The recent London Paralympics were not only the most successful of all time but also seem to have created a significant change in public opinion. Channel 4 has reported record viewing figures and their own survey of 2,000 people has shown that the Games have had a positive impact on their perceptions of people with disabilities and disabled sport. "It is a real watershed moment," says Steve Dilworth, UK Membership Director from Foresters - an international mutual organisation whose focus is on its 945,000 members, their families and their communities. "For ...

Movie and video game self-service kiosks are the next big profit center for c-stores owners, not simply because of revenue generated by disc rentals. Incremental sales from both the initial visit and the guaranteed return trip, as well as the potential for obvious tie-in sales from snack food, beverages, and quick meal options such as frozen pizza, make kiosks an attractive option, especially in light of recent research which shows that discs are consumers' preferred choice when renting movies or games. Blu-ray and DVD rentals accounted for 62 percent of U.S. movie rental ...

HOUSTON - A receptor protein suppresses local invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells, the most lethal aspect of the disease, according to a research team headed by scientists from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Reporting in Nature Medicine, the team described using high-throughput RNA sequencing to identify the leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR) as a novel suppressor of breast cancer metastasis, the spread of the disease to other organs. "Based on our findings, we propose that restoring the expression or the function of key metastasis ...

In the early stages of that vast undertaking known as the Human Genome Project, enthusiasm ran high. The enterprise would be costly and laborious but the clinical rewards, unprecedented. Once the complete blueprint of life was unlocked, the genetic underpinnings for a broad range of human maladies would be laid bare, allowing custom-tailored diagnosis and treatment and revolutionizing the field of medicine. Or so it was thought. Instead, "scientists were confronted with thousands of mutations in the collection of proteins in personal genomes, with no ready guide about ...

BACKGROUND In the Alzheimer's brain, hard plaques accumulate between the nerve cells while twisted fibers grow inside the nerve cells. The plaques arise from protein fragments called beta amlyoid, and the fibers form from a protein called tau. Doctors rely on brain scans to detect amyloid and tau and provide early intervention and treatment to potentially slow or reverse disease progression. FINDINGS How the imaging agents work that scan the Alzheimer's brain is unknown. A new UCLA study reveals the physical mechanisms that allow chemical agents to bind to and ...

This press release is available in French.Inside our cells, molecules are constantly binding and separating from one another. It's this game of constant flux that drives gene expression asides essentially every other biological process. Understanding the specific details of how these interactions take place is thus crucial to our overall understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of living organisms. There are millions of possible combinations of molecules, however; determining all of them would be a Herculean task. Various tools have been developed to measure the degree ...

Irvine, Calif. — American and European scientists have found that increasing natural marijuana-like chemicals in the brain can help correct behavioral issues related to fragile X syndrome, the most common known genetic cause of autism. The work indicates potential treatments for anxiety and cognitive defects in people with this condition. Results appear online in Nature Communications. Daniele Piomelli of UC Irvine and Olivier Manzoni of INSERM, the French national research agency, led the study, which identified compounds that inhibit enzymes blocking endocannabinoid ...

LA JOLLA, Calif., September 25, 2012 – The process researchers use to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)—a special type of stem cell that can be made in the lab from any type of adult cell—is time consuming and inefficient. To speed things up, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) turned to kinase inhibitors. These chemical compounds block the activity of kinases, enzymes responsible for many aspects of cellular communication, survival, and growth. As they outline in a paper published September 25 in Nature Communications, ...

When the "fire brigade" arrives too late Impaired protein degradation causes muscle diseases RUB researchers and international colleagues report in Brain New insights into certain muscle diseases, the filaminopathies, are reported by an international research team led by Dr. Rudolf Andre Kley of the RUB's University Hospital Bergmannsheil in the journal Brain. The scientists from the Neuromuscular Centre Ruhrgebiet (headed by Prof. Matthias Vorgerd) at the Neurological University Clinic (Director: Prof. Martin Tegenthoff) cooperated with colleagues from eleven institutes ...

Improved home care resources for people with conditions such as dementia, who would prefer to die at home, are key to providing better end of life care and reducing the strain of the UK's ageing population on the NHS, according to researchers at King's College London. A new study, carried out by researchers from the Cicely Saunders Institute at King's and funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Services &Delivery Research (NIHR HS&DR) Programme, found that 42 per cent of patients with advanced non-malignant conditions reported a preference for home ...

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 25, 2012) – Chronic, debilitating pain and potential organ failure are what approximately 100,000 sickle cell patients in the United States live with each day. Yutaka Niihara, M.D., M.P.H. - lead investigator at The Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) and co-founder of Emmaus Medical, Inc., an LA BioMed spin-off company - is developing a low-cost, noninvasive treatment that helps provide relief for patients suffering from the debilitating effects of sickle cell disease. Dr. Niihara and his team of investigators ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique to identify the proteins secreted by a cell. The new approach should help researchers collect precise data on cell biology, which is critical in fields ranging from zoology to cancer research. The work is important because cells communicate by secreting proteins. Some of the proteins act on the cell itself, telling it to grow or multiply, for example. But the proteins can also interact with other cells, influencing them to perform any biological function. Traditionally, scientists who wanted ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- If you throw a ball underwater, you'll find that the smaller it is, the faster it moves: A larger cross-section greatly increases the water's resistance. Now, a team of MIT researchers has figured out a way to use this basic principle, on a microscopic scale, to carry out biomedical tests that could eventually lead to fast, compact and versatile medical-testing devices. The results, based on work by graduate student Elizabeth Rapoport and assistant professor Geoffrey Beach, of MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), are described ...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2012 — A new episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') popular Prized Science video series features insights into the effects of wind-blown dust on human health and climate from Vicki Grassian, Ph.D. She has jokingly been called "the Dust Queen" and is a noted authority on the tiny particles of sand and dirt, termed mineral dust, that are transported from areas as remote as the Sahara Desert. The video, produced by the ACS, the world's largest scientific society, is available at www.acs.org/PrizedScience and by request on DVD. Prized Science ...

MANHATTAN, KAN. -- A Kansas State University professor's research improving post-surgery pain treatment and osteoarthritis therapy in dogs may help develop better ways to treat humans for various medical conditions. From the use of hot and cold packs to new forms of narcotics, James Roush, professor of clinical sciences, is studying ways to lessen pain after surgery and improve care for small animals, particularly dogs. He is working with the clinical patients who come to the College of Veterinary Medicine's Veterinary Health Center. Because humans and dogs experience ...

WACO, Texas (Sept. 25, 2012) — Moving through the traditional stages of grief can be as unpredictable as playing a pinball machine, with triggers of sorrow acting like pinball rudders to send a mourner into a rebound rather than an exit, according to a case study by a Baylor University researcher and a San Antonio psychologist. For some, grieving is complete after the loss is accepted. But for others, such events as the anniversary of a death or a scene that jogs the memory can send them slamming into grief again, according to a case study by Margaret Baier, Ph.D., an ...

Are the longevity and vitality of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) due to its holistic approach? Indeed, Chinese medicine is not simply about treating illness, but rather about taking care of the whole person—body, mind, and spirit. According to an analysis¹ of TCM's origins and development by Lin Shi from Beijing Normal University and Chenguang Zhang from Southwest Minzu University in China, traditional Chinese medicine is profoundly influenced by Chinese philosophy and religion. To date, modern science has been unable to explain the mechanisms behind TCM's effects. ...

Los Angeles (September 25, 2012)- With ties to diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol, childhood obesity in wealthy countries is certainly of growing concern to researchers. A new study explores the ties between childhood weight problems, socioeconomic status, and nationality and finds that race, ethnicity, and immigrant status are risk factors for weight problems among children in the US and England. This new study was published in the September issue of The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (a SAGE journal) titled "Migrant Youths and ...

How can laptop users be kinder to the environment by using less power? University of Cincinnati computer science doctoral student Dippy Aggarwal will be among the leaders in their fields who are sharing emerging research and career interests at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference, Oct. 3-6, in Baltimore. She'll present early results of her research in a poster presentation, "Leveraging Power Analytics and Linked Data for Enterprise Computing," on Wednesday, Oct. 3. Aggarwal's presentation evolved from a summer 2011 internship at the Digital ...

WASHINGTON—Research comparing brain development in humans and our closest nonhuman primate relatives, chimpanzees, reveals how quickly myelin in the cerebral cortex grows, shedding light on the evolution of human cognitive development and the vulnerability of humans to psychiatric disorders, a GW professor finds. Myelin is the fatty insulation surrounding axon connections of the brain. Recent research by Chet Sherwood, associate professor of anthropology in Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, along with Daniel Miller, a former GW graduate student, and other colleagues, ...

CHICAGO—In today's fast-paced society, consumers often reach for nutrition bars when looking for a healthy on-the-go snack. A new study in the September issue of the Journal of Food Science published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) found that partially replacing canola oil with fish oil in nutrition bars can provide the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids without affecting the taste. Producers have been hesitant to incorporate fish oil into foods because it tends to give off a fishy taste or smell, therefore requiring additional processing steps to eliminate ...

CHICAGO—A new study in the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), shows that grape skin and seeds generated from winemaking—known as wine pomace—are a good source of antioxidant dietary fiber and can be used to fortify various food products such as yogurts and salad dressings with enhanced nutritional value and extended shelf-life. The researchers from Oregon State University analyzed pomace from Pinot Noir and Merlot wines to determine the most economically feasible ways to convert the rich source of antioxidants in pomace into ...

Although they're a common nuisance in the home, fruit flies have made great contributions to research in genetics and developmental biology. Now a Tel Aviv University researcher is again turning to this everyday pest to answer crucial questions about how neurons function at a cellular level — which may uncover the secrets of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. Approximately 75 percent of the genes that are related to diseases in humans are also to be found in the fly, says Ya'ara Saad, a PhD candidate in the lab of Prof. Amir Ayali at TAU's Department ...

Researchers in Georgia Tech's Center for Behavior Imaging have developed two new technological tools that automatically measure relevant behaviors of children, and promise to have significant impact on the understanding of behavioral disorders such as autism. One of the tools—a system that uses special gaze-tracking glasses and facial-analysis software to identify when a child makes eye contact with the glasses-wearer—was created by combining two existing technologies to develop a novel capability of automatic detection of eye contact. The other is a wearable system that ...

Washington, DC—U.S. health care spending grew at a faster pace than expected in 2011, according to a new report from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI). The Health Care Cost and Utilization Report: 2011 provides the first broad look at 2011 health care spending among those with employer-sponsored insurance (ESI). HCCI found that average dollars spent on health care services for that population climbed 4.6 percent in 2011, reaching $4,547 per person. This was well above the 3.8 percent growth rate observed in 2010 and beyond expected growth for 2011. Consumers ...