SciNews20080609

Public Release: 2-Jun-2008
American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting
Vaccine may double survival in patients with deadly brain tumors
A vaccine aimed at inducing immunity to the most common and deadly type of brain tumor may stave off recurrence and more than double survival in patients, according to a new study led by researchers in Duke's Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center.
Contact: Lauren Shaftel Williams
lauren.shaftel@duke.edu
919-684-4966
Duke University Medical Center
Public Release: 2-Jun-2008
Pediatrics
Waiting room gadget may prove to be a life-saver
Texting, IM, email -- most kids are comfortable using computers to communicate. It's led to an innovative idea among doctors. Children are given a touch pad and asked a series of questions about topics like sexual activity and depression. Kids hesitate to talk openly to a doctor or in front of a parent, but the study shows they are honest with the computer. That gives doctors more chances to treat proactively and even save lives.
Contact: Marti Leitch
mleitch@mediasourcetv.com
614-932-9950
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Public Release: 2-Jun-2008
American Society for Microbiology 108th General Meeting
Unravelling the mystery of the kitty litter parasite in marine mammals
Researchers at California Polytechnic State University have discovered what may be a clue to the mystery of why marine mammals around the world are succumbing to a parasite that is typically only associated with cats. The key may just be the lowly anchovy, according to research presented today at the 108th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
Contact: Jim Sliwa
jsliwa@asmusa.org
202-942-9297
American Society for Microbiology
Public Release: 2-Jun-2008
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Low vitamin D levels appear common in healthy children
Many healthy infants and toddlers may have low levels of vitamin D, and about one-third of those appear to have some evidence of reduced bone mineral content on X-rays, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Contact: James Newton
617-919-3110
JAMA and Archives Journals
Public Release: 2-Jun-2008
Journal of Clinical Investigation
MIT confirms link between inflammation, cancer
Chronic inflammation of the intestine or stomach can damage DNA, increasing the risk of cancer, MIT scientists have confirmed.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Teresa Herbert
therbert@mit.edu
617-258-5403
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Public Release: 2-Jun-2008
Antiquity
Men fighting over women? It's nothing new, suggests research
Men may usually settle it over a drunken brawl in the pub or perhaps a verbal spat -- but new evidence has shown for the first time that fighting over women in prehistoric times could have been worse than that.
Leverhulme Trust, National Science Foundation
Contact: Durham University Media Office
media.relations@dur.ac.uk
44-019-133-46075
Durham University
Public Release: 2-Jun-2008
Knowing looks: Using gaze aversion to tell when children are learning
People use eye contact in a variety of ways every minute of every day but how often do you find yourself staring into space with concentrating on an issue or problem? Psychologists now know that people who are carrying out a complex task tend to look away from anyone else who is nearby. They refer to it as "gaze aversion."
Economic and Social Research Council
Contact: Danielle Moore
pressoffice@esrc.ac.uk
01-793-413-122
Economic & Social Research Council
Public Release: 2-Jun-2008
American Journal of Forensic Science
New fingerprint breakthrough by forensic scientists
University of Leicester and Northamptonshire police research reveals new techniques for identifying prints on metal.
Contact: Dr. John Bond
01-162-523-335
University of Leicester
Smallest planet weighs just three Earths
Even smaller planets have been found around dead stars, but this is the lightest known exoplanet around a star in the prime of its life
19:17 02 June 2008
Public Release: 2-Jun-2008
Communiations of of the Association of Computer Machiner
New, flexible computers use displays with any shape
The shape of things to come in the computer world will be anything but flat, predicts Queen's University Computing professor Roel Vertegaal, who is now developing prototypes of these new "non-planar" devices in his Human Media Laboratory.
Contact: Nancy Dorrance
nancy.dorrance@queensu.ca
613-533-2869
Queen's University
Public Release: 2-Jun-2008
Nature
Physicists at CCNY determine density limit for randomly packed spherical materials
The problem of how many identical-sized spheres can be randomly packed into a container has challenged mathematicians for centuries. A team of physicists at the City College of New York has come up with a solution that could have implications for everything from processing granular materials to shipping fruit.
Contact: Ellis Simon
esimon@ccny.cuny.edu
212-650-6460
City College of New York
Public Release: 2-Jun-2008
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
Expressing feelings after trauma not necessary, research shows
Talking it out has long been considered essential to recovering from a trauma. But new research shows that expressing one's thoughts and feelings after a traumatic event is not necessary for long-term emotional and physical health, a finding that could change the way institutions devote money and resources to mental health services following collective traumas.
Contact: Laura Rico
lrico@uci.edu
949-824-9055
University of California - Irvine
Public Release: 2-Jun-2008
Psychological Science
Friends by chance?
Rather than picking our friends based on intentional choice and common values and interests, our friendships may be based on more superficial factors like proximity or group assignments. As reported in a recent issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, sitting in neighboring seats as a result of randomly assigned seat numbers when meeting for the first time led to higher ratings of friendship intensity one year later.Contact: Catherine West
cwest@psychologicalscience.org
202-293-9300
Association for Psychological Science
Public Release: 2-Jun-2008
Aggression between nursing-home residents more common than widely believed, studies find
When people hear about elder abuse in nursing homes, they usually think of staff members victimizing residents. However, research by Cornell University faculty members suggests that a more prevalent and serious problem may be aggression and violence that occurs between residents themselves.
Contact: Nicola Pytell
nwp2@cornell.edu
607-254-6236
Cornell University Communications
Public Release: 3-Jun-2008
American Society for Microbiology 108th General Meeting
A survivor in Greenland: A novel bacterial species is found trapped in 120,000-year-old ice
Scientists have discovered a new ultra-small species of bacteria that has survived for more than 120,000 years within a Greenland glacier at a depth of nearly two miles. It is among the type of ultra-small bacteria that can pass through microbiological filters, including those used to prepare ultra-purified water for dialysis. Its study may help to reveal how life, in general, can exist in a variety of extreme environments on Earth and elsewhere.
National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy, NASA
Contact: Barbara K. Kennedy
science@psu.edu
814-863-4682
Penn State
Public Release: 3-Jun-2008
JAMA
Heart failure patients miscalculate life expectancy
Many patients with heart failure -- especially younger ones and those with more severe disease -- significantly overestimate how long they going to live, say Duke University Medical Center researchers.
Contact: Michelle Gailiun
michelle.gailiun@duke.edu
919-660-1306
Duke University Medical Center
Public Release: 3-Jun-2008
American Society for Microbiology 108th General Meeting
Antibacterial wipes can still spread bacteria
A new study by a team of researchers at the Welsh School of Pharmacy, Cardiff University, Wales, UK, has found that antimicrobial-containing wipes currently used to decontaminate surfaces in hospitals can spread pathogens after first use. The research highlights concerns as to the suitability of the wipes currently being deployed and the importance of a routine surveillance program in reducing risks of infection to patients.
Contact: Jim Sliwa
jsliwa@asmusa.org
202-942-9297
American Society for Microbiology
Public Release: 3-Jun-2008
Journal of Neuroscience
Microsurgery on the brain of the fruit fly leads to new insights into irreparable nerve injuries
Every year, one million Europeans are confronted with potentially irreparable brain or spinal cord injuries resulting from traffic accidents. Because the nerves in a damaged spinal cord cannot, or cannot fully, be repaired, the patient remains (partially) paralyzed. Now, VIB scientists connected to the K.U. Leuven have become the first to successfully develop a simple model that enables the study of injured brain tissue.
FWO, IWT, EMBO Young Investigator Award, J&J-COSAT/VIB, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, K.U.Leuven, VIB
Contact: Evy Vierstraete
info@vib.be
329-244-6611
VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology)
Public Release: 3-Jun-2008
PLoS ONE
Honeybee dance breaks down cultural barrier
Asian and European honeybees can learn to understand one another's dance languages despite having evolved different forms of communication, an international research team has shown for the first time. The findings are published this week in the journal PLoS ONE.
Contact: Simon Couper
Simon.Couper@anu.edu.au
61-261-254-171
Public Library of Science
Public Release: 3-Jun-2008
PLoS ONE
Parasitoid turns its host into a bodyguard
In a recent publication in PLoS ONE, a research team offer evidence that behavioral changes of a host are beneficial to the parasite in the field. They studied a moth, the caterpillars of which can be parasitized by an insect parasitoid wasp. Once infected, subversion of the caterpillar normal behavior leads to the protection of the parasite from other predators.
Contact: Arne Janssen

janssen@science.uva.nl
Public Library of Science
Public Release: 3-Jun-2008
PLoS ONE
Agent in red wine found to keep hearts young
How, scientists wonder, do the French get away with a clean bill of heart health despite a diet loaded with saturated fats?
National Institutes of Health, DSM Nutritional Products
Contact: Tomas Prolla
taprolla@wisc.edu
608-265-5204
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Public Release: 3-Jun-2008
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Instant messaging proves useful in reducing workplace interruption
Employers seeking to decrease interruptions may want to have their workers use instant messaging software, a new study suggests. A recent study by researchers at Ohio State University and University of California, Irvine found that workers who used instant messaging on the job reported less interruption than colleagues who did not. The study challenges the widespread belief that instant messaging leads to an increase in disruption.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Kelly Garrett
Garrett.258@osu.edu
614-247-7414
Ohio State University
Public Release: 3-Jun-2008
American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Firearm suicide and homicide rates associated with level of background check
States that perform local-level background checks for firearms purchases are more effective in reducing firearm suicide and homicide rates than states that rely only on a federal-level background check, according to a new study by researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. The study is published electronically in the May 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, ahead of print.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Contact: Toranj Marphetia
toranj@mcw.edu
414-456-4744
Medical College of Wisconsin
Public Release: 3-Jun-2008
Increased incidence of melanoma found in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with methotrexate
A chronic, inflammatory disease of unknown origin, rheumatoid arthritis affects about 1 percent of adults worldwide.
Contact: Sean Wagner
swagner@wiley.com
781-388-8550
Wiley-Blackwell
Rat stowaways date human arrival in New Zealand
A handy food source and sneaky travelling companion, the rat may have helped produced a firm date for when people arrived on the islands
11:46 03 June 2008
Incan lost city looted by German businessman
Decades before its discovery by Americans in 1912, Machu Picchu was discovered and looted by a German entrepreneur
17:15 03 June 2008
Extra vitamins can counteract faulty genes
'Nutrigenomics' has been criticised for misleading consumers, but a new study could help put the field on a sounder scientific footing
17:29 03 June 2008
Well
Experts Revive Debate Over Cellphones and Cancer
By TARA PARKER-POPE
What do brain surgeons know about cellphone safety that the rest of us don’t?
Vital Signs
Nostrums: After Taser Jolt, a Regular Heartbeat Again
By ERIC NAGOURNEY
Published: June 3, 2008
The Taser is known mainly as the shock-giving device that helps police officers incapacitate suspects and, thanks to YouTube, made “Don’t Tase me, bro” a national catchphrase. But could there be a medical application in its future?
Essay
Repairing the Damage, Before Roe
By WALDO L. FIELDING, M.D.
Published: June 3, 2008
With the Supreme Court becoming more conservative, many people who support women’s right to choose an abortion fear that the 1973 decision that gave them that right, is in danger of being swept aside. We often hear about the pre-Roe “bad old days.” Few physicians today can relate to them from personal experience. I can. I am a retired gynecologist, in my mid-80s. My early formal training was spent in New York City. I saw and treated almost every complication of illegal abortion that one could conjure. The familiar symbol of illegal abortion is the infamous “coat hanger” ― which may be the symbol, but is in no way a myth.
With a Tiny Bit of Cancer, Debate on How to Proceed
By LAURA BEIL
As biopsies grow more sophisticated and sensitive, doctors worry that some women may be given test results that lead to more medical attention than necessary.
Public Release: 4-Jun-2008
Neurologically impaired mice improve after receiving human stem cells
Scientists report a dramatic success in what may be the first documented rescue of a congenital brain disorder by transplantation of human neural stem cells. The research may lead the way to new strategies for treating certain hereditary and perinatal neurological disorders.
Contact: Cathleen Genova
cgenova@cell.com
617-397-2802
Cell Press
Public Release: 4-Jun-2008
International Journal of Epidemiology
Kylie's breast cancer triggered a surge of over 30 percent in breast imaging of low-risk women
Use of mammography and breast ultrasound procedures soared by over 30 percent among women aged 25-44 in the six months following Kylie Minogue's breast cancer diagnosis, says a new study from the University of Melbourne.
Contact: Janine Sim-Jones
janinesj@unimelb.edu.au
61-040-089-3378
University of Melbourne
Public Release: 4-Jun-2008
Hairy blobs found in acidic hell
Colonies of fossilised creatures, dubbed "hairy blobs," have been discovered in one of the harshest environments on Earth. US geologists have found previously unknown fossilised blobs, believed to be evidence of life, in sediment deposited in acidic lakes around 250 million years ago. The find could be crucial for finding life on other planets, such as Mars, where the environment is strikingly similar to the acidity and salinity found in the lakes.
Contact: Claire Bowles
claire.bowles@rbi.co.uk
44-207-611-1274
New Scientist
Public Release: 4-Jun-2008
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
Regular tipple may curb risk of rheumatoid arthritis
Alcohol cuts the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis by up to 50 percent, reveals research published ahead of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
Contact: Rachael Davies
rdavies@bma.org.uk
44-020-738-36529
BMJ-British Medical Journal
Public Release: 4-Jun-2008
Psychology of Men & Masculinity
Does everyone really want to be a macho man?
Traditional attitudes of masculinity, such as physical toughness and personal sacrifice, are valued in Mexican culture. A University of Missouri researcher found that Mexican-American men, as a group, are more likely to endorse traditional 'macho man' attitudes than European-American or black men. Certain factors influenced this attitude, including socioeconomic status. The higher the SES, the greater the likihood that Mexican-American men held tightly to traditional masculine roles, even at the expense of emotional pressure.
Contact: Jennifer Faddis
Faddisj@missouri.edu
573-882-6217
University of Missouri-Columbia
Sudden growth spurt pushed the Andes up like a Popsicle
We think of mountains as slow-growing features, but a controversial theory says that processes deep in the crust can cause them to pop up in bursts
11:42 06 June 2008
Public Release: 5-Jun-2008
A new way to think about Earth's first cells
A team of researchers at Harvard University have modeled in the laboratory a primitive cell, or protocell, that is capable of building, copying and containing DNA.
Contact: Jennifer A. Grasswick
jgrasswi@nsf.gov
703-292-4972
National Science Foundation
Public Release: 5-Jun-2008
Angewandte Chemie International
Duke chemist has new way to tell right from left
A Duke University chemist has apparently solved a long-standing frustration in creating certain synthetic molecules that make up drugs, which could lead to better drugs with fewer side effects.
Duke University
Contact: Karl Leif Bates
karl.bates@duke.edu
919-681-8054
Duke University
Public Release: 5-Jun-2008
Plastic brain outsmarts experts
Can human beings rev up their intelligence quotients, or are they stuck with IQs set by their genes at birth? Until recently, nature seemed to be the clear winner over nurture.
Contact: Bobbie Mixon
bmixon@nsf.gov
703-292-8485
National Science Foundation
Hay fever vaccine needs just four shots
Conventional treatments require at least 100 jabs spread over up to five years, but the new treatment can be completed in just a month
10:00 05 June 2008
First Shoes Worn 40,000 Years Ago
By Maggie Koerth-Baker, Special to LiveScience
05 June 2008 09:02 am ET
Humans started wearing shoes about 40,000 years ago, much earlier than previously thought, new anthropological research suggests.
Public Release: 6-Jun-2008
Cheltenham Science Festival
Militant jihadists are inspired by night dreams, suggests research
The inspirational night dream, or ruya, is a fundamental, inspirational and even strategic part of the militant jihadist movement in the Middle East and elsewhere. This is the conclusion of a study of the reported dreams of many of the best-known al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders carried out by Dr. Iain Edgar a social anthropologist at Durham University.
Contact: Dionne Hamil
media.relations@dur.ac.uk
44-191-334-6075
Durham University
Public Release: 6-Jun-2008
American Diabetes Association 68th Annual Scientific Sessions
Weight gain may be healthy when it comes to type 1 diabetes
Gaining body fat may be a good thing, at least for people with type 1 diabetes, say University of Pittsburgh researchers. Their study, being presented at the 68th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association, followed 655 patients with type 1 diabetes for 20 years and found patients whose body mass index increased the most were one-third less likely to die than those who had decreases or smaller increases in BMI.
NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Contact: Clare Collins
CollCX@upmc.edu
412-647-3555
University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences
Public Release: 6-Jun-2008
Public Library of Science
Should medical researchers share their results with the volunteers in their studies?
Every year, thousands of Americans volunteer to take part in medical research studies. But what happens after their participation is over? Many might never hear what those studies revealed. Now, a new review of the issue suggests that participants' desire to know the results of studies outweighs concerns by some bioethicists about the potential negative psychological consequences of sharing some results.
University of Michigan
Contact: Kara Gavin
kegavin@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System
Public Release: 6-Jun-2008
International Journal of Wildland Fire
Mystery of infamous 'New England Dark Day' solved by 3 rings
At noon, it was black as night. It was May 19, 1780, and some people in New England thought judgment day was at hand. Accounts of that day, became known as "New England's Dark Day." The mystery of this day has been solved by researchers at the University of Missouri who say evidence from tree rings reveals massive wildfires as the likely cause.
Contact: Jennifer Faddis
FaddisJ@missouri.edu
573-882-6217
University of Missouri-Columbia
Public Release: 6-Jun-2008
Neuroscience Letters
Circadian math: 1 plus 1 doesn't always equal 2
Like a wristwatch that needs to be wound daily for accurate time-telling, the human circadian system -- the biological cycles that repeat approximately every 24 hours -- requires daily light exposure to the eye's retina to remain synchronized with the solar day. In a new study published in the June issue of Neuroscience Letters, researchers have demonstrated that when it comes to the circadian system, not all light exposure is created equal.
New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research
Contact: Amber Cleveland
clevea@rpi.edu
518-276-2146
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Hints of 'time before Big Bang'
By Chris Lintott
Co-presenter, BBC Sky At Night, St Louis, US
A team of physicists has claimed that our view of the early Universe may contain the signature of a time before the Big Bang.
Public Release: 7-Jun-2008
American Diabetes Association 68th Annual Scientific Sessions
Having heart surgery? Watch your blood sugar, especially if you're overweight or older
Nearly half of all heart surgery patients may experience blood sugar levels high enough to require temporary insulin treatment after their operation, even though they've never had diabetes, according to a new study. And a significant minority of those patients might need to take medicines for days or even weeks after they leave the hospital, to help their blood sugar levels reach normal again, the researchers show.
Contact: Kara Gavin
kegavin@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System
Acrobat's last tumble-A 4,300-year-old building in Syria reveals an unusual human sacrifice
Science News
Public Release: 8-Jun-2008
Nature Neuroscience
Origins of the brain
One of the great scientific challenges is to understand the design principles and origins of the human brain. New research has shed light on the evolutionary origins of the brain and how it evolved into the remarkably complex structure found in humans. The research suggests that it is not size alone that gives more brain power, but that, during evolution, increasingly sophisticated molecular processing of nerve impulses allowed development of animals with more complex behaviours.
Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, GSK, Edinburgh University, EMBO
Contact: Don Powell
don@sanger.ac.uk
44-012-234-96928
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Public Release: 8-Jun-2008
Teenage Cancer Trust's Fifth International Conference on Teenage and Young Adult Cancer Medicine
Teenagers and young adults with cancer can face long delays before finally being diagnosed
Three studies being presented at Teenage Cancer Trust's conference in London on Monday have shed light on the extent of delays that teenagers and young adults can face before being diagnosed with cancer, and on some of the reasons why this happens. Some face delays of up to 192 weeks and a separate press release tells of one 20-year-old who waited ten months before being diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma.
* Young patient waited ten months before being diagnosed with cancer
Contact: Emma Mason
wordmason@mac.com
44-077-112-96986
Teenage Cancer Trust
Pre-dinosaur era burrow discovered in Antarctica
A burrow found in the preserved flood plain of an ancient river may have kept the first four-legged creatures in Antarctica safe from the cold
01:15 08 June 2008
Blocking chemical lets cells feast on brain plaques
Debris-gobbling immune cells have been lured into the brains of mice to gorge on the plaques that cause Alzheimer's disease
10:00 08 June 2008
Public Release: 9-Jun-2008
American Journal of Cardiology
Study finds Chinese food good for your heart
A clinical study on patients who have suffered a heart attack found that a partially purified extract of Chinese red yeast rice, Xuezhikang, reduced the risk of repeat heart attacks by 45 percent, revascularization (bypass surgery/angioplasty), cardiovascular mortality and total mortality by one-third and cancer mortality by two-thirds. The multicenter, randomized, double-blind study, was conducted on almost 5,000 patients in the People's Republic of China.
Beijing Peking University, WBL Biotech Co. Ltd
Contact: Rick Cushman
richard.cushman@jefferson.edu
215-955-2240
Thomas Jefferson University
Military Supercomputer Sets Record
By JOHN MARKOFF
SAN FRANCISCO ― An American military supercomputer, assembled from components originally designed for video game machines, has reached a long-sought-after computing milestone by processing more than 1.026 quadrillion calculations per second.