7-Jun-2010
Tumor virus is best predictor of throat cancer survival
A new study shows that the presence of human papilloma virus (HPV) in tumors is the most important predictor of survival for people with throat cancer. The study is the first to demonstrate that HPV in head and neck tumors accounts for better response to therapy, rather than other favorable factors that may be present. The findings suggest that tumor HPV status, smoking history and cancer stage might be used together to determine therapy.
Cologne Attracts Wild Cats and Other Animals
Jaguars, pumas and other wildlife have a nose for Calvin Klein Obsession for Men.
7-Jun-2010
The Earth and moon formed later than previously thought
The Earth and moon were created as the result of a giant collision between two planets the size of Mars and Venus. Until now it was thought to have happened when the solar system was 30 million years old or approximately 4,537 million years ago. But new research from the Niels Bohr Institute shows that the Earth and moon must have formed much later -- perhaps up to 150 million years after the formation of the solar system.
7-Jun-2010
Why does feeling low hurt?
When it comes to pain, the two competing schools of thought are that it's either "all in your head" or "all in your body." A new study led by University of Oxford researchers indicates that, instead, pain is an amalgam of the two.
Gut bacteria may contribute to autism
13:56 07 June 2010
Children with autism appear to have distinctive chemicals in their urine which may be released by bugs in the gut
Huge seas 'once existed on Mars'
7-Jun-2010
Drug that helps metastatic colon cancer of no benefit in less advanced tumors
To the surprise of researchers at Mayo Clinic who led a national clinical trial, a targeted therapy that provides benefit to patients with metastatic colon cancer has failed to help patients with less advanced, stage III cancer.
7-Jun-2010
Simple eye test measures damage from multiple sclerosis, UT Southwestern researchers find
A quick, painless eye measurement shows promise as a way to diagnose multiple sclerosis in its very early stages, and to track the effectiveness of treatments, researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a multicenter study.
Observations
New evidence for a neuronal link between insulin-related diseases and schizophrenia
8-Jun-2010
Study links long sleep duration to an increased risk of metabolic syndrome in older adults
Participants reporting a daily sleep duration of eight hours or more including naps were 15 percent more likely to have metabolic syndrome. This relationship remained unchanged after full adjustment for potential confounders. Participants who reported a short sleep duration of less than six hours initially were 14 percent more likely to have metabolic syndrome; this association disappeared after controlling for potential confounders. Participants were 29,310 people 50 years of age or older in Guangzhou, China.
Really?
The Claim: Keep Stitches Dry and Covered Up After Surgery
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR
Is a wound more likely to get infected if it gets wet?
8-Jun-2010
Under 50? Silent duo could put you at risk for a big stroke
Silent or covert strokes in young adults with first-ever ischemic stroke are associated with recurrent stroke.
8-Jun-2010
East-African human ancestors lived in hot environments, says Caltech-led team
East Africa's Turkana Basin has been a hot savanna region for at least the past 4 million years -- including the period of time during which early hominids evolved in this area -- says a team of researchers led by scientists at Caltech. These findings may shed light on the evolutionary pressures that led humans to walk upright, lose most of our body hair, develop a more slender physique, and sweat more copiously than other animals.
Why Humans Have No Fur -- Explained
The cradle of human evolution in East Africa has been scorching hot for a long time, favoring fur-free, upright humans.
Mind
Occupational Hazard: Playing the Fool
By MICHAEL W. KAHN, M.D.
When assuming a patient’s sincerity in requesting narcotic painkillers or anti-anxiety drugs, expect a certain rate of false positives.
Archaeologists given the rune around
Copenhagen Post
Snakes in mystery global decline
Snakes may be declining across the world, according to a global study that found numbers falling steeply in the last two decades.
8-Jun-2010
Healthy diet could slow or reverse early effects of Alzheimer's disease
Patients in the early to moderate stages of Alzheimer's disease could have their cognitive impairment slowed or even reversed by switching to a healthier diet.
8-Jun-2010
Arsenic hyperaccumulating ferns: How do they survive?
Although arsenic is an extremely toxic compound, some ferns accumulate 1-3 percent of their dry weight as arsenic without adverse affects. Recent research published in the Plant Cell shows that these ferns have an arsenite transporter protein that allows the fern to sequester arsenic in a biologically inactive form. This protein is also found in mosses, gymnosperms, bacteria, fungi and yeast, but not in angiosperms.
9-Jun-2010
Teen automobile crash rates are higher when school starts earlier
In 2008 the teen crash rate was about 41 percent higher in Virginia Beach, Va., where high school classes began at 7:20 a.m., than in adjacent Chesapeake, Va., where classes started more than an hour later at 8:40 a.m. There were 65.4 automobile crashes for every 1,000 teen drivers in Virginia Beach, and 46.2 crashes for every 1,000 teen drivers in Chesapeake. The two adjoining cities have similar demographics, including racial composition and per capita income.
Global biodiversity estimate revised down
09:00 09 June 2010
A new study of beetles suggests we may have overestimated how many species exist on Earth
Univ. of California Faculty May Boycott Nature Publisher
Marian the Librarian writes "Nature Publishing Group (NPG), which publishes the prestigious journal Nature along with 67 affiliated journals, has proposed a 400% increase in the price of its license to the University of California.
9-Jun-2010
New evidence that drinking coffee may reduce the risk of diabetes
Scientists are reporting new evidence that drinking coffee may help prevent diabetes and that caffeine may be the ingredient largely responsible for this effect. Their findings, among the first animal studies to demonstrate this apparent link, appear in ACS' biweekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
9-Jun-2010
Researchers report new autism genes discovered
University of Illinois at Chicago researchers are part of an international consortium reporting new autism genetic discoveries from the second phase of the Autism Genome Project.
9-Jun-2010
Polyphenols in red wine and green tea halt prostate cancer growth
In what could lead to a major advance in the treatment of prostate cancer, scientists now know exactly why polyphenols in red wine and green tea inhibit cancer growth. This new discovery, published online in the FASEB Journal, explains how antioxidants in red wine and green tea produce a combined effect to disrupt an important cell signaling pathway necessary for prostate cancer growth.
9-Jun-2010
Improving recovery from spinal cord injury
Once damaged, nerves in the spinal cord normally cannot grow back and the only drug approved for treating these injuries does not enable nerve regrowth. Publishing online this week in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine show that treating injured rat spinal cords with an enzyme, sialidase, improves nerve regrowth, motor recovery and nervous system function.
10-Jun-2010
Popular cancer drug can cause kidney damage
The widely used cancer drug bevacizumab may cause severe loss of protein from the kidney into the urine that can lead to significant kidney damage and can compromise the efficacy of cancer treatment, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology. The results suggest that physicians should monitor patients' kidney health when prescribing this angiogenesis inhibitor.
10-Jun-2010
Inexpensive drug to stop sight loss shown to be effective
An inexpensive, but unlicensed drug to help prevent severe sight loss in older people has been shown to be safe and effective, finds a study published on bmj.com today.
10-Jun-2010
Exoplanet caught on the move
For the first time, astronomers have been able to directly follow the motion of an exoplanet as it moves from one side of its host star to the other. The planet has the smallest orbit so far of all directly imaged exoplanets, lying almost as close to its parent star as Saturn is to the sun. Scientists believe that it may have formed in a similar way to the giant planets in the solar system.
Many Solar System Comets May Have Been Swiped from Other Stars
The cloud of comets in the outer solar system could include a significant contribution from the sun's former stellar neighbors
Doctor and Patient
Why Patients Aren’t Getting the Shingles Vaccine
By PAULINE W. CHEN, M.D.
Most doctors recommend immunizations against flu and pneumonia for older patients, but they do not do the same with the shingles vaccine.
 * Health Guide: Shingles »
10-Jun-2010
Diabetes may double cancer risk in women
A new study from Tel Aviv University finds that type 2 adult-onset diabetes has a surprisingly positive effect on reducing the rate of prostate cancer in men, but may double the risk of female genital and other cancers. The new study is not the first to report such a risk, but it's one of the largest to confirm these findings, and it's the first to determine the statistical differences in cancer risks for men and women.
10-Jun-2010
New model is proposed to explain absence of organic compounds on surface of Mars
The ongoing search for evidence of past or present life on Mars includes efforts to identify organic compounds such as proteins in Martian soil, but their absence to date remains a mystery. A new theory to explain what happens to these carbon-based molecules is presented in an article published in Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert Inc.
10-Jun-2010
Suspended animation protects against lethal hypothermia, study shows
How is it that some people who apparently freeze to death can be brought back to life with no long-term negative health consequences? New findings from the laboratory of Mark B. Roth, Ph.D., of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center may help explain the mechanics behind this phenomenon.
10-Jun-2010
Virus infection may trigger unusual immune cells to attack nerves in multiple sclerosis
A virus infection can incite the body to attack its own nerve tissue by activating disease-fighting cells with receptors for both virus and nerve proteins. The dual-receptor finding suggests how nerve damage might be triggered in multiple sclerosis. MS causes blindness or paralysis, depending on the affected nerves. Different viruses could influence susceptibility to MS, depending on predisposing genes, exposure to environmental factors, and a random chance that white cells were formed to recognize both a nerve protein and a pathogen.
Dingoes, like wolves, are smarter than pet dogs
Studies in the past have shown that wolves are smarter than domesticated dogs when it comes to solving spatial problems, and now new research has shown that dingoes also solve the problems well.
10-Jun-2010
Tiny insect brains capable of huge feats
Insects may have tiny brains the size of a pinhead, but the latest research from the University of Adelaide shows just how clever they really are.
World's first plastic antibody works in mice
11:07 11 June 2010
Antibodies made entirely from plastic save mice injected with deadly bee venom
Hayabusa asteroid probe faces moment of truth
16:10 11 June 2010
Once given up for dead, Hayabusa is almost back home, and may yet yield insights about Earth's formation – and its potential destruction
11-Jun-2010
New strain of bacteria discovered that could aid in oil spill, other environmental cleanup
Researchers have discovered a new strain of bacteria that can produce non-toxic, comparatively inexpensive "rhamnolipids," and effectively help degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs -- environmental pollutants that are one of the most harmful aspects of oil spills. Because of its unique characteristics, this new bacterial strain could be of considerable value in the long-term cleanup of the massive Gulf Coast oil spill, scientists say.
The Reproductive Revolution: How Women Are Changing the Planet's Future
The population bomb is being defused. It is being done without draconian measures by big government, without crackdowns on our liberties--by women making their own choices.
'Buddha remains' unveiled in east China temple
Chinese Buddhist monks and archaeologists revealed what they believed to be top part of the skull of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, Saturday morning in east China's Jiangsu Province.
Xinhuanet
A Decade Later, Human Gene Map Yields Few New Cures
By NICHOLAS WADE
The primary goal of the $3 billion Human Genome Project ― to ferret out the genetic roots of common diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s and then generate treatments ― remains largely elusive.