Low salt foods are just as safe or safer than high salt level products in spite of expectations that cutting salt levels in food would increase the risk of spoilage by bacteria.

Childhood abuse is more common in women with migraine who suffer depression than in women with migraine alone, according to a new study. The study found women with migraine who had major depression were twice as likely as those with migraine alone to report being sexually abused as a child. If the abuse continued past age 12, the women with migraine were five times more likely to report...

With prices of gourmet coffee approaching sticker-shock levels, scientists in Illinois are reporting development of a method to "fingerprint" coffee to detect when corn has been mixed in to short-change customers. Researchers point out that such adulteration of Brazilian coffee is among the most serious problems affecting coffee quality -- with cereal grains, coffee twigs, and brown sugar...

In the first randomized controlled trial for adolescent bulimia nervosa to be completed in the US, researchers show that mobilizing parents to help an adolescent overcome the disorder can double the percentage of teens who were able to abstain from binge eating and purging after six months.

In our aging society, with an increased urgency to develop new compounds that target serious illnesses like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, memory enhancement drugs are becoming a big business. But these same drugs are also creating a growing ethical controversy over their potential off-label uses, such as taking these drugs as "performance enhancers" to gain a competitive advantage in the...

A ground-based, experimental model used to simulate astronaut weightlessness in space has provided scientists an opportunity to study the effects of stress on immune organs. The new study demonstrated that osteopontin is required for the atrophy of immune organs brought on by the stress resulting from hind limb unloading.

Chemists in Italy are reporting "a real breakthrough" in technology for cleaning and conserving priceless oil paintings, marble sculptures and other works of art in a new article. They have successfully tested "nanomagnetic sponges" to clean the artwork. The process could have a range of other applications in cosmetics, detergents, and biotechnology.

An estimated 8.7 percent of U.S. children age 8 to 15 meet diagnostic criteria for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, but fewer than half receive treatment, according to a new article.

Hepatitis C virus infects up to 500,000 people in the UK alone, many of the infections going undiagnosed. It is the single biggest cause of people requiring a liver transplant in Britain. Now scientists have found monoclonal antibodies which may make a successful vaccine a reality.

Bathing beaches and lakes in Europe could fail the new cleanliness standards set by the 2006 Bathing Waters Directive, but a new risk assessment tool developed by rural studies and water management experts may help reduce the transfer of disease causing bacteria from the farmed environment, according to scientists.

A survey of the religious beliefs and practices of American physicians has found that the least religious of all medical specialties is psychiatry. Among psychiatrists who have a religion, more than twice as many are Jewish and far fewer are Protestant or Catholic. The study also found that religious physicians, especially Protestants, are less likely to refer patients to psychiatrists, and more...

With the world's first global inventory of farm animals showing many breeds of African, Asian, and Latin American livestock at risk of extinction, scientists have called for the rapid establishment of genebanks to conserve the sperm and ovaries of key animals critical for the global population's future survival.

Researchers set out to determine if an obesity prevention program called 5-2-1-Go! could reduce the risk of eating disorder symptoms and harmful weight-control behaviors in adolescents. The study showed that almost 4 percent of middle-school girls receiving only their regular health education began vomiting or abusing laxatives or diet pills, but just 1 percent of the girls in the 5-2-1-Go!...

People who smoke are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease or dementia than nonsmokers or those who smoked in the past, according to a new study. The study followed nearly 7,000 people age 55 and older for an average of seven years. Over that time, 706 of the participants developed dementia. People who were current smokers at the time of the study were 50 percent more likely to develop...

What's it like to work with relatives who think sex is like a handshake, who organize orgies with the neighbors, and firmly believe females should be in charge of everything? On September 11, a group of young researchers will head to the Congo to study our mysterious cousin, the bonobo.

In nanoscience's version of a David-and-Goliath story, scientists are reporting the first direct evidence that carbon nanotubes have powerful antimicrobial activity, a discovery that could help fight the growing problem of antibiotic resistant infections. Their research is in the area of single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Scientists are reporting development of a protein coating that may turn nanowires into a new drug delivery system that could allow use of lower doses of medicine that are less harmful to normal cells. They describe use of the coating to enable silica nanowires to enter cultured human cells and deliver a lethal dose of toxin.

While humans may pride themselves on being highly evolved, most still behave like the stereotypical Neanderthals when it comes to choosing a mate, according to new research. The researchers found that though individuals may claim otherwise, beauty is the key ingredient for men while women, the much choosier of the sexes, leverage their looks for security and commitment.

A new study has identified a regionally-specific distribution of aluminum in breast tissue which may have implications for the cause of breast cancer. Scientists have found that the aluminum content of breast tissue and breast tissue fat was significantly higher in the outer regions of the breast, in close proximity to the area where there would be the highest density of antiperspirant.

The conception and birth of a child are emotional events that influence the dreams of most new mothers. In a surprisingly high number of cases, this influence reflects negative aspects of maternal responsibility, depicting the new infant in dreamed situations of danger and provoking anxiety in the mother that often spills over into wakefulness. These kinds of dreams are also accompanied by complex...

The debate about what constitutes "dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate" has almost exclusively focused on how much the temperature can be allowed to increase. But we have perhaps just as much reason to be concerned about how quickly these changes take place. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) aims to avoid what is called "dangerous anthropogenic interference...

Combining radiation therapy with a drug that helps destroy blood vessels nourishing malignant tumors has been shown in mice to be significantly more effective in treating lung cancer than either approach alone, researchers have found. The study used human lung-cancer cells implanted in mice.

Observational and theoretical studies of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the target of ESA's Rosetta mission, are building a detailed portrait of the comet's nucleus as it travels around the Sun. Surprisingly, although the comet was not active, they found that a faint dust trail is visible in the images of the comet, extending more than 500 000 km along the comet's orbital path.

Scientists hope to learn more about climate changes here on Earth by studying Venus. A prototype balloon could eventually study the planet's surface and examine its atmosphere and the bizarre winds and chemistry within it. A team of JPL, ILC Dover and NASA Wallops Flight Facility engineers designed, fabricated and tested the balloon.