Public Release: 26-Oct-2009
Archives of Internal Medicine
Heart attacks become more common but less often fatal in women
Heart attacks appear to have become more common in middle-aged women over the past two decades, but all women and especially those younger than 55 have recently experienced a greater increase than men in their chances of survival following such a heart event, according to two reports in the October 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Contact: Leslie Ridgeway
lridgewa@usc.edu
323-442-2823
JAMA and Archives Journals
Public Release: 26-Oct-2009
British Medical Journal
Advances in screening have offset an increase in Down syndrome
The number of diagnoses of Down syndrome has increased by almost three quarters from 1989-90 to 2007-08, largely due to the considerable increase in the number of older mothers over this period. However, the number of babies born with this condition during the same period fell by 1 percent because of antenatal screening and subsequent terminations, finds research published on bmj.com today.
Contact: Emma Dickinson
edickinson@bmj.com
44-207-383-6529
BMJ-British Medical Journal
Public Release: 26-Oct-2009
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Scientists discover gene that 'cancer-proofs' rodent's cells
Despite a 30-year lifespan that gives ample time for cells to grow cancerous, a small rodent species called a naked mole rat has never been found with tumors of any kind -- and now biologists at the University of Rochester think they know why.
National Institutes of Health Contact: Jonathan Sherwood
jonathan.sherwood@rochester.edu
585-273-4726
University of Rochester
Public Release: 26-Oct-2009
Geology
Volcanoes played pivotal role in ancient ice age, mass extinction
Researchers here have discovered the pivotal role that volcanoes played in a deadly ice age 450 million years ago. Perhaps ironically, these volcanoes first caused global warming -- by releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. When they stopped erupting, Earth's climate was thrown off balance, and the ice age began.
National Science Foundation Contact: Matthew Saltzman
Saltzman.11@osu.edu
614-292-0481
Ohio State University
Neanderthals ‘had sex’ with modern man
Times UK
Public Release: 26-Oct-2009
American College of Gastroenterology's 74th Annual Scientific Meeting
Deadly stomach infection rising in community settings, Mayo Clinic study finds
Mayo Clinic researchers have found that a sometimes deadly stomach bug, Clostridium difficile, is on the rise in outpatient settings. Clostridium difficile is a serious bacteria that can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon. These findings were presented today at the 2009 American College of Gastroenterology Annual Meeting in San Diego.
Contact: Amy Tieder
newsbureau@mayo.edu
507-284-5005
Mayo Clinic
Public Release: 26-Oct-2009
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
The pain of torture can make the innocent seem guilty
Psychologists at Harvard University have found that the more a person appears to suffer when tortured, the guiltier they are perceived to be. According to the researchers, those complicit with the torture need to justify the torture, and therefore link the victim's pain to blame.
Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Institute for Humane Studies Contact: Amy Lavoie
amy_lavoie@harvard.edu
617-496-9982
Harvard University
Public Release: 26-Oct-2009
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
Alcohol activates cellular changes that make tumor cells spread
Alcohol consumption has long been linked to cancer and its spread, but the underlying mechanism has never been clear. Now, researchers at Rush University Medical Center have identified a cellular pathway that may explain the link.
National Institutes of Health Contact: Sharon Butler
Sharon_Butler@rush.edu
312-942-7816
Rush University Medical Center
Public Release: 26-Oct-2009
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
UC Davis researchers identify dominant chemical that attracts mosquitoes to humans
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have identified the dominant odor naturally produced in humans and birds that attracts the blood-feeding Culex mosquitoes, which transmits West Nile virus and other life-threatening diseases. The groundbreaking research, published this week in the early online Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, explains why mosquitoes shifted hosts from birds to humans and paves the way for key developments in mosquito and disease control.
National Institutes of Health, Bedoukian Research, National Science Foundation Contact: Patricia Bailey
pjbailey@ucdavis.edu
530-752-9843
University of California - Davis
26 October 2009
Antibody 'fixes internal bleeds'
Scientists say they have discovered an antibody that could minimise the major internal bleeding seen in traumas like bullet wounds and car crashes.
Colossal 'sea monster' unearthed
The fossilised skull of a colossal pliosaur - perhaps one of the biggest ever found - is unearthed on the UK's Jurassic Coast.
Well
The Human Body Is Built for Distance
By TARA PARKER-POPE
Does running a marathon push the body further than it is meant to go?
Global Update
Tropical Disease: Neglected Tropical Ills Extract Steep Toll in Islamic World, a Journal Article Says
Muslim nations shoulder a “devastating burden” of the world’s neglected tropical diseases
Antibody 'fixes internal bleeds'
Scientists say they have discovered an antibody that could minimise the major internal bleeding seen in traumas like bullet wounds and car crashes.
Colossal 'sea monster' unearthed
The fossilised skull of a colossal pliosaur - perhaps one of the biggest ever found - is unearthed on the UK's Jurassic Coast.
Well
The Human Body Is Built for Distance
By TARA PARKER-POPE
Does running a marathon push the body further than it is meant to go?
Cancers Can Vanish Without Treatment, but How?
By GINA KOLATA
Data from screening led doctors to reconsider that the disease is bound only to grow worse.
US FDA says omega-3 oils from GM soya are safe to eat
16:37 27 October 2009
Biotech giants have a green light to market crops genetically modified to produce the health-promoting oils, which are mostly got from fish at present
Public Release: 27-Oct-2009
Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology
Stanford study recommends change in treating pulmonary embolisms
William Kuo, M.D., was the on-call interventional radiologist one Friday night three years ago when he received a call from the intensive care unit at Stanford Hospital & Clinics. What happened that night would set Kuo on a three-year mission to design and implement studies to reveal the safety and effectiveness of a new treatment called catheter-directed therapy or catheter-directed thrombolysis for massive blood clots in the lungs.
Contact: Tracie White
tracie.white@stanford.edu
650-723-7628
Stanford University Medical Center
Cervical cancer vaccine reminds girls of sexual risks
21:00 27 October 2009
No reason to worry that vaccination will encourage girls to have more sex, suggests a survey of British teenagers
Basics
A Molecule of Motivation, Dopamine Excels at Its Task
By NATALIE ANGIER
A view has emerged to counter the image that a neurotransmitter is the little Bacchus of our brain.
Public Release: 28-Oct-2009
Member of NFL Hall of Fame diagnosed with degenerative brain disease
The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University School of Medicine announced today that a recently deceased member of the NFL Hall of Fame suffered from the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy when he died, becoming the 10th former NFL player diagnosed with the disease.
Contact: Gina DiGravio
gina.digravio@bmc.org
617-638-8480
Boston University Medical Center
Public Release: 28-Oct-2009
Cerebral Cortex
Bad driving may have genetic basis, UCI study finds
Bad drivers may in part have their genes to blame, suggests a new study by UC Irvine neuroscientists.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Jennifer Fitzenberger
jfitzen@uci.edu
949-824-3969
University of California - Irvine
Public Release: 28-Oct-2009
Fermi telescope caps its first year with a glimpse of space-time
During its first year of operations, NASA's Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope mapped the extreme sky with unprecedented resolution and sensitivity. It captured more than one thousand discrete sources of gamma rays -- the highest-energy form of light. Capping these achievements was a measurement that provided rare experimental evidence about the very structure of space and time, unified as space-time in Einstein's theories.
NASA, Stanford University, Sonoma State Universtiy, ESA, CSA, US Department of Energy
Contact: Francis Reddy
Francis.j.reddy@nasa.gov
301-286-4453
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Public Release: 29-Oct-2009
Science
A new wrinkle in ancient ocean chemistry
A research team led by University of California, Riverside geoscientists has corroborated evidence that oxygen production began in Earth's oceans at least 100 million years before the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). The researchers analyzed 2.5 billion-year-old black shales, which revealed that episodes of hydrogen sulfide accumulation in the oxygen-free deep ocean occurred nearly 100 million years before the GOE. Scientists have long believed that the early ocean was characterized by high amounts of dissolved iron.
National Science Foundation, NASA
Contact: Iqbal Pittalwala
iqbal@ucr.edu
951-827-6050
University of California - Riverside
Public Release: 29-Oct-2009
Liver Transplantation
Left side grafting is procedure of choice for adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation
A recent study by doctors at Shinshu University, School of Medicine, in Japan determined that left side grafting has lower risk to donors compared to grafts taken from the right lobe, and it appears to be the procedure of choice for adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation. These findings appear in the November issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
Contact: Dawn Peters
medicalnews@wiley.com
781-388-8408
Wiley-Blackwell
Public Release: 29-Oct-2009
FASEB Journal
Scientists discover influenza's Achilles heel: Antioxidants
As the nation copes with a shortage of vaccines for H1N1 influenza, a team of Alabama researchers have raised hopes that they have found an Achilles' heel for all strains of the flu -- antioxidants. In an article appearing in the November 2009 print issue of the FASEB Journal they show that antioxidants -- the same substances found in plant-based foods -- might hold the key in preventing the flu virus from wreaking havoc on our lungs.
Contact: Cody Mooneyhan
cmooneyhan@faseb.org
301-634-7104
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Public Release: 29-Oct-2009
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
2-pronged protein attack could be source of SARS virulence
Researchers have uncovered what they believe could be the major factor contributing to the SARS virus' virulence: the pathogen's use of a single viral protein to weaken host cell defenses by launching a "two-pronged" attack on cellular protein-synthesis machinery.
US Public Health Service, James W. McLaughlin Foundation
Contact: Jim Kelly
jpkelly@utmb.edu
409-772-8791
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Public Release: 30-Oct-2009
Journal of Experimental Biology
Short heels make elite sprinters super speedy
What is it about elite sprinters that gives them the edge over non-sprinters in the 100m dash? Stephen Piazza from the Pennsylvania State University publishes his discovery, in The Journal of Experimental Biology, that the length of an elite sprinter's heel (the distance from the back of the heel to the ankle) is 25 percent shorter in elite athletes than non-sprinters, allowing them to generate more force when sprinting for gold.Contact: Emma Kelly
emma@biologists.com
44-122-342-5525
The Company of Biologists
Public Release: 30-Oct-2009
PLoS ONE
New analyses of dinosaur growth may wipe out one-third of species
Paleontologists Mark Goodwin and Jack Horner have dug for 11 years in Montana's Hell Creek Formation in search of every dinosaur fossil they can find, accumulating specimens of all stages of development. Their new report on the growth stages of dome-headed dinosaurs shows that two named species are really just young pachycephalosaurs. They say that perhaps one-third of all named dinosaurs may not be separate species, but juvenile or subadult stages of other known dinosaurs.
UC Museum of Paleontology, Museum of the Rockies
Contact: Robert Sanders
rsanders@berkeley.edu
510-643-6998
University of California - Berkeley
Public Release: 30-Oct-2009
Neuron
This is your brain on fatty acids
Saturated fats have a deservedly bad reputation, but Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that a sticky lipid occurring naturally at high levels in the brain may help us memorize grandma's recipe for cinnamon buns, as well as recall how, decades ago, she served them up steaming from the oven.
NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Contact: Maryalice Yakutchik
myakutc1@jhmi.edu
443-287-2251
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Public Release: 31-Oct-2009
47th Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Henry Ford Hospital study: A MRSA strain linked to high death rates
A strain of MRSA that causes bloodstream infections is five times more lethal than other strains and has shown to have some resistance to the potent antibiotic drug vancomycin used to treat MRSA, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study. The study found that 50 percent of the patients infected with the strain died within 30 days compared to 11 percent of patients infected with other MRSA strains.
Henry Ford Hospital
Contact: David Olejarz
Dolejar1@hfhs.org
313-303-0606
Henry Ford Health System
Public Release: 1-Nov-2009
Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery
Commentary warns of unexpected consequences of proton pump inhibitor use in reflux disease
Despite being highly effective and beneficial for many patients, unexpected consequences are emerging in patients who are prescribed proton pump inhibitors for reflux diseases. Physicians are warned to monitor these effects and prescribe these medications carefully, according to a new commentary published in the November 2009 issue of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery.
Contact: Jessica Mikulski
newsroom@entnet.org
703-535-3762
American Academy of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery
Nazcas' destruction of forests caused downfall
An ancient civilisation brought about its own demise by destroying forests which kept its delicate ecosystem in balance, according to researchers who claim the discovery has important implications for the modern world.
Telegraph UK
Bradley T. Lepper: Revisiting discoveries a good idea
You might not be shocked to learn that science coverage by many media outlets tends to lean toward the extraordinary and sensational.So it was only natural that many took notice when a group of scientists recently reported that a comet smashed into northeastern North America 12,900 years ago ... Unfortunately, many did not follow up when further investigation shows claims like this are exaggerated or even entirely unfounded.
Columbus Dispatch
Public Release: 2-Nov-2009
Health Psychology
U-M research shows chronically ill may be happier if they give up hope
Holding on to hope may not make patients happier as they deal with chronic illness or diseases, U-M research shows.
NIH/National Institute on Child Health and Human Development
Contact: Mary Masson
mfmasson@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System