DURHAM, N.C. – Tuning in to tune out may be just what's needed for men undergoing a prostate biopsy, according to researchers at the Duke Cancer Institute. The Duke team found that noise-cancelling headphones playing a classical melody may reduce the pain and anxiety of the often uncomfortable procedure. The finding, published this month in the journal Urology, points to a simple and inexpensive way to help an estimated 700,000 U.S. men who undergo a prostate biopsy a year. The procedure is essentially the only way to diagnose prostate cancer, which strikes one in six ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – As the U.S. economy continues to lag, many investors remain wary about taking risks with the stock market. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have concluded that this attitude toward investment risk-taking is influenced by the age of the investor and the economic climate of the time period. Rui Yao, an assistant professor of personal financial planning in the College of Human Environmental Sciences at MU, found that willingness to take financial risks, or "risk tolerance," decreases as investors age. "Age has a pragmatic relationship with financial ...

New York / Heidelberg, 9 January 2012 -- Young female cancer survivors are concerned about their future fertility and parenthood options and want better information and guidance early on, according to a new study by Jessica Gorman and her team from the University of California in the US. Their paper, which presents in-depth information on young survivors' experiences navigating decisions about fertility and parenthood, is published online in Springer's Journal of Cancer Survivorship. Many more adolescents and young adults are surviving their disease, resulting in a substantial ...

Philadelphia, January 9, 2012 – In the first study to investigate driving as it relates to teens with a high-functioning autism disorder (HFASD), child development and teen driving experts at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Center for Child Injury Prevention Studies found that two-thirds of teenagers with a high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD) who are of legal driving age in their state are currently driving or plan to drive. The study is published this month in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. A HFASD is characterized ...

Miguel A. Cazalilla, a scientist at the CFM (a joint CSIC-UPV/EHU center) and the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), together with other four colleagues from various institutions in Europe and the United States, was recently invited to write a review article that has been just published in the prestigious journal Reviews of Modern Physics of the American Physical Society, where only leading scientists in their field of physics are invited to contribute. The article, "One dimensional Bosons: From Condensed Matter to Ultracold Atoms", offers a glimpse into the ...

For the first time, astronomers have mapped dark matter on the largest scale ever observed. The results, presented by Dr Catherine Heymans of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and Associate Professor Ludovic Van Waerbeke of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, are being presented today to the American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, Texas. Their findings reveal a Universe comprised of an intricate cosmic web of dark matter and galaxies spanning more than one billion light years. An international team of researchers lead by Van Waerbeke ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers are beginning their analysis of what are probably the first successful ice cores drilled to bedrock from a glacier in the eastern European Alps. With luck, that analysis will yield a record of past climate and environmental changes in the region for several centuries, and perhaps even covering the last 1,000 years. Scientists also hope that the core contains the remnants of early human activity in the region, such as the atmospheric byproducts of smelting metals. The project, led by a team of Ohio State University scientists and their European ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Objects that resemble faces are everywhere. Whether it's New Hampshire's erstwhile granite "Old Man of the Mountain," or Jesus' face on a tortilla, our brains are adept at locating images that look like faces. However, the normal human brain is almost never fooled into thinking such objects actually are human faces. "You can tell that it has some 'faceness' to it, but on the other hand, you're not misled into believing that it is a genuine face," says Pawan Sinha, professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT. A new study from Sinha and his colleagues ...

(PHILADELPHIA) – Researchers in Family and Community Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University recently found that obesity was linked to higher rates of prostate cancer screening across all races/ethnic differences and lower rates of cervical cancer screening, most notably in white women. Their study on the role of obesity in cancer screening rates for prostate, cervical as well as breast and colorectal cancers across race/ethnicity and gender is examined in the current issue of the Journal of Obesity. "Numerous studies have suggested that obesity constitutes an obstacle ...

The James Webb Space Telescope marked a year of significant progress in 2011 as it continues to come together as NASA's next generation space telescope. The year brought forth a pathfinder backplane to support the large primary mirror structure, mirror cryotesting, creation of mirror support structures, several successful sunshield layer tests and the creation of an assembly station within NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's cleanroom. Achievements were also made in the areas of flight and communications software and the propulsion system. In December, manufacturing and ...

In October 2011, Hanan M. Isaacs completed Collaborative Law Family Law Training and received certification in compliance with the International Association of Collaborative Professional Interdisciplinary Training Standards. Collaborative Law Collaborative Law is an alternative approach to divorce litigation, committed to conflict resolution and shared solutions. Collaborative Law (also referred to as no-court divorce or peaceful divorce) center on resolving family law matters without going to court. Collaborative Law attorneys focus on negotiating mutually acceptable ...

International Consumer Electronics Show 2012 attendees and exhibitors will be greeted by a new business ally -- the original, internet-based, TV advertising agency for the entrepreneur, CheapTVSpots.com. In a world obsessed with CPM, ROI, and counting clicks, the award-winning TV advertising agency with the funny name, Cheap TV Spots, offers a new edge for entrepreneurs and start-up businesses to bring in customers: real TV advertising for less than the cost of pay-per-click web ads. An asymmetric attack on the market, via low cost TV advertising. "Why advertise ...

Personalized prognostic tools and gene-based therapies may improve the survival and quality of life of patients suffering from glioblastoma, an aggressive and deadly form of brain cancer, reports a new University of Illinois study funded by the NIH National Cancer Institute. "We confirmed known biomarkers of glioblastoma survival and discovered new general and clinical-dependent gene profiles," said Nicola Serao, a U of I Ph.D. candidate in animal sciences with a focus in statistical genomics. "We were able to compare biomarkers across three glioblastoma phases that helped ...

From pre-packed Camembert to shrink-wrapped meat loaf – choosing the right packaging is a key issue in the food industry. Companies need to protect food products from oxygen, moisture and chemical and biological contamination while keeping them fresh for as long as possible. Transparent multilayer films, in which each layer offers specific benefits, are frequently used to protect food from contamination. To minimize the amount of oxygen that penetrates the packaging, companies typically use expensive, petrochemical-based polymers such as ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) copolymers ...

There is no time like the new year to take the initiative on resolving tax problems. Dennis and Ramona (Littleton, CO) came to Blue Tax with a balance of $31,000 for the State. They did not believe they owed this money. Blue Tax needed to figure out why Dennis and Ramona were being told they owed so much money to the State. Blue Tax set an immediate goal to find out why these taxpayers owed so much money to the State and to resolve their account, quickly and efficiently. After a few initial calls to the state, Blue Tax found out that the reason behind the huge outstanding ...

Amsterdam, NL, January 9, 2011 – The pathology of Parkinson's disease is characterized by a loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the pars compacta of the substantia nigra (SN), an area of the brain associated with motor control, along with the development of α-synuclein (αS) protein in the form of Lewy bodies (LB) in the neurons that survive. The spread of LB pathology is thought to progress along with the clinical course of Parkinson's disease, although recent studies suggest that they are not the toxic cause of cell death. A new study published in The Journal ...

Washington, D.C. — Around 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian geologic period, there was a mass extinction so severe that it remains the most traumatic known species die-off in Earth's history. Although the cause of this event is a mystery, it has been speculated that the eruption of a large swath of volcanic rock in Russia called the Siberian Traps was a trigger for the extinction. New research from Carnegie's Linda Elkins-Tanton and her co-authors offers insight into how this volcanism could have contributed to drastic deterioration in the global environment ...

Revosys Inc. has announced the implementation of a the world's first Taxi Interactive V5 Tablet featuring cab TV advertising, embedded Taxi Cab Payment Processing and Taxi Cab Security Surveillance for taxis, livery, bus, and airport shuttles. The Revosys V5 Taxi Interactive In Cab Advertising Security Media system offers full Smart Card and Credit Card In-Taxi payment processing right from the taxi tablet terminal. The In Taxi Advertising and Payment Processing Terminal is an all-in-one system so there is no need for an external pin pad or additional credit card terminals, ...

For example, during the period studied, reasoning scores decreased by 3.6 % for men aged between 45 and 49, and 9.6 % for those aged between 65 and 70. The corresponding figures for women stood at 3.6% and 7.4% respectively. The authors underline that evidence pointing to cognitive decline before the age of 60 has significant consequences. "Determining the age at which cognitive decline begins is important since behavioural or pharmacological interventions designed to change cognitive aging trajectories are likely to be more effective if they are applied from the onset ...

Developments by hydrogen researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) are paving the way for the successful development of portable power systems with capacities that far exceed the best batteries available today. SRNL's advances in the use of alane, a lightweight material for storing hydrogen, may be the key that unlocks the development of portable fuel cell systems that meet the needs for both military and commercial portable power applications. SRNL has demonstrated a practical path to portable power systems based ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- In the images of fruit flies, clusters of neurons are all lit up, forming a brightly glowing network of highways within the brain. It's exactly what University at Buffalo researcher Shermali Gunawardena was hoping to see: It meant that ORMOSIL, a novel class of nanoparticles, had successfully penetrated the insects' brains. And even after long-term exposure, the cells and the flies themselves remained unharmed. The particles, which are tagged with fluorescent proteins, hold promise as a potential vehicle for drug delivery. Each particle is a vessel, ...

This year's 7th annual Counter Terrorist Magazine's Homeland Security Professionals conference is taking place at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, Florida and big demand to hear the speakers is expected. Professionals won't just be attending from Florida's law enforcement, homeland security, Fire, rescue and emergency management. Past years have seen representatives from as far afield as Saipan and everywhere in the USA and Canada. This year's theme is expected to also draw significantly from private sector security. "We are developing the best line up for our conference, ...

Philadelphia, PA, January 9, 2012 – New research reveals that insulin applied in therapeutic doses selectively stimulates the formation of new elastic fibers in cultures of human aortic smooth muscle cells. These results advance the understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of diabetic vascular disease. The study is published in the February issue of the American Journal of Pathology. "Our results particularly endorse the use of insulin therapy for the treatment of atherosclerotic lesions in patients with type I diabetes, in which the induction of new elastic ...

Traditional Chinese medicine has long been used to ease pain, treat disease, boost fertility, and prevent miscarriage. Known in the Western medical community by its acronym TCM, these traditional remedies include herbal preparations and acupuncture. Now Tel Aviv University researchers have discovered that a combination of TCM therapy and intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a winning solution for hopeful mommies who are having trouble conceiving. In the first study that measures the effectiveness of both herbs and acupuncture in combination with IUI infertility treatment, ...

WASHINGTON (Jan. 9, 2011) — Melissa Perry, Sc.D., M.H.S., professor and chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the GW School of Public Health and Health Services and adjunct associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, led an observational study indicating that environmental exposure to organochlorine chemicals, including Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and p,p'-DDE (the main metabolite of the insecticide DDT) can affect male reproduction. The research was published online on Dec. 21, 2011 in the journal Environmental Health ...