Body

Advice for bag-in-box wine drinkers: Keep it cool

Bag-in-box wines are more likely than their bottled counterparts to develop unpleasant flavors, aromas and colors when stored at warm temperatures, a new study has found. Published in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, it emphasizes the importance of storing these popular, economical vintages at cool temperatures.

Plastics used in some medical devices break down in a previously unrecognized way

Scientists have discovered a previously unrecognized way that degradation can occur in silicone-urethane plastics that are often considered for use in medical devices. Their study, published in ACS' journal Macromolecules, could have implications for device manufacturers considering use of these plastics in the design of some implantable devices, including cardiac defibrillation leads.

Communications training, surgical checklist can reduce costly postoperative complications

Chicago (December 5, 2012): As the nation grapples with surging health care costs, researchers at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, and Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Hartford, have confirmed two simple cost-effective methods to reduce expensive postoperative complications—communications team training and a surgical checklist.

First synthesis of gold nanoparticles inside human hair for dyeing and much more

In a discovery with applications ranging from hair dyeing to electronic sensors to development of materials with improved properties, scientists are reporting the first synthesis of gold nanoparticles inside human hairs. Their study appears in ACS' journal Nano Letters.

African American women with breast cancer less likely to have newer, recommended surgical procedure

San Antonio - African American women with early stage, invasive breast cancer were 12 percent less likely than Caucasian women with the same diagnosis to receive a minimally invasive technique, axillary sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy, years after the procedure had become the standard of surgical practice, according to research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Studying marrow, URMC researchers accelerate blood stem cells

University of Rochester Medical Center scientists are testing a new approach to speed a patient's recovery of blood counts during a vulnerable period after a stem-cell transplant, according to a study published in the journal Stem Cells.

Adult antiviral drug effective in suppressing hepatitis B in teens

A recent clinical trial found that the adult antiviral drug, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (tenofovir DF), is safe and effective in treating adolescents with hepatitis B virus (HBV). Trial results published in the December issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), show that tenofovir DF suppressed HBV in 89% of pediatric participants.

Reading history through genetics

New York, NY—December 5, 2012—Computer scientists at Columbia's School of Engineering and Applied Science have published a study in the November 2012 issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics (AJHG) that demonstrates a new approach used to analyze genetic data to learn more about the history of populations. The authors are the first to develop a method that can describe in detail events in recent history, over the past 2,000 years.

Large pores

Researchers of the KIT Institute of Functional Interfaces (IFG), Jacobs University Bremen, and other institutions have developed a new method to produce metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). By means of the so-called liquid-phase epitaxy, the scientists succeeded in producing a new class of MOFs with a pore size never reached before. These frameworks open up interesting applications in medicine, optics, and photonics. The new class of MOFs, called "SURMOF 2", is presented in the "Nature Scientific Reports" journal.

Africa's Homo sapiens were the first techies

The search for the origin of modern human behaviour and technological advancement among our ancestors in southern Africa some 70 000 years ago, has taken a step closer to firmly establishing Africa, and especially South Africa, as the primary centre for the early development of human behaviour.

Discovery of 100 million-year-old regions of DNA shows short cut to crop science advances

Scientists have discovered 100 million-year-old regions in the DNA of several plant species which could hold secrets about how specific genes are turned 'on' or 'off'.

The findings, which are hoped will accelerate the pace of research into crop science and food security, are detailed by University of Warwick researchers in the journal The Plant Cell.

An inadequate diet during pregnancy predisposes the baby to diabetes

Experts already know that pregnant women should not eat for two. A study now insists on the importance of a healthy diet as a way of avoiding increased insulin and glucose levels in the child, both of which are indicators of diabetes and metabolic syndrome risk.

Maternal diet quality during pregnancy is fundamental to foetal growth as well as insulin and glucose levels at birth. Such indications warn of the possible predisposition to suffer from illnesses like diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Mayo Clinic: Less invasive surgery detects residual breast cancer in lymph nodes after chemotherapy

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Most patients whose breast cancer has spread to their lymph nodes have most of the lymph nodes in their armpit area removed after chemotherapy to see if any cancer remains. A study conducted through the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group and led by Judy Boughey, M.D. a breast surgeon at Mayo Clinic shows that a less invasive procedure known as sentinel lymph node surgery successfully identified whether cancer remained in lymph nodes in 91 percent of patients with node-positive breast cancer who received chemotherapy before their surgery.

Scientists find oldest dinosaur -- or closest relative yet

Researchers have discovered what may be the earliest dinosaur, a creature the size of a Labrador retriever, but with a five foot-long tail, that walked the Earth about 10 million years before more familiar dinosaurs like the small, swift-footed Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus.

The findings mean that the dinosaur lineage appeared 10 million to 15 million years earlier than fossils previously showed, originating in the Middle Triassic rather than in the Late Triassic period.

Atherosclerosis found in HIV children

Athens, Greece – 5 December 2012: Children with HIV have a 2.5 fold increased risk of atherosclerosis, according to research1 presented at EUROECHO and other Imaging Modalities 2012. Antiretroviral treatment, lipid lowering drugs and prevention with healthy lifestyles are needed to prevent early death from cardiovascular disease.