Autoglass has just announced the introduction of its new bespoke wet weather solution - an extendable canopy fixed to its mobile technician's vans, known as the Vanbrella . Britain experiences rainy weather approximately 145 days of the year and this can adversely affect vehicle glass repair and replacement services. For example, the time needed for the chip repair healing process (usually 30 minutes) or that needed to bond a replacement glass (usually 1 hour) may significantly increase in wet conditions and this could compromise the quality of the result. 90 per ...

QuickLoansBadCredit.org, the leading matching organization for people with bad credit in need of loans, announces that it has undergone some crucial improvements. The service has been implemented two phases of upgrades, the first of which has been completed. The second phase will be commenced in the coming weeks. No disturbance will be made to the site or its bad credit loans introduction service during phase two, during which time all aspects of the platform will remain in full operation. QuickLoansBadCredit.org made the announcement in the following statement. "Following ...

Popular texting, messaging and microblog apps developed for the Android smartphone have security flaws that could expose private information or allow forged fraudulent messages to be posted, according to researchers at the University of California, Davis. Zhendong Su, professor of computer science, said that his team has notified the app developers of the problems, although it has not yet had a response. The security flaws were identified by graduate student Dennis (Liang) Xu, who collected about 120,000 free apps from the Android marketplace. The researchers focused ...

This press release is available in French. Montreal, April 16, 2013 – From corsets to caftans, we have seen dramatic changes in popular style over the past 100 years. New research from Concordia University now brings the future of fashion into focus by taking a closer look at the next quantum leap in textile design: computerized fabrics that change their colour and their shape in response to movement. Joanna Berzowska, professor and chair of the Department of Design and Computation Arts at Concordia, has developed interactive electronic fabrics that harness power ...

Ecological dimensions of biofuels: state of the science Are biofuels a renewable, environmentally friendly energy source? The Ecological Society of America reviews bioethanol and biodiesel in conventional production as well as feedstocks still in development. Biofuels in commercial scale production are made from the sugars and oils of food crops, and share the ecological impacts of high intensity agriculture. Corn, the primary biofuel source in the United States, demands a lot of fuel to produce fuel. It needs nitrogen fertilizer, fixed using energy-intensive industrial ...

Philadelphia, PA, April 16, 2013 – Atherosclerosis – sometimes called "hardening of the arteries" – is a leading cause of death and morbidity in Western countries. A cell-permeable peptide containing the NF-ĸB nuclear localization sequence (NLS) shows promise as a potential agent in controlling the development of atherosclerotic disease. This study is published in the May 2013 issue of The American Journal of Pathology. Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the arterial and vascular wall. The objective of many therapeutic compounds is to modulate atherogenesis ...

A new report prepared in collaboration with the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations, is the first to describe in detail the epidemiology, burden, and treatment of osteoporosis in all 27 member states of the European Union (EU27). Published today in Rome in conjunction with the opening of Europe's largest osteoporosis congress, the report 'Osteoporosis in the European Union: Medical Management, Epidemiology and Economic Burden' shows that as Europe's population ages, fractures due to osteoporosis ...

Today a panel of international experts working in cooperation with the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) have published SCOPE – or Scorecard for Osteoporosis in Europe. Focusing on key aspects of service provision and uptake, the Scorecard compares how the 27 different countries within the European Union (EU) care for people with osteoporosis to reduce their risk of bone fractures. Fractures, which mostly affect older adults, can result in pain, long-term disability and even premature death. The Scorecard presents, measures and compares data in a way that ...

The most fertile bursts of star birth in the early Universe took place in distant galaxies containing lots of cosmic dust. These galaxies are of key importance to our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution over the history of the Universe, but the dust obscures them and makes them difficult to identify with visible-light telescopes. To pick them out, astronomers must use telescopes that observe light at longer wavelengths, around one millimetre, such as ALMA. "Astronomers have waited for data like this for over a decade. ALMA is so powerful that it has revolutionised ...

Stem cells and tissue-specific cells can be grown in abundance from mature mammalian cells simply by blocking a certain membrane protein, according to scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Their experiments, reported today in Scientific Reports, also show that the process doesn't require other kinds of cells or agents to artificially support cell growth and doesn't activate cancer genes. Scientists hope that lab-grown stem cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which have the ability to produce ...

The human body has the ability to ward off viruses by activating a naturally occurring protein at the cellular level, setting off a chain reaction that disrupts the levels of cholesterol required in cell membranes to enable viruses to enter cells. The findings, discovered by researchers in molecular microbiology and immunology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, hold promise for the development of therapies to fight a variety of viral infections. "Previous studies have shown that our bodies are already equipped to block viruses such as Ebola, influenza, West Nile, ...

As much as dog owners love their children, they tend to share more of themselves, at least in terms of bacteria, with their canine cohorts rather than their kids. That is just one finding of a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder that looked at the types and transfer modes of microbes from the guts, tongues, foreheads and palms (or paws) of members of 60 American families, including canines. Identifying how such bacterial communities can be affected by environmental exposure may help scientists better understand how they can be manipulated to prevent or ...

"Current wisdom says that cells are closed entities that communicate through the secretion of soluble signalling molecules. Recent findings indicate that cells can exchange more complex information – whole packages of genetic material and signalling proteins. This is an entirely new conception of how cells communicate", says Dr Mattias Belting, Professor of Oncology at Lund University and senior consultant in oncology at Skåne University Hospital, Lund, Sweden. Exosomes are small vesicles of only 30 nm. They are produced inside cells and act as "transport vehicles" of ...

Typing on today's mobile phones and tablets is needlessly slow. One limitation is that the QWERTY layout is ill-suited for tablets and other touch-screen devices when typing with the thumbs. Two-thumb typing is ergonomically very different from typing on a physical keyboard. It has been established that normal users using a QWERTY on a touch-screen device are limited to typing at a rate of around 20 words per minute, which is slow compared to the rates achieved on physical keyboards. The researchers set out to create an alternative to QWERTY that offers substantial performance ...

A new study concludes that approximately half of the prescriptions of Tamiflu during the 2009-10 influenza pandemic went unused in England. The unused medication represents approximately 600,000 courses of Tamiflu at a cost of around £7.8 million to the UK taxpayer. The novel scientific method used in the study could help measure and improve the effectiveness of future pandemic flu strategies. The finding, published online this week in the open access scientific journal PLOS ONE, comes from the first study of its kind to use sewage water to estimate drug compliance rates, ...

Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory have identified a molecule that prevents repair of some cancer cells, providing a potential new "genetic chemotherapy" approach to cancer treatment that could significantly reduce side effects and the development of treatment resistance compared with traditional chemotherapy. In healthy people, white blood cells called B cells (or B lymphocytes) are a kind of sophisticated tool kit, making antibodies against pathogens or other invaders. In the process of antibody production, B cells turn on the gene known as activation-induced cytidine ...

WASHINGTON--U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Chemistry Division scientists have developed a second generation, cost-effective polyetheretherketone (PEEK)-like phthalonitrile-resin demonstrating superior high temperature and flammability properties for use in numerous marine, aerospace and domestic applications. The resin can be used to make composite components by established industrial methods such as resin transfer molding (RTM), resin infusion molding (RIM), filament winding, prepreg consolidation, and potentially by automated composite manufacturing techniques such ...

Individuals from stigmatized groups choose to present themselves in ways that counteract the specific stereotypes and prejudices associated with their group, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. "People often think of prejudice as a simple, single phenomenon — general dislike for members of other groups — but recent research suggests that there are actually multiple, distinct types of prejudice," says graduate student Rebecca Neel, who conducted the research with her advisor Steven Neuberg ...

SEATTLE – Breast cancer survivors are among the women who could most benefit from regular physical activity, yet few meet national exercise recommendations during the 10 years after being diagnosed, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Prior studies and available evidence show a strong association between physical activity and reduced mortality, extended survival and higher quality of life among breast cancer survivors. With 2.9 million breast cancer survivors living in the U.S. and another 80,000 added annually, there is considerable ...

Baltimore, MD— Eggs take a long time to produce in the ovary, and thus are one of a body's precious resources. It has been theorized that the body has mechanisms to help the ovary ensure that ovulated eggs enter the reproductive tract at the right time in order to maximize the chance of successful fertilization. New research from Carnegie's Allan Spradling and Jianjun Sun has shed light on how successful ovulation and fertilization are brought about by studying these processes in fruit flies. They found that secretions from special glands within the fruit fly's reproductive ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The workers who may have the most to gain from attending company social events may be the ones who actually get the least value from them, a new study suggests. Researchers found that, in general, workers tended to report closer relationships with their colleagues the more that they attended company social events and shared their nonwork lives with their co-workers. But that positive association between workplace sharing and closer relationships didn't occur for workers who were racially dissimilar from their colleagues – for example, the only black ...

Migraine headaches are a major cause of ill health and a reduced quality of life. Some individuals suffer from a frequent and severe migraine problem which means that they require regular medication to try and prevent them. A new review¹ of the medications, which may help to prevent episodic migraines, appears in the Journal of General Internal Medicine², published by Springer. The authors, Tatyana Shamliyan from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and her colleagues, compare published research on the drugs available to find those which offer the best ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – If you suffer a heart attack while walking down the street and are taken to the hospital quickly, your chances of survival are very good. But if you have a heart attack while already in the hospital for something else, you are 10 times more likely to die. That surprising finding comes from a study by University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers. Their study, which is the first to systematically examine outcomes among hospital inpatients who suffer a type of heart attack called an ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), was published ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Mindfulness exercises that include meditation, stretching, and acceptance of thoughts and emotions might help veterans with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder find relief from their symptoms. A new collaborative study from the University of Michigan Health System and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System shows that veterans with PTSD who completed an 8-week mindfulness-based group treatment plan showed a significant reduction in symptoms as compared to patients who underwent treatment as normal. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, or MBCT, ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Children and teens with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) use screen-based media, such as television and video games, more often than their typically developing peers and are more likely to develop problematic video game habits, a University of Missouri researcher found. "Many parents and clinicians have noticed that children with ASD are fascinated with technology, and the results of our recent studies certainly support this idea," said Micah Mazurek, an assistant professor of health psychology and a clinical child psychologist at MU. "We found that children ...