Daily headlines about discoveries in the physical and life sciences, health and medicine, the environment, and technology, from the world's leading universities and research centers. http://www.sciencedaily.com/ Thu, 16 Nov 2006 16:00:01 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116083223.htm The veil of mystery surrounding our extinct hominid cousins, the Neanderthals, has been at least partially lifted to reveal surprising results. Scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) have sequenced genomic DNA from fossilized Neanderthal bones. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116121427.htm With cancer, researchers don't believe "you are what you eat"; that disease is always a direct result of what is, or what isn't, on your dinner plate. But studies into the association between diet and cancer show that food can have an impact in preventing cancer, or in reducing the aggressiveness of the disease. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116082720.htm Research performed at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis sheds light on the mechanisms that contribute to liver disease in alpha-1-AT deficiency patients. People with alpha-1-deficiency have a genetic mutation that can lead to emphysema at an early age and to liver damage. Using an experimental mouse model of the disorder, the researchers investigated the effects of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug on liver injury. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116124723.htm Research from the University of Michigan Health System suggests that hormone therapy might help women retain certain memory functions. In a study in the new issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, they report that a group of postmenopausal women showed more brain activity during a visual memory test than did women who were not taking the hormone therapy. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116122158.htm Common tooth whitening products, which have been used by millions of people, are found to be safe and do not increase the risk of oral cancer when used as directed. This exhaustive review of the literature, including numerous unpublished clinical studies involving over 4,000 human subjects, appeared in an article by Dr. Ian Monroe entitled, "Use of Hydrogen Peroxide-Based Tooth Whitening Products and it Relationship to Oral Cancer," published in Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116122141.htm Specific language impairment (SLI) is a condition in which a child's language development is deficient despite showing normal development in all other areas. New research, published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, attempts to identify the cause behind this affliction. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116122210.htm Researchers have improved upon an edible coating for fresh fruits and vegetables by enabling it to kill deadly E. coli bacteria while also providing a flavor-boost to food. Composed of apple puree and oregano oil, which is a natural antibacterial agent, the coating shows promise in laboratory studies of becoming long-lasting alternative to conventional produce washes, according to a team of scientists from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the University of Lleida in Spain. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116121349.htm Some "chocoholics" who just couldn't give up their favorite treat to comply with a study to test blood stickiness have inadvertently done their fellow chocolate lovers -- and science -- a big favor. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116124517.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a new protein associated with acute myelogenous leukemia. Several lines of evidence point to a protein called "Tribbles," named after the furry creatures that took over the starship Enterprise in the original Star Trek series. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116081851.htm A dioxin toxin contained in the herbicide Agent Orange affects male reproductive health by limiting the growth of the prostate gland and lowering testosterone levels. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116131631.htm When you dial 911 you expect rescuers to pull up at your front door, unload and get busy -- not park the truck down the street and eat donuts. It's the same for a cell -- just before it divides, it recruits protein complexes that repair breakage that may have occurred along your 46 chromosomes. Without repair, damage caused by smoking, chemical mutagens, or radiation might be passed on to the next generation. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116124455.htm Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects up to 20 percent of men in western cultures, five percent of whom experience significant physical symptoms. A study published in Journal of Forensic Sciences finds that sex offenders who suffer from OSA experience more harmful psychological symptoms than do sex offenders with normal sleep patterns. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116132026.htm Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have discovered that dark energy is not a new constituent of space, but rather has been present for most of the universe's history. Dark energy is a mysterious repulsive force that causes the universe to expand at an increasing rate. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116114352.htm By analyzing the "trash" left in blood by the body's metabolism, a team of cardiologists and geneticists at Duke University Medical Center has found what may be new markers for measuring cardiovascular health, to complement such traditional measures as cholesterol and triglycerides. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116091054.htm By comparing influenza viruses found in birds with those of the avian virus that have also infected human hosts, researchers have identified key genetic changes required for pandemic strains of bird flu. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116100745.htm Pinpointing reasons behind the dramatic increase in testicular cancer, now the most common malignant cancer among 15-to-35-year-old Caucasian men, is the focus of a five-year, $5.5 million National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant to Yale Public Health researcher Tongzhang Zheng. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116121404.htm When in an environment similar to that in which they exist naturally, proteins and multiprotein assemblies may demonstrate actions or dynamics different than those they exhibit when in the static form in which they are most often studied, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report in the current issue of the journal Structure. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116122150.htm Frequent bouts of depression, anxiety, hostility and anger are known to increase a person's risk for developing coronary heart disease, but a combination of these "negative" personality traits may put people at especially serious risk, according to a study by researchers at Duke University Medical Center. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116100228.htm Researchers have found that lemurs suspected to belong to different species because of their strikingly different coat colors, are not only genetically alike, but belong to the same species. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116101426.htm Swiss researchers led by R. Zenobi have developed a mass-spectrometric method to quickly and easily obtain a proper fingerprint of breath, including the quantitative detection of large, nonvolatile compounds. Breath analysis has some advantages for clinical diagnosis, for example it requires no puncture. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116091444.htm A University of Wisconsin-Madison biological engineering team tweaked the standard system for measuring virus infectivity, digitized it, quantified it, analyzed it and discovered a method more than 10 times as sensitive. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061101150938.htm A new study found that individuals who had tested positive for hepatitis C (HCV) but later tested negative for the virus were significantly less likely to become infected again compared to those who had never been infected, even though they had the same exposure risks. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116081923.htm Polymers, large molecules comprised of chains of repeating structures, are used in everything from the coatings on walls of ships and pipes to reduce flow drag to gene therapy. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061116100644.htm Women who participated in prolonged, frequent bicycling had decreased genital sensation and were more likely to have a history of genital pain than women runners, researchers in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine and The Albert Einstein College of Medicine report in the current issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:00:00 +0100