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11-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Sleep Paralysis -- Unable to Move, Unable to Speak and All You Did Was Wake Up
American Academy of Neurology (AAN)

The alarm sounds and you lie helpless in bed, unable to move or even speak for several minutes; you have a condition known as sleep paralysis.

Released: 10-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Many Physicians Withhold Pain Medication
University of Iowa

Many physicians withhold pain medication from patients in emergency situations because of informed consent issues or because the doctors believe the drugs may affect the accuracy of their diagnoses, a University of Iowa survey found.

Released: 10-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Functioning Transistorless Logic Gate
University of Notre Dame

A functioning logic gate based on a transistorless approach to computing called quantum-dot cellular automata is reported by University of Notre Dame researchers in Science. QCA is an effort to bring information storage down to the molecular level.

Released: 10-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
New Evidence on How Prions Turn Fatal
American Chemical Society (ACS)

University of California researchers say a newly determined structure of the biological particles called prions may help explain how they cause infectious deadly diseases. Aberrant prions cause scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or "mad cow disease") in cows, and various afflictions in people.

9-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Oxygen Support for Patients Varies Among Airlines
American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP)

Patients with heart or lung diseases who require oxygen support are going to find air travel either easy or impossible and either inexpensive or costly, depending on the policies of the particular air carrier they choose, according to a new study reported today in CHEST.

9-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Anti-Inflammatory Agents Under Used in Cystic Fibrosis
American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP)

A nationwide survey of 67 cystic fibrosis (CF) centers shows that anti-inflammatory medications are underutilized by physicians when treating children and adults with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) in the U.S., according to an article published in the April issue of CHEST.

Released: 9-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Apple Juice Nutritious
UC Davis Health (Defunct)

UC Davis study shows 100 percent apple juice is more nutritious than previously thought. Significant amount of phytonutrients may help protect against heart disease.

Released: 9-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Slashing Alcohol Consumption in College Drinkers
University of Washington

Alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems were significantly slashed among a group of high-risk college-age drinkers using a brief, non-confrontational intervention treatment developed by University of Washington researchers.

Released: 9-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Patients Better Than Doctors At Predicting Their Health
Purdue University

Patients, especially African-Americans, are better at predicting their future health than are their doctors, according to a Purdue University study.

Released: 9-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Prediction for Active 1999 Hurricane Season
Colorado State University

Colorado State University's hurricane forecaster William Gray is maintaining his prediction for a 1999 hurricane season similar to last year's in the Atlantic Basin, calling for 14 tropical storms, nine hurricanes and four intense hurricanes in the April forecast update.

Released: 9-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Solar Cycle and Climate Link Is Blowin' in the Wind
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA researchers have found that the variations in the energy given off from the sun effect the Earth's wind patterns and thus the climate of the planet, but the solar increases do not have the ability to cause large global temperature increases.

Released: 9-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Setting Sail for the Stars
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

Cracking the whip and unfurling gray sails are among new space transportation techniques under discussion at the 1999 Advanced Propulsion Research Workshop.

Released: 9-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Natural Vitamin E Supplements Superior to Synthetic Forms
Blitz & Associates

"Natural" vitamin E supplements outperform synthetic forms, according to a VERIS Research Summary just published.

8-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Function of Enzyme Biological Processes
University of California San Diego

Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that an important enzyme previously thought to be associated only with inflammation is also a key factor in skin formation and in programmed cell death.

8-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Alzheimer's Disease and Developmental Biology Linked Through Single Molecule
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Researchers have uncovered a biochemical connection between presenilin, a molecule involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease, and another protein that controls crucial aspects of developmental biology.

Released: 8-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Coach Class Tickets to Space?
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

Cutting the cost of space travel will take "looking in strange places for the right answers," said the director of the Advanced Space Transportation Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center at the opening of the 10th annual Advanced Propulsion Research Workshop.

Released: 8-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Darwinian Design: Survival of the Fittest Spacecraft
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

Two scientists at NASA Marshall Space Sciences Laboratory discussed the potential of spacecraft reproduction and evolution at the International Conference on Advanced Propulsion held in Huntsville, Ala.

Released: 8-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Engineering Students Pursue Cutting-edge Research: Story Tips
 Johns Hopkins University

Among the independent research projects pursued this year by Johns Hopkins engineering undergraduates are the construction of a self-navigating submarine, testing of a potential Alzheimer's treatment and a process for gene therapy, and constructing a digital model of the heart.

Released: 8-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Indians' Plight Influenced Europe's View of America
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

When European readers of Chateaubriand's famous "Atala" looked into the Mississippi Valley, they saw not the bustling trade of Yankee frontiersmen, but the noble image of Indians upholding an honorable code of conduct.

Released: 8-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Molecular Effect of Vitamin E on Plaque Formation Identified
UT Southwestern Medical Center

Furthering evidence of the importance of vitamin E, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have identified the pathway that may allow the vitamin to block the trigger of arterial plaque formation at the molecular level.

Released: 8-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Vital Sign Norms for Cesarean Section
University of Iowa

A University of Iowa researcher, with data and assistance from Duke University, has found that it is quite normal for blood pressures in women to drop or increase dramatically during cesarean sections.

Released: 8-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Road Rage Drivers Show No Remorse
Central Michigan University

Most drivers who engage in "road rage"--from tailgating and honking to sideswiping and drawing weapons--believe their aggressive behavior is inherited from a parent and their victims deserve what they get, according to a Central Michigan University study.

7-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
True Grit: "Sandpaper" alloy may suggest rugged, powerful new devices
University of Delaware

Sandpaper's cousin, silicon-carbide, may set the stage for a rugged, powerful new breed of semiconducting devices, a UD researcher will report April 6 during the Materials Research Society meeting. An alloy of silicon-carbide and germanium might handle hot, high-power, high-frequency microelectronic and microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices better than silicon, James Kolodzey says.

Released: 7-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Be Careful When Mixing Grapefruit Juice With Your Rx
American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS)

Scientists at the University of California at San Francisco have now found that grapefruit juice may have a negative impact on the body's absorption of many widely-prescribed medications, according to a study published in the April 1999 issue of Pharmaceutical Research.

Released: 7-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Factors Other than Health Insurance Coverage Decrease Access
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

A new study shows that declines in health insurance coverage were responsible for only one-fifth of the declines in access to health care services experienced by Hispanic Americans and young adults aged 18-24 between 1977 and 1996.

Released: 7-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
"Demystifying" Ceramics Manufacturing
Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories, five commercial ceramic manufacturers and Los Alamos National Laboratory are making ceramic history by taking the "art" out of ceramics production and replacing it with science, resulting in better products and lower production costs.

6-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Americans Skip Dialysis; Swedes and Japanese Don't
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist

American dialysis patients are far more likely to skip kidney dialysis treatments than patients in either Sweden or Japan, a Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center physician reports in the April 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Released: 6-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Disabilities Don't Raise Insurance Costs
Cornell University

A survey of human resource managers by Cornell University found that health, life and disability insurance costs rarely rise because of hiring employees with disabilities, but stereotypes about people with disabilities are still pervasive in the workplace, causing them to be hired less and fired more.

Released: 6-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Trends in Healthcare Information Technology
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)

Over the next 10 months, healthcare information technology (IT) professionals will race the clock to implement Year 2000 conversions. Triple the number of IT professionals cite this as their number one priority compared to a year ago, according to the Tenth Annual HIMSS Leadership Survey Sponsored by IBM.

Released: 6-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Elegant Memoir on Learning to Scull at 40
Cornell University

A Cornell professor of history and classics and director of the Peace Studies Program threw himself into a difficult new sport and then wrote a book about it. Rowing Against the Current: On Learning to Scull at Forty is a memoir that navigates through mid-life rites of passage as it meditates on the techniques and history of rowing.

Released: 6-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Drug Industry Ready for New Millennium
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)

Thanks to a massive readiness effort begun more than three years ago, the pharmaceutical industry is well-prepared to meet the challenges of the Year 2000 (Y2K), the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) announced today in releasing the results of a survey of member companies.

5-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EDT
Inhibiting growth of new blood vessels reduces heart disease plaque in mice
American Heart Association (AHA)

Treatment of mice with substances that halt the growth of blood vessels inhibited the development of artery-clogging deposits known as plaque, as well as the tiny blood vessels that may nourish the plaque, according to a study reported in today's Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Released: 3-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
Brain-Activity Changes In Maltreated Kids
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Learning to spot signs of anger early becomes a finely honed survival skill for children who have suffered severe abuse. A new study by psychologist Seth Pollak suggests that this survival skill may actually trigger biological changes, altering the way the brain processes anger.

Released: 3-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
Tip Sheet: Think About Your Health In April
University of Michigan

April 7 is World Health Day, "Healthy Aging, Healthy Living---Start Now!" April 5-11 is National Public Health Week, "Healthy People in Healthy Communities."

Released: 2-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
April 2, 1999 Tipsheet from NSF
National Science Foundation (NSF)

1- effort to decode rice genome is planned, 2- NSF accelerates move from paper to electronic, 3- small business is big source of jobs for s&e bachelor's degree holders, 4- NSF beats y2k deadline.

Released: 2-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
Impact of China Energy Sector on Asia
Rice University

An in-depth review of emerging trends in China's energy sector and how these trends will impact future energy security in Asia is the focus of a year-long study to be released by Rice's James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy in April.

Released: 2-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
Coral Reefs Endangered
University of Chicago

Coral reefs will become a casualty of the industrialized world's growing carbon dioxide emissions by the middle of the next century, according to a study published in the April 2 issue of the journal Science.

Released: 2-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
Carbon Dioxide Threatens Coral Reefs
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

Tropical coral reefs could be harmed by atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) entering the oceans; some reefs may already be declining.

Released: 2-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
Surface Tension and Fingering Patterns in Granular Flows
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

From the orderly flow of sand through an hourglass to the unpredictable nature of an avalanche, the behavior of flowing solids -- or granular flows -- remains, in part, a mystery.

Released: 2-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
Low Rates of Self-Employment Among African Americans
University of California, Santa Cruz

African American men are only one-third as likely to own their own businesses as are white men, according to an analysis by an economist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Released: 2-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
Leonids Sample Return Mission Update
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

Scientists will describe initial results from a program to catch Leonids meteoroids in flight at the NASA/Ames Leonids Workshop April 12-15, 1999.

Released: 2-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
Withholding Food to Fight Rotavirus Challenged
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Malnutrition slows recovery from rotaviral infection, scientists say. Their new research, which challenges the long-accepted approach of withholding food to rest the bowels of infants and animals infected with the virus, documents what happens during recovery.

Released: 2-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
Angry Side to "Poet of the People"
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

A batch of often angry, but sometimes tender, newly found poems has been found and published, adding to the current revival of interest in the poet of the people, Carl Sandburg.

Released: 2-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
First Estimates of Lightning-Associated "Sprites"
National Science Foundation (NSF)

For the first time, scientists have developed a reliable estimate of the number of "sprites" spawned by a single thunderstorm.

1-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
Sugar Increases Fat in the Bloodstream
Journal of the American College of Nutrition

The amount of fat in the bloodstream after a meal is increased when sugars (at levels commonly consumed) are eaten together with fat according to a study published in the April issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

1-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
American Psychiatric Association April 1999 Tipsheet
American Psychiatric Association (APA)

Using a tool known as the Child Behavior Checklist, researchers were able to compare the parent-reported problems of more than 13,000 children from Australia, Belgium, China, Germany, Greece, Israel, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Thailand, and U.S.

1-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
New Research Identifies Outcomes and Future Trends Based on Past Behaviors, Experience
American Psychiatric Association (APA)

Better diagnosis, newer treatments for mental illnesses, psychiatric researchers are successfully using knowledge from the past to determine patient outcomes and future trends. Four studies* show research, historical observation can refine diagnosis, treatment.

1-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
Folic Acid Lowers Risk Of Cardiovascular Disease
University of Michigan

University of Michigan scientists have solved the mystery behind folic acid's ability to reduce amounts of a compound called homocysteine, which is associated with an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and birth defects in humans.

1-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
In animal groups, scientists see patterns that could predict the future
University of Washington

Like teenage boys hanging out on a street corner, animals behave differently when they're in a large group than when they're by themselves. The mechanics and patterns of nature's aggregations - schooling fish, flocking birds or swarming insects - help understand how such groups behave in, and survive, trying conditions, says a University of Washington zoologist.

Released: 1-Apr-1999 12:00 AM EST
Tipsheet from National Science Foundation for April 2, 1999
National Science Foundation (NSF)

1) Effort to Decode Rice Genome Is Planned, 2) NSF Accelerates Move from Paper to Electronic, 3) Small Business Is Big Source of Jobs for S&E Bachelor's Degree Holders, 4) NSF Beats Y2K Deadline



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