Redbox is not the only option for people who want to rent DVDs from kiosks at convenient locations and affordable prices. Independent operators like Bob Ennis and his partner Randi Haas, who live in Bucks County, PA near Philadelphia, are carving out a niche for their DVD rental kiosk business amid the Redbox machines. "We're providing service for the little gems in rural areas, the under-served marketplaces that fall under the radar for Redbox, but still have a high volume of traffic," says Ennis, who acquired his three kiosks from a privately held company ...

Beyond Luxury Media and Design HotelsTM are excited to announce a partnership for the first edition of the innovative travel trade event, LIMITED EDITION Miami Beach (10 - 13 June 2013, Miami). Both companies passionately believe there is an urgent need for a new travel tradeshow that breaks away from the old concept of traditional luxury travel and creates a vibrant and fresh arena for those in the high-end Contemporary Travel market; a belief that will make this partnership so electrifying. Created by Serge Dive and Sarah Ball, the Founders of Beyond Luxury Media and ...

STONY BROOK, NY, Sept. 7, 2012– A just-published study provides a first-time analysis of the value of forage fish, which are small, schooling species such as sardines, herring, and anchovies. Three kinds of contributions of forage fish were estimated: as direct catch, as food for other commercially important fish, and as an important link in the food web in marine ecosystems. The analysis showed these small fish contribute a total of $16.9 billion, as both direct catch and food for larger fish, to global fisheries annually, representing 20 percent of the global catch values ...

Bucking the idea that environmentalism hurts economic performance, a new UCLA-led study has found that companies that voluntarily adopt international "green" practices and standards have employees who are 16 percent more productive than the average. Professor Magali Delmas, an environmental economist at UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and the UCLA Anderson School of Management, and Sanja Pekovic from France's University Paris–Dauphine are the first to study how a firm's environmental commitment affects its productivity. Their findings, forthcoming ...

The erstwhile planet Pluto (now officially an asteroid) was known for decades as a small, dark planet—hidden, difficult to spot, and on a quiet, determined course all its own. And so, when the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) needed a target semi-submersible to detect the hidden but determined maritime smuggling operations of the South American drug cartels, it created its own vessel and called it "PLUTO," after the planet that is so difficult to spot. S&T's PLUTO is a small, semi-submersible that is representative of what are popularly called "narco subs," ...

Preeclampsia is one of the most dangerous conditions for the expectant mother and the unborn child and is characterized by elevated blood pressure and protein in the urine in the last trimester of pregnancy. The cause for this life-threatening disease has long remained elusive. Recently however, Dr. Ananth Karumanchi (Associate Professor of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center & Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA) has identified a new molecular pathway that leads to preeclampsia in humans and thus creating new avenues for the development of a therapy, ...

Genetic variations that are linked with the onset of Barrett's oesophagus (BE), a pre-cancerous condition of the lower end of the gullet, have been identified for the first time. The discovery of variations in regions on two chromosomes makes it possible to develop screening tests for people at high risk of developing the disease. Although it's been thought for some time that there may be genetic causes for BE as well as environmental ones, such as drinking alcohol and eating fatty food, so far researchers have not found any genetic variations that are associated with ...

Researchers have newly identified three genetic regions associated with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), the most common autoimmune liver disease, increasing the number of known regions associated with the disorder to 25. The team used a DNA microchip, called Immunochip, to survey more thoroughly regions of the genome known to underlie other autoimmune diseases to discover if they play a role also in PBC susceptibility. By combining the results from this survey with details of gene activity from a database called ENCODE, they were able to identify which cells types are ...

Since the sequencing of the human genome in 2001, all our genes – around 20,000 in total – have been identified. But much is still unknown – for instance where and when each is active. Next to each gene sits a short DNA segment, and the activity of this regulatory segment determines whether the gene will be turned on, where and how strongly. These short regulatory segments are as – if not more – important than the genes, themselves. Indeed, 90% of the mutations that cause disease occur in these regulatory areas. They are responsible for the proper development of tissues ...

A study of more than 6,000 genes in a common species of yeast has identified the pathways that govern the instability of GAA/TTC repeats. In humans, the expansions of these repeats is known to inactivate a gene – FXN – which leads to Friedreich's ataxia, a neurodegenerative disease that is currently incurable. In yeast, long repeats also destabilize the genome, manifested by the breakage of chromosomes. Working with collaborators at Tufts University, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology identified genetic deficiencies associated with the instability of ...

The world today confronts a water crisis with critical implications for peace, political stability and economic development, experts warn in a new report being launched Sept. 11 jointly by the InterAction Council (IAC), a group of 40 prominent former government leaders and heads of state, together with the United Nations University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health, and Canada's Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation. "The future political impact of water scarcity may be devastating," says former Canadian Prime Minister and IAC co-chair Jean Chrétien. "Using ...

A program delivering collaborative maternity care resulted in fewer cesarean deliveries, shorter average hospital stays and higher breast-feeding rates for mothers, according to a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). The South Community Birth Program was established in Vancouver, British Columbia, to deliver comprehensive care from a collaboration of family doctors, midwives, public health nurses and doulas to an ethnically diverse, low-income population. Researchers compared perinatal outcomes for 1238 women in the South Community Birth Program receiving ...

Influenza vaccination rates vary widely in Canada by ethnicity, with black and white Canadians being the least likely to be vaccinated, found a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Research on vaccination rates among ethnic minorities in Canada is scarce, despite many studies in the United States showing clear disparities in vaccination rates among minorities and whites. However, the findings are not the same in Canada given existing differences in vaccine delivery and populations. Canadian researchers undertook a study to estimate influenza vaccine ...

Most pharmaceutical drugs in Canada are manufactured overseas in countries such as India, China and others, yet how can we be confident the drug supply is safe, writes a drug policy researcher in an opinion piece in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Alarmed by alerts about potentially harmful products such as nonprescription erectile dysfunction drugs with names like Uprizing 2.0 and Ying Da Wang — most from overseas — Alan Cassels began to think about pharmaceutical drugs sold in Canada. Are they safe? Who regulates them? "Most Canadians probably don't know ...

PHILADELPHIA — How does one's experience of an event get translated into a memory that can be accessed months, even years later? A team led by University of Pennsylvania scientists has come closer to answering that question, identifying key molecules that help convert short-term memories into long-term ones. These proteins may offer a target for drugs that can enhance memory, alleviating some of the cognitive symptoms that characterize conditions including schizophrenia, depression and Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Joshua Hawk, now a postdoctoral research fellow ...

Tracking malaria parasites in the liver Plasmodium falciparum is the most deadly human malaria parasite, causing more than 800,000 deaths per year. After the parasite enters the blood stream, it travels to the liver where it serially invades liver cells (hepatocytes), until it settles down to form a parasitophorous vacuole (PV). Once ensconced in its PV, the parasite undergoes a process known as liver stage (LS) development during which it spawns tens of thousands of new parasites. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Stefan Kappe and colleagues at ...

Iron overload increases the risk for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes; however, the exact mechanisms that link the two are unknown. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Donald McClain and colleagues at the University of Utah report that serum ferritin levels could predict the presence or absence of metabolic syndrome in humans and were inversely associated with the expression of adiponectin, a blood glucose-regulating protein produced by fat cells (adipocytes). Treatment of adipocytes with iron decreased adiponectin levels, indicating that adipocytes ...

Bethesda, MD—September 10, 2012 – Listed below are the selected highlights for the September 2012 issue of the Genetics Society of America's journal, GENETICS. The September issue is available online at www.genetics.org/content/current. Please credit GENETICS, Vol. 192, September 2012, Copyright © 2012. ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS Weak selection and protein evolution, pp. 15-31 Hiroshi Akashi, Naoki Osada, and Tomoko Ohta The rapid proliferation of genome sequence data has renewed interest in the causes of molecular evolution. The authors review the basis of the "nearly ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (September 10, 2012) – Women and girls are at increased risk of adverse outcomes after surgical treatment for moyamoya disease, an uncommon but serious disease of the brain blood vessels, reports a study in the September issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. Although the postoperative risks are increased, patients of both sexes with moyamoya disease achieve significant improvement after surgery. The study was performed ...

September 10, 2012 (SILVER SPRING, Md.) – Scientists used genetic sequencing to discover new evidence that the first vaccine shown to prevent HIV infection in people also affected the viruses in those who did become infected. Viruses with two genetic "footprints" were associated with greater vaccine efficacy. The results were published today in the online edition of the journal Nature. "This is the first time that we have seen pressure on the virus at the genetic level due to an effective HIV vaccine," said Morgane Rolland, Ph.D., a scientist at the U.S. Military HIV ...

SALT LAKE CITY – Researchers from the University of Utah have gained new insight into the regulation of adult nerve cell generation in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that regulates many aspects of behavior, mood, and metabolism. In the Sept. 10, 2012, issue of Developmental Cell they report that a cell-to-cell communication network known as the Wnt signaling pathway plays an important role in both the production and specialization of nerve cell precursors in the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is a highly complex region of the brain that controls hunger, thirst, ...

BOSTON––A molecule that targets the cell's machinery for breaking down unneeded proteins can kill multiple myeloma cancer cells resistant to the frontline drug Velcade, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have found. In a study published online by the journal Cancer Cell, the investigators report that the small molecule P5091 triggered apoptosis -- programmed cell death -- in drug-resistant myeloma cells grown in the laboratory and in animals. The anti-myeloma effect was even more powerful when researchers combined P5091 with other therapies. "Velcade was one ...

MADISON – The protein GATA2 is known as a "master regulator" of blood cell development. When a mutation occurs in the gene that makes GATA2, serious blood diseases such as acute myeloid leukemia can result. Zooming in on the GATA2 gene, UW-Madison researchers and their collaborators at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have discovered unexpectedly that a small DNA sequence drives this powerful master regulator. The sequence plays an essential role in controlling GATA2 production and generating self-renewing blood stem cells responsible for the earliest steps ...

NEW YORK (September 10, 2012) -- A new study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College shows combining two already-FDA approved drugs may offer a new and potent punch against diseases in which blood vessel growth is abnormal -- such as cancer, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration and rheumatoid arthritis. Their study, published in the Sept. 11 issue of the journal Developmental Cell, is the first to show that a protein, sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor-1 (S1P1), is a key player in angiogenesis -- the growth process of new blood vessels in the body from pre-existing ...

Ottawa, Canada (September 10, 2012) − A new study just published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism (APNM) reaffirms the crucial role exercise along with good nutrition play in maintaining health and fighting disease. "Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most frequent cancer worldwide, ranking third among all cancer-related deaths. Clinical and experimental studies have shown that physical exercise helps to prevent cancer and improving quality of life," says Dr. Luís Fernando Barbisan, a coauthor of this study and a researcher ...