Body

A new chapter has been opened in our understanding of the chemical activity of nanoparticles says a team of international scientists. Using the X-ray beams of the European Synchrotron ESRF they showed that the electrons absorbed and released by cerium dioxide nanoparticles during chemical reactions behave in a completely different way than previously thought: the electrons are not bound to individual atoms but, like a cloud, distribute themselves over the whole nanoparticle.

Pancreatic cancer death rates in whites and blacks have gone in opposite directions over the past several decades in the United States, with the direction reversing in each ethnicity during those years. The finding comes from a new study by American Cancer Society researchers, who say the rising and falling rates are largely unexplainable by known risk factors, and who call for urgent action for a better understanding of the disease in order to curb increasing death rates. The study appears early online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

A University of Colorado Cancer Center study recently published in the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology shows that endorectal balloons commonly used during precise radiation treatment for prostate cancer can deform the prostate in a way that could make radiation miss its mark.

Charlottesville, VA (November 12, 2013). Researchers have found a strong relationship between scholarly impact and success in receiving awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) among faculty in academic neurosurgery departments. Faculty members who receive NIH funding have higher research productivity and scholarly impact than those who do not receive funding.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Male workers appear to support women becoming CEOs even more than female workers do, finds new research on the proverbial glass ceiling and job satisfaction in six formerly socialist countries.

The study, co-authored by Michigan State University economist Susan Linz, found that both sexes actually report higher job satisfaction when they believe a woman has a chance of becoming chief executive of a company or organization.

Chronic Granulomatous Disease is a rare immune deficiency that seriously compromises organ function and is life-threatening, with 20-30 per cent of patients dying within the first two decades of life. Cell transplantation, the only cure available to date, requires chemotherapy prior to transplantation in order to avoid transplant rejection, although there is a risk of complications such as central nervous system damage, organ failure, and infertility.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A new study concludes that it doesn't matter how compelling an advertisement may be, most die-hard Oregon State Beavers fans will simply not purchase a product associated with the Oregon Ducks.

Researchers at Oregon State University and California State University, San Marcos asked college students, who were a mix of average sports fans and "highly identified" fans, or super fans, to look at a generic ad that that featured an association with either the home or a rival team and included either strong or weak arguments about product quality.

(BALTIMORE, MARYLAND) — Global health advocates today commemorated the fifth annual World Pneumonia Day by calling on global leaders to scale up existing interventions and invest in new diagnostics and treatments to defeat pneumonia. Each year, pneumonia kills more children than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Pneumonia took the lives of nearly 1.1 million children under 5 in 2012 alone, with more than 99 percent of these deaths in developing countries, where access to healthcare facilities and treatment is out of reach for many children.

MADISON — People get type 2 diabetes. So do cats. But rats don't, and neither do dogs.

Subtle differences in the shape of proteins protect some and endanger others.

"All mammals make this same protein called amylin, and it only differs a little bit from species to species," says Martin Zanni, a University of Wisconsin–Madison chemistry professor. "The mammals that get type 2 diabetes, their amylin proteins aggregate in the pancreas into plaque that kills the cells around them. As a result, you can't make insulin."

San Diego, CA, November 12, 2013 – A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine gives new insight into the geographic variation in drug poisoning mortality, with both urban centers and rural areas showing a large increase in death rates. While previous studies have looked at drug poisoning related deaths in broad strokes, this is the first study to examine them on the county level across the entire U.S.

News stories about sexually exploited youth in Canada perpetuate unhelpful stereotypes, according to new research from the University of British Columbia.

The study, recently published in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, found that stories seldom focus on perpetrators, do not capture the diversity of victims, and use words that legitimize the illegal act of sexual exploitation committed against youth.

Academics with links to the pharmaceutical industry were more likely to talk up the risks of the 2009-10 swine flu pandemic in the media and promote the use of drugs than those without these ties, finds research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

During the 2009-2010 swine flu pandemic, the UK spent an estimated £1 billion on pharmaceuticals, including antiviral drugs (neuraminidase inhibitors) and an H1N1 specific vaccine. Pharma made £4.5-6.5 billion out of H1N1 vaccines alone.

A study of more than 60 000 women has shown that higher overall acidity of the diet, regardless of the individual foods making up that diet, increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. The study, the first large prospective study to demonstrate these findings, is published in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), and is by Dr Guy Fagherazzi and Dr Françoise Clavel-Chapelon, Center for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health, INSERM, Paris, France, and colleagues.

A systematic review of published studies found insufficient evidence that vitamin and mineral supplements are effective for preventing cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, or mortality from those diseases in healthy adults, according to an article published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Two studies included in the review found lower overall cancer incidence in men who took a multivitamin for over 10 years.

High levels of tungsten in the body could double the risk of suffering a stroke, a new study published in the open access journal PLOS ONE has found.

Using data from a large US health survey, the study has shown that high concentrations of tungsten – as measured in urine samples – is strongly linked with an increase in the occurrence of stroke, roughly equal to a doubling of the odds of experiencing the condition.