Tech

A quick and accurate test for endometriosis that does not require surgery has been developed by researchers from Australia, Jordan and Belgium, according to new research published online today (Wednesday 19 August) in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction [1].

Until now there has been no way of accurately diagnosing endometriosis apart from laparoscopy – an invasive surgical procedure – and this often leads to women waiting for years in pain and discomfort before their condition is identified correctly and treated.

Allen H. Renear and Carole L. Palmer, professors of library and information science at Illinois, say that as techniques originally designed to organize and share scientific data are integrated into scientific publishing, scientists' long-standing practice of reading "strategically" will be dramatically enhanced.

Patients with advanced cancer who received a palliative care intervention focused on addressing physical and psychosocial issues and care coordination that was provided at the same time as cancer treatment reported improved quality of life and mood but did not experience a significant change in the number of days in the hospital or the severity of their symptoms compared to patients who received usual care, according to a study in the August 19 issue of JAMA.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers are adapting the same methods used in fusion-energy research to create extremely thin plasma beams for a new class of "nanolithography" required to make future computer chips.

Current technology uses ultraviolet light to create the fine features in computer chips in a process called photolithography, which involves projecting the image of a mask onto a light-sensitive material, then chemically etching the resulting pattern.

Irvine, Calif., Aug. 18, 2009 – After a big earthquake, it's key to keep the water system afloat. Water is necessary for life, and it fights the fires that often accompany such disasters.

UC Irvine engineers plan to outfit the local water system with sensors that will alert officials when and where pipes crack or break, hastening repair – thanks to nearly $5.7 million over three years from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and several local water groups.

Chevy Chase, MD—The Hormone Foundation, the public education affiliate of The Endocrine Society, in collaboration with the National Alliance for Caregiving, today released key findings from a first-of-its-kind survey (http://www.hormone.org/Public/diabetes_caregiver.cfm) aimed at better understanding the daily needs and struggles of unpaid caregivers of people with diabetes.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2009 — A scientific trend to view the world's biggest cities as analogous to living, breathing organisms is fostering a deep new understanding of how poor air quality in megacities can harm residents, people living far downwind, and also play a major role in global climate change. That's the conclusion of a report on the "urban metabolism" model of megacities presented here today at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Pasadena, Calif.—Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and IBM's Almaden Research Center have developed a new technique to orient and position self-assembled DNA shapes and patterns—or "DNA origami"—on surfaces that are compatible with today's semiconductor manufacturing equipment. These precisely positioned DNA nanostructures, each no more than one one-thousandth the width of a human hair, can serve as scaffolds or miniature circuit boards for the precise assembly of computer-chip components.

University of California, San Diego computer scientists have created software that they hope will lead to data centers that logically function as single, plug-and-play networks that will scale to the massive scale of modern data center networks. The software system—PortLand—is a fault-tolerant, layer 2 data center network fabric capable of scaling to 100,000 nodes and beyond.

Microscopic magnetic particles have been used to bring stem cells to sites of cardiovascular injury in a new method designed to increase the capacity of cells to repair damaged tissue, UCL scientists announced today.

Two nanoscale devices recently reported by University of Pittsburgh researchers harness the potential of carbon nanomaterials to enhance technologies for drug or imaging agent delivery and energy storage systems, in one case, and, in the other, bolster the sensitivity of oxygen sensors essential in confined settings, from mines to spacecrafts.

Utilizing fractal patterns similar to those created by lightning strikes, Victor Ugaz, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, has created a network of microchannels that could advance the field of tissue engineering by serving as a three-dimensional vasculature for the support of larger tissue constructs, such as human organs.

Ugaz's work, which was undertaken with colleague Arul Jayaraman and appears in the July online version of "Advanced Materials," is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Education on asthma management in children delivered in small, interactive groups improved asthma outcomes and the overall care of children with asthma, found researchers in a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) http://www.cmaj.ca/press/cmaj080947.pdf (www.cmaj.ca).

Prevention of H1N1 influenza virus through vaccination must be our top priority if disease patterns in the northern hemisphere follow those in the southern hemisphere this fall, writes Paul Hébert, Editor-in-Chief of CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) in an editorial.

However, Canada and many other Western countries lack experience in mass immunization campaigns. In fact, we have been below vaccination target levels in such outbreaks as the resurgence of mumps in young adults in Canada last year. We need to plan now on how to overcome these problems.

Language is a central element of social life. It is not only a prerequisite for personal relationships, but also for employment prospects. If a child's language development is impaired, this can have far-reaching negative consequences. Thus, it would be beneficial if those children who would benefit from targeted help could be identified at a very early stage.