Ozone is being wrongly blamed for many of the deaths during hot weather spells, finds a new UCL (University College London) study. UCL scientists warn that amidst all the concerns over air pollution, the more basic health message of ‘staying cool when the weather is hot’ may be being forgotten.
The study, published online in the journal Environmental Research, modelled the daily mortality rate of people over 65 (who suffer most of the heat-related deaths) in Greater London from 1991
How to bring together positions and views of psychologists and ecologists, integrate these sciences for a goal common to all mankind – preservation and evolution of life on the Earth?
Psychologists deal with the human being as such, reflection of reality in individual mentality, without paying too much attention to what is going on around. Ecologists are concerned with the process of interaction between human beings and nature, however, they at times consider this interaction onl
An automatic guard has been developed to check that houses or other buildings do not sway, or move away from their true vertical position. If dangerous degrees of tilt are found, the device immediately notifies engineers. This spatial meter, called PIKiN-03, has been designed by Moscow engineers to measure vibrations and tilts in three dimensions.
Such measuring devices designed by engineers of the Conus (Cone) company are capable of around the clock checking that the permissible
Inhabitants of South-East Asia and Africa have been using papaya fruit and leaves for a long time to heal wounds and burns. Now, Russian scientists have confirmed curative properties of the exotic fruit.
The papaya-based medication accelerates healing of burn wounds, as the fruit possesses antiphlogistic and antibacterial action. That has been confirmed by the researches of Russian State Medical University. It has turned out that papaya weakens the action of enzyme excreted by p
On the occasion of Productronica 2005 phoenix|x-ray will be presenting a world premiere the new highly resolving X-ray inspections system microme|x.
A novelty to the industry phoenix|x-ray has developed a system that combines all features for an optimum comprehensive inspection of printed circuit board assemblies. The microme|x disposes of an extra large scanning area of 20″ x 24″, a highly precise manipulation unit with 360° rotation axis and the approved ovhm technology for obliq
High precision single-particle measurements validate a corrected form of the equation describing Brownian motion
An international group of researchers from the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), the University of Texas at Austin and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany have demonstrated that Brownian motion of a single particle behaves differently than Einstein postulated one century ago.
Their results, to be published online Oct
Findings may help elucidate mechanisms of wake-sleep transitions and epileptic seizures
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated that star-shaped glial cells in the brain called astrocytes are directly involved in regulating communication between neurons. A central finding of the study is that astrocytes modulate the level of a signaling molecule called adenosine, which is thought to be important in controlling wake-to-sleep transitions an
Exposure of developing fetuses and newborns to low levels of environmental toxins such as lead, mercury and dioxin, as well as nicotine and ethanol, could be behind the recent sharp rises in asthma, allergies and autoimmune disorders like lupus, says a Cornell University researcher.
The real dangers from environmental toxins most likely occur early in life, said Rod Dietert, professor of immunotoxicology at Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine, presenting a paper on the
Altering the standard step-by-step procedure that takes women facing a mastectomy from diagnosis to surgery to reconstruction can improve the process and help in determining if immediate reconstruction is the best course of action, according to new research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Key to the new approach is the use of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) performed as an outpatient procedure a week or so prior to mastectomy, rather then doing the SLNB at
Electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT) is more accurate than conventional catheter angiography for detecting a dangerous congenital heart abnormality that could cause sudden death, according to research by a Saint Louis University radiologist published last month in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions: Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.
Esat Memisoglu, M.D., assistant professor of radiology at Saint Louis University School of Me
Oil companies could soon harness the power of distant supercomputers to tackle problems such as where to place equipment and how to clean up oil spills.
For decades, the industry has used computers to maximize profit and minimize environmental impact, explained Tahsin Kurc, assistant professor of biomedical informatics at Ohio State University.
Typically, companies take seismic measurements of an oil reservoir and simulate drilling scenarios on a local computer. Now
Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers cured PKU in mice with new gene therapy technique
Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers developed a technique for inserting genes into specific sites on the genome in liver cells. The genes are inserted into non-coding regions of the genome so there is no danger of interfering with the functioning of other genes. Once inserted, the gene remains a permanent part of the cell’s genome. In a study published in this week’s PNAS,
“The big three” infections AIDS, TB and malaria have caught the world’s attention but other disabling and fatal infectious diseases in Africa are being ignored, say three eminent tropical disease researchers in the international health journal PLoS Medicine.
The neglected tropical diseases, which include sleeping sickness, schistosomiasis, river blindness, hookworm, elephantiasis, and blinding trachoma, affect several hundred million people, and kill at least half a mill
No good evidence exists that fossilized structures found in China and which some paleontologists claim are the earliest known rudimentary feathers were really feathers at all, a renowned ornithologist says. Instead, the fossilized patterns appear to be bits of decomposed skin and supporting tissues that just happen to resemble feathers to a modest degree.
Led by Dr. Alan Feduccia of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a team of scientists says that as a result of their
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in most developed countries. Screening for colorectal malignancies and polyps (which frequently become cancerous) has been shown to lower the number of deaths from cancer. Most cancer societies and preventive task forces recommend regular screening for cancer of the colon.
Physicians often recommend colonoscopy for screening. Unfortunately, this procedure is uncomfortable and occasionally results in perforation of the colo
From snail to man, one of the hallmarks of the brain is the ease with which behavioral variants are generated–for example, humans can easily walk with different stride lengths or different speeds. By studying how a relatively simple motor network of the marine snail Aplysia produces variants of a particular feeding behavior, researchers have found that the ability to generate a large number of behavioral variants stems from the elegant hierarchical architecture of the brain’s motor network.
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