Paradox of Vaccination: Is Vaccination Really Effective against Avian Flu Epidemics? Shingo Iwami, Takafumi Suzuki, Yasuhiro Takeuchi Published: March 18, 2009 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004915 Abstract Background Although vaccination can be a useful tool for control of avian influenza epidemics, it might… Read More ›
Counter Intuitive
Link between autism genes and higher intelligence, study suggests
Public Release: 10-Mar-2015 University of Edinburgh Genes linked with a greater risk of developing autism may also be associated with higher intelligence, a study suggests. Researchers have found new evidence linking genetic factors associated with autism to better cognitive ability… Read More ›
Voices in people’s heads more complex than previously thought
Public Release: 10-Mar-2015 Durham University Voices in people’s heads are far more varied and complex than previously thought, according to new research by Durham and Stanford universities, published in The Lancet Psychiatry today. One of the largest and most detailed… Read More ›
Adults only really catch flu about twice a decade, suggests study
Public Release: 3-Mar-2015 Adults over the age of 30 only catch flu about twice a decade, a new study publishing March 3rd in PLOS Biology suggests. Flu-like illness can be caused by many pathogens, making it difficult to assess how… Read More ›
Decline in smoking rates may increase lung cancer mortality
Public Release: 24-Feb-2015 ROCHESTER, Minn. — A decline in smoking rates may mean that many people who could have benefited from early detection of lung cancer are dying because they don’t qualify for low-dose CT scans, according to a group… Read More ›
DNA may survive suborbital spaceflight, re-entry at temperatures over 1000°C
Plasmid DNA attached to rocket exterior may survive spaceflight Plasmid DNA attached to the outer surface of a sounding rocket may be able to withstand rocket launch, a period of residence in suborbital space, re-entry, and landing conditions into… Read More ›
Vitamin E and Selenium raise cancer risk, Oh Really? Let us Disect the Research, and the Researchers
The SELECT trial is being utilized for sensationalist counter intuitive claims in regards to certain nutrients. The following posted below is simply a rational to why the SELECT trial being interpreted by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center is flawed. Unfortunately… Read More ›
Dosing schedule of pneumococcal vaccine linked with increased risk of getting multiresistant strain
Public release date: 7-Sep-2010 – EEV: Requested Re-Post from the HRR site. – Infants who received heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccination (PCV-7) at 2, 4, and 11 months were more likely than unvaccinated controls to have nasopharyngeal acquisition of pneumococcal serotype… Read More ›
World’s oldest profession still one of the most honest in China
Column Mimi Lau UPDATED : Sunday, 16 February, 2014, 3:52pm Dongguan police are chasing the wrong suspects if corruption and sleaze are the real targets of the massive crackdown on prostitution this week – Guangdong party chief Hu Chunhua is… Read More ›
The million-year-old family? Human footprints found in Britain are oldest ever seen outside of Africa
EEV: Clicking links will bring you to the PLOS release page Hominin Footprints from Early Pleistocene Deposits at Happisburgh, UK Nick Ashton mail, Simon G. Lewis, Isabelle De Groote, Sarah M. Duffy, Martin Bates, Richard Bates, Peter Hoare, Mark Lewis, Simon… Read More ›
Study: Earth was warmer in Roman, Medieval Times
Sunday, 15 December 2013 If you think the Earth is hot now, try wearing plate armor in the Middle Ages. A Swedish study found that the planet was warmer in ancient Roman times and the Middle Ages than today,… Read More ›
New demographic data show how diversely different species age – biologists cannot explain why
Aging out of bounds December 08, 2013 Despite aging being one the hottest topic in the media recently, scientists have no coherent explanation for it. New demographic data on humans, animals and plants for the first time unveil such an… Read More ›
World’s oldest DNA is recovered from a 400,000-year-old thigh bone – and provides a new jigsaw piece in the history of evolution
Scientist reconstructed the mitochondrial genome from two grams of bone They found early humans shared a common ancestor with the Denisovans This was suprising as early humans were thought to share a common ancestor with Neanderthals due to similar skeletal… Read More ›
‘Memories’ pass between generations
By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News Behaviour can be affected by events in previous generations which have been passed on through a form of genetic memory, animal studies suggest. Experiments showed that a traumatic event could… Read More ›
License to Ill : CEOs who attempt to put forth a moral image more likely to engage in socially irresponsible behavior
Firms that engaged in prior socially responsible behavior are more likely to then engage in socially irresponsible behavior, research finds By Sean Nealon on November 20, 2013 Elaine M. Wong, an assistant professor of management RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) —… Read More ›
Discovery of brain activity in severely brain injured patients who ‘wake up’ with sleep drug
Contact: Jennifer Gundersen jeg2034@med.cornell.edu 646-317-7402 Weill Cornell Medical College Pattern of brain activity points to possible neural circuit switched on by drug and may identify other patients who could respond NEW YORK (November 19, 2013) — George Melendez has been… Read More ›
Staying on medication had surprisingly little effect lowering hospital readmission rates
Contact: Sarah Avery sarah.avery@duke.edu 919-660-1306 Duke University Medical Center Staying on medication may not translate to avoiding readmission DURHAM, N.C. – A targeted effort to help high-risk heart failure patients stay on their medications did improve adherence to drug regimens,… Read More ›
Greater density of coronary artery calcium associated with lower risk of CHD, CVD
Chicago – Michael H. Criqui, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues determined the independent associations of coronary artery calcium (CAC) volume and CAC density with cardiovascular disease events. An increasing body of evidence suggests that… Read More ›
Higher chocolate consumption associated with lower levels of total fat—fat deposits all over the body—and central—abdominal—fat, independently of whether or not subjects are physically active, and of their diet
Scientists at the University of Granada have disproved the old idea that chocolate is fattening, in a study reported this week in Nutrition The study—possibly the most comprehensive to date—included 1458 European adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years… Read More ›
Light to moderate alcohol leads to good cheer at Danish high-school parties
Contact: Marie Eliasen, M.Sc. mae@niph.dk 45-6550-7777 (Denmark) University of Southern Denmark Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research Many people, especially young adults, engage in high-risk drinking because of the belief it will lead to positive mood effects such as cheerfulness. A… Read More ›
Perfectly preserved 1.8 million-year-old skull ‘could re-write history of human evolution’
Palaeontologists believe finds could re-write early history of human evolution Steve Connor Thursday, 17 October 2013 Scientists have revealed one of the most dramatic discoveries in human origins with a perfectly preserved fossilised skull of an ape-like man who… Read More ›
Exercise-loving mother-of-three branded a ‘fat shaming bully’ after showing her flat abs and asking ‘what’s your excuse?
By Sadie Whitelocks PUBLISHED: 16:54 EST, 15 October 2013 | UPDATED: 17:43 EST, 15 October 2013 An exercise-loving, mother-of-three has come under fire after posting a photograph of her toned body to Facebook, captioned ‘What’s your excuse?’ Maria Kang,… Read More ›
David Attenborough wrong to worry about global population increase, says Professor Robert Winston
Sir David Attenborough is wrong to be concerned about a rise in the global population, Professor Robert Winston has said Professor Robert Winston: Sir David Attenborough is wrong to be concerned about a rise in the global population Photo: Andrew Crowley… Read More ›
Insulin ‘still produced’ in most people with type 1 diabetes
Contact: Louise Vennells l.vennells@exeter.ac.uk 44-077-685-11866 Diabetologia New technology has enabled scientists to prove that most people with type 1 diabetes have active beta cells, the specialised insulin-making cells found in the pancreas. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body’s immune… Read More ›
First scoop of Mars soil contains 2 percent water: study
27 Sep 2013 Washington (AFP) The first scoop of Martian soil analyzed by NASA’s Curiosity rover held about two percent water, offering hope for hydrating humans who someday explore the Red Planet, scientists said Thursday. “We saw Mars as a very… Read More ›
Young breast cancer patients often overestimate benefit of having healthy breast removed (unlikely to improve their chance of survival )
Contact: Robbin Ray robbin_ray@dfci.harvard.edu 617-632-4090 Dana-Farber Cancer Institute BOSTON — Young women with breast cancer often overestimate the odds that cancer will occur in their other, healthy breast, and decide to have the healthy breast surgically removed, a survey conducted… Read More ›
Mysterious bursts of activity in flatlining brain
17:09 19 September 2013 by Andy Coghlan Parts of the brain may still be alive after a person’s brain activity is said to have flatlined. When someone is in a deep coma, their brain activity can go silent. An electroencephalogram… Read More ›
Healthy living can turn our cells’ clock back / telomeres regrow
00:01 17 September 2013 by Andy Coghlan Healthy living can reverse the telltale signs of ageing in your cells. The finding relates to telomeres, the caps that protect the tips of chromosomes when cells divide. With each cell division… Read More ›
Leaked report to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows we may be headed for Global Cooling
Global warming? No, actually we’re cooling, claim scientists A cold Arctic summer has led to a record increase in the ice cap, leading experts to predict a period of global cooling. Major climate research centres now accept that there has… Read More ›
Aging really is ‘in your head’
Scientists answer hotly debated questions about how calorie restriction delays aging process September 3, 2013 By Lee Phillion Among scientists, the role of proteins called sirtuins in enhancing longevity has been hotly debated, driven by contradictory results from… Read More ›
Existence of new element confirmed
Contact: Dirk Rudolph Dirk.Rudolph@nuclear.lu.se 46-462-227-633 Lund University An international team of researchers, led by physicists from Lund University, have confirmed the existence of what is considered a new element with atomic number 115. The experiment was conducted at the GSI… Read More ›
Long-term memory in the cortex
Contact: Mazahir T. Hasan mazahir.t.hasan@gmail.com 49-304-505-39176 Max-Planck-Gesellschaft ‘Where’ and ‘how’ memories are encoded in a nervous system is one of the most challenging questions in biological research. The formation and recall of associative memories is essential for an independent life…. Read More ›
Art preserves skills despite onset of vascular dementia in ‘remarkable’ case of a Canadian sculptor
Contact: Susan Yellin s_yellin@rogers.com 416-789-4567 St. Michael’s Hospital TORONTO, Aug. 22, 2013—The ability to draw spontaneously as well as from memory may be preserved in the brains of artists long after the deleterious effects of vascular dementia have diminished their… Read More ›
A virus changes its stripes / human outbreak of eastern equine encephalitis
Contact: Jim Kelly jpkelly@utmb.edu 409-772-8791 University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Outbreak in Panama brought Latin America’s first human cases of eastern equine encephalitis In the summer of 2010, the eastern Panamanian province of Darien experienced a phenomenon that… Read More ›
There’s life after radiation for brain cells
Contact: Stephanie Desmon sdesmon1@jhmi.edu 410-955-8665 Johns Hopkins Medicine Johns Hopkins researchers suggest neural stem cells may regenerate after anti-cancer treatment Scientists have long believed that healthy brain cells, once damaged by radiation designed to kill brain tumors, cannot regenerate. But… Read More ›
It all started with a bang, but the universe may not be expanding after all
Theoretical physicist Christof Wetterich publishes paper ‘a Universe without expansion’ Heather Saul Tuesday, 13 August 2013 A theoretical physicist looks set to disrupt textbook concepts of cosmology, after producing a paper outlining his theory that the universe is not expanding… Read More ›
Cellphone use may not cause more car crashes / Cellphone legislation did not result in less
Contact: Shilo Rea shilo@cmu.edu 412-268-6094 Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon research shows cellphone use may not cause more car crashes PITTSBURGH—For almost 20 years, it has been a wide-held belief that talking on a cellphone while driving is dangerous and… Read More ›
Back from the Dead – Resuscitation Expert Says End Is Reversible
Raising the dead may soon become medical reality. According to critical care physician Sam Parnia, modern resuscitation science will soon allow doctors to reanimate people up to 24 hours after their death. At some point, everyone’s heart will stop. For… Read More ›
Never-before-seen GIANT virus found that’s so unusual it may have come from Mars
The Pandoravirus is one micrometre big – ten times the size of other viruses It is found underwater but is not considered a threat to humans The virus has been spotted off the coast of Chile and in an Australian … Read More ›
New theory uncovers cancer’s deep evolutionary roots / Cancer is realated to embryo development
Contact: Skip Derra skip.derra@asu.edu 480-965-4823 Arizona State University Tracing cancer back to the dawn of multicellularity could explain its mysterious properties and transform therapy TEMPE, Ariz. — A new way to look at cancer — by tracing its deep… Read More ›
UC Davis MIND Institute researchers find exposure to maternal antibodies affects behavior
Contact: Phyllis Brown phyllis.brown@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu 916-734-9023 University of California – Davis Health System Researchers identify risk factor for autism in a subset of children: Maternal Antibody-Related autism Researchers with the UC Davis MIND Institute have found that prenatal exposure to specific… Read More ›
Meet the small yellow worm that can REGROW its own head – and its old memories
If the planarian worm’s head is cut off it can regenerate a new one Scientists have found this new head contains memories from the old one This suggests memories are stored in another part of the body By Victoria Woollaston… Read More ›
Study appears to overturn prevailing view of how the brain is wired
New research in rats shows how brain layers work NEW YORK, NY (June 27, 2013) — A series of studies conducted by Randy Bruno, PhD, and Christine Constantinople, PhD, of Columbia University’s Department of Neuroscience, topples convention by showing that… Read More ›
Infections increase risk of mood disorders
Contact: Michael Eriksen Benrós benros@ncrr.dk 45-26-25-52-39 Aarhus University New research shows that every third person who is diagnosed for the first time with a mood disorder has been admitted to hospital with an infection prior to the diagnosis New research… Read More ›
Time to re-write the textbooks: British scientists discover a new part of the human body – hidden deep in the eye
Nottingham researchers found the new layer – which is just 0.001 mm thick – within the cornea, the clear window at the front of the eye Called ‘Dua’s Layer’, it could dramatically improve corneal graft treatments The previously undetected layer… Read More ›
Tumors disable immune cells by using up sugar
Contact: Michael C. Purdy purdym@wustl.edu 314-286-0122 Washington University School of Medicine Cancer cells’ appetite for sugar may have serious consequences for immune cell function, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have learned. The scientists found that… Read More ›
No idle chatter: Study finds malaria parasites ‘talk’ to each other – It Changes everything
Contact: Liz Williams williams@wehi.edu.au 61-405-279-095 Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Melbourne scientists have made the surprise discovery that malaria parasites can ‘talk’ to each other – a social behaviour to ensure the parasite’s survival and improve its chances of being… Read More ›
The Minoans were Caucasian: DNA debunks longstanding theory that Europe’s first advanced culture was from Africa
British archaeologists who in 1900 discovered the Minoan culture believed they were from Libya or Egypt The Minoan civilisation arose on Crete in the 27th century BC and flourished until the 15th century BC By Damien Gayle PUBLISHED: 16:13 EST,… Read More ›
Bacteria adapt and evade nanosilver’s sting
08 May 2013 Researchers from UNSW have cautioned that more work is needed to understand how micro-organisms respond to the disinfecting properties of silver nano-particles, increasingly used in consumer goods, and for medical and environmental applications. Although nanosilver has effective… Read More ›
Engineering Evil 