The recent shooting at Fort Hood and mudslide in Washington underscore the critical need for improved communication and more effective team coordination. Philadelphia-based software company Drakontas LLC is working with law enforcement and emergency responders to develop unique software tools to address this critical need. Drakontas' DragonForce app runs on smartphones, tablets and web browsers and is used by public safety teams to more quickly and effectively respond to both day-to-day and emergency incidents. By utilizing DragonForce's collaborative tools, emergency ...

Korman Residential Properties, Inc. has acquired The Villas, a 240-unit garden style apartment community located at 21 Villas Drive, New Castle, Delaware. The sale was brokered by Ken Wellar of Rittenhouse Realty Advisors. Built in 1973, the property consists of 12 three-story multifamily buildings with a pool and playground located on 14.04 acres in the Wilmington Metro submarket. The highly desirable unit mix is comprised of 20% one-bedroom and 80% two-bedroom apartments with fully equipped kitchens and balconies or patios. The property is ideally located in New Castle ...

Four people with paraplegia are able to voluntarily move previously paralyzed muscles as a result of a novel therapy that involves electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, according to a study funded in part by the National Institutes of Health and the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. The participants, each of whom had been paralyzed for more than two years, were able to voluntarily flex their toes, ankles, and knees while the stimulator was active, and the movements were enhanced over time when combined with physical rehabilitation. Researchers involved in the study ...

Ann Arbor, MI, April 8, 2014 – While preventable, carbon monoxide poisoning is a serious and sometimes fatal condition. Large weather events, such as snowstorms and heavy storms that cause power outages, can lead to an increase in the number of reported carbon monoxide exposures. Researchers from Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut explored the link between these major storms and the rise in carbon monoxide exposure cases. They found that portable generators were the most common source of carbon monoxide exposure after storms which resulted in power losses; car exhaust ...

An antimicrobial agent found in common household soaps, shampoos and toothpastes may be finding its way inside human noses where it promotes the colonization of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria and could predispose some people to infection. Researchers at the University of Michigan report their findings this week in a study published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Triclosan, a man-made compound used in a range of antibacterial personal care products such as soaps, toothpastes, kitchen surfaces, clothes and medical equipment, ...

Four young men who have been paralyzed for years achieved groundbreaking progress — moving their legs — as a result of epidural electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, an international team of life scientists reports today in the medical journal Brain. The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Louisville, UCLA and the Pavlov Institute of Physiology, was funded in part by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. All four participants were classified as suffering from chronic, motor complete spinal cord injuries ...

Human bones are remarkably plastic and respond surprisingly quickly to change. Put under stress through physical exertion – such as long-distance walking or running – they gain in strength as the fibres are added or redistributed according to where strains are highest. The ability of bone to adapt to loading is shown by analysis of the skeletons of modern athletes, whose bones show remarkably rapid adaptation to both the intensity and direction of strains. Because the structure of human bones can inform us about the lifestyles of the individuals they belong to, they can ...

Gastric banding can play a vital role in the treatment of type 2 diabetes in people who are overweight and not obese, according to new research. The Monash University study, led by Emeritus Professor Paul O'Brien and Dr John Wentworth from the Centre for Obesity Research and Education (CORE), has determined that weight loss surgery (gastric banding) for overweight people with diabetes had a profound impact on the illness. The research has been released today in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology. "This is the first randomised controlled ...

1. Daily low-dose aspirin may protect against preeclampsia complications Daily low-dose aspirin beginning as early as the second trimester of pregnancy may prevent complications from preeclampsia, according to an article being published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Preeclampsia is a condition characterized by high blood pressure and proteinuria during the second half of pregnancy. Poor perinatal health outcomes are associated with preeclampsia, primarily due to increased risk for intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) or medically initiated preterm delivery. Preeclampsia ...

A new study into how the world's highest flying bird, the bar-headed goose, is able to survive at extreme altitudes may have future implications for low oxygen medical conditions in humans. An international team of scientists recently tracked the bar-headed goose while it migrated across the Himalayas. Now they have shown how these birds are able to tolerate running at top speed while breathing only 7% oxygen. Exercising at high altitude is a massive challenge since at the top of the highest mountains the air is only made up of 7% oxygen, compared with 21% at sea level. ...

New research from University of Liverpool scientists has cast doubt on the theory that neurological behaviour is a product of culture in people of Chinese origin. Scientists tested three groups – students from mainland China, British people with Chinese parents and white British people – to see how quickly their eyes reacted to dots appearing in the periphery of their vision. These rapid eye movements, known as saccades, were timed in all of the participants to see which of them were capable of making high numbers of express saccades – particularly fast responses which ...

The difference between an immune response that kills cancer cells and one that conversely stimulates tumor growth can be as narrow as a "double-edged sword," report researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in the April 7, 2014 online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We have found that the intensity difference between an immune response that stimulates cancer and one that kills it may not be very much," said principal investigator Ajit Varki, MD, Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular ...

Genetic variants associated with enjoying the effects of d-amphetamine—the active ingredient in Adderall—are also associated with a reduced risk for developing schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), report scientists from the University of Chicago in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on April 7. The results support a long-standing hypothesis that dopamine, the neurotransmitter connected with the euphoric effects of amphetamine, is related to schizophrenia and ADHD. "Some of the variants that make you like amphetamine also ...

Laboratory chamber walls have been stealing vapors, causing researchers to underestimate the formation of secondary organic aerosol in the atmosphere. A study published April 7 in PNAS Online Early Edition describes how a team of scientists, including researchers from the University of California, Davis, showed that vapor losses to the walls of laboratory chambers can suppress the formation of secondary organic aerosol, which in turn has contributed to the underprediction of SOA in climate and air quality models. SOA impacts air quality and climate and makes ...

New research reveals that brain damage affecting the insula – an area with a key role in emotions – disrupts errors of thinking linked to gambling addiction. The research, led by Dr Luke Clark from the University of Cambridge, was published today, 07 April, in the journal PNAS. During gambling games, people often misperceive their chances of winning due to a number of errors of thinking called cognitive distortions. For example, 'near-misses' seem to encourage further play, even though they are no different from any other loss. In a random sequence like tossing a coin, ...

New insights into a surprisingly flexible immune system present in bacteria for combating viruses and other foreign DNA invaders have been revealed by researchers from New Zealand's University of Otago and the Netherlands. A team led by Dr Peter Fineran of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology are studying the genetic basis of adaptive immunity in bacteria that cause potato 'soft rot' and in E. coli bacteria. Through their recent collaboration they have found that these bacterial immune systems are much more robust and responsive than previously thought. Their ...

Genes amplify the stress of harsh environments for some children, and magnify the advantage of supportive environments for other children, according to a study that's one of the first to document how genes interacting with social environments affect biomarkers of stress. "Our findings suggest that an individual's genetic architecture moderates the magnitude of the response to external stimuli—but it is the environment that determines the direction" says Colter Mitchell, lead author of the paper and a researcher at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research ...

Researchers have discovered a way of reducing the fertility of malaria-carrying mosquitoes, potentially providing a new tactic to combat the disease. Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes are the main transmitters of malaria, which affects around 200 million people every year. The females mate only once during their lives. They store the sperm from this single mating in an organ called the spermatheca, from which they repeatedly take sperm over the course of their lifetime to fertilise the eggs that they lay.. The female needs the sperm to stay healthy whilst they are in storage ...

Melbourne researchers have solved a puzzle as to how an essential blood-making hormone stimulates production of the blood clotting cells known as platelets. Platelets are essential for stopping bleeding and are produced by small fragments breaking off their 'parent' cells, called megakaryocytes. The discovery, made by scientists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, identified how bone marrow cells could become overstimulated and produce too many platelets. In blood diseases such as essential thrombocythemia, too many platelets can lead to clogging of the blood vessels, ...

From time to time, living cells will accidently make an extra copy of a gene during the normal replication process. Throughout the history of life, evolution has molded some of these seemingly superfluous genes into a source of genetic novelty, adaptation and diversity. A new study shows one way that some duplicate genes could have long-ago escaped elimination from the genome, leading to the genetic innovation seen in modern life. Researchers have shown that a process called DNA methylation can shield duplicate genes from being removed from the genome during natural selection. ...

Resistance to an entire class of antibiotics – aminoglycosides -- has the potential to spread to many types of bacteria, according to new biochemistry research. A mobile gene called NpmA was discovered in E. coli bacteria isolated from a Japanese patient several years ago. Global spread of NpmA and related antibiotic resistance enzymes could disable an entire class of tools doctors use to fight serious or life-threatening infections. Using X-ray crystallography, researchers at Emory University School of Medicine made an atomic-scale snapshot of how the enzyme encoded ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — With the political divide over health care reform still strong going into this year's elections, a new analysis of state-level decisions shows signs of an emerging middle way toward reducing the ranks of the uninsured. The approach centers on efforts by governors and legislatures to get federal permission to customize Medicaid expansion in ways that satisfy political conservatives – while still allowing them to collect federal funding to increase health insurance coverage in their state. In a new Viewpoint published online by the Journal of the American ...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A team of researchers lead by Florida State University have found new evidence that permafrost thawing is releasing large quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere via plants, which could accelerate warming trends. The research is featured in the newest edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We've known for a while now that permafrost is thawing," said Suzanne Hodgkins, the lead author on the paper and a doctoral student in chemical oceanography at Florida State. "But what we've found is that the associated changes ...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 7, 2014) -- A multidisciplinary group of scientists from the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky have identified an interesting connection between the health of the brain tissue that supports cognitive functioning and the presence of dementia in adults with Down syndrome. Published in the Neurobiology of Aging, the study, which focused on detecting changes in the white matter connections of the brain, offers tantalizing potential for the identification of biomarkers connected to the development of dementia, including Alzheimer's ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study shows that a gene discovered 30 years ago and now known to play a fundamental role in cancer development produces five different gene variants (called isoforms), rather than just the one original form, as thought. The study of the NRAS gene by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) identified four previously unknown variants that the NRAS gene produces. The finding might help improve drugs for cancers in which aberrant ...