EAST LANSING, Mich. — For children with autism, being born several weeks early or several weeks late tends to increase the severity of their symptoms, according to new research out of Michigan State University. Additionally, autistic children who were born either preterm or post-term are more likely to self-injure themselves compared with autistic children born on time, revealed the study by Tammy Movsas of MSU's Department of Epidemiology. Though the study did not uncover why there is an increase in autistic symptoms, the reasons may be tied to some of the underlying ...

I voluntarily began my tour of Sicilian dwellings at this 17th Century Palazzo built on the old city walls because of its owners who are my friends. My feelings for this place, the last home of the famous writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, are particularly fond and my appreciation for its imposing beauty have kept me close to the actual owner, Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi, whose painstaking restoration of the structure and its halls have brought it back to its original grandeur. Today I have left my sentimentalism behind and replaced it with a professional attitude. As ...

Exercise which can achieve both cardiovascular function and muscle strength "would be a preferred mode of training for older persons", say investigators Experienced practitioners of Tai Chi, the traditional Chinese mind-body exercise now enjoyed worldwide, have been shown in a study of older subjects to have improved expansion and contraction of arteries according to cardiac pulsation (arterial compliance) and improved knee muscle strength.(1) The findings, say the investigators, of better muscle strength without jeopardising arterial compliance suggest that Tai Chi ...

A study of the sexes reveals that when it comes to starting a business, women are more likely than men to consider individual responsibility and use business as a vehicle for social and environmental change. "We found that women are 1.17 times more likely than men to create social ventures than economic ventures, and women are 1.23 times more likely to pursue environmental ventures than economic focused ventures," says Diana Hechevarria, a doctoral candidate in management and entrepreneurship in the University of Cincinnati's Carl H. Lindner College of Business. Hechevarria, ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Golfers looking to improve their putting may find an advantage in visualizing the hole as bigger, according to a new study from Purdue University. "People in our study made more successful putts in a smaller hole when a visual illusion helped them perceive it as larger," said Jessica K. Witt, an assistant professor of psychological science who studies perception in sports. "We know that how people perceive the environment affects their ability to act in it, such as scoring as basket or hitting a baseball, and now we know that seeing a target as ...

Stephen W. Stewart, founding member of The Stewart Law Firm, P.L.L.C. in Austin, Texas, is pleased to announce that Burgess Williams has joined the firm as an associate attorney. Burgess devotes his career to helping those injured as a result of the negligence of others. Burgess handles cases involving wrongful death, workplace injuries, oilfield/industrial injuries, 18-wheeler crashes, motor vehicle crashes, defective products, toxic exposure, and insurance bad faith claims. Burgess Williams is a graduate of Wake Forest University, where he received a B.A. in History. ...

According to Facebook's own newsroom, the social media giant has more than 845 million users who log into the social platform each month. And for many of those users, it is not simply about keeping in contact with old friends and playing games -- it is about getting the information they need. Facebook recognizes this by continuing to make changes to the platform to make it more user-friendly. Thanks to one of Facebook's most recent changes, Timeline for Pages, businesses like the law firm of Trolman, Glaser & Lichtman (TGL) can provide more information to injured ...

BIOLOGY -- When neutrons and simulation unite . . . Scientific analysis of proteins, the workhorses of the cellular world, could become easier by uniting experimental and simulation techniques, according to research published in Biophysical Journal. A team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Jeremy Smith demonstrated how the combination of high-performance computer simulation and a type of neutron analysis called spin echo can be used to study certain motions in proteins. When large chunks of proteins called domains move relative to each other, these interdomain motions ...

April 03, 2012— Younger girls are more likely than adult women to report side effects after receiving Gardasil, the human papillomavirus vaccine. The side effects are non-serious and similar to those associated with other vaccines, according to a new study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the Journal of Women's Health. As part of an ongoing study and evaluation of this relatively new vaccine, researchers surveyed 899 girls and young women (ages 11-26) within two weeks after they received the Gardasil vaccine injection in the upper ...

Robot squirrels from the University of California, Davis, are going into rattlesnake country near San Jose, continuing a research project on the interaction between squirrels and rattlesnakes. In the lab, robot squirrels have shown how squirrels signal to snakes with heat and tail flagging. Through field experiments, researchers from San Diego State University and UC Davis aim to learn more about rattlesnake behavior. It's not the only use of robots to study animal behavior at UC Davis. Terry Ord, a former postdoctoral researcher now at Harvard University, used robot ...

One of an employer's strongest arguments against a workers' compensation claim is that the person filing for benefits was not an employee at the time of the accident. This is often seen with independent contractors, since they are generally not covered by North Carolina's Workers' Compensation Act. North Carolina law defines an employee within this Act broadly. The scope includes "every person engaged in an employment under any appointment or contract of hire or apprenticeship, express or implied, oral or written, including aliens, and also minors, whether lawfully ...

ARGONNE, Ill. -- The early days of our solar system might look quite different than previously thought, according to research at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory published in Science. The study used more sensitive instruments to find a different half-life for samarium, one of the isotopes used to chart the evolution of the solar system. "It shrinks the chronology of early events in the solar system, like the formation of planets, into a shorter time span," said Argonne physicist Michael Paul. "It also means some of the oldest rocks on ...

Not too long ago, a Florida couple was eagerly awaiting the birth of their new baby. Like most couples, they were excited to bring their little bundle of joy into this world. The doctor and ultrasound technician who read the sonogram didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so the couple anticipated a healthy bouncing baby boy. Tragically, however, their son was born without any arms and only a single leg. The joy about their son's birth quickly shifted to concern and despair. In what is often called a wrongful birth suit, the couple sued their health care providers ...

A current controversy raging in evolutionary biology is whether adaptation to new environments is the result of many genes, each of relatively small effect, or just a few genes of large effect. A new study published in Molecular Ecology strongly supports the first "many-small" hypothesis. McGill University professor Andrew Hendry, from the Department of Biology and the Redpath Museum, and evolutionary geneticists at Basel University in Switzerland, studied how threespine stickleback fish adapted to lake and stream environments in British Columbia, Canada. The authors ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Add lower gastrointestinal (GI) problems such as ulcers, bleeding and perforations to the list of serious complications facing many rheumatoid arthritis patients. They are at greater risk for GI problems and gastrointestinal-related death than people without the disease, a Mayo Clinic study shows. Researchers say their findings point out the need for new ways to prevent and treat lower GI disease in rheumatoid arthritis patients; the incidence of lower gastrointestinal complications is rising even as upper GI problems decrease significantly among rheumatoid ...

Reports of teachers having inappropriate relationships with students seem to appear on the news with alarming frequency. The increase in teacher-student relationships may partly be explained by the expanding use of new technology, such as text messaging, email, or social media sites like Facebook. While these forms of communication may certainly make teaching easier or more appealing to students, they also present a problem for teachers and students alike when discussions veer from classroom topics. Online communications can quickly turn into the basis for allegations ...

Researchers at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech have assembled the draft genome of a marine algae sequence to aid scientists across the US in a project that aims to discover the best algae species for producing biodiesel fuel. The results have been published in Nature Communications. The necessity of developing alternative, renewable fuel sources to prevent a potential energy crisis and alleviate greenhouse gas production has long been recognized. Various sources have been tried—corn for ethanol and soybeans for biodiesel, for example. But to truly ...

New Rochelle, NY, April 3, 2012—As the population ages in western countries, traumatic brain injury (TBI) resulting mainly from falls is on the rise among the elderly, introducing new complications and treatment challenges, according to an article in Journal of Neurotrauma, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article is available free on the Journal of Neurotrauma website. Nino Stochetti and colleagues from University of Milan and San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, and San Gerardo Hospital, Monza, Italy, reported that one in five patients in a series of ...

From Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries to Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, prenuptial agreements abound in Hollywood. Although most people are not concerned with protecting millions of dollars, prenuptial agreements may be more important now than ever before. Prenups provide both people with protection, not only of personal assets but also from each other's debts. Two things have resulted in many people finding themselves with large amounts debt before walking down the aisle: the increasing age of people marrying and the current economic crisis. Many young professionals ...

The least expensive way for the Western U.S. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to help prevent the worst consequences of global warming is to replace coal with renewable and other sources of energy that may include nuclear power, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, researchers. The experts reached this conclusion using SWITCH, a highly detailed computer model of the electric power grid, to study generation, transmission and storage options for the states west of the Kansas/Colorado border. The model will be an important tool for utilities ...

Most drivers know when they have had too much to drink and should not get behind the wheel. But there is another dangerous driving habit that many drivers may be less aware of, drowsy driving or driving when they have not had enough sleep. The National Safety Council states that being drowsy can affect people similar to drugs and alcohol, including delayed reaction time, impaired judgment and decreased awareness. All these issues can lead to motor vehicle accidents. The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) cites an Australian study that shows that drivers who have been ...

Many labor unions have programs to help members who become disabled. They may have their own benefit programs, or they may help members apply for government disability benefits or benefits provided by an employer. Unions who help clients apply for government benefits from programs such as Social Security Disability (SSD) often look to external disability advocates to help them and their members obtain the benefits they need after a disability makes it impossible to work. The advocates, who are often attorneys and other specialists, are able to help disabled union members ...

Epilepsy affects 50 million people worldwide, but in a third of these cases, medication cannot keep seizures from occurring. One solution is to shoot a short pulse of electricity to the brain to stamp out the seizure just as it begins to erupt. But brain implants designed to do this have run into a stubborn problem: too many false alarms, triggering unneeded treatment. To solve this, Johns Hopkins biomedical engineers have devised new seizure detection software that, in early testing, significantly cuts the number of unneeded pulses of current that an epilepsy patient ...

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled that an individual can be criminally charged with attempting to distribute marijuana even when the person is caught having less than an ounce. Voters approved an initiative to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. (Violators now face a $100 fine, as opposed to a misdemeanor). However, the court sought to clarify the law's application to people who sell drugs. According to a report by the Daily Hampshire Gazette, the case originated from an incident in 2010, when a woman called police to report ...

CHICAGO— Removing a lipoprotein receptor known as SR-BI may help protect against breast cancer, as suggested by new findings presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2012 by Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center researchers. In vitro and mouse studies revealed that depletion of the SR-BI resulted in a decrease in breast cancer cell growth. SR-BI is a receptor for high-density lipoproteins (HDL) that are commonly referred to as "good cholesterol" because they help transport cholesterol out of the arteries and back to the liver for excretion. The ...