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191,281 articles from EurekAlert

Video can help patients make end-of-life decisions

Viewing a video showing a patient with advanced dementia may help elderly patients plan for end-of-life care, according to a study led by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers. The investigators found that participants who watched such a video in addition to listening to a verbal description of the condition were more likely choose receiving comfort care if they developed advanced dementia...

Why can we talk? 'Humanized' mice speak volumes

Mice carrying a "humanized version" of a gene believed to influence speech and language may not actually talk, but they nonetheless do have a lot to say about our evolutionary past, according to a report in the May 29 issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication.


WEDNESDAY 27. MAY 2009


A bad performance is better than no performance at all

Many songbirds learn their songs early in life from a role model. In the absence of an appropriate tutor, they develop an improvised song that often lacks the species-typical song structure. However, male canaries even learn to sing normal songs when they were exposed as juveniles to tutors that lacked the features of normal canary song, as researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology...

A connected world gives viruses the edge

This paper explores the importance of dispersal to the evolution of parasites and suggests that as human activity makes the world more connected, natural selection will favor more virulent and dangerous parasites.

Contracts adding legal twist to family health care

Financial contracts to care for sick or aging relatives -- nearly unthinkable just a decade ago -- are drawing new interest as everyday Americans wrestle with the time and expense of providing long-term health care, a University of Illinois legal expert says.

Development of DNA drugs gives hope to lupus patients

A generation of DNA-like compounds, class R inhibitory oligonucleotides, have been shown to effectively inhibit cells responsible for the chronic autoimmune condition lupus. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Arthritis Research and Therapy have demonstrated the anti-inflammatory effects of the INH-ODNs in both in vitro and mouse experiments.

Evidence of macroscopic quantum tunneling detected in nanowires

A team of researchers at the University of Illinois has demonstrated that, counter to classical Newtonian mechanics, an entire collection of superconducting electrons in an ultrathin superconducting wire is able to "tunnel" as a pack from a state with a higher electrical current to one with a notably lower current, providing more evidence of the phenomenon of macroscopic quantum tunneling.

First comprehensive guidelines for managing medullary thyroid carcinoma published in Thyroid journal

New guidelines designed to standardize and optimize the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma , an uncommon and challenging form of thyroid cancer, have been developed by the American Thyroid Association and published online ahead of print in Thyroid, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert Inc. The guidelines are available free online.

Following a healthy lifestyle is on the decline in the US

Despite the well-known benefits of having a lifestyle that includes physical activity, eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, moderate alcohol use and not smoking, only a small proportion of adults follow this healthy lifestyle pattern, and in fact, the numbers are declining, according to an article published in the June 2009 issue of the American Journal of...

Geographic isolation drives the evolution of a hot springs microbe

Sulfolobus islandicus, a microbe that can live in boiling acid, is offering up its secrets to researchers hardy enough to capture it from the volcanic hot springs where it thrives. In a new study, researchers report that populations ofS. islandicus are more diverse than previously thought, and that their diversity is driven largely by geographic isolation.

Male or female? Coloring provides gender cues

Our brain is wired to identify gender based on facial cues and coloring, according to a new study published in the Journal of Vision. Psychology Professor Frederic Gosselin and his Universite de Montreal team found the luminescence of the eyebrow and mouth region is vital in rapid gender discrimination.

Minor league hockey players unable to identify concussion symptoms, study says

When Chicago Blackhawk's leading scorer Martin Havlat returned to the ice for game four of the Western Conference Final after sustaining a concussion only two days earlier, questions were raised surrounding his swift return. According to a new study by St. Michael's Hospital neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Cusimano, similar questions were raised by 25 percent of minor league hockey players who did not...