ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Monday, November 21, 2011

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Monday, November 21, 2011

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What bacteria don't know can hurt them (November 20, 2011) -- Bacteria enter a self-protective mode when they sense nutrients are low. Starving bacteria resist killing by nearly every antibiotic, even ones they have never been exposed to before. By keeping bacteria that have congregated into a biofilm from warning each other of nutrient shortages, scientists increased the infection-fighting effectiveness of currently available antibiotics. ... > full story

Genetic rearrangements drive 5 to 7 percent of breast cancers (November 20, 2011) -- Researchers have discovered two cancer-spurring gene rearrangements that may trigger 5 to 7 percent of all breast cancers. ... > full story

Nano-technoloogy makes medicine greener (November 20, 2011) -- Scientists in Denmark are working on a new method that will make it possible to develop drugs faster and greener. Their research promises cheaper medicine for consumers. ... > full story

Finnish researchers discover regulator of human cell activity (November 20, 2011) -- Researchers in Finland have discovered that the SHARPIN protein regulates human cell activity. ... > full story

Mechanics behind new cell cycle that fuels growth described (November 20, 2011) -- Researchers have shed light on the inner workings of the endocycle, a common cell cycle that fuels growth in plants, animals and some human tissues and is responsible for generating up to half of the Earth's biomass. ... > full story

Social media has role in delivery of healthcare but patients should proceed with caution, experts say (November 20, 2011) -- Social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube can be powerful platforms to deliver and receive healthcare information, especially for patients and caregivers who are increasingly going online to connect and share experiences with others with similar medical issues or concerns. However, experts say these sites may lack patient-centered information and can also be sources of misleading information that could potentially do more harm than good, according to the results of two separate social media-related studies unveiled today. ... > full story

Light created from a vacuum: Casimir effect observed in superconducting circuit (November 19, 2011) -- Scientists have succeeded in creating light from vacuum – observing an effect first predicted over 40 years ago. In an innovative experiment, the scientists have managed to capture some of the photons that are constantly appearing and disappearing in the vacuum. ... > full story

Protection from severe malaria explained (November 19, 2011) -- Why do people with a hereditary mutation of the red blood pigment hemoglobin (as is the case with sickle-cell anemia prevalent in Africa) not contract severe malaria? Scientists have now solved this mystery. ... > full story

Great Plains river basins threatened by pumping of aquifers (November 19, 2011) -- Suitable habitat for native fishes in many Great Plains streams has been significantly reduced by the pumping of groundwater from the High Plains aquifer – and scientists analyzing the water loss say ecological futures for these fishes are "bleak." ... > full story

New tool saves time, reduces risk of mistakes in diabetes care (November 19, 2011) -- In the fast-paced world of health care, doctors are often pressed for time during patient visits. Researchers have now developed a tool that allows doctors to view electronic information about patients' health conditions related to diabetes on a single computer screen. A new study shows that this tool, the diabetes dashboard, saves time, improves accuracy and enhances patient care. ... > full story

Corn gene boosts biofuels from switchgrass (November 19, 2011) -- Introducing a special corn gene into switchgrass was found to significantly boost the viability of the switchgrass biomass as a feedstock crop for advanced biofuels. The gene, a variant of the Corngrass1 gene, holds the switchgrass in a perpetual juvenile state, more than doubling its starch content and making it easier to convert its polysaccharides into fermentable sugars. ... > full story

Paving the way for better prevention and management of delirium (November 19, 2011) -- Important clues to the prevention and management of delirium, a condition affecting an estimated seven million hospitalized Americans, are being ignored, according to a new study. ... > full story

Birth of famous black hole: Longstanding mysteries about object called Cygnus X-1 unraveled (November 18, 2011) -- A precise distance measurement by the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) allowed astronomers to accurately calculate the mass and spin of a famous black hole, thus providing a complete description of the object. ... > full story

Unraveling how a mutation can lead to psychiatric illness (November 18, 2011) -- A new study demonstrates how DISC1 variants impair signaling pathways and disrupt brain development. ... > full story

World's most difficult chemical experiment: The struggle to discover the secret of super-heavy elements (November 18, 2011) -- In order to find the chemical properties of super-heavy elements, chemists must conduct one of the world's most demanding chemical experiments in a matter of seconds. ... > full story

'Silent' stroke risk factors for children with sickle cell anemia (November 18, 2011) -- Factors such as low hemoglobin levels, increased systolic blood pressure, and male gender are linked to a higher risk of silent cerebral infarcts, or silent strokes, in children with sickle cell anemia, according to results from a large, first-of-its-kind study. ... > full story

Nanoparticles used as additives in diesel fuels can travel from lungs to liver (November 18, 2011) -- Recent studies have demonstrated that nanoparticles of cerium oxide -- common diesel fuel additives used to increase the fuel efficiency of automobile engines -- can travel from the lungs to the liver and that this process is associated with liver damage. ... > full story

Job market for college grads braced for slow but steady growth (November 18, 2011) -- After last year's rollercoaster ride, the job market for college graduates has settled down and appears braced for slow but steady growth, according to a new study. ... > full story

New 'smart' material could help tap medical potential of tissue-penetrating light (November 18, 2011) -- Scientists are reporting development and successful initial testing of the first practical "smart" material that may supply the missing link in efforts to use in medicine a form of light that can penetrate four inches into the human body. The new polymer or plastic-like material has potential for use in diagnosing diseases and engineer new human tissues in the lab. ... > full story

How Legionnaires' bacteria proliferate, cause disease (November 18, 2011) -- Scientist have determined for the first time how the bacterium that causes Legionnaires' disease manipulates our cells to generate the amino acids it needs to grow and cause infection and inflammation in the lungs. ... > full story

Squid mystery in Mexican waters unraveled by biologist and a class of students (November 18, 2011) -- Marine biologists are studying Humboldt squid in Mexico's Sea of Cortez, where the creatures have been spawning at a much younger age and a far smaller size than normal. El Niño is apparently to blame. ... > full story

Panel of melanoma mutations opens door to new treatment possibilities (November 18, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a new genetic screening tool that will aid in the investigation of possible treatments for patients with melanoma and the unique genetic mutations that may accompany the disease, according to new research. ... > full story

Rehabilitating vacant lots improves urban health and safety (November 18, 2011) -- Greening of vacant urban land may affect the health and safety of nearby residents. In a decade-long comparison of vacant lots and improved vacant lots, greening was linked to significant reductions in gun assaults across most of Philadelphia and significant reductions in vandalism in one section of the city. Vacant lot greening was also associated with residents in certain sections of the city reporting significantly less stress and more exercise. ... > full story

Treatment for juvenile offenders shows shows positive results 22 years later (November 18, 2011) -- A researcher, developed a treatment for juvenile offenders that has become one of the most widely used evidence-based treatments in the world. Now, he has found that the treatment continues to have positive effects on former participants more than 20 years after treatment. ... > full story

Date and rate of Earth's most extreme extinction pinpointed: Results stem from largest ever examination of fossil marine species (November 18, 2011) -- Through the analysis of various types of dating techniques on well-preserved sedimentary sections from South China to Tibet, researchers determined that the mass extinction peaked about 252.28 million years ago and lasted less than 200,000 years, with most of the extinction lasting about 20,000 years. The conclusion of this study says extinctions of most marine and terrestrial life took place at the same time. ... > full story

How heart attack can lead to heart rupture (November 18, 2011) -- A new study pinpoints a single protein as the key player in the biochemical cascade that leads to cardiac rupture. The findings suggest that blocking the action of this protein, known as CaM kinase, may help prevent cardiac rupture and reduce the risk of death. ... > full story

Soybean adoption came early by many cultures, archaeologists say (November 18, 2011) -- Human domestication of soybeans is thought to have first occurred in central China some 3,000 years ago, but archaeologists now suggest that cultures in even earlier times and in other locations adopted the legume. ... > full story

Heart disease treatment: A new stent design may put patients at risk (November 18, 2011) -- Some stents that keep blood vessels open to treat heart disease are poorly designed to resist shortening, according to new research. ... > full story

Microfabrication breakthrough could set piezoelectric material applications in motion (November 18, 2011) -- Integrating a complex, single-crystal material with "giant" piezoelectric properties onto silicon, engineers and physicists can fabricate low-voltage, near-nanoscale electromechanical devices that could lead to improvements in high-resolution 3-D imaging, signal processing, communications, energy harvesting, sensing, and actuators for nanopositioning devices, among others. ... > full story

Training in 'concrete thinking' can be self-help treatment for depression, study suggests (November 18, 2011) -- Research provides the first evidence that depression can be treated by only targeting an individual's style of thinking through repeated mental exercises in an approach called cognitive bias modification. The study suggests an innovative psychological treatment called 'concreteness training' can reduce depression in just two months and could work as a self-help therapy for depression in primary care. ... > full story

NASA's TRMM satellite sees deadly tornadic thunderstorms in southeastern U.S. (November 18, 2011) -- Tornadoes are expected to accompany severe storms in the springtime in the US, but this time of year they also usually happen. When a line of severe thunderstorms associated with a cold front swept through the US southeast on Nov. 16, TRMM collected rainfall data on the dangerous storms from space. ... > full story

A new technique makes it possible to reduce by half the amount of salt in already desalted cod (November 18, 2011) -- Researchers have achieved a 50% reduction in the amount of salt in already desalted cod, thus obtaining a final product that preserves all its sensory properties and is particularly suitable for persons with hypertension. ... > full story

New class of antimalarial compounds discovered (November 17, 2011) -- Scientists have discovered a family of chemical compounds that could lead to a new generation of antimalarial drugs capable of not only alleviating symptoms but also preventing the deadly disease. ... > full story

Discovery may help fight late-stage ovarian cancer (November 17, 2011) -- A potential breakthrough in treating late-stage ovarian cancer has come from researchers who have discovered a peptide that shrinks advanced tumors and improves survival rates for this deadly but often undetected disease. ... > full story

Chemists develop compounds capable of forming heath-resistant, economic and biocompatible gels (November 17, 2011) -- Eating a yogurt or a jelly, using a pharmaceutical or cosmetic cream or shampoo are just some of the numerous everyday actions in which we use gels developed through a process of gelation. Researchers have now developed a new family of compounds that enables to develop gels more resistant to high temperatures with a higher level of biocompatibility and able to work with a variety of organic solvents, and all this with an easy synthesis, scalable and low cost. This family of compounds has significant applications in industries such as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics or food industry, among others. ... > full story

Predicting how individuals differ from their genome sequences (November 17, 2011) -- Researchers have predicted how individuals vary from the complete sequences of their genomes, using yeast as a model. The study has important implications for personalized medicine. The authors show that when we have a good understanding of the genes important for a process, it is possible to make accurate predictions about the biology of individuals. ... > full story

French digitial kitchen is a recipe for success (November 17, 2011) -- An innovative kitchen that gives step-by-step cooking instructions in French could spark a revolution in language learning in the UK. ... > full story

Future-Directed Therapy helps depression patients cultivate optimistic outlook (November 17, 2011) -- Patients with major depression do better by learning to create a more positive outlook about the future, rather than by focusing on negative thoughts about their past experiences, researchers say after developing a new treatment that helps patients do this. ... > full story

Galaxies are the ultimate recyclers, NASA's Hubble confirms (November 17, 2011) -- New observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope are expanding astronomers' understanding of the ways in which galaxies continuously recycle immense volumes of hydrogen gas and heavy elements. This process allows galaxies to build successive generations of stars stretching over billions of years. ... > full story

Molecules on branched-polymer surfaces can capture rare tumor cells in blood (November 17, 2011) -- The removal of rare tumor cells circulating in the blood might be possible with the use of biomolecules bound to dendrimers, highly branched synthetic polymers, which could efficiently sift and capture the diseased cells, according to new research. ... > full story

Research cracks puzzle of enzyme critical to food supply (November 17, 2011) -- Researchers used the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to identify a key atom inside the part of the nitrogenase enzyme where atmospheric nitrogen is converted into a form that living things can use. ... > full story

The fat-burning zone: News on burning fat (November 17, 2011) -- Obesity-related diseases are an increasing health problem. Researchers have now uncovered a central component of fat metabolism. ... > full story

Unusual liquid crystal structures on water surface (November 17, 2011) -- Some liquid crystals form monolayers on water surface. When compressed from sides, such films of monomolecular thickness can wrinkle like fabric on a flat, smooth table, pulled together with palms simultaneously from both sides. With increasing surface pressure, the wrinkles of the monolayer fold up and form subsequent layers. New mechanisms of multilayer formation are responsible for creation of liquid crystal films with a structure that has never been observed before. ... > full story

Brain study reveals how successful students overcome math anxiety (November 17, 2011) -- Using brain-imaging technology for the first time with people experiencing mathematics anxiety, scientists have gained new insights into how some students are able to overcome their fears and succeed in math. For the highly math anxious, researchers found a strong link between math success and activity in a network of brain areas in the frontal and parietal lobes involved in controlling attention and regulating negative emotional reactions. ... > full story

World's lightest material is a metal 100 times lighter than styrofoam (November 17, 2011) -- Engineers have developed the world's lightest material -- with a density of 0.9 mg/cc -- about 100 times lighter than Styrofoam. ... > full story

Cancer's sweet tooth may be its weak link (November 17, 2011) -- Researchers have discovered that cancer cells tap into a natural recycling system to obtain the energy they need to keep dividing. In a study with potential implications for cancer treatments, researchers used genetic manipulation to turn off this recycling system within the walls of cells and stop both tumor growth and metastasis (cancer spread). ... > full story

Frogs' amazing leaps due to springy tendons (November 17, 2011) -- The secret to frogs' superlative jumping lies in their tendons. Researchers, filming frogs jumping at 500 frames per second with special X-ray technology, show that the frog's tendon stretches as it readies its leap and then recoils, much like a spring, when the frog jumps. The finding could explain how other animals are exceptional leapers. ... > full story

Neurological and executive function impairment associated with breast cancer (November 17, 2011) -- Women who survive breast cancer show significant neurological impairment, and outcomes appear to be significantly poorer for those treated with chemotherapy, according to a new report. ... > full story