Men are twice as likely to doze off while driving as women, according to new research from leading national car insurer, AAMI. Nearly a third (30%) of male drivers admitted to nodding off momentarily at the wheel, compared to only 14% of female drivers. With drivers taking to the roads for the long weekend, that's a worrying statistic, according to AAMI spokesperson, Reuben Aitchison. "On family holidays, it tends to be Dad who drives, and men are also more likely to try to push through their fatigue, with half (52%) saying they are prepared to drive for three ...

As business opportunities in China have become increasingly relevant to today's global economy, the 7th China Software & Sourcing Summit offers participants a prime opportunity for access and insight into the dynamic workings of the Chinese outsourcing industry. One of the biggest events of the year organized by Shaanxi Province Government and supported by the China Ministry of Commerce, China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the summit will bring together global entrepreneurs, high-level government officials, experts from China's leading academic and ...

Plackers is making flossing on the go more convenient than ever with the introduction of the new Micro Mint Travel Case, a sturdy plastic flosser case that slips easily into purses, gym bags, carry-ons and more. Filled with 12 Micro Mint flossers, featuring Super Tuffloss high-performance floss engineered not to stretch, shred or break during use, the new travel packs provide an oral care solution for people on the move who want a better clean than toothpicks or gum can offer. The Micro Mint's fold-away pick also helps keep teeth debris-free on the go, and its mint ...

Pick your favorite RC toys from cars, helicopters, airplanes, boats, tanks, trucks, hovercrafts and more. You can even play with a robot or with a dinosaur. You will certainly find exactly what you are looking for at RcToysFactory.com and buy it without worrying that you are spending a lot of money on your hobby. All products come from top brands with established reputations in the industry. The online store works directly with them to give you some of the most competitive prices on the market. You can take full advantage of special promotional and discount deals. Fly ...

The independent consumer organization, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, announces their annual awards for the best toys of 2012 on their website, www.toyportfolio.com. "After a year of testing hundreds of new toys, the strongest categories continue to be games, construction sets, and props for pretend. While there was a great deal of initial buzz about hybrid toys, our testers gave the highest ratings to more traditional toys," notes Co-Founder Joanne Oppenheim. Stephanie Oppenheim adds: "We really get to do what parents wished they could do if they had unlimited ...

A sugar-loving protein drives the growth of Kaposi sarcoma (KS) tumors, according to a study published on October 1st in The Journal of Experimental Medicine. Interfering with these sugary interactions inhibited growth of Kaposi sarcomas in mice, hinting at the potential for new treatment strategies in humans. KS is a cancer that is associated with infection with a herpes virus called HHV-8 and is prevalent in HIV patients. Effective antiretroviral drugs have decreased the incidence of KS, but the cancer eventually progresses in many patients and treatment options are ...

Moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of atrial fibrillation in older people with heart disease or advanced diabetes, found a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). "Moderate to high alcohol intake was associated with an increased incidence of atrial fibrillation among people aged 55 or older with cardiovascular disease or diabetes," writes Dr. Koon Teo, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, with coauthors. "Among moderate drinkers, the effect of binge drinking on the risk of atrial fibrillation was similar to that of habitual heavy drinking." The ...

Adolescents who sleep poorly may be at risk of cardiovascular disease in later life, according to a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). "We found an association between sleep disturbance and cardiovascular risk in adolescents, as determined by high cholesterol levels, increased BMI [body mass index] and hypertension," writes lead author Dr. Indra Narang, respirologist and director of sleep medicine at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Toronto, Ontario, with coauthors. "These findings are important, given that sleep disturbance is highly prevalent ...

SAN FRANCISCO – October 1, 2012 – People who take statins to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease are less likely to be diagnosed with the most common form of glaucoma, according to a nationwide study of more than 300,000 patients. A University of Michigan School of Medicine research team, directed by Joshua Stein, MD, MS, found that the risk for glaucoma was reduced by eight percent in patients who took statins continuously for two years, compared with patients who did not take statins. The study, the largest to date on the topic, is published in the October issue ...

OTTAWA, Canada – October 1, 2012 – Being obese at any age is commonly associated with a litany of health issues, ranging from diabetes and chronic fatigue to heart complications. Overweight adolescents are also at an increased risk of body dissatisfaction, social alienation and low self esteem, which is why Dr. Gary Goldfield, registered psychologist, clinical researcher at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute, and Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa, set out to discover how exercise might impact these ...

Bethesda, MD—October 1, 2012 – Listed below are the selected highlights for the October 2012 issue of the Genetics Society of America's journal, GENETICS. The October issue is available online at www.genetics.org/content/current. Please credit GENETICS, Vol. 192, October 2012, Copyright © 2012. Please feel free to forward to colleagues who may be interested in these articles. ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS Energy-dependent modulation of glucagon-like signaling in Drosophila via the AMP-activated protein kinase, pp. 457 Jason T. Braco, Emily L. Gillespie, Gregory E. Alberto, ...

BETHESDA, MD – October 1, 2012 – With flu season around the corner, getting a seasonal vaccine might be one of the best ways to prevent people from getting sick. These vaccines only work, however, if their developers have accurately predicted which strains of the virus are likely to be active in the coming season because vaccines must be developed in advance of the upcoming flu season. Recently, a team of scientists from Germany and the United Kingdom have improved the prediction methods used to determine which strains of the flu virus to include in the current season's ...

VIENNA, Austria, 1 October 2012 – For the first time, researchers have conducted a large trial in which they tested the entire genome of individual breast cancers to help personalize treatment. They released their findings at the ESMO 2012 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Vienna. In recent years, a number of drugs have been developed that target specific genetic alterations in cancer. To choose which of these drugs are suitable for individual patients, some genetic testing is performed. "In most of these cases, these genetic testing approaches ...

VIENNA, Austria, 1 October 2012 – New studies that advance understanding of the optimal duration of therapy with the targeted cancer drug trastuzumab were released today at the ESMO 2012 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Vienna. "These long awaited results constitute a further milestone in the treatment of patients with early breast cancer over-expressing HER2/neu, corresponding to a population of about 12-15% of all cases of breast cancer," commented Prof Christoph Zielinski, Chairman of the Clinical Division of Oncology, at Medical University ...

Vienna, Austria, 1 October 2012 – New results from phase III trials exploring treatment options for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma were released at the ESMO 2012 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Vienna. Renal cell carcinoma is a type of kidney cancer that starts in the lining of very small tubes (tubules) in the kidney. Prof Maria De Santis from Kaiser Franz Josef-Spital, Vienna, Chair of the ESMO 2012 Genitourinary program track (who was not involved in the studies) commented: "At this year's ESMO congress, three urgently awaited ...

VIENNA, Austria, 1 October 2012 – New findings that highlight the challenges of managing thromboembolic events in patients being treated for cancer were released at the ESMO 2012 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Vienna. Venous thromboembolism causes symptoms in about 3 to 4% of cancer patients whose chemotherapy drugs are delivered via a central venous catheter, comments Dr. Fausto Roila, from Medical Oncology Department, Terni, Italy, Chair of the ESMO 2012 Supportive Care Track. "When asymptomatic patients are considered, these events affect ...

VIENNA, Austria, 1 October 2012 – Aspirin, the everyday drug taken by countless people around the world to ward off pain and reduce their risk of developing heart disease, may have a new trick up its sleeve –-preventing cancer. A growing body of evidence suggests that taking aspirin may reduce an individual's chances of developing colorectal cancer and perhaps other malignancies, but whether that evidence is strong enough to outweigh the risks of prescribing it to millions of healthy people is the subject of debate. At the ESMO 2012 Congress in Vienna, both sides of ...

A complex genetic regulatory network mediates the regeneration of adult skeletal muscles. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn report that HEXIM1, a protein that regulates gene transcription, is important for skeletal muscle regeneration in mice. M.A.Q. Saddiqui and colleagues found that HEXIM1 blocks gene expression that is required for muscle regeneration after injury. Mice with a 50% reduction in HEXIM1 exhibited greater muscle mass and function after injury compared ...

Sphingolipid metabolism contributes to diabetes-associated heart disease Patients with type 2 diabetes are subject to a number of major health risks, including a greatly increased risk of heart failure. This is due in part to the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DbCM), a condition that significantly impairs heart function. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Ashley Cowart and colleagues at the Medical University of South Carolina report that an increase in specific types of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and fatty acid metabolic pathways cause ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Crafting public health messages about a disease may create stigmas that influence how likely people are to endorse certain interventions, such as isolating infected persons, forcing treatment on them and mapping their location, according to a Penn State researcher. Rachel Smith, associate professor of communication arts and sciences and investigator with the University's Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, used a hypothetical disease -- a virus carried by rodents -- to develop 16 different health alerts describing the virus and those who were ...

Chicago: Women suspected of having breast cancer now have more reasons to be diagnosed with a needle biopsy instead of a traditional open surgical biopsy. Besides avoiding the risks and discomfort of an open surgical procedure, needle biopsies can also lead to improved treatment outcomes according to findings from a new study published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Breast cancer is the number one form of cancer diagnosed in women in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [1] In ...

A study published in Pediatrics this morning by researchers at the University of Montreal offers positive news for Wii-loving teenagers and their parents: games such as Wii Sports and Dance Dance Revolution can bring them closer to recommended physical activity levels. The study is the first of its kind. "Teenage exergamers – people who play video games that require physical activity – are most likely females who are stressed about their weight. On average, they play two 50 minute sessions per week," said study author Jennifer O'Loughlin of the university's Department of ...

In the field of nanotechnology, electrically-charged particles are frequently used as tools for surface modification. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the TU Vienna were at last able to reconcile important issues concerning the effects of highly charged ions on surfaces. Ion beams have been used for some time now for surface modification as ions are capable of carrying such high energies that a single particle alone can induce drastic changes to the surface under bombardment. Following careful examination, an international team of researchers ...

Trying to keep an image we've just seen in memory can leave us blind to things we are 'looking' at, according to the results of a new study supported by the Wellcome Trust. It's been known for some time that when our brains are focused on a task, we can fail to see other things that are in plain sight. This phenomenon, known as 'inattentional blindness', is exemplified by the famous 'invisible gorilla' experiment in which people watching a video of players passing around a basketball and counting the number of passes fail to observe a man in a gorilla suit walking across ...

Oxford, October 1, 2012 - A research team led by Dr. Christos Mantzoros, MD, PhD, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, has published new findings elucidating the molecular and clinical role of FNDC5/irisin in humans. Irisin is a recently identified hormone secreted from muscle cells that has been found to serve as a chemical messenger providing key exercise-induced health benefits in mice. In these earlier studies, irisin showed direct effects on 'browning' of white fat which would lead to burning of excess calories. Discovery of irisin therefore ...