Stroke is a frequent and dreaded complication of atrial fibrillation. But predicting which of the estimated six million Americans with a-fib are at highest risk has long challenged physicians weighing stroke risk against the serious side effects posed by lifelong therapy with warfarin and other blood thinners.

Now researchers from Johns Hopkins performing sophisticated motion studies of heart MRI scans have found that specific altered function in the left atrium -- one of the heart's four chambers -- may signal stroke risk in those with a-fib and, possibly, those without it. The imaging technique combines standard MRI scans with a motion-tracking software that analyzes cardiac muscle movement.

Although closely related to the notorious carnivore Tyrannosaurus rex, a new lineage of dinosaur discovered in Chile is proving to be an evolutionary jigsaw puzzle, as it preferred to graze upon plants.

Palaeontologists are referring to Chilesaurus diegosuarezi as a 'platypus' dinosaur because of its extremely bizarre combination of characters that include a proportionally small skull and feet more akin to primitive long-neck dinosaurs.

Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows that it's no fun to feel hungry - the drive to tame hunger pangs can sabotage even the best-intentioned dieter.

But how exactly is it that fasting creates these uncomfortable feelings and consuming food takes them away? 

Working to unravel the complex wiring system that underlies this intense physiological state, investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have identified a long-sought component of this complicated neural network.

Reluctance to share data about personal energy use is likely to be a major obstacle when implementing 'smart' technologies designed to monitor use and support energy efficient behaviors, according to new research led by academics at The University of Nottingham.

The study, published online by the journal Nature Climate Change, found that while more than half of people quizzed would be willing to reduce their personal energy consumption, some were wary about sharing their information with third parties.

Many experimental and clinical data have demonstrated that antibiotic-resistance pathogens, such as Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), may play a vital role in priming chronic inflammation. There is thus a great need to develop novel antibacterial materials, and particularly those that are less likely to lead to bacterial resistance.

Now, in a paper appearing recently in Science Bulletin, a team of scientists at the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, China, led by Guangjun Nie and Yuliang Zhao, has designed and synthesized bio-compatible and biodegradable ε-poly-lysine (EPL)/poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL) nanoparticles (NPs), which have effective antibacterial activity and no significant cytotoxicity to mammalian cells.

River deltas, low-lying landforms that host critical and diverse ecosystems as well as high concentrations of human population, face an uncertain future. Even as some deltas experience decreased sediment supply from damming, others will see increased sediment discharge from land-use changes. Accurate estimates of the current rate of subsidence in the Mississippi Delta (southern USA) are important for planning wetland restoration and predictions of storm surge flooding.