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Public Release: 8-Jan-2007
Archives of Neurology
Public Release: 8-Jan-2007
European Heart Journal
Researchers warn milk eliminates cardiovascular health benefits of tea
Research published online Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2007, in European Heart
Journal has found that the protective effect tea has on the
cardiovascular system is totally wiped out by adding milk. A group of
proteins in milk (caseins) interact with the tea to decrease the
concentrations of the protective flavonoids. Researchers are suggesting
that tea drinking nations who customarily add milk, such as the
British, should consider omitting milk at least some of the time.
Contact: Margaret Willson
m.willson@mwcommunications.org.uk
44-015-367-72181
European Society of Cardiology
Public Release: 8-Jan-2007
Current Biology
Trusting your instincts leads you to the right answer
A UCL (University College London) study has found that you are more
likely to perform well if you do not think too hard and instead trust
your instincts. The research, published online today in the journal
Current Biology, shows that, in some cases, instinctive snap decisions
are more reliable than decisions taken using higher-level cognitive
processes.
Gatsby Charitable Foundation
Contact: Alex Brew
a.brew@ucl.ac.uk
44-020-767-99726
Public Release: 8-Jan-2007
Diabetes
Antibody therapy prevents type 1 diabetes in mice
University of Pittsburgh
investigators have successfully prevented the onset of type 1 diabetes
in mice prone to developing the disease using an antibody against a
receptor on the surface of immune T cells. According to the
investigators, these findings, which are being published in the January
issue of the journal Diabetes, have significant implications for the
prevention of type 1 diabetes.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Jim Swyers
swyersjp@upmc.edu
412-647-3555
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Public Release: 8-Jan-2007
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Homing nanoparticles pack multiple assault on tumors
Researchers have developed nanoparticles that seek out tumors and bind
to their blood vessels, and then attract more nanoparticles to the
tumor target. Using this system they demonstrated that the homing
nanoparticle could be used to deliver a "payload" of an imaging
compound, and in the process act as a clotting agent, obstructing as
much as 20 percent of the tumor blood vessels.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Nancy Beddingfield
nbeddingfield@burnham.org
848-646-3146
Burnham Institute
Last
week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new
immunization schedules, including the first separate ones for
adolescents. The recommendations cover two new vaccines for teenagers:
one for the virus that causes cervical cancer and the other for a
bacterium that causes meningitis and other diseases.
Essay
Yet Another Worry for Those Who Believe the Glass Is Half-Empty
By RICHARD A. FRIEDMAN, M.D.
Now, it seems, pessimists may really have something to worry about: their health.
A study by researchers in the
Netherlands has found that people who are temperamentally pessimistic
are more likely to die of heart disease and other causes than those who
are by nature optimistic.
Going ape
By Claire Heald BBC News Magazine
What if humans cast aside processed
foods and saturated fats in favour of the sort of diet our ape-like
ancestors once ate? Nine volunteers gave it a go... and were glad they
did so.
Supersonic gales rage on planets
Astronomers find giant planets outside our Solar System with winds blowing at thousands of kilometres per hour.
Family found for gigantic flowers
The 200-year-old mystery of where the world's largest flower sits in the botanical family tree is finally solved.
Public Release: 9-Jan-2007
Proceedings of the Royal Society B
Big-brained birds survive better in nature
Birds with brains that are large in relation to their body size have a
lower mortality rate than those with smaller brains, according to new
research published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B:
Biological Sciences today.
Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain), Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council of Canada, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Contact: Andrew McLaughlin
a.mclaughlin@bath.ac.uk
44-012-253-86883
University of Bath
Public Release: 9-Jan-2007
Nature Immunology
Why doesn't the immune system attack the small intestine?
Answering one of the oldest questions in human physiology, researchers
at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have discovered why the body's immune
system -- perpetually on guard against foreign microbes like bacteria
-- doesn't attack tissues in the small intestine that harbor millions
of bacteria cells.
Claudia Adams Barr Program for Innovative Cancer Research at
Dana-Farber, NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney
Diseases, Institut de la Recherche Agronomique
Contact: Bill Schaller
william_schaller@dfci.harvard.edu
617-632-5357
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Public Release: 9-Jan-2007
Journal of Periodontology
Calcium important for nursing mothers' oral health
Mothers who breastfeed should be sure to have enough calcium in their
diet, or may risk bone loss around their teeth and gums, according to a
new study that appears in the January issue of the Journal of
Periodontology.
Contact: Kerry Gutshall
kerry@perio.org
312-573-3243
American Academy of Periodontology
Public Release: 9-Jan-2007
American Astronomical Society Meeting
Astrophysical Journal
Dust around nearby star has fluffiness of new-fallen 'powder' snow
A nearby star only 12 million years old is surrounded by a dusty disk
reminiscent of the disk from which the Earth and other planets formed
more than 4.5 billion years ago. Peering into this dusty disk, UC
Berkeley astronomers have found that the dust is as fluffy as powder
snow. This suggests that planetary disks condense gently into fluffy
dust grains up to the size of snowballs before coalescing into
asteroids and planets.
NASA
Contact: Robert Sanders
rsanders@berkeley.edu
510-643-6998
University of California - Berkeley
Public Release: 9-Jan-2007
Journal of Pain
UGA study finds that caffeine cuts post-workout pain by nearly 50 percent
In a study to be published in the February issue of the Journal of
Pain, a team of University of Georgia researchers finds that moderate
doses of caffeine, roughly equivalent to two cups of coffee, cut
post-workout muscle pain by up to 48 percent in a small sample of
volunteers.
Contact: Sam Fahmy
sfahmy@uga.edu
706-542-5361
University of Georgia
Public Release: 9-Jan-2007Diamonds from outer space -- Geologists discover origin of Earth's mysterious black diamonds
If indeed "a diamond is forever," the most primitive origins of Earth's
so-called black diamonds were in deep, universal time, geologists have
discovered. Black diamonds came from none other than interstellar space.
Contact: Cheryl Dybas
cdybas@nsf.gov
703-292-7734
National Science Foundation
Public Release: 10-Jan-2007
New England Journal of Medicine
Delay in use of nevirapine-based AIDS treatment can improve outcomes
Delaying the use of nevirapine-containing antiretroviral therapy (ART)
for at least six months after labor may improve treatment outcomes
among HIV-infected women in developing countries who took nevirapine
during labor to prevent their babies from becoming infected, suggests a
new study in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, led by a
researcher at Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's
Hospital, appears in the January 11, 2007, issue of the journal.
NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Fogarty
International Center, Botswana Ministry of Health, UNICEF, Boehringer
Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline
Contact: Christina Roache
croache@hsph.harvard.edu
617-432-6052
Harvard School of Public Health
Public Release: 10-Jan-2007
Nature
Radiation degrades nuclear waste-containing materials faster than expected
Minerals intended to entrap nuclear waste for hundreds of thousands of
years may be susceptible to structural breakdown within 1,400 years, a
team from the University of Cambridge and the Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory reported today (January 11) in the journal Nature.
US Department of Energy, Britain's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Contact: Bill Cannon
cannon@pnl.gov
509-375-3732
DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Public Release: 10-Jan-2007
Journal of Cell Biology
A beneficial suicide
Programed cell death protects against infections.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Arturo Zychlinsky
Zychlinsky@mpiib-berlin.mpg.de
49-302-846-0300
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Public Release: 10-Jan-2007
Psychological Science
Study gives us a new perspective on the powerful
Walking a mile in another person's shoes may be the best way to
understand the emotions, perceptions, and motivations of an individual;
however, in a recent study appearing in the December 2006 issue of
Psychological Science, it is reported that those in power are often
unable to take such a journey.
Contact: Adam Galinsky
agalinsky@kellogg.northwestern.edu
Association for Psychological Science
Public Release: 10-Jan-2007
2007 Winter Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers
High school physics enrollment hits record high
More US high school students are taking physics than ever before, and
the number of physics bachelor's degree recipients in the nation has
increased 31 percent since 2000, according to new data presented today
by the American Institute of Physics. In addition, physics bachelor's
degree recipients are eight times more likely to go on to earn any kind
of Ph.D. than those with non-physics bachelor's, the new data show.
Contact: Turner Brinton
tbrinton@aip.org
American Institute of Physics
Public Release: 10-Jan-2007
Journal of Radiation Oncology - Biology - Physics
Diabetes drug shows promise for preventing brain injury from radiation therapy
Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine are the first
to report that in animal studies, a common diabetes drug prevents the
memory and learning problems that cancer patients often experience
after whole-brain radiation treatments.
NIH/National Cancer Institute
Contact: Karen Richardson
krchrdsn@wfubmc.edu
336-716-4453
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
Public Release: 11-Jan-2007
Lancet
Resurgence and spread of syphilis in China is a rapidly increasing epidemic
The resurgence and spread in China of syphilis, an infection eliminated there from 1960 to 1980, represents a rapidly
increasing epidemic calling for urgent intervention, according to authors of a new report documenting rising infection rates.
National Institutes of Health, Fogarty-Ellison Fellowship, UNC Center for AIDS Research
Contact: Stephanie Crayton
scrayton@unch.unc.edu
919-966-2860
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Public Release: 11-Jan-2007
FSU study: Can prunes reverse bone loss after menopause?
Could a handful of nutrient-rich dried plums each day help keep the
doctor away by actually reversing bone loss in postmenopausal women
with osteoporosis or osteoarthritis? A unique clinical study under way
in the Florida State University College of Human Sciences in
Tallahassee, Fla., means to find out.
US Department of Agriculture
Contact: Bahram H. Arjmandi
barjmandi@fsu.edu
850-644-1828
Florida State University
Public Release: 11-Jan-2007
General Dentistry: Academy of General Dentistry
Pacifier use assists in reducing the incidence of SIDS
Pacifier use often attracts negative attention for potentially harming
children's oral health. There are positive effects of pacifier use,
however. In addition to calming the infant, pacifier use can also
assist in reducing the incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or
SIDS, according to a report/study that appeared in the January/February
2007 issue of General Dentistry, the Academy of General Dentistry's
clinical, peer-reviewed journal.
Contact: Stefanie Schroeder
media@agd.org
312-440-4346
Academy of General Dentistry
Public Release: 11-Jan-2007
Neuropsychologia
Canadian study shows bilingualism has protective effect in delaying onset of dementia by four years
Canadian scientists have found astonishing evidence that the lifelong
use of two languages can help delay the onset of dementia symptoms by
four years compared to people who are monolingual.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Contact: Kelly Connelly
kconnelly@baycrest.org
416-785-2432
Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care
Public Release: 11-Jan-2007
Science
Archaeologists find earliest evidence of modern humans in Eastern Europe
Vance Holliday, in the University of Arizona anthropology and
geosciences departments, analyzed the stratigraphy of sites in Russia
that date back some 45,000 years
Contact: Jeff Harrison
jeffh@email.arizona.edu
520-626-4386
University of Arizona
Public Release: 12-Jan-2007
Journal of Experimental Medicine
White blood cells in lung produce histamine seen in allergies
In a surprise finding, scientists have discovered that histamine, the
inflammatory compound released during allergic reactions that causes
runny nose, watery eyes and wheezing, can be produced in large amounts
in the lung by neutrophils, the white blood cells that are the major
component of pus.
National Institutes of Health, Diamond Family Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Research, Inc.
Contact: Steve Tokar
steve.tokar@ncire.org
415-221-4810 x5202
University of California - San FranciscoPublic Release: 12-Jan-2007
Journal of Neuroscience
The musician in the mirror
A new imaging study shows that when we learn a new action with
associated sounds, the brain quickly makes links between regions
responsible for performing the action and those associated with the
sound.
Contact: Sara Harris
sharris@sfn.org
202-962-4000
Society for Neuroscience
The hourglass figure is truly timeless
Literature
dating back to the first century AD consistently portrays narrow
women's waists as beautiful – the finding links beauty to good health
10:22 10 January 2007
Europe targets its own Moon and Mars missions
Like NASA, the European Space Agency wants to launch missions to the Moon and Mars - it will focus on digging and drilling
17:53 10 January 2007
New signposts on the path of early human migration
An
old South African skull and an ancient Russian settlement support the
idea that modern humans spread from Africa across Eurasia only 50,000
years ago
19:00 11 January 2007
Study: Fertile women dress to impress
Women dress to impress when they are
at their most fertile, US researchers said on Tuesday in a study they
say shows that signs of human ovulation may not be as mysterious as
some scientists believe.
Killer Spiders Prefer Malaria Mosquitoes
By Charles Q. Choi Special to LiveScience
A jumping spider in East Africa is
known to crave mosquitoes engorged with blood. Now scientists find the
spider prefers a particular type of them-mosquitoes infested with the
deadly malaria parasite.
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