Tag: university
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Banned Flame Retardants Found in Pregnant California Women
In a pilot study of pregnant women in California, researchers at University of California in San Francisco have found high levels of flame-retardant chemicals that have been outlawed in the U.S. and Europe. The team’s findings appear online in the journal Environmental Science and Technology (free registration required). The researchers, led by Tracey Woodruff, director…
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Bio-Based Resins, Coatings Developed from Common Crops
Researchers at North Dakota State University in Fargo have developed a family of resins from renewable raw materials that eliminate hazardous components yet perform as well the originals. The team reported its findings earlier this year in the journal Biomacromolecules (paid subscription required). The researchers led by Dean Webster, professor in the NDSU Department of…
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Bacteria Metabolism Reversed to Produce High-Speed Biofuel
A new method developed by researchers at Rice University in Houston turns simple glucose into biofuels and petrochemical substitutes by reversing a metabolic process called beta oxidation using genetically modified bacteria. Engineering professor Ramon Gonzalez and colleagues published their findings online in the journal Nature (paid subscription required). The beta oxidation process is a basic…
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DNA Biomarker Blood Test Aids Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
Researchers at University of Cincinnati and Harvard University have identified a blood test for a DNA biomarker that bolsters the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test used to screen men for prostate cancer. Their findings appear online in the British Journal of Cancer; paid subscription required. The study led by Cincinnati molecular epidemiologist Tianying Wu (pictured left)…
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Better Building Codes Urged for Tornado, Hurricane Regions
Researchers and engineers from universities and industry that reviewed the damage caused by destructive Spring 2011 tornadoes in the U.S. call for more intensive engineering design and more rigorous, localized construction and inspection standards to reduce property damage and loss of life. The report of the group’s research on the Tuscaloosa, Alabama tornado on 27…
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UC San Diego Added to Pfizer Translational Network
Pfizer Inc. in New York says University of California, San Diego Health Sciences will join the company’s network of translation research partnerships called Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI). The company’s CTI partnerships now include life science research institutions in Massachusetts and New York, as well as California. Pfizer says it expects to spend some $50…
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Electronic Conductivity Found in Bacteria Nanowires
A team of microbiologists and physicists at University of Massachusetts in Amherst have discovered the ability of nanowires in a common microbe to transport electrons across long distances. The researchers published their findings online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology (paid subscription required). Microbiologist Derek Lovley with physicists Mark Tuominen, Nikhil Malvankar and colleagues found this…
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More Antidepressants Prescribed for Non-Psychiatric Disorders
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and Columbia University in New York find that the rapid growth of prescriptions for antidepressant medications has been fueled by orders from non-psychiatrist providers and without any psychiatric diagnosis. The paper by Ramin Mojtabai of Johns Hopkins and Columbia’s Mark Olfson appears in the August 2011 issue…
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FDA Approves First Treatment for Scorpion Stings
The Food and Drug Administration approved Anascorp, the first specific treatment for a sting by Centruroides scorpions, commonly known as the Arizona Bark Scorpion in the United States. The drug was developed by Rare Disease Therapeutics Inc. in Franklin, Tennessee, licensing research by University of Arizona in Tucson and and two research institutes in Mexico.…
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Electronic Glove Helps Improve Sense of Touch
Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta have developed a glove that adds a small vibration to one of the fingertips to improve tactile sensitivity and motor performance. Details of the device and preliminary test results were presented in May at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Shanghai. Georgia Tech engineering…