news 2017

Researchers into the common hearing condition 'tinnitus' are calling for help from the public for a new study to try to improve future medical investigations into the problem. The COMIT'ID study is being run by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre based at The University of Nottingham.

Research led by University of Birmingham scientists in collaboration with Northwestern University in Chicago, US, has provided fresh insight into the role of male hormone in supporting and disrupting the production of eggs by ovarian follicles. The study, newly published online in the journal Endocrinology, measured for the first time the production of hormones by the isolated ovarian follicle during its development, using highly sensitive and specific mass spectrometry.

Nearly 1 out of every 3 drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have a new safety issue detected in the years after approval, says a Yale-led study. While most of the safety concerns are not serious enough to require withdrawal of a drug from the market, the finding highlights the need for ongoing surveillance of new drugs in the post-market period, said the researchers.

Under the leadership of the Environmental Sciences Research Network of the University of Vienna, the key national actors in long-term ecological research (LTER) join forces to establish a new infrastructure for the collection of environmental data. Funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), the project aims to collect data on the effects of extreme climatic events on the carbon, water and nitrogen cycle in ecosystems by establishing six cutting-edge measurement sites.

FINDINGS Forty-four percent of people who held jobs before contracting a condition called acute respiratory distress syndrome were jobless one year after they were discharged from the hospital, costing them an average of about $27,000 in earnings. After one year, fewer of them had private health insurance (30 percent, down from 44 percent) and more of them were enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid (49 percent versus 33 percent).

Illustration shows what each of the TRAPPIST-1 planets may look like, based on available data about their sizes, masses and orbital distances. After NASA announced in February the discovery of a solar system with seven planets'three of which were deemed potentially habitable-UChicago postdoctoral scholar Sebastiaan Krijt began wondering: If a life form existed on one of these planets, could space debris carry it to another?

ANN ARBOR'An examination of millions of scientific papers and patents reveals works that land in the top 5 percent of the most cited research draw upon a mix of old and new knowledge-significant in a day and age when the number of new publications is increasing dramatically, says a researcher at the University of Michigan.

As of October 2017, newly launched car models will have to pass more stringent exhaust gas tests in the EU and in Switzerland. The new test method includes measuring drives in actual traf-fic. Empa already tested currently available cars with the new method - with alarming results. By now, it's no secret: the certification requirements for cars in the EU and in Switzerland have precious little to do with the cars' actual exhaust emissions on the roads.

The ELO system, which most chess federations use today, ranks players by the results of their games. Although simple and efficient, it overlooks relevant criteria such as the quality of the moves players actually make. To overcome these limitations, Jean-Marc Alliot of the Institut de recherche en informatique de Toulouse (IRIT - CNRS/INP Toulouse/Université Toulouse Paul Sabatier/Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès/Université Toulouse Capitole) demonstrates a new system, published on 24 april 2017 in the International Computer Games Association Journal.

Overhunting results in wide-spread declines in tropical mammal & bird populations Tropical mammal and bird populations dramatically decline in overhunted areas - new research reveals. The major study published in the renowned journal Science, reveals hunting accounts for a 83 percent decline in mammal populations and a 58 percent decline in bird populations in the tropical regions of Central and South America, Africa and Asia.

ANN ARBOR'A survey of two groups of Pacific Islanders draws comparisons between the health of two populations of Pacific Islanders residing in California, revealing they lag behind the state in several key areas of health. Led by Sela Panapasa, a scientist at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, a group of researchers administered surveys to 240 Samoan and Tongan households in California.

Wearing silk clothing offers no additional benefit for children who suffer from moderate to severe eczema, a study led by researchers at The University of Nottingham has found. The results of the trial, published in PLOS Medicine and funded by the National Institute for Health Research, revealed that wearing specialist silk garments did not reduce the severity of eczema for the children taking part, not did it reduce the amount of creams and ointments used for their eczema, or the number of skin infections experienced.

Cash is not a sufficient incentive for pregnant women in India to take up free institutional delivery services, new research shows. Less than 50% of eligible women take up the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) Indian Government cash incentive scheme. A team of researchers based at institutions in India, Australia, and the UK, including Public Health Foundation of India, the University of Adelaide, and Lancaster University, identified that more significant factors are at play, including familial support and transport challenges.

The French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), in collaboration wi

Researchers and clinicians are calling on the mining industry and governments to create better regulations in the interest of the health of coal miners. A new review from the University of Melbourne shows there has been an increase in the number of fresh cases of Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis (CWP) in Australia since 2000.

FINDINGS U.S. military veterans who are being treated for schizophrenia are much less likely to drink any alcohol than the general population. However, they are equally likely to misuse alcohol. And when they do misuse alcohol, it leads to worsening of their symptoms, according to a new study led by Dr. Alexander Young, a psychiatry professor at UCLA.

The development of new treatments for pancreatic cancer is set to be transformed by a network of clinical trials, aiming to find the right trial for the right patient, after a £10 million investment from Cancer Research UK. The investment will support the PRECISION Panc project which aims to develop personalised treatments for pancreatic cancer patients, improving the options and outcomes for a disease where survival rates have remained stubbornly low.

Giving vitamin D'supplements to mice during pregnancy prevents autism traits in their offspring, University of Queensland researchers have discovered. The discovery provides further evidence of the crucial role vitamin D'plays in brain development, said lead researcher Professor Darryl Eyles , from UQ's Queensland Brain Institute.

Young males and people who use drink or drugs are at greater risk of developing a gambling habit, according to new research from the University of Bristolk. Experts say it is an indication of an area that needs more attention if primary care services are to help those in need. The study, funded by the NIHR School for Primary Care Research (SPCR) and published in the British Journal of General Practice today, found that around one in 20 people waiting to see their GP at a group of surgeries in Bristol reported having a gambling problem.

College students who use large amounts of marijuana and alcohol might be high, but their grades are not, a new study shows. The grades of those who drank moderately or heavily but smoked little pot did not suffer as much as students who added heavy marijuana use to their drinking, according to study published March 8 in the journal PLOS ONE.