If you wanted to draw your family tree, you could start by searching for people who share your surname. Cells, of course, don't have surnames, but scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have found that genetic switches called enhancers, and the molecules that activate those switches – transcription factors – can be used in a similar way, as clues to a cell's developmental history. The study, published today in Cell, also unveils a new model for how enhancers function. Looking at fruit fly embryos, Guillaume Junion and Mikhail ...

The journey for the family holiday can be a long one. To avoid the incessant "Are we there yet?", stressed parents gladly hand their smartphones to the back seat – so the kids can watch videos or movies on the internet. While modern technology provides for entertainment, it occasionally reaches its limits and then the whining returns: The movies sometimes judder, or are completely interrupted. The cause may be twofold: If the user is standing at the basin of a valley and has poor reception, the data stream transmission rate is inadequate and the cellphone cannot download ...

Mars may have been arid for more than 600 million years, making it too hostile for any life to survive on the planet's surface, according to researchers who have been carrying out the painstaking task of analysing individual particles of Martian soil. Dr Tom Pike, from Imperial College London, will discuss the team's analysis at a European Space Agency (ESA) meeting on 7 February 2012. The researchers have spent three years analysing data on Martian soil that was collected during the 2008 NASA Phoenix mission to Mars. Phoenix touched down in the northern arctic region ...

A painstakingly detailed investigation shows that mass extinctions need not be sudden events. The deadliest mass extinction of all took a long time to kill 90 percent of Earth's marine life, and it killed in stages, according to a newly published report. Thomas J. Algeo, professor of geology at the University of Cincinnati, worked with 13 co-authors to produce a high-resolution look at the geology of a Permian-Triassic boundary section on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. Their analysis, published Feb. 3 in the Geological Society of America Bulletin, provides strong ...

PHILADELPHIA -- Soy isoflavone supplements did not decrease breast cancer cell proliferation in a randomized clinical trial, according to a study published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Lead researcher Seema A. Khan, M.D., professor of surgery at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, said the results of this study are consistent with the findings of previous studies that were designed to test cancer prevention benefits of dietary supplements. "Simply put, supplements are ...

Older people feel that their health problems pose a challenge to their sense of independence, dignity and identity and sometimes the health care they are given makes things worse. According to research funded by UK Research Councils' New Dynamics of Ageing programme (NDA), healthcare providers must avoid taking a 'blanket view' of how to help older people cope with the ageing process. The study carried out by Dr Liz Lloyd and her colleagues found that people were often surprised by the impact that illness and growing old had on their lives. Their sense of 'self' was ...

Sunshine may help to prevent allergies and eczema Increased exposure to sunlight may reduce the risk of both food allergies and eczema in children, according to a new scientific study published this week. Researchers from the European Centre for Environment & Human Health, along with several Australian institutions, have found that children living in areas with lower levels of sunlight are at greater risk of developing food allergies and the skin condition eczema, compared to those in areas with higher UV. The research team used data from a study of Australian children ...

A preference for fatty foods has a genetic basis, according to researchers, who discovered that people with certain forms of the CD36 gene may like high-fat foods more than those who have other forms of this gene. The results help explain why some people struggle when placed on a low-fat diet and may one day assist people in selecting diets that are easier for them to follow. The results also may help food developers create new low-fat foods that taste better. "Fat is universally palatable to humans," said Kathleen Keller, assistant professor of nutritional sciences, ...

The U.S. may have its first black president and the Fortune 500 its first black female chief executive, but African American CEOs account for a mere one percent of the chiefs of those 500 largest companies. Andrew Carton, assistant professor of management and organization at Penn State Smeal College of Business, and Ashleigh Shelby Rosette of Duke University, suggest in the current issue of the Academy of Management Journal that what steers people's perceptions of African Americans are stereotypes about blacks' leadership failings, biases that may not even be conscious. The ...

Biologists who released lizards on tiny uninhabited islands in the Bahamas have uncovered a seldom-observed interaction between evolutionary processes. Jason Kolbe, a biologist at the University of Rhode Island (URI)--along with colleagues at Duke University, Harvard University and the University of California, Davis--found that the lizards' genetic and morphological (form and structural) traits were determined by both natural selection and a phenomenon called the founder effect. Their research results are published online today in the journal Science. The founder ...

An experimental blood clot-removing device outperformed the FDA-approved MERCI; retriever device, according to late-breaking science presented at the American Stroke Association's 2012 International Stroke Conference. The SOLITAIRE; Flow Restoration Device is a self-expanding stent-based design that mechanically removes blood clots from blocked vessels after a stroke. After insertion into the clot using a thin tube, or catheter, the device traps the clot then both device and clot are removed, restoring blood flow. The MERCI retriever uses a tiny corkscrew, guided by a ...

The anti-blood clot regimen that adds the drug clopidogrel (Plavix) to aspirin treatment is unlikely to prevent recurrent strokes and may increase the risk of bleeding and death in patients with subcortical stroke according to late-breaking research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012. Because of these preliminary results, researchers ended the anti-clotting part of the Secondary Prevention of Small Subcortical Strokes Trial (SPS3) in August 2011. The part of the study that examines the effect of high blood pressure treatments ...

A new drug that showed promise in animal studies and an early clinical trial didn't improve disability among stroke patients, according to late-breaking research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012. After a stroke and other types of brain damage, the brain naturally produces more granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). The protein can prevent further cell injury by protecting nerve cells and boosting blood vessel growth. The new drug, AX200, is a manufactured form of G-CSF. Ninety days after treatment, patients ...

The great majority of geriatric patients in a German rehabilitation hospital were found to have vitamin D deficiency. Stefan Schilling presents his study results in this week's issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2012; 109[3]: 33-8). In order to establish the vitamin D status in geriatric patients in Germany, the researchers measured 25-OH vitamin D in 1578 patients in the geriatric rehabilitation hospital in Trier after they had been examined on admission. Insufficiently high concentrations were found in 89% of patients, and 67% had severe ...

An innovative approach to genome screening has provided clues about rare mutations that may make people susceptible to brain aneurysms, predisposing them to brain bleeds, according to preliminary late-breaking research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012. For the first time, scientists applied a process called whole exome sequencing to seek gene mutations in families in which multiple relatives have intracranial aneurysms, a condition in which weakened, ballooned-out areas in arteries of the brain can rupture and cause a ...

In the largest and longest head-to-head comparison of two anti-clotting medications, warfarin and aspirin were similar in preventing deaths and strokes in heart failure patients with normal heart rhythm, according to late-breaking research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012. "Although there was a warfarin benefit for patients treated for four or more years, overall, warfarin and aspirin were similar," said Shunichi Homma, M.D., lead author of the study and the Margaret Milliken Hatch Professor of Medicine at Columbia University ...

Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) are part of an international team that has pooled their radio observations into a database, producing the highest precision map to date of the magnetic field within our own Milky Way galaxy. The team, led by the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), used the database they created and were able to apply information theory techniques to produce the map, explains NRL's Dr. Tracy Clarke, a member of the research team. "The key to applying these new techniques is that this project brings together over 30 researchers ...

Placebos reduce pain by creating an expectation of relief. Distraction—say, doing a puzzle—relieves it by keeping the brain busy. But do they use the same brain processes? Neuromaging suggests they do. When applying a placebo, scientists see activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. That's the part of the brain that controls high-level cognitive functions like working memory and attention—which is what you use to do that distracting puzzle. Now a new study challenges the theory that the placebo effect is a high-level cognitive function. The authors—Jason T. Buhle, ...

Refugee children have scant access to medical care and are particularly vulnerable to disease. Fresh research results from the University of Copenhagen show that just a few hours of schooling a week may have a pronounced positive impact on their health not only in childhood but later in life when they achieve adulthood. "There is an unambiguous link between health and schooling among refugee groups as they flee," says external Associate Professor Tania Dræbel, PhD from the Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, where she works as an expert in health among ...

People who suffer a traumatic experience often don't talk about it, and many forget it over time. But not talking about something doesn't always mean you'll forget it; if you try to force yourself not to think about white bears, soon you'll be imagining polar bears doing the polka. A group of psychological scientists explore the relationship between silence and memories in a new paper published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. "There's this idea, with silence, that if we don't talk about something, it starts ...

Jim Black is fighting the meanest, most aggressive, most common kind of brain tumor in the United States: recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). In the United States, each year, approximately 10,000 patients are affected by GBM. Now, a novel investigational device – available only at clinical trial sites – is offering new hope to these patients. The non-invasive procedure – called Tumor Treating Fields (TTF) – is delivered using a portable device – called the NovoTTF-100A System made by Novocure. The TTF procedure uses alternating electrical fields to disrupt the ...

BinDataSet, an BIN database service provider, has released the largest BIN database on the Internet. The database contains over 350,000 records. What is BIN? BIN stands for Bank Identification Numbers. It is a database that contains credit and debit card numbers. On top of that, the database also provides additional information such as Country, Brand, and Bank. Most BIN databases provide only card type and brand. BinDataSet ensures that more fields are available for higher accuracy. Why is there a need for BIN databases? The Internet is growing at an amazing ...

An experimental device for removing blood clots in stroke patients dramatically outperformed the standard mechanical treatment, according to research presented by UCLA Stroke Center director Dr. Jeffrey L. Saver at the American Stroke Association's 2012 international conference in New Orleans on Feb. 3. The SOLITAIRE Flow Restoration Device is among an entirely new generation of devices designed to remove blood clots from blocked brain arteries in patients experiencing stroke. It has a self-expanding, stent-like design and, once inserted into a clot using a thin catheter ...

New Rochelle, NY -- If the proven long-term benefits of smoking cessation are not enough to motivate young adults to stop smoking, a new study shows that 18- to 24-year olds who stop smoking for at least two weeks report substantially fewer respiratory symptoms, especially coughing. The study findings are detailed in Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article is available online. Karen Calabro, DrPH and Alexander Prokhorov, MD, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, ...

As you are planning to create a corporate sales incentive program, look no further than The Motorsport Lab's supercar media. According to President and Founder Ray Chang, the purpose of The Motorsport Lab is to create a fun, exciting and once in a lifetime, interactive corporate experience using high-end supercars like Ferrari, Aston Martin and Lamborghini as a media platform. "Our difference is that we utilize supercars as a fun, versatile media platform for businesses to communicate value. Supercars offer aesthetic beauty inside and out will command instant ...