New at SocialistWorker.org...
http://socialistworker.org
________
Election Day highlight...
Analysis: Lance Selfa and Alan Maass
WHAT TO LOOK FOR ON ELECTION DAY
There's not much suspense about the winner, but how the vote breaks down could hold some surprises. SocialistWorker.org tells you what to focus on.
http://socialistworker.org/2008/11/04/look-for-on-election-day
________
And tonight, check back for our...
Roundtable
ELECTION NIGHT JOURNAL
SocialistWorker.org writers and columnists provide up-to-the-minute analysis and commentary as the results roll in on Election Night.
http://socialistworker.org/2008/11/04/election-night-journal
________
For SocialistWorker.org’s features on Election 2008...
Editorials
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER NOVEMBER 4?
http://socialistworker.org/2008/10/24/what-happens-after-november-4
Comment: Alan Maass
WHAT'S WRONG WITH REDISTRIBUTING THE WEALTH?
http://socialistworker.org/2008/10/28/redistributing-the-wealth
Analysis: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
HOW WILL RACE SHAPE THE ELECTION?
http://socialistworker.org/2008/10/27/how-race-shapes-the-election
Column: Brian Jones
IS THE RACIST SMEAR CAMPAIGN WORKING?
http://socialistworker.org/2008/10/21/is-racist-smear-campaign-working
Comment: Nicole Colson
McCAIN'S DISDAIN FOR OUR RIGHTS
http://socialistworker.org/2008/10/20/mccains-disdain
Column: Lance Selfa
IS OBAMA REALLY A RADICAL AT HEART?
http://socialistworker.org/2008/10/31/is-obama-really-a-radical
Comment: Todd Chretien
WHY I'M NOT VOTING FOR BARACK OBAMA
http://socialistworker.org/2008/10/22/not-voting-for-obama
Analysis: Elizabeth Schulte
THE WORLD'S GREATEST DEMOCRACY?
http://socialistworker.org/2008/10/23/the-worlds-greatest-democracy
ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Tuesday, November 4, 2008
ScienceDaily Technology Headlines
for Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Welcome to another edition of ScienceDaily's email newsletter. You can change your subscription options or unsubscribe at any time.
Mending Broken Hearts With Tissue Engineering (November 4, 2008) -- Broken hearts could one day be mended using a novel scaffold. The new scaffold approach could also aid the engineering of other tissues. ... > full story
Fluid Transducer: Electricity From Gas And Water (November 4, 2008) -- A large number of technical systems work with air or water. Air compression systems and water pipes are just two examples. Researchers have now successfully managed to convert this fluidic energy into electricity. This could enable sensors to supply themselves with energy in future. ... > full story
Smart Fabrics, The New Black (November 4, 2008) -- Smart fabrics and intelligent textiles – material that incorporates cunning molecules or clever electronics – is thriving and European research efforts are tackling some of the sector’s toughest challenges. ... > full story
Odorprints Like Fingerprints? Personal Odors Remain Distinguishable Regardless Of Diet (November 3, 2008) -- Scientists present behavioral and chemical findings to reveal that an individual's underlying odor signature remains detectable even in the face of major dietary changes. The findings indicate that biologically-based odorprints, like fingerprints, could be a reliable way to identify individual humans. ... > full story
Good Code, Bad Computations: A Computer Security Gray Area (November 3, 2008) -- If you want to make sure your computer or server is not tricked into undertaking malicious or undesirable behavior, it's not enough to keep bad code out of the system. New research shows that the process of building bad programs from good code using "return-oriented programming" can be automated and that this vulnerability applies to multiple computer architectures. ... > full story
Satellites Approach Theoretical Shannon Limit (November 3, 2008) -- Satellites are achieving unparalleled efficiency with a new protocol, DVB-S2. The performance of DVB-S2 satellite systems is very close to the theoretical maximum, defined by the Shannon Limit. That efficiency could be pushed even further by network optimization tools and equipment recently developed by European researchers. ... > full story
Credit Card-swipe Device To Test For Hundreds Of Diseases (November 3, 2008) -- Scientists successfully created a sensitive prototype device that could test for dozens or even hundreds of diseases simultaneously by acting like a credit card-swipe machine to scan a card loaded with microscopic blood, saliva or urine samples. The prototype works on the same principle -- giant magnetoresistance or GMR -- that is used to read data on computer hard drives or listen to tunes on portable digital music players. ... > full story
'Superenzymes' Could Streamline Biofuels Refining (November 3, 2008) -- Stain removers that make even the most stubborn spots on your clothes vanish in the wash may be powered by molecules known as enzymes. Scientists are in search of similarly strong, fast-acting enzymes. But the ones they want would be put to work not in your laundry room, but instead at biofuels refineries, where the enzymes' job would be to break down the cell walls of bioenergy crops such as switchgrass. ... > full story
Videoconferencing More Confusing For Decision-makers Than Face-to-face Meetings (November 3, 2008) -- Although videoconferencing has become a billion-dollar substitute for flying business people to meetings, it leaves distant participants less likely to make sound judgments about speakers being viewed over a screen, according to a study in a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. ... > full story
'Ghost Of Mirach' Materializes In Space Telescope Image (November 3, 2008) -- NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer has lifted the veil off a ghost known to haunt the local universe, providing new insight into the formation and evolution of galaxies. The eerie creature, called NGC 404, is a type of galaxy known as "lenticular." Lenticular galaxies are disk-shaped, with little ongoing star formation and no spiral arms. NGC 404 is the nearest example of a lenticular galaxy, and therefore of great interest. But it lies hidden in the glare from a red giant star called Mirach. For this reason, NGC 404 became known to astronomers as the "Ghost of Mirach." ... > full story
Magnetic Portals Connect Sun And Earth (November 2, 2008) -- During the time it takes you to read this article, something will happen high overhead that until recently many scientists didn't believe in. A magnetic portal will open, linking Earth to the sun 93 million miles away. Tons of high-energy particles may flow through the opening before it closes again, around the time you reach the end of the page. ... > full story
Cleaning Heavily Polluted Water At A Fraction Of The Cost (November 2, 2008) -- A European research project has succeeded in developing a water treatment system for industrial oil polluted water at a tenth of the cost of other commercially available tertiary treatments, leaving water so clean it can be pumped safely back out to sea without endangering flora or fauna. ... > full story
Minimizing Downtime By Decentralizing Control In Complex, Computerized Systems (November 2, 2008) -- When complex, computerized control systems encounter a malfunction in any part of the process they control, the whole operation often grinds to a halt while the problem is diagnosed and fixed. New software overcomes that problem by decentralization. ... > full story
Sea Urchin Yields Key Secret Of Biomineralization (November 1, 2008) -- The teeth and bones of mammals, the protective shells of mollusks, and the needle-sharp spines of sea urchins and other marine creatures are made-from-scratch wonders of nature. ... > full story
Quantum Computers? Internet Security Code Of The Future Cracked (November 1, 2008) -- Computer science experts have managed to crack the so-called McEliece encryption system. This system is a candidate for the security of Internet traffic in the age of the quantum computer -- the predicted super-powerful computer of the future. ... > full story
Optical Firewall Aims To Clear Internet Security Bottlenecks (November 1, 2008) -- Researchers are developing the world’s first optical firewall capable of analyzing data on fiber optic networks at speeds of 40 gigabits per second. The work promises to save the internet from the looming threat of network security bottlenecks. ... > full story
Hubble Back In Business: Pair Of Gravitationally Interacting Galaxies In Full View (November 1, 2008) -- The Hubble Space Telescope is back in business with a snapshot of the fascinating galaxy pair Arp 147. Just a couple of days after the orbiting observatory was brought back online, Hubble aimed its prime working camera, the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), at a particularly intriguing target, a pair of gravitationally interacting galaxies called Arp 147. ... > full story
Social Media And Presidential Election: Impact Of YouTube, MySpace (November 1, 2008) -- What is the impact of media on the political landscape in the US? Researchers are investigating the impact of hugely popular social media's impact on the upcoming presidential contest. ... > full story
More Hidden Territory On Mercury Revealed By MESSENGER Spacecraft (October 31, 2008) -- A NASA spacecraft gliding over the battered surface of Mercury for the second time this year has revealed more previously unseen real estate on the innermost planet. The probe also has produced several science firsts and is returning hundreds of new photos and measurements of the planet's surface, atmosphere and magnetic field. ... > full story
Sniffing Out A Better Chemical Sensor (October 31, 2008) -- Marrying a sensitive detector technology capable of distinguishing hundreds of different chemical compounds with a pattern-recognition module that mimics the way animals recognize odors, researchers have created a new approach for 'electronic noses' that is more adept than conventional methodologies at recognizing molecular features even for chemicals it has not been trained to detect. ... > full story
New Model Predicts A Glacier's Life (October 31, 2008) -- Researchers have developed a numerical model that can re-create the state of Switzerland's Rhône Glacier as it was in 1874 and predict its evolution until the year 2100. This is the longest period of time ever modeled in the life of a glacier, involving complex data analysis and mathematical techniques. The work will serve as a benchmark study for those interested in the state of glaciers and their relation to climate change. ... > full story
Over-use Of Organic Fertilizers In Agriculture Could Poison Soils, Study Finds (October 31, 2008) -- Excessive doses of organic residues in agricultural fields could be dangerous for plants, invertebrates and micro-organisms living in the soil. This is the finding of a new study that shows that the use of appropriate levels of fertilizers would prevent this toxic impact on the soil biota. ... > full story
By Imaging Live Cells, Researchers Show How Hepatitis C Replicates (October 31, 2008) -- The hepatitis C virus is a prolific replicator, able to produce up to a trillion particles per day in an infected person by hijacking liver cells in which to build up its viral replication machinery. Now new research -- in which scientists have for the first time used fluorescent proteins to image hepatitis C virus replication in live cells -- shows that the microscopic viral factories are a diverse mix of big, immobile structures and tiny replication complexes that zip zanily around inside the cell. ... > full story
Mathematician Cracks Mystery Beatles Chord (October 31, 2008) -- It's the most famous chord in rock 'n' roll, an instantly recognizable twang rolling through the open strings on George Harrison's 12-string guitar: the opening chord to the Beatles song "A Hard Day's Night." Now, a researcher has used a mathematical calculation known as Fourier transform to solve the Beatles' riddle. The process allowed him to decompose the sound into its original frequencies using computer software and parse out which notes were on the record. ... > full story
Clues To Planets' Birth Discovered In Meteorites (October 31, 2008) -- Meteorites that are among the oldest rocks ever found have provided new clues about the conditions that existed at the beginning of the solar system, solving a longstanding mystery and overturning some accepted ideas about the way planets form. ... > full story
Ultrafast Lasers Show Snapshot Of Electrons In Action (October 31, 2008) -- In the quest to slow down and ultimately understand chemistry at the level of atoms and electrons, scientists have found a new way to peer into a molecule that allows them to see how its electrons rearrange as the molecule changes shape. ... > full story
Astronauts To Vote From Space (October 31, 2008) -- In this day and age, people engage in their right to vote from all over the world. But this Nov. 4, few ballots will have traveled as far as those cast by two NASA astronauts. ... > full story
Engineering Technique Can Identify Disease-causing Genes (October 31, 2008) -- Scientists believe that complex diseases such as schizophrenia, major depression and cancer are not caused by one, but a multitude of dysfunctional genes. ... > full story
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Locksmiths (October 31, 2008) -- Computer scientists have built a software program that can perform key duplication without having the key. Instead, the computer scientists only need a photograph of the key. ... > full story
Researchers Find New Way Of Measuring 'Reality' Of Virtual Worlds (October 31, 2008) -- A research team has developed a new way of measuring how "real" online virtual worlds are -- an important advance for the emerging technology that can be used to foster development of new training and collaboration applications by companies around the world. ... > full story
Amateur Sports Can Lead to Unexpected Health Problems Later in Life (October 30, 2008) -- Taking up bowling or tennis is an excellent way to stay fit. But if you're not careful, you might find that these amateur sports can have unexpected long-term health risks. ... > full story
Searching For Primordial Antimatter (October 30, 2008) -- Scientists are on the hunt for evidence of antimatter -- matter's arch nemesis -- left over from the very early Universe. New results using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Compton Gamma Ray Observatory suggest the search may have just become even more difficult. ... > full story
Artificial Pancreas Could Revolutionize Treatment Of Type 1 Diabetes (October 30, 2008) -- Researchers across the globe are testing a computerized, subcutaneous system that could one day transform the way Type 1 diabetics manage their disease. ... > full story
World's Smallest Hand-held Instrument For Detecting Health And Safety Threats (October 30, 2008) -- Researchers in Indiana are describing development of the world's smallest complete mass spectrometer (MS), a miniature version of a standard lab device -- some of which would dominate a living room -- to identify tiny amounts of chemicals in the environment. ... > full story
Gender Affects Perceptions Of Infidelity (October 30, 2008) -- A new study explored how men and women perceive online and offline sexual and emotional infidelity. When given the choice, men were more upset by sexual infidelity and women were more upset by emotional infidelity. ... > full story
Catching Earthquake Details With Ordinary Laptop Computers (October 30, 2008) -- Inside your laptop is a small accelerometer chip, there to protect the delicate moving parts of your hard disk from sudden jolts. It turns out that the same chip is a pretty good earthquake sensor, too -- especially if the signals from lots of them are compared, in order to filter out more mundane sources of laptop vibrations, such as typing. ... > full story
Real Robinson Crusoe: Evidence Of Alexander Selkirk’s Desert Island Campsite (October 30, 2008) -- An archaeological dig unearths evidence of the campsite of castaway Alexander Selkirk, the model for Robinson Crusoe. ... > full story
Why Some Marine Algae Are Shaped Like Crumpled Paper (October 30, 2008) -- What is the connection between crumpled paper and marine algae? Saddle-like shapes similar to those found in an Elizabethan "ruff" collar, say physicists in a new article. ... > full story
New Supercomputer Can Do 50 Trillion Operations Per Second (October 30, 2008) -- In less time than the blink of an eye, the Translational Genomics Research Institute's new supercomputer at Arizona State University can do operations equal to every dollar in the recent Wall Street bailout. That would be 700 billion computations in less than 1/60th of a second. ... > full story
Progress Toward New Storage Media: Reliable Nanopatterns On Chips (October 30, 2008) -- Scientists have produced reliable nanopatterns of a spin-transition compound on silicon oxide chips. This is a decisive step toward a new generation of molecular storage media. ... > full story
Computer Scientists Seek New Framework For Computation (October 30, 2008) -- There have been several revolutions during the 60 year history of electronic computation, such as high level programming languages and client/server separation, but one key challenge has yet to be fully resolved. This is to break down large complex processes into small more manageable components that can then be reused in different applications. ... > full story
Toward Non-invasive Disease Diagnosis With Wellness Cards (October 29, 2008) -- Scientists are reporting development of a device that could serve as the electronic "reader" for a coming generation of "wellness cards," specimen holders used to diagnose disease from a drop of a patient's saliva or blood. ... > full story
Reduce Computer Power Usage? Silicon Optical Fiber Made Practical (October 29, 2008) -- Scientists have, for the firsts time, been able to make a practical optical fiber with a silicon core. ... > full story
NASA's Phoenix Mission Faces Survival Challenges (October 29, 2008) -- In a race against time and the elements, engineers with NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander mission hope to extend the lander's survival by gradually shutting down some of its instruments and heaters, starting this week. ... > full story
Virtual Screening Leads To Real Progress In Drug Design (October 29, 2008) -- Around 150 thousand people per year get the parasitic disease African sleeping sickness, but the only medicines to treat it are either difficult to administer, expensive, or toxic. Now a team of scientists has put computers to work to find a solution. ... > full story
Monitoring Broken Bones Without Using Electronics: Wireless Bone Monitor (October 29, 2008) -- The novel sensor is intended one day to help doctors monitor broken bones as they grow back together. Depending on the values of the forces measured by the sensor, they can decide whether the healing process is progressing normally or whether there is a danger that the fracture or implants might be overloaded. Until now doctors have used expensive and complicated electronic devices which sent the measured data to the outside world as radio signals. ... > full story
How Toxic Environmental Chemical DBT Affects The Immune System (October 29, 2008) -- Scientists have issued a report on the mechanism of toxicity of a chemical compound called Dibutyltin (DBT). DBT is part of a class of high toxic and widely distributed chemical compounds called organotins, DBT is most commonly used as an anti-fouling agent in paint, for example in the fishing and shipbuilding industries. It is also used in the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic tubes and bottles. ... > full story
'Digital Dark Age' May Doom Some Data (October 29, 2008) -- What stands a better chance of surviving 50 years from now, a framed photograph or a 10-megabyte digital photo file on your computer's hard drive? The framed photograph will inevitably fade and yellow over time, but the digital photo file may be unreadable to future computers -- an unintended consequence of our rapidly digitizing world that may ultimately lead to a "digital dark age." ... > full story
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ScienceDaily Health Headlines -- for Tuesday, November 4, 2008
ScienceDaily Health Headlines
for Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Welcome to another edition of ScienceDaily's email newsletter. You can change your subscription options or unsubscribe at any time.
Mending Broken Hearts With Tissue Engineering (November 4, 2008) -- Broken hearts could one day be mended using a novel scaffold. The new scaffold approach could also aid the engineering of other tissues. ... > full story
Skin Cancer: Designer Molecule Tackles Malignant Cells By Two Completely Different Routes (November 4, 2008) -- By playing it safe and using a two-pronged attack, a novel designer molecule fights malignant melanoma. The substance is similar to components of viruses and in this way alerts the immune system. The body's own defenses are also strengthened against cancer cells in this process. At the same time, the novel molecule also puts pressure on the tumor in a different way. It switches off a specific gene in the malignant cells, thus driving them to suicide. With mice suffering from cancer, the researchers have thus been able to fight metastases in the lung. ... > full story
Video-assisted Thoracic Surgery Offers Comprehensive Cancer Removal Compared To Open Surgery, Study Suggests (November 4, 2008) -- Minimally invasive surgery for lung cancer called video-assisted thoracic surgery or VATS is a relatively new procedure performed almost exclusively at academic centers. Now, a preliminary study is giving surgeons an early look at its benefits. ... > full story
Greater Alcohol Outlet Density Is Linked To Male-to-female Partner Violence (November 4, 2008) -- Alcohol-outlet density is associated with a number of adverse health and social consequences. New research examines the relationship between AOD and intimate partner violence. Findings show that an increase of 10 alcohol outlets per 10,000 persons was associated with a 34 percent increased risk of male-to-female partner violence. ... > full story
Human Genes: Alternative Splicing Far More Common Than Thought (November 4, 2008) -- Scientists have long known that it's possible for one gene to produce slightly different forms of the same protein by skipping or including certain sequences from the messenger RNA. Now, scientists have shown that this phenomenon, known as alternative splicing, is both far more prevalent and varies more between tissues than was previously believed. ... > full story
Gene Scan Of Alzheimer's Families Identifies Four New Suspect Genes (November 4, 2008) -- The first family-based genome-wide association study in Alzheimer's disease has identified the sites of four novel genes that may significantly influence risk for the most common late-onset form of the devastating neurological disorder. ... > full story
New Mechanism Of Resistance To Dengue Virus (November 4, 2008) -- It is becoming increasingly common to see individuals infected by the dengue virus who develop an ultimately fatal hemorrhagic syndrome, particularly in children during epidemics. However, in most cases, dengue remains a generally benign or even asymptomatic viral infection. One explanation for this phenomenon is a new mechanism of resistance to dengue virus could form the basis for new strategies to prevent this disease. ... > full story
First International Guidelines For Treatment Of Psoriatic Arthritis Developed (November 4, 2008) -- Rheumatologists, dermatologists and patient advocates have come together to publish the first-ever international guidelines for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis, a disease that mainly affects people who have psoriasis but also some people without it. ... > full story
Criminal Offenders: Childhood Anxiety May Delay Onset Of Criminal Behavior Until After Age 21 (November 4, 2008) -- A new study examines whether certain childhood traits in boys delay criminal behavior until after the age of 21. ... > full story
Odorprints Like Fingerprints? Personal Odors Remain Distinguishable Regardless Of Diet (November 3, 2008) -- Scientists present behavioral and chemical findings to reveal that an individual's underlying odor signature remains detectable even in the face of major dietary changes. The findings indicate that biologically-based odorprints, like fingerprints, could be a reliable way to identify individual humans. ... > full story
Crucial Hormonal Pathway To Bone Building Uncovered (November 3, 2008) -- New study shows parathyroid hormone given intermittently enhances the body's own bone-building action through a specific "co-receptor" on the surface of bone cells. Previously, PTH was known to stimulate bone formation, but the exact mechanism was unknown. ... > full story
Patience During Stalled Labor Can Avoid Many C-sections, Study Shows (November 3, 2008) -- Pregnant women whose labor stalls while in the active phase of childbirth can reduce health risks to themselves and their infants by waiting out the delivery process for an extra two hours, according to a new study. ... > full story
Antioxidants Can Reduce The Toxic Effects Of Lead, Study Suggests (November 3, 2008) -- A research study shows that administering natural antioxidants can reduce the effects of lead poisoning in animals during the gestation and lactation periods. The study suggests that it could also be effective in humans. ... > full story
Weight Does Not Affect Women's Sexual Behavior, Study Finds (November 3, 2008) -- Oregon and Hawaiian researchers have found that a woman's weight does not seem to affect sexual behavior. In fact, overweight women are more likely to report having sex with men than women considered to be of "normal weight." ... > full story
Stem Cell Therapies For Heart Disease (November 3, 2008) -- New research brings stem cell therapies for heart disease one step closer. The findings reveal that our bodies' ability to respond to an internal "mayday" signal may hold the key to success for long-awaited regenerative medicine. ... > full story
Teen Pregnancy Linked To Viewing Of Sexual Content On TV (November 3, 2008) -- Adolescents who have high levels of exposure to television programs that contain sexual content are twice as likely to be involved in a pregnancy over the following three years as their peers who watch few such shows, according to a new study. ... > full story
Obesity, Other Health Problems Delay MS Diagnosis (November 3, 2008) -- People with pre-existing medical conditions, such as obesity, and vascular problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, may experience a delay in being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, or experience an increase in severity of the disease at diagnosis. ... > full story
Streamlining Brain Signals For Speed And Efficacy (November 3, 2008) -- Life exists at the edge of chaos, where small changes can have striking and unanticipated effects, and major stimuli may go unheard. But there is no space for ambiguity when the brain needs to transform head motion into precise eye, head, and body movements that rapidly stabilize our posture and gaze. Now researchers have explained how the vestibular-ocular reflex, which keeps us and the world around us stable, achieves its accuracy. ... > full story
Magnet Restores Color Perception In Partially-sighted Patient (November 3, 2008) -- By manipulating the brain non-invasively in a new way with magnetic stimulation, researchers have shown that they can restore some experience of color where before there was no visual awareness whatsoever. ... > full story
Compound Stabilizes Main Natural Suppressor Of Tumors (November 3, 2008) -- Scientists have discovered a substance with the capacity to maintain protein p53 stable even when it presents certain mutations that promote the appearance of cancer. ... > full story
New Mouse Mutant Contains Clue To Progressive Hearing Loss (November 3, 2008) -- Researchers have defined a mutation in the mouse genome that mimics progressive hearing loss in humans. Scientists have found that mice carrying a mutation called Oblivion displayed problems with the function of hair cells in the inner ear, occurring before clear physical effects are seen. ... > full story
Study Of Learning Disabled Mice Shows Balance In The Brain Is Key (November 3, 2008) -- A new study has revealed the molecular and cellular underpinnings of one of the most common, single gene causes for learning disability in humans. The findings made in learning disabled mice offer new insight into what happens in the brain when we learn and remember. ... > full story
Vigorous Activity Protects Against Breast Cancer, Study Shows (November 3, 2008) -- Normal-weight women who carry out lots of vigorous exercise are approximately 30 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than those who don't exercise vigorously. A study of more than 30,000 postmenopausal American women has revealed that a sedentary lifestyle can be a risk factor for the disease -- even in women who are not overweight. ... > full story
How Signals Flow Between Neurons: New Research Explains Membrane Fusion At Synapse (November 3, 2008) -- Imagine a bathtub with two soap bubbles colliding but never fusing. Then you add detergent, and the surface of the water goes flat as the walls of the bubbles collapse and merge. Scientists have used that analogy to describe the action of synaptotagmin-1, which acts to catalyze the fusion of the membranes of tiny neurotransmitter-filled bubbles called vesicles with the wall membrane of a neuron. This action allows signals to flow between neurons. ... > full story
Prenatal Exposure To Famine May Lead To Persistent Epigenetic Changes (November 3, 2008) -- Prenatal exposure to famine can lead to epigenetic changes that may affect a person's health into midlife. New findings show a trickle-down effect from pregnant women to the DNA of their unborn children and the timeframe over which such early damage can operate. These data are the first to show that early-life environmental conditions can cause epigenetic changes in humans that persist throughout life. ... > full story
Credit Card-swipe Device To Test For Hundreds Of Diseases (November 3, 2008) -- Scientists successfully created a sensitive prototype device that could test for dozens or even hundreds of diseases simultaneously by acting like a credit card-swipe machine to scan a card loaded with microscopic blood, saliva or urine samples. The prototype works on the same principle -- giant magnetoresistance or GMR -- that is used to read data on computer hard drives or listen to tunes on portable digital music players. ... > full story
Brain Stimulation Improves Dexterity (November 3, 2008) -- Applying electrical stimulation to the scalp and the underlying motor regions of the brain could make you more skilled at delicate tasks. Research in the journal BMC Neuroscience shows that a non-invasive brain-stimulation technique, transcranial direct current stimulation, is able to improve the use of a person's non-dominant hand. ... > full story
Can Your Doctor Correctly Read A Critical Heart Test? Improving Accuracy Of Electrocardiogram Interpretation (November 3, 2008) -- Correct interpretation of an electrocardiogram may prompt life-saving, emergency measures; incorrect interpretation may delay care with life-threatening consequences. Currently, there is no uniform way to teach doctors in training how to interpret an ECG or assess their competence in the interpretation. To address the lack of uniformity, a team of physicians from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the American College of Cardiology has developed the first Web-based training and examination program for reading ECGs. ... > full story
Key To Aggressive Breast Cancer Discovered (November 3, 2008) -- In trying to find out why HER2-positive breast cancer can be more aggressive than other forms of the disease, researchers have surprisingly discovered that HER2 itself is the culprit. HER2 advances tumor growth by shutting down its own suppressor. ... > full story
Diabetes Medication May Be Linked To Lower Risk Of Death From Cardiovascular Disease (November 3, 2008) -- The diabetes medication metformin may be associated with a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, according to a meta-analysis of previously published studies. No associations were found between other diabetes medications and beneficial or harmful cardiovascular effects, in part because of insufficient data, the authors note. ... > full story
Media Coverage Affects How People Perceive Threat Of Disease (November 3, 2008) -- Popular media coverage of infectious diseases greatly influences how people perceive those diseases, making them seem more dangerous, according to a new study. ... > full story
Simple Chemical Procedure Augments Therapeutic Potential Of Stem Cells (November 3, 2008) -- Researchers have developed a simple method for making a certain class of adult stem cells more therapeutically effective. By attaching a molecule called SLeX to the surface of human cells extracted from bone marrow, researchers have altered how the cells travel through vessels. This might enable the cells to more effectively reach sites of injury and replace damaged tissue. ... > full story
Diabetes Treatment Becomes More Complex, Costly (November 3, 2008) -- Because of the increased number of patients, growing reliance on multiple medications and the shift toward more expensive new medicines, the annual cost of diabetes drugs nearly doubled in only six years, rising from .7 billion in 2001 to .5 billion in 2007. The single greatest contributor was the use of newer, more expensive medications. ... > full story
NASA-enhanced Dust Storm Predictions To Aid Health Community (November 3, 2008) -- NASA satellite data can improve forecasts of dust storms in the American Southwest in ways that can benefit public health managers. ... > full story
Birth Control Pill Does Not Deserve Its Reputation For Causing Weight Gain (November 3, 2008) -- Research has not proven that the pill causes weight gain. But many women are put off using contraceptive pills because this has been listed as one of their adverse effects. Their concern may be narrowing their contraceptive choices without good reason, according to new research. ... > full story
'Opt Out' System Could Solve Donor Organ Shortage, Says Researcher (November 3, 2008) -- A system of presumed consent for organ donation -- where people have to opt out of donating their organs when they die -- is the best way to tackle a growing waiting list for transplant, says an expert in organ donation and the illegal trade of body parts. ... > full story
Genetic Differences That Cause Childhood Eye Disease (November 3, 2008) -- Medical researchers have unlocked part of the mystery underlying a childhood eye disease. New research shows how children with some types of glaucoma end up with missing or extra pieces of DNA. ... > full story
African-American Canadians Who Receive Kidney Transplants Fare Better Than Those In US (November 3, 2008) -- African American kidney disease patients in both Canada and the United States are less likely than Caucasian Americans to have access to kidney transplants, but only African-Americans in the United States have worse health outcomes than Caucasians after a transplant is performed, according to a new study. The results could further open the debate about what has driven the disparities seen only in the United States. ... > full story
Systems Biology And Glycomics Applied To Study Of Human Inflammatory Diseases (November 3, 2008) -- An innovative systems biology approach to understanding the carbohydrate structures in cells is leading to new ways to understand how inflammatory illnesses and cardiovascular disease develop in humans. ... > full story
Patients Give Low Scores To Hospitals In First National Survey (November 3, 2008) -- Researchers analyzed the first national data on patients' experiences in hospital settings and found that though patients are generally satisfied with their care, there is substantial room for improvement in a number of key areas, including pain management and discharge instructions. ... > full story
Biologists Discover Motor Protein That Rewinds DNA (November 2, 2008) -- Biologists have discovered the first of a new class of cellular motor proteins that "rewind" sections of the double-stranded DNA molecule that become unwound, like the tangled ribbons from a cassette tape, in "bubbles" that prevent critical genes from being expressed. ... > full story
Transplantation: 'Molecular Miscegenation' Blurs The Boundary Between Self And Non-self (November 2, 2008) -- A new discovery by London biologists may yield new ways of handling transplant rejection. Scientists confirm the two-way transfer of a molecule that instructs the immune system to tell "self" from "non-self." By disrupting the transfer of this molecule, newly transplanted organs should become "invisible" to the host's immune system. Such an advance would be considered a major medical breakthrough. ... > full story
Severe Gestational Hypertension May Protect Sons Against Testicular Cancer (November 2, 2008) -- Women who experience severe gestational hypertension may give birth to boys at lower risk for testicular cancer, although the exact reasons why are still unclear. ... > full story
Ultrasound Shown To Exert Remote Control Of Brain Circuits (November 2, 2008) -- In a twist on nontraditional uses of ultrasound, neuroscientists have developed pulsed ultrasound techniques that can remotely stimulate brain circuit activity. The findings provide insights into how low-power ultrasound can be harnessed for the noninvasive neurostimulation of brain circuits and offers the potential for new treatments of brain disorders and disease. ... > full story
Does Your Personality Influence Who You Vote For? (November 2, 2008) -- Does your personality influence who you vote for? The short answer is yes, according to one professor of psychology. As Americans go to the polls in record numbers to vote for the next U.S. president, some voters will crave social stability and others will crave social change. Liberals and conservatives divide according to these personality preferences. ... > full story
Simple Blood Test Predicts Obesity (November 2, 2008) -- According to new research, the degree of change in blood triglyceride levels following a fatty meal may indicate susceptibility to diet-induced obesity. The findings open doors to new methods of identifying people, including children, who are at risk for becoming obese. ... > full story
Friend Or Foe? How The Body's Clot-busting System Speeds Up Atherosclerosis (November 2, 2008) -- Scientists have been puzzled by the fact that high levels of plasmin in blood and high levels of urokinase in artery walls are linked to high risk for rapid progression of atherosclerosis and heart attacks. Are these naturally occurring clot busters contributors to disease or evidence of the body's attempt to fight it? Molecular biology research shows interactions between urokinase and plasminogen accelerate atherosclerosis. Genetic loss of plasminogen production (the precursor to plasmin) protects mice against atherosclerosis, even when urokinase levels are elevated. ... > full story
Children Of Smokers Tend To Be More Impulsive (November 2, 2008) -- Adolescents may have more in common with their smoking parents than previously thought. These adolescents may also share a tendency to act impulsively, a trait that could be linked to a decision to become a smoker. ... > full story
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