ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Treatment of silent acid reflux does not improve asthma in children, study finds
• Food fried in olive or sunflower oil is not linked to heart disease, Spanish study finds
• Restored wetlands rarely equal condition of original wetlands
• More on legal remedies for ghostwriting
• Availability and use of sanitation reduces by half the likelihood of parasitic worm infections
• Tobacco smoking and high blood pressure are biggest killers of Japanese adults, study finds
• Cohabitating Valentines Are Happier Than Wedded Couples
• Crystallizing the future of oxide materials
• Space weather arrives: Relatively minor impacts expected from solar storm
• Fungi-filled forests are critical for endangered orchids
• Lab mimics Jupiter's Trojan asteroids inside a single atom
• Increased exposure to compound widely used in food packaging associated with reduced immune response to vaccinations for children
• Women with certain type of ovarian cancer and BRCA gene mutation have improved survival at 5 years
• Addition of proton pump inhibitor to treatment of poorly controlled asthma in children does not improve symptoms
• Acid reflux drug does not improve asthma in children, study finds
• Marine mammals on the menu in many parts of world
• School obesity programs may promote worrisome eating behaviors and physical activity in kids
• Bilayer graphene works as an insulator: Research has potential applications in digital and infrared technologies
• Off-campus college party hosts drink more than attendees, research suggests
• Wasp found in upstate New York shows up in Southern California
• Membrane fusion a mystery no more
• New material to remove radioactive gas from spent nuclear fuel
• High levels of fructose consumption by adolescents may put them at cardiovascular risk, evidence suggests
• Therapeutically useful stem cell derivatives in need of stability
• Brown fat burns calories in adult humans
• Genetic variation increases risk of metabolic side effects in children on some antipsychotics
• 'Speed gene' in modern racehorses originated from British mare 300 years ago, scientists claim
• Genetically modified food safe, animal study suggests
• Improving crops from the roots up
• Name (and eat) a cockroach for Valentine's day
• Entry point for hepatitis C infection identified
• Children with ADHD benefit from healthy lifestyle options as first-line treatment
• A parent's survival guide to lice
• It's evolution: Nature of prejudice, aggression different for men and women
• Babies are born with 'intuitive physics' knowledge, says researcher
• The impact of deleting five personality disorders in the new DSM-5
• How longstanding conflict influences empathy for others
• Religion helps us gain self-control, study suggests
• Winged dinosaur Archaeopteryx dressed for flight
• Possible new pathway can overcome glioblastoma resistance
• Foot and ankle structure differs between sprinters and non-sprinters
• Scientists discover new clue to chemical origins of life
• Neanderthals and their contemporaries engineered stone tools, anthropologists discover

Treatment of silent acid reflux does not improve asthma in children, study finds Posted: 24 Jan 2012 03:42 PM PST Adding the acid reflux drug lansoprazole to a standard inhaled steroid treatment for asthma does not improve asthma control in children who have no symptom of acid reflux, according to a new study. Lansoprazole therapy slightly increased the risk of sore throats and other respiratory problems in children, however.

Food fried in olive or sunflower oil is not linked to heart disease, Spanish study finds Posted: 24 Jan 2012 03:41 PM PST Eating food fried in olive or sunflower oil is not linked to heart disease or premature death, a new study finds. The authors stress, however, that their study took place in Spain, a Mediterranean country where olive or sunflower oil is used for frying and their results would probably not be the same in another country where solid and re-used oils were used for frying.

Restored wetlands rarely equal condition of original wetlands Posted: 24 Jan 2012 03:41 PM PST Half of all wetlands in the US, Europe and China were destroyed during the 20th century, but a thriving restoration effort aims to recreate marshes and other ecosystems lost. A new study cautions, however, that restored wetlands do not recover to the condition of a natural, undamaged wetland for hundreds of years, if ever. This calls into question mitigation banks that allow developers to destroy one wetland if they create another.

More on legal remedies for ghostwriting Posted: 24 Jan 2012 03:41 PM PST In an essay that expands on a previous proposal to use the courts to prosecute those involved in ghostwriting on the basis of it being legal fraud, Xavier Bosch from the University of Barcelona, Spain and colleagues lay out three outline specific areas of legal liability in this week's PLoS Medicine.

Availability and use of sanitation reduces by half the likelihood of parasitic worm infections Posted: 24 Jan 2012 03:41 PM PST Access to sanitation facilities, such as latrines, reduces by half the risk of becoming infected by parasitic worms that are transmitted via soil, according to a new study.

Tobacco smoking and high blood pressure are biggest killers of Japanese adults, study finds Posted: 24 Jan 2012 03:41 PM PST The life expectancy of a person born in Japan is among the highest in the world (82.9 years) yet tobacco smoking and high blood pressure are still the major risk factors for death among adults in Japan, emphasizing the need to reduce tobacco smoking and to improve ongoing programs designed to help people manage multiple cardiovascular risk factors, including high blood pressure, according to a new study.

Cohabitating Valentines Are Happier Than Wedded Couples Posted: 24 Jan 2012 03:37 PM PST When it comes to the well-being of married versus cohabitating Valentines, wedded couples experience few advantages in psychological well-being and social ties, according to a new study at Cornell University.

Crystallizing the future of oxide materials Posted: 24 Jan 2012 03:37 PM PST Researchers have examined the challenges facing scientists building the next generation of materials and innovative electronic devices and identified opportunities for taking the rational material design in new directions.

Space weather arrives: Relatively minor impacts expected from solar storm Posted: 24 Jan 2012 03:35 PM PST A significant blast of energy from the sun arrived at Earth on Jan. 24, 2012 at 10 a.m. EST, triggering a moderate geomagnetic storm here that's unlikely to cause major problems. But skywatchers take note: the storm could set off bright Northern and Southern lights Tuesday night, possibly visible from as far south as New York and Oregon.

Fungi-filled forests are critical for endangered orchids Posted: 24 Jan 2012 01:23 PM PST When it comes to conserving the world's orchids, not all forests are equal. Ecologists revealed that an orchid's fate hinges on two factors: A forest's age and its fungi.

Lab mimics Jupiter's Trojan asteroids inside a single atom Posted: 24 Jan 2012 01:23 PM PST Physicists have built an accurate model of part of the solar system inside a single atom. Scientists have shown that they could make an electron orbit the atomic nucleus in the same way that Jupiter's Trojan asteroids orbit the sun. The findings uphold a 1920 prediction by physicist Niels Bohr.

Increased exposure to compound widely used in food packaging associated with reduced immune response to vaccinations for children Posted: 24 Jan 2012 01:23 PM PST Elevated exposures in children to perfluorinated compounds, which are widely used in manufacturing and food packaging, were associated with lower antibody responses to routine childhood immunizations, according to a new study.

Women with certain type of ovarian cancer and BRCA gene mutation have improved survival at 5 years Posted: 24 Jan 2012 01:23 PM PST Among women with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer, patients having a germline (gene change in a reproductive cell that could be passed to offspring) mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes was associated with improved five-year overall survival, with BRCA2 carriers having the best prognosis, according to a new study.

Addition of proton pump inhibitor to treatment of poorly controlled asthma in children does not improve symptoms Posted: 24 Jan 2012 01:23 PM PST Children without symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux whose asthma was being poorly controlled with anti-inflammatory treatment did not have an improvement in symptoms or lung function with the added treatment of the proton pump inhibitor lansoprazole, compared to patients who received placebo, according to a new study. Use of lansoprazole was associated with increased adverse events.

Acid reflux drug does not improve asthma in children, study finds Posted: 24 Jan 2012 01:23 PM PST A randomized clinic trial found that the addition of lansoprazole does not improve asthma symptoms or the control of asthma in children and may increase the risk for upper respiratory infections and other adverse events.

Marine mammals on the menu in many parts of world Posted: 24 Jan 2012 12:19 PM PST The fate of the world's great whale species commands global attention as a result of heated debate between pro and anti-whaling advocates, but the fate of smaller marine mammals is less understood, specifically because the deliberate and accidental catching and killing of dolphins, porpoises, manatees, and other warm-blooded aquatic species are rarely studied or monitored.

School obesity programs may promote worrisome eating behaviors and physical activity in kids Posted: 24 Jan 2012 12:12 PM PST In a new poll, 30% of parents report at least one worrisome behavior in their children that could be associated with the development of eating disorders.

Bilayer graphene works as an insulator: Research has potential applications in digital and infrared technologies Posted: 24 Jan 2012 12:04 PM PST Physicists have identified a property of "bilayer graphene" that the researchers say is analogous to finding the Higgs boson in particle physics. The physicists found that when the number of electrons on the BLG sheet is close to 0, the material becomes insulating -- a finding that has implications for the use of graphene as an electronic material in the semiconductor and electronics industries.

Off-campus college party hosts drink more than attendees, research suggests Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:48 AM PST On any given weekend, at least 10 percent of students at a single college could be hosting a party, research suggests. How much hosts drink depends on whether they are on or off campus.

Wasp found in upstate New York shows up in Southern California Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:03 AM PST In August 2010, an entomologist at the University of California, Riverside discovered a tiny fairyfly wasp in upstate New York that had never been seen in the United States until then. Nearly exactly a year later, he discovered the wasp in Irvine, Calif., strongly suggesting that the wasp is well established in the country. Called Gonatocerus ater, the 1-millimeter-long wasp was accidentally introduced in North America. It lays its eggs inside the eggs of leafhoppers.

Membrane fusion a mystery no more Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:03 AM PST The many factors that contribute to how cells communicate and function at the most basic level are still not fully understood, but researchers have uncovered a mechanism that helps explain how intracellular membranes fuse, and in the process, created a new physiological membrane fusion model.

New material to remove radioactive gas from spent nuclear fuel Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:03 AM PST Research by chemists could impact worldwide efforts to produce clean, safe nuclear energy and reduce radioactive waste. They have used metal-organic frameworks to capture and remove volatile radioactive gas from spent nuclear fuel.

High levels of fructose consumption by adolescents may put them at cardiovascular risk, evidence suggests Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:03 AM PST Evidence of cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk is present in the blood of adolescents who consume a lot of fructose, a scenario that worsens in the face of excess belly fat, researchers report.

Therapeutically useful stem cell derivatives in need of stability Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:03 AM PST Human stem cells capable of giving rise to any fetal or adult cell type are known as pluripotent stem cells. It is hoped that human embryonic stem cells can be used to generate cell populations with therapeutic utility. In this context, neural derivatives of hESCs are being tested in clinical trials. However, researchers in France have now generated cautionary data that suggest that additional quality controls need to be put in place to ensure that neural derivatives of hESCs are not genomically unstable, a common characteristic of cancer cells.

Brown fat burns calories in adult humans Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:03 AM PST Brown fat burns calories to generate body heat in rodents and newborn humans. Recently, adult humans have also been found to possess brown fat, leading to the suggestion that increasing the amount of brown fat a person has will make them slimmer. However, it has never been shown definitively that adult human brown fat burns energy. But now, researchers in Canada have provided this evidence.

Genetic variation increases risk of metabolic side effects in children on some antipsychotics Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:03 AM PST Researchers have found a genetic variation predisposing children to six-times greater risk of developing metabolic syndrome when taking second-generation anti-psychotic medications. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that are risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The study showed a close association with two conditions in particular: high blood pressure and elevated fasting blood sugar levels, which is a precursor to diabetes.

'Speed gene' in modern racehorses originated from British mare 300 years ago, scientists claim Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:01 AM PST Scientists have traced the origin of the 'speed gene' in Thoroughbred racehorses back to a single British mare that lived in the United Kingdom around 300 years ago.

Genetically modified food safe, animal study suggests Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:01 AM PST A three year feeding study has shown no adverse health effects in pigs fed genetically modified (GM) maize.  The maize, which is a Bt-maize bred for its insect resistant properties, was sourced from Spain.

Improving crops from the roots up Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:01 AM PST Scientists have taken us a step closer to breeding hardier crops that can better adapt to different environmental conditions and fight off attack from parasites.

Name (and eat) a cockroach for Valentine's day Posted: 24 Jan 2012 10:44 AM PST Valentines Day is upon us and there is no better way to say "forever" than with the gift of a cockroach.

Entry point for hepatitis C infection identified Posted: 24 Jan 2012 10:44 AM PST A molecule embedded in the membrane of human liver cells that aids in cholesterol absorption also allows the entry of hepatitis C virus, the first step in hepatitis C infection, according to new research.

Children with ADHD benefit from healthy lifestyle options as first-line treatment Posted: 24 Jan 2012 10:44 AM PST Every year between 3 and 10 percent of school-age children in this country are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Increasingly, families are using natural or complementary therapies to improve their child's attention or behavior, and often seek advice from an integrative pediatrician, according to a new study.

A parent's survival guide to lice Posted: 24 Jan 2012 10:44 AM PST They're small, creepy and suck your blood. Every parent dreads it, but it's inevitable -- the "lice letter." Though a lice infestation is about as common as a cold, trying to rid your life of them can be as much of a head-scratcher as those disgusting bugs themselves. A pediatrician now gives tips for dealing with lice.

It's evolution: Nature of prejudice, aggression different for men and women Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:30 AM PST Prejudice against people from groups different than their own is linked to aggression for men and fear for women, suggests new research.

Babies are born with 'intuitive physics' knowledge, says researcher Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:30 AM PST While it may appear that infants are helpless creatures that only blink, eat, cry and sleep, one researcher says that studies indicate infant brains come equipped with knowledge of "intuitive physics."

The impact of deleting five personality disorders in the new DSM-5 Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:30 AM PST Researchers report on the impact to patients if five personality disorders are removed from the upcoming DSM-5. Based on their study, the researchers believe these changes could result in false-negative diagnoses for patients.

How longstanding conflict influences empathy for others Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:30 AM PST A young researcher had long been drawn to conflict -- not as a participant, but an observer. In 1994, while doing volunteer work in South Africa, he witnessed firsthand the turmoil surrounding the fall of apartheid; during a 2001 trip to visit friends in Sri Lanka, he found himself in the midst of the violent conflict between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan military. He is now exploring how longstanding conflict influences empathy for others.

Religion helps us gain self-control, study suggests Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:30 AM PST Thinking about religion gives people more self-control on later, unrelated tasks, according to results from a series of recent studies.

Winged dinosaur Archaeopteryx dressed for flight Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:30 AM PST The iconic, winged dinosaur Archaeopteryx was dressed for flight, an international team of researchers has concluded. The group identified the color of the raven-sized creature's fossilized wing feather, determining it was black. The color and the structures that supplied the pigment suggest that Archaeopteryx's feathers were rigid and durable, which would have helped it to fly.

Possible new pathway can overcome glioblastoma resistance Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:29 AM PST Glioblastoma, a lethal brain cancer, is one of the most resistant to available therapies and patients typically live approximately 15 months. Previous research has focused on the activation of the apoptosis, or cell death, pathway using therapeutic agents such as tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL); however, the vast majority of these experiments have been stymied by resistance. Researchers have now identified a possible new pathway for targeted therapies.

Foot and ankle structure differs between sprinters and non-sprinters Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:21 AM PST The skeletal structure of the foot and ankle differs significantly between human sprinters and non-sprinters, according to researchers. Their findings not only help explain why some people are faster runners than others, but also may be useful in helping people who have difficulty walking, such as older adults and children with cerebral palsy.

Scientists discover new clue to chemical origins of life Posted: 24 Jan 2012 06:29 AM PST Organic chemists have made a significant advance towards establishing the origin of the carbohydrates (sugars) that form the building blocks of life. The researchers have re-created a process which could have occurred in the prebiotic world.

Neanderthals and their contemporaries engineered stone tools, anthropologists discover Posted: 24 Jan 2012 06:27 AM PST New published research from anthropologists in the UK supports the long-held theory that early human ancestors across Africa, Western Asia and Europe engineered their stone tools.

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