We are absolutely delighted to announce that Laura Ashley have won the award for 2012 Best Housing and Interior Website. The award is the initiative of online market research agency MetrixLab and Emerce, and with more than 87700 votes cast this year by the general public, it is considered Britain's most important people's choice award for websites. www.lauraashley.com was also awarded the accolade of Best Website & Most Popular site of 2011 in the Housing & Interior category. And this year thanks to continuing efforts to constantly upgrade and improve the website, ...

TapSnap has taken the photo booth out of the dark, and into the light. Gone are the dusty old clunkers that used sit in the back corners of shopping malls and fun parks. In its place is TapSnap - an open-concept, high-tech phototainment system designed to capitalize on the age of social media and the incredible popularity of photo sharing. This is a special event photo system so highly connected that the integration between it and social media networks is virtually seamless, said Scott McInnes, CEO and Founder of TapSnap. Imagine playing with a giant tablet computer ...

When Blockbuster Express stepped out, the Smiths stepped in. As of May 2011, Debbie and Troy Smith had already expanded their movie rental business to 18 self-serve kiosks after five years of being in business. Now they have nearly quadrupled their business to 69 machines, the majority serving large grocery stores in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. When we started in 2006, two of our first three kiosks were all in grocery stores. We saw how great the rentals were and that inspired us to expand our business over the years to 18 kiosks, says Debbie. The Smiths ...

It's no secret December 21st is the "The End of The World" according to the Mayan calendar. However it is just the beginning of a sensational career for Nashville's Dax. Dax is no stranger to musical fame - it runs in the family. His cousin Skeeter Davis remains wildly popular to millions of adoring fans today. Davis was a big supporter of Dax's decision to pursue a career in music and there is no mistaking why Paul Worley (of known Lady Antebellum, Dixie Chicks fame) encouraged Dax to move to Nashville; talent runs in the family. Her encouragement and inspiration ...

V2 Cigs has been a top player in the electronic cigarette industry since its rise in popularity in early 2009. They have sold to hundreds of thousands of smokers their electronic cigarette, but what are the facts on this company and their popular product. Smokers Utopia gives a scathing Green Smoke review pointing out facts that are blatantly ignored in most electronic cigarette reviews, but not Smokers Utopia. Facts on prices, customer service, warranty and much more are covered on the popular review site. "People deserve to know when they are spending their ...

Smokers that have made the switch to Firelight Fusion have already benefited from the massive savings of the electronic cigarette when compared to traditional e cigarettes, but there is more to the story. Fusion is is on average of 20 to 30% cheaper than other e cigarette companies for the same quality electronic cigarette as other top companies and retailers. Now, Fusion has a program for free batteries because all rechargeable e cigarette batteries wear out over time. The company claims it's their way to make the best alternative to tobacco cigarettes affordable to ...

Clarity Services, Inc., the leading real-time credit bureau addressing fraud detection and credit risk management solutions for the under-banked and non-prime consumer segment, announces its newest service, Clear Adverse Action Notification. The service will assist lenders and credit-based service providers in meeting stringent adverse action notification compliance requirements. Clarity Services' Clear Adverse Action Notification service expedites the delivery and proper handling of adverse action notices that are required after a credit application has been denied. ...

Saving bar patrons' time on their commute home could save lives. A pair of studies by University of Missouri psychologists found that people who reported drinking and driving also exhibited "urgency," or a lack of emotional self-control, especially while drinking. This suggests that some people when intoxicated may be more likely to choose the convenience of driving themselves home instead of waiting for a taxi, said Denis McCarthy, associate professor of psychology at MU. "Our study correlated urgency, a specific type of impulsivity, to drinking and driving," McCarthy ...

Scientists have found that low-level exposure to organophosphates (OPs) produces lasting decrements in neurological and cognitive function. Memory and information processing speed are affected to a greater degree than other cognitive functions such as language. The systematic review of the literature was carried out by researchers at UCL and the Open University. It is the first to attempt a quantitative evaluation of the data assimilated from 14 studies and more than 1,600 participants. The researchers used meta-analysis to obtain an overview of the literature and their ...

OTTAWA, December 3, 2012 –The University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) participated in the largest genetic study of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) to date. Researchers from the CARDIoGRAMplusC4D Consortium report the identification of 15 genetic regions newly associated with the disease, bringing to 46 the number of regions associated with CAD risk. The Ruddy Canadian Cardiovascular Genetics Centre, at the Heart Institute, was the main genetic centre in Canada contributing most patient cases involved in this study and analyzing patient cases from across North America. In ...

An international team of sleep researchers has developed the world's first screening tool to help reduce workplace accidents and illnesses, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, caused by shift work. Published in the journal Sleep, the new tool will enable health professionals and industry to better understand individual vulnerability to the health and safety impacts of shift work. This screening questionnaire for a condition known as shift work disorder (SWD) has been developed by researchers from Monash University, and US partners, Harvard Medical School, Brigham ...

Carbon dioxide emission reductions required to limit global warming to 2°C are becoming a receding goal based on new figures reported today in the latest Global Carbon Project (GCP) calculations published today in the advanced online edition of Nature Climate Change. "A shift to a 2°C pathway requires an immediate, large, and sustained global mitigation effort" says GCP executive-director and CSIRO co-author of the paper, Dr Pep Canadell. Global CO2 emissions have increased by 58% since 1990, rising 3% in 2011, and 2.6% in 2012. The most recent figure is estimated from ...

DOHA, QATAR (2 December 2012)_Forestry experts have called for a new approach to managing land and tackling climate change – challenging the ongoing debate that forests have to be sacrificed for the sake of rural development and food security. Governments, policymakers and scientists worldwide have been experimenting for years with different approaches to managing rural landscapes, from watershed management to habitat restoration, but these efforts are rarely done in concert to address climate change challenges. "It is time to look at new ways of solving old problems," ...

Lithium restores cognitive function in Down syndrome mice Down syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is the leading cause of genetically defined intellectual disability. In the brain, Down syndrome results in alterations in the connections between neurons and a reduction in the development of new neurons (neurogenesis) that usually occurs during learning. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Laura Gasparini at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Genova, Italy report that lithium, a drug commonly used for the treatment ...

Down syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is the leading cause of genetically defined intellectual disability. In the brain, Down syndrome results in alterations in the connections between neurons and a reduction in the development of new neurons (neurogenesis) that usually occurs during learning. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Laura Gasparini at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Genova, Italy report that lithium, a drug commonly used for the treatment of mood disorders in humans, restores neurogenesis in the hippocampus, ...

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that is characterized by tremors, rigidity, slowness of movement, and difficulty walking. It is caused by loss of the neurons that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine (known as dopaminergic neurons). One of the primary goals in Parkinson's disease research is to develop a replacement for dopaminergic neurons. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Takuya Hayashi at the RIKEN Center for Molecular Imaging Science in Kobe, Japan, derived dopaminergic neurons from ...

VIDEO: Pygmy mole crickets are known to be prodigious jumpers on land. Now, researchers reporting in the Dec. 4 issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have found that the... Click here for more information. Pygmy mole crickets are known to be prodigious jumpers on land. Now, researchers reporting in the December 4th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have found that the tiny insects have found an ingenious method to jump from the water, too. ...

Instituting and enforcing rules that limit aggressive acts like bodychecking in ice hockey should help reduce injuries for young players, including serious brain and spine injuries, according to a new study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). "We found that interventions based on rule changes showed the greatest likelihood of making ice hockey safer for youth," writes Dr. Michael Cusimano, Division of Neurosurgery and the Injury Prevention Research Office, St. Michael's Hospital and the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, with coauthors. Brain ...

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) who are taking combined oral contraceptives have a 2-fold risk of blood clots compared with women without the disorder who take contraceptives, states a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). PCOS affects between 6% and 10% of women of reproductive age with some estimates as high as 15%, making it the most common endocrine disorder in this age group. Risk factors for heart disease such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity and others are double among women with PCOS compared with women without the disorder. ...

Breast cancers are defined by their drivers – estrogen and progesterone receptors (ER and PR) and HER2 are the most common, and there are drugs targeting each. When breast cancer has an unknown driver, it also has fewer treatment options – this aggressive form of breast cancer without ER, PR or HER2, which was thought not to be driven by hormones, is known as triple negative. A decade ago, work at the University of Colorado Cancer Center added another potential driver to the list – the androgen receptor – and this week marks a major milestone in a clinical trial targeting ...

LA JOLLA, Calif., December 3, 2012 – An embryo is an amazing thing. From just one initial cell, an entire living, breathing body emerges, full of working cells and organs. It comes as no surprise that embryonic development is a very carefully orchestrated process—everything has to fall into the right place at the right time. Developmental and cell biologists study this very thing, unraveling the molecular cues that determine how we become human. "One of the first, and arguably most important, steps in development is the allocation of cells into three germ layers—ectoderm, ...

"Understanding peoples' attitudes about whether states of being should be considered diseases can inform social discourse regarding a number of contentious social and health public policy issues," says Kari Tikkinen, MD, PhD, corresponding author of the FIND Survey. All Finns think that myocardial infarction, breast cancer, malaria and pneumonia are diseases. People are equally unanimous that wrinkles, grief and homosexuality are not diseases. What about drug addiction or absence of sexual desire? Or erectile dysfunction, infertility or obesity? "The word disease ...

The University of Granada researchers are pioneers in the application of thermography to the field Psychology. Thermography is a technique based on determining body temperature. When a person lies they suffer a "Pinocchio effect", which is an increase in the temperature around the nose and in the orbital muscle in the inner corner of the eye. In addition, when we perform a considerable mental effort our face temperature drops and when we have an anxiety attack our face temperature raises. These are some of the conclusions drawn in this pioneer study conducted at the University ...

December 3, 2012, Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China – The 7th International Conference on Genomics and Bio-IT APAC 2012, organized by BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, successfully concluded with numerous updates on on-going research applying today's latest sequencing and bioinformatics technologies to a new paradigm of human diseases and to enhancing global agriculture development. The three-day conference, held in Hong Kong, also brought new insights into Bio-cloud and big data management. More than 300 participants attended this top-grade international conference. The ...

As the nights draw in and the temperature begins to drop, many of us will be thinking of ways to warm up on the dark winter nights. However, few would think that remembering days gone by would be an effective way of keeping warm. But research from the University of Southampton has shown that feeling nostalgic can make us feel warmer. The study, published in the journal Emotion, investigated the effects of nostalgic feelings on reaction to cold and the perception of warmth. The volunteers, from universities in China and the Netherlands, took part in one of five studies. ...