EurekAlert! Public News List

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Nature
Research discovery could revolutionize semiconductor manufacture
A completely new method of manufacturing the smallest structures in electronics could make their manufacture thousands of times quicker, allowing for cheaper semiconductors. The findings have been published in the latest issue of Nature. Instead of starting from a silicon wafer or other substrate, as is usual today, researchers have made it possible for the structures to grow from freely suspended nanoparticles of gold in a flowing gas.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Implantable silk optics multi-task in the body
Tufts University School of Engineering researchers have demonstrated silk-based implantable optics that offer significant improvement in tissue imaging while simultaneously enabling photo thermal therapy, administering drugs and monitoring drug delivery. The devices also lend themselves to a variety of other biomedical functions. Biodegradable and biocompatible, these tiny mirror-like devices dissolve harmlessly at predetermined rates and require no surgery to remove them.

US Army Research Laboratory, US Army Research Office, and others

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Radiology
Experts recommend closer scrutiny of radiation exposure from CT scans
Amid increasing fear of overexposure to radiation from CT scans, a panel of experts has recommended more research on the health effects of medical imaging and ways to reduce unnecessary CT tests, as well as industry standardization of CT machines.

University of California

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Double duty: Immune system regulator found to protect brain from effects of stroke
A small molecule known to regulate white blood cells has a surprising second role in protecting brain cells from the deleterious effects of stroke, Johns Hopkins researchers report. The molecule, microRNA-223, affects how cells respond to the temporary loss of blood supply brought on by stroke -- and thus the cells' likelihood of suffering permanent damage.

NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse, Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Journal of Lipid Research
Analysis of conflicting fish oil studies finds that omega-3 fatty acids still matter
A new analysis helps to sort through conflicting findings from literally hundreds of studies on use of omega-3 fatty acids for heart disease. It concludes that they still matter; they do work; and that modern therapies for cardiovascular disease help to mask the benefits omega-3 consumption might otherwise provide.

US Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Nature
USDA scientists and cooperators sequence the wheat genome in breakthrough for global food security
US Department of Agriculture scientists working as part of an international team have completed a "shotgun sequencing" of the wheat genome, a paper published in the journal Nature reported today. The achievement is expected to increase wheat yields, help feed the world and speed up development of wheat varieties with enhanced nutritional value.

US Department of Agriculture

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Ecology
UF researcher tests powerful new tool to advance ecology, conservation
A new University of Florida study shows ecologists may have been missing crucial information from animal bones for more than 150 years.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics
Math detects contamination in water distribution networks
A paper published earlier this month in the SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics considers the identification of contaminants in a water distribution network as an optimal control problem within a networked system.

German Research Foundation

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

PLOS ONE
Pitt research sheds new light on virus associated with developmental delays and deafness
A new study published online in PLOS ONE reveals that primitive human stem cells are resistant to human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), one of the leading prenatal causes of congenital intellectual disability, deafness and deformities worldwide. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that as stem cells and other primitive cells mature into neurons, they become more susceptible to HCMV, which could allow them to find effective treatments for the virus and to prevent its potentially devastating consequences.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Mexican banking data reveal cities and villages that borrow more have a better quality of life
Mexican cities and villages where credit exceeds savings deposits offer a higher quality of life and a more educated citizenry, according to 12 years of financial data released by Mexico's National Banking and Securities Commission. The research was funded by the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty at the University of Chicago. The data provide a detailed look at the spending and saving habits of Mexicans for the past decade.

Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Nature
Bread wheat's large and complex genome is revealed
An international team of scientists, including CSHL Professor W. Richard McCombie's group and others from the USA, UK, and Germany, has completed the first comprehensive analysis of the bread wheat genome. The study, published this month in Nature, opens up a valuable data resource to learn more about this important crop and improve wheat agriculture through gene discovery.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Astrophysical Journal Letters
Record-setting X-ray jet discovered
A jet of X-rays from a supermassive black hole 12.4 billion light years from Earth has been detected by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This is the most distant X-ray jet ever observed and gives astronomers a glimpse into the explosive activity associated with the growth of supermassive black holes in the early universe.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Diabetes
Joslin researchers increase understanding of genetic risk factor for type 1 diabetes
Researchers led by Stephan Kissler, Ph.D., have demonstrated how a genetic variant associated with type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases influences susceptibility to autoimmunity.

JDRF, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Lancet Oncology
Researchers report first success of targeted therapy in most common non-small cell lung cancer
A new study by an international team of investigators led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists is the first to demonstrate that chemotherapy and a new, targeted therapy work better in combination than chemotherapy alone in treating patients with the most common genetic subtype of lung cancer.

AstraZeneca

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

2012 Quality Care Symposium
Studies from 2012 Quality Care Symposium highlight findings in improving quality of cancer care
Five additional studies to be presented at the 2012 Quality Care Symposium provide insight on how oncology practices can improve the quality of care they provide. The Symposium will take place Nov. 30 - Dec. 1, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

PLOS ONE
Elk more concerned by human behavior than their natural predators
University of Alberta researchers discovered that elk are more frequently and more easily disturbed by human behavior such as ATV drivers than by their natural predators like bears and wolves.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
College students more eager for marriage than their parents
A national study found that college students think 25 years old is the "right age" to get married, while a majority of parents feel 25 is still a little too soon. So it's no coincidence that when Justin Bieber said he'd like to wed by 25, Oprah Winfrey urged him to wait longer in an interview aired Sunday.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Nature
Major breakthrough in deciphering bread wheat's genetic code
Achievement expected to increase wheat yields sustainably in the face of climate change, help feed a growing population and speed up development of wheat varieties with enhanced nutritional value. UK, German and US scientists decipher complex genetic code to create new tools for breeders and researchers across the world.

BBSRC

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Journal of Behavioral Addictions
Cell phone addiction similar to compulsive buying and credit card misuse, according to Baylor study
Cell phone and instant messaging addictions are driven by materialism and impulsiveness and can be compared to consumption pathologies like compulsive buying and credit card misuse, according to a Baylor University study in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Fracking in Michigan: U-M researchers study potential impact on health, environment, economy
University of Michigan researchers are conducting a detailed study of the potential environmental and societal effects of hydraulic fracturing, the controversial natural gas drilling process known as fracking.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Journal of Biological Chemistry
Scripps Florida scientists uncover a novel cooperative effort to stop cancer spread
Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have uncovered a group of what have been considered relatively minor regulators in the body that band together to suppress the spread of cancer from its primary site.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Global Change Biology
New study shows how climate change could affect entire forest ecosystems
The fog comes in, and a drop of water forms on a pine needle, rolls down the needle, and falls to the forest floor. The process is repeated over and over, on each pine needle of every tree in a forest of Bishop pines on Santa Cruz Island, off the coast of Santa Barbara. That fog drip helps the entire forest ecosystem stay alive.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Babies born to mothers from the Philippines significantly smaller than those of Canadian-born women
Babies born in Ontario to mothers from the Philippines have significantly lower birth weights than those whose mothers were born in Canada or elsewhere in East Asia and are twice as likely to be classified as small for their gestational age, a new study has found.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
University of Cincinnati leads first trial on steroid and CNI withdrawal post-transplant
The University of Cincinnati will lead a $5.2 million national trial studying removal of both corticosteroids and common immunosuppression treatments from the post-transplant drug regimen for kidney transplant patients. The Belatacept Early Steroid withdrawal Trial seeks to determine if a belatacept-based regimen for post-transplant patients can prevent organ rejection without the harmful side effects posed by corticosteroids and calcineurin inhibitor immunosuppressants.

Bristol Myers Squibb

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Nature Neuroscience
Changes in nerve cells may contribute to the development of mental illness
Reduced production of myelin, a type of protective nerve fiber that is lost in diseases like multiple sclerosis, may also play a role in the development of mental illness, according to researchers at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.


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