Energy drinks may increase blood pressure, disturb heart rhythm

Energy drinks may increase blood pressure and disturb your heart's natural rhythm, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2013 Scientific Sessions.

Researchers analyzed data from seven previously published observational and interventional studies to determine how consuming energy drinks might impact heart health.

In the first part of the pooled analysis, the researchers examined the QT interval of 93 people who had just consumed one to three cans of energy drinks. They found that the QT interval was 10 milliseconds longer for those who had consumed the energy drinks. The QT interval describes a segment of the heart's rhythm on an electrocardiogram; when prolonged, it can cause serious irregular heartbeats or sudden cardiac death.

"Doctors are generally concerned if patients experience an additional 30 milliseconds in their QT interval from baseline," said Sachin A. Shah, Pharm.D., lead author and assistant professor at University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif.

Road traffic pollution as serious as passive smoke in the development of childhood asthma

New research conducted in 10 European cities has estimated that 14% of chronic childhood asthma is due to exposure to traffic pollution near busy roads.

The results are comparable to the burden associated with passive smoking: the World Health Organization estimates that between 4% and 18% of asthma cases in children are linked to passive smoking.

The findings, published online today (22 March 2013) ahead of print in the European Respiratory Journal, come as the European Commission has declared 2013 the 'Year of Air', which highlights the importance of clean air for all and focuses on actions to improve air quality across the EU.

Until now, traffic pollution was assumed to only trigger asthma symptoms and burden estimations did not account for chronic asthma caused by the specific range of toxicants that are found near heavily used roads along which many Europeans live.

Conscientious people are more likely to have higher GPAs

Conscientious people are more likely to have higher grade point averages, according to new research from psychologists at Rice University.

The paper examines previous studies that research the link between the "Big Five" personality traits -agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism and openness to experience -- and college grade point average. It finds that across studies, higher levels of conscientiousness lead to higher college grade point averages. It also shows that five common personality tests are consistent in their evaluation of the "Big Five" personality traits; all five measures found a positive correlation between conscientiousness and grade point average and virtually no correlation between the other four personality traits and grade point average.

According to Sam McAbee, a psychology graduate student at Rice and the study's lead author, the study has important implications for college admission offices and employers, who use personality tests to measure an individual's capacity for success.

"Research on these personality tests helps us gain a better understanding of how various personality traits may affect academic outcomes and other important life outcomes," McAbee said. "And although some researchers have questioned whether these personality measures might vary in their validity or effectiveness for predicting these outcomes, our analysis shows that all five measures produce similar results in the academic domain."

From Sleep Study, Clues to Happiness

In most people, laughter causes a surge of hypocretin, which maintains muscle tone. But in narcoleptics, the hormone is largely absent, and the system goes haywire.

In narcoleptics, the loss of this pleasure-seeking hormone has severe effects on mood. Narcoleptics are prone to depression, and they have a strange resistance to addiction. Some of the medications used to treat narcolepsy are notoriously addictive, like amphetamines and GHB, the so-called date-rape drug. Yet narcoleptics generally do not abuse them.

“They’re missing this working-for-pleasure system,” Dr. Siegel said. “When hypocretin is missing, you have a deficit in getting addicted and a deficiency in getting interested in things — that’s what depression is.”

So, could a sleep aid like suvorexant, which reduces hypocretin, lead to depression in a healthy person? In clinical trials involving thousands of patients, the drug helped people with insomnia fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer than placebo. And there were no signs that it induced depression or caused falls resembling cataplexy, said Dr. Darryle Schoepp, senior vice president at Merck.

NOAA: 'Robust, Unambiguous' Independent Evidence Confirms The Recent Global Warming Measured By Thermometers

A new compilation of temperature records etched into ice cores, old corals, and lake sediment layers reveals a pattern of global warming from 1880 to 1995 comparable to the global warming trend recorded by thermometers. This finding, reported by a team of researchers from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, the University of South Carolina, the University of Colorado, and the University of Bern in Switzerland, resolves some of the uncertainty associated with thermometer records, which can be affected by land use changes, shifts in station locations, variations in instrumentation, and more.

“Using only temperature-sensitive paleoclimate proxy records, un-calibrated to instrument data, it is possible to conclude that the warming trend in the global surface temperature record is supported by independent evidence,” said David Anderson, head of the Paleoclimatology Branch at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center and lead author of the paper. The new research is detailed in “Global Warming in an Independent Record of the Past 130 Years,” published online this week in Geophysical Research Letters.

Autism diagnoses on the rise, study finds

U.S. schoolchildren are being diagnosed with some form of autism at a record rate of 1 in 50, according to a new government study.

That rate of 2% is based on a survey involving tens of thousands of children between the ages of 6 and 17. A similar survey in 2007 found a rate of 1.2%.

Though the increase is likely to fuel speculation that an expanding environmental threat is behind the rise in autism cases, the authors said their report did not support that view.

Rather, better detection appears to be driving the surge, according to the researchers, from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Women abused as children more likely to have children with autism

Women who experienced physical, emotional, or sexual abuse as children are more likely to have a child with autism than women who were not abused, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). Those who experienced the most serious abuse had the highest likelihood of having a child with autism -- three-and-a-half times more than women who were not abused.

"Our study identifies a completely new risk factor for autism," said lead author Andrea Roberts, research associate in the HSPH Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. "Further research to understand how a woman's experience of abuse is associated with autism in her children may help us better understand the causes of autism and identify preventable risk factors."

The study appears online March 20, 2013 and in the May 2013 print issue of JAMA Psychiatry. It is the first to explore the relationship between a mother's exposure to childhood abuse and risk of autism in her children.

Monarch Butterflies Hit New Low; "Worrisome" Trend

The king of the butterflies may reign no more: Monarch butterflies are experiencing a steady decline, a new report says, with the insects occupying the smallest area of land in one Mexican butterfly reserve than they have in two decades.

In December 2012, scientists surveying monarch habitat in Mexico's Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve found the insects occupied 59 percent less land than the previous year—the smallest area recorded in 20 years. (Watch a video of monarch butterflies.)

Nine butterfly colonies were found in just 2.94 acres (1.19 hectares) of land, compared with 7.14 acres (2.89 hectares) in 2011 and a high of 44.9 acres (18.19 hectares) in 1997, according to the report, released March 13.

Universe Older Than Thought, Best Space-Time Map Yet Reveals

The universe is 100 million years older than thought, according to the best-ever map of the oldest light in space.

The adjustment brings the universe's age to 13.82 billion years, and means space and time are expanding slightly slower than scientists thought.

Global rise in type 1 diabetes may be linked to reduced exposure to pathogens in early life

Countries with lower mortality from infectious disease exhibit higher rates of type 1 diabetes, according to a new study by Dr. A. Abela and Professor S. Fava of the University of Malta. The findings, collating data from three major international studies and presented at the Society for Endocrinology annual conference in Harrogate UK, suggest that the as yet unexplained global rise in type 1 diabetes may be linked to reduced exposure to pathogens in early life.

Type 1 diabetes is caused when the immune system destroys the cells of the pancreas that release insulin, leaving the patient unable to control his own blood sugar. It is estimated to affect around half a million children worldwide, increasing in incidence by an estimated 3% every year. This increase is well documented and is linked to the developed world, but is so far unexplained -- various theories put forward include the 'hygiene hypothesis', which suggests that encounters between the developing immune system and micro-organisms such as bacteria and parasites are part of human evolution and may therefore protect against the development of auto-immunity.

Chinese Physicists Measure Speed of "Spooky Action At a Distance"

Einstein railed against the possibility of spooky action at a distance because it violates relativity. Now Chinese physicists have clocked it travelling more than four orders of magnitude faster than light

One of the strangest concepts in quantum mechanics is the notion of entanglement. This is the idea that two quantum particles can be so deeply linked that they share the same existence. When that happens, a measurement on one immediately influences the other, regardless of the distance between them.

This “spooky action at a distance”, as Einstein called it, has puzzled and fascinated physicists since it was first discussed in the 1930s. Einstein initially used it as evidence of the failure of quantum mechanics since this instantaneous action clearly seemed to violate relativity.

Analysis: Antibiotic apocalypse

A simple cut to your finger could leave you fighting for your life. Luck will play a bigger role in your future than any doctor could.

The most basic operations - getting an appendix removed or a hip replacement - could become deadly.

Cancer treatments and organ transplants could kill you. Childbirth could once again become a deadly moment in a woman's life.

It's a future without antibiotics.

Bootstrapping biotechnology: Engineers cooperate to realize precision grammar for programming cells

An unprecedented collaboration among academia, industry, government and civil society has resulted in the launch of a professional-grade collection of public domain DNA parts that greatly increases the reliability and precision by which biology can be engineered.

Researchers at the International Open Facility Advancing Biotechnology (aka, BIOFAB) have just announced that they have, in effect, established rules for the first language for engineering gene expression, the layer between the genome and all the dynamic processes of life. The feat is all the more remarkable considering that just a few years ago several prominent scientists claimed that it would be impossible to develop frameworks enabling reliably reusable standard biological parts.

Electrons behaving like a particle and a wave: Feynman's double-slit experiment brought to life

The precise methodology of Richard Feynman's famous double-slit thought-experiment -- a cornerstone of quantum mechanics that showed how electrons behave as both a particle and a wave -- has been followed in full for the very first time.

Although the particle-wave duality of electrons has been demonstrated in a number of different ways since Feynman popularised the idea in 1965, none of the experiments have managed to fully replicate the methodology set out in Volume 3 of Feynman's famous Lectures on Physics.

"The technology to do this experiment has been around for about two decades; however, to do a nice data recording of electrons takes some serious effort and has taken us three years," said lead author of the study Professor Herman Batelaan from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

"Previous double-slit experiments have successfully demonstrated the mysterious properties of electrons, but none have done so using Feynman's methodology, specifically the opening and closing of both slits at will and the ability to detect electrons one at a time.

Flip of a single molecular switch makes an old mouse brain young

The flip of a single molecular switch helps create the mature neuronal connections that allow the brain to bridge the gap between adolescent impressionability and adult stability. Now Yale School of Medicine researchers have reversed the process, recreating a youthful brain that facilitated both learning and healing in the adult mouse.

Scientists have long known that the young and old brains are very different. Adolescent brains are more malleable or plastic, which allows them to learn languages more quickly than adults and speeds recovery from brain injuries. The comparative rigidity of the adult brain results in part from the function of a single gene that slows the rapid change in synaptic connections between neurons.

By monitoring the synapses in living mice over weeks and months, Yale researchers have identified the key genetic switch for brain maturation a study released March 6 in the journal Neuron. The Nogo Receptor 1 gene is required to suppress high levels of plasticity in the adolescent brain and create the relatively quiescent levels of plasticity in adulthood. In mice without this gene, juvenile levels of brain plasticity persist throughout adulthood. When researchers blocked the function of this gene in old mice, they reset the old brain to adolescent levels of plasticity.

Stressed-out tadpoles grow larger tails to escape predators

When people or animals are thrust into threatening situations such as combat or attack by a predator, stress hormones are released to help prepare the organism to defend itself or to rapidly escape from danger -- the so-called fight-or-flight response.

Now University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated for the first time that stress hormones are also responsible for altering the body shape of developing animals, in this case the humble tadpole, so they are better equipped to survive predator attacks.

Boys are right-handed, girls are left...

Well at least this is true for sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps) and grey short-tailed opossums (Monodelphis domestica), finds an article in BioMed Central’s open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, and shows that handedness in marsupials is dependent on gender. This preference of one hand over another has developed despite the absence of a corpus collosum, the part of the brain which in placental mammals allows one half of the brain to communicate with the other.

Many animals show a distinct preference for using one hand/paw/hoof over another. This is often related to posture – an animal is more likely to show manual laterality if it is upright, related to the difficulty of the task, more complex tasks show a handed preference, or even with age. As an example of all three: crawling human babies show less hand preference than toddlers.

Some species also show a distinct sex effect in handedness but among non-marsupial mammals this tendency is for left-handed males and right-handed females. In contrast researchers from St Petersburg State University show that male quadruped marsupials, such as who walk on all fours, tend to be right-handed while the females are left-handed, especially as tasks became more difficult.

Females butterflies can smell if a male butterfly is inbred

The mating success of male butterflies is often lower if they are inbred. But how do female butterflies know which males to avoid? New research reveals that inbred male butterflies produce significantly less sex pheromones, making them less attractive to females.

If animals (and humans) breed with a relative their offspring will be inbred and more likely to have genetic disorders. Because of these disorders inbred males are often weaker and, for instance, less able to defend the nest or provide food for their youngsters. To make sure her offspring will have the highest chance of survival and reproduction, females are expected to avoid mating with a weak inbred male. That is, if she is able to recognize who is inbred and who is not.

Why fish is so good for you

Scientists of Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Jena University Hospital decode the antihypertensive impact of omega-3 fatty acids. In two newly published articles in the science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences they describe how they analyzed the impact of omega-3 fatty acids at a systemic level and they also described the underlying molecular mechanisms for the first time.

Fish is healthy: easy to digest and with a high level of precious proteins, fish is considered an important part of a healthy diet. And with the so-called omega-3 fatty acids fish has an added bonus. These fatty acids -- like docosahexaeonic acid (DHA) occur mostly in fatty fish like herring, salmon and mackerel. They are thought to lower the blood pressure, to strengthen the immune system and to have positive effects on the development on the nervous system and the cardiovascular system.

"Clinical studies about the intake of nutritional supplements containing omega-3 fatty acids haven't provided complete clarity so far," Prof. Dr. Stefan H. Heinemann from Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany) says. "The molecular impact of the omega-3 fatty acids isn't fully understood yet," the biophysicist continues. But now scientists of the DFG research group FOR 1738 based at Jena University are able to bring new facts to light: in two newly published articles for the well-known science magazine 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA' they describe how they analyzed the impact of omega-3 fatty acids on a systemic level and they also described the underlying molecular mechanisms for the first time.

Life experiences put their stamp on the next generation: New insights from epigenetics

The 18th century natural philosopher Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed that the necks of giraffes lengthened as a consequence of the cumulative effort, across generations, to reach leaves just out of their grasp. This view of evolution was largely abandoned with the advent of modern genetic theories to explain the transmission of most important traits and many medical illnesses across generations.

However, there has long been the impression that major life events, like psychological traumas, not only have effects on individuals who directly experience these events, but also have effects on their children. For example, cross-generational effects have been well-documented in the children of Nazi death camp survivors. Similar issues have been reported in the context of mood disorders and addiction. Until recently, these trans-generational effects were attributed to changes in the way that parents treated their children or the child's reaction to learning about the parent's history.