Brenda Hamilton, a securities attorney and founder of Hamilton & Associates has been honored as a Top 1 Percent LinkedIn Subscriber. LinkedIn.com reports that Ms. Hamilton's profile was in the top 1 percent of all profiles for 2012. Ms. Hamilton attributes the rating to the law firm's leading role in representing microcap issuers in SEC investigations and DTC matters, and for its securities-related blog www.Securitieslawyer101.com, which focuses on securities law, going public transactions and issues affecting the microcap securities markets. Brenda Hamilton oversees ...

Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. – As the body ages, the physical effects are notable; wrinkles in the skin appear, physical exertion becomes harder. But there are also less visible processes going on. Inside aging brains there is another phenomenon at work, which may contribute to age-related brain defects. In a paper [http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nn.3368] published in the journal Nature Neuroscience CSHL Associate Professor Joshua Dubnau [http://www.cshl.edu/Faculty/dubnau-joshua.html] and colleagues show that so-called "jumping genes," or transposons, increase in abundance and ...

Breast cancers that lack estrogen receptors are more difficult to treat than ER+ cancers. Research presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013 demonstrates an investigational drug, Paragazole, that makes triple-negative breast cancer cells express estrogen receptors, and that increases the sensitivity of these cells to chemotherapy. "Basically what we're trying to do is use triple-negative breast cancer models to develop targeted drugs for treatment. Paragazole is an especially exciting candidate," says Jennifer Diamond, MD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer ...

Catalysis may initiate almost all modern industrial manufacturing processes, but catalytic activity on solid surfaces is poorly understood. This is especially true for the cellulase enzymes used to release fermentable sugars from cellulosic biomass for the production of advanced biofuels. Now, researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) through support from the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) have literally shed new light on cellulase catalysis. Using an ultrahigh-precision visible light microscopy technique called PALM – for Photo-Activated ...

Michael Woods m_woods@acs.org 504-670-4707 (New Orleans Press Center, April 5-10) 202-872-6293 American Chemical Society New 'transient electronics' disappear when no longer needed NEW ORLEANS, April 8, 2013 — Scientists today described key advances toward practical uses of a new genre of tiny, biocompatible electronic devices that could be implanted into the body to relieve pain or battle infection for a specific period of time, and then dissolve harmlessly. These "transient electronics," described here at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American ...

Michael Woods m_woods@acs.org 504-670-4707 (New Orleans Press Center, April 5-10) 202-872-6293 American Chemical Society Natural soil bacteria pump new life into exhausted oil wells NEW ORLEANS, April 8, 2013 — Technology that enlists natural soil bacteria as 21st century roughnecks now is commercially available and poised to recover precious oil remaining in thousands of exhausted oil wells, according to a scientist who spoke here today. His report on a process termed microbially enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) was part of the 245th National Meeting & Exposition ...

Michael Woods m_woods@acs.org 504-670-4707 (New Orleans Press Center, April 5-10) 202-872-6293 American Chemical Society Understanding climate science: A scientist's responsibility to communicate with the public NEW ORLEANS, April 8, 2013 — With global climate change and the prospect of another record-hot summer on the minds of millions of people, experts have gathered here today to encourage scientists to take a more active role in communicating the topic to the public, policy makers and others. The symposium, "Understanding Climate Science: A Scientist's ...

Michael Woods m_woods@acs.org 504-670-4707 (New Orleans Press Center, April 5-10) 202-872-6293 American Chemical Society Global leaders of $3.5 trillion enterprise gathering for 2 days of talks NEW ORLEANS, April 8, 2013 — Top leaders in chemistry — a $760 billion annual enterprise in the United States and $3.5 trillion worldwide — are gathering here today to consider a formula for ensuring the future success of the scientists whose work touches 96 percent of all the world's manufactured goods. The special symposium titled "Vision 2025: How to Succeed in ...

Michael Woods m_woods@acs.org 504-670-4707 (New Orleans Press Center, April 5-10) 202-872-6293 American Chemical Society Egyptian wedding certificate key to authenticating controversial Biblical text NEW ORLEANS, April 8, 2013 — A scientist who helped verify authenticity of the fabled Gospel of Judas today revealed how an ancient Egyptian marriage certificate played a pivotal role in confirming the veracity of inks used in the controversial text. The disclosure, which sheds new light on the intensive scientific efforts to validate the gospel, was made here ...

Protecting against aging at the molecular level High fidelity DNA replication during each cycle of cell division is required to maintain genomic stability and prevent chromosomal mutations and rearrangements that can cause disease and aging. Mutations in ATRX, a gene that encodes a protein that participates in DNA replication, are associated with X-linked mental retardation, various cancers, and developmental disorders, but the cellular functions of ATRX are still unclear. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Nathalie Bérubé at the ...

High fidelity DNA replication during each cycle of cell division is required to maintain genomic stability and prevent chromosomal mutations and rearrangements that can cause disease and aging. Mutations in ATRX, a gene that encodes a protein that participates in DNA replication, are associated with X-linked mental retardation, various cancers, and developmental disorders, but the cellular functions of ATRX are still unclear. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Nathalie Bérubé at the University of Western Ontario report on the effects ...

The retina is a highly vascularized tissue, but too much or too little vascularization can lead to visual impairment and diseases such as familial exudative vitreoretinopathy or macular degeneration. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Alfred Nordheim and colleagues at Tuebingen University in Tuebingen, Germany, identified the DNA transcription factor SRF and its cofactors MRTF-A and MRTF-B as critical regulators of vascularization in the postnatal mouse eye. Loss of vascular Srf in adult mice led to the formation of microaneurysms and excess blood vessel ...

When a child with autism copies the actions of an adult, he or she is likely to omit anything "silly" about what they've just seen. In contrast, typically developing children will go out of their way to repeat each and every element of the behavior even as they may realize that parts of it don't make any sense. The findings, reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 8, are the first to show that the social nature of imitation is very important and challenging for children with autism, the researchers say. They also emphasize just how important it is ...

VIDEO: The vocal lip-smacks that geladas use in friendly encounters have surprising similarities to human speech, according to a study reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 8th.... Click here for more information. The vocal lip-smacks that geladas use in friendly encounters have surprising similarities to human speech, according to a study reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 8th. The geladas, which live only in the remote mountains ...

The rate of stillbirths in British Columbia, Canada, increased by 31% over a decade, although the rate of spontaneous stillbirths did not increase, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Stillbirth rates, which had been declining for decades, have increased or plateaued in several industrialized countries. For example, rates in Australia have increased from 7.0 per 1000 total births in 2000 to 7.8 per 1000 in 2009 and in Canada, rates have increased from 6.0 per 1000 total births in 2000 to 7.1 per 1000 in 2009. The United States, ...

There is a direct, positive link between physicians' preventive health practices and those of their patients, found a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Researchers looked at the screening and vaccination practices of 1488 physicians and their 1 886 791 adult patients in Israel's largest health maintenance organization, Clalit Health Services (CHS). These practices included age appropriate mammography, blood pressure measurement, colorectal screening, annual influenza vaccinations and others. For example, among patients whose physicians had ...

Patients are more likely to follow preventive health practices like getting a flu shot or mammography if their doctors do likewise, researchers at the University of British Columbia and in Israel have discovered. "We found that patients whose physicians adhered to the recommended screening or vaccination practices were significantly more likely to also undergo screening or vaccination compared with patients of non-compliant physicians," said Dr. Erica Frank of UBC's School of Population and Public Health. Dr. Frank worked with three Israeli researchers and their findings ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – April 8, 2013 – Women often point to stress, hormones, alcohol, or even the weather as possible triggers for their migraines. But a new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center found that it is nearly impossible for patients to determine the true cause of their migraine episodes without undergoing formal experiments. The majority of migraine sufferers try to figure out for themselves what causes their headaches based on real world conditions, said lead author Timothy T. Houle, Ph.D, associate professor of anesthesia and neurology at Wake Forest ...

Imagine a tent that blocks light on a dry and sunny day, and becomes transparent and water-repellent on a dim, rainy day. Or highly precise, self-adjusting contact lenses that also clean themselves. Or pipelines that can optimize the rate of flow depending on the volume of fluid coming through them and the environmental conditions outside. A team of researchers at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) just moved these enticing notions much closer to reality by designing a new kind of adaptive material ...

Mimicking the behaviour of mum and dad has long been considered a vital way in which children learn about the world around them. Now psychologists at The University of Nottingham have shown that copying unnecessary behaviour is more likely to be a social phenomenon than part of the practical process of acquiring new skills. In their study, published today in the journal Current Biology, the scientists found that autistic children, who have profound difficulty in engaging in social situations, were less likely to copy unnecessary behaviour when learning a new task. The ...

PITTSBURGH—Surgical robots could make some types of surgery safer and more effective, but proving that the software controlling these machines works as intended is problematic. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have demonstrated that methods for reliably detecting software bugs and ultimately verifying software safety can be applied successfully to this breed of robot. They used theorem-proving techniques to analyze a control algorithm for a research robot that would help a surgeon perform surgery at ...

We're all fatheads. That is, our brain cells are packed with fat molecules, more of them than almost any other cell type. Still, if the brain cells' fat content gets too high, they'll be in trouble. In a recent study in mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins pinpointed an enzyme that keeps neurons' fat levels under control, and may be implicated in human neurological diseases. Their findings are published in the May 2013 issue of Molecular and Cellular Biology. "There are known connections between problems with how the body's cells process fats and neurodegenerative diseases ...

Antidiscrimination laws can have a significant positive impact on how gays and lesbians are treated in employment situations, according to new research from Rice University. The study on public awareness of sexual-orientation employment-antidiscrimination laws is one of the first to provide empirical evidence for the likely impact of pending antidiscrimination legislation. "In many U.S. states and localities (including much of Texas), gays and lesbians remain unprotected from employment discrimination," said Laura Barron, a 2008 Rice alumna and now personnel research ...

Philadelphia, PA, April 8, 2013 – Although mammography, the gold standard of breast cancer screening, reduces breast cancer mortality, it has important limitations. Critics point to reduced sensitivity for women with dense breasts, a high rate of false positives leading to excessive biopsies, and concerns about long-term effects of repeated radiation. With greater understanding of risk stratification, the authors of this review envision a re-thinking of the typical breast cancer paradigm to include new technologies that allow a more individualized approach that integrates ...

Religious and nonreligious organizations may have a similar impact on the ability of immigrants to acclimate to life in the U.S., despite the organizations' different motivations for providing charitable services, according to new research from Rice University. "There's been a lot of discussion as to whether religious organizations offer some special or unique benefit to immigrant groups that will help them better adapt to American society," said the study's lead author, Elaine Howard Ecklund, the Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Sociology and director of Rice's Religion ...