Ascribe Higher Education News Service articles from May 2008

Ascribe Higher Education News Service archives from May 2008

Carnegie Mellon Technique Accelerates Biological Image Analysis; Will Improve Automated High-Throughput Screening Techniques.
May 1, 2008... Byline: Carnegie Mellon University PITTSBURGH, May 1 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University's Lane Center for Computational Biology have discovered how to significantly speed up critical steps in an automated...

Study in 7,000 Men and Women Ties Obesity, Inflammatory Proteins to Heart Failure Risk; Obesity-Related Inflammation Also Pegged as Catalyst in Metabolic Syndrome.
May 1, 2008... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, May 1 (AScribe Newswire) -- Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere report what is believed to be the first wide-scale evidence linking severe overweight to prolonged...

Argonne Supercomputer to Simulate Extreme Physics of Exploding Stars.
May 1, 2008... Byline: University of Chicago CHICAGO, May 1 (AScribe Newswire) -- Robert Fisher and Cal Jordan are among a team of scientists who will expend 22 million computational hours during the next year on one of the world's most powerful...

Researchers Explore Altruism's Unexpected Ally -- Selfishness.
May 2, 2008... Byline: Binghamton University BINGHAMTON, N.Y., May 2 (AScribe Newswire) -- Just as religions dwell upon the eternal battle between good and evil, angels and devils, evolutionary theorists dwell upon the eternal battle between altruistic...

News You Can Use: Older Americans Month.
May 5, 2008... Byline: Council on Contemporary Families CHICAGO, May 5 (AScribe Newswire) -- May is Older Americans Month. Who are America's elders and how are they doing? Some surprising facts from researchers at the University of Illinois/Chicago-based...

Killer Competition: Neurons Duke It Out for Survival.
May 6, 2008... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, May 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- The developing nervous system makes far more nerve cells than are needed to ensure target organs and tissues are properly connected to the nervous system. As...

Berkeley Lab Researchers Propose New Breed of Supercomputers for Improving Global Climate Predictions.
May 6, 2008... Byline: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory BERKELEY, Calif., May 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- Three researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have proposed an innovative way to...

After Divorce, Stable Families Help Minimize Long-Term Harm to Children.
May 7, 2008... Byline: Ohio State University COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 7 (AScribe Newswire) -- For children of divorce, what happens after their parents split up may be just as important to their long-term well-being as the divorce itself. A new study...

Lack of Preeclampsia Awareness Increases Risk of Infant Mortality; Preeclampsia Awareness Month Focuses Attention on Common Complication of Pregnancy, Impact Education Can Make on Health Outcomes.
May 8, 2008... Byline: Preeclampsia Foundation MINNEAPOLIS, May 8 (AScribe Newswire) -- New survey results released today by the Preeclampsia Foundation indicate that over half of pregnant woman are not informed about the signs and symptoms of...

ESA's XMM-Newton Observatory Inadvertently Captured X-Ray Image of Dark Matter of Universe, Says Jerome Drexler.
May 8, 2008... Byline: The Drexler Foundation LOS ALTOS HILLS, Calif., May 8 (AScribe Newswire) -- Apparently, the European Space Agency (ESA) is unaware they have used their orbiting X-ray observatory XMM-Newton to inadvertently capture a soft X-ray...

Hopkins Researchers Discover New Link to Schizophrenia; Mouse Model Mimics Clinical Features.(Disease/Disorder overview)
May 8, 2008... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, May 8 (AScribe Newswire) -- Neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered that mice lacking an enzyme that contributes to Alzheimer's disease exhibit a number of schizophrenia-like...

Berkeley Researchers Identify Photosynthetic Dimmer Switch.
May 8, 2008... Byline: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory BERKELEY, May 8 (AScribe Newswire) -- In a study of the molecular mechanisms by which plants protect themselves from oxidation damage should they absorb too much sunlight during photosynthesis,...

New Evidence From Earliest Known Human Settlement in the Americas Supports Coastal Migration Theory.
May 8, 2008... Byline: Vanderbilt University NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 8 (AScribe Newswire) -- New evidence from the Monte Verde archaeological site in southern Chile confirms its status as the earliest known human settlement in the Americas and provides...

Warming Up for Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Higher Temperatures Yield Tunable, Supersensitive Hyper-CEST MRI.
May 8, 2008... Byline: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory BERKELEY, Calif., May 8 (AScribe Newswire) -- Standard magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, is a superb diagnostic tool but one that suffers from low sensitivity, requiring patients to remain...

Too Hot to Handle! Scientists Identify Heat Sensing Regulator.
May 12, 2008... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, May 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- Neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins are a step closer to understanding pain sensitivity - specifically why it's variable instead of constant - having...

New Clues to How Proteins Dissolve and Crystallize: Fresh Evidence for the 'Law of Matching Water Affinities'.
May 12, 2008... Byline: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory BERKELEY, Calif., May 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- In the late 19th century the Czech scientist Franz Hofmeister observed that some salts (ionic compounds) aided the solution of proteins in egg...

Prism Glasses Expand the View for Patients With Hemianopia; Schepens Study Opens Way for High-Power Permanent Version of the Glasses and Larger New Study.
May 12, 2008... Byline: Schepens Eye Research Institute BOSTON, May 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- Innovative prism glasses can significantly improve the vision and the daily lives of patients with hemianopia, a condition that blinds half the visual field in...

Carnegie Mellon Engineering Researchers Automate Analysis of Protein Patterns in Tissues.
May 12, 2008... Byline: Carnegie Mellon University PITTSBURGH, May 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- Carnegie Mellon University's Justin Y. Newberg and Robert F. Murphy have developed a software toolbox that is intended to help bioscience researchers characterize...

New Analysis Shows Important Slowdown in Lake Tahoe Clarity Loss.
May 12, 2008... Byline: University of California, Davis LAKE TAHOE, Calif., May 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- For the first time since researchers began continuously measuring Lake Tahoe's famed water clarity 40 years ago, University of California, Davis...

Researchers Discover Architecture for Fundamental Processes of Life; Universite de Montreal Study Published in the Journal Science.
May 13, 2008... Byline: Universite de Montreal MONTREAL, May 13 (AScribe Newswire) -- A team of Canadian researchers has completed a massive survey of the network of protein complexes that orchestrate the fundamental processes of life. In the online...

Archaeologist Uses Satellite Imagery to Explore Ancient Mexico; Rochester Institute of Technology Professor Bill Middleton Uses Novel Approach to Study Zapotec Culture.
May 13, 2008... Byline: Rochester Institute of Technology ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 13 (AScribe Newswire) -- Satellite imagery obtained from NASA will help archeologist Bill Middleton peer into the ancient Mexican past. In a novel archeological application,...

Treating Safety Research Like Other Clinical Studies Slows Progress; Regulations for Human Studies May Need Overhaul, Hopkins Researchers Say.(Clinical report)
May 13, 2008... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, May 13 (AScribe Newswire) -- Progress in patient safety research could slow to a crawl unless regulators work out a host of ethical issues, Johns Hopkins researchers assert in an...

Drug Therapy for PKU Reverses Heart Damage; Studies With BH4 in Mice Show Promise.
May 13, 2008... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, May 13 (AScribe Newswire) -- A pricy drug used to treat a rare but well-known genetic disorder may hold wider promise as a treatment for millions of Americans with potentially lethal...

Results of Dental Faculty Work-Life Survey Released in May Issue of the Journal of Dental Education.
May 13, 2008... Byline: American Dental Education Association WASHINGTON, May 13 (AScribe Newswire) -- The most extensive national study of the dental school faculty environment to date reveals that dental educators are satisfied in their careers and enjoy...

Treating Osteoporosis Calls for Physician, Dentist Collaboration: ADA Journal; Oral Health Maintenance Important for Patients With Osteoporosis.
May 15, 2008... Byline: American Dental Association CHICAGO, May 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- Physicians and dentists should collaborate to improve early detection and treatment of patients who have or may develop osteoporosis, say researchers in the cover...

LIDAR Imaging Detector Could Build 'Super Road Maps' of Planets, Moons; Rochester Institute of Technology Effort Could Extend NASA Science Capabilities for Planetary Applications.
May 15, 2008... Byline: Rochester Institute of Technology ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- Technology that could someday "MapQuest" Mars and other bodies in the solar system is under development at Rochester Institute of Technology's...

Molecular 'Snapshots' Capture Infectious Pili Formation; Understanding How Bacterial Sticky Fibers Grow May Help Thwart Kidney, Bladder Infections.
May 15, 2008... Byline: Brookhaven National Laboratory UPTON, N.Y., May 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- Using two sophisticated imaging techniques, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators at Stony Brook...

Addressing the 'Nitrogen Cascade': Papers in Science Discuss Incessant Cycling of Reactive Nitrogen in Environment.
May 15, 2008... Byline: University of Virginia CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., May 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- While human-caused global climate change has long been a concern for environmental scientists and is a well-known public policy issue, the problem of...

Our Small Primate Ancestors May Have Gotten a Leg Up.
May 15, 2008... Byline: Duke University DURHAM, N.C., May 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- Smaller primates expend no more energy climbing than they do walking, Duke University researchers have found. This surprising discovery may explain the evolutionary edge...

CPA Financial Executives Evaluate Fair Value Accounting.
May 15, 2008... Byline: UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School CHAPEL HILL, N.C., May 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- A majority of senior-level executive CPAs don't blame fair value accounting for causing the subprime crisis but they don't view it as...

Putting Dollar Value on Extending Life Poses Ethical Dilemma, According to Stanford Business School Research.
May 15, 2008... Byline: Stanford Graduate School of Business STANFORD, Calif., May 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- Reported in today's edition of Stanford Knowledgebase, the single biggest factor contributing to the astronomically rising cost of healthcare is...

Carnegie Mellon Scientists Unveil New Tool To Understand Evolution of Multi-Domain Genes; Results Upend Current Analyses, Herald New Way To Exploit Key Proteins in Cancer.
May 15, 2008... Byline: Carnegie Mellon University PITTSBURGH, May 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- Carnegie Mellon scientists have discovered critical flaws in the standard method used to analyze gene evolution. Standard methods fail when applied to genes that...

Novel Enzyme Inhibitor Paves Way for New Cancer Drug; Agent Proves Effective Against Melanoma Cells.
May 15, 2008... Byline: The Wistar Institute PHILADELPHIA, May 16 (AScribe Newswire) -- Combining natural organic atoms with metal complexes, scientists at The Wistar Institute have developed a new type of enzyme inhibitor capable of blocking a...

Dismantling Alzheimer's Disease: Penn Researchers Discover How Small Molecule Can Take Apart Disease-Associated Protein Fibers; Implications for Host of Neurodegenerative Diseases.
May 16, 2008... Byline: University of Pennsylvania Health System PHILADELPHIA, May 16 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown, in unprecedented detail, how a small molecule is able to selectively...

NYU Cancer Institute's Tip Sheet to the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
May 16, 2008... Byline: NYU Medical Center NEW YORK, May 16 (AScribe Newswire) -- The following news tips are based on abstracts or poster presentations at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) to be held in Chicago,...

Young Athletes to Be Screened for Risk of Sudden Heart Death; African-American Players at Special Risk of Death From Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.
May 16, 2008... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, May 16 (AScribe Newswire) -- Volunteer heart experts at Johns Hopkins have embarked on what is believed to be the largest single-day event to date to screen young athletes in the United...

Bypass Not to Blame for Heart Patients' Mental Decline; Finding Removes Stigma From Viable Treatment, Hopkins Researchers Say.
May 19, 2008... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, May 19 (AScribe Newswire) -- Heart patients often experience lasting problems with memory, language, and other cognitive skills after bypass surgery. However, these problems aren't...

Common Star Gets Swift Attention With Unprecedented Flare.
May 19, 2008... Byline: University of Maryland, College Park COLLEGE PARK, Md., May 19 (AScribe Newswire) -- On April 25, one of our nearest stellar neighbors, a small, faint red dwarf known as EV Lacertae, unleashed the brightest flare ever detected from...

'Blood-Free' Monitoring as Good as Blood Tests in Predicting the Course of AIDS, Find Penn Researchers; Implications for Developing Countries in Tracking Epidemic, Preventing Drug Resistance.
May 20, 2008... Byline: University of Pennsylvania Health System PHILADELPHIA, May 20 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown that monitoring treatment adherence to AIDS therapy is a simple...

African Dust Forecast May Help Hurricane Season Predictions.
May 20, 2008... Byline: University of Wisconsin - Madison MADISON, Wis., May 20 (AScribe Newswire) -- As the official June 1 start of the Atlantic hurricane season approaches, forecasters are developing predictions about the severity of this year's season....

Many Paths, Few Destinations: How Stem Cells Decide What They'll Be; New Evidence Supports a 'Systems' View - and Gives a Glimpse of How It Works.
May 21, 2008... Byline: Children's Hospital Boston BOSTON, May 21 (AScribe Newswire) -- How does a stem cell decide what specialized identity to adopt - or simply to remain a stem cell? A new study suggests that the conventional view, which assumes that...

Adaptive Evolution in Snake Proteins Could Give Insight Into Human Metabolic Function and Physiology.(Clinical report)
May 21, 2008... Byline: University of Colorado Health Sciences Center AURORA, Colo., May 21 (AScribe Newswire) -- According to researchers at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, new understanding about snake proteins could lead to...

Solar System Book Dedicated to Robert Clayton, 'Mr. Oxygen'.
May 22, 2008... Byline: University of Chicago CHICAGO, May 22 (AScribe Newswire) -- Robert Clayton has dedicated his life to the analysis of extraterrestrial material, from lunar rocks to meteorites from Mars and the asteroid belt. Now, the editors of a...

New Study Finds Increasing Acidification of Pacific Ocean's Continental Shelf.
May 22, 2008... Byline: Oregon State University CORVALLIS, Ore., May 22 (AScribe Newswire) -- An international team of scientists surveying the waters of the continental shelf off the West Coast of North America has discovered for the first time high...

Important Plant Enzymes Identified; Could Be Used to Improve Disease Resistance and/or Tailor Plants for Production of Biofuels or Other Useful Chemical Feedstocks.(Disease/Disorder overview)
May 22, 2008... Byline: Brookhaven National Laboratory UPTON, N.Y., May 22 (AScribe Newswire) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified enzymes important in the modification of isoflavonoids, natural...

A New Way to Look at Lung Cancer and Tobacco Carcinogens: Penn Researchers Find New Links in Critical Chemical Pathway.
May 27, 2008... Byline: University of Pennsylvania Health System PHILADELPHIA, May 27 (AScribe Newswire) -- Two types of cancer-causing agents in cigarettes - a nicotine-derived chemical and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) - are the main culprits...

Overlapping Tumor Suppressor Genes Independently Involved in Melanoma; Mutations in p14ARF Tumor Suppressor Gene Likely Play Role in Melanoma, Independent of Effect of p16.
May 27, 2008... Byline: NYU Medical Center NEW YORK, May 27 (AScribe Newswire) -- The p16INK4A, p15INK4B, and p14ARF (ARF) genes are situated at the 9p21 chromosomal locus. p16INK4A and ARF include overlapping exons. The location is frequently mutated in...

NASA Satellites Illuminate Pollution's Influence on Clouds, Climate.
May 27, 2008... Byline: Jet Propulsion Laboratory PASADENA, Calif., May 27 (AScribe Newswire) -- Using data from instruments in a constellation of NASA satellites, scientists have discovered that they can see deep inside of clouds. The satellites are...

Fruit Fly Protein Acts as Decoy to Capture Tumor Growth Factors, Penn Researchers Find; Implications for Designing Drugs to Inhibit Cancer.
May 28, 2008... Byline: University of Pennsylvania Health System PHILADELPHIA, May 28 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown how Argos, a fruit fly protein, acts as a 'decoy' receptor, binding...

Scientists Find Giant Ring Encircling Exotic Dead Star; Rochester Institute of Technology's Don Figer Co-Authors Study Published in Nature.
May 28, 2008... Byline: Rochester Institute of Technology ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 28 (AScribe Newswire) -- One of the most powerful eruptions in the universe might have spun an infrared ring around a rare and exotic star known as a magnetar, a highly...

Study Suggests Chemotherapy Diminishes Fertility in Breast Cancer Patients.
May 29, 2008... Byline: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute CHICAGO, May 29 (AScribe Newswire) -- Pre-menopausal breast cancer survivors who were treated with chemotherapy following surgery were more likely to have diminished ovarian reserve - the capacity of the...

Structure of XPD Sheds Light on Cancer and Aging: The Role of a Unique DNA-Repair Protein in Multiple Diseases.
May 29, 2008... Byline: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory BERKELEY, Calif., May 29 (AScribe Newswire) -- The protein XPD is one component of an essential repair mechanism that maintains the integrity of DNA. XPD is unique, however, in that pinpoint...

Johns Hopkins Researchers Develop Human Stem Cell Line Containing Sickle Cell Anemia Mutation; Improved Adult Cell Reprogramming Methods Open Doors for Disease Research.
May 29, 2008... Byline: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions BALTIMORE, May 29 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers at Johns Hopkins have established a human cell-based system for studying sickle cell anemia by reprogramming somatic cells to an embryonic stem...

Carnegie Mellon Computer Model Reveals How Brain Represents Meaning, Predicts Brain Activation Patterns for Thousands of Concrete Nouns.
May 29, 2008... Byline: Carnegie Mellon University PITTSBURGH, May 29 (AScribe Newswire) -- Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have taken an important step toward understanding how the human brain codes the meanings of words by creating the first...

Black Patients With Terminal Cancer More Likely to Choose Aggressive Care at End of Life, Study Shows.
May 29, 2008... Byline: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute CHICAGO, May 29 (AScribe Newswire) -- Black patients with advanced cancer were more likely than whites to die in a hospital intensive care unit, reflecting a greater preference among blacks for...

Smokers With Advanced Colon Cancer May Face Higher Odds of Disease Recurrence.
May 29, 2008... Byline: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute CHICAGO, May 29 (AScribe Newswire) -- People with advanced colon cancer who have smoked cigarettes or used other tobacco products for many years may have an increased risk that their colon cancer will...

Central Registries Hold Annual Cancer Surveillance Meeting.(Conference news)
May 29, 2008... Byline: North American Association of Central Cancer Registries DENVER, Colo., May 29 (AScribe Newswire) -- The North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR, http://www.naaccr.org) celebrates its 21st anniversary at the...

Penn Researchers Gain New Insights on Spinal Muscle Atrophy.
May 29, 2008... Byline: University of Pennsylvania Health System PHILADELPHIA, May 29 (AScribe Newswire) -- Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that the effect of a protein deficiency, which is the basis of the...

Black and Hispanic Women Less Likely Than White Women to Receive Follow-Up Radiation for Early Breast Cancer, Study Shows.
May 29, 2008... Byline: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute CHICAGO, May 29 (AScribe Newswire) -- Black and Hispanic women are less likely than white women to receive the radiation therapy routinely prescribed following surgery for early breast cancer, according...

Study: Sad Children Outperform Happy Children in Attention-to-Detail Tasks.
May 30, 2008... Byline: University of Virginia CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., May 30 (AScribe Newswire) -- Psychologists at the University of Virginia and the University of Plymouth (United Kingdom) have conducted experimental research that contrasts with the...

Acupuncture Reduces Pain and Dysfunction in Head and Neck Cancer Patients After Neck Dissection.
May 31, 2008... Byline: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center CHICAGO, May 31 (AScribe Newswire) -- New data from a randomized, controlled trial found that acupuncture provided significant reductions in pain, dysfunction, and dry mouth in head and neck...