ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Saturday, February 4, 2012

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Saturday, February 4, 2012

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A lonely heart can make you sick: Middle aged divorced women vulnerable to contracting HIV (February 3, 2012) -- Newly divorced middle aged women are more vulnerable to contract HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, according to new research, because they tend to let their guard down with new sexual partners and avoid using protection since they are not afraid of getting pregnant. ... > full story

New drug doesn't improve disability among stroke patients, researchers find (February 3, 2012) -- A new drug that showed promise in animal studies and an early clinical trial didn't improve disability among stroke patients, according to new research. ... > full story

Clopidogrel with aspirin doesn't prevent more small strokes, may increase risk of bleeding and death, researchers report (February 3, 2012) -- The anti-blood clot regimen that adds the drug clopidogrel (Plavix) to aspirin treatment is unlikely to prevent recurrent strokes and may increase the risk of bleeding and death in patients with subcortical stroke, according to new research. ... > full story

New device performs better than old for removing blood clots, research shows (February 3, 2012) -- An experimental blood clot-removing device outperformed the FDA-approved MERCI; retriever device, according to new research. ... > full story

Preference for fatty foods may have genetic roots (February 3, 2012) -- A preference for fatty foods has a genetic basis, according to researchers, who discovered that people with certain forms of the CD36 gene may like high-fat foods more than those who have other forms of this gene. ... > full story

New procedure repairs severed nerves in minutes, restoring limb use in days or weeks (February 3, 2012) -- Scientists believe a new procedure to repair severed nerves could result in patients recovering in days or weeks, rather than months or years. The team used a cellular mechanism similar to that used by many invertebrates to repair damage to nerve axons. ... > full story

Classic portrait of a barred spiral galaxy (February 3, 2012) -- The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1073, which is found in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is a similar barred spiral, and the study of galaxies such as NGC 1073 helps astronomers learn more about our celestial home. ... > full story

Schizophrenia: When hallucinatory voices suppress real ones, new electronic application may help (February 3, 2012) -- When a patient afflicted with schizophrenia hears inner voices something is taking place inside the brain that prevents the individual from perceiving real voices. A simple electronic application may help the patient learn to shift focus. ... > full story

Surface of Mars an unlikely place for life after 600-million-year drought, say scientists (February 3, 2012) -- Mars may have been arid for more than 600 million years, making it too hostile for any life to survive on the planet’s surface, according to researchers who have been carrying out the painstaking task of analyzing individual particles of Martian soil. ... > full story

Collective action: Occupied genetic switches hold clues to cells' history (February 3, 2012) -- If you wanted to draw your family tree, you could start by searching for people who share your surname. Cells, of course, don’t have surnames, but scientists have found that genetic switches called enhancers, and the molecules that activate those switches – transcription factors – can be used in a similar way, as clues to a cell’s developmental history. The study also unveils a new model for how enhancers function. ... > full story

Breastfeeding linked to improved lung function at school-age, especially with asthmatic mothers (February 3, 2012) -- Breastfeeding is associated with improved lung function at school age, particularly in children of asthmatic mothers, according to a new study. ... > full story

New 'biopsy in a blood test' to detect cancer (February 2, 2012) -- Scientists and cancer physicians have successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of an advanced blood test for detecting and analyzing circulating tumor cells -- breakaway cells from patients' solid tumors -- from cancer patients. The findings show that the highly sensitive blood analysis provides information that may soon be comparable to that from some types of surgical biopsies. ... > full story