For hemodialysis patients, undergoing dialysis for eight hours overnight, three times weekly, reduces the risk of death by nearly 80 percent, compared to conventional, four-hour dialysis, according to research being presented at the American Society of Nephrology`s 41st Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In a study led by Ercan Ok, MD, of Ege University in Izmi...

What would happen in California was hit by the Big One? New 3-D animations of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake scenario are now available to the public.*  Fourteen animations can be downloaded from the site in high definition format. The 3-D animations show, from the perspective of a several different Southern California locations, how intensely the ground would shake and shift during a very strong...

Saint Louis University researchers have identified a novel way of getting a potential treatment for Alzheimer`s disease and stroke into the brain where it can do its work. "We found a unique approach for delivering drugs to the brain," says William A. Banks, M.D., professor of geriatrics and pharmacological and physiological science at Saint Louis University. "We`re turning off the ...

After two-plus years of few sunspots, even fewer solar flares, and a generally eerie calm, the sun is finally showing signs of life. "I think solar minimum is behind us," says sunspot forecaster David Hathaway of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. His statement is prompted by an O...

Although infection control has been substantially ramped up in Canadian hospitals since the SARS crisis of 2003, resistant bacterial infections post-SARS are multiplying even faster, a new Queen`s University study shows. Led by Queen`s epidemiologist Dr. Dick Zoutman, the national survey is a six-year follow-up to a study that was undertaken in 1999, prior to the outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Res...

Phase I results of the first clinical trial of gene therapy for patients with advanced heart failure show the approach to be promising, with improvements in several measures of the condition`s severity. In Phase I clinical trials, researchers test a new treatment in a small group of people for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects. Patients...

Scientists from Maastricht University have developed a method to look into the brain of a person and read out who has spoken to him or her and what was said. With the help of neuroimaging and data mining techniques the researchers mapped the brain activity associated with the recognition of speech sounds and voices. In their Science article ”Who” is Saying “What”? Brain-Bas...

Why do some of us always do the right thing while others only seem to be out for themselves? Research by the universities of Exeter and Bristol offers a new explanation as to why such a wide range of personality traits has evolved in humans and other social species. ‘Game theory’ is used to predict the behaviour of individuals when making choices that depend on the choices of others. F...

If climate disasters are to be averted, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) must be reduced below the levels that already exist today, according to a study published in Open Atmospheric Science Journal by a group of 10 scientists from the United States, the United Kingdom and France. The authors, who include two Yale scientists, assert that to maintain a planet similar to that on which civilization d...

Beta-alanine (BA), a dietary supplement widely used by athletes and body builders, has been proven to increase the fitness levels of a group of elderly men and women. The research suggests that BA supplementation improves muscle endurance in the elderly. The research was carried out by Jeffrey Stout, PhD from the University of Oklahoma, USA, and a team of colleagues. According to Dr. Stout, "...