Wind turbines make bat lungs explode
Sudden drop in bat's blood pressure near wind turbines may explain their high fatality rates
17:00 25 August 2008
Public Release: 25-Aug-2008
Evolution
How 'secondary' sex characters can drive the origin of species
The ostentatious, sometimes bizarre qualities that improve a creature's chances of finding a mate may also drive
the reproductive separation of populations and the evolution of new species, say two Indiana University Bloomington biologists.
National Science Foundation
Contact: David Bricker
brickerd@indiana.edu
812-856-9035
Indiana University
Cattle shown to align north-south
By Elizabeth Mitchell Science reporter, BBC News
Have you ever noticed that herds of grazing animals all face the same way?
Images from Google Earth have confirmed that cattle tend to align their bodies in a north-south direction.
Public Release: 25-Aug-2008
Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation
New hope for stroke patients
If a stroke patient doesn't get treatment within three hours, there's not much doctors can do to limit damage.
But now researchers report a technique that potentially could restore functions to patients weeks or even months after a stroke.
The technique involves jumpstarting the growth of nerve fibers to compensate for brain cells destroyed by the stoke.
Falk Foundation
Contact: Jim Ritter
jritter@lumc.edu
708-216-2445
Loyola University Health System
Public Release: 26-Aug-2008
Researchers find high levels of toxic metals in herbal medicine products sold online
Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine have found that one fifth of both US-manufactured and Indian-manufactured Ayurvedic medicines purchased via the Internet
contain lead, mercury or arsenic. These findings appear in the Aug. 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Contact: Michelle Roberts
michelle.roberts@bmc.org
617-638-8491
Boston University
Public Release: 26-Aug-2008
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
History of nonmelanoma skin cancer is associated with increased risk for subsequent malignancies
Individuals with a history of nonmelanoma skin cancer are at increased risk for other cancers,
according to a study published in the Aug. 26 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Contact: Liz Savage
jncimedia@oxfordjournals.org
301-841-1287
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
Pollutants cause birds to sing tainted love songs
Traces of industrial chemicals called PCBs may cause seemingly healthy male chickadees to turn off females with awful singing
12:54 26 August 2008
Public Release: 26-Aug-2008
PLoS ONE
Bone parts don't add up to conclusion of Palauan dwarfs
Misinterpreted fragments of leg bones, teeth and brow ridges found in Palau appear to be an archaeologist's undoing, according to researchers at three institutions.
They say that the so-called dwarfs of these Micronesian islands actually were modern, normal-sized hunters and gatherers.
Contact: Jim Barlow
jebarlow@uoregon.edu
541-346-3481
University of Oregon
Public Release: 26-Aug-2008
World Cancer Congress 2008
Global survey highlights need for cancer prevention campaigns to correct misbeliefs
Many people hold mistaken beliefs about what causes cancer, tending to inflate the threat from environmental factors that have relatively little impact while minimizing
the hazards of behaviors well established as cancer risk factors, according to the first global survey on the topic.
People in high-income countries were the least likely to believe that drinking alcohol increases the risk of cancer.
International Union Against Cancer
Contact: Emma Ross
rosswrite@mac.com
41-794-704-029
International Union Against Cancer
Public Release: 26-Aug-2008
Clinical Infectious Diseases
Stick with simple antibiotics for pneumonia to avoid super bugs, says researcher
Australian hospitals should avoid prescribing expensive broad-spectrum antibiotics for pneumonia to avoid the development of more drug-resistant super bugs,
according to a University of Melbourne study.
201CC Research Fund
Contact: Janine Sim-Jones
janinesj@unimelb.edu.au
61-040-089-3378
University of Melbourne
Public Release: 26-Aug-2008
PLoS One
Scientists unmask brain's hidden potential
New insights into how the brain compensates for loss of sight suggests the brain is more adaptable than previously recognized.
NIH/National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health
Contact: Bonnie Prescott
bprescot@bidmc.harvard.edu
617-667-7306
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Friend or Foe? Crows Never Forget a Face, It Seems
By MICHELLE NIJHUIS
Researchers have found that crows, renowned for their ability to flourish in human-dominated landscapes, can recognize individual human faces.
* Video: They'd Know You Anywhere
'Complexity' of Neanderthal tools
Early stone tools developed by modern humans were no more sophisticated than those used by the Neanderthals, research suggests.
Public Release: 26-Aug-2008
Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Why do eyelids sag with age? UCLA study answers mystery
Many theories have sought to explain what causes the baggy lower eyelids that come with aging,
but UCLA researchers have now found that fat expansion in the eye socket is the primary culprit.
University of California -- Los Angeles, US Public Health Service
Contact: Amy Albin
aalbin@mednet.ucla.edu
310-794-8672
University of California - Los Angeles
Really?
The Claim: Manipulating Your Neck Could Lead to a Stroke
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
Years ago neurologists noticed a strange pattern of people suffering strokes shortly after seeing chiropractors.
* Health Guide: Stroke »
Public Release: 27-Aug-2008
Neurology
Even without dementia, mental skills decline years before death
A new study shows that older people's mental skills start declining years before death, even if they don't have dementia.
The study is published in the Aug. 27, 2008, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Contact: Rachel Seroka
rseroka@aan.com
651-695-2738
American Academy of Neurology
Public Release: 27-Aug-2008
New England Journal of Medicine
Common treatment to delay labor decreases pre-term infants' risk for cerebral palsy
Pre-term infants born to mothers receiving intravenous magnesium sulfate -- a common treatment to delay labor -- are less likely to develop cerebral palsy
than are pre-term infants whose mothers do not receive it, report researchers in a large National Institutes of Health research network.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Robert Bock
bockr@mail.nih.gov
301-496-5133
NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Public Release: 27-Aug-2008
Nature
Why is Greenland covered in ice?
A fall in levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), close to that of pre-industrial times, explains the transition
from a mostly ice-free Greenland of three million years ago to the ice-covered region we see today.
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council
Contact: Cherry Lewis
Cherry.lewis@bristol.ac.uk
44-117-928-8086
University of Bristol
Public Release: 27-Aug-2008
Biology Letters
Ancient mother spawns new insight on reptile reproduction
A 75-million-year-old fossil of a pregnant turtle and a nest of fossilized eggs that were discovered in the badlands of southeastern Alberta
by scientists and staff from the University of Calgary and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology are yielding new ideas on the evolution of
egg-laying and reproduction in turtles and tortoises.
Contact: Leanne Yohemas
leanne.yohemas@ucalgary.ca
403-220-5144
University of Calgary
Public Release: 27-Aug-2008
Cocaine 'flush' could be first anti-overdose drug
By modifying a naturally occurring enzyme, chemists have created a molecule that could flush a cocaine overdose out of the body before it causes irreparable damage.
By tweaking the enzyme, the team in the US were able to speed up the natural process by creating a molecule that could break down cocaine much faster than normal.
If the enzyme works in humans, it would be the first therapy to remove the drug from a user's body.
Contact: Claire Bowles
claire.bowles@newscientist.com
44-207-611-1210
New Scientist
Dark matter and normal matter 'divorce' in cosmic clash
After two massive galaxy clusters collided, their gas slowed down but their dark matter continued on unimpeded
23:07 27 August 2008
Public Release: 27-Aug-2008
Cancer Research
Black raspberries slow cancer by altering hundreds of genes
New research strongly suggests that a mix of preventative agents, such as those found in concentrated black raspberries, may more effectively inhibit cancer development
than single agents aimed at shutting down a particular gene.
Researchers examined the effect of freeze-dried black raspberries on genes altered by a chemical carcinogen in an animal model of esophageal cancer.
NIH/National Cancer Institute
Contact: Darrell E. Ward
Darrell.Ward@osumc.edu
614-293-3737
Ohio State University
Public Release: 27-Aug-2008
European Heart Journal
Heart attack patients who stop statin risk death, say McGill researchers
Patients discontinuing statin medication following an acute myocardial infarction increase their risk of dying over the next year, say researchers at McGill University
and the McGill University Health Center. Their study was published in a recent issue of the European Heart Journal.
Contact: Mark Shainblum
mark.shainblum@mcgill.ca
514-398-2189
McGill University
How viruses short-circuit the deep sea food chain
Ocean-floor life everywhere is kept in check by viruses that infect microbes and prevent nutrients rising up the food chain
18:20 27 August 2008
Purdue, Citing Research Misconduct, Punishes Scientist
By KENNETH CHANG
An appeals committee at Purdue University has upheld findings of misconduct by Rusi P. Taleyarkhan.
Public Release: 28-Aug-2008
Queen's researchers provide solution to world's worst mass poisoning case
A solution to the world's worst case of ongoing mass poisoning, linked to rising cancer rates in Southern Asia, has been developed by researchers from Queen's University Belfast.
Contact: Lisa Mitchell
lisa.mitchell@qub.ac.uk
44-289-097-5384
Queen's University Belfast
Public Release: 28-Aug-2008
Journal of Theoretical Biology
Study says eyes evolved for X-Ray vision
The advantage of using two eyes to see the world around us has long been associated solely with our capacity to see in 3-D. Now, a new study from a scientist
at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has uncovered a truly eye-opening advantage to binocular vision: our ability to see through things.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Amber Cleveland
clevea@rpi.edu
518-276-2146
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Public Release: 28-Aug-2008
Chemistry of Materials
Ceramic material revs up microwaving
Quicker microwave meals that use less energy may soon be possible with new ceramic microwave dishes and, according to the material scientists responsible,
this same material could help with organic waste remediation.
Contact: A'ndrea Elyse Messer
aem1@psu.edu
814-865-9481
Penn State
Public Release: 28-Aug-2008
Class of diabetes drugs carries significant cardiovascular risks
A class of oral drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes may make heart failure worse, according to an editorial published online in Heart Wednesday
by two Wake Forest University School of Medicine faculty members.
Contact: Jessica Guenzel
jguenzel@wfubmc.edu
336-716-3487
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
Researchers Report Advances in Cell Conversion Technique
By NICHOLAS WADE
Biologists at Harvard have converted cells from a mouse’s pancreas into the insulin-producing cells that are destroyed in diabetes.
* Health Guide: Diabetes »
Rains revive prehistoric shrimp
Heavy summer rains have helped one of the UK's most ancient creatures to flourish in south west Scotland.
Public Release: 29-Aug-2008
Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery
National guidelines released for earwax removal
The American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Foundation will issue the first comprehensive clinical guidelines
to help health-care practitioners identify patients with cerumen (commonly referred to as earwax) impaction.
The guidelines emphasize evidence-based management of cerumen impaction by clinicians, and inform patients of the purpose of ear wax in hearing health.
Contact: Jessica Mikulski
newsroom@entnet.org
703-657-9715
American Academy of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery
'Lost towns' discovered in Amazon
The remote Amazon river basin was once home to densely populated towns and villages, Science journal reports.
Ancient Urban Network Mapped in Amazon Forests
John Roach for National Geographic News
August 28, 2008
Dozens of densely packed, pre-Columbian towns, villages, and hamlets arranged in an organized pattern have been mapped in the Brazilian Amazon, anthropologists announced today.
Public Release: 29-Aug-2008
Blood
Blood vessel cells are instructed to form tube-like structures
A research group from Uppsala University shows for the first time that a special type of "instructor" molecule is needed for blood vessel cells to organize in tubes and not in layers. to accomplish this. This might be an important step towards using stem cells to build new organs.
Contact: Kerstin Henriksson
lena.welsh@genpat.uu.se
46-703-862-688
Uppsala University
Fly's brain 'senses swat threat'
By Matt McGrath
BBC World Service science reporter
Researchers in the US say that they have solved the mystery of why flies are so hard to swat.
Public Release: 29-Aug-2008
Congress of the International Transplant Society
Study points to 1 cause of higher rates of transplanted kidney rejection in blacks
A Johns Hopkins research team reports it may have an explanation for at least some of the higher organ rejection rates seen among black -- as compared to white -- kidney transplant recipients.
Contact: Eric Vohr
evohr1@jhmi.edu
410-955-8665
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Public Release: 31-Aug-2008
Nature
Landmark study opens door to new cancer, aging treatments
Researchers at the Wistar Institute have deciphered the structure of the active region of telomerase, an enzyme that plays a major role in the development of nearly all human cancers. The landmark achievement opens the door to the creation of new, broadly effective cancer drugs, as well as anti-aging therapies. The study will be published online in Nature on Aug. 31.
Pennsylvania Department of Health Commonwealth Universal Research Enhancement Program, Ellison Medical Foundation
Contact: Abbey J. Porter
aporter@wistar.org
215-898-3943
The Wistar Institute
Public Release: 31-Aug-2008
Obstetrics and Gynecology
'Superbug' breast infections controllable in nursing mothers, UT Southwestern researchers find
Many nursing mothers who have been hospitalized for breast abscesses are afflicted with the "superbug" methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, but according to new research by UT Southwestern Medical Center physicians, conservative treatment can deal with the problem.
Contact: Aline McKenzie
aline.mckenzie@utsouthwestern.edu
214-648-3404
UT Southwestern Medical Center