Researchers at the University of Leeds have found a previously unknown mechanism through which pain is signalled by nerve cells – a discovery that could explain the current failings in the drug development process for painkillers and which may offer opportunities for a new approach. The team, led by Dr Nikita Gamper of the University's Faculty of Biological Sciences, is investigating the difference between persistent pain, such as toothache, and pain that results from the increased sensitivity of nerves in injured or diseased tissue (for example when we touch inflamed ...

Scientists at A*STAR's Institute of Medical Biology (IMB), in collaboration with doctors and scientists in Jordan, Turkey, Switzerland and USA, have identified the genetic cause of a birth defect known as Hamamy syndrome . Their groundbreaking findings were published on May 13th in the prestigious journal Nature Genetics. The work lends new insights into common ailments such as heart disease, osteoporosis, blood disorders and possibly sterility. Hamamy syndrome is a rare genetic disorder which is marked by abnormal facial features and defects in the heart, bone, blood ...

Research shows that street furniture, barriers, parks, public spaces and neighbourhood architecture can stir up powerful emotions in local residents. This should be taken into account in programmes designed to reduce tensions and foster community cohesion. Four cities - Amsterdam, Beirut, Belfast and Berlin were chosen as the location of the research as each has a different social history and underlying tensions. The project was undertaken by Dr Ralf Brand of the University of Manchester and was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Dr Brand found ...

This is one of the principle conclusions of a study that has been published in the scientific journal Current Biology. Participants in the study included Evan Balaban (McGill University, Montreal), Manuel Desco (Gregorio Marañón General University Hospital of Madrid and UC3M) and Juan José Vaquero (UC3M). The researchers managed to arouse a chicken embryo by exposing it to a sound that would have meaning after its birth (for example, the sound of a chicken warning others of danger). However, their study has demonstrated that the animal does not have the same reaction when ...

Banning and criminalising the Muslim face veil tests the very foundations of modern liberal society, warn researchers from Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Sussex. The paper 'Reasons to Ban? The Anti-Burqa Movement in Western Europe' examines the move to legislate against, and to criminalise face-veiling which has swept across the EU recently. The European movement against face-veiling is now widespread, with calls to implement a ban, or a ban being in place, in France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Germany. This move ...

Hospitals in large cities act as breeding grounds for the superbug MRSA prior to it spreading to smaller hospitals, a study suggests. Researchers found evidence that shows for the first time how the superbug spreads between different hospitals throughout the country. The University of Edinburgh study involved looking at the genetic make-up of more than 80 variants of a major clone of MRSA found in hospitals. Scientists were able to determine the entire genetic code of MRSA bacteria taken from infected patients. They then identified mutations in the bug which led ...

About 45 real-world senior engineering projects from the University of Cincinnati's College of Engineering and will go on display from noon-3 p.m., on Wednesday, May 16, in UC's Tangeman University Center. The projects represent work by seniors in electrical engineering, electrical engineering technology, computer engineering, computer engineering technology and computer science. Below is a sampling of the projects you will see TWIPOLITICO Seniors Jorge Moscat Pardos, Chris Nixon and Opeyemi Oyediran created a site and application, titled "Twipolitico," that analyzes ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – In an era of tight funding, school districts across the country are cutting their athletic budgets. Many schools are implementing athletic participation fees to cover the cost of school sports. But those fees have forced kids in lower-income families to the sidelines, according to a new poll that found nearly one in five lower-income parents report their children are participating less in school sports. The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health recently asked parents of middle- and high-school-age children ...

A number of studies have shown that it is possible to lengthen the average life of individuals of many species, including mammals, by acting on specific genes. To date, however, this has meant altering the animals' genes permanently from the embryonic stage – an approach impracticable in humans. Researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), led by its director María Blasco, have proved that mouse lifespan can be extended by the application in adult life of a single treatment acting directly on the animal's genes. And they have done so using gene therapy, ...

Research from North Carolina State University will allow the development of energy-efficient LED devices that use ultraviolet (UV) light to kill pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. The technology has a wide array of applications ranging from drinking-water treatment to sterilizing surgical tools. "UV treatment utilizing LEDs would be more cost-effective, energy efficient and longer lasting," says Dr. Ramón Collazo, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the research. "Our work would also allow ...

Functional sportswear is taken for granted nowadays. It is quite unexceptional for a sports jacket, for instance, to be both waterproof and breathable. In the case of working clothes, the functionality is mostly restricted to personal protection against fire, sharp objects, chemicals and so on, with wearer comfort (mostly) not being significance top priority. Bullet-proof vests made of Kevlar, as their name suggests, hold off bullets but they are also impenetrable for water vapor. Thus police personnel who must wear such gear under their uniforms sweat profusely when the ...

A curious twist in a family of plant proteins called chalcone-isomerase recently was discovered by Salk Institute for Biological Studies scientist Joseph Noel and colleagues at Iowa State University led by Eve Wurtele. Pursuing basic scientific discovery, they found three similar proteins that could soon translate into positive results for bio-renewable fuels, commodity chemicals like plastics, food security and nutrition and biomedicine. The findings, reported May 13 in advance online publication of the journal Nature, may lead to higher-yield crops and quantities of ...

Philadelphia, PA, May 14, 2012 – Health professionals commonly say, "Don't look and it won't hurt" before administering an injection, but is there any scientific basis for the advice? A group of German investigators has found that, in fact, your past experience with needle pricks, along with information you receive before an injection, shape your pain experience. Their research is published in the May issue of Pain®. "Throughout our lives, we repeatedly experience that needles cause pain when pricking our skin, but situational expectations, like information given by ...

INDIANAPOLIS — A new study from the Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University has found that, at time of death, individuals with dementia are more likely to be living at home than in a nursing home. This contradicts the commonly held view that most individuals with dementia in the United States eventually move to nursing homes and die there. "Transitions in Care for Older Adults With and Without Dementia" appears online in advance of publication in the May 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Most individuals with dementia, even advanced ...

A study by a team of university and government scientists led by a Kansas State University researcher, indicates that genes responsible for seed shattering -- the process by which grasses disseminate their seeds -- were under parallel selection during sorghum, rice and maize domestication. The study, "Parallel domestication of the Shattering1 genes in cereals," was published May 13 in the online version of the journal, Nature Genetics. In order to identify the molecular basis underlying seed shattering in sorghum, which is the world's fifth major crop, the researchers ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Letting autoworkers sit while they reach into a car's interior could help prevent shoulder and back strain - but another solution might be to tilt the entire car so that workers can stand up. That's the finding of two recent studies, which tested two ways to protect autoworkers from injury. Sitting on a cantilevered chair reduced the stress on the workers' backs and shoulders for three common installation tasks. But a different strategy - tilting a car sideways on a carriage so that workers could access the interior while standing - reduced the stress ...

AMES, Iowa – Research groups from Iowa State University and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have uncovered the function of three plant proteins, a discovery that could help plant scientists boost seed oil production in crops, thereby benefitting the production of food, biorenewable chemicals and biofuels. The analysis of gene activity (by the Iowa group) and determination of protein structures (by the Salk group) independently identified in the model plant thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) three related proteins that appear to be involved in fatty-acid metabolism. ...

The Solebury Club (http://www.thesoleburyclub.com), which is co-owned by Rob DeAngelis, now has an exciting offer for new members. Those who decide to join will get the first month free and the initiation fee will be waived. The Solebury Club, which prides itself on its nationally ranked instructors, professional staff and expertly maintained premises, provides those in the Doylestown, PA, region a full range of gym-related activities supported by the latest workout equipment and much more. This premiere health club includes group instruction in kickboxing, karate, dance, ...

Look Ventures LLC, a website development and management Company is pleased to announce the launch of their all new Universal Search Engine and Home Page Portal, Website http://www.prefrd.com. Prefrd.com offers a number of exciting and innovative new website features claims developer and CEO of Look Ventures, Cliff Livingstone. In particular, for the first time ever Prefrd.com allows viewers to search the Internet in their own Mother Tongue. Not even Google or Yahoo can do that. Prefrd.com's search capacity is alos very capable, offering many additional search related ...

Broward SCORE (http://www.broward.score.org) hosts a wide variety of workshops on the financial needs of small businesses in South Florida. The workshops help business owners find financing, manage their cash flow, budget and more. The workshops are held from 5 - 8 p.m. throughout the year at different venues in Broward County such as Best Buy, Comerica Bank, IKEA, Hispanic Unity of Florida among others. Workshop facilitators are SCORE volunteers with expertise in finance and business management. Facilitators include Paul Bosley of First Financial; Carla Dorsey ...

URBANA – A new University of Illinois study shows that human milk oligosaccharides, or HMO, produce short-chain fatty acids that feed a beneficial microbial population in the infant gut. Not only that, the bacterial composition adjusts as the baby grows older and its needs change. Even though HMO are a major component of human milk, present in higher concentration than protein, many of their actions in the infant are not well understood. Furthermore, they're virtually absent from infant formula. The scientists wanted to find out what formula-fed babies were missing. "We ...

DocVerify has today announced the release of their powerful new Easy Sign System, designed to allow website owners the ability to integrate electronic signatures into their sites with no programming or HTML knowledge required. This offers website owners searching for a complete answer to their contract management or document management needs a simple, powerful, effective solution. The new Easy Sign System is designed to work with any website, and requires no HTML or coding knowledge from the website owner. According to DocVerify, "Easy Sign has been designed to ...

A male robin will be more diligent in caring for its young if the eggs its mate lays are a brighter shade of blue. Queen's University biology professor Bob Montgomerie has been studying robins on and off for 25 years and has a particular fascination with the bright blue colour of their eggs. To test a theory on the purpose of bright egg colouration, Dr. Montgomerie and MSc student Philina English, working at the Queen's University Biological Station (QUBS) and other sites around Kingston, replaced the real eggs in robins' nests with artificial eggs of different shades ...

WASHINGTON – A drug that has been shown to prevent HIV infection in a significant number of cases must be combined with behavioral approaches if the U.S. health care establishment is to succeed in reducing the spread of the virus, according to the American Psychological Association. "Exclusive reliance on a drug to prevent HIV or any sexually transmitted disease could actually result in a worse outcome if those at risk don't understand how their own behavior affects treatment," said Perry N. Halkitis, PhD, chair of APA's Committee on Psychology and AIDS. "We know that ...

Check writer software saves users time and money on personal finance tracking. New updates to ezCheckPersonal, the popular check printing software from Halfpricesoft.com (http://www.halfpricesoft.com), include an updated user interface and installation package, which makes it easier for new users to set up this check writer, print personalized checks, manage checks and track expense. "Simple, easy and fast. That's what computer software should be," said Halfpricesoft.com founder Dr. Ge. "You shouldn't need a programming degree or accounting background ...