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PhysOrg.com
Major rise in Caesarean sections linked to impaired womb function with age Delaying childbirth has substantially contributed to recent rises in caesarean section rates, according to a paper published this week by scientists at Cambridge University. Designer diet for prostate cancer Eating one or more portions of broccoli every week can reduce the risk of prostate cancer, and the risk of localised cancer becoming more aggressive. Stanford researchers find way to predict IVF success Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a method that can predict with 70 percent accuracy whether a woman undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment will become pregnant. This information may someday help the tens of thousands of couples who want to undergo IVF each year, and their doctors, decide on their course of action. Editors' leadership role impacts on quality of biomedical research journals The factors allowing a journal to achieve high quality are not fully understood, but good editorial practices such as accurate and author-helpful peer review and in-house editing are thought to be important. Now, a new study provides quantitative evidence that another aspect of good editorial practice - editors' expectations that articles adhere to international standards for quality reporting - is strongly related to journal quality. The research is published July 2 in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE. Wood density explains sound quality of great master violins The advantage of using medical equipment to study classical musical instruments has been proven by a Dutch researcher from the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC). In collaboration with a renowned luthier, Dr. Berend Stoel put classical violins, including several made by Stradivarius, in a CT scanner. The results are published in the July 2 issue of the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE. The homogeneity in the densities of the wood from which the classical violins are made, in marked contrast to the modern violins studied, may very well explain their superior sound production. Once a shy monkey, always a shy monkey? New study shows persistence of anxiety We all know people who are tense and nervous and can't relax. They may have been wired differently since childhood. New technique produces genetically identical stem cells Adult cells of mice created from genetically reprogrammed cells—so-called induced pluripotent stem (IPS) stem cells—can be triggered via drug to enter an embryonic-stem-cell-like state, without the need for further genetic alteration. A mammalian clock protein responds directly to light We all know that light effects the growth and development of plants, but what effect does light have on humans and animals? A new paper by Nathalie Hoang et al., published in PLoS Biology this week, explores this question by examining cryptochromes in flies, mice, and humans. In plants, cryptochromes are photoreceptor proteins which absorb and process blue light for functions such as growth, seedling development, and leaf and stem expansion. Researchers call for independent body to monitor deaths in wars and other crises... and more The accurate documentation of deaths during wars and other humanitarian emergencies is critical to grading the severity of the crisis and adjusting relief operations accordingly, and yet collection of data on death rates is often incomplete, say two researchers in this week's PLoS Medicine. Neuronal correlates of the set-size effect in monkey lateral intraparietal area It is well known that the brain is limited in the amount of sensory information it can process at any given time. During an everyday task such as finding an object in a cluttered environment (known as visual search), observers take longer to find a target as the number of distractors increases. ... |