In studies using rats, researchers from Duke University Medical Center (USA) and Imperial College London, have found evidence that the chemically inert gas xenon can protect the brain from the neurological damage often associated with the use of the heart-lung machine during coronary artery bypass surgery.
The researchers say that xenon appears to block receptors on nerve cells in the brain that can be “overstimulated” in response to the surgery. This overstimulation can lead to ner
DM2 more common than previously thought
Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Muscular Dystrophy Center have developed the first reliable diagnostic test for myotonic muscular dystrophy type 2 (DM2), leading to the accurate determination of the disease’s clinical and molecular features. Initial results indicate that DM2 is much more common than previously thought, and may be one of the more common forms of muscular dystrophy. The findings will be reported in the
An Ohio State University engineer and his colleagues have discovered something new about a 50-year-old type of fiberglass: it may be more than one and a half times stronger than previously thought.
That conclusion, and the techniques engineers used to reach it, could help expand applications for glass fibers.
Though the glass fiber industry is currently suffering the same economic woes as many other businesses, the time is right to lay the groundwork for future applications, said P
The same in-road detectors that control traffic lights and monitor traffic could soon respond quicker to traffic jams, thanks to software developed by an Ohio State University engineer.
In tests, the software helped California road crews discover traffic jams three times faster than before, allowing them to clear accidents and restore traffic flow before many other drivers would be delayed.
This technology could also provide drivers with the information they need to plan efficient
As the deadline for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act draws closer, the commuter and passenger trains used in large swaths of the United States remain inaccessible to passengers in wheelchairs. Meanwhile, the elevated platforms many regional rail systems have erected to address this problem have created another, forcing bulky freight shipments off the rails and onto some of the busiest roadways in the nation.
Enter an engineering professor from the University of Pennsylvani
The way a person taps a number into a cash machine or mobile phone, could, according to scientists at the University of Southampton, be used as a means of identification, and prove useful in the battle against fraud.
Professor Neil White of the University of Southampton’s Department of Electronics and Computer Science has developed an inexpensive sensor, which can be integrated into objects of various shapes and sizes, including smart cards and hand-held devices such as mobile phones.
Odour is an affective stimulus that elicits both positive as well as negative emotional responses. This has implications for the way consumers evaluate products. Odour as a marketing tool has received an increased amount of attention recently. Retailers are exploring the impact of scents on consumers’ purchase behaviour (think for example about the smell of fresh pastries when you enter a supermarket). Nowadays, technological developments enable the use of scent-patches on packaging and ads, which ma
The public transport authority for the Bizkaian capital of Bilbao and the surrounding area is intent on keeping the service efficient and reliable. To aid them in the task it has commissioned the Etra Norte company to incorporate a GPS (Global Positioning System) into the Bizkaibus fleet of buses. In this way, they can monitor the situation of each vehicle continuously and, at any time, know the exact time it will arrive at a bus stop. Moreover, the application of the system allows changes in the sch
The global decline of amphibians has received a great deal of attention because amphibians are thought to be indicator species, or ’canaries in a coal mine’ that provide an early warning of environmental degradation. The topic has drawn considerable scientific attention because there is no obvious, simple cause. Researchers are pursuing a handful of explanations for worldwide losses of amphibian populations that are likely to affect all species. Thus, understanding the complexity of the amp
Discovery could explain current treatment failures and lead to more effective therapies for many cancers
Of all the neoplastic cells in human breast cancers, only a small minority – perhaps as few as one in 100 – appear to be capable of forming new malignant tumors, according to just-published research by scientists in the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. The discovery could help researchers zero in on the most dangerous cancer cells to develop new, more effective t
In an unexpected discovery, a team led by Northwestern University scientists has become the first to show that progesterone, a hormone usually associated with female reproduction and maternal behavior, plays a key role in regulating male aggression toward infants in mice. Testosterone, not progesterone, had been thought to be responsible.
The researchers found that the absence of progesterone’s actions reduced aggression while promoting positive paternal behavior. The findings, to be p
A new liquid crystal lattice created by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Sheffield may be invisible to the naked eye, but it’s a giant in its own way.
Uniting hundreds of thousands of atoms, this supramolecular structure is one of the most complex ever made via self-assembly, where molecules organize themselves into larger structures. What’s more, it’s the first organic compound to assume an intricate structure previously seen only in metals such
The drug ramipril significantly reduced the onset of debilitating and often-fatal heart failure in a large group of high-risk patients, researchers report in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Ramipril, trade-named Altace, is one of a family of high blood pressure medications known as ACE inhibitors. The drugs reduce the risk of death from heart failure – the inability of a weakened or damaged heart to pump enough blood through the body
May revolutionize medical research and transplantation
The particularly powerful – and very scarce – flexible forms of stem cells needed for medical research and treatment may now be both plentiful and simple to produce, with a new technology developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory – and the source is as close as your own bloodstream.
These flexible stem cells, able to morph into a variety of cell types, are called “pluripotent,” and before th
Knowing many kinds of people in many social contexts improves one’s chance of getting a good job, developing a range of cultural interests, feeling in control of one’s life and feeling healthy. Many know how important networking is, says researcher Bonnie Erickson, but the critical matter is the variety of acquaintances and not the mere number.
Erickson, Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto, presents her research in an article, “Social Networks: The Value of Variety,” in the
The device was awarded the Guinness World Record for “smallest biological computing device”
Fifty years after the discovery of the structure of DNA, a new use has been found for this celebrated molecule: fuel for molecular computation systems. The research, conducted by scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science, will appear in this week’s issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS).
Whether plugged in or battery powered, computers need energ
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