7000 Years of Iranian History Turned to Bricks
Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies
Public Release: 15-Sep-2008
PNAS Early Edition
2 beta blockers found to also protect heart tissue
A newly discovered chemical pathway that helps protect heart tissue can be stimulated by two of 20 common beta-blockers,
drugs that are prescribed to millions of patients who have experienced heart failure.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Mary Jane Gore
mary.gore@duke.edu
919-660-1309
Duke University Medical Center
Oceans are 'too noisy' for whales
By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Levels of noise in the world's oceans are causing serious problems for whales, dolphins and other marine mammals, a report warns.
Public Release: 15-Sep-2008
Biophysical Journal
Study reveals how viruses collectively decide the fate of a bacterial cell
A new study suggests that bacteria-infecting viruses -- called phages -- can make collective decisions about whether to kill host cells immediately after infection
or enter a latent state to remain within the host cell. The research shows that when multiple viruses infect a cell, the overall level of viral gene expression increases,
which has a dramatic nonlinear effect on gene networks that control cell fate.
US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Science Foundation, Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Contact: Abby Vogel
avogel@gatech.edu
404-385-3364
Georgia Institute of Technology Research News
Public Release: 15-Sep-2008
Psychological Science
Cold and lonely: Does social exclusion literally feel cold?
There are numerous examples in our daily language of metaphors which make a connection between cold temperatures and emotions such as loneliness, despair and sadness. We are taught at a young age that metaphors are meant to be descriptive and are not supposed to be taken literally. However, recent studies suggest that these metaphors are more than just fancy literary devices and that there is a psychological basis for linking cold with feelings of social isolation.
Contact: Barbara Isanski
bisanski@psychologicalscience.org
202-293-9300
Association for Psychological Science
Public Release: 15-Sep-2008
Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy
Responsive local governments most attractive to young adults
Young adults staying in or coming to Pennsylvania are attracted to regions that have more units of government and they are not deterred by
the large number of local governments in the state, according to a new study.
Contact: Vicki Fong
vfong@psu.edu
814-865-9481
Penn State
Public Release: 15-Sep-2008
Journal of Consumer Research
Avoid coupon redeemers: Their stigma is contagious (unless they're attractive)
Less than 2 percent of Americans use coupons, likely because of fear of being viewed as cheap or poor. A new study demonstrates that not only do coupon users face stigmatization; people who stand near them do too.
Contact: Mary-Ann Twist
JCR@bus.wisc.edu
608-255-5582
University of Chicago Press Journals
Basics
Gut Instinct’s Surprising Role in Math
By NATALIE ANGIER
New studies suggest that two number systems, one that is innate for many animals and one that is uniquely human, may be profoundly related.
INTERACTIVE FEATURE: Testing Your Approximate Number Sense
Take a test to measure estimation skills, which may be related to an innate ability to do other kinds of math.
Public Release: 15-Sep-2008
Astrophysical Journal Letters
Immigrant Sun: Our star could be far from where it started in Milky Way
New simulations challenge a long-held belief, indicating that in galaxies similar to the Milky Way stars such as our Sun can migrate great distances.
National Science Foundation
Contact: Vince Stricherz
vinces@u.washington.edu
206-543-2580
University of Washington
Public Release: 15-Sep-2008
Cell Host & Microbe
Herpes drug inhibits HIV in patients infected with both viruses
Researchers at the US National Institutes of Health, McGill University and other institutions have discovered how a simple antiviral drug developed decades ago
suppresses HIV in patients who are also infected with herpes. Their study was published in the Sept. 11 issue of the journal Cell Host and Microbe.
Contact: Mark Shainblum
mark.shainblum@mcgill.ca
514-398-2189
McGill University
Did evolution come before life?
A crude form of natural selection may have primed the primordial soup for life, as interacting molecules formed ever better chemical replicators
08:00 15 September 2008
Public Release: 15-Sep-2008
Is re-emerging superbug the next MRSA?
Loyola physicians issue warning that Clostridium difficile, a virulent strain of an intestinal bacteria, is currently plaguing hospitals and now rivals the superbug
Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus as a top disease threat to humans.
Contact: Perry Drake
pdrake@lumc.edu
708-216-7940
Loyola University Health System
Public Release: 15-Sep-2008
Annals of Internal Medicine
Common bronchodilator linked to increased deaths
A common bronchodilator drug which has been used for more than a decade by patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has been linked to
a one-third higher risk of cardiovascular-related deaths. The drug is ipratropium. A new study from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine found that
veterans with recently diagnosed COPD using ipratropium were 34 percent more likely to die of a heart attack or of arrhythmia.
US Department of Veterans Affairs
Contact: Marla Paul
Marla-Paul@northwestern.edu
312-503-8928
Northwestern University
Astronomers image planet around Sun-like star
A new image may be the first taken of a planet orbiting a star similar to the Sun - though like previous claims, this one may be contested
21:47 15 September 2008
Public Release: 16-Sep-2008
Child Development
Move over mean girls -- boys can be socially aggressive, too
A new analysis contradicts the notion that "social" aggression, such as spreading rumors, is a female and not male form of aggression. The researchers analyzed 148 studies of social and physical aggression, encompassing 74,000 children and adolescents. Children who carry out one form of aggression (social or physical) were inclined to carry out the other form. Social aggression is related to delinquency and ADHD-type symptoms, while physical aggression is related to depression and low self-esteem.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Andrea Browning
abrowning@srcd.org
202-289-7905
Society for Research in Child Development
Public Release: 16-Sep-2008
JAMA
Higher urinary levels of commonly used chemical, BPA, linked with cardiovascular disease, diabetes
Higher levels of urinary Bisphenol A, a chemical compound commonly used in plastic packaging for food and beverages, is associated with cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities, according to a study in the Sept. 17 issue of JAMA. This study is being released early to coincide with a Food and Drug Administration hearing on BPA.
Contact: David Melzer, M.B., Ph.D.
david.melzer@pms.ac.uk
JAMA and Archives Journals
Public Release: 16-Sep-2008
Journal of Neuroscience
Sole use of impaired limb improves recovery in spinal cord injury
A new study finds that following minor spinal cord injury, rats that had to use impaired limbs showed full recovery due to increased growth of healthy nerve fibers and the formation of new nerve cell connections. Published in the Sept. 17 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, these findings help explain how physical therapy advances recovery, and support the use of rehabilitation therapies that specifically target impaired limbs in people with brain and spinal cord injuries.
Contact: Todd Bentsen
tbentsen@sfn.org
202-962-4086
Society for Neuroscience
Really?
The Claim: Changes in Weather Can Spur Heart Attacks
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
A link between the onset of cold weather and heart attacks has been hypothesized for some time.
* Health Guide: Heart Attack »
Nerves Tangle, and Back Pain Becomes a Toothache
By KATE MURPHY
Referred pain can make diagnoses difficult, but it also opens a research window for neuroscientists.
Measuring Referred Pain
Q & A
The Nicotine Blast
By C. CLAIBORNE RAY
How does nicotine, without tobacco, affect the body?
* Health Guide: Nicotine »
Public Release: 16-Sep-2008
PLoS ONE
The fastest flights in nature: High-speed spore discharge mechanisms among fungi
Microscopic coprophilous (dung-loving fungi) make our planet habitable by degrading the billions of tons of feces produced by herbivores.
But the fungi have a problem: survival depends upon the consumption of their spores by herbivores and few animals will graze on grass next to their own dung.
Evolution has overcome this obstacle by producing mechanisms of spore discharge whose elegance transforms a cow pie into a circus of
microscopic catapults, trampolines and squirt guns.
Contact: Rebecca Walton
press@plos.org
Public Library of Science
Public Release: 16-Sep-2008
PLoS ONE
Face blindness research shows emotions are key in the study of face recognition
Recognizing faces is usually an effortless process. However, a minority of people have difficulties identifying the person they are meeting or remembering people
they have met before. These problems can be dramatic, where those affected fail to recognize the face of their spouse or child or even their own face.
New research on face blindness demonstrates the importance of using naturalistic emotional faces and bodies for a better understanding of developmental face disorders.
Contact: Rebecca Walton
press@plos.org
Public Library of Science
Public Release: 16-Sep-2008
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
Pores open the door to death
Scientists settle the question as to how our immune defenses enter and attack its own cells when they fall prey to viruses and tumor cells.
Contact: Dr. Stefanie Merker
merker@neuro.mpg.de
49-898-578-3514
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Public Release: 16-Sep-2008
Nature Medicine
Why some primates, but not humans, can live with immunodeficiency viruses and not progress to AIDS
Some primate species, including sooty mangabeys, harbor simian immunodeficiency viruses but remain healthy, unlike rhesus macaques.
The immune systems of sooty mangabeys become significantly less activated during SIV infection than the immune systems of macaques.
The less vigorous immune response to SIV in mangabeys may be an effective evolutionary response to a virus that resists clearance by antiviral immune responses.
New treatment strategies that would steer the immune system away from over-activation could protect against the unintended damage caused by host immune responses.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Holly Korschun
hkorsch@emory.edu
404-727-3990
Emory University
Public Release: 16-Sep-2008
Biological Psychiatry
Inflammatory response to infection and injury may worsen dementia
Inflammation in the brain resulting from infection or injury may accelerate the progress of dementia, research funded by the Wellcome Trust suggests.
The findings, published this week in the journal Biological Psychiatry, may have implications for the treatment and care of those living with dementia.
Wellcome Trust
Contact: Craig Brierley
c.brierley@wellcome.ac.uk
44-207-611-7329
Wellcome Trust
Public Release: 16-Sep-2008
PLoS ONE
Cutting calories could limit muscle wasting in later years
A restricted-calorie diet, when started in early adulthood, seems to stymie a mitochondrial mishap that may contribute to muscle loss in aging adults,
University of Florida researchers reported recently in the journal PLoS One.
Contact: April Frawley Birdwell
afrawley@ufl.edu
352-273-5817
University of Florida
Inside story
Can good nutrition improve prisoners' behaviour?
Crows make monkeys out of chimps in mental test
New Caledonian crows seem to be able to use causal reasoning to solve problems, something not seen in any other non-human animal
00:01 17 September 2008
Public Release: 17-Sep-2008
New England Journal of Medicine
Mother's flu shot protects newborns
Newborns can be protected from seasonal flu when their mothers are vaccinated during pregnancy. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
observed a 63 percent reduction in proven influenza illness among infants born to vaccinated mothers while the number of serious respiratory illnesses to both mothers
and infants dropped by 36 percent. The study is the first to demonstrate that the inactivated influenza vaccine provides protection to both mother and newborn.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, US Agency for International Development, NPVO Research Fund, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc., Thrasher Research Fund, Aventis Pasteur,
International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bloomberg School of Public Health
Contact: Tim Parsons
tmparson@jhsph.edu
410-955-7619
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
Public Release: 17-Sep-2008
Journal of Empirical Legal Studies
Top-selling prescription drug mismarketed to women
Study provides evidence that statins in lipitor show significant benefits for men only.
Contact: Amy Molnar
journalnews@bos.blackwellpublishing.com
201-748-8844
Wiley-Blackwell
Public Release: 17-Sep-2008
Applied Physics Letters
Coating copies microscopic biological surfaces
Someday, your car might have the metallic finish of some insects or the deep black of a butterfly's wing, and the reflectors might be patterned on the nanostructure of a fly's eyes, according to Penn State researchers who have developed a method to rapidly and inexpensively copy biological surface structures.
National Science Foundation, Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia (Spain)
Contact: A'ndrea Elyse Messer
aem1@psu.edu
814-865-9481
Penn State
Public Release: 17-Sep-2008
Journal of Biological Chemistry
UNC scientists turn human skin cells into insulin-producing cells
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have transformed cells from human skin into cells that produce insulin,
the hormone used to treat diabetes. The breakthrough may one day lead to new treatments or even a cure for the millions of people affected by the disease, researchers say.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National Institutes of Health
Contact: Les Lang
llang@med.unc.edu
919-966-9366
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
DNA-Based Neanderthal Face Unveiled
National Geographic
Observatory
Permafrost May Not Thaw Even During Global Warming
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
A new study suggests that the impact of increased temperatures on permafrost may not be as bad as forecast.
Public Release: 18-Sep-2008
Cell
Hormone discovery points to benefits of 'home grown' fat
A hormone found at higher levels when the body produces its own "home grown" fat comes with considerable metabolic benefits, according to a report in the Sept. 19 issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication. The newly discovered signaling molecule is the first example of a lipid-based hormone -- most are made up of proteins -- although the researchers said they expect it will not be the last.
Contact: Cathleen Genova
cgenova@cell.com
617-397-2802
Cell Press
In pain? Take one masterpiece, three times a day
The power of art to heal emotional wounds is well known, now it seems contemplating a beautiful painting has the same effect on physical pain
11:00 18 September 2008
Public Release: 18-Sep-2008
Journal of Clinical Investigation
When healing turns to scarring: Research reveals why it happens and how to stop it
For the first time, research from the University of Western Ontario has revealed the mechanisms involved in the origin of scarring or fibrotic diseases, as well as a way to control it. The study, led by Andrew Leask of the CIHR Group in Skeletal Development and Remodeling, is published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Fibrotic diseases account for 40 percent of all deaths and health care costs in North America.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research, others
Contact: Kathy Wallis
kwallis3@uwo.ca
519-661-2111 x81136
University of Western Ontario
Public Release: 18-Sep-2008
Science
Political attitudes are predicted by physiological traits
A new paper in the journal Science, titled "Political Attitudes Are Predicted by Physiological Traits," studied adults with strong political beliefs. Those individuals with "measurably lower physical sensitivities to sudden noises and threatening visual images were more likely to support foreign aid, liberal immigration policies, pacifism and gun control, whereas individuals displaying measurably higher physiological reactions to those same stimuli were more likely to favor defense spending, capital punishment, patriotism and the Iraq War."
Contact: Franz Brotzen
franz.brotzen@rice.edu
713-348-6775
Rice University
Public Release: 18-Sep-2008
British Medical Journal
We are facing a global pandemic of antibiotic resistance, warn experts
Vital components of modern medicine such as major surgery, organ transplantation, and cancer chemotherapy will be threatened if antibiotic resistance is not tackled urgently, warn experts on bmj.com today.
Contact: Rachael Davies
rdavies@bma.org.uk
44-020-738-36529
BMJ-British Medical Journal
Public Release: 18-Sep-2008
Biogeosciences
Plants in forest emit aspirin chemical to deal with stress; discovery may help agriculture
Plants in a forest respond to stress by producing a chemical form of aspirin, scientists have discovered. The finding by NCAR opens up new avenues of research into the behavior of plants, and it has the potential to give farmers an early warning signal about crops that are failing.
National Science Foundation
Contact: David Hosansky
hosansky@ucar.edu
303-497-8611
National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Public Release: 18-Sep-2008
Environmental Science & Technology
'Buckyballs' have high potential to accumulate in living tissue
Research at Purdue University suggests synthetic carbon molecules called fullerenes, or buckyballs, have a high potential of being accumulated in animal tissue, but the molecules also appear to break down in sunlight, perhaps reducing their possible environmental dangers.
National Science Foundation, US Environmental Protection Agency
Contact: Emil Venere
venere@purdue.edu
765-494-4709
Purdue University
UCLA study of satellite imagery casts doubt on surge's success in Baghdad
By tracking the amount of light emitted by Baghdad neighborhoods at night, a team of UCLA geographers have uncovered fresh evidence that last year's troop surge in Iraq may not have worked as well as billed by the US military. Night light in embattled neighborhoods declined dramatically just before the 2007 surge and never returned, suggesting that Iraqi ethnic cleansing did the job for which the US military has claimed credit.
Contact: Meg Sullivan
msullivan@support.ucla.edu
310-825-1046
University of California - Los Angeles
Public Release: 19-Sep-2008
World Journal of Gastroenterology
How to prevent liver damage induced by anti-tuberculosis treatment?
Anti-tuberculosis treatment is known to cause liver damage in 4 percent to 11 percent of patients mandating to stop the treatment till the liver enzymes come to normal. In ~0.1 percent cases this could prove fatal. A trial conducted by botanical research group in India on Tuberculosis cases proved the efficacy of two Ayurvedic herbs taken as adjuvant, to prevent serious liver damage entirely even in high risk and immunocompromised patients and to enhance efficacy of conventional drugs on tuberculosis.
Contact: Lin-Lin Xiao
wjg@wjgnet.com
86-108-538-189-3637
World Journal of Gastroenterology
Public Release: 19-Sep-2008
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Research pushes back history of crop development 10,000 years
Researchers led by Dr. Robin Allaby of the University of Warwick' have found evidence that genetics supports the idea that the emergence of agriculture in prehistory strated 10,000 years earlier than originally thought and took much longer.
Contact: Dr. Robin Allaby
r.g.allaby@warwick.ac.uk
44-024-765-75059
University of Warwick
Plastic-munching bugs turn waste bottles into cash
Plastic bottles, normally consigned to landfill, could be digested into a more valuable material that is also biodegradable
12:34 19 September 2008
Sweet smells lead to sweet dreams
The scent of roses can help ensure pleasant dreams, but rotten eggs should be kept away from slumberland, says a study of sleeping people
16:30 21 September 2008
E.R. Patients Often Left Confused After Visits
By LAURIE TARKAN
Many emergency room patients are discharged without understanding how to care for themselves once they get home, researchers say.
Public Release: 21-Sep-2008
Nature
'Friendly' bacteria protect against type 1 diabetes, Yale researchers find
In a dramatic illustration of the potential for microbes to prevent disease, researchers at Yale University and the University of Chicago showed that mice exposed to common stomach bacteria were protected against the development of type I diabetes.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Bill Hathaway
william.hathaway@yale.edu
203-432-1322
Yale University