EurekAlert! Public News List

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Clinical Infectious Diseases
Study reinforces safety of whooping cough vaccine for older adults
Immunizing older adults with the tetanus-diphtheria-acellular-pertussis vaccine to prevent pertussis (more commonly referred to as whooping cough) was found to be as safe as immunizing them with the tetanus and diphtheria vaccine, according to a study by Kaiser Permanente published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

PLOS Computational Biology
University of Tennessee engineering professor looks to whirligig beetle for bio-inspired robots
While many may have found the movements of whirligig beetles curious, scientists have puzzled over the apparatus behind their energy efficiency -- until now, thanks to a study performed by a team led by Mingjun Zhang, associate professor of mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Office of Naval Research

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Science
International study provides more solid measure of melting in polar ice sheets
Climatologists have reconciled their measurements of ice loss in Antarctica and Greenland over the past two decades. A second article looks at how to monitor and understand accelerating losses from the planet's two largest continental ice sheets.

National Science Foundation, NASA

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Management Science
When good service means bad behavior
Economists and professionals praise the merits of competition, as it leads to lower prices and improvements in quality. But in the automobile smog-testing industry, competition can lead to corruption and even public health problems.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

American Journal of Human Genetics
Biology behind brain development disorder
This study describes how a combination of sequencing and mouse models were used to identify the gene responsible for a brain developmental disorder seen in four patients. The study also shows that the biology uncovered in the mouse model helps to understand the symptoms in patients. The work highlights how animal models are a complementary approach for determining the causal genes and for understanding the biology behind genetic disorders.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Stem Cells Translational Medicine
New patient-friendly way to make stem cells for fight against heart disease
Scientists have today published a patient-friendly and efficient way to make stem cells out of blood, increasing the hope that scientists could one day use stem cells made from patients' own cells to treat cardiovascular disease.

British Heart Foundation, Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

BMC Ecology
How, in the animal world, a daughter avoids mating with her father: Paternal 'voice' recognition
Paternal recognition -- being able to identify males from your father's line -- is important for the avoidance of inbreeding, and one way that mammals can do this is through recognizing the calls of paternal kin. This was thought to occur only in large-brained animals with complex social groups, but a new study published today in the open access journal BMC Ecology provides evidence in a tiny, solitary primate that challenges this theory.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Journal of Ovarian Research
Understanding of the mechanisms of drug resistance to dual-agent chemotherapy in ovarian cancer
A study published today in the open-access Journal of Ovarian Research provides novel information that further adds to clinicians' understanding of the mechanisms involved in the development of resistance to dual-agent chemotherapy.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Science
Integrating science and policy to address the impacts of air pollution
An article in this week's Science magazine by Dr Stefan Reis of the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UK) and colleagues from six countries examines how science and policy address air pollution effects on human health and ecosystems, and climate change in Europe.

Natural Environment Research Council

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Cell Reports
Enzyme inhibition protects against Huntington's disease damage in 2 animal models
Treatment with a novel agent that inhibits the activity of SIRT2, an enzyme that regulates many important cellular functions, reduced neurological damage, slowed the loss of motor function and extended survival in two animal models of Huntington's disease.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Science
X-ray laser helps fight sleeping sickness
An international group of scientists working at SLAC has mapped a weak spot in the parasite that causes African sleeping sickness, pinpointing a promising new target for treating a disease that kills tens of thousands of people each year.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Musical duets lock brains as well as rhythms
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin have shown that synchronization emerges between brains when making music together, and even when musicians play different voices. Johanna Sänger and her team used electrodes to record the brain waves of guitarists while they played different voices of the same duet. The results point to brain synchronicity that cannot be explained away by similitudes in external stimulation but can be attributed to a more profound interpersonal coordination.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

PLOS Pathogens
New insights into mosquitoes' role as involuntary bioterrorists
Vanderbilt biologists have discovered mosquitoes possess a previously unknown mechanism for destroying pathogens that takes advantage of the peculiarities of the insect's circulatory system to increase its effectiveness.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

PLOS Pathogens
Study provides first direct evidence linking TB infection in cattle and local badger populations
Transmission of tuberculosis between cattle and badgers has been tracked at a local scale for the first time, using a combination of bacterial whole genome DNA sequencing and mathematical modelling. The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, highlights the potential for the use of next generation sequencing as a tool for disentangling the impact of badgers on TB outbreaks in cows at the farm level.

Wellcome Trust

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Clinical Infectious Diseases
Findings support safety of whooping cough vaccine for older adults
A new study of the safety of the tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis vaccine supports the recommendation that those 65 and older get the vaccine to protect themselves and others, particularly young babies, from pertussis. Published online in Clinical Infectious Diseases, the findings come as reported US cases of the bacterial infection, also known as whopping cough, are at the highest level since the 1950s.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Journal of Communication
Prenatal exposure to testosterone leads to verbal aggressive behavior
A new study in the Journal of Communication links verbal aggression to prenatal testosterone exposure. The lead researcher, at University at Buffalo -- The State University of New York, used the 2D:4D measure to predict verbal aggression. This study is the first to use this method to examine prenatal testosterone exposure as a determinant of a communication trait.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

American Sociological Review
Employers often more interested in hiring potential playmates than the very best candidates
Employers are often more focused on hiring someone they would like to hang out with than they are on finding the person who can best do the job, suggests a study in the December issue of the American Sociological Review.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

European Journal of Preventive Cardiology
Short-term exposure to essential oils lowers blood pressure and heart rate
The scents which permeate our health spas from aromatic essential oils may provide more benefits than just a sense of rest and well-being.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Sneak peek at early course of bladder infection caused by widespread, understudied parasite
Using standard tools of the molecular-biology trade and a new, much-improved animal model of a prevalent but poorly understood tropical parasitic disease called urogenital schistosomiasis, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers were able to obtain "snapshots" of shifting gene activity levels during the early, acute phase of what for most becomes a chronic bladder infection.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Cancer Cell
Study sheds light on how pancreatic cancer begins
Research led by scientists at the University of California, San Diego and UC San Francisco Schools of Medicine examined the tumor-initiating events leading to pancreatic cancer (also called pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma or PDA) in mice. Their work, published on line November 29 in the journal Cancer Cell, may help in the search for earlier detection methods and treatments.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

PLOS Pathogens
HCMV researchers utilize novel techniques to show preferential repair of the viral genome
A new study about human cytomegalovirus, a leading cause of birth defects, reveals how the virus co-opts cells' abilities to repair themselves. In the paper published on Nov. 29 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens, O'Dowd et al. describe their utilization of a novel technique for the simultaneous evaluation of both the viral and host genomes in an infected cell.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Science
X-rays expose blueprint for possible sleeping sickness drug
Using the world's most powerful X-ray laser, scientists have exposed a possible Achilles' heel of the sleeping sickness parasite that threatens more than 60 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. The sophisticated analysis revealed the blueprint for a molecular plug that can selectively block a vital enzyme of the parasite Trypanosoma brucei. Plugging such a tailor-made molecule into the right place of the enzyme would render it inactive, thereby killing the parasite.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

PLOS Genetics
Genome-scale study identifies hundreds of potential drug targets for Huntington's disease
Scientists seeking to develop treatments for Huntington's disease just got a roadmap that could dramatically speed their discovery process. Researchers at the Buck Institute have used RNAi technology to identify hundreds of "druggable" molecular targets linked to the toxicity associated with HD. The gene RRAS, involved in cell motility and neuronal development, was among the diverse range of modifiers identified. RRAS was revealed as a potent modulator of HD toxicity in multiple HD models.

National Institutes of Health, CHDI Foundation, Hereditary Disease Foundation

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

Journal of Health and Social Behavior
Behavior problems, not depression, linked to lower grades for depressed youths
Behavior problems, not depression, are linked to lower grades for depressed adolescents, according to a study in the December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

Public Release: 29-Nov-2012

American Sociological Review
Study shows increase in negative messages about Muslims in the media
Organizations using fear and anger to spread negative messages about Muslims have moved from the fringes of public discourse into the mainstream media since the Sept. 11 attacks, according to new research by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sociologist.


			HOME DISCLAIMER PRIVACY POLICY TERMS & CONDITIONS CONTACT US TOP Copyright ©2012 by AAAS, the science society.