news 2012

Asthma is more common among children born after IVF and other treatments than among children who have been planned and conceived naturally, suggests a study led by Oxford University researchers. However, the researchers say that their findings should not worry parents of children born after assisted reproduction technology (ART).

Despite concerted government efforts to curtail tobacco use, the number of smokers in the United States has remained stable in recent years, rather than declining. The reason: genetics. New research from the Yale School of Public Health suggests that individuals' genetics play an important role in whether they respond to tobacco-control policies.

University of Sussex astronomers and space scientists in Hawaii have helped to reveal hundreds of previously unseen starburst galaxies - the birthplace of the stars that populate our Universe. The number of starburst galaxies observed by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Herschel space observatory and the ground-based Keck telescopes in Hawaii reveals the extraordinarily high star-formation rates across the history of the Universe.

Findings published in NEJM show that microarray finds significantly more clinically relevant information than current method Second study in NEJM shows significant advantages of microarray for stillbirths New York, NY-A large, multi-center clinical trial led by researchers from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) shows that a new genetic test resulted in significantly more clinically relevant information than the current standard method of prenatal testing.

Corrosion costs the oil and gas industry billions of dollars every year, it can also have far reaching environmental consequences. But so far no one has managed to stop corrosion happening. A detective style research team based at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus are working closely with industry to investigate real world problems and are taking a forensic look at the nature of corrosion — particularly in the oil and gas sector.

Twin spacecraft create a highly detailed gravity map of the moon, finding an interior pulverized by early impacts. Beneath its heavily pockmarked surface, the moon's interior bears remnants of the very early solar system. Unlike Earth, where plate tectonics has essentially erased any trace of the planet's earliest composition, the moon's interior has remained relatively undisturbed over billions of years, preserving a record in its rocks of processes that occurred in the solar system's earliest days.

Researchers find a common angle and tipping point of branching valley networks. Over the course of decades or even centuries, Earth's landscape can appear relatively static, with mountains and valleys seemingly anchored firmly in place. Viewed over a longer timescale, however - on the order of hundreds of thousands of years - the Earth's topography becomes a rippling, shifting, changing tableau.

Taking the drug tamoxifen for ten years after breast cancer surgery, rather than the usual five, further reduces the chances of dying from breast cancer. The findings - for women with oestrogen receptor positive (ER-positive) breast cancer - come from the long-running ATLAS trial led by Oxford University's Clinical Trial Service Unit (CTSU).

Fear, anger, insecurity, and boredom in schools can cripple a classroom and obstruct learning completely. A new approach to teaching emotional intelligence developed by Yale University researchers improved relationships between teachers and students, and led to greater independence and engagement in learning among students, according to a new study published in the November issue of the journal Prevention Science.

Training human volunteers to control their own brain activity in precise areas of the brain can enhance fundamental aspects of their visual sensitivity, according to a new study in the Journal of Neuroscience . This non-invasive 'neurofeedback' approach could one day be used to improve brain function in patients with abnormal patterns of activity, for example stroke patients.

Scientists have discovered 100 million-year-old regions in the DNA of several plant species which could hold secrets about how specific genes are turned 'on' or 'off'. The findings, which are hoped will accelerate the pace of research into crop science and food security, are detailed by University of Warwick researchers in the journal The Plant Cell.

ANN ARBOR-The debate about immigration policies is shaped primarily by how one group feels about another-not solely based on economic concerns, according to a new University of Michigan study. White Americans' feelings about Latinos, but not other groups, powerfully drive their support or opposition to immigration policies.

A combination therapy using an experimental new drug shows significant promise for women with a common type of breast cancer in which estrogen causes their tumors to grow, researchers with the Revlon/UCLA Women's Cancer Research Program at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center report.

As humans, we understand that other people can hear what we are doing, but there is only limited evidence for this ability in other animals. Our study of Eurasian jays is the first to report that a member of the crow family will suppress acoustic information by vocalising less when spying on another individual that is caching." —Rachael Shaw In order to prevent other birds from stealing the food they are storing for later, Eurasian jays, a type of corvid, minimizes any auditory hints a potential pilferer may use to steal their cache (food that is buried for later use).

Stanford Report, December 5, 2012 In a sweeping study of the lifting of court-ordered desegregation plans, researchers show the fading of the dream of black and white students attending school together. The lifting of court-ordered school integration efforts over the last 22 years has led to the gradual unraveling of a key legacy of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision.

People who have low-level malaria infections that are not detected by standard tests may be a source of up to 20-50 per cent of onward transmissions, a new study has found. These carriers have a low number of parasites in their blood and are usually unaware that they have malaria, but mosquitoes taking a bite on these people can still become infected and then go on to transmit the parasite to other people.

Quantum computing, where bits of information, or "qubits," are represented by the state of single atomic particles or photons of light, won't be of much use unless we can read the results. Cornell researchers have taken a step in that direction with a device that can measure the presence of just a few photons without disturbing them.

In 2011, an outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes in cantaloupe led to almost 150 illnesses and 30 deaths. With a spate of recent outbreaks of such foodborne pathogens as Salmonella , Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and L. monocytogenes , the ability to predict where and how these deadly microbes enter the food supply chain could save lives and prevent disease.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) - deliberately harming one's body through such acts as cutting, burning or biting - is a primary risk factor for future suicide in teens and young adults, finds a new longitudinal study of college students led by a Cornell mental health researcher. The paper, published online Dec.

Teens who date and are sexually active are known to be at elevated risk for depression, but why those associations exist is poorly understood. Now a new Cornell study has found that casual sexual "hookups" increased a teenager's odds for clinical-level depression nearly threefold, whereas dating and sexual activity within a committed relationship had no significant impact.