Futurity.org » Northwestern University

One gene lets mice smell danger

Megan Fellman-Northwestern — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:38:53 +0000

NORTHWESTERN (US) — Mice would be easy prey without a single gene that lets them smell cats on the prowl.

The gene, called TAAR4, encodes a receptor that responds to a chemical that is enriched in the urine of carnivores. While normal mice innately avoid the scent marks of predators, mice lacking the TAAR4 receptor don’t.

Sleeping on it helps memories stick

Hilary Hurd Anyaso-Northwestern — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:19:05 +0000

NORTHWESTERN (US) — Rehearsing memories, during either sleep or waking, can affect what is remembered later, new research reveals.

The study, published in the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, shows that when the information that makes up a memory has a high value—associated with, for example, making more money—the memory is more likely to be rehearsed and consolidated during sleep and, thus, be remembered.

Also, through the use of a direct manipulation of sleep, the research demonstrated a way to encourage the reactivation of low-value memories so they too were remembered later.

Volcanoes on early Mars likely kept it toasty

Kevin Stacey-Brown — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:33:25 +0000

BROWN (US) —When giant volcanoes were active early in Mars’ history, the planet may have released enough methane to keep the planet significantly warmer than it is today.

In fact, Mars might have been warm enough to support liquid water, researchers report.

Do ERs measure up for Medicare bonuses?

Erin White-Northwestern — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:23:22 +0000

NORTHWESTERN (US) — For-profit hospitals outperform others in emergency department care—and will be more likely to get reimbursements under Medicare’s new payment rules, researchers say.

Though nonprofit and public hospitals are lagging behind in performance, many are making noticeable improvements and will be eligible for bonuses, too, according to a study that gives an early look at how hospitals are measuring up under the new, mandatory Hospital Inpatient Value-Based Purchasing Program that went into effect October 2012.

New docs: Fewer hours, but more mistakes

Jim Erickson-Michigan — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:09:24 +0000

U. MICHIGAN (US) — New rules that require young doctors to work fewer hours without a break were supposed to protect patients from sleepy physicians, but a new study finds that medical errors may have actually increased.

Traditionally, residents were allowed to work more than 24 hours without a break. In 2011, new regulations cut back the number of hours they can work consecutively to 16. But while work hours went down, sleep hours didn’t go up significantly and risk of depression symptoms in the doctors stayed the same.

‘Smart’ chemo drug goes easy on fertility

Marla Paul-Northwestern — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:54:15 +0000

NORTHWESTERN (US) — A new chemotherapy drug in the form of nanoparticles is less toxic to young women’s fertility but extra tough on cancer, say researchers.

The scientists designed a quick new in vitro test that predicts the toxicity of a chemotherapy drug to fertility and can be easily used to test other cancer drugs in development as well as existing ones.

Currently the testing of cancer drugs for fertility toxicity is a time and resource intensive process.

Threat of death gets more blood donors

H. Brevy Cannon-Virginia — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:55:19 +0000

U. VIRGINIA / NORTHWESTERN (US) — To motivate people to give blood, asking them to “prevent a death” works much better than “save a life,” new research shows.

For the study published in PLoS One, researchers collaborated with the American Red Cross to assess the effects of changing the urgency and messaging of a call for blood donations.

Even with low risk, test for HIV more often

Megan Fellman-Northwestern — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 19:38:40 +0000

NORTHWESTERN (US) — Current screening guidelines for HIV are too conservative, according to a new study that says more frequent testing would be cost-effective for both high- and low-risk groups.

Early HIV treatment can save lives as well as have profound prevention benefits. But those infected with the virus first must be identified before they can be helped.

OCD symptoms higher among new moms

Marla Paul-Northwestern — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 19:45:41 +0000

NORTHWESTERN (US) — Eleven percent of new mothers experience significant obsessive-compulsive symptoms compared to two to three percent in the general population.

These symptoms, including fear of injuring the baby and worry about germs, are usually temporary and could result from hormonal changes or be an adaptive response to caring for a new baby, researchers says.

Blackouts are so 2003: Synching the power grid

Megan Fellman-Northwestern — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 20:32:38 +0000

NORTHWESTERN (US) — Even as the demand for electricity grows, new guidelines could help improve power grid reliability and reduce electricity cost, researchers say.

President Obama, in this year’s State of the Union address, talked about the future of energy and mentioned “self-healing power grids”—a grid that is able to keep itself stable during normal conditions and also to self-recover in the event of a disturbance caused, for example, by severe weather.