Outcomes of two studies presented at the Heart Failure Society of America suggest a promising non-invasive device-based treatment approach
Heart failure patients witnessed a significant improvement in disease symptoms and markers of the underlying pathology using an experimental non-invasive treatment device, inTone™, according to two studies presented this week at the 2003 Heart Failure Society of America annual conference in Las Vegas.
“We have long known about the benefici
A new study suggests in-season nitrogen monitoring can reduce overall fertilizer use
Many producers currently base nitrogen fertilizer applications on the results of soil nitrate tests. According to a recent article in the Soil Science Society of America Journal, farmers can reduce in-season nitrogen use for irrigated crops without sacrificing yield potential by using commercially available nitrogen sensing tools.
The typical spring soil nitrate tests do not account for nitrate l
A 50,000-year record of mammals consumed by early humans in southwestern France indicates there was no major difference in the prey hunted by Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon, according to a new study.
The paper, published in the online Journal of Archaeological Science, counters the idea proposed by some scientists that Cro-Magnon, who were physically similar to modern man, supplanted Neanderthals because they were more skilled hunters as a result of some evolutionary physical or mental advantag
A very efficient engine, plenty of room for instruments, accurate performance, good price. All these features characterise ESA’s SMART-1, due for launch during the night of 27-28 September.
SMART-1 is much smaller, cheaper and, in many ways, ’more powerful’ than conventional spacecraft. Its secret lies in several new technologies being tested on board, which will be essential for spacecraft of the future. But this space adventure is not only for engineers; scientists t
A new “smart blending” process developed by Clemson University researchers could change the way plastics are made and improve their performance. Early results published in August’s Polymer Engineering and Science have already drawn interest from European and United States plastics manufacturers.
Dave Zumbrunnen, who heads the Clemson research team, said smart blending could bring plastics production into the 21st century. “Most people would be surprised to learn that many plastics are n
Aspirin reduces the risk of a first heart attack by 32 percent, according to a report by researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Center & Miami Heart Institute (MSMC-MHI) published in the current issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. The paper, which is based on a meta-analysis of five major randomized clinical trials (55,580 participants, 11,466 women) in primary prevention, also found that aspirin reduces the combined risk of heart attack, stroke and vascular death by 15 percent.
Charles H.
The Hessian fly changes wheat growth by injecting poisons into the plants, but a newly discovered resistance gene that can kill the insect may add a new defensive weapon for the grain crop.
Using the new gene in combination with other genes is expected to extend resistance time to the most economically damaging insect of wheat by as much as six times. Scientists from Purdue University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture—Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) mapped the new gene and
A team of biologists working in Brazil may have found the clues to resolving the longstanding mystery of why some species of bees, such as honey bees, communicate the location of food with dances in their hives and why other bees simply leave scent trails from the food source to the nest.
In the paper to appear in the October 22nd issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society, biologists at the University of California, San Diego and the University of São Paulo report that one species of Bra
The growing popularity of farm-raised salmon has plunged the commercial fishing industry in the Pacific Northwest into a state of crisis, according to a new report by Stanford University researchers.
Writing in the October issue of ENVIRONMENT magazine, the research team found that, since the late 1980s, worldwide production of farm salmon has increased fivefold, while the market share of wild-caught salmon from Alaska, British Columbia and Washington state has steadily declined.
The largest ice shelf in the Arctic has broken, and scientists who have studied it closely say it is evidence of ongoing and accelerated climate change in the north polar region. The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf is located on the north coast of Ellesmere Island in Canada’s Nunavut territory and its northernmost national park. This ancient feature of thick ice floating on the sea began forming some 4,500 years ago and has been in place for at least 3,000 years.
Warwick Vincent and Derek Mueller
Agriculture is responsible for 8% of the total emissions of greenhouse effect gases and so, given the EU adhesion to the 1997 Kyoto protocol, it is obliged to assume a certain percentage in the reduction of these emissions. 41% of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions of human origin in Europe comes from agriculture. The soil, through microbic processes of nitrification and denitrification, is deemed to be mainly responsible for these N2O emissions, contributing to NO emissions also.
Meadowlands fo
Taking a proactive stance to address environmental concerns, leading engineers from business, academia, and government have united to draft principles to guide their trade.
Nine tenets of Green Engineering (below) were developed during a May 18-22, 2003, multidisciplinary conference entitled “Green Engineering: Defining the Principles” held in Sandestin, Florida.
Attendees from such diverse entities as the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, NSF, Siemans, and the
By matching bicuspid to bicuspid and filling to filling, forensic investigators use dental records to give a John or Jane Doe a real name. Researchers from West Virginia University, Michigan State University and the University of Miami are combining advanced image-processing techniques with elements of logic to accelerate and improve the accuracy of identity matches.
The researchers are working on an Automated Dental Identification System (ADIS) that will compare a database of dental x-rays
Do you really know what you are breathing when sitting at home? Europeans spend 90% of their time indoors. But closed environments are not always the healthiest. The latest studies on human exposure to indoor pollution, released today by the European Commission at its Joint Research Centre (JRC) facilities in Ispra (Italy), reveal that indoor environments pose their own threats to health and, in some cases, can be at least twice as polluting as outdoor environments. Hundreds of volatile components
A NERC-funded researcher is tracking a number of migrating marine turtles which could be sent off-course or washed ashore by Hurricane Isabel. Updates on the turtles’ progress can be followed on the web.
Dr Brendan Godley and colleagues from the University of Exeter are using satellite technology to track the endangered green and loggerhead turtles as they leave their nesting beaches in North Carolina and the Cayman Islands and start the long journey to their winter foraging grounds. They at
The world’s largest study of ecstasy-related deaths discovered that one in six people who died after taking ecstasy had not taken any other drug. “This clears up the debate once and for all – ecstasy alone can kill,” says Dr Fabrizio Schifano, whose work is published in the October edition of Human Psychopharmacology.
The study found that since 1996 there had been a clear year-on-year increase in deaths in England and Wales. “Just show anyone the graph and the message is clear – the situatio
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