Renea Menzies, a Texas abstract artist, is known for sculpting heavy oil paint and vibrant color to captivate her audience with an amazing line of one-of-a-kind products. As an international model, she had the privilege of traveling abroad and experiencing the world at a very early age. During her extensive travels, she acquired a unique sense of style and zest for life in which she translates into her own unique art form. Renea is now showing in cities across the nation such as Aspen, Boston, Santa Fe, New Orleans and Scottsdale she has decided to expanding the utilization ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Sleep researchers from University of California campuses in Riverside and San Diego have identified the sleep mechanism that enables the brain to consolidate emotional memory and found that a popular prescription sleep aid heightens the recollection of and response to negative memories. Their findings have implications for individuals suffering from insomnia related to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other anxiety disorders who are prescribed zolpidem (Ambien) to help them sleep. The study — "Pharmacologically Increasing Sleep Spindles Enhances ...

Sydney: A laboratory study has found that bicycle helmets certified to Australia's national standard significantly reduce the causes of head, skull and brain injury - linear and angular head accelerations, and the impact force of a crash. Crashing without a helmet exposes the head to accelerations and forces – or loads - up to 9.5 times greater than with a helmet and so greatly increases the risk of head, skull and brain injury, according to a detailed biomechanical study published in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention. "Our findings confirm that bicycle helmets certified ...

The propensity of proteins to stick together in large clumps—termed "protein aggregation"—is the culprit behind a variety of conditions including Huntington's, Alzheimer's, and mad cow diseases. With this notoriety, protein aggregation is considered to be a bad accident of nature that happens when protein structure is mismanaged. But new research published online on June 13th in the Cell Press journal Developmental Cell shows that, when kept in balance, protein aggregation has beneficial functions that allow cells to organize themselves in both time and space. The findings ...

PHILADELPHIA — Genetic variations, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), in or near the genes ZNF423 and CTSO were associated with breast cancer risk among women who underwent prevention therapy with tamoxifen and raloxifene, according to data published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Women who have the favorable variations of these two SNPs are more likely to respond to prevention therapy, according to this study. Women who have the unfavorable variations of these SNPs may not benefit from prevention therapy, ...

(New York, NY – June 13, 2013)--By transferring four genes into mouse fibroblast cells, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have produced cells that resemble hematopoietic stem cells, which produce millions of new blood cells in the human body every day. These findings provide a platform for future development of patient-specific stem/progenitor cells, and more differentiated blood products, for cell-replacement therapy. The study, titled, "Induction of a Hemogenic Program in Mouse Fibroblasts," was published online in CELL STEM CELL on June 13. ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Newly discovered genetic variations may help predict breast cancer risk in women who receive preventive breast cancer therapy with the selective estrogen receptor modulator drugs tamoxifen and raloxifene, a Mayo Clinic-led study has found. The study is published in the journal Cancer Discovery. "Our findings are important because we identified genetic factors that could eventually be used to select women who should be offered the drugs for prevention," said James Ingle, M.D., an oncologist at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Ingle and collaborators at the National ...

PHILADELPHIA - According to the American Cancer Society, nearly 40,000 women in the United States will succumb to breast cancer this year. Most of these women will die not from the primary tumor but rather tumor recurrence – the reappearance of the disease following treatment. Precisely what causes breast cancer recurrence has been poorly understood. But now a piece of the puzzle has fallen into place: Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania have identified a key molecular player in recurrent breast cancer – a finding that suggests ...

WASHINGTON (June 11, 2013) —Researcher Michael S. Irwig, M.D., F.A.C.E., assistant professor of medicine at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) and director of the Center for Andrology at The GW Medical Faculty Associates, found that men who used the medication finasteride (Propecia) and developed persistent sexual side effects, are also drinking less alcohol than before. This research will be published in the journal, Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. While robust literature exists on the interaction between ...

A series of austerity reforms made by the Spanish government could lead to the effective dismantling of large parts of the country's healthcare system, with potentially detrimental effects on the health of the Spanish people, according to new research published in BMJ. National budget cuts of 13.65% (€365m) and regional budget cuts of up to 10% to health and social care services in 2012 have coincided with increased demands on the health system, particularly affecting the elderly, disabled and those with poor mental health. The authors, led by the London School of Hygiene ...

PITTSBURGH—It turns out that helping others can also help you protect yourself from high blood pressure. New research from Carnegie Mellon University shows that older adults who volunteer for at least 200 hours per year decrease their risk of hypertension, or high blood pressure, by 40 percent. The study, published by the American Psychological Association's Psychology and Aging journal, suggests that volunteer work may be an effective non-pharmaceutical option to help prevent the condition. Hypertension affects an estimated 65 million Americans and is a major contributor ...

In women at high risk for breast cancer, a long-term drug treatment can cut the risk of developing the disease in half. Researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health have now identified two gene variants that may predict which women are most likely to benefit from this therapy—and which should avoid it. The work represents a major step toward truly individualized breast cancer prevention in women at high risk for the disease based on their age, family history of breast cancer, and personal medical history. "Our study reveals the first known genetic factors ...

SOLOMONS, MD (June 13, 2013)—A new study shows that combining improved oyster restoration methods with limits on fishing in the upper Chesapeake could bring the oyster population back to the Bay in a much shorter period of time. The study led by Michael Wilberg of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory assessed a range of management and restoration options to see which ones would have the most likelihood success. "This new model we developed suggests that oysters should be able to come back if we help them out ...

A University of British Columbia study sheds important new light on why people attempt suicide and provides the first scientifically tested measure for evaluating the motivations for suicide. Published in the official journal of the American Association of Suicidology, the work gives doctors and researchers important new resources to advance suicide prevention, improve treatments, and reduce the likelihood of further attempts. "Knowing why someone attempted suicide is crucial – it tells us how to best help them recover," says Prof. David Klonsky, UBC Dept. of Psychology. ...

A new statistical analysis shows the world population could reach nearly 11 billion by the end of the century, according to a United Nations report issued June 13. That's about 800 million, or about 8 percent, more than the previous projection of 10.1 billion, issued in 2011. The projected rise is mostly due to fertility in Africa, where the U.N. had expected birth rates to decline more quickly than they have. "The fertility decline in Africa has slowed down or stalled to a larger extent than we previously predicted, and as a result the African population will go ...

Madrid, Spain, 13 June 2013: Data presented at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, show that up to one-third of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients discontinue or change therapy within the first year of treatment. Loss of efficacy was the most common reason given (35.8%), followed by safety (20.1%), physician or patient preference (27.8% and 17.9%, respectively) and access to treatment (9.0%). Rates and rationale for treatment discontinuation were similar for both tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) and non-TNFi biologics. RA ...

Madrid, Spain, 13 June 2013: Epidemiological data presented today at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, demonstrate that pregnancy carried to childbirth (parity) increases the risk of ACPA-negative* rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The increased risk was demonstrated in women aged 18-44 who have had a child (2.1, 95% CI 1.4-3.2), but not in older women, and was more pronounced among those women with delivery during the first year of symptoms. RA is an autoimmune disease characterised by inflammation of the joints and tendons. As a ...

Madrid, Spain, 13 June 2013: Study findings first presented today at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, demonstrate the efficacy of canakinumab at tapering corticosteroid (CS) use in patients with SJIA. Successful CS tapering was achieved within 20 weeks in almost half of patients (44.5%, p END ...

Madrid, Spain, 13 June 2013: Data presented today at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, demonstrate that indicators of depression are stronger predictors of work disability in early arthritis than disease activity or response to therapy. The study showed that in a multivariable analysis none of the arthritis activity measures or cardiovascular, metabolic or pulmonary diseases investigated were associated with early retirement, yet a single depression statement "having little pleasure or interest in doing things most of the days ...

MIAMI – June 13, 2013 – The commercial value of spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) in the Caribbean reaches $1 billion annually, thus making it one of the most valuable fisheries in the region. In a new study of this iconic species, Ph.D. candidate Andrew Kough and Dr. Claire Paris of the Biophysical Interactions Lab at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, in collaboration with Dr. Mark Butler from Old Dominion University, studied the larval dispersal of this species in the Caribbean. The goal of the study was to describe the sources, ...

Pro-market policies for developing countries have long been based on the belief that increasing average income is key to improving public health and societal well-being. But new research on India published in the journal Social Science and Medicine shows that literacy - a non-income good - has a greater impact on public health in India. While the researchers, based at Cambridge's Department of Sociology, accept it is broadly true that "wealthier is healthier" across the roughly 500 districts in India's 'major states', accounting for 95% of the total population, they ...

Scientists at Aalto University, Finland and Utrecht University, the Netherlands have created single atom contacts between gold and graphene nanoribbons. In their article published in Nature Communications, the research team demonstrates how to make electrical contacts with single chemical bonds to graphene nanoribbons. Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice. It is anticipated to be a revolutionising material for future electronics. Graphene transistors functioning at room temperature require working at the size scale of less than ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Striking the likes of Chicago Bulls' Derrick Rose, L.A. Lakers' Kobe Bryant and Detroit Tigers' Victor Martinez, tears in the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are one of the most rampant and serious knee injuries among athletes. Now, researchers from the University of Michigan Health System have identified a new drug target that may prevent one of the most dreaded consequences of an ACL tear –the weakening or loss of muscle tissue (muscle atrophy) that can be a career-killer in sports and ultimately develop into osteoarthritis. A hormone called myostatin ...

DETROIT – A specific MicroRNA, a short set of RNA (ribonuclease) sequences, naturally packaged into minute (50 nanometers) lipid containers called exosomes, are released by stem cells after a stroke and contribute to better neurological recovery according to a new animal study by Henry Ford Hospital researchers. The important role of a specific microRNA transferred from stem cells to brain cells via the exosomes to enhance functional recovery after a stroke was shown in lab rats. This study provides fundamental new insight into how stem cells affect injured tissue and ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a method for creating "nano-volcanoes" by shining various colors of light through a nanoscale "crystal ball" made of a synthetic polymer. These nano-volcanoes can store precise amounts of other materials and hold promise for new drug-delivery technologies. The researchers create the nano-volcanoes by placing spherical, transparent polymer nanoparticles directly onto the flat surface of a thin film. They then shine ultraviolet light through the transparent sphere, which scatters the light and creates a pattern ...