BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Research by Indiana University environmental scientists shows that air-pollution-removal technology used in "self-cleaning" paints and building surfaces may actually cause more problems than they solve.
The study finds that titanium dioxide coatings, seen as promising for their role in breaking down airborne pollutants on contact, are likely in real-world conditions to convert abundant ammonia to nitrogen oxide, the key precursor of harmful ozone pollution.
The researchers base their findings on over 1300 ten to 15 year old non-smokers whose exposure to tobacco advertising and subsequent behaviour were monitored over a period of 2.5 years.
In 2008, the children, who were pupils at 21 public schools in three different regions of Germany, were asked how often they had seen particular ads. These included images for six of the most popular cigarette brands in Germany and eight other products, such as chocolate, clothes, mobile phones, and cars.
But it also seems to boost the number of short journeys taken by bus, which might otherwise have been cycled or walked, the findings show.
The researchers wanted to assess the public health impact of giving teens in London free bus travel. The scheme was introduced for 12 to 16 year olds in 2005, and for 17 year olds in 2006.
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– In the race against climate change and ocean acidification, some sea urchins may still have a few tricks up their spiny sleeves, suggesting that adaptation will likely play a large role for the sea creatures as the carbon content of the ocean increases.
Infants as young as ten months old express sympathy for others in distress in non-verbal ways, according to research published June 12 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Yasuhiro Kanakogi and colleagues from Kyoto University and Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan.
Loggerhead turtles use visual cues to find gelatinous prey to snack on as they swim in open waters, according to research published June 12 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Tomoko Narazaki and colleagues from the University of Tokyo, Japan.
OAKLAND, Calif., June 12 —Girls between 9 and 12 years of age with higher-than-average levels of bisphenol-A (BPA) in their urine had double the risk of being obese than girls with lower levels of BPA, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in the journal PLOS ONE.
Slowdowns in the transport and delivery of nutrients, proteins and signaling molecules within nerve cells may contribute to the development of the neurodegenerative disorder ALS, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.
The researchers showed how a genetic mutation often associated with inherited ALS caused delays in the transport of these important molecules along the long axons of neurons.
Their findings were published in the online journal PLOS ONE on June 12.
STANFORD, Calif. — Rape is shockingly common in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, where as many as one in four adolescent girls are raped each year. But a short self-defense course can dramatically reduce the girls' vulnerability to sexual assault, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and an organization called No Means No Worldwide.
(Lebanon, NH, 6/11/13) — Subgroup analyses from a phase III clinical trial comparing a newer chemotherapy agent called eribulin mesylate, with capecitabine, a standard chemotherapy medication in women with previously treated metastatic breast cancer, showed increased benefit among women sharing certain traits. Specifically, these analyses demonstrated a greater potential benefit in certain subsets of patients with metastatic breast cancer. This analysis was presented by Peter A. Kaufman, M.D., during the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting.
MINNEAPOLIS – Men who experience restless legs syndrome (RLS) may have a higher risk of dying earlier, according to research that appears in the June 12, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The disorder is characterized by an irresistible urge to move the legs and often causes leg sensations of burning, creeping, and tugging, which are usually worse at night.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed an easier and more effective method for inserting genes into eye cells that could greatly expand gene therapy to help restore sight to patients with blinding diseases ranging from inherited defects like retinitis pigmentosa to degenerative illnesses of old age, such as macular degeneration.
Unlike current treatments, the new procedure – which takes a little as 15-minutes – is surgically non-invasive, and it delivers normal genes to difficult-to-reach cells throughout the entire retina.
PORTLAND, Ore. June 12, 2013. A recent study in the Journal of Forestry now offers managers a tool to help them identify regions exposed to multiple forest threats. The tool uses a novel 15-mile radius neighborhood analysis to highlight locations where threats are more concentrated relative to other areas, and identifies where multiple threats may intersect. It is a technique that may have never been used before to describe forest threats, according to the researchers.
Microbes are living more than 500 feet beneath the seafloor in 5 million-year-old sediment, according to new findings by researchers at the University of Delaware and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
Genetic material in mud from the bottom of the ocean — called the deep biosphere —revealed an ecosystem of active bacteria, fungi and other microscopic organisms at depths deeper than a skyscraper is high. The findings were published in Nature on June 12.
Bremerhaven, 12 June 2013. In collaboration with an international team of researchers, scientists at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, have sequenced the genome of the calcified alga Emiliania huxleyi and have found an explanation for the enormous adaptive potential and global distribution of this unicellular alga. As the researchers report in an online prepublication of the scientific journal Nature, the microalga's "trick" is genetic diversity.