- 05-05-2008 - Top Science News Stories from Firstscience.com

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- April 30, 2008
5 May 2008
Scientists report that eating chicken, vegetables or fish, such as the swordfish above, instead of red meat for just one meal per week does more to help fight climate change... Click here for more...

New Clorox disinfectant is EPA registered to kill both known types of MRSA
5 May 2008
Clorox Pro Quaternary All-Purpose Disinfectant Cleaner offers a 1-step germ-killing solution for professionals OAKLAND, Calif., May 5, 2008 – While MRSA has been an issue in healthcare settings for years, CA-MRSA outbreaks in the...

An MUHC team evaluates a new saliva-based HIV test to speed up detection
5 May 2008
Rapid testing is crucial to prevent mother to child HIV transmission in rural India This release is available in French. Montreal, 30 April 2008 - The usual waiting period for the results of a HIV test can seem like an eternity, especially in...

Howe School conference: The Rebirth of Location-Based Services -- The Next Great Idea, May 12
5 May 2008
Expo will be presented jointly by Stevens and Kaufman Brothers HOBOKEN, N.J. -- The Howe School of Technology Management at Stevens Institute of Technology and the investment bank of Kaufman Brothers will host the May 12 conference, "The...

ESA contributes to ocean carbon cycle research
5 May 2008
A GlobColor chlorophyll product showing the distribution of phytoplankton in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Click here for more information. The Earth’s oceans play a vital role in the carbon cycle,...

A gentle touch for better control, a quantum mechanical con, and milestone PRL papers
5 May 2008
News from the American Physical Society The Particle Whisperers G. Volpe, S. Perrone, J. M. Rubi, and D. Petrov Physical Review E (forthcoming) As many parents know, it's often easier to keep your kids under control by exerting less...

AACR CEO receives Distinguished Public Service Award
5 May 2008
George Washington Medical Center's Cancer Institute honors Margaret Foti for leadership in the fight against cancer PHILADELPHIA – American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Chief Executive Officer Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.)...

New disaster preparedness strategy announced
5 May 2008
New disaster proposal could legally protect physicians In an unprecedented initiative, US and Canadian experts have developed a comprehensive framework to optimize and manage critical care resources during times of pandemic outbreaks or other...

Combined physical and genetic map finds cancer's 'ignition key'
5 May 2008
M. D. Anderson-led team's whole-organ genomic survey depicts journey from normal to malignant cell HOUSTON ¯ Whole-organ maps that superimpose genetic information over the terrain of cancerous bladders chart the molecular journey from...

Unmanned aircraft to study Southern California smog and its consequences
5 May 2008
Long-term survey will profile pollutants to determine their origination Technicians prepare an autonomous unmanned aircraft for launch at Edwards Air Force Base. The The Scripps-led California AUAV Air Pollution Profiling Study...

There's a hole in my -- and in the data as well!
5 May 2008
SDSC researchers use cyberinfrastructure to standardize water data collections Like the popular children’s song “There’s a Hole in My Bucket,” in which Liza and Henry try to patch a leaking pail, researchers with the San...

Howe School conference: 'The Rebirth of Location-Based Services -- The Next Great Idea,' May 12
5 May 2008
Expo will be presented jointly by Stevens and Kaufman Brothers HOBOKEN, N.J. -- The Howe School of Technology Management at Stevens Institute of Technology and the investment bank of Kaufman Brothers will host the May 12 conference, "The...

Trouble in paradise: Warming a greater danger to tropical species
5 May 2008
This leaf beetle, which lives in the cloud forest on the east slope of the Andes Mountains in Ecuador, is from the family Chrysomelidae. Climate change could have a much... Click here for more information. Polar...

Mental disorders in parents linked to autism in children
5 May 2008
CHAPEL HILL – Parents of children with autism were roughly twice as likely to have been hospitalized for a mental disorder, such as schizophrenia, than parents of other children, according to an analysis of Swedish birth and hospital...

Phase 3 data: Anti-RSV antibody to be presented at Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting
5 May 2008
In clinical trial, motavizumab reduced hospitalizations due to respiratory syncytial virus by 83 percent HONOLULU, HI, May 4, 2008 – MedImmune today announced that researchers are currently presenting results from a MedImmune-sponsored...

Phase 3 data Re: Anti-RSV antibody to be presented at Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting
5 May 2008
In clinical trial, motavizumab reduced hospitalizations due to respiratory syncytial virus by 83 percent HONOLULU, HI, May 4, 2008 – MedImmune today announced that researchers are currently presenting results from a MedImmune-sponsored...

Iron supplements might harm infants who have enough
5 May 2008
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---A new study suggests that extra iron for infants who don't need it might delay development -- results that fuel the debate over optimal iron supplement levels and could have huge implications for the baby formula and food...

Scientists identify 'gatekeepers' of breast cancer transition to invasive disease
5 May 2008
Scientists have made a significant discovery that clarifies a previously poorly understood key event in the progression of breast cancer. The research, published by Cell Press in the May issue of the journal Cancer Cell, highlights the...

65-million-year-old asteroid impact triggered a global hail of carbon beads
5 May 2008
Carbon cenospheres are tiny, carbon-rich particles that form when coal and heavy fuel are heated intensely. Scientists have now learned that cenospheres can form in the wake of asteroid impacts,... Click here for more...

'Deaf by God' tried in Old Bailey records
5 May 2008
Deaf people on trial were granted the right to an interpreter as early as 1725, according to Old Bailey records examined by UCL (University College London) scientists. The use of family and friends to interpret court proceedings later switched...

New agent strikes at respiratory syncytial virus replication
5 May 2008
GALVESTON, Texas — University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have achieved promising results with a potential new weapon against respiratory syncytial virus, the most common cause of infant hospitalization in the United...

More efficient fuel-cells, thanks to a new catalyst
5 May 2008
This release is available in Spanish. Over the past decades climate change and its consequences for life on our planet have given rise to a growing scientific interest in the development of alternative energies. The fossil fuels that...

A study reveals how cells communicate to activate the cell division machinery
5 May 2008
The finding made in the fruit fly may provide clues to address problems such as the proliferation of malignant cells and tumor growth in humans This release is available in Spanish. A study performed by researchers at the Institute for...

Study shows physician judgement important in reducing RSV-related hospitalizations
5 May 2008
Retrospective chart review in 10 geographic regions throughout the United States presented at Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting HONOLULU, HI, May 5, 2008 – MedImmune announced today that the company presented results from a...

Hasbro Children's Hospital presents at 2008 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting
5 May 2008
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Several physicians from Hasbro Children’s Hospital presented research on an assortment of pediatric topics at this year’s Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) meeting in Honolulu from May 3 – 6. The...

Cells lining milk ducts hold key to spread of common form of breast cancer
5 May 2008
BOSTON--When a form of cancer that begins in the milk ducts of the breast invades neighboring tissue to spread to other parts of the body, the cause lies not in the tumor cells themselves but in a group of abnormal surrounding cells that cause...

EGFR protects cancer cells from starvation via a kinase-independent mechanism
5 May 2008
Scientists have uncovered a previously unrealized mechanism by which the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a tyrosine kinase, promotes survival of cancer cells through a kinase-independent mechanism. The research, published by Cell...

News briefs: May issue of the journal Chest
5 May 2008
LATEST REVIEW SUGGESTS LABAs ARE SAFE AND EFFECTIVE FOR COPD Previous research has linked the use of long-acting β2-agonists (LABA) to increased risk for adverse events or respiratory-related death in patients with stable, moderate to...

New SCHIP enrollees have unmet health care needs
5 May 2008
Waiting period would negatively affect health status of enrollees Even with prior private health insurance, patients enrolling in the state children’s health insurance program (SCHIP) had unmet health care needs. Instituting a waiting...

Genes and the environment contribute differently to drinking among young adolescents
5 May 2008
Genes and the environment contribute differently to drinking among young adolescents A 2001/2002 report by the World Health Organization found that, among young people in western countries who began drinking before 16 years of age, the...

Global warming will negatively impact tropical species
5 May 2008
Global warming is likely to reduce the health of tropical species, scientists from UCLA and the University of Washington report May 6 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. At the same time, a little bit of warming may actually...

Alcohol-outlet density and violence are clearly linked over time
5 May 2008
Alcohol-outlet density and violence are clearly linked over time A new Australian study examines the relationship between alcohol-outlet density and violence over time. All three types of outlets examined – hotel pubs, bars and...

Fungi have a hand in depleted uranium's environmental fate
5 May 2008
Fungi may have an important role to play in the fate of potentially dangerous depleted uranium left in the environment after recent war campaigns, according to a new report in the May 6th issue of Current Biology, a publication of Cell...

Research program focuses on genetic mutations and cancer risk
5 May 2008
PITTSBURGH, May 5 – The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) today announced the establishment of the Frieda G. and Saul F. Shapira BRCA Cancer Research Program. BRCA 1 and 2 are two genes that, when mutated, dramatically...

The tachykinin receptor 3 gene has been linked to alcohol and cocaine dependence
5 May 2008
The tachykinin receptor 3 gene has been linked to alcohol and cocaine dependence The search for genes associated with alcohol dependence (AD) has recently been extended to the tachykinin receptor 3 gene (TACR3), located within a broad...

A digital haven for terrorists on our own shores?
5 May 2008
Prof. Niv Ahituv. Click here for more information. If you use one of America’s top Internet service providers, you may share server space with an organization that enables worldwide terrorism, says a new study...

Anxiety, mood disorders put cancer patients at risk for PTSD
5 May 2008
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Breast cancer patients who have a prior history of mood and anxiety disorders are at a much higher risk of experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder following their diagnosis, new research suggests. A study of 74...

Unexpected role: EGFR protects cancer cells from starving
5 May 2008
M. D. Anderson team finds receptor's impact on glucose is independent of its kinase activity Mien-Chie Hung, PhD, professor and chair of the department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology. Click here for more...

Short arms and legs linked to risk of dementia
5 May 2008
ST. PAUL, Minn. – People with shorter arms and legs may be at a higher risk for developing dementia later in life compared to people with longer arms and legs, according to a study published in the May 6, 2008, bonus issue of...

Annals of Internal Medicine tip sheet for May 6, 2008, issue
5 May 2008
1. Internists Issue Guideline for Screening for Osteoporosis in Men: Assess Regularly All Over 65; Scan with DEXA Those at Risk for Fractures (NOTE: Separate news release is issued. This article is subject of video news release.) 2. Study...

US teens adopted as infants appear to have moderately increased odds of mental health problems
5 May 2008
Although most adopted American teens are psychologically healthy, adoptees appear to be at greater risk for emotional and behavioral problems than non-adoptees, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent...

Break it down
5 May 2008
Genome sequence of Podospora anserina reveals unsuspected ability to use complex carbon sources The model fungus Podospora anserina (P. anserina) has undergone substantial evolution since its separation from Neurospora crassa, as revealed from...

Saving frogs before it's too late
5 May 2008
With nearly one-third of amphibian species threatened with extinction worldwide, fueled in part by the widespread emergence of the deadly chytrid fungus, effective conservation efforts could not be more urgent. In a new article in the...

Double duty: Loss of protective heart failure protein causes high blood pressure
5 May 2008
(PHILADELPHIA) Scientists at the Center for Translational Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia have found that a protein that appears to have protective and perhaps healing effects for failing hearts also plays a similar...

Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News reports on early ADMET use
5 May 2008
NEW ROCHELLE, NY, May 5, 2008—Biotech and pharma companies are increasingly utilizing novel technologies to assess the druggability of test compounds early in the development cycle to avoid costly late clinical-stage attrition, according...

Immune exhaustion in HIV infection
5 May 2008
2 articles discussing immune exhaustion and its prevention in HIV infection from PLoS Medicine It’s the virus, stupid: immune exhaustion in HIV infection As HIV disease progresses in a person infected with the HIV virus, a group of cells...

Low blood levels of vitamin D may be associated with depression in older adults
5 May 2008
Older adults with low blood levels of vitamin D and high blood levels of a hormone secreted by the parathyroid glands may have a higher risk of depression, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the...

McGill study links breastfeeding to increased intelligence
5 May 2008
Prolonged and exclusive nursing improves children's cognitive development Ths release is also available in French. The largest randomized study of breastfeeding ever conducted reports that breastfeeding raises children’s IQs and improves...

EUROCORES conference gives cold quantum matter a European twist
5 May 2008
ESF's EuroQUAM program holds inauguration conference Quantum matter has long fascinated the science community as many completely new physical phenomena have emerged from this field. Cold quantum matter can be used for applications such as...

BILBO1 a bearer of bad fortune for trypanosomes
5 May 2008
Trypanosoma brucei is a pathogen that causes epidemics of human and animal sleeping sickness in central and Southern Africa, a disease that is fatal if untreated. A new paper published this week in the open-access journal PLoS Biology...

Talking up a new role for cell phones in telemedicine
5 May 2008
In the first image, the entrance to the microfluidic device (bottom center of strip) is dipped into urine. Next, the urine wicks into the assay zones. In the third photo,... Click here for more...

Preference for alcohol in adolescence may lead to heavy drinking
5 May 2008
DURHAM, N.C. – Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have shown a connection between early drinking patterns and a tendency to be a heavy drinker in adulthood, in a study of adolescent rats. “Drinking patterns in...

Moms have few interactions with their infants during TV time
5 May 2008
Educational television may not be a solution, says new study NEW YORK, May 5, 2008 – Infants who are exposed to television and video in low socio-economic households tend to have limited verbal interactions with their mothers, according...

2 ACE inhibitors associated with higher mortality risks
5 May 2008
Two commonly used ACE inhibitors for congestive heart failure — enalapril (Vasotec) and captopril (Capoten) — were associated with 10%–15% higher mortality than ramipril (Altace) among older patients. This study reviewed...

Sudden death of a parent may pose mental health risks for children, surviving caregivers
5 May 2008
Children who had a parent who died suddenly have three times the risk of depression than those with two living parents, along with an increased risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) according to a report in the May issue of Archives...

Ecologists tease out private lives of plants and their pollinators
5 May 2008
The quality of pollen a plant produces is closely tied to its sexual habits, ecologists have discovered. As well as helping explain the evolution of such intimate relationships between plants and pollinators, the study – one of the first...

Exhaustion of HIV-specific T cells may be caused by chronic exposure to virus
5 May 2008
Better understanding of immune response to virus required for vaccine development The “exhaustion” of immune cells that target HIV appears to result from chronic exposure to the virus, specifically exposure to the particular protein...

Moran Eye Center researchers find gene linked to severe diabetic eye and kidney diseases
5 May 2008
Researchers at the John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah and collaborative institutions have identified a gene called erythropoietin (EPO) that contributes to increased risk of severe diabetic eye and kidney diseases, called...

FSU researcher: As gas prices climb, employee productivity plummets
5 May 2008
Wayne Hochwarter, the Jim Moran Professor of Management at Florida State University's College of Business. Click here for more information. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Rising gas prices are affecting more than the family...

Preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission in low-income countries
5 May 2008
2 articles discussing the prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child from PLoS Medicine Can HIV transmission in pregnancy in low income settings be prevented with round the clock rapid testing in labor? The World Health Organization...

Botulinum toxin effective in many neurological disorders, not headache
5 May 2008
ST. PAUL, Minn. – New guidelines developed by the American Academy of Neurology confirm that the drug botulinum toxin is safe and effective for treating cervical dystonia, a condition of involuntary head tilt or neck movement, spasticity...

RFID testbed measures multiple tags at once and rapidly assesses new antenna designs
5 May 2008
Gregory Durgin, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, displays two different types of RFID antennas. He has developed a testbed to rapidly test new... Click here for more...

Flip flops, mulch and no coat
5 May 2008
First phase of NHLBI-sponsored study on children's physical activity in child care CINCINNATI -- At a time when over half of US children (aged 3-6) are in child care centers, and growing concern over childhood obesity has led physicians to...

Discovery of a novel mechanism for the development of colon cancer
5 May 2008
Recent work from the Finnish Academy Center of Excellence on Cancer Biology at the University of Helsinki, Finland, has shed light on the mechanisms of colon tumor development and may help to design better treatment for this disease. Colon...

Study assesses TV viewing and verbal interactions among low-income parents and infants
5 May 2008
Mothers in low-income families seldom speak to their infants while the children are watching television or videos, which most do on a daily basis, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one...

Breastfeeding may improve children's intelligence scores
5 May 2008
Long-term, exclusive breastfeeding appears to improve children’s cognitive development, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Previous studies have reported that...

Kidney disease worsens in a fourth of African-Americans despite therapy for hypertension
5 May 2008
The best available treatment for chronic kidney disease from high blood pressure did not keep the disease from substantially worsening in about a fourth of African-Americans studied, according to long-term results of a National Institutes of...

Ibuprofen linked to reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease
5 May 2008
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Long-term use of ibuprofen and other drugs commonly used for aches and pains was associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published in the May 6, 2008, issue of Neurology®, the...

ACP issues clinical practice guideline for screening for osteoporosis in men
5 May 2008
Osteoporosis is not just a women's health issue; rates among men are expected to increase 50 percent over the next 15 years PHILADELPHIA, May 6, 2008 – The American College of Physicians (ACP) today released a new clinical practice...

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors confirmed as treatment for depression
5 May 2008
In treating depression, a 6 to 9 month course of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors following initial recovery after a first episode of depression is confirmed by this study. This systematic review, based on six classic long-term...

The secret to long life may not be in the genes
5 May 2008
This release is available in Spanish. A research on the bone health of one of the oldest persons in the world, who recently died at the age of 114, reveals that there were no genetic modifications which could have contributed to this...

Youths in towns with smoke-free restaurant laws appear less likely to become smokers
5 May 2008
Young people who live in towns where regulations ban smoking in restaurants may be less likely to become established smokers, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives...

Specific gene increases susceptibility to breast cancer
5 May 2008
Much work has been done to identify genetic variations that predispose women to breast cancer. Previous work showed that variants in the gene called fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) were associated with increased risk of the...