At the 1st ECRC "Franz-Volhard" Symposium on September 7, 2012 at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin-Buch, Professor Ken Bernstein reported that in mice an excess of ACE led to a much stronger immune response than usual. In animal experiments, not only could bacterial infections be combated more effectively, but also the growth of aggressive skin cancer (melanoma) in mice could be contained by a stronger response of the immune system. In contrast, if the mice lacked ACE, the immune cells worked less effectively. In addition, ACE apparently ...

Tight blood sugar control in infants and children undergoing heart surgery does not lower the risk of infection or improve recovery, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Infants and children who have undergone heart surgery commonly develop high blood sugar levels, which may be associated with health issues and death. Although the results of clinical trials have been mixed, some studies of adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients have found that controlling blood sugar levels with insulin resulted in fewer infections and shorter hospital ...

New research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reveals that some unlikely subjects--bacteria--can have social structures similar to plants and animals. The research shows that a few individuals in groups of closely related bacteria have the ability to produce chemical compounds that kill or slow the growth of other populations of bacteria in the environment, but not harm their own. Published in the September 7 issue of the journal Science, the finding suggests that bacteria in the environment can play different social roles and that competition occurs not ...

Increasing racial and ethnic diversity has long been apparent at the national level and in our nation's largest metropolitan gateways. Since 1980 over nine-tenths of all cities, suburbs and small towns have become more diverse. And rural communities are following the lead of their urban counterparts, according to a U.S. 2010 policy brief. "What really stands out is the near-universal nature of the trend toward greater racial and ethnic diversity at the local level," said Barry Lee, professor of sociology and demography, Penn State, and co-author of the brief. Another ...

This year's mild winter and early spring were a bonanza for tick populations in the eastern United States. Reports of tick-borne disease rose fast. While Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the Northeast and Upper Midwest, new research results emphasize that it is not the greatest cause for concern in most Southeastern states. The findings are published today in a paper in the journal Zoonoses and Public Health. The majority of human-biting ticks in the North--members of the blacklegged tick species--cause Lyme disease, but these same ticks do not ...

Hurricane Leslie appeared to "close its eye" on NASA satellite imagery as the storm heads east of Bermuda, like a little girl shutting her eyes tight on a wild amusement ride. Often when an eye becomes cloud-filled, its a sign that the storm is weakening, and Leslie did drop from a hurricane to a tropical storm on Sept. 7. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of Hurricane Leslie on Sept. 6 at 10:45 a.m. EDT and Leslie's eye appeared cloud covered. Leslie went on to weaken to tropical ...

ARGONNE, ILL. (Sept. 6, 2012) -- Using ultrafast X-rays, scientists for the first time have watched how quickly electrons hop their way through rust nanoparticles. This gives key insight to how iron oxide, one of the most abundant minerals in soil, behaves and alters the condition of soil and water around it. This also demonstrates the potential of time-resolved X-ray and optical methods to study chemical reactions at the subnanoscale in other semiconductors. Scientists have long known that certain minerals, redox active ions and biological proteins can exchange electrons ...

As tailgaters everywhere ramp up for another weekend of college football, University of Notre Dame marketing professor and cultural anthropologist John Sherry has just concluded first-of-its-kind research that shows those huge pre-game parking lot parties build community, nurture tradition, and actually contribute to a school's brand—at least for the fans. In their study, "A Cultural Analysis of Tailgating," Sherry and co-author Tonya Bradford, assistant professor of marketing at Notre Dame, examine American culture and our obsession with football, which Sherry calls "the ...

J. Christopher Howk, Nicolas Lehner and Grant Mathews of the Center for Astrophysics at the University of Notre Dame published a paper this week in the journal Nature titled "Observation of interstellar lithium in the low-metallicity Small Magellanic Cloud." The astrophysicists have explored a discrepancy between the amount of lithium predicted by the standard models of elemental production during the Big Bang and the amount of lithium observed in the gas of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy near to our own. "The paper involves measuring the amount of lithium in the ...

A team of scientists from Johns Hopkins and other institutions report that restoring tiny, hair-like structures to defective cells in the olfactory system of mice is enough to restore a lost sense of smell. The results of the experiments were published online this week in Nature Medicine, and are believed to represent the first successful application of gene therapy to restore this function in live mammals. An expert in olfaction, Randall Reed, Ph.D., professor of molecular biology and genetics and co-director of the Center for Sensory Biology at the Johns Hopkins Institute ...

Expectant mothers who learn from prenatal diagnosis that they are carrying a fetus with a congenital heart defect (CHD) commonly suffer post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety. However, a healthy relationship with one's partner and positive coping mechanisms can reduce this intense stress, according to new research from the Cardiac Center of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The study is published in the September 2012 issue of The Journal of Pediatrics. "Receiving the news of carrying a fetus with a CHD is a stressful event which can potentially influence ...

Can an abundance of sea otters help reverse a principal cause of global warming? A new study by two UC Santa Cruz researchers suggest that a thriving sea otter population that keeps sea urchins in check will in turn allow kelp forests to prosper. The spreading kelp can absorb as much as 12 times the amount of CO2 from the atmosphere than if it were subject to ravenous sea urchins, the study finds. The theory is outlined in a paper released online today (September 7, 2012) in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment by lead authors UC Santa Cruz professors Chris Wilmers ...

The structure of a federal program that provides monthly subsidies to promote the adoptions of special needs children in foster care may actually be delaying some adoptions, according to a new study by University of Notre Dame economist Kasey Buckles. The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act (AACWA), passed in 1980, provides an average of $670 per month for foster parents of special needs children, while adoptive parents of special needs children receive an average of $571 per month. "Special needs" refers to foster children who may be harder to place ...

COLLEGE STATION – Improperly applied fertilizer to newly placed sod may result in nutrient runoff into the water supply, but just when is the best time to apply fertilizer and what kind is the best for new turf? Aiming to answer those questions is a team of scientists from Texas A&M AgriLife Research: Dr. Jacqui Aitkenhead-Peterson, assistant professor of urban nutrient and water management; Dr. Ben Wherley, assistant professor of turfgrass science and ecology; Dr. Richard White, professor of turfgrass physiology and management; and Jim Thomas, senior research associate, ...

VIDEO: The movie shows a segment of the mutant intestine (3.5 day old fish, lateral view of the intestine). The time lapse images were taken over about six to eight hours.... Click here for more information. PHILADELPHIA — The stiffness of breast tissue is increasingly recognized as an important factor explaining the onset of breast cancer. Stiffening induces molecular changes that promote cancerous behavior in cells. Bioengineering studies have found that breast cancer ...

NASA has begun its latest hurricane science field campaign by flying an unmanned Global Hawk aircraft over Hurricane Leslie in the Atlantic Ocean during a day-long flight from California to Virginia. With the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) mission, NASA for the first time will be flying Global Hawks from the U.S. East Coast. The Global Hawk took off from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Thursday and landed at the agency's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., today at 11:37 a.m. EDT after spending 10 hours collecting ...

A good violin depends not only on the expertise of the violin maker, but also on the quality of the wood that is used. The Swiss wood researcher Professor Francis W. M. R. Schwarze (Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, St. Gallen, Switzerland) has succeeded in modifying the wood for a violin through treatment with special fungi. This treatment alters the acoustic properties of the instrument, making it sound indistinguishably similar to a Stradivarius. In his dinner talk at the 1st ECRC "Franz-Volhard" Symposium of the Max Delbrück Center ...

As many as a quarter of Medicare recipients spend more than the total value of their assets on out-of-pocket health care expenses during the last five years of their lives, according to researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. They found that 43 percent of Medicare recipients spend more than their total assets minus the value of their primary residences. The findings appear online in the current issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The amount of spending varied with the patient's illness. Those with dementia or Alzheimer's disease spent the most for ...

Set to officially launch its website at the apex of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, NINE THIRTEEN is a refreshingly bold, new magazine poised to take the lifestyle and entertainment worlds by storm Thursday, September 13th. The well-known president, founder and Editor-In-Chief of NINE THIRTEEN, Catrina Cha'Ron, will be pulling out all the stops for this can't be missed media frenzy and fashionable event. With over 20 years of experience in top level management which includes launching mayoral initiatives and philanthropic service, for Cha'Ron NINE THIRTEEN is a dream realized. ...

Dr. Matthew Loop, who created and runs All-Pro Chiropractic and Pain Specialists helps several patients on a daily basis who suffer from back pain. Back pain is one of the most common ailments amongst adults, affecting hundreds of thousands each year. It can be related to muscle problems, a herniated disc or a simple misalignment of the spine. Dr. Loop observes, "Most back pain typically originates from a particular mechanical issue, as when someone lifts a heavy box improperly or someone sits for an extended period of time on a poorly designed chair or simply using ...

YR Building Services, a premier commercial cleaning company serving the Lower Mainland and beyond, have released a new website design (http://www.yrbuildingservices.com/) to better cater to and communicate with the public. The company is well known for its comprehensive building maintenance, high quality janitorial cleaning services, experienced personnel and customer satisfaction. Their newly designed website offers a detailed list and explanation of their _a href="http://www.yrbuildingservices.com"_commercial cleaning services_/a_, which can be customized ...

SoleraTec LLC, a provider of innovative video lifecycle management and storage products, introduces the new Phoenix Thunderbird video surveillance appliance. Built upon the Sans Digital brand of storage hardware, the new SoleraTec Phoenix Thunderbird family of video surveillance appliances delivers a professional-grade surveillance video management solution in an all-in-one appliance, also known as a network video recorder or NVR. This new SoleraTec Phoenix Thunderbird video surveillance appliance provides a cost-effective, scalable solution for small and medium sized ...

Today Generation-e proudly announces that it has won two MAPA 2012 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards, one for Health Partner of the Year and one for Communications Partner of the Year. Emerging as the best of the best from a national field of Microsoft partners, Generation-e has been twice crowned for delivering market-leading customer solutions based on Microsoft Lync technology over the last year. "These awards mark the culmination of four years of consistent effort by our team. We couldn't be happier to have our great work publicly acknowledged by Microsoft ...

Ed Foxworth III has 'leveled the playing field' with his rousing messages and powerful tools that help companies and individuals realize their greatest potential. His message of 'leasing yourself as a brand and not ever selling yourself' has been a commanding mantra for the budding entrepreneur and industry leader, alike. Mr. Foxworth III—author, national speaker, lecturer, radio and television host, holds the distinct honor of two published works and several impressive audio series. Having found great success with his first book, 'It's Just Dominos', Foxworth has offered ...

STX Golf, world-renowned as an industry pioneer in putter innovation, and for its patented Soft Face Insert Technology, proudly announced today that the company's recently released Xform 1 and Xform 2 Putters received Golfing Magazine's highest honors - The 2012 Players Award. The 2012 Players Award is an annual equipment review that is conducted and directed by the Golfing Magazine's editorial staff but all the testing is done by the magazine's readers. According to STX Director of Golf Steve Henneman, "This award means a lot to me and the company. Having the readers, ...