Scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have determined that human-induced changes in ozone and well-mixed greenhouse gases are the primary drivers of recent changes in the height of the tropopause. Earlier research has shown that increases in the height of the tropopause over the past two decades are directly linked to stratospheric ozone depletion and increased greenhouse gases.
British researchers have discovered a way to help musicians improve their musical performances by an average of up to 17 per cent, equivalent to an improvement of one grade or class of honours. The research published in this month’s edition of Neuroreport, shows that using a process known as neurofeedback, students at London’s Royal College of Music were able to improve their performance across a number of areas including their musical understanding and imagination, and their communication with the audience.
In a river valley just southwest of Mexico City stands a small patch of teosinte – a wild, weedy grass thought to be the ancient ancestor of corn. As a gentle breeze blows gene-carrying pollen from a nearby crop of maize to its wild relative, the genetic integrity and even survival of this ancient plant and others could be jeopardized, according to new mathematical models. The models, described in the July 23 online edition of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London and developed by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota-St. Paul, show that genes from crops rapidly can take over those in related wild plants. The end result, say the researchers, could be major changes in the genetic make-up of wild plants, decreases in their population size and the permanent loss of natural traits that could improve crop health.
A microdevice whose business end looks like the gold-coated spine of a very tiny mouse, with each “vertebrae” line separated from the next by about a third the width of a human hair, has been demonstrated to easily collect and release proteins in aqueous solution in less than a second. The device separates proteins from solution and from each other by electrically heating the tiny metal lines to alter surface properties.
HIV-positive adults ages 18 to 34 may be more likely to suffer coronary heart disease than HIV-negative persons their age, a new study suggests. The findings emphasize the need for physicians to monitor HIV patients’ cardiac health. “Our study suggests that coronary heart disease may be accelerated in younger HIV-infected people,” said Dr. Judith Currier, a researcher at the UCLA AIDS Institute and associate professor of infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “It’s important for physicians to incorporate heart-disease risk prevention into HIV primary care.”
NASA satellites’ “eyes” above Earth are providing scientists and fire managers with powerful monitoring tools. NASA is providing the “big picture” needed to understand how fires behave before, during, and after damage has been done. A suite of NASA satellites, flying in coordinated fashion, offers the unparalleled insight only possible from space.
SWood scientists hope that their vacuum-drying project will benefit wood pallet and container manufacturers and hardwood sawmill businesses across the nation. “The vacuum controlling system eliminates the need for a heating system, saves energy, and does not release ozone-depleting chemicals into the earth’s atmosphere,” says Zhangjjng Chen, one the researchers working on the project at the Center for Unit Load and Design in the wood science and forest products department of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources.
A recent investigation from has found an apparent link between a common gynecological disorder called bacterial vaginosis (BV) and an increased risk for the acquisition of herpes. “We found that women with BV were nearly twice as likely to get herpes as women who did not have BV,” said Thomas L. Cherpes, M.D., a University of Pittsburgh infectious disease fellow and the study’s first author. “The presence of BV seems to increase susceptibility to herpes infection in women.”
Researchers have shown that a vegetarian diet composed of specific plant foods can lower cholesterol as effectively as a drug treatment. The study, published in the July 23 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, compared a diet of known cholesterol-lowering, vegetarian foods to a standard cholesterol-reducing drug called lovastatin. The special diet lowered levels of LDL cholesterol – the “bad” cholesterol known to cause clogging in coronary arteries – in subjects by almost 29 per cent, compared to a 30.9 per cent decrease in the lovastatin subjects. The special diet combined nuts (almonds), soy proteins, viscous fibre (high-fibre) foods such as oats and barely and a special margarine with plant sterols (found in leafy green vegetables and vegetable oils). <
Most women who have undergone hysterectomy for non-cancerous diseases can forgo annual Pap smear exams, according to new research by physicians. The study found that even in the best conditions, women add only three weeks to their lives by having regular screenings. The cost of these screenings per year of life saved can run up to $12 million for more aggressive screening plans. It’s the first study to look at the value of Pap smear screenings for women who have had a hysterectomy.
If your parents had coronary heart disease before age 60, the walls of your neck arteries are more likely to be thicker, putting you at higher risk of heart disease, too, researchers report. Compared with people with no parental history of early-onset coronary heart disease (CHD), those with at least one parent who had a heart attack or other coronary event such as chest pain before age 60, had thicker walls in the large carotid arteries of the neck that lead to the brain, researchers found. Thicker carotid artery walls are associated with a greater degree of atherosclerotic plaque.
People who are energetic, happy and relaxed are less likely to catch colds, while those who are depressed, nervous or angry are more likely to complain about cold symptoms, whether or not they get bitten by the cold bug, according to a recent study. Study participants who had a positive emotional style weren’t infected as often and experienced fewer symptoms compared to people with a negative emotional style, say Sheldon Cohen, Ph.D., of Carnegie Mellon University and colleagues, writing in the July issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.
Nanotechnology researchers have developed a new method of testing whole blood that could allow emergency room doctors and other point-of-care health professionals to rapidly diagnose a variety of ailments, including hemorrhagic stroke, heart attack, and various infectious diseases. The test, which is faster than existing whole-blood immunoassays, uses gold nanoshells, tiny optically active gold-coated glass particles that are so small about 700 could fit in the diameter of a human hair.
Chemists at Rice University have identified a chemical process for cutting carbon nanotubes into short segments. The new process yields nanotubes that are suitable for a variety of applications, including biomedical sensors small enough to migrate through cells without triggering immune reactions. The chemical cutting process involves fluorinating the nanotubes, essentially attaching thousands of fluorine atoms to their sides, and then heating the fluoronanotubes to about 1,000 Celsius in an argon atmosphere. During the heating, the fluorine is driven off and the nanotubes are cut into segments ranging in length from 20-300 nanometers.