Tech

New technology that enables aerial vehicles to plan and verify missions could mean there is less need for military personnel to conduct dangerous surveillance operations in war zones.

Developed for use in multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (MUAVs), the sophisticated autonomous computer framework - the first of its kind - allows one operator to control a number of vehicles from a safe position on the ground. It would also make surveillance missions significantly cheaper.

Tel Aviv, Israel, March 2, 2010 – Newly published data shows using a Respiratory Modulation Response (RMR) is a novel, non-invasive measure to quickly and accurately detect the presence of significant coronary artery disease (sCAD). Patients in the study with sCAD had a lower RMR compared to patients without, regardless of their risk factors or clinical history of angina, previous myocardial infarction (MI), or angioplasty.

California's dirty air caused more than $193 million in hospital-based medical care from 2005 to 2007 as people sought help for problems such as asthma and pneumonia that are triggered by elevated pollution levels, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

• Oxygen for ethanol oxidation is normally supplied through breathing, the stomach, and the skin.
• A new study has found that increasing dissolved oxygen concentrations in alcohol may help to reduce alcohol-related side effects and accidents.

BOSTON--A survey of parents who had a child die of cancer found that one in eight considered hastening their child's death, a deliberation influenced by the amount of pain the child experienced during the last month of life, report Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers in the March issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

A new device invented by engineers at UC Davis could make it much faster to convert pulses of light into electronic signals and back again. The technology could be applied to ultrafast, high-capacity communications, imaging of the Earth's surface and for encrypting secure messages.

"We have found a way to measure a very high capacity waveform with a combination of standard electronics and optics," said S.J. Ben Yoo, professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC Davis. A paper describing the technology was published Feb. 28 in the journal Nature Photonics.

Observing the aerial maneuvers of fruit flies, Cornell University researchers have uncovered how the insects – when disturbed by sharp gusts of wind – right themselves and stay on course. Fruit flies use an automatic stabilizer reflex that helps them recover with precision from midflight stumbles, according to observations published online today (March 1, 2010) in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Troy, N.Y. – Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered a new method for predicting – with up to 99 percent accuracy – the fate of stem cells.

Using advanced computer vision technology to detect subtle cell movements that are impossible to discern with the human eye, Professor Badri Roysam and his former student Andrew Cohen can successfully forecast how a stem cell will split and what key characteristics the daughter cells will exhibit.

KINGSTON, R.I. – March 1, 2010 – In one of the most comprehensive global studies of marine reserves, a team of natural and social scientists from the University of Rhode Island and other institutions has found that community involvement is among the most important factors driving the success of marine reserves.

OTTAWA – The personal health and financial information stored in thousands of North American home computers may be vulnerable to theft through file-sharing software, according to a research study published online today in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers have designed a urine test that can simultaneously measure the extent of a potential carcinogenic process and a marker of garlic consumption in humans.

In a small pilot study, the test suggested that the more garlic people consumed, the lower the levels of the potential carcinogenic process were.

The research is all about body processes associated with nitrogen-containing compounds, scientists say. These processes include nitrosation, or the conversion of some substances found in foods or contaminated water into carcinogens.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA–Intriguing findings on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and cataract risk, and on smoking and uveitis risk are reported in this month's Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Does HRT Use Raise Women's Cataract Risk?

St. Louis, MO, March 1, 2010 – 2009 estimates projected that in the United States alone 21,550 new cases of ovarian cancer would be diagnosed and 14,600 women would die of the disease. Often diagnosed in late stages, ovarian cancer has an asymptomatic onset and a relatively low 5-year survival rate of about 45%. Consequently investigation linked to survivorship is critical. A study published in the March 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, is among the first to evaluate possible diet associations with ovarian cancer survival.

WESTCHESTER, Ill. - A study in the March 1 issue of the journal Sleep shows that frequent napping is associated with an elevated prevalence of type 2 diabetes and impaired fasting glucose in an older Chinese population.

A large academic medical center has found that a significant percentage of outpatient referrals they receive from primary care physicians for computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies are inappropriate (based upon evidence-based appropriateness criteria developed by a radiology benefits management company), according to a study in the March issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (www.jacr.org).