Researchers have taken advantage of the unique coupled semiconducting and piezoelectric properties of zinc oxide nanowires to create a new class of electronic components and devices that could provide the foundation for a broad range of new applications.
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Research has shown the efficacy of a pharmaceutical drug known as sunitinib which halts progress of metastatic kidney cancer. The work was published recently in the prestigious international medical journal, the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Scientists are using a virtual-reality, three-dimensional video game that challenges spatial memory as a new tool for assessing the link between depression and the hippocampus, the brain’s memory hub. Spatial memory is the memory of how things are oriented in space and how to get to them. Researchers found that depressed people performed poorly on the video game compared with nondepressed people, suggesting that their hippocampi were not working properly.
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A comparison of the 1918 Spanish influenza and the H5N1 avian influenza viruses suggests that while the two viruses appear to trigger a similar abnormal immune response in animal models, there are distinct differences. Researchers from the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle report their findings today at the ASM Biodefense and Emerging Disease Research Meeting.
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The antibiotic vancomycin often used in intensive care units is considered the drug of choice for the treatment of staphylococci (staph) infections that are resistant to most other antibiotics. Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and the BloodCenter of Wisconsin’s Blood Research Institute have linked vancomycin to an abnormal decrease in blood platelet count, a condition called thrombocytopenia. If accompanied by uncontrollable bleeding, thrombocytopenia can be fatal.
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UCLA researchers have uncovered new clues that may explain why Graves’ disease attacks the muscle tissue behind the eyes, often causing them to bulge painfully from their sockets. The findings may deepen understanding of how the autoimmune disorder damages the body and offer a new target for treating the disfiguring disease.
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A team of researchers notes that fewer species went extinct during the past 2.5 million years than many ecological models would predict. Unexpected persistence of some species in adverse conditions could be the explanation of this “Quaternary conundrum.”
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Moderate to high levels of regular physical activity are associated with lower lung function decline among smokers and help to moderate their risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a large retrospective cohort study.
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Primary graft dysfunction, a common compliction that affects up to 25 percent of lung transplant patients shortly after surgery, constitutes a significant risk factor for later deadly bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS).
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Parents of children with sleep problems are more likely to have sleep-related problems themselves, including more daytime sleepiness, according to a new study by researchers at the Bradley Hasbro Children’s Research Center and Brown Medical School.
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