Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients appear to have a lower cancer risk, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health. The study, published in the current issue of the journal Brain, is the first to investigate overall cancer risk in MS patients in North America. "Because the immune system plays important roles in both cancer and MS, we wanted to know whether the risk of cancer is different for people with MS," says Elaine Kingwell, the study's lead author and a postdoctoral fellow in the UBC Faculty of Medicine ...

According to researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center, cancer is subject to the evolutionary processes laid out by Charles Darwin in his concept of natural selection. Natural selection was the process identified by Darwin by which nature selects certain physical attributes, or phenotypes, to pass on to offspring to better "fit" the organism to the environment. As applied to cancer, natural selection, a key principle of modern biology, suggests that malignancies in distinct "microhabitats" promote the evolution of resistance to therapies. However, these same evolutionary ...

Despite modest gains in lifespan over the past century, the United States still trails many of the world's countries when it comes to life expectancy, and its poorest citizens live approximately five years less than more affluent persons, according to a new study from Rice University and the University Colorado at Boulder. The study, "Stagnating Life Expectancies and Future Prospects in an Age of Uncertainty," used time-series analysis to evaluate historical data on U.S. mortality from the Human Mortality Database. The study authors reviewed data from 1930 through 2000 ...

A new type of paint made with carbon nanotubes at Rice University can help detect strain in buildings, bridges and airplanes. The Rice scientists call their mixture "strain paint" and are hopeful it can help detect deformations in structures like airplane wings. Their study, published online this month by the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters details a composite coating they invented that could be read by a handheld infrared spectrometer. This method could tell where a material is showing signs of deformation well before the effects become visible to the ...

Inspired by new industry partnerships and product launches, the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) has announced an expansion of the organization's educational programs. According to a new article from The Wall Street Journal, the NASM's Live Events team is preparing to launch a series of workshops for working professionals who want to learn through live activities. Set to begin this summer, the workshops offer a promising chance for new and veteran sports medicine professionals to learn about unexplored topics. Dr. Marvell Scott is a sports medicine expert and ...

MANHATTAN, KAN. -- Racial profiling has gained national attention in recent years, and a Kansas State University researcher is finding that it can involve an additional factor: gender. Jeremy Briggs, doctoral candidate in sociology, Topeka, is analyzing police actions during routine traffic stops to understand how race and gender are connected. Perhaps one of his most significant findings is that black and Hispanic women are just as likely as white men to be ticketed, arrested or searched during a traffic stop. "Racial profiling has really come back into political discussions, ...

WASHINGTON — Twelve years into a multibillion-dollar state and federal effort to save the Florida Everglades, little progress has been made in restoring the core of the ecosystem, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council. Expedited restoration projects that improve the quality and amount of water in this area are necessary to reverse ongoing declines. A new federal pilot project offers an innovative approach to this challenge, although additional analysis is needed to maximize restoration benefits within existing legal constraints. ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – June 21, 2012 – Regenerative medicine researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have reached an early milestone in a long-term project that aims to build replacement kidneys in the lab to help solve the shortage of donor organs. In proof-of-concept research published online ahead of print in Annals of Surgery, the team successfully used pig kidneys to make "scaffolds" or support structures that could potentially one day be used to build new kidneys for human patients. The idea is to remove all animal cells – leaving only the organ structure ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered an association between a commonly prescribed blood pressure drug, Olmesartan, and severe gastrointestinal issues such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss and electrolyte abnormalities -- symptoms common among those who have celiac disease. The findings are published online today in the medical journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. From 2008-11, Mayo Clinic physicians treated 22 patients with symptoms similar to celiac disease, including intestinal inflammation and abnormalities. Patients came from 17 states, ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University have confirmed what we knew all along – children in this country are increasingly sedentary, spending too much time sitting and looking at electronic screens. But it's not necessarily because of the newest gee-whiz gadgets – parents play a major factor in whether young children are on the move. In two studies out online today in a special issue of the journal Early Child Development and Care devoted to "Parental Influences of Childhood Obesity," OSU researchers examined how parenting style – whether a strict but ...

The Wall Street Journal reports that On The Line has released the nominees for the first Big Daddy Awards. A campaign created to raise awareness about prostate cancer, On The Line has nominated top celebrities across 33 categories. The award show, which airs on the Internet the day after Father's day, is expected to generate a great deal of interest. Dr. Jesse Stoff, who has conducted a large amount of research regarding prostate cancer, applauds the creative efforts of this project. The nominees that have been chosen are all celebrities who represent a variety of categories ...

Tablet2Cases.com, the Internet's definitive resource on tablet cases, today announces the availability of Happy Owl Studio tablet cases into its online shop. Founded in Venice Beach, California, in 2012 - "on the eve of the announcement of Apple's original iPad" - Happy Owl Studio was formed specifically to create and sell products for the tablet. Happy Owl Studio seeks to create cases that combine function and style, with its first cases being the Clutch and Wallet portfolio-style cases. The Happy Owl Studio Clutch iPad 2 / New iPad 3 Women's Portfolio ...

WASHINGTON - Don't let the hobbling, wobbling, and blubber fool you into thinking elephant seals are merely sluggish sun bathers. In fact, scientists are benefiting from these seals' surprisingly lengthy migrations to determine critical information about Antarctic melting and future sea level rise. A team of scientists have drilled holes through an Antarctic ice shelf, the Fimbul Ice Shelf, to gather the first direct measurements regarding melting of the shelf's underside. A group of elephant seals, outfitted with sensors that measure salinity, temperature, ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – JUNE 21, 2012 – A new study shows that natural language processing programs can "read" dictated reports and provide information to allow measurement of colonoscopy quality in an inexpensive, automated and efficient manner. The quality variation observed in the study within a single academic hospital system reinforces the need for routine quality measurement. The study appears in the June issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE). Gastroenterology ...

Lung transplant patients who took part in a three-month structured exercise program when they were discharged from hospital improved their health-related quality of life and reduced their risk of cardiovascular problems. Those are the key findings of research published in the American Journal of Transplantation. "People who have received lung transplants often have weak muscles and limited endurance due to their sedentary lifestyle before their transplant and the drugs they need to take after surgery," explains lead author Dr. Daniel Langer, a Belgian expert in respiratory ...

Boston – A lung screening and surveillance task force, established by the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) and led by medical professionals from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), is strongly recommending new guidelines for lung cancer screening. The guidelines were published this week in the online edition of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (JTCVS). Recent research has shown low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) is beneficial in reducing deaths from lung cancer. So the AATS task force recommends an annual lung cancer screening using ...

CEO of Northstar Consulting Group, Bart Yates and Corporate Trainer Bettina Tam participated in a Tough Mudder event in Pennsylvania to benefit the Wounded Warriors Project, with other members of the team looking on and offering their support. Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test individuals all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. The Wounded Warrior Project, who's mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors, is a charity strongly supported by Northstar Consulting Group. Their ...

Supertasting describes the ability to strongly detect food flavors such as bitter and sweet, and it can affect a person's food preferences. For example, supertasters are often averse to green vegetables because their bitter taste is amplified. Supertasters may also prefer foods lower in sugar and fat. Approximately one out of four people is a supertaster, and a supertaster's avoidance of sweet and fatty foods may have protective cardiovascular effects. Christopher Nosrat and colleagues at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and the Monell Chemical Senses ...

NEW YORK (June 21, 2012) — Weill Cornell Medical College researchers have devised an innovative boxer-like strategy, based on the serial use of two anti-cancer drugs, to deliver a one-two punch to first weaken the defenses of multiple myeloma and then deliver the final knock-out punch to win the fight. The study, published online by the journal Blood, is the first to show that precise timing of therapies that target a cancer cell's cycle — the life phases leading to its division and replication — disables key survival genes, resulting in cell death. The drug that delivers ...

Young drivers are heeding the safety messages around speeding and driving under the influence, but are putting other drivers at risk by fiddling with their phones while behind the wheel, according to new research from leading auto insurer AAMI. The 11th AAMI Young Drivers Index revealed that young drivers performed better in almost all of the 'traditional' risky driving behaviour indicators, but they are the most likely to be distracted by their mobile phone, GPS unit, iPod, radio or CD player. AAMI spokesperson, Reuben Aitchison, said that that 'Nomophoboia' - a ...

Washington, D.C.—Until now, Earth was the only planet known to have vast reservoirs of water in its interior. Scientists analyzed the water content of two Martian meteorites originating from inside the Red Planet. They found that the amount of water in places of the Martian mantle is vastly larger than previous estimates and is similar to that of Earth's. The results not only affect what we know about the geologic history of Mars, but also have implications for how water got to the Martian surface. The data raise the possibility that Mars could have sustained life. The ...

AMES, Iowa – Two planets with very different densities and compositions are locked in surprisingly close orbits around their host star, according to astronomers working with NASA's Kepler Mission. One planet is a rocky super-Earth about 1.5 times the size of our planet and 4.5 times the mass. The other is a Neptune-like gaseous planet 3.7 times the size of Earth and eight times the mass. The planets approach each other 30 times closer than any pair of planets in our solar system. The discovery of the Kepler-36 planetary system about 1,200 light years from Earth is ...

EsoDates.com is a unique online community that connects people interested in Spirituality. The website might look like a traditional dating service, but it is much more than that. EsoDates is a social network devoted to give a friendly environment for all people around the globe who are interested in sharing ideas on spirituality, mysticism, meditation, astral projection, dreams and religions. People of all faiths join the site to meet new like-minded people and exchange ideas. EsoDates has been created by a group of enthusiasts who share the same mission: connecting ...

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta reviewed test results from thousands of patients with various types of cancer and discovered that "disorganized" cancers were more difficult to treat and consistently resulted in lower survival rates. Principal investigator Jack Tuszynski says physicians could use a mathematical equation, or algorithm, to determine how disorganized their patients' cancer is. Once physicians determine that, then they could pinpoint which cancer treatment would be the most effective. Some cancer drugs are effective at treating simple cancers, ...

Researchers in the Biometric Technologies Laboratory at the University of Calgary have developed a way for security systems to combine different biometric measurements—such as eye colour, face shape or fingerprints—and create a learning system that simulates the brain in making decisions about information from different sources. Marina Gavrilova, the founding head of the lab—among the first in the research community to introduce and study neural network based models for information fusion—says they have developed a biometric security system that simulates learning patterns ...