ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Choline supplementation during pregnancy presents a new approach to schizophrenia prevention
• 2012 sustained long-term climate warming trend, NASA finds
• Novel approach to track migration of arctic-breeding avian species
• Transmission of tangles in Alzheimer's mice provides more authentic model of tau pathology
• Ways to improve quality of care measurement from electronic health records identified
• New technique helps stroke victims communicate
• Where there's smoke or smog, there's climate change
• New genetic mutation for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis identified
• Global warming may have severe consequences for rare Haleakalā silversword plants
• Photovoltaic cell manufacture: Device tosses out unusable PV wafers
• Major step toward an Alzheimer's vaccine
• Small UAV supports development of lightweight sensors
• Who decides in the brain? How decision-making processes are influenced by neurons
• New insight into graphene grain boundaries
• Quantum leap in gene therapy of Duchenne muscular dystrophy
• Designer bacteria may lead to better vaccines
• Born to lead? Leadership can be an inherited trait, study finds
• Chemistry resolves toxic concerns about carbon nanotubes, experts say
• 3-D mapping of lipid orientation in biological tissues such as skin
• Flexible, nanoscale 'bed of nails' created for possible drug delivery
• Some children lose autism diagnosis: Small group with confirmed autism now on par with mainstream peers
• Borderline personality disorder: The 'perfect storm' of emotion dysregulation
• Fetal exposure to PVC plastic chemical linked to obesity in offspring
• Childhood trauma leaves its mark on the brain
• Tamoxifen ameliorates symptoms of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, study suggests
• Neon lights up exploding stars

Choline supplementation during pregnancy presents a new approach to schizophrenia prevention Posted: 15 Jan 2013 04:02 PM PST Choline, an essential nutrient similar to the B vitamin and found in foods such as liver, muscle meats, fish, nuts and eggs, when given as a dietary supplement in the last two trimesters of pregnancy and in early infancy, is showing a lower rate of physiological schizophrenic risk factors in infants 33 days old.

2012 sustained long-term climate warming trend, NASA finds Posted: 15 Jan 2013 04:02 PM PST Scientists say 2012 was the ninth warmest of any year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. With the exception of 1998, the nine warmest years in the 132-year record all have occurred since 2000, with 2010 and 2005 ranking as the hottest years on record.

Novel approach to track migration of arctic-breeding avian species Posted: 15 Jan 2013 04:02 PM PST A group of scientists have tried to determine how snow bunting populations are linked in space and time. Considering that the snow bunting poses an extra challenge to monitor due to its inaccessible breeding locations, nomadic lifestyle and small body size, they argue, combining multiple sources of data is the most appropriate approach to track patterns of the birds' migratory connectivity.

Transmission of tangles in Alzheimer's mice provides more authentic model of tau pathology Posted: 15 Jan 2013 04:02 PM PST By using synthetic fibrils made from pure recombinant protein, researchers have provided the first direct and compelling evidence that tau fibrils alone are entirely sufficient to recruit and convert soluble tau within cells into pathological clumps in neurons, followed by transmission of tau pathology to other inter-connected brain regions from a single injection site in an animal model of tau brain disease.

Ways to improve quality of care measurement from electronic health records identified Posted: 15 Jan 2013 12:35 PM PST Health care providers and hospitals are being offered up to $27 billion in federal financial incentives to use electronic health records (EHRs) in ways that demonstrably improve the quality of care. The incentives are based, in part, on the ability to electronically report clinical quality measures. By 2014, providers nationwide in the U.S. will be expected to document and report care electronically, and by 2015, they will face financial penalties if they don't meaningfully use EHRs.

New technique helps stroke victims communicate Posted: 15 Jan 2013 12:35 PM PST Researchers have developed a speech technique to aid stroke victims with aphasia.

Where there's smoke or smog, there's climate change Posted: 15 Jan 2013 12:35 PM PST In addition to causing smoggy skies and chronic coughs, soot -- or black carbon -- turns out to be the number two contributor to global warming. It's second only to carbon dioxide, according to a four-year assessment by an international panel. The new study concludes that black carbon, the soot particles in smoke and smog, contributes about twice as much to global warming as previously estimated, even by the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

New genetic mutation for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis identified Posted: 15 Jan 2013 11:39 AM PST Researchers have identified a new genetic mutation for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), opening the door to future targeted therapies. Medical researchers found that mutations within the ARHGEF28 gene are present in ALS. When they looked across both familial and sporadic forms of the disease, they found that virtually all cases of ALS demonstrated abnormal inclusions of the protein that arises from this gene.

Global warming may have severe consequences for rare Haleakalā silversword plants Posted: 15 Jan 2013 11:39 AM PST While the iconic Haleakala silversword plant made a strong recovery from early 20th-century threats, it has now entered a period of substantial climate-related decline. New research warns that global warming may have severe consequences for the silversword in its native habitat.

Photovoltaic cell manufacture: Device tosses out unusable PV wafers Posted: 15 Jan 2013 11:38 AM PST Silicon wafers destined to become photovoltaic cells can take a bruising through assembly lines, as they are oxidized, annealed, purified, diffused, etched, and layered to reach their destinies as efficient converters of the sun's rays into useful electricity. All those refinements are too much for five percent to 10 percent of the costly wafers. They have micro-cracks left over from incomplete wafer preparation, which causes them to break on the conveyors or during cell fabrication.

Major step toward an Alzheimer's vaccine Posted: 15 Jan 2013 11:38 AM PST Medical researchers have discovered a way to stimulate the brain's natural defense mechanisms in people with Alzheimer's disease. This major breakthrough opens the door to the development of a treatment for Alzheimer's disease and a vaccine to prevent the illness.

Small UAV supports development of lightweight sensors Posted: 15 Jan 2013 11:37 AM PST Engineers are developing an airborne testing capability for sensors, communications devices and other payloads. Their aerial test bed is known as the GTRI Airborne Unmanned Sensor System (GAUSS).

Who decides in the brain? How decision-making processes are influenced by neurons Posted: 15 Jan 2013 09:43 AM PST Neuroscientists have shown how decision-making processes are influenced by neurons. Whether in society or nature, decisions are often the result of complex interactions between many factors. Because of this it is usually difficult to determine how much weight the different factors have in making a final decision. Neuroscientists face a similar problem since decisions made by the brain always involve many neurons.

New insight into graphene grain boundaries Posted: 15 Jan 2013 08:17 AM PST Making the one-atom thick sheets of carbon known as graphene in a way that could be easily integrated into mass production methods has proven difficult. Now, research is giving new insight into the electronics behavior of graphene.

Quantum leap in gene therapy of Duchenne muscular dystrophy Posted: 15 Jan 2013 08:17 AM PST For years, scientists have been working to find the key to restoring dystrophin, but they have faced many challenges. After careful evaluation of 22 dogs, researchers found that the new version of the micro-dystrophin gene not only reduced inflammation and fibrosis, it also effectively improved muscle strength.

Designer bacteria may lead to better vaccines Posted: 15 Jan 2013 08:17 AM PST The 61 strains of E. coli are part of a new class of biological "adjuvants" that is poised to transform vaccine design. Adjuvants are substances added to vaccines to boost the human immune response.

Born to lead? Leadership can be an inherited trait, study finds Posted: 15 Jan 2013 08:15 AM PST Genetic differences are significantly associated with the likelihood that people take on managerial responsibilities, according to new research.

Chemistry resolves toxic concerns about carbon nanotubes, experts say Posted: 15 Jan 2013 08:15 AM PST Safety fears about carbon nanotubes, due to their structural similarity to asbestos, have been alleviated following research showing that reducing their length removes their toxic properties.

3-D mapping of lipid orientation in biological tissues such as skin Posted: 15 Jan 2013 08:15 AM PST A non-invasive method that makes it possible to observe in situ how assemblies of lipids are oriented in biological tissues, and which does not require any labeling or preparation,  has been developed. The work should enable the detection and characterization of certain pathologies associated with molecular disorders in the skin or in the nervous tissue.

Flexible, nanoscale 'bed of nails' created for possible drug delivery Posted: 15 Jan 2013 07:15 AM PST Researchers have come up with a technique to embed needle-like carbon nanofibers in an elastic membrane, creating a flexible "bed of nails" on the nanoscale that opens the door to development of new drug-delivery systems.

Some children lose autism diagnosis: Small group with confirmed autism now on par with mainstream peers Posted: 15 Jan 2013 07:15 AM PST Some children who are accurately diagnosed in early childhood with autism lose the symptoms and the diagnosis as they grow older, a new study has confirmed. The research team made the finding by carefully documenting a prior diagnosis of autism in a small group of school-age children and young adults with no current symptoms of the disorder.

Borderline personality disorder: The 'perfect storm' of emotion dysregulation Posted: 15 Jan 2013 07:14 AM PST Originally, the label "borderline personality disorder" was applied to patients who were thought to represent a middle ground between patients with neurotic and psychotic disorders.  Increasingly, though, this area of research has focused on the heightened emotional reactivity observed in patients carrying this diagnosis, as well as the high rates with which they also meet diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder and mood disorders.

Fetal exposure to PVC plastic chemical linked to obesity in offspring Posted: 15 Jan 2013 06:02 AM PST Exposing pregnant mice to low doses of the chemical tributyltin -- which is used in marine hull paint and PVC plastic -- can lead to obesity for multiple generations without subsequent exposure, a new study has found.

Childhood trauma leaves its mark on the brain Posted: 15 Jan 2013 06:02 AM PST Scientists have found evidence that psychological wounds inflicted when young leave lasting biological traces -- and a predisposition toward violence later in life.

Tamoxifen ameliorates symptoms of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, study suggests Posted: 15 Jan 2013 05:58 AM PST A new study has found that tamoxifen, a well-known breast cancer drug, can counteract some pathological features in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). At present, no treatment is known to produce long-term improvement of the symptoms in boys with DMD, a debilitating muscular disorder that is characterized by progressive muscle wasting, respiratory and cardiac impairments, paralysis, and premature death.

Neon lights up exploding stars Posted: 15 Jan 2013 05:55 AM PST An international team of nuclear astrophysicists has shed new light on the explosive stellar events known as novae. These dramatic explosions are driven by nuclear processes and make previously unseen stars visible for a short time. The team of scientists measured the nuclear structure of the radioactive neon produced through this process in unprecedented detail. Their findings show there is much less uncertainty in how quickly one of the key nuclear reactions will occur as well as in the final abundance of radioactive isotopes than has previously been suggested.

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