Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. recently chose Digisonics as the enterprise cardiology PACS and structured reporting solution for their pediatric cardiology department. The Digisonics cardiovascular image management and structured reporting system will provide the facility with a comprehensive clinical database, high-powered PACS and professional reporting capabilities with automated z-score analysis and congenital cardiology diagram support. With the added DigiNet Pro application, clinicians will also have access to the entire CVIS system from anywhere via ...

Hand counting of votes in postelection audit or recount procedures can result in error rates of up to 2 percent, according to a new study from Rice University and Clemson University. "These procedures are intended as a safeguard against computer and human error, but until recently, no research existed to tell whether these efforts helped or hurt the accuracy of the vote," said Michael Byrne, associate professor of psychology at Rice. "Post-Election Auditing: Effects of Election Procedure and Ballot Type on Manual Counting Accuracy, Efficiency and Auditor Satisfaction ...

Researchers at the University of Dundee have identified fexinidazole as a possible, much-needed, new treatment for the parasitic disease visceral leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis is named after William Leishman, a Glasgwegian doctor serving with the British Army in India, who first identified the parasite in the early 1900s. The disease is the second biggest killer in Africa, Asia and Latin America after malaria, and affects 500,000 people, killing about 50-60,000 patients per year. Current drug treatments for the disease are unsatisfactory for reasons such as high cost, ...

HydroPoint Data Systems, Inc. announced today that Pine Creek Village Association in Colorado Springs, Colorado saved over 2.8 million gallons of water in just one irrigation season using HydroPoint's WeatherTRAK Smart Irrigation Controllers. After installing five WeatherTRAK smart irrigation controllers and reducing outdoor water consumption by 2.8 million gallons within the first seven months of use, Pine Creek Village continues to upgrade its irrigation system by adding more WeatherTRAK controllers. "The WeatherTRAK technology met our expectations," ...

Barry D. Bruce, professor of biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is turning the term "power plant" on its head. The biochemist and a team of researchers have developed a system that taps into photosynthetic processes to produce efficient and inexpensive energy. Bruce collaborated with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Switzerland to develop a process that improves the efficiency of generating electric power using molecular structures extracted from plants. ...

Most studies have found that binge drinking is associated with a loss of alcohol's protective effect against ischemic heart disease (IHD) and most studies have found an increase of coronary risk among binge drinkers. This study followed 26,786 men and women who participated in the Danish National Cohort Study in 1994, 2000, and 2005 and sought to see if binge drinking increased the risk of IHD or all-cause mortality among "light-to-moderate" drinkers: (up to 21 drinks/week for men and up to 14 drinks/week for women). A "drink" was 12g. "Binge drinking" (more that ...

Rosa & Co. LLC today announced that Dr. Hartmut Derendorf, University of Florida, Gainesville, will present a webinar "PK/PD-based Development of Anti-infective Agents" on Monday, February 13, 2012 at 1:00 to 2:00 pm EST as part of Rosa's ongoing monthly public webinar series. The purpose of the series, "Impact of Modeling & Simulation in Drug Development", is to foster the use of Modeling and Simulation (M&S) activities in biotechnology, pharmaceutics, and other life science industries. This series is geared to illustrate the advantages ...

Salmonella remains a serious cause of food poisoning in the UK and throughout the EU, in part due to its ability to thrive and quickly adapt to the different environments in which it can grow. New research involving a team of IFR scientists, funded by BBSRC, has taken the first detailed look at what Salmonella does when it enters a new environment, which could provide clues to finding new ways of reducing transmission through the food chain and preventing human illness. Bacteria can multiply rapidly, potentially doubling every 20 minutes in ideal conditions. However, this ...

Alexandria, VA – What would you do if you found out that the roads you drive on could cause cancer? This is the reality that residents face in Dunn County, North Dakota. For roughly 30 years, gravel containing the potentially carcinogenic mineral erionite was spread on nearly 500 kilometers of roads, playgrounds, parking lots, and even flower beds throughout Dunn County. Concerns about erionite were first unveiled in Central Anatolia, Turkey, where an epidemic of mesothelioma — a normally rare cancer of the smooth lining of the chest, lungs, heart and abdomen — was responsible ...

TeleHealth Services, the nation's leading provider of healthcare-grade televisions and interactive patient education solutions, today announced that it has partnered with Centra Health (Centra) to deploy the TIGR interactive patient education system across the health system's acute care facilities. Centra is a technology driven, award-winning health system with state-of-the-art hospitals and health center facilities well known nationwide for their excellence in clinical and patient care. The partnership is focused on developing resources to transform patient care at Centra ...

WASHINGTON -- Super Bowl Sunday? Make that Cheese Bowl Sunday! On the day when people in the U.S. consume more food than any other except Thanksgiving, almost 60 percent (by some estimates), will have cheese on the menu. Pizza, nachos, cheese spreads and dips, cheese fries, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches — not to mention chunks and slices of Swiss, cheddar, Camembert and more. To help celebrate this Sunday's cheese fest, the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, released a video today on the chemistry behind what American literati Clifton ...

Cell biologists at Johns Hopkins have identified key steps in how certain molecules alter a cell's skeletal shape and drive the cell's movement. Results of their research, published in the December 13 issue of Science Signaling, have implications for figuring out what triggers the metastatic spread of cancer cells and wound-healing. "Essentially we are figuring out how cells crawl," says Takanari Inoue, Ph.D., an assistant professor of cell biology and member of the Center for Cell Dynamics in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Institute for Basic Biomedical ...

The Connecticut Real Estate Investors Association, or CT REIA, in association with Paul Finck is announcing a weekend workshop for real estate investors. This event will take place on February 11, 2012 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Four Points Sheraton, located at 275 Research Parkway in Meriden, CT. Paul Finck has impacted the lives of thousands of people with his insights and abilities. As an authority on the psychology of people, instant change, and peak performance, he has established himself as the "No Excuses Results Coach". He brings to the table 25 ...

Whether a person is looking to be a celebrity personal trainer, a personal fitness trainer for a local sports team or a boot camp personal trainer, a new Personal Trainer Jobs site at http://www.personal-trainer-job.com/ provides links, listings, certification and information on all things personal training. With an extensive personal trainer jobs directory, the new website offers links to a variety of fitness career options, including health club jobs, independent contractor positions and even online personal training options. In addition, Personal Trainer Jobs ...

Caffeine consumption has long been associated with decreased risk of liver disease and reduced fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease. Now, newly published research confirms that coffee caffeine consumption reduces the risk of advanced fibrosis in those with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Findings published in the February issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, show that increased coffee intake, specifically among patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), decreases risk of hepatic fibrosis. ...

An open-label study of rituximab, a monoclonal antibody for human CD20, was shown to be safe in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) who had an incomplete response to the standard ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) therapy, also known as Ursodiol. Study details available in the February issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, report that rituximab was successful in reducing the level of alkaline phosphatase (ALP)—a protein used to measure liver injury. According to the National ...

A new study by NYU Langone Medical Center and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine shows novel PSA velocity (PSAV) risk count testing may provide a more effective way for physicians to screen men for clinically significant prostate cancer. The new study, published online by the British Journal of Urology International on February 1, 2012, shows the benefits of tracking a man's PSA levels over time to help doctors more accurately assess his risk of life-threatening prostate cancer. "Risk count could represent a new way to screen for prostate cancer by ...

A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) injures the heart, even in patients without a history of heart disease or diabetes. Researchers found that elevated levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), a marker for chronic hyperglycemia and diabetes, were associated with minute levels of the protein troponin T (cTnT), a blood marker for heart damage. The high-sensitivity test they used detected levels of cTnT tenfold lower than those found in patients diagnosed with a heart attack. The ...

To improve the next generation of insect-size flying machines, Johns Hopkins engineers have been aiming high-speed video cameras at some of the prettiest bugs on the planet. By figuring out how butterflies flutter among flowers with amazing grace and agility, the researchers hope to help small airborne robots mimic these maneuvers. U.S. defense agencies, which have funded this research, are supporting the development of bug-size flyers to carry out reconnaissance, search-and-rescue and environmental monitoring missions without risking human lives. These devices are commonly ...

Clue Dental Marketing, a Chicagoland-based dental marketing firm, will give away a free dental press release, valued at $199, in their February drawing. Participants can simply fill out a short entry form during the month of February, and they will be entered to win. One dental practice will be chosen as the winner of a free dental press release on March 1st, 2012 at noon CST. Clue states that they are holding this giveaway to show dentists how important dental press releases are for online publicity. A press release is a valuable part of any online dental marketing ...

Being confined to bed… …can have fatal consequences. Incorrect fastening of restraints and inadequate monitoring led to the death of 19 people in care. Andrea M. Berzianovich and her colleagues, forensic medicine specialists from Munich and Vienna, investigated these fatalities in patients subjected to freedom-restraining measures (Dtsch Arztebl 2012; 109(3) 27). The authors analyzed a total of 26 cases of death while the individual was physically restrained. Three died of natural causes, and one committed suicide. One nursing-home patient died of strangulation after ...

Washington, D.C. -- An international team of scientists led by Carnegie's Guillem Anglada-Escudé and Paul Butler has discovered a potentially habitable super-Earth orbiting a nearby star. The star is a member of a triple star system and has a different makeup than our Sun, being relatively lacking in metallic elements. This discovery demonstrates that habitable planets could form in a greater variety of environments than previously believed. Their work will be published by the Astrophysical Journal Letters and the current version of the manuscript will be posted at http://arxiv.org/archive/astro-ph The ...

What's worse than being stuck in close quarters with a snorer? Not much, according to anecdotal data gathered by http://www.BrezforLess.com, distributor of discount Brez, which shows noise from snoring is so bad when traveling that many people get two hotel rooms so the non-snorer can sleep. In fact, noise in general is the top complaint of hotel guests, according to a 2011 study conducted by J.D. Powers & Associates on North American hotel guest satisfaction. Even so, the two-room snoring solution isn't always an option when on the road. For example, ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Take your medicine, Doctor's orders. It's a simple idea that may seem especially obvious when the pills are the antiretroviral (ARV) drugs that add decades to the lives of HIV-positive patients. But despite the reality that keeping up with drug regimens is not easy for many patients, a new analysis of hundreds of recorded doctor's office visits finds that physicians and nurse practitioners often still rely on lecturing, ordering, and scolding rather than listening and problem solving with their patients. Providers asked about adherence ...

SEATTLE – Initial results of a multicenter study coordinated by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center indicates that two investigational urine-based biomarkers are associated with prostate cancers that are likely to be aggressive and potentially life-threatening among men who take a "watchful waiting," or active-surveillance approach to manage their disease. Ultimately, these markers may lead to the development of a urine test that could complement prostate biopsy for predicting disease aggressiveness and progression. Study principal investigator Daniel ...