A piece of jawbone excavated from a prehistoric cave in England is the earliest evidence for modern humans in Europe, according to an international team of scientists. The bone first was believed to be about 35,000 years old, but the new research study shows it to be significantly older -- between 44,000 and 41,000 years old, according to the findings that will be published in the journal Nature. The new dating of the bone is expected to help scientists pin down how quickly the modern humans spread across Europe during the last Ice Age. It also helps confirm the much-debated ...

The workshops, entitled 'Act your Age! Challenging Stereotypes', form part of the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) Festival of Social Science 2011 and are organised by the University of Sheffield's New Dynamics of Ageing (NDA) research programme. Sarah Howson and Charlotte Jones, who are co-ordinating the workshops, say: "Stereotyping in the media can lead to a negative understanding of older people. The workshop will use a variety of hands-on activities to help the children to consider their perceptions of older people. They will be asked to apply these ...

CLEVELAND -- Results of the pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial published in the Nov. 3, 2011 (embargoed 5 pm ET, Nov. 2, '11) New England Journal of Medicine, find that the oral medication ivacaftor (VX-770) provides major, sustained improvement in lung function, growth and other signs and symptoms for cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. The multi-site study marks the first time a drug has been shown to work on the disease process rather than on the symptoms. CF, which has no cure, is the most common lethal genetic disease in Caucasians. "Ivacaftor represents a significant advancement ...

Around 4,000 deaths could be prevented every year if the UK population adopted the average diet eaten in England, concludes research published in BMJ Open. Death rates for cardiovascular disease and cancer are higher in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland than they are in England, and it is well known that these diseases are associated with a poor diet that is high in saturated fats and salt and low in fibre, fruits and vegetables. The researchers therefore looked at mortality data for coronary heart disease, stroke, and 10 cancers associated with diet, including ...

Disco Science is better than no music at all at helping to deliver the required number of chest compressions (CPR) to save a heart attack victim's life before s/he gets to hospital, reveals research published online in Emergency Medicine Journal. But Disco Science, which featured in the soundtrack to Guy Ritchie's film Snatch in 2000, still doesn't improve the depth of compression, leading the authors to suggest that it's time to give up on trying to find the best musical track to aid the procedure. The annual UK incidence of heart attacks occurring outside hospital ...

(Toronto – Nov. 3, 2011) – Men with locally advanced or high-risk prostate cancer who receive combined radiation and hormone therapy live longer and are less likely to die from their disease, shows clinical research led by radiation oncologists at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) Cancer Program, University Health Network. The findings are published online today in The Lancet (doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61095-7). Principal investigator Padraig Warde, deputy head, PMH radiation medicine program, says: "The study shows combining radiation and hormone therapy improves ...

The timing, process and archeology of the peopling of Europe by early modern humans have been actively debated for more than a century. Reassessment of the anatomy and dating of a fragmentary upper jaw with three teeth from Kent's Cavern in southern England has shed new light on these issues. Originally found in 1927, Kent's Cavern and its human fossil have been reassessed by an international team, including Erik Trinkaus, PhD, professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and the results published in Nature. The Kent's Cavern human ...

Energy regulator, Ofgem, recently announced that the average duel gas and electricity bill is now GBP1,345 a year, and experts acknowledge that this figure can only go up. In addition, the trend of new-build properties coming with a gas fire as standard has been dealt a blow thanks to recent government regulations that demand increased efficiency. Rather than sit and wait while the price of domestic oil, gas and electricity keep rising, the benefits of renewable energy sources have been recognised by many Irish consumers, with retailers such as Dalzells of Markethill ...

STANFORD, Calif. -- When given for hours as a continuous dose, the heart medication nitroglycerin backfires -- increasing the severity of subsequent heart attacks, according to a study of the compound in rats by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. "Basically it's a cautionary tale," said professor of chemical and systems biology Daria Mochly-Rosen, PhD, senior author of the study that will be published Nov. 2 in Science Translational Medicine. "Here is a practice in medicine used for over 100 years. Nitroglycerin is so old that a proper clinical ...

A recent increase in the intensity of tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea may be a side effect of increasing air pollution over the Indian sub-continent, a new multi-institutional study has found. Traditionally, prevailing wind-shear patterns prevent cyclones in the Arabian Sea from becoming major storms. A paper appearing in the Nov. 3 issue of the journal Nature, however, suggests the weakening of the winds aloft has enabled the formation of stronger cyclones in recent years – including storms in 2007 and 2010 that were the first recorded storms ever to enter the Gulf ...

Pollution is making Arabian Sea cyclones more intense, according to a study in this week's issue of the journal Nature. Traditionally, prevailing wind shear patterns prohibit cyclones in the Arabian Sea from becoming major storms. The Nature paper suggests that weakening winds have enabled the formation of stronger cyclones in recent years -- including storms in 2007 and 2010 that were the first recorded storms to enter the Gulf of Oman. Researchers note that weakening wind patterns during the last 30 years correspond with a buildup of aerosols in the atmosphere over ...

Josh Cote a successful business owner and entrepreneur will promote Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) to encourage many budding entrepreneurs to put plans in motion to start businesses and assist with developing work opportunities for others. Kauffman Foundation and Enterprise UK founded Global Entrepreneurship week in 2008 and signed Youth Business International to become the national host for 2011. Since beginning in 2008, Global Entrepreneurship Week has spread to 115 countries worldwide. "The growth of GEW has been amazing. To think it started in 2004 and ...

An international research team led by Dr. Cindy Leissinger of Tulane University School of Medicine, along with Dr. Alessandro Gringeri from the University of Milan, has found that a drug commonly used to treat bleeding events in people with a type of severe hemophilia can also be used to prevent such events from happening in the first place. The study, the first to confirm the efficacy and safety of the drug FEIBA™ in bleed prevention is published in the Nov. 3, 2011 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study examined the ability of FEIBA to prevent bleeds ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The poor safety profile of the smoking-cessation drug varenicline (Chantix™) makes it unsuitable for first-line use, according to a study published in the Nov. 2 edition of the journal PLoS One, an online publication of the Public Library of Science. Varenicline, which already carries a "black box warning" from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), showed a substantially increased risk of reported depression or suicidal behavior compared to other smoking-cessation treatments, according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, ...

Kansas City Jeweler Jewelry By Morgan has been named a recipient of the 2011 Customer Satisfaction Award for Excellence in Customer Care, presented by Talk of the Town News, Customer Care News and Celebration Media. The award honors companies and professionals that provide excellent customer service, as reported by their customers through no-cost, user review websites. The reviews are analyzed by a team of researchers who calculate a star rating system based on these data, which determines a business' award eligibility. "Customer service has always been incredibly ...

Stromal cells, as distinct from hematopoietic cells, are an essential component of the bone marrow microenvironment and are necessary for the long-term maintenance of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in vitro. Previous studies have shown that stromal cells regulate the proliferation and differentiation of HSCs through the production of diffusible hematopoietic regulatory factors and extracellular matrix, and through physical cell-cell interactions involving adhesion molecules and gap junction-mediated cell communication. However, the ability of stromal cells to support the ...

Neurofibrillary tangles – odd, twisted clumps of protein found within nerve cells – are a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. The tangles, which were first identified in the early 1900s by German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Aloysius Alzheimer, are formed when changes in a protein called tau cause it to aggregate in an insoluble mass in the cytoplasm of cells. Normally, the tau protein is involved in the formation of microtubules, hollow filaments that provide cells with support and structure; abnormal tau tangles, however, cause that structure to break down, ...

Graphene, which is composed of a one-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms in a honeycomb-like lattice (like atomic-scale chicken wire), is the world's thinnest material – and one of the hardest and strongest. Indeed, the past few years have seen an explosion of research into the properties and potential applications of graphene, which has been touted as a superior alternative to silicon. Because graphene is a two-dimensional material, "all of it is an exposed surface," says physical chemist Phaedon Avouris, manager of the Nanometer Scale Science and Technology division at ...

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- A University of Michigan Health System laboratory study reveals a key trigger for producing normal red blood cells that could lead to a new treatment for those with sickle cell disease. The study, conducted in mice, appears in this week's early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and holds promise for preventing the painful episodes and organ damage that are common complications of sickle cell disease. According to the U-M study, increasing the expression of the proteins, TR2 and TR4, more than doubled the level of fetal ...

Much of the body's chemistry is controlled by the brain – from blood pressure to appetite to food metabolism. In a study published recently in Developmental Cell, a team of scientists led by Dr. Gil Levkowitz of the Weizmann Institute has revealed the exact structure of one crucial brain area in which biochemical commands are passed from the brain cells to the bloodstream and from there to the body. In the process, they discovered a surprising new role for the 'hormone of love,' showing that it helps to direct the development of this brain structure. The area in question, ...

Waste management is a big issue anywhere, but at the cellular level it can be a matter of life and death. A Weizmann Institute study, published in the Journal of Cell Biology, has revealed what causes a molecular waste container in the cell to overflow in Batten disease, a rare but fatal neurodegenerative disorder that begins in childhood. The findings may form the basis for a therapy for this disorder. In Batten disease, an insoluble yellow pigment accumulates in the brain's neurons, causing these cells to degenerate and ultimately die. Patients gradually become disabled, ...

Europe's leading scientists have pledged to embrace and expand the role of technology in the Humanities. In a Science Policy Briefing released today by the European Science Foundation (ESF), they argue that without Research Infrastructures (RIs) such as archives, libraries, academies, museums and galleries, significant strands of Humanities research would not be possible. By drawing on a number of case studies, the report demonstrates that digital RIs offer Humanities scholars new and productive ways to explore old questions and develop new ones. According to Professor ...

Eating a Mediterranean diet combined with physical activity can help to improve some of the symptoms of sleep apnoea, according to new research. The study, which is published online in the European Respiratory Journal, looked at the impact a Mediterranean diet can have on obese people with sleep apnoea, compared to those on a prudent diet. Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) causes frequent pauses of breathing to occur during sleep, which disrupts a person's normal sleeping pattern. It is one of the most prevalent sleep-related breathing disorders with approximately ...

According to a new study by researchers from the MPI for Psycholinguistics and the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, you don't need to have words for emotions to understand them. The results of the study were published online on October 17 in Emotion, a journal of the American Psychological Association. The study provides new evidence that the perception of emotional signals is not driven by language, supporting the view that emotions constitute a set of biologically evolved mechanisms. The study compared German speakers to speakers of Yucatec Maya, a Mayan language ...

GateKeeper is proving to be the "difference-maker" for communities who are serious about moving their social media strategy forward. Social media is gaining traction as a PR tool for communities who wish to attract new businesses. As a content medium, social media is efficient, instantaneous, and popular. Social media is also time-consuming and daunting for communities strapped for time and resources. GateKeeper, from Golden Shovel Agency, will make social media implementation manageable. According to company president Ron Kresha: "The key to our ...