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191,281 articles from EurekAlert

Chernobyl cleanup workers had significantly increased risk of leukemia

A 20-year study following 110,645 workers who helped clean up after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in the former Soviet territory of Ukraine shows that the workers share a significant increased risk of developing leukemia. The results may help scientists better define cancer risk associated with low doses of radiation from medical diagnostic radiation procedures such as computed...

CHOP experts describe research in pediatric heart disease

Physician-researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia presented new findings on pediatric cardiovascular disease at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions. They described racial disparities in risk factors for sudden cardiac death, imaging modalities and novel approaches to assessing cardiac anomalies, ventricular assist device use, changes in immunosuppressive drugs...

Circulating blood factor linked with a leading cause of kidney failure

Most patients with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a leading cause of kidney failure, have high levels of a factor called suPAR circulating in their blood.suPAR levels could help doctors monitor the disease's progression as well as patients' response to different therapies. suPAR might be a therapeutic target of future treatments for this difficult-to-treat disease.Yearly, about 5,000...

Cool pavements, warm buildings, rising electricity bills

A push to replace old, heat-trapping paving materials with new, cooler materials could actually lead to higher electricity bills for surrounding buildings, engineers at the University of California, San Diego, have found. Researchers published their findings Oct. 29 in the new Journal of Urban Climate. The study sounds a note of caution at a time when both federal and state legislatures have been...

Cosmic sprinklers explained

Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope have discovered a pair of stars orbiting each other at the center of one of the most remarkable examples of a planetary nebula. The new result confirms a long-debated theory about what controls the spectacular and symmetric appearance of the material flung out into space. The results are published in the Nov. 9, 2012 issue of the journal Science.

Driven by friendship

For the first time, the dynamics of how Facebook user communities are formed have been identified. These findings are about to be published in EPJ Data Science by Italian scientist Emilio Ferrara, affiliated with both Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, US and his home University of Messina. This work could ultimately help identify the most efficient way to spread information, such as...

Environmental factors can mitigate genetic risk for developing alcohol problems

Previous research suggests that genetic influences on drinking are moderated by environmental factors. A new study has looked at gene-environment interactions between a functional single nucleotide polymorphism of the μ-opioid receptor gene (A118G) and the risk for developing an AUD during adolescence.Findings confirm that environmental factors can moderate this association.

Environmentally friendly chemistry important for manufacturing pharmaceuticals

Limiting the quantity of catalysts - substances that trigger a chemical reaction - used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals is important, and research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has now demonstrated that small quantities of copper work well in this respect."This is an important finding, not just academically but also for industry," says chemist Per-Fredrik Larsson.

Even yeast mothers sacrifice all for their babies

A mother's willingness to sacrifice her own health and safety for the sake of her children is a common narrative across cultures - and by no means unique to humans alone. Female polar bears starve, dolphin mothers stop sleeping and some spider moms give themselves as lunch for their crawly babies' first meal.

Extra chromosome 21 removed from Down syndrome cell line

Scientists succeeded in removing the extra copy of chromosome 21 in cell cultures derived from a person with Down syndrome. Persons with this condition have three copies of this chromosome. The method would not lead to a treatment for Down syndrome, but could lead to treatments for some conditions associated with it, such as leukemia. Comparing tissue development from cell cultures from the...

Extreme weather preceded collapse of Maya civilization

Decades of extreme weather crippled, and ultimately decimated, first the political culture and later the human population of the ancient Maya, according to a new study by an interdisciplinary team of researchers that includes two University of California, Davis, scientists.

Fairy-wren babies need password for food

It's always a good idea to listen to your mother, but that goes double for baby fairy-wrens even before they are hatched. If those fairy-wren babies want to be fed, they need to have a password -- a single unique note -- taught to them by their mothers from outside the egg. The nestlings incorporate that password right into their begging calls, according to researchers who report their discovery...

FASEB lauds Air India for transporting research animals

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) commends Air India for continuing to transport research animals. In a letter to the company, FASEB expressed its appreciation for Air India's perseverance in the face of considerable pressure from animal rights groups to discontinue shipping laboratory animals.

Feel-good hormone helps to jog the memory

The feel-good hormone dopamine improves long-term memory. This is the finding of a team lead by Emrah Düzel, neuroscientist at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the University of Magdeburg. The researchers investigated test subjects ranging in age from 65 to 75 years, who were given a precursor of dopamine. Treated subjects performed better in a memory test than a comparison...

First trial in humans of 'minicells': A completely new way of delivering anti-cancer drugs

A completely new way of delivering anti-cancer drugs to tumours, using 'minicells' derived from bacteria, has been tested for the first time in humans and found to be safe, well-tolerated and even induced stable disease in patients with advanced, incurable cancers with no treatment options remaining. The research is presented at the 24th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer...