ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Diabetes, heart disease, and back pain dominate US health care spending
• Hospital ICUs overused
• Control algorithms could keep sensor-laden balloons afloat in hurricanes for a week
• Fertility: Out of gas and low on sperm?
• Investigations of the skyrmion Hall effect reveal surprising results
• Bat calls contain wealth of discernible information
• 'Ant-like' bees among newly discovered desert species
• Shoulder pain linked to increased heart disease risk
• Novel insights into neuronal activity-dependent gene expression by CREB
• Preventing too much immunity
• Treating cancer with drugs for diabetes and hypertension
• New mathematical model provides 'disease causation index'
• Stability without junctions: Cadherin prevents cortical deformation
• Calcium aids chromosome condensation prior to cell division
• Sugar element of keratan sulfate halts the progress of emphysema
• National study documents value of family-provided medical care for children
• Realistic training for extreme flight conditions
• Scientists develop method to warn of toxic algae blooms before they develop
• Single protein may hold secret to treating Parkinson's disease and more
• Sprinting towards extinction? Cheetah numbers crash globally
• How the brain processes faces from sight to recognition

Diabetes, heart disease, and back pain dominate US health care spending Posted: 27 Dec 2016 10:47 AM PST Just 20 conditions make up more than half of all spending on health care in the United States, according to a new comprehensive financial analysis that examines spending by diseases and injuries.

Hospital ICUs overused Posted: 27 Dec 2016 08:07 AM PST ICUs are being used too often for patients who don’t need that level of care, according a new research.

Control algorithms could keep sensor-laden balloons afloat in hurricanes for a week Posted: 27 Dec 2016 08:02 AM PST Controls engineers have developed practical strategies for building and coordinating scores of sensor-laden balloons within hurricanes. Using onboard GPS and cellphone-grade sensors, each drifting balloon becomes part of a 'swarm' of robotic vehicles, which can periodically report, via satellite uplink, their position, the local temperature, pressure, humidity and wind velocity.

Fertility: Out of gas and low on sperm? Posted: 27 Dec 2016 08:02 AM PST Sperm are constantly replenished in the adult male body. Understanding the workings of stem cells responsible for this replenishment is expected to shed light on why male fertility diminishes with age, and possibly lead to new treatments for infertility.

Investigations of the skyrmion Hall effect reveal surprising results Posted: 27 Dec 2016 08:02 AM PST Researchers have made another important breakthrough in the field of future magnetic storage devices.

Bat calls contain wealth of discernible information Posted: 27 Dec 2016 08:02 AM PST A new study extracts critical information from bat vocalizations to offer a rare, informative look into the world of bat communication.

'Ant-like' bees among newly discovered desert species Posted: 27 Dec 2016 08:02 AM PST Entomologists report nine newly identified species of the desert bee genus Perdita, including two species with 'ant-like' males completely different in appearance from their mates.

Shoulder pain linked to increased heart disease risk Posted: 27 Dec 2016 05:35 AM PST After all the lifting, hauling and wrapping, worn out gift givers may blame the season’s physical strain for any shoulder soreness they are feeling. It turns out there could be another reason. A new study finds that individuals with symptoms that put them at increased risk for heart disease could be more likely to have shoulder problems, including joint pain and rotator cuff injury.

Novel insights into neuronal activity-dependent gene expression by CREB Posted: 27 Dec 2016 05:35 AM PST Researchers have investigated how neuronal activity influences cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) dynamics.

Preventing too much immunity Posted: 27 Dec 2016 05:35 AM PST Scientists report a new molecular mechanism that could explain the cause of some autoimmune diseases.

Treating cancer with drugs for diabetes and hypertension Posted: 27 Dec 2016 05:35 AM PST A combination of a diabetes medication and an antihypertensive drug can effectively combat cancer cells. The team of researchers has also reported that specific cancer cells respond to this combination of drugs.

New mathematical model provides 'disease causation index' Posted: 27 Dec 2016 05:34 AM PST Patients with complex diseases have a higher risk of developing another. Multi-morbidity represents a huge problem in everyday clinical practice, because it makes it more difficult to provide successful treatment. By analysing data from all over Austria, scientists have managed to develop a mathematical model that can be used to distinguish whether a disease has a genetic or environmental cause.

Stability without junctions: Cadherin prevents cortical deformation Posted: 27 Dec 2016 05:34 AM PST Scientists have discovered that cadherin clusters, which are well known for forming junctions between cells, also play a role in stabilizing the cell cortex.

Calcium aids chromosome condensation prior to cell division Posted: 27 Dec 2016 05:34 AM PST New research reveals role for calcium ions in chromosome condensation during mitosis; high-resolution imaging of living cells reveals compact, globular chromosomes in the presence of calcium that became fibrous and expand in its absence.

Sugar element of keratan sulfate halts the progress of emphysema Posted: 27 Dec 2016 05:34 AM PST Using a mouse model, scientists have identified a sugar molecule that reduced the inflammatory response and progress of emphysema, a common component of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This discovery could lead to the development of drugs based on glycans -- biological sugar molecules -- for the treatment of diseases such as COPD, which is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide.

National study documents value of family-provided medical care for children Posted: 27 Dec 2016 05:33 AM PST About half of US children with special health care needs -- 5.6 million children -- receive medical care from uncompensated family members worth billions of dollars, finds a large national study. The study is the first to systematically track parents' unpaid time providing care, as well as lost income due to parents taking time off from work.

Realistic training for extreme flight conditions Posted: 27 Dec 2016 05:33 AM PST Missions at sea, in mountainous regions or close to skyscrapers are extremely risky for helicopter pilots. The turbulent air flows near oil rigs, ships, cliffs and tall buildings can throw a helicopter off balance and cause a crash. To provide pilots with optimal preparation for these challenging conditions, engineers are developing new simulation software.

Scientists develop method to warn of toxic algae blooms before they develop Posted: 26 Dec 2016 06:12 PM PST A new study demonstrates that automated monitoring systems that identify 'regime shifts' -- such as rapid growth of algae and then depletion of oxygen in the water -- can successfully predict full-scale algae blooms in advance, and help resource managers avert their development.

Single protein may hold secret to treating Parkinson's disease and more Posted: 26 Dec 2016 06:12 PM PST New details about a key cellular protein could lead to treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's, Huntington's, Alzheimer's, and ALS. At their root, these disorders are triggered by misbehaving proteins in the brain. The proteins misfold and accumulate in neurons, eventually killing the cells. In a new study, researchers used a different protein, Nrf2, to restore levels of the disease-causing proteins to a normal, healthy range, thereby preventing cell death.

Sprinting towards extinction? Cheetah numbers crash globally Posted: 26 Dec 2016 06:12 PM PST A new study confirms that the iconic cheetah is sprinting towards extinction.

How the brain processes faces from sight to recognition Posted: 26 Dec 2016 06:12 PM PST Researchers used highly sophisticated brain imaging tools and computational methods to measure the real-time brain processes that convert the appearance of a face into the recognition of an individual. They are hopeful that the findings might be used in the near future to locate the exact point at which the visual perception system breaks down in different disorders and injuries, ranging from developmental dyslexia to prosopagnosia, or face blindness.