ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines
for Thursday, October 14, 2010
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Enzyme in saliva shapes how we sense food texture; Perception and digestion of starchy foods varies from person to person (October 14, 2010) -- Creamy. Gritty. Crunchy. Slimy. Oral texture perception is a major factor contributing to each person's food preferences. Now, a new study finds that individuals' perception of starch texture is shaped by variability in the activity of an oral enzyme known as salivary amylase. ... > full story
Highly pathogenic bird flu virus can survive months on steel or glass at cooler temperatures (October 14, 2010) -- On the eve of the 2010-11 influenza flu season, scientists and engineers have identified the environmental conditions and surfaces that could enable a highly pathogenic bird flu virus to survive for prolonged periods of time -- at least two weeks and up to two months. Among them: the virus appears to thrive at cooler temperatures and low humidity. The study could lead to new strategies for preventing the flu virus from spreading. ... > full story
Hemoglobin test printed on paper (October 14, 2010) -- Scientists have developed a method of using printing technology to produce simple tests related to health, well-being and the environment. They have demonstrated the efficacy of the method by printing a hemoglobin test, i.e. manufactured paper that reveals whether a given sample contains hemoglobin. ... > full story
New sound recording device helps doctors study link between cough and reflux (October 14, 2010) -- Coughing episodes are closely related to gastroesophageal reflux symptoms in patients who experience chronic cough, irrespective of other diagnoses, according to a new study. Gastroesophageal reflux occurs when the acid contents of the stomach back up, or reflux, into the esophagus. This typically produces heartburn, a burning sensation below the sternum where your ribs come together. ... > full story
Reservoirs: A neglected source of methane emissions (October 14, 2010) -- Substantial amounts of the greenhouse gas methane are released not only from large tropical reservoirs but also from run-of-the-river reservoirs in Switzerland, especially in the summer, when water temperatures are higher. Hydropower may therefore not be quite as climate-neutral a method of generating electricity as thought. ... > full story
Over-the-counter 'natural' weight-reducing products can cause harm and may even kill, Hong Kong study warns (October 14, 2010) -- The desire for a quick-fix for obesity fuels a lucrative market in so-called natural remedies. But a study of medical records in Hong Kong revealed 66 cases where people were suspected to have been poisoned by a "natural" slimming therapy. In eight cases the people became severely ill, and in one case the person died. ... > full story
Brain's impulse control center located (October 14, 2010) -- Impulsive behavior can be improved with training and the improvement is marked by specific brain changes, according to a new study. ... > full story
Crucial link in immune development and regulation unearthed (October 14, 2010) -- Scientists have uncovered a quality-control mechanism that must take place for our immune system to subsequently effectively destroy harmful viruses and bacteria. ... > full story
Modeling Pakistan's flooding (October 14, 2010) -- New computer model software is being used to simulate Pakistan's flooding, estimate the drawdown of the floodwaters and predict how long it will take the waters to recede. ... > full story
Breast-feeding safe for women after breast cancer treatment, study finds (October 14, 2010) -- Women who have survived breast cancer should not be denied the opportunity to breast-feed their children, according to the results of a new study. ... > full story
Nectar production in Lima beans depends on light quality (October 14, 2010) -- Plants produce nectar to attract insect pollinators. Some plant species also secrete nectar to attract ants which in turn fend off herbivores. Scientists now have discovered that the production of the extrafloral nectar is light dependent. The plants were able not only to distinguish between day and night, but also to adapt their nectar secretion to current light conditions by using their special photoreceptor, the phytochrome. ... > full story
Nutrition rating enhancing front-of-package nutrition rating systems and symbols (October 14, 2010) -- Nutrition rating systems and symbols on the fronts of food packaging would be most useful to shoppers if they highlighted four nutrients of greatest concern -- calories, saturated fat, trans fat and sodium, says a new report. ... > full story
Rare melt key to ‘Ring of Fire’ (October 13, 2010) -- Scientists have discovered the explanation for why the world's explosive volcanoes are confined to bands only a few tens of kilometers wide, such as those along the Pacific 'Ring of Fire'. Most of the molten rock that comes out of these volcanoes is rich in water, but the team has shown that the volcanoes are aligned above narrow regions in the mantle where water-free melting can take place. ... > full story
Melanoma drug shrinks brain metastases in phase I/II study (October 13, 2010) -- A new drug being developed to treat potentially deadly melanoma skin cancers has shown a promising ability to shrink secondary tumors, known as metastases, in the brain in patients with advanced forms of the disease, Australian researchers report. ... > full story
Can Hungary's red sludge be made less toxic with carbon? (October 13, 2010) -- The red, metal-laden sludge that escaped a containment pond in Hungary last week could be made less toxic with the help of carbon sequestration, says a geologist who has a patent pending on the technique. The bauxite residue now covers 40 square kilometers south of the Danube River, and has caused the deaths of eight Hungarians and injured at least 150. ... > full story
Surgical technique relieves painful spine fractures in patients with metastatic cancer (October 13, 2010) -- A surgical technique appears to offer quick and effective relief for debilitating spinal fractures often suffered by patients with metastatic cancer, researchers report. ... > full story
Potential of lead-free piezoelectric ceramics (October 13, 2010) -- Scientists are using Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron facility, to discover how we can detoxify our electronic gadgets. Results reveal the potential for new artificial materials that could replace lead-based components in everyday products from inkjet printers to digital cameras. ... > full story
Consumers’ ‘herding instinct’ turns on and off, Facebook study shows (October 13, 2010) -- A new study shows that consumers have a herding instinct to follow the crowd. However, this instinct appears to switch off if the product fails to achieve a certain popularity threshold. The new study is based on an analysis of how millions of Facebook users adopted software, known as apps, to personalize their Facebook pages. ... > full story
Brain responds more to close friends, imaging study shows (October 13, 2010) -- People's brains are more responsive to friends than to strangers, even if the stranger has more in common, according to a new study. Researchers examined a brain region known to be involved in processing social information, and the results suggest that social alliances outweigh shared interests. ... > full story
Despite brain damage, working memory functions -- within limits (October 13, 2010) -- Scientists report that working memory of relational information -- where an object is located, for example -- remains intact even if key brain structures like the hippocampus are damaged. ... > full story
Silicon strategy shows promise for batteries: Lithium-ion technique for electric cars, large-capacity storage (October 13, 2010) -- A team of scientists has discovered a way to use simple silicon to radically increase the capacity of lithium-ion batteries. ... > full story
New clues on how cancer spreads (October 13, 2010) -- Researchers have dramatically advanced medicine's understanding of how cancer migrates, showing that cancer cells are accompanied by growth-enabling stromal cells when they travel in the bloodstream to new sites in the body. ... > full story
Computer 'trained' to classify pictures and videos basing on elements they contain (October 13, 2010) -- Researchers in Spain have developed a new computer technique that allows to "train" computers to interpret the visual contents of a video or picture. This advance will allow to classify automatically pictures basing on whether individuals or specific objects are present in such images. Videos can also be classified according to specific poses. ... > full story
Personality and exercise levels may be linked -- not just in humans, but other animals too (October 13, 2010) -- There may be a fundamental link between aspects of an individual's personality and their capacity to exercise or generate energy, recent research suggests. Humans are not the only animals that choose to exercise, and individuals within the same species differ in their levels of activity. ... > full story
Bizarre X-shaped intruder linked to an unseen asteroid collision (October 13, 2010) -- Astronomers have observed what happens after asteroids crash together. Using Hubble to study the aftermath of one such collision over four months, they watched a strange, comet-like debris trail slowly evolve as the collision site orbited the Sun. This research gives clues about how asteroids behave when they collide, and how the fall-out from these impacts contributes to the dust that pervades the solar system. ... > full story
Nicotine could play role in Alzheimer's disease therapy, neuroscientists discover (October 13, 2010) -- A team of neuroscientists has discovered important new information in the search for an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease. The scientists have shown that they may be able to eliminate debilitating side effects caused by a promising Alzheimer's drug by stimulating the brain's nicotine receptors. They pinpointed the Alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor as a potential therapeutic target. ... > full story
Stinkbug repellent: Progress toward first commercial repellent for East Coast's stinker (October 13, 2010) -- Help may be on the way for people on the East Coast bugged out about the invasion of stink bugs. Scientists have reported an advance in efforts to develop the first commercial repellent for stinkbugs, which are a nuisance to homeowners and a pest to some farm crops. They identified a natural substance in a fungus that infects a common weed and found it shows potential as the first stinkbug repellent. ... > full story
Successful kidney transplantation despite tissue incompatibility, German study finds (October 13, 2010) -- Donor kidneys can be successfully transplanted even if there is strong tissue incompatibility between donor and recipient. Researchers in Germany show in a study of 34 sensitized high-risk patients that the success rate in these patients was not different from the success rate of patients with a low immunological risk. ... > full story
Coral records show ocean thermocline rise with global warming (October 13, 2010) -- Researchers looking at corals in the western tropical Pacific Ocean have found records linking a profound shift in the depth of the division between warm surface water and colder, deeper water traceable to recent global warming. ... > full story
One in five children meets criteria for a mental disorder across their lifetime, national U.S. study shows (October 13, 2010) -- Mental disorders in children are often difficult to identify due to the myriad of changes that occur during the normal course of maturation. For the first time, researchers have reported on the prevalence data on a broad range of mental disorders in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents, which show that approximately one in five children in the U.S. meet the criteria for a mental disorder severe enough to disrupt their daily lives. ... > full story
Promising drug candidate reverses age-related memory loss in mice (October 13, 2010) -- Researchers report a new experimental compound that can improve memory and cognitive function in aging mice. The compound is being investigated with a view to developing a drug that could slow the natural decline in memory associated with aging. ... > full story
Microchip technology rapidly identifies compounds for regrowing nerves in live animals (October 13, 2010) -- Engineers have now used a new microchip technology to rapidly test potential drugs on tiny worms called C. elegans, which are often used in studies of the nervous system. Using the new technology, scientists rapidly performed laser surgery, delivered drugs and imaged the resulting neuron regrowth in thousands of live animals. ... > full story
Student-built dust counter breaks distance record on New Horizons mission to Pluto (October 13, 2010) -- A space dust counter designed, tested and operated by students that is flying aboard NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto now holds the record for the most distant working dust detector ever to travel through space. ... > full story
Diabetes gene linked to degeneration of enzyme involved in Alzheimer's disease onset and progression (October 13, 2010) -- Researchers have found that a gene associated with the onset of type 2 diabetes also is found at lower-than-normal levels in people with Alzheimer's disease. ... > full story
Striding towards a new dawn for electronics (October 13, 2010) -- Conductive polymers are plastic materials with high electrical conductivity that promise to revolutionize a wide range of products including TV displays, solar cells and biomedical sensors. Researchers now report how to visualize and study the process of energy transport along one single conductive polymer molecule at a time, a key step towards bringing these exciting new applications to market. ... > full story
NFL players with concussions now sidelined longer, study finds (October 13, 2010) -- NFL players with concussions now stay away from the game significantly longer than they did in the late 1990s and early 2000s, according to new research. The mean days lost with concussion increased from 1.92 days during 1996-2001 to 4.73 days during 2002-2007. ... > full story
Ancient animal urine provides insight into climate change (October 13, 2010) -- Scientists in the UK are using an unusual resource to investigate ancient climates -- prehistoric animal urine. ... > full story
Consuming vegetables linked to decreased breast cancer risk in African-American women (October 13, 2010) -- Investigators have reported that African American women who consume more vegetables are less likely to develop estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer than women with low vegetable intake. ... > full story
Climate change remains a real threat to corals (October 13, 2010) -- Hopes that coral reefs might be able to survive, and recover from, bleaching caused by climate change may have grown dimmer for certain coral species, according to new research. ... > full story
Implanting medication to treat opioid dependence appears beneficial in decreasing opioid usage (October 13, 2010) -- Helping to address the issue of medication adherence, persons with opioid dependence who had the medication buprenorphine implanted had less opioid use over 16 weeks, according to a new study. ... > full story
Planar power: Flat sodium-nickel chloride battery could improve performance, cost of energy storage (October 13, 2010) -- A redesign of sodium-nickel chloride batteries promises to overcome some of the obstacles long associated with rechargeable batteries. Replacing their typical cylindrical shape with a flat disc design allows the battery to deliver 30 percent more power at lower temperatures, according to new research. Scientists say these sodium-beta batteries could eventually be used in electricity substations to balance the generation and delivery of wind and solar power on to the grid. ... > full story
Re-evaluating the time of your life: Researcher investigates the 'subjective time trajectory' in psychological health (October 13, 2010) -- New research reveals that people's well-being and their adaptation can be ascertained by their "time trajectory" -- their concept of how they have evolved through their past, present, and anticipated future. A close study of how patients compartmentalize their life into these periods can help clinical psychologists treat them more effectively. ... > full story
Females are equal to males in math skills, large study shows (October 13, 2010) -- The mathematical skills of boys and girls, as well as men and women, are substantially equal, according to a new examination of existing studies. ... > full story
Genetic defect found to cause severe epilepsy and mental retardation (October 13, 2010) -- Scientists in Israel have detected a genetic mutation resulting in a progressive disease of severe mental retardation and epilepsy beginning at infancy. The researchers determined that the defect is associated with the production of the 21st amino acid, selenocysteine, which leads to progressive brain atrophy. ... > full story
Study of planarian hormones may aid in understanding parasitic flatworms (October 13, 2010) -- A study of peptide hormones in the brain of a seemingly primitive flatworm reveals the surprising complexity of its nervous system and opens up a new approach for combating a major parasitic disease, researchers report. ... > full story
Blocking an oncogene in liver cancer could be potential therapy option (October 13, 2010) -- Scientists have found that a synthetic molecule they designed can block activation of a gene in liver cancer cells, halting a process that allows some of those cancer cells to survive chemotherapy. Without the interference of this gene's function, certain liver cancer cells appear to be protected from the toxic effects of chemotherapy drugs. ... > full story
Human tissue, organs help scientists learn from plutonium and uranium workers (October 13, 2010) -- Tucked away in a metal sided warehouse at the Richland Airport, Washington State University researchers sift through years, even decades, of data files and human tissue samples in an attempt to track how previous nuclear workers were affected by plutonium, uranium and other nuclear-industry related elements. ... > full story
Higher education predicts better cardiovascular health outcomes in high-income countries (October 13, 2010) -- The incidence of heart disease, stroke and certain risk factors decreased as educational levels increased in high-income countries, but not in low- and middle-income countries. Among women, the most educated in low- and middle-income countries had a slight increase in the incidence of heart attack and stroke. Among all other groups, heart disease declined as education increased, with highly educated men in high-income countries showing the lowest level of disease. ... > full story
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