Physorg

Expanded irrigation has made it possible to feed the world's growing billions -and it may also temporarily be counteracting the effects of climate change in some regions, say scientists in a new study. But some major groundwater aquifers, a source of irrigation water, are projected to dry up in coming decades from continuing overuse, and when they do, people may face the double whammy of food shortages and higher temperatures. A new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research pinpoints where the trouble spots may be.

Use of gemcitabine, a drug that can be effective in treating advanced and resected pancreatic cancer, did not result in improved overall survival after pancreatic cancer resection (surgical removal) compared to patients who received fluorouracil and folinic acid, another treatment regimen that has shown effectiveness, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA.

Patients panels (used to rate the quality of care of physicians) with greater proportions of underinsured, minority and non-English speaking patients were associated with lower physician quality rankings, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA.

Driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol is a major public health problem. A study of people who had relapsed to DUI found subtle deficits in their decision-making abilities that tend to go undetected through conventional neuropsychological testing.

Tropical Storm Hermine formed very quickly yesterday in the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and northeastern Mexico and southeastern Texas are now bearing the brunt of the storm. Infrared imagery taken from NASA's AIRS instrument showed a quick organization of strong thunderstorms around Hermine's center of circulation and very warm Gulf waters that powered her up.

An analysis of data from influenza cases in Wisconsin indicates individuals with 2009 H1N1 infections were younger than those with H3N2 (2007-2008), and that the risk of most serious complications was not higher in adults or children with 2009 H1N1 compared with recent seasonal strains, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA.

Police in 14 European countries on Tuesday launched a series of raids against an online film pirating network, Swedish authorities said.

For the first time ever, University of Illinois researchers have discovered how microbes break down hemicellulose plant matter into simple sugars using a cow rumen bacterium as a model.

HIV-infected children in South Africa who were exposed to the drug nevirapine at birth (used to help prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission) and then received a protease inhibitor (PI) for viral suppression achieved lower rates of viremia (virus in the blood stream) if they were switched to nevirapine, compared to children who continued on the PI-based regimen, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA. PI-based therapies generally have a higher cost compared to nevirapine, which may leave some children excluded from treatment.

YouTube has begun offering glimpses into a day in life around the world.

IBM has recently announced details of the world's fastest computer chip -- the microprocessor in a new version of the IBM mainframe that begins shipping to customers on Sept. 10.

Over the last week, as Hurricane Earl threatened the east coast of the United States, hurricane scientists from NOAA Research's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) and colleagues from the University of Miami's Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) conducted a total of 18 hurricane hunter research flights, including the first ever flight by the unmanned NASA Global Hawk over a hurricane.

With students returning to classes, University of Rochester Medical Center researchers are beginning a large, long-term study of the effectiveness of a unique suicide prevention program in high schools across New York and North Dakota.

A former State Department official credited with helping bring social networking and other Web 2.0 tools to US diplomacy has been tapped to head a new division at Google called "Google Ideas."

(AP) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. is suing former CEO Mark Hurd to stop him from taking a job at rival Oracle Corp.

Marine geologists have returned from two months at sea off British Columbia, Canada, where they installed two observatories in the ocean floor to run innovative experiments at the bottom of the sea.

Thomas Serre, assistant professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences at Brown, and colleagues at MIT and Caltech have developed a computer-based system that can learn how to identify behaviors of interest and then analyze many hours of video. The team describes the system in Nature Communications.

Students who cheat in high school and college are highly likely to fit the profile for subclinical psychopathy - a personality disorder defined by erratic lifestyle, manipulation, callousness and antisocial tendencies, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. These problematic students cheat because they feel entitled and disregard morality, the study found.

That gels based on proteins from yeasts can be used as drug delivery systems and carriers of antibodies is the most important conclusion from the Helena Teles` doctoral research at Wageningen University, The Netherlands. The custom-made proteins from the yeast Pichia pastoris are an alternative for animal gelatines and collagens used in the medical and pharmaceutical industries.

Rising sea levels and coastal development are threatening coastal freshwater wetlands with saltwater intrusion. While most ecosystem restoration projects have focused on surface water and groundwater, new research finds that conditions in the vadose zone, the unsaturated soil below the surface but above the water table, are of particular importance to seedling survival in coastal floodplain ecosystems.