NEWS FROM WORLD: PhysOrg Newsletter Friday, Aug 20

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Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for August 20, 2010:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

- Solar-powered toothbrush doesn't require toothpaste
- Scientists discover first new chlorophyll in 60 years
- Cigarette smoke causes harmful changes in the lungs even at the lowest levels
- Sony unveils 'Single Wire Interface Technology'
- Countdown to Vesta
- Researchers make magnetic fields breakthrough
- History-Making Mars Mission Launched 35 Years Ago
- Researchers advance understanding of enzyme that regulates DNA
- Archaeologists hail unique find in Albania
- Big quakes more frequent than thought on San Andreas fault
- Adaptive software -- a late bloomer
- DNA puts Stanford chemists on scent of better artificial nose
- Victims of bullying suffer academically as well, psychologists report
- Putting the squeeze on Alzheimer's (w/ Video)
- Expedition Titanic gets underway

New Herbig-Haro jets in Orion
(PhysOrg.com) -- A research team using the Subaru Prime Focus Camera (Suprime-Cam) has obtained some of the deepest and highest resolution images ever taken of the large star-forming molecular cloud Lynds 1641, located just south of the Orion Nebula.

Is the ice in the Arctic Ocean getting thinner and thinner?
The extent of the sea ice in the Arctic will reach its annual minimum in September. Forecasts indicate that it will not be as low as in 2007, the year of the smallest area covered by sea ice since satellites started recording such data. Nevertheless, sea ice physicists at the Alfred Wegener Institute are concerned about the long-term equilibrium in the Arctic Ocean.

CEAP study examines nitrogen, copper levels in Bay watershed
A comprehensive study of pollutants in a major Chesapeake Bay tributary revealed troublesome levels of nitrogen and copper that could flow into the Bay, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and their cooperators.

Explore underwater volcanoes, seafloor hot springs and methane ice
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists are in the early stages of building a fiber optic network on the seafloor for observing, in real time, deep-sea hydrothermal vents---places where super-heated water and minerals spew from Earth's crust offering clues about how life on the planet may have begun.

Snapshot of activity inside NASA's first GRIP flight
Scientists, graduate students and NASA flight crew came together and took part in the first flight of the DC-8 aircraft in NASA's Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) experiment on Tuesday, August 17, as it flew into the remnants of Tropical Depression Five over southern Louisiana. The inside of the aircraft buzzed with activity as they readied the various instruments for their first in-situ test.

NASA: Pick shuttle wake-up tunes or write your own
(AP) -- Now's your chance to help pick astronauts' wake-up music.

Surfing for earthquakes
A better understanding of the ground beneath our feet will result from research by seismologists and Rapid -- a group of computer scientists at the University of Edinburgh. The Earth's structure controls how earthquakes travel and the damage they can cause. A clear picture of this structure would be extremely valuable to earthquake planners, but it requires the analysis of huge amounts of data. The Rapid team developed a system that performs the seismologists' data-crunching, and have made it easy to use by relying on an interface familiar to all scientists - a web browser.

Limiting ocean acidification under global change
Emissions of carbon dioxide are causing ocean acidification as well as global warming. Scientists have previously used computer simulations to quantify how curbing of carbon dioxide emissions would mitigate climate impacts. New computer simulations have now examined the likely effects of mitigation scenarios on ocean acidification trends. They show that both the peak year of emissions and post-peak reduction rates influence how much ocean acidity increases by 2100. Changes in ocean pH over subsequent centuries will depend on how much the rate of carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced in the longer term.

UN to get report on climate panel August 30
A UN-requested review of the world's top panel of climate scientists, accused of flaws in a key assessment on global warming, will be unveiled on August 30, the investigating committee said on Friday.

Countdown to Vesta
Let the countdown begin. NASA's Dawn spacecraft is less than one year away from giant asteroid Vesta.

History-Making Mars Mission Launched 35 Years Ago
Thrust from a Titan 3/Centaur rocket launched NASA's Viking 1 spacecraft on a 505-million-mile journey to Mars on Aug. 20, 1975. Viking 2 followed three weeks later.

Big quakes more frequent than thought on San Andreas fault
Earthquakes have rocked the powerful San Andreas fault that splits California far more often than previously thought, according to UC Irvine and Arizona State University researchers who have charted temblors there stretching back 700 years.

Technology news

North Korea reportedly joins Facebook
(AP) -- North Korea appears to have added Facebook to other social networking sites it recently joined to ramp up its propaganda war against South Korea and the U.S.

Cyberactivists unblock Wikileaks for Thai Netizens
(AP) -- A group of anonymous Internet activists has set up a website to display information about Thailand that comes from the whistle-blower site Wikileaks, which is blocked to some viewers in the Southeast Asian country.

China's Internet access 'matches' rich world
Access to the Internet is as widespread in China, home to the world's largest online population, as it is in developed nations, according to a new study.

Japan stimulus plan to focus on green tech: report
Japan is planning subsidies to boost corporate investment in factories making environment-friendly products, in a fresh economic stimulus package expected next month, a report said Friday.

Google defends its 'Street View' in Germany
(AP) -- Google Inc. is defending its "Street View" feature against sharp criticism in Germany saying it has gone a long way to address people's privacy concerns.

University of Washington testing sign language video phones
A new tool for communicating using American Sign Language over video phones is being field tested in the Seattle this summer by University of Washington researchers, who plan to expand the program this winter.

Google photographing French streets again, minus Wi-Fi scans
Google said Friday it had resumed photographing France with its Street View bikes and cars but without gathering fragments of personal data sent over unsecured Wi-Fi systems for which it is being probed.

Japan's Panasonic to boost plasma panel output in China
Japanese electronics giant Panasonic said Friday it will boost its plasma panel production in Shanghai to meet growing demand for flatscreen televisions in China.

Recession hits smart-phone makers in the chips
(AP) -- The seemingly recession-proof smart phone is suffering from a side effect of the rough economy: Manufacturers simply can't build enough of the gadgets because chip-makers that rolled back production last year are now scrambling to play catch-up.

Facebook grabs Hot Potato mobile check-in startup
Facebook has grabbed Hot Potato, a young Internet firm that lets people use smartphones to let friends know what they are up to at any given moment.

Entertainment industry flinches as Google TV charges in
Google revolutionized the way people access information. Now it wants to transform how people get entertainment.

E-reading: Revolution in the making or fading fad?
The marriage of an American technology firm and a Taiwanese display panel manufacturer has helped make digital reading a prospective challenger to paper as the main medium for transmitting printed information.

Adaptive software -- a late bloomer
Adaptive software is the largely unfulfilled promise of mobile technology, but now a new platform developed by European researchers promises to finally deliver software that reconfigures itself depending on the context.

Sony unveils 'Single Wire Interface Technology'
(PhysOrg.com) -- With Sony's newly-developed 'single wire interface technology' bi-directional transmission of multiple signals, including video, audio and control signals can propagate over a single copper cable. DC power is also sent along the same cable by using Sony's unique encoding technology with DC balance.

Apple shuts Quattro to focus on iAd mobile ad platform
Apple on Friday confirmed it is shutting recently-acquired Quattro Wireless mobile advertising service to focus on its new iAd platform that targets only the iconic firm's devices.

Solar-powered toothbrush doesn't require toothpaste
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have designed a toothbrush that cleans teeth by creating a solar-powered chemical reaction in the mouth, doing away with the need for toothpaste.

Medicine & Health news

Street outreach workers an important tool for violence prevention and intervention
A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy describes how using street outreach workers is an effective strategy to reach and engage youth with the goal of violence prevention and intervention.

Unequal health care increases colorectal cancer mortality in blacks
Black patients die from colorectal cancer at much higher rates than whites do and new research points to unequal health care as the cause.

UCD scientists no 1 hot paper in Nature Medicine
A paper led by UCD scientists is currently the No 1 Hot Paper in Nature Medicine, according to Thompson Reuters. The paper has been cited almost 3 times more than any other paper published by the journal over the past 24 months. Broadly speaking, a citation is a reference in a published source which acknowledges the relevance of previously published work to the topic of discussion.

ASIR technique reduces radiation dose associated with coronary CTA by 27 percent
A new low-dose coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) technique called adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR) can reduce the radiation dose associated with coronary CTA by 27 percent, according to a study in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology. Coronary CTA is a common heart imaging test that helps determine if fatty or calcium deposits have narrowed a patient's coronary arteries.

Whole-body MRI may help detect suspected child abuse
Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is highly accurate at detecting soft-tissue abnormalities, may serve a role in detecting suspected child abuse in infants, according to a study in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology. Whole-body MRI does not use ionizing radiation, but employs a magnetic field, radio frequency pulses, and a computer to produce detailed images of organs, soft tissues, bone, and virtually all other internal body structures.

Virtual colonoscopies help identify additional cancers outside of the colon, study suggests
Although the medical community has already accepted that colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is cost effective and saves lives, researchers have found that computed tomography colonography (CTC or virtual colonoscopy) not only identifies CRC but also doubles the yield of identifying significant early extracolonic (outside the colon) lesions, resulting in lives saved, according to a study in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

ASIR technique significantly reduces radiation dose associated with abdominal CT scans
A new low-dose abdominal computed tomography (CT) technique called adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR) can reduce the radiation dose associated with abdominal CT scans by 23-66 percent, according to a study in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology. Abdominal CT scans are typically used to help diagnose the cause of abdominal or pelvic pain and diseases of the internal organs, bowel, and colon.

Pay-for-performance programs improve radiology report turnaround times, study suggests
A pay-for-performance (PFP) program implemented at one of the nation's largest general hospitals appeared to have a marked effect on expediting final radiology report turnaround times (RTAT), improving patient care, according to a study in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Africans text message to check if drugs are real
(AP) -- For Africans wondering whether the malaria drugs they've bought are real, there may soon be a quick way of finding out: sending a text message.

Fear of falling linked to future falls in older people
Fear of falling is likely to lead to future falls among older people, irrespective of their actual fall risk, finds a study published in the British Medical Journal today.

Green leafy vegetables reduce diabetes risk
Eating more green leafy vegetables can significantly reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, finds research published today in the British Medical Journal.

Significant advance announced in treatment of cervical cancer
A medical researcher at the University of Leicester has made a significant advance in the treatment of cervical cancer.

Experiments show blood pressure drugs could help fight frailty
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers believe they've found a way to use widely available blood pressure drugs to fight the muscular weakness that normally accompanies aging.

Shorter E.R. times in hospitals with advanced electronic records
When you've got an emergency, you don't want to wait. You want to get into the hospital emergency room as quickly as possible, get treated and go home. A new study from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University shows if you choose a hospital with the most advanced type of electronic medical records, you are likely to spend 22.4 percent less time in the E.R. than you would at other hospitals.

Jury still out on sunscreen nanoparticles: study
(PhysOrg.com) -- A technique developed by Macquarie University has proven for the first time that a tiny amount of zinc from sunscreens is absorbed through the skin into the human body, but is not yet able to discern whether the zinc is in nanoparticle form.

New molecular signaling cascade increases glucose uptake
Skeletal muscles combust both lipids and carbohydrates during exercise. The carbohydrates consist of both glycogen stored in the muscles as well as glucose extracted from the blood. Being a major sink for glucose disposal, skeletal muscle represents an important model tissue for studying the intracellular signaling pathways leading to increased glucose transport.

'Rotten eggs' gas and inflammation in arthritic joints
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a gas more commonly associated with the smell of 'rotten eggs' and blocked drains. However, it has now been shown to be present naturally in our bodies and reside in knee joint synovial fluid, the protective fluid found in the cavities of joints that reduces friction between the cartilage of joints during movement. Synovial fluid H2S may play a role in reducing inflammation in joints.

Oxytocin: It's a mom and pop thing
The hormone oxytocin has come under intensive study in light of emerging evidence that its release contributes to the social bonding that occurs between lovers, friends, and colleagues. Oxytocin also plays an important role in birth and maternal behavior, but until now, research had never addressed the involvement of oxytocin in the transition to fatherhood.

Electronic tracking system can improve follow-up after an abnormal Pap test
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) report that physicians who use an automated, electronic medical record (EMR) tracking system to follow-up on patients with an abnormal Pap test could increase the number of women who achieved diagnostic resolution and have women achieve resolution in less time than using traditional methods. These findings appear in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Male menopause affects more than 5 million men
While most frequently associated with women's health, age-related hormone changes, often dubbed menopause, can occur in men as well, causing symptoms of fatigue, mood swings, decreased desire for sex, hair loss, lack of concentration and weight gain. Experts estimate that more than 5 million men are affected, yet worry the number may be considerably higher since symptoms are frequently ignored.

Drug addicts get hooked via prescriptions, keep using 'to feel like a better person,' research shows
If you want to know how people become addicted and why they keep using drugs, ask the people who are addicted.

WHO calls for monitoring of new superbug
The World Health Organisation on Friday called on health authorities around the globe to monitor a multi-drug resistant superbug that surfaced in South Asia and spread to Britain.

Researchers Zero in on Protein that Destroys HIV
Using a $225,000 microscope, researchers have identified the key components of a protein called TRIM5a that destroys HIV in rhesus monkeys.

Research on cancer vaccine begins to pay off
The vaccine that Larry Mathews is getting won't protect him from the flu. That's OK -- the stakes are far higher than that.

Researchers identify two FDA approved drugs that may fight HIV
Researchers at the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center have identified two drugs that, when combined, may serve as an effective treatment for HIV.

Cigarette smoke causes harmful changes in the lungs even at the lowest levels
Casual smokers may think that smoking a few cigarettes a week is "no big deal." But according to new research from physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, having an infrequent smoke, or being exposed to secondhand smoke, may be doing more harm than people may think. The findings may further support public smoking bans, say the authors.

Putting the squeeze on Alzheimer's (w/ Video)
Brain cells exposed to a form of the amyloid beta protein, the molecule linked to Alzheimer's disease, become stiffer and bend less under pressure, researchers at UC Davis have found. The results reveal one mechanism by which the amyloid protein damages the brain, a finding that could lead to new ways to screen drugs for Alzheimer's and similar diseases.

Victims of bullying suffer academically as well, psychologists report
Students who are bullied regularly do substantially worse in school, UCLA psychologists report in a special issue of the Journal of Early Adolescence devoted to academic performance and peer relationships.

Biology news

Smart fungus disarms plant, animal and human immunity
Fungal and bacterial pathogens are well capable of infecting plants, animals and humans despite their immune systems. Fungi penetrate leafs, stalks and roots, or skin, intestines and lungs, to infect their hosts.

Celebrated Russian seed bank fights for its land
(AP) -- The world's first seed bank survived World War II thanks to 12 Russian scientists who chose to starve to death rather than eat the grain they were saving for future generations.

Radioactive boars on the rise in Germany
(AP) -- It was a big shot. A big hog. And a big disappointment.

Nearly 60 whales die in New Zealand mass stranding
Nearly 60 pilot whales have died after becoming stranded on a beach in New Zealand on Friday, conservation officials said.

Tracking dolphins in the Gulf of Genoa: a researcher's joy
"There they are," murmurs Fulvio Fossa, smiling as he points to a herd of dolphins off of Cinque Terre in northwestern Italy.

La. scientist's oysters safe from oil, but pricey
(AP) -- Biologist John Supan thinks he has developed what may be the holy grail for oyster lovers: a hardy breed of the delectable shellfish that stays fat enough for consumers to eat throughout the year.

Road signs and traffic signals on DNA: Physical model describes the distribution of nucleosomes
The DNA genomes of organisms whose cells possess nuclei are packaged in a highly characteristic fashion. Most of the DNA is tightly wrapped around protein particles called nucleosomes, which are connected to each other by flexible DNA segments, like pearls on a necklace. This arrangement plays a major role in deciding which genes are actively expressed, and thus which proteins can be synthesized in a given cell.

Researchers advance understanding of enzyme that regulates DNA
Thanks to a single-molecule imaging technique developed by a University of Illinois professor, researchers have revealed the mechanisms of an important DNA-regulating enzyme.

Scientists discover first new chlorophyll in 60 years
(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Sydney scientists have stumbled upon the first new chlorophyll to be discovered in over 60 years and have published their findings in the international journal Science.

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