New research from Indiana University has found that machine learning - the same computer science discipline that helped create voice recognition systems, self-driving cars, and credit card fraud detection systems - can drastically improve both the cost and quality of health care in the United States. Using an artificial intelligence framework combining Markov Decision Processes and Dynamic Decision Networks, IU School of Informatics and Computing researchers Casey Bennett and Kris Hauser show how simulation modeling that understands and predicts the outcomes of treatment ...

(Boston) – Epidemiologists at Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) have found that pre-pregnancy obesity and excess weight gain during pregnancy in African-American women are associated with an increased risk of giving birth to an abnormally large baby. Macrosomia, which is defined as a newborn weighing more than 4,000 grams at birth (approximately 8.8 pounds), can cause delivery complications such as hemorrhage, infection, the need for a caesarean section, preeclampsia and perinatal mortality. The study, which appears online in the journal Obesity, was conducted ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Concerns and anxieties about one's close relationships appear to function as a chronic stressor that can compromise immunity, according to new research. In the study, researchers asked married couples to complete questionnaires about their relationships and collected saliva and blood samples to test participants' levels of a key stress-related hormone and numbers of certain immune cells. The research focused on attachment anxiety. Those who are on the high end of the attachment anxiety spectrum are excessively concerned about being rejected, have a ...

Children with hearing loss struggle to hear in noisy school classrooms, even with the help of hearing aids and other devices to amplify their teacher's voice. Training the brain to filter out background noise and thus understand spoken words could help the academic performance and quality of life for children who struggle to hear, but there's been little evidence that such noise training works in youngsters. A new report showed about a 50 percent increase in speech comprehension in background noise when children with hearing impairments followed a three-week auditory ...

EUGENE, Ore. (Feb. 11, 2013) -- A study of the Umpqua River basin in the Oregon Coast Range helps explain natural processes behind the width of valleys and provides potentially useful details for river restoration efforts designed to improve habitats for coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Coho salmon thrive in broad, flat valleys that contain multiple auxiliary channels to the main river. These valleys formed after large landslides altered the landscape, said study co-author Joshua J. Roering, professor of geological sciences at the University of Oregon. The network ...

PASADENA, Calif.—Every great structure, from the Empire State Building to the Golden Gate Bridge, depends on specific mechanical properties to remain strong and reliable. Rigidity—a material's stiffness—is of particular importance for maintaining the robust functionality of everything from colossal edifices to the tiniest of nanoscale structures. In biological nanostructures, like DNA networks, it has been difficult to measure this stiffness, which is essential to their properties and functions. But scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have recently ...

ANN ARBOR — Researchers at the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute have found that amlexanox, an off-patent drug currently prescribed for the treatment of asthma and other uses, also reverses obesity, diabetes and fatty liver in mice. The findings from the lab of Alan Saltiel, the Mary Sue Coleman director of the Life Sciences Institute, are scheduled to be published online Feb. 10 in the journal Nature Medicine. "One of the reasons that diets are so ineffective in producing weight loss for some people is that their bodies adjust to the reduced calories ...

An international team of scientists led by King's College London has discovered 24 new genes that cause refractive errors and myopia (short-sightedness). Myopia is a major cause of blindness and visual impairment worldwide, and currently there is no cure. These findings, published today in the journal Nature Genetics, reveal genetic causes of the trait, which could lead to finding better treatments or ways of preventing the condition in the future. Thirty per cent of Western populations and up to 80 per cent of Asian people suffer from myopia. During visual development ...

National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists have identified a promising lead for developing a new type of drug to treat infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium that frequently resists traditional antibiotics. The researchers discovered a system used by S. aureus to transport toxins that are thought to contribute to severe staph infections. These toxins—called phenol-soluble modulins (PSMs)—have gained much attention in recent years, but their multitude and diversity have hindered efforts to target them for drug development. Expanding on work that first ...

Ultraviolet vision evolved at least eight times in birds from a common violet sensitive ancestor finds a study published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. All of these are due to single nucleotide changes in the DNA. Modern daytime birds either have violet sensitive or ultraviolet sensitive vision. Being ultraviolet sensitive alters visual cues used to select a mate, avoiding predators, and in finding food. Researchers from Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences sequenced the genes responsible for producing ...

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (February 10, 2013) – Researchers at the University of Minnesota's Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology and the Lillehei Heart Institute have utilized molecular genetic engineering to optimize heart performance in models of diastolic heart failure by creating an optimized protein that can aid in high-speed relaxation similar to fast twitching muscles. Within heart cells, calcium plays a major role in orchestrating normal heart pump function. However, in diastolic failure the calcium signaling process is slowed; calcium levels rise to ...

A new study suggests that exercise may reduce Caucasian men's risk of developing prostate cancer. And among Caucasian men who do have prostate cancer, exercise may reduce their risk of having more serious forms of the disease. Unfortunately, the benefits do not seem to apply to African- American men. The study is published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Previous research has linked exercise to a reduced risk of developing prostate cancer. Studies have also revealed that African-American men have an increased risk of developing ...

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – About two of every three children will experience at least one traumatic event before they turn 18. Despite this high rate of exposure, little is known about the effectiveness of treatments aimed at preventing and relieving traumatic stress symptoms that children may experience after such events, according to researchers at RTI International, the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, the RTI-UNC Evidence-based Practice Center, and Boston Medical Center. The article, published today in the journal Pediatrics, summarizes the results ...

Participating in the ITB Berlin under the Dubai Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing umbrella, a team from the Grand Millennium Dubai will be presenting a set of competitive leisure packages to the leading tour operators from Germany and elsewhere in Europe. Leading the team will be Director of Sales Ghassan Farhat.He said it will be the fifth time for the hotel to be in Berlin at the world's largest travel show, and he was confident of securing new business there, as well as reinforcing existing contacts and contracts. "Figures show that the average ...

A team of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California recently embarked upon a study to help determine the causes of insomnia among premenopausal and postmenopausal women. The team conducted phone interviews with 982 women and gathered information about their sleep history, frequency of hot flashes, and overall health. They found that 51% of postmenopausal women suffer with hot flashes and that 79% of premenopausal women have them. Among the women with the most intense hot flashes (based on their severity and frequency), 81% of them experienced ...

Festa Parties, a Chicago-based event planning company known for its festive events including TBOX, The Twelve Bars of Xmas in Wrigleyville, will be holding its 5th annual BeadQuest, a Mardi Gras themed pub crawl taking place on Saturday, February 16th, 2013. The 5th edition of this gala party and cultural event will once again bring a taste of the "Fat Tuesday" tradition to the north side of Chicago. Festa Parties has been planning and organizing great Chicago party events since its first TBOX way back in 1996. BeadQuest originated in February of 2009 in collaboration ...

They are more immersed in the culture of a country and its people when participating in activities with locals who share the same interests - gardens, golf, castles, hiking, biking, genealogy, cooking lessons - than when surrounded by other tourists, in a bus, staring out the window. With this option for the more sophisticated traveler, the homestays offer the comfort level preferred by Adults and Seniors. Three categories of comfort: Standard, Standard Plus, Luxury. FEXEXA is for individuals, couples, independent travelers, women travelling alone. It is available ...

Coinciding with "Love Season" - of which Valentine's Day is the pinnacle, when so many people are looking for healing/improvement/expansion of their love relationships - The Mysteries of Love course being launched presents a revolutionary model of human love. Developed by Dr. George A. Parks over the past 35 years of experience counseling couples in their relationship teaching at the University of Washington, the "Mount Eros" model of understanding love honors the mythical Greek god, Eros (and does not refer to erotica). The model reveals that ...

The Alfa Art Gallery New Brunswick Art Salon has been a successful program for the last three years. Previously twice, now three times (Winter: Photography, Spring: Water Color / Mixed Media, Fall: Oil Color / Mixed Media), during the year, we present salons exhibiting emerging and professional artists in different mediums. The goal of these salons is to bridge the gap between artists and their communities, as well as unifying the diverse city of New Brunswick through the use of art. Originating in Paris in the 18th century, art salons were the most anticipated annual ...

Streaming live on the Co-Creator Radio Network on Tuesday, February 12, at 11 a.m. Pacific time/2 p.m. Eastern time, on her show "Why Shamanism Now? A Practical Path to Authenticity," shaman and founder of the Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing Christina Pratt addresses the questions: How do we walk the line between the Old Story Rules and the New System we are creating? Once you have found the path to your soul's purpose, how do you stay the course? According to Pratt, our lives are often a great web of responsibilities, expectations, addictions, and distractions ...

Author Penny Wagner Presents Her New Book "Two Elephants in a Bathtub Taking Care of Mom." "I particularly liked the honesty, compassion, and truth about what we humans go through in challenging times with family dynamics." You'll want to read, "Two Elephants in a Bathtub Taking Care of Mom." When Mom was diagnosed with COPD, a respiratory disease, I knew that I had no choice but to stop working. I would move to Florida with my children, and we would take care of Mom. After all, that was what Mom needed and I would be there for her. Really; ...

Today, Sonny Olsen, brother of Utah Mom and fearless demolition derby driver Katy Sweat, is pleased to announce a celebration in honor of his family members, Ryan and Katy Olsen Sweat, demolition derby racers with Sweat Demo Derby Drivers team, and their premier on the new KINGS OF CRASH Reality TV show Sunday from 8 pm-9 pm on Mountain Time on Direct TV 281 or Dish Network 364 or Comcast 663. The celebration event to watch the show will be held February 10th at 7:30 pm in Orem. Everyone who would like to watch the show on the big screen is invited to come and meet ...

Few of us will ever experience the devastating horror of living within a war zone. Yet all of us know what it means to form a life-long, sustaining connection with another human being. Together, they weave a spellbinding story ultimately affirming the possibility of peace and reconciliation. In Love and Terror in the Middle East, 3rd Edition (World Audience Publishers), readers walk the war-torn streets of Israel and the West Bank with peace activist Frank Romano, and struggle with the inevitable casualties within his personal life as it becomes caught up in his work. Romano's ...

EzPaycheck payroll software 2013 new version rolled out this morning to small businesses from halfpricesoft.com. The latest version of this popular and easy-to-use software includes updated tax information for 2013 and added the new graphic check design interface to make it more user-friendly. Priced at just $89 per installation for new users ($59 for ezPaycheck 2012 users), ezPaycheck payroll software is affordable for any size business. Designed for ease of use by business owners and managers, ezPaycheck saves time and expense while increasing accuracy when running ...

Florida residents looking for credible legal help in Miami estate planning are in luck; Ally Glaser PA, a leading estate lawyer, is a reputable option when searching for someone who provides professional and comprehensive legal services with personal care. One of the leading probate attorneys in Miami Beach, Glaser is a native and graduated from St. Thomas Law School. She currently holds membership the Probate, Real Estate, and Trust section of the Florida Bar. Glaser states, "I am extremely passionate about helping others and take a personalized approach for every ...