary cooling phase. Temperatures remain higher than measured during the middle of the 20th Century and glacial retreat is still taking place.

Uncovering a new principle in chemotherapy resistance in breast cancer Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:56 AM PDT A laboratory study has revealed an entirely unexpected process for acquiring drug resistance that bypasses the need to re-establish DNA damage repair in breast cancers that have mutant BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes.

Asteroid that formed moon's Imbrium Basin may have been protoplanet-sized Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:56 AM PDT The asteroid that slammed into the moon 3.8 billion years ago creating the Imbrium Basin may have had a diameter of at least 150 miles, according to a new estimate. The work helps explain puzzling geological features on the moon's near side, and has implications for understanding the evolution of the early solar system.

RNA: How cells master the art of reading life's recipes Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:56 AM PDT A research project has closed an important gap in the understanding of a fundamental process of life -- the creation of proteins based on recipes called RNA.

Anti-tumor antibodies could counter atherosclerosis, study finds Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:56 AM PDT Investigators have learned the signal that tumor cells display on their surfaces to protect themselves from being devoured by the immune system also plays a role in enabling atherosclerosis, the process underlying heart attacks and strokes.

Map provides detailed picture of how the brain is organized Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:56 AM PDT A detailed new map lays out the landscape of the cerebral cortex -- the outermost layer of the brain and the dominant structure involved in distinctly human functions such as language, tool use and abstract thinking. The map will accelerate progress in the study of brain diseases, as well as help to elucidate what makes us unique as a species.

Liquid biopsies offer hope for earlier treatment, better tracking of ovarian cancer Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:23 AM PDT A promising new way to monitor and treat recurrence of ovarian cancer has been identified by researchers -- a hard-to-detect disease that claims many lives. New research finds liquid biopsies from blood tests and DNA sequencing can detect a return of ovarian cancer long before a tumor reappears.

Cancer stem cells in 'robbers cave' may explain poor prognosis for obese patients Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:23 AM PDT A new study offers a compelling hypothesis explaining poor prognosis for obese cancer patients: researchers found that leukemia stem cells "hide" in fatty tissue, even transforming this tissue in ways that support their survival when challenged with chemotherapy.

New reaction for the synthesis of nanostructures Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:23 AM PDT Scientists have come up with a new chemical reaction for the synthesis of low-dimensional polymers that can be rationalized as phthalocyanine derivatives.

New probe developed for improved high resolution measurement of brain temperature Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:23 AM PDT Scientists have created a new optical fiber-based probe capable of making pinpoint brain temperature measurements in moving lab animals.

First atmospheric study of Earth-sized exoplanets points to possible habitability Posted: 20 Jul 2016 10:19 AM PDT Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have conducted the first search for atmospheres around temperate, Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system and found indications that increase the chances of habitability on two exoplanets.

Improving health facility efficiency could markedly expand HIV treatment Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:56 AM PDT Health facilities in Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia could extend life-sustaining antiretroviral therapy to hundreds of thousands of people living with HIV if facilities improved the efficiency of service delivery.

Plant-based Polio booster vaccine Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:56 AM PDT Scientists have developed an oral vaccine booster for polio by manipulating plants to express a protein found in the polio virus. Tests with sera from immunized mice show that the booster confers immunity against all three serotypes of polio.

Majority of physicians have favorite patients, study finds Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:56 AM PDT Physicians like the majority of their patients, but a majority like some more than others, a study indicates. This study is thought to be among the first to explore the positive aspects of physicians' attitudes towards their patients.

Rationing healthcare: More than half of US doctors say no to clinical services Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:55 AM PDT More than half of US physicians included in a national survey have withheld certain medical interventions with small benefits from their patients because of the cost-implications these hold. Such rationing behavior is more prevalent among physicians in solo practice, and less so among doctors with liberal leanings.

Urocortin-3: A signaling molecule for making friends Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:55 AM PDT Meeting new people can be both stressful and rewarding. New research suggests that a molecule involved in regulating stress in the brain may also help determine how willing we are to leave the safety of our social group and strike up new relationships.

Neuroscientists' study sheds light on how words are represented in the brain Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:55 AM PDT Using direct neural recordings from the visual word form area, researchers were able to see words that patients read as the patients read them.

New data on bird population trends and the climate conditions they occupy Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:55 AM PDT A new study of population trends among 46 ecologically diverse bird species in North America overturns a long-held assumption that the climate conditions occupied by a species do not change over time. Instead, birds that have increased in abundance over the last 30 years now occupy a wider range of climate conditions than they did 30 years ago, and declining species occupying a smaller range.

Higher-income students have an edge when it comes to working memory Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:54 AM PDT Researchers have discovered important differences between lower and higher-income children in their ability to use working memory, a key brain function responsible for everything from remembering a phone number to doing math in your head. Using functional MRI to measure and map the brain activity of a group of middle-schoolers, the researchers physically documented that the lower-income students tested had less working memory capacity than their higher-income peers.

Neurons form synapse clusters Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:48 AM PDT The contact points of cells in the cerebral cortex form functional groups.

Rapid, low-temperature process adds weeks to milk's shelf life Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:48 AM PDT A rapid heating and cooling of milk significantly reduces the amount of harmful bacteria present, extending by several weeks the shelf life of one of the most common refrigerator staples in the world, according to a new study.

Minimally traumatic and inexpensive ceramic laser scalpel Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:48 AM PDT The newly created technology shows an effectiveness more than twice as high as any of the previously developed solid state lasers.Another important feature of this laser is that the generated light has a wavelength of 2 microns, which is the exact wavelength used in surgery. Devices based on this technology are expected to be approximately fours times smaller than the ones, currently used by surgeons. They will also be much cheaper and more reliable.

Ocean acidification: The limits of adaptation Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:48 AM PDT The most abundant single-celled calcifying alga of the world's oceans, Emiliania huxleyi is basically able to adapt to ocean acidification through evolution. However, the longest evolution experiment that has been conducted with this organism so far shows, that the potential for adaptation is not as large as initially expected. The growth rate under elevated carbon dioxide concentrations has not improved significantly after four years. Calcification was even lower than in today's cells from Emiliania huxleyi.

How do cells recover their shape after being subjected to external forces? Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:48 AM PDT Human cells show deformation under the influence of external forces. But how do they recover their original shape afterwards? This mechanism, which is important in medicine and biology, has been described for the first time.

Effectiveness of treatment for individuals with brain injury or stroke Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:28 AM PDT New articles explore the effectiveness of several neurorehabilitation treatments for individuals with brain injury or stroke. A number of published articles have covered the issue of efficacy of neurorehabilitation, but only a few have discussed the issue of effectiveness to date.

Surgeons' disclosures of clinical adverse events Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:28 AM PDT Surgeons who reported they were less likely to discuss preventability of an adverse event, or who reported difficult communication experiences, were more negatively affected by disclosure than others, according to a study.

Study examines opioid agonist therapy use in Medicare patients Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:28 AM PDT Few Medicare enrollees appear to be receiving buprenorphine-naloxone, the only opioid agonist therapy for opioid addiction available through Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage, according to a study.

'Perfect storm' brought sea louse epidemic to BC salmon Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:28 AM PDT High ocean temperatures and poor timing of parasite management likely led to an epidemic of sea lice in 2015 throughout salmon farms in British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Strait, a new study has found.

Preventing HIV in transgender people Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:28 AM PDT Programs to reduce the high risk of HIV infection among transgender people are urgently needed -- but efforts are hindered by a lack of accurate information on HIV prevalence, HIV incidence, and specific risk factors facing this key population, say experts. A special journal supplement presents essential information to meet the challenges of HIV prevention in the transgender population.

Three Alzheimer's genetic risk factors linked to immune cell dysfunction Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:28 AM PDT A new study has uncovered details of how a type of immune cell helps the brain get rid of the tiny amyloid-beta aggregates that can clump together to form the plaques characteristic of Alzheimer's. The researchers found that TREM2 mutations can derail the immune cell's plaque-clearing activity, as can two other genes already known to increase a person's risk for Alzheimer's: APOE and APOJ (known as clusterin).

People estimate their own abilities based on others' performance Posted: 20 Jul 2016 09:28 AM PDT Ratings of our own abilities are strongly influenced by the performance of others, according to a new study. Interacting with high performers makes us feel more capable in cooperative team settings, but less competent in competitive situations. Moreover, the degree of 'self-other-mergence' is associated with activity in a brain region previously implicated in theory of mind -- the ability to understand the mental states of oneself and others.

Changes in brain activity after mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in adolescents Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:54 AM PDT Researchers are studying how cognitive therapy that uses mindfulness techniques, such as meditation, quiet reflection and facilitator-led discussion, may serve as an adjunct to pharmacological treatments for youth with anxiety disorders.

Indoor tanning rates among New Jersey teens remain stable following state enactment of under age 17 ban Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:54 AM PDT Research shows no significant decline in indoor tanning rates among children under age 17 following a ban on such use in New Jersey enacted in 2013. The authors say it's a finding that underscores a need for continued surveillance of this population and ongoing monitoring of indoor tanning facilities.

Wolves seeks refuge from hunters during breeding periods Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:53 AM PDT Wolves lower the risk of interacting with humans during the reproduction period -- when they are most vulnerable -- and adopt some similar behaviors in their areas, from Alaska to India and Afghanistan, according to a new study.

Birds on top of the world, with nowhere to go Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:53 AM PDT Climate change could make much of the Arctic unsuitable for millions of migratory birds that travel north to breed each year, according to a new international study. Suitable breeding conditions for Arctic shorebirds could collapse by 2070, according to biologists.

Using bed bug shed skins to combat the pest Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:53 AM PDT The shed skins of bed bugs retain the 'obnoxious sweetness' smell often associated with the pests, a finding that could potentially be used to combat infestations of the insects, new research suggests.

Infections, antibiotic use linked to manic episodes in people with serious mental illness Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:53 AM PDT In research using patient medical records, investigators report that people with serious mental disorders who were hospitalized for mania were more likely to be on antibiotics to treat active infections than a group of people without a mental disorder.

New treatment developed to prevent nausea, vomiting caused by chemo Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:53 AM PDT A drug that blocks neurotransmitters could reduce nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, new research has found.

World first discovery gets to the heart of birth defects Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:52 AM PDT For the first time, scientists believe they've discovered a cause of multiple types of birth defects triggered by environmental stresses. The breakthrough shows that cellular stress could be the key to understanding why many babies are born with defects of the heart, vertebrae and kidney, among others.

Functionalized surfaces with tailored wettability determine Influenza A infectivity Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:52 AM PDT Findings of a research team may pave the way for the design of new and more effective antimicrobial surfaces. These insights constitute the basis for guiding the design and development of new surfaces with higher antiviral activity that can be important for applications in public and/or sensitive environments such as in hospitals.

Diseases that run in families not all down to genes, study shows Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:52 AM PDT Family history of disease may be as much the result of shared lifestyle and surroundings as inherited genes, research has shown. Factors that are common to the family environment -- such as shared living space and common eating habits -- can make a major contribution to a person's risk of disease, the study found.

New sun cream compound offers unprecedented protection against UVA radiation Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:50 AM PDT A new wonder compound offers unprecedented protection against the harmful effects of UVA radiation in sunlight, which include photo-ageing, cell damage and cancer.

Female birds call the shots in divorce Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:50 AM PDT Research is shedding new light on the causes of divorce in monogamous year-round territorial birds. A new study of the endangered Purple-crowned Fairy-wren has discovered the females are calling the shots when it comes to breaking up.

Garnet-type fast ionic conductor for all-solid-state lithium battery Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:50 AM PDT A garnet-type, fast ionic conducting oxide has been created by scientists. The developed garnet-type oxide showed not only high ionic conductivity around 1 mS/cm at room temperature, but also high electrochemical stability. Using this material as a solid electrolyte, an all-solid-state lithium battery was fabricated and its reversible charge and discharge reaction was demonstrated successfully. This finding contributes to the realization of highly safe, rechargeable batteries for large-scale power sources.

North American forests unlikely to save us from climate change Posted: 20 Jul 2016 07:50 AM PDT An unprecedented study combining projections of future climate with more than two million tree-ring records spanning all of North America suggests that forests ache more and more under the burden of climate change. The resulting detailed forecast map for the continent reveals up to 75 percent slower growth projected for trees in the southwestern US, along the Rockies, through interior Canada and Alaska.

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