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Children at High Risk of Salmonella from Reptiles

Reptiles can make great pets–they’re quiet and they don’t leave fur on the furniture and floors. However, whether wild-caught or store-bought, reptiles often carry salmonella. These bacteria can cause diarrhea, and young children are at particular risk, according to a new study. Diet, susceptibility, and the lower amount of bacteria needed to infect a child may all contribute to the likelihood of children less than five years old contracting salmonella from handling lizards, snakes and turtles. Young children are also more likely than their older peers to develop serious–and possibly fatal–complications from the infection.

NASA explores outer space farming

Unlike travelers on Earth who have the convenience of roadside diners and fast-food restaurants, the dining options for space travelers are limited. As NASA’s astronauts prepare to fulfill the Vision for Space Exploration with increasingly lengthy missions, scientists are trying to find a way for them to grow their own food. Plants offer a promising solution in providing food to astronauts thousands of miles from Earth. They could grow crops that would not only supplement a healthy diet, but also remove toxic carbon dioxide from the air inside their spacecraft and create life-sustaining oxygen.

Even modest climate change could lead to mega-fires

The area burned by wildfires in 11 Western states could double by the end of the century if summer climate warms by slightly more than a degree and a half, say researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington. Montana, Wyoming and New Mexico appear acutely sensitive, especially to temperature changes, and fire seasons there may respond more dramatically to global warming than in states such as California and Nevada.

Rehab improves survival after heart attack by more than 50 percent

A study of 1,821 patients who had heart attacks between 1982 and 1998 and survived to go home from the hospital, found that nearly half (48 percent) of the deaths within three years of hospital discharge were attributable to not participating in cardiac rehabilitation. ”On average, for patients who participated in cardiac rehab, it was almost as if the heart attack never had happened. They had the same three-year survival as what would be expected from area residents of the same age and sex who had not suffered heart attacks,” says Veronique Roger, M.D., the Mayo Clinic cardiologist who led the study. ”Increased participation in cardiac rehabilitation could lead to improved survival among a large proportion of heart attack patients.”

Not-so-spotty material breakthrough with nickel nanodots

Using pulsed lasers, researchers have coaxed the metal nickel to self-assemble into arrays of nanodots — each spot a mere seven nanometers (seven billionths of a meter) across — one-tenth the diameter of existing nanodots. Because the method works with a variety of materials and may drastically reduce imperfections, the new procedure may also bolster research into extremely hard materials and efforts to develop ultra-dense computer memory. The researchers are working with an industry partner to apply the technique to development of next-generation light-emitting diodes (LEDs) — the small, bright lights seen in traffic signals and luxury automobile brake lights. The experimental LEDs are already more efficient than existing devices, potentially lasting decades and using a fraction of the power of fluorescent bulbs.

Vegetable compound blocks late-stage breast-cancer cell growth

A well-known anti-cancer agent in certain vegetables has just had its reputation enhanced. The compound, in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, has been found to be effective in disrupting late stages of cell growth in breast cancer and researchers say could ultimately be used to enhance the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. ”This is the first report to show how the naturally occurring plant chemical sulforaphane can block late stages of the cancer process by disrupting components of the cell called microtubules.”

Study Finds Immune Therapy for Metastatic Breast Cancer Possible

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), one of the National Institutes of Health, have found promising evidence that immune cell transplant therapy can help shrink tumors in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Similar therapies, which also involve transplantation of donated immune cells, have produced dramatic anti-tumor effects in leukemias and lymphomas — cancers of the blood and lymph, respectively. However, previous studies have not proven that such therapies have clinical effects on breast cancer.

Astronomers find new class of planets outside the solar system

A team of astronomers has announced the discovery of some of the smallest planets yet detected beyond our solar system: two worlds that represent a new category of extra-solar planets, as well as significant and much-anticipated advance in the hunt for such objects. Each of newly discovered planets is roughly comparable to the planet Neptune in our own solar system, says Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, a veteran planet-hunter and a co-discoverer of this pair.

Sight, sound affect short term memory

For decades scientists have believed that people can only remember an ordered list of about seven items at a time–such as seven grocery items or seven digits of a phone number–but new research from the University of Rochester has shown that this magic number varies depending on whether the language used is spoken or signed. The results in the cover story of the latest issue of Nature Neuroscience have important implications for standardized tests, which often employ ordered-list retention as a measure of a person’s mental aptitude.

NASA satellites detect ‘glow’ of plankton

For the first time, scientists may now detect a phytoplankton bloom in its early stages by looking at its red ”glow” under sunlight, due to the unique data from two NASA satellites. According to a study conducted in the Gulf of Mexico, this phenomenon can forewarn fishermen and swimmers about developing cases of red tides that occur within plumes of dark-colored runoff from river and wetlands, sometimes causing ”black water” events.

Full-body CT screening modestly increases risk of cancer death

The risk of cancer mortality from a single full-body computed tomography scan is modest, but not negligible, and the risks resulting from elective annual scans are much higher, according to a new study. The increasing popularity of elective, or self-referred, full-body CT screening has raised concerns regarding the radiation-related cancer mortality risk associated with full-body CT radiation exposure. Based on anecdotal evidence, these scans are performed on asymptomatic people to identify a variety of diseases, including colon and lung cancer and coronary artery disease.