Methylmercury is a chemical compound formed in the environment from released mercury. Unfortunately, the methylmercury can be transported quickly around the body and may enter the brain. In a pregnant mother, serious problems will ensue if important developmental processes are blocked. There's only one chance for a baby brain to develop.
Recent studies hint that exposure to the toxic chemicals such as methylmercury can cause harm at levels previously considered safe. A new analysis of the epidemiological evidence in the International Journal of Environment and Health suggests that we should take a precautionary approach to this and similar compounds to protect unborn children from irreversible brain damage.
Patients treated for their prolonged seizures with the sedative propofol may be at high risk for complications and even death. New research presented at CHEST 2008, the 74th annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that the use of propofol as an antiepileptic agent in patients with refractory status epilepticus (RSE), prolonged seizures that do not respond to initial treatment, was associated with significant mortality and morbidity.
Childhood obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes, asthma, hypertension, sleep apnea and emotional distress. Obese children and youth are likely to be obese as adults, experience more cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and stroke and incur higher healthcare costs. In an article published in the December 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers report that children living in inner city neighborhoods with higher "greenness" experienced lower weight gains compared to those in areas with less green space.
While general wisdom says that you look at the eyes first in order to recognize a face, UC San Diego computer scientists now report that you look at the nose first.
The nose may be the where the information about the face is balanced in all directions, or the optimal viewing position for face recognition, the researchers from UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering propose in a paper recently published in the journal Psychological Science.
A study by two University of Rochester psychologists in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology adds color, literally and figuratively, to the age-old question of what attracts men to women.
Through five psychological experiments, Andrew Elliot, professor of psychology, and Daniela Niesta, post-doctoral researcher, demonstrate that the color red makes men feel more amorous toward women. And men are unaware of the role the color plays in their attraction.
A novel cell division mechanism has been discovered in a microorganism that thrives in hot acid. The finding may also result in insights into key processes in human cells, and in a better understanding of the main evolutionary lineages of life on Earth.
The research group at the Department of Molecular Evolution at Uppsala University has identified a completely new cell division machinery. The discovery was made in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, a microorganism belonging to the third domain of life, the Archaea, which originally was isolated from a hot spring in Yellowstone national park in Wyoming, USA. Because of the extreme conditions, in which the cells grow optimally in acid at 80ºC, the organism is of interest for a wide range of issues.
There's a presidential election happening, in case you didn't know. If you talk to the fringes who are most actively mobilized, they certainly feel the differences are key; if John McCain gets elected, Democrat zealots contend, abortions will be banned and Creationism will be taught in science classes. If Barack Obama is elected, Republican zealots contend, the tax rate will be raised to 100% and gay porn will be taught in science classes.
What's surprising is how the average voter believes one rich politician is more likely than another to enact substantial policy changes, on issues like health care and others, that rely more on Congress than they do the Executive branch of government.
Dublin City University (DCU) researchers, Neill Costigan, PhD student at DCU and funded by the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) and Prof Michael Scott member of the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)-funded Shannon Institute of Cryptography, have successfully cracked a crypto system published thirty years ago by coding theorist Robert J McEliece.
The crack which was accomplished using resources at the SFI-Funded Irish Centre for High End Computing was announced at the Post-Quantum Cryptography conference in Cincinnati, USA on Saturday 18 October.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has observed a new category of minerals spread across large regions of Mars. This discovery suggests that liquid water remained on the planet's surface a billion years later than scientists believed, and it played an important role in shaping the planet's surface and possibly hosting life.
Researchers examining data from the orbiter's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars have found evidence of hydrated silica, commonly known as opal. The hydrated, or water-containing, mineral deposits are telltale signs of where and when water was present on ancient Mars.
LONDON, October 28 /PRNewswire/ --
LONDON, October 28 /PRNewswire/ --
- Health Workers Urged to Vote 'YES' for Industrial Action
The NHS ballot calling for industrial action on the 'derisory' three-year pay deal, organised by Unite the Union, starts today (Tuesday, 28 October).
A total of 100,000 ballot papers will be landing on the doormats of Unite members, working in the NHS, from this morning. The ballot closes on Wednesday, 12 November.
Unite is asking its members whether they are prepared to take industrial action, including strike action in protest at the deal imposed unilaterally on the NHS workforce by ministers.
The three year package is worth half the current rate of inflation, which this month broke through the 5% barrier.
