Tech

The full details about the molecules and mechanisms that underlie the development of autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus, remain to be discovered. One compound that may have a role in alleviating these conditions is quinoline-3-carboxamide, which is currently being tested in various clinical trials. In this week's PLoS Biology, researchers from Lund University, Sweden, the University of Munster in Germany, and the company Active Biotech AB, identify a molecular target for quinoline compounds.

Medication errors account for 78% of serious medical errors in the intensive care unit (ICU) but there are strategies that can help reduce errors and improve patient safety, write a team of Calgary researchers in an article in CMAJ (www.cmaj.ca).

For example, it takes 80-100 correctly executed steps to administer 1 dose of a single medication to a critically ill patient in the ICU.

A recent Finnish study suggests that children's short sleep duration even without sleeping difficulties increases the risk for behavioral symptoms of ADHD.

During the recent decades, sleep duration has decreased in many countries; in the United States a third of children are estimated to suffer from inadequate sleep. It has been hypothesised that sleep deprivation may manifest in children as behavioral symptoms rather than as tiredness, but only few studies have investigated this hypothesis.

INDIANAPOLIS – New guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics should eliminate one of the many stresses of bringing a preterm or low birth weight infant home from the hospital.

The new AAP clinical report, "Safe Transportation of Preterm and Low Birth Weight Infants at Hospital Discharge," co-authored by Marilyn J. Bull, M.D., and William A. Engle, M.D., of Indiana University School of Medicine and Riley Hospital for Children, provides guidelines for secure transport and also advises parents that car safety seats should only be used for travel.

LINTHICUM, MD, April 27, 2009—The American Urological Association (AUA) today issued new clinical guidance – which directly contrasts recent recommendations issued by other major groups – about prostate cancer screening, asserting that the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test should be offered to well-informed, men aged 40 years or older who have a life expectancy of at least 10 years.

MADISON, WI, APRIL 27, 2009 – Landfilled waste decomposes in the absence of oxygen and results in the production of methane. Landfills are classified as the second-largest human-made source of CH4 in the U.S. Additionally, landfill gas contains numerous non-methane hydrocarbons that are either volatilized directly from waste materials or produced through biochemical reactions during waste degradation.

Researchers have developed a new statistical model that simulates human mobility patterns, mimicking the way people move over the course of a day, a month or longer. The model, developed by scientists at North Carolina State University and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), is the first to represent the regular movement patterns of humans using statistical data. The model has a host of potential uses, ranging from land use planning to public health studies of epidemic disease.

LINTHICUM, MD, April 27, 2009—The American Urological Association (AUA) today issued new clinical guidance – which directly contrasts recent recommendations issued by other major groups – about prostate cancer screening, asserting that the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test should be offered to well-informed, men aged 40 years or older who have a life expectancy of at least 10 years.

New Haven, Conn. — As researchers push towards detection of single molecules, single electron spins and the smallest amounts of mass and movement, Yale researchers have demonstrated silicon-based nanocantilevers, smaller than the wavelength of light, that operate on photonic principles eliminating the need for electric transducers and expensive laser setups.

The work reported in an April 26 advance online publication of Nature Nanotechnology ushers in a new generation of tools for ultra-sensitive measurements at the atomic level.

Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers find that outcomes of robotic assisted kidney cancer surgery, when performed by experienced surgeons at high volume centers, prove more beneficial to patients when compared to open surgery. The study, authored by Fox Chase robotic surgeon Rosalia Viterbo, MD, was presented today at the American Urological Association's Annual Meeting,

CHICAGO (April 26, 2009)—Does a person's insurance coverage affect their access to quality cancer care? According to researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center, insurance coverage may not only affect a patient's access to health care, but also the quality of care they receive. Research findings, presented today at the American Urological Association's Annual Meeting, may have implications for a national debate on healthcare reform.

April 23, 2009 -- Deteriorating screws in bridges, fish that listen in the dark, medical devices that use sound to treat disease, the detected comeback of a long-gone whale, the sound of hyenas, cheese, and bagpipes, and what evolution can teach us about cowardice.

When Sweden's spent nuclear fuel is to be permanently stored, it will be protected by three different barriers. Even if all three barriers are damaged, the nuclear fuel will not dissolve into the groundwater, according to a new doctoral dissertation from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

Personal computers may soon save large amounts of energy by "sleep talking." Computer scientists at UC San Diego and Microsoft Research have created a plug-and-play hardware prototype for personal computers that induces a new energy saving state known as "sleep talking." Normally PCs can be in either awake mode—where they consume power even if they are not being used, or in a low power sleep mode—where they save substantial power but are essentially inactive and unresponsive to network traffic.