A century after the valves that link the lymphatic and blood systems were first described, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have detailed how those valves form and identified a gene that is critical to the process. The gene is Prox1. Earlier work led by Guillermo Oliver, Ph.D., a member of the St. Jude Department of Genetics, showed Prox1 was essential for formation and maintenance of the entire lymphatic vasculature. The lymphatic vasculature is the network of vessels and ducts that help maintain the body's fluid balance and serves as a highway along ...

(ORLANDO) -- Physicians may be making premature predictions about which patients are not likely to survive following cardiac arrest – and even withdrawing care -- before the window in which comatose patients who have received therapeutic hypothermia are most likely to wake up, according to two new studies from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The research helps to better define the proper timeframe and manner in which doctors may be able to predict which patients will regain consciousness after the use of therapeutic hypothermia, which ...

DURHAM, N.C. – In a finding that confirms what many obstetricians and gynecologists suspected, Duke University researchers report that younger women who undergo hysterectomies face a nearly two-fold increased risk for developing menopause early. The study, published in the December issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, is the largest analysis to track over time the actual hormonal impact of woman who had hysterectomies and compare them to women whose uteruses remained intact. "Hysterectomy is a common treatment for many conditions, including fibroids and excessive ...

Ravenwolf Publishing has expanded the formats available for its four books, with all books available and ready to ship in time for the Holidays: Books available include: The Dancing Valkyrie, The Vampire Valkyrie, the second and newly revised edition of Adirondack Hikes in Hamilton County, plus the recently published Confessions of an Online Male Prostitute. The sale of ebooks now tops sales for paperbacks, due largely to the popularity of the Kindle readers from Amazon and the Nook readers at Barnes & Noble. In the spirit of the gift giving holidays and in ...

A team of researchers led by the University of Colorado Boulder has discovered the first prehistoric bronze artifact made from a cast ever found in Alaska, a small, buckle-like object found in an ancient Eskimo dwelling and which likely originated in East Asia. The artifact consists of two parts -- a rectangular bar, connected to an apparently broken circular ring, said CU-Boulder Research Associate John Hoffecker, who is leading the excavation project. The object, about 2 inches by 1 inch and less than 1 inch thick, was found in August by a team excavating a roughly ...

Washington — Research released today shows that scientists are finding new tools to help understand neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and fragile X syndrome. These studies show in new detail how the brain's connections, chemicals, and genes interact to affect behavior. The research findings were presented at Neuroscience 2011, the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science health. END ...

Not only mineral oil and petroleum gas, also phosphorous is a scarce resource. According to well-respected scientists who gathered together for a conference in Cambridge this August, we will face significant problems relating to phosphorous deficiency in just 20 years from now. Phosphorous, this important and essential mineral, is part of our DNA and, therefore, irreplaceable. Many soils are already depleted for phosphorous today. Plants growing on these soils are only able to take up enough phosphorous by living in symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM fungi). ...

"Certain bats can deform the shapes of their ears in a way that changes the animal's ultrasonic hearing pattern. Within just one tenth of a second, these bats are able to change their outer ear shapes from one extreme configuration to another," said Rolf Müller, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech. Müller and his students wrote a paper on their work that is appearing this week in Physical Review Letters, a prestigious peer-reviewed journal of the American Physical Society. The students are: Li Gao of Shandong, China, a Ph.D. student with Müller, ...

Realityworks, Inc. will showcase its experiential learning programs at the Association of Career and Technical Education (ACTE) annual convention and career tech expo. Realityworks' products will be presented in several sessions and displayed in booth 1121 on Nov. 17-18 at the Americas Center in St. Louis. ACTE's conference brings together over 4,000 teachers and administrators involved in Career and Technical Education. The brand new RealCareer Welding Program will be one of the programs featured at ACTE. It offers hands-on learning of basic welding form in a simulation ...

The brain scans of high school football and hockey players showed subtle injury -- even if they did not suffer a concussion – after taking routine hits to the head during the normal course of play, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study. The research, reported online in the journal Magnetic Resonance Imaging, is preliminary, involving a small sample of athletes, but nonetheless raises powerful questions about the consequences of the mildest head injury among youths with developing brains, said lead author Jeffrey Bazarian, M.D., M.P.H., associate ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — In a new study, scientists report that they substantially curbed weight gain, improved metabolism, and improved the efficacy of insulin in mice by engineering them to express a specific human enzyme in their fat tissue. Although the obesity prevention came at the significant cost of widespread inflammation, the research offers new clues about the connections among obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, and inflammation. "Turning on this molecule has a very dramatic impact on lipid metabolism," said Haiyan Xu, assistant professor ...

Marion's Smart Delights is proud to announce that it won the Gourmet Product Awards. Marion's Gluten-Free Cookie and Muffin Mix won for best baking mix. The versatile, allergy-friendly, and Kosher mix can be used to create everything from fancy party treats to vegan, dairy-free, and even heart-healthy versions of scrumptious muffins, holiday cookies, pies, tarts, and more. The reduced sugar and low-sodium mix is packed with nutritious whole grains, including quinoa, millet, and amaranth. It is one of a few gluten-free dessert mixes in the market carrying the Whole Grain ...

Washington — Scientists are discovering promising approaches to treating pain, one of the most common and debilitating neurological complaints, according to research released today at Neuroscience 2011, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science and health. Studies show that "mirror box therapy" can help reduce arthritis-related pain, and that a new opioid-like drug may be able to relieve acute pain without the euphoric effects that can lead to dependency. Additional research also identifies the ...

Tuberculosis, which kills over 2 million people each year, is caused primarily by infectious bacteria known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis – or Mtb. Mtb targets human immune cells as part of its strategy to avoid detection, effectively neutralizing the body's immune response. Up until now, scientists had a general understanding of the process, but researchers in the Immunity and Infection Research Centre at Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and the University of British Columbia have shown Mtb produces a specific protein that allows it to defuse and bypass ...

Increases in air pollution and other particulate matter in the atmosphere can strongly affect cloud development in ways that reduce precipitation in dry regions or seasons. This while increasing rain, snowfall and the intensity of severe storms in wet regions or seasons, according to results of a new study. The research provides the first clear evidence of how aerosols--soot, dust and other particulates in the atmosphere--may affect weather and climate. The findings have important implications for the availability, management and use of water resources in regions ...

From Enron in the United States to Satyam in India, there are plenty of examples of corporate managers lying about their companies' earnings and ultimately hurting themselves and the businesses they work for. Why do they do it? A limited capacity to see the whole picture – known as "bounded rationality" -- combined with a faulty ethical compass are two big reasons, shows a new study from the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. The study also finds that shareholders are just as guilty of the same weaknesses and that insider trading is linked to earnings ...

CHICAGO (November 14, 2011) – According to the results of a new study published in the November 2011 Journal of the American College of Surgeons, malpractice lawsuits against U.S. surgeons occur often and can take a profound personal toll on the surgeon, resulting in emotional exhaustion, stress, and professional dissatisfaction. The researchers examined personal and professional characteristics and found malpractice lawsuits were strongly and independently linked to surgeon depression and career burnout. The stress caused by malpractice litigation was rated as equivalent ...

Imagine a cellphone battery that stayed charged for more than a week and recharged in just 15 minutes. That dream battery could be closer to reality thanks to Northwestern University research. A team of engineers has created an electrode for lithium-ion batteries -- rechargeable batteries such as those found in cellphones and iPods -- that allows the batteries to hold a charge up to 10 times greater than current technology. Batteries with the new electrode also can charge 10 times faster than current batteries. The researchers combined two chemical engineering approaches ...

Orlando –A new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and collaborators at various institutions, presented at the 2011 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, shows that a novel, non-invasive measurement of arterial wave reflections may be able to predict who is most at risk for heart failure. The authors presented data from an ancillary study of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). When the heart contracts it generates a pulse or energy wave that travels through the arteries. This wave gets reflected ...

BINGHAMTON, NY -- Online retailers have long wondered if trumpeting consumer-behavior statistics on their websites could hurt business. New findings from Binghamton University should ease their fears, just in time for Cyber Monday. Qi Wang, an associate professor of marketing at Binghamton University, studied the effects of user comments and sales statistics that accompany products offered on e-commerce sites. While the impact of positive and negative feedback has been well understood, much less was known about so-called "observational behavior" - aka a person's tendency ...

Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin have found a possible link between norovirus, a virus that causes "stomach flu" in humans, and food allergies. The findings are published in The Open Immunology Journal, Volume 4, 2011. Mitchell H. Grayson, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, medicine, microbiology and molecular genetics at the Medical College, and a pediatric allergist practicing at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, is the corresponding author of the paper. The researchers took mice infected with norovirus and fed them egg protein. They then examined ...

Just in time for the holidays, Charles Smith, owner of RAJA Concepts, LLC, announced the availability of The Chessboard. The innovative, elaborate three-dimensional board makes a perfect holiday gift for players, collectors and chess aficionados alike. It is a perfect gift to bring the family together during the holiday season, as well as a beautiful collector's piece. "The Chessboard a perfect accompaniment for match play and a consummate conversation piece for collectors," said Smith. "Its 3-D design heightens players' excitement over the flat board ...

Researchers and conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society's Guatemala Program, WCS's Bronx Zoo, the National Park Service of Guatemala, and other groups report a major conservation victory from Central America: a bumper crop of magnificent scarlet macaw fledglings that have now taken flight over the forests of Guatemala. The newly fledged birds total 29 macaws, a big success for conservationists working in the Maya Biosphere Reserve who were hoping to record at least one fledgling from each monitored nest (24 nests in total) during the 2011 season. The monitoring ...

InetSoft Technology (www.inetsoft.com), an innovator in data mashup driven dashboard and reporting solutions, announced that the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University is joining InetSoft's Academic Alliance Program with the goal of providing students in the Computing and Decision Sciences department access to BI tools. The Academic Alliance program is a global initiative that offers Universities with the opportunity to use InetSoft's BI software within the classroom setting. For Dr. David Rosenthal, Chair of the Department of Computing and Decision Sciences, ...

Total Mortgage Services, LLC, a leading mortgage lender, announced today that it is registered with the state of Ohio's Department of Commerce, Division of Financial Institutions, under the Mortgage Broker Act Mortgage Banker Exemption, and is now entitled to broker residential mortgage loans as a Freddie Mac seller/servicer, Fannie Mae seller/servicer, VA non-supervised automatic lender, and FHA non-supervised mortgagee. Total Mortgage can now originate residential mortgage loans in 24 states and the District of Columbia, with 5 additional state licenses pending. "With ...