Tech

After running a series of complex computer simulations, researchers have found that flaws in the structure of magnetic nanoscale wires play an important role in determining the operating speed of novel devices using such nanowires to store and process information. The finding*, made by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the University of Maryland, and the University of Paris XI, will help to deepen the physical understanding and guide the interpretation of future experiments of these next-generation devices.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have discovered a new way to apply nanostructure coatings to make heat transfer far more efficient, with important potential applications to high tech devices as well as the conventional heating and cooling industry.

These coatings can remove heat four times faster than the same materials before they are coated, using inexpensive materials and application procedures.

The discovery has the potential to revolutionize cooling technology, experts say.

PROVIDENCE, RI – A promising study from Rhode Island Hospital demonstrated that cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEI), a type of medication often prescribed for Alzheimer's disease (AD), improved some cognitive skills in patients with mild AD – skills that are necessary for driving. Findings from the study showed that after being treated with a ChEI, AD patients improved in some computerized tests of executive function and visual attention, including a simulated driving task. The study is published in the June 2010 edition of the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology.

A study from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, which monitored a group of women for 25 years showed that the combined oral contraceptive pill (the pill) is the most common form of contraceptive among women under 29. At the same time many young women have unwanted pregnancies resulting in repeated abortions. According to the researchers increased use of an intrauterine device at a younger age would reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.

Washington, DC—A new study finds that propofol, a well-known anesthesia medication, has a low occurrence of adverse events for children undergoing research-driven imaging studies. The study, led by a pediatric anesthesiologist now at Children's National Medical Center, showed a low incidence of adverse events and no long term complications when propofol was used to sedate children for imaging studies that require them to be still for long periods of time.

Children conceived by medically assisted reproduction (MAR) have fiscal implications for government both in terms of future government spending and tax revenue. Based on public funding to conceive a MAR child -- after factoring in education, future health and pension costs, and future tax contributions of this child - the discounted net tax revenue (the difference between future government spending and tax revenue) of a child born in 2005 is roughly €127,000 in today's value.

WESTCHESTER, IL – First-time parents' relationship satisfaction is related to the amount of sleep they get while caring for an infant, according to a research abstract that will be presented Wednesday, June 9, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.

CINCINNATI—Though guidelines for best treatment practices are common, they are only partially effective without standardized, routine exposure to them in clinical practice, according to a study conducted by University of Cincinnati (UC) emergency medicine researchers.

If you think summer in your hometown is hot, consider it fortunate that you don't live in the Turkana Basin of Kenya, where the average daily temperature has reached the mid-90s or higher, year-round, for the past 4 million years.

The need to stay cool in that cradle of human evolution may relate, at least in part, to why pre-humans learned to walk upright, lost the fur that covered the bodies of their predecessors and became able to sweat more, Johns Hopkins University earth scientist Benjamin Passey said.

Having to provide repeated semen samples following a vasectomy could soon be a thing of the past, after 96 per cent of men were given the all-clear based on a single test three months after surgery.

Research from The Netherlands, published in the June issue of the urology journal BJUI, showed that 51 per cent of the 1,073 samples contained no sperm and a further 45 per cent contained less than 100,000 immotile sperm.No paternity was reported in the cleared group after a follow-up of at least a year.

How safe is the food we get from restaurants, cafeterias and other food-service providers? A new study from North Carolina State University -- the first study to place video cameras in commercial kitchens to see how precisely food handlers followed food-safety guidelines -- discovered that risky practices happen more often than previously thought.