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New technologies aimed at coping with the global scarcity of clean water
Date: Jul-26-2013Efforts to cope with a global water crisis that already has left almost 800 million people without access to drinkable water - and could engulf many more in the years ahead - are the topic of the cover story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. Alex Scott, C&EN's senior editor for Europe, points out that most companies involved in water treatment technologies focus on providing services in wealthy industrialized nations...
Computer-aided technique makes it easier to diagnose and treat children with autism
Date: Jul-26-2013Researchers have developed a new screening method to diagnose autism, which unlike current methods does not rely on subjective criteria. These results are published in a series of studies in the open-access journal Frontiers in Neuroscience. The studies, funded by a US$ 650,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, were led by Elizabeth Torres, a computational neuroscientist, and Dimitri Metaxas, a computer scientist, both at Rutgers University, in collaboration with Jorge V. Jose, a theoretical physicist and computational neuroscientist from Indiana University...
Targeting HER1 receptor for peptide cancer vaccine, therapeutic agents
Date: Jul-26-2013Small proteins called peptides that consist of 10 to 50 amino acids are being studied as cancer vaccines and as possibly safer, more effective and less costly alternatives to the monoclonal-antibody-based drugs and small-molecule inhibitors now used to treat many malignancies. Researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J...
Lovers of dark chocolate show higher tolerance for bitterness in chocolate ice cream
Date: Jul-26-2013To make the inherent bitterness of cocoa in chocolate ice cream more palatable, manufacturers add high levels of fat and sugar. Yet, bitterness is an integral part of the complex flavor of chocolate. In a new study published in the August issue of the Journal of Dairy Science®, investigators report that consumers who prefer dark chocolate in solid form tolerate twice the amount of bitter ingredients in chocolate ice cream than those who prefer milk chocolate. Elimination of some added sugar and fats in chocolate ice cream may be acceptable, and perhaps preferable, to some consumers...
Low expression of immune response gene 'MIF' in Africans increases risk for TB
Date: Jul-26-2013A researcher from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues have identified the genetic mutation in Africans with HIV that puts them at a much higher risk for tuberculosis (TB) infections. Africans have some of the highest rates of TB in the world, and it has long been suspected that genetic susceptibility plays a role. However, establishing candidate genes across populations to gauge risk has remained a challenge...
SIBS Program teaches brothers and sisters how to build positive relationships
Date: Jul-26-2013Little is known about how sibling relationships impact child and family functioning, but Penn State researchers are beginning to shed light on intervention strategies that can cultivate healthy and supportive sibling relationships. Parents frequently rank their children's sibling rivalry and conflict as the number one problem they face in family life...
New biosensor that warns when athletes are about to 'hit the wall' undergoes first human tests
Date: Jul-26-2013A new biosensor, applied to the human skin like a temporary tattoo, can alert marathoners, competitive bikers and other "extreme" athletes that they're about to "bonk," or "hit the wall," scientists are reporting. The study, in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry, describes the first human tests of the sensor, which also could help soldiers and others who engage in intense exercise - and their trainers - monitor stamina and fitness. Joseph Wang and colleagues explain that the sensor monitors lactate, a form of lactic acid released in sweat...
New IOM Report: Medicare spending rates based on regional cost variations unlikely to improve health care
Date: Jul-26-2013A "geographic value index" that would tie Medicare payment rates to the health benefits and costs of health services in particular regions of the country should not be adopted by Congress, says a new congressionally mandated report from the Institute of Medicine. The committee that wrote the report concluded that decisions about health care generally are made at the level of the physician or organization, such as a hospital, not at the regional level...
Discovery reveals key mechanism responsible for herpes virus
Date: Jul-26-2013Herpes viruses are like tiny powder kegs waiting to explode. For more than 20 years scientists suspected that herpes viruses were packaged so full of genetic material that they built up an internal pressure so strong it could shoot viral DNA into a host cell during infection. No one had been able to prove that theory until now. Carnegie Mellon University biophysicist Alex Evilevitch together with his graduate student David Bauer and University of Pittsburgh collaborators Fred Homa and Jamie Huffman have measured, for the first time, the pressure inside human herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1)...
Factors that link HPV and oesophageal cancer
Date: Jul-26-2013The human papillomavirus (HPV) triples the risk of people developing yet another cancer, oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), according to research led by University of New South Wales (UNSW) academics. In addition to causing cervical, anal and genital cancers, HPV has more recently been found to cause some head and neck cancers...
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