4 March 2010
Hand-held device on trial for migraine sufferers
A new hand-held device that delivers a magnetic pulse to the back of the head could become an alternative to drug treatment for people with migraines.
Public Release: 8-Mar-2010
Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism
Obesity as protection against metabolic syndrome, not its cause
The collection of symptoms that is the metabolic syndrome -- insulin resistance, high cholesterol, fatty liver, and a greater risk for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke -- are all related to obesity, but, according to a review in the March 9 issue of the Cell Press publication Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, not in the way you probably think they are.
Contact: Cathleen Genova
cgenova@cell.com
617-397-2802
Cell Press
Archaeologists Find Earliest Known Domestic Horses: Harnessed and Milked
ScienceDaily
Public Release: 8-Mar-2010
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Unselfish molecules may have helped give birth to the genetic material of life
One of the biggest questions facing scientists today is how life began. Scientists at Georgia Tech have discovered that small molecules could have acted as "molecular midwives" in helping the building blocks of life's genetic material form long chains and may have assisted in selecting the base pairs of the DNA double helix.
NASA, National Science Foundation
Contact: David Terraso
david.terraso@comm.gatech.edu
404-385-2966
Georgia Institute of Technology
Public Release: 8-Mar-2010
Annals of Family Medicine
1-page questionnaire is effective screening tool for common psychiatric disorders
A one-page, 27-item questionnaire that is available free online is a valid and effective tool to help primary care doctors screen patients for four common psychiatric illnesses, a study led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers concludes.
M-3 Information
Contact: Tom Hughes
tahughes@unch.unc.edu
919-966-6047
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Public Release: 8-Mar-2010
Annals of Family Medicine
Abused children more likely to suffer unexplained abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting
Children who have been abused psychologically, physically or sexually are more likely to suffer unexplained abdominal pain and nausea or vomiting than children who have not been abused, a study led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers concludes.
Children's Bureau, Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, Administration for Children, Youth & Families, NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Contact: Tom Hughes
tahughes@unch.unc.edu
919-966-6047
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Public Release: 8-Mar-2010
Archives of Internal Medicine
Women who drink moderately appear to gain less weight than nondrinkers
Normal-weight women who drink a light to moderate amount of alcohol appear to gain less weight and have a lower risk of becoming overweight and obese than nondrinkers, according to a report in the March 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Contact: Lori J. Shanks
ljshanks@partners.org
617-534-1604
JAMA and Archives Journals
18 and Under
When a Scratch or a Nosebleed Turns Into a Flood
By PERRI KLASS, M.D.
Some of the ailments, like idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, are usually resolved on their own, but others require treatment.
Public Release: 8-Mar-2010
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Public Release: 8-Mar-2010
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
'Pay it forward' pays off
For all those dismayed by scenes of looting in disaster-struck zones, whether Haiti or Chile or elsewhere, take heart: good acts -- acts of kindness, generosity and cooperation -- spread just as easily as bad. And it takes only a handful of individuals to really make a difference.
NIH/National Institute on Aging, John Templeton Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Contact: Inga Kiderra
ikiderra@ucsd.edu
858-822-0661
University of California - San Diego
Public Release: 8-Mar-2010
Cell Stem Cell
Deceptive model
Mice are in many ways similar to Homo sapiens on a fundamental level. That is why the law in this part of the world only permits scientists to conduct research on human embryonic stem cells when they have "clarified in advance" their specific questions by using animal cells as far as possible. However, such tests are often pointless -- and sometimes even misleading, as a recent study by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Munster, Germany, demonstrates.
Max Planck Society
Contact: Boris Greber
boris.greber@mpi-muenster.mpg.de
49-251-703-65321
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Infection Defense May Spur Alzheimer’s
By GINA KOLATA5:51 PM ET
Beta amyloid, which was once thought to be a chief villain in Alzheimer’s, may be part of the brain’s normal defenses, researchers at Harvard suggested.
Public Release: 8-Mar-2010
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Infectious virus hidden in chromosomes during latency can be passed from parents to children
In some individuals the common herpes virus HHV-6 can integrate into structures at the end of chromosomes and be reactivated to an infectious form. The findings are reported online, March 8, 2010, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
HHV-6 Foundation, National Institutes of Health
Contact: Anne DeLotto Baier
abaier@health.usf.edu
813-974-3300
University of South Florida Health
Public Release: 8-Mar-2010
Researchers show how far South American cities moved in quake
The massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck the west coast of Chile last month moved the entire city of Concepcion at least 10 feet to the west, and shifted other parts of South America as far apart as the Falkland Islands and Fortaleza, Brazil. These preliminary measurements, done by researchers including geophysicists on the ground in Chile, paint a much clearer picture of the power behind this temblor, believed to be the fifth-most-powerful since instruments have been available to measure seismic shifts.
Contact: Ben Brooks
bbrooks@hawaii.edu
808-228-8356
Ohio State University
Public Release: 8-Mar-2010
Geraniums could help control devastating Japanese beetle
Geraniums may hold the key to controlling the devastating Japanese beetle, which feeds on nearly 300 plant species and costs the ornamental plant industry $450 million in damage each year, according to scientists with the Agricultural Research Service.
Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture
Contact: Alfredo Flores
Alfredo.Flores@ars.usda.gov
301-504-1627
United States Department of Agriculture-Research, Education, and Economics
Public Release: 8-Mar-2010
Plant Biotechnology
Study shows potential for using algae to produce human therapeutic proteins
Pharmaceutical companies could substantially reduce the expense of costly treatments for cancer and other diseases produced from mammalian or bacterial cells by growing these human therapeutic proteins in algae -- rapidly growing aquatic plant cells that have recently gained attention for their ability to produce biofuels.
Contact: Kim McDonald
scinews@ucsd.edu
858-534-7572
University of California - San Diego
Public Release: 8-Mar-2010
Journal of Clinical Investigation
New method to grow arteries could lead to 'biological bypass' for heart disease
A new method of growing arteries could lead to a "biological bypass"-- or a noninvasive way to treat coronary artery disease, Yale School of Medicine researchers report with their colleagues in the April issue of Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Contact: Karen N. Peart
karen.peart@yale.edu
203-432-1326
Yale University
Did 'midwife molecule' assemble first life on Earth?
10:59 09 March 2010
A previously unrecognised molecule, similar to a type found in meteorites, may have helped the first biomolecules assemble from their building blocks
Public Release: 9-Mar-2010
Academic Pediatrics
Study suggests need for broader use of individualized learning plans for physicians
Physicians would be better prepared for the accelerating rate of scientific discovery -- and more in step with the latest in patient-care -- if they added an important tool to their medical bags: a plan for how to keep pace with emerging health-care advances.
Association of Pediatric Program Directors
Contact: Phyllis Brown
phyllis.brown@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
916-734-9023
University of California - Davis - Health System
Nanotube cuff is 'solar cell' for exhaust pipes
12:54 09 March 2010
A new material based on nanotubes matches the efficiency of solar cells – but scavenges power from heat leaking from hot pipes, not sunlight
Public Release: 9-Mar-2010
Astrophysical Journal Letters
Most extreme white dwarf binary system found with orbit of just 5 minutes
An international team of astronomers, including Professor Tom Marsh and Dr. Danny Steeghs from the University of Warwick, have shown that the two stars in the binary HM Cancri definitely revolve around each other in a mere 5.4 minutes. This makes HM Cancri the binary star with by far the shortest known orbital period. It is also the smallest known binary.
Contact: Peter Dunn
p.j.dunn@warwick.ac.uk
44-077-676-55860
University of Warwick
Public Release: 9-Mar-2010
Nature Methods
Intentional variation increases result validity in mouse testing
For decades, the traditional practice in animal testing has been standardization, but a study involving Purdue University has shown that adding as few as two controlled environmental variables to preclinical mice tests can greatly reduce costly false positives, the number of animals needed for testing and the cost of pharmaceutical trials.
German Research Foundation
Contact: Brian Wallheimer
bwallhei@purdue.edu
765-496-2050
Purdue University
Public Release: 9-Mar-2010
Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
Grandfathered drug for high potassium has no proven benefit
For more than half a century, products containing ion exchange resins have been used in patients with dangerously high levels of potassium. However, there is no convincing evidence that these products are actually effective, according to an article appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). "We suspect that if ion exchange resins were introduced today, they would not be approved," comments Richard H. Sterns, MD (Rochester General Hospital, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, N.Y.).
Contact: Shari Leventhal
sleventhal@asn-online.org
202-416-0658
American Society of Nephrology
Public Release: 9-Mar-2010
Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology
New study questions benefits of elective removal of ovaries during hysterectomy
Removal of the ovaries (bilateral oophorectomy) while performing a hysterectomy is common practice to prevent the subsequent development of ovarian cancer. This prophylactic procedure is performed in 55 percent of all US women having a hysterectomy, or approximately 300,000 times each year. An article in the March/April issue of the Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology suggests that this procedure may do more harm than good.
Contact: Andrea Boccelli
jmigmedia@elsevier.com
215-239-3713
Elsevier Health Sciences
Eyeless hydra shed light on evolution of the eye
00:01 10 March 2010
Molecules that help jellyfish-like animals sense light suggest how similar compounds in the eyes of mammals could have evolved
Public Release: 10-Mar-2010
Neurology
Years of smoking associated with lower Parkinson's risk, not number of cigarettes per day
Researchers have new insight into the relationship between Parkinson's disease and smoking. Several studies have shown that smokers have a lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease. A new study published in the March 10, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, shows that smoking for a greater number of years may reduce the risk of the disease, but smoking a larger number of cigarettes per day may not reduce the risk.
Contact: Rachel Seroka
rseroka@aan.com
651-695-2738
American Academy of Neurology
Public Release: 10-Mar-2010
Journal of Neuroscience
UC Davis researchers demonstrate link between brain chemical, cognitive decline in schizophrenia
In one of the first such studies involving human patients with schizophrenia, researchers at UC Davis have provided evidence that deficits in a brain chemical may be responsible for some of the debilitating cognitive deficits -- poor attention, memory and problem-solving abilities -- that accompany the delusions and hallucinations that are the hallmarks of the disorder.
National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health
Contact: Phyllis Brown
phyllis.brown@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
916-734-9023
University of California - Davis - Health System
Public Release: 10-Mar-2010
New England Journal of Medicine
New methods needed to ID cardiac catheterization candidates
It's time to re-think how patients are selected for cardiac catheterization, say doctors at Duke University Medical Center, after reporting in a new study that the invasive procedure found no significant coronary artery disease in nearly 60 percent of chest pain patients with no prior heart disease.
American College of Cardiology
Contact: Debbe Geiger
Debbe.Geiger@duke.edu
919-660-9461
Duke University Medical Center
The luck of the Tasmanian devils is in their genes
IN BRIEF:  16:00 10 March 2010
The meat-eating marsupials are threatened by a deadly transmissible cancer – but the discovery of what makes some animals resistant could save them
Public Release: 10-Mar-2010
New England Journal of Medicine
Experimental drug that mimics thryoid hormone safely lowers 'bad' cholesterol
People whose "bad" cholesterol and risk of future heart disease stay too high despite cholesterol-lowering statin therapy can safely lower it by adding a drug that mimics the action of thyroid hormone.
Contact: Christen Brownlee
cbrownlee@jhmi.edu
410-955-7832
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
'Underwear Bomber' Could Not Have Blown Up Plane
An experiment shows that the plane would have withstood the impact.
Really?
The Claim: A Glass of Wine With Dinner Aids Digestion
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR
Can wine help you digest your meal?
Ancient Tribal Meeting Ground Found in Australia
The 40,000-year-old site may hold the world's southernmost traces of early human life.
Public Release: 10-Mar-2010
Panel questions 'VBAC bans,' advocates expanded delivery options for women
An independent panel convened this week by the National Institutes of Health confronted a troubling fact that pregnant women currently have limited access to clinicians and facilities able and willing to offer a trial of labor after previous cesarean delivery because of so-called VBAC bans. The panel affirmed that a trial of labor is a reasonable option for many women with a prior cesarean delivery. But many women are not offered this option.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Kelli Marciel
marcielk@od.nih.gov
301-496-4819
NIH/National Institutes of Health, Office of Disease Prevention
Animal Suicide Sheds Light on Human Behavior
Suicide is not just a human behavior -- and studying it can help us understand human suicide.
Giant meat-eating plants prefer to eat tree shrew poo
By Matt Walker Editor, Earth News
The largest meat-eating plant in the world is designed not to eat small animals, but small animal poo.
Public Release: 11-Mar-2010
These researchers really can read your mind
New evidence suggests that researchers can tell which memory of a past event a person is recalling from the pattern of their brain activity alone.
Contact: Cathleen Genova
cgenova@cell.com
617-397-2802
Cell Press
Public Release: 11-Mar-2010
Science
Water oxidation advance boosts potential for solar fuel
Emory University chemists have developed the most potent homogeneous catalyst known for water oxidation, considered a crucial component for generating clean hydrogen fuel using only water and sunlight. The breakthrough, published March 11 in Science, was made in collaboration with the Paris Institute of Molecular Chemistry. The fastest, carbon-free molecular water oxidation catalyst to date "has really upped the standard from the other known homogeneous WOCs," said Emory chemist Craig Hill, whose lab led the effort.
US Department of Energy
Contact: Beverly Clark
beverly.clark@emory.edu
404-712-8780
Emory University
Public Release: 11-Mar-2010
Pediatrics
Communication often fumbled during patient hand-offs in hospital
As shifts change in a hospital, outgoing physicians must "hand off" important information to their replacements in a brief meeting. But a new study of this hand-off process finds that the most important information is not fully conveyed in a majority of cases, even as physicians rate their communication as successful.
Contact: Robert Mitchum
robert.mitchum@uchospitals.edu
773-702-6241
University of Chicago Medical Center
Public Release: 11-Mar-2010
British Medical Journal
Obesity and alcohol act together to increase the risk of liver disease
Two studies published on bmj.com today show that obesity and alcohol act together to increase the risk of liver disease in both men and women.
Contact: Emma Dickinson
edickinson@bmjgroup.com
44-020-738-36529
BMJ-British Medical Journal
Public Release: 11-Mar-2010
New England Journal of Medicine
An end to lice: The effectiveness of a new oral treatment has been demonstrated
French medical researchers from the AP-HP (Henri Mondor Hospital and Avicenne Hospital) and Inserm (Unit 738 "Models and methods for therapeutic evaluation of chronic illnesses" and CIC 202, at Tours) have recently demonstrated the effectiveness of a new molecule in the fight against lice. Faced with the emergence of increasing resistance to conventional treatments by these parasites, this new medication represents a real therapeutic alternative which is effective in 95 percent of cases.
Contact: Priscille Rivière
presse@inserm.fr
33-014-423-6097
INSERM (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale)
English Sets High Hurdles to Learning ABCs
Given the inherent complexity of English, reading to young children is critical.
Public Release: 11-Mar-2010
Biological Psychiatry
Mother's flu during pregnancy may increase baby's risk of schizophrenia
Rhesus monkey babies born to mothers who had the flu while pregnant had smaller brains and showed other brain changes similar to those observed in human patients with schizophrenia, a study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has found.
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, UNC Conte Center for Schizophrenia Research, UNC Neurodevelopmental Disorders Research Center
Contact: Tom Hughes
tahughes@unch.unc.edu
919-966-6047
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Complete genomics finds its first diseases
17:57 11 March 2010
Whole-genome sequencing has found its first disease-causing mutations – but will it illuminate our genetic "dark matter", asks Ewen Callaway
Public Release: 11-Mar-2010
Proceedings of the Royal Society B
Why female moths are big and beautiful
In most animal species, males and females show obvious differences in body size. But how can this be, given that both sexes share the same genes governing their growth? University of Arizona entomologists studied this conundrum in moths and found clues that had been overlooked by previous efforts to explain this mystery of nature.
National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health
Contact: Daniel Stolte
stolte@email.arizona.edu
520-626-4402
University of Arizona
Gloomy octopus is 'moody' octopus
12:32 12 March 2010
The world's brainiest invertebrates can be tricked by HD images, so we can study their personalities and behaviour
Public Release: 11-Mar-2010
Proposed mission would return sample from asteroid 'time capsule'
Meet asteroid 1999 RQ36, a chunk of rock and dust about 1,900 feet in diameter that could tell us how the solar system was born, and perhaps, shed light on how life began. It also might hit us someday.
NASA
Contact: Bill Steigerwald
William.a.steigerwald@nasa.gov
301-286-5017
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Public Release: 12-Mar-2010
Oncogene
'Microtentacles' on tumor cells appear to play role in how breast cancer spreads
Researchers at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center have discovered that "microtentacles," or extensions of the plasma membrane of breast cancer cells, appear to play a key role in how cancers spread to distant locations in the body. Targeting these microtentacles, which are linked to a protein called "tau," might prove to be a new way to prevent or slow the growth of these secondary cancers, the scientists say.
NIH/National Cancer Institute, USA Medical Research and Materiel Command, Flight Attendants Medical Research Institute
Contact: Karen E. Warmkessel
kwarmkessel@umm.edu
410-328-8919
University of Maryland Medical Center
Public Release: 12-Mar-2010
CITES CoP15
Chinese medicine societies reject tiger bones ahead of CITES conference
WWF and TRAFFIC welcome a World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies statement urging its members not to use tiger bone or any other parts from endangered wildlife.
Contact: Sarah Janicke
sjanicke@wwfint.org
41-795-288-641
World Wildlife Fund
Laelaps
Your Friday Dose of Weird: Two new Cambrian critters
March 12, 2010
Star Predicted to Blast Through the Solar System
In 1.5 million years time a star called Gliese 710 has a high chance of causing mayhem.