NASA's Aqua satellite passed over strengthening Tropical Storm Jasmine and noticed bands of thunderstorms wrapping into its center as it heads toward Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Vanuatu and New Caledonia are island nations in the South Pacific Ocean. Vanuatu is about 1,090 miles (1,750 km) east of northern Australia, and 310 miles (500 km) northeast of New Caledonia. New Caledonia is an archipelago and has a land area of 7,172 sq miles (18,576 square km). The current forecast track for Tropical Cyclone Jasmine takes it between the two island nations. Tropical Storm Jasmine ...

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have, for the first time, described the genetic basis of endometriosis, a condition affecting millions of women that is marked by chronic pelvic pain and infertility. The researchers' discovery of a new gene mutation provides hope for new screening methods. Published in the Feb. 3 early online issue of EMBO Molecular Medicine, the study explored an inherited mutation located in part of the KRAS gene, which leads to abnormal endometrial growth and endometrial risk. In endometriosis, uterine tissue grows in other parts of the body, ...

PHILADELPHIA -- In a study of the harsh but beautiful White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, University of Pennsylvania researchers have uncovered a unifying mechanism to explain dune patterns. The new work represents a contribution to basic science, but the findings may also hold implications for identifying when dune landscapes like those in Nebraska's Sand Hills may reach a "tipping point" under climate change, going from valuable grazing land to barren desert. The study was conducted by Douglas Jerolmack, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and ...

Despite the current challenging economy, local dentist Michael Hrankowski has invested in creating a new state-of-the-art dental practice - nearly doubling his old practice space - that offers a number of unique services, including launching an innovative Dental Plan that makes excellence in dentistry affordable. "Our new, expanded practice and added services allow us to better serve our community and meet the health needs of our neighbors," commented Dr. Hrankowski. A gala grand open house is planned from 3 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 23, to celebrate ...

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 7, 2012 – The famed "corpse flower" plant – known for its giant size, rotten-meat odor and phallic shape – has a new, smaller relative: A University of Utah botanist discovered a new species of Amorphophallus that is one-fourth as tall but just as stinky. The new species, collected on two small islands off Madagascar, brings to about 170 the number of species in the genus Amorphophallus, which is Greek for "misshapen penis" because of the shape of the plants' flower-covered shaft, called the inflorescence or the spadix, says Greg Wahlert, a postdoctoral ...

Comparecarhire.co.uk, a leading online car hire specialist, has announced that UK tourists are making for the sun this school half term break. The price comparator has seen a raft of bookings from Brits for warm weather destinations as the UK winter continues to bite. The price comparison specialist has seen a rise in reservations for rentals in the likes of Portugal, Spain, Greece and Miami this year - compared to twelve months ago when Brits were booking rentals in the UK and Switzerland instead. Andy Hemmington, spokesperson for Comparecarhire.co.uk, says: "The ...

TEMPE (Feb. 6, 2012) - As an ice age crept upon them thousands of years ago, Neanderthals and modern human ancestors expanded their territory ranges across Asia and Europe to adapt to the changing environment. In the process, they encountered each other. Although many anthropologists believe that modern humans ancestors "wiped out" Neanderthals, it's more likely that Neanderthals were integrated into the human gene pool thousands of years ago during the Upper Pleistocene era as cultural and climatic forces brought the two groups together, said Arizona State University ...

DALLAS – Feb. 6, 2012 – An endocrine hormone used in clinical trials as an anti-obesity and anti-diabetes drug causes significant and rapid bone loss in mice, raising concerns about its safe use, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have shown. The hormone, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), promotes bone loss by enhancing the activity of a protein that stimulates fat cells but inhibits bone cells, researchers report in a study available online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “This hormone is a very potent regulator of bone mass,” said Dr. ...

This pioneering and remarkable community was created in 2008 in France to provide these people the chance to meet others of a similar mindset, who want a baby independently. Coparents.com has a comprehensive range of search options allows people to find the favoured person you require. Whether an individual or couple are looking for a co-parent, sperm donor or a surrogate mother, Coparents.com connects those who wish to have a baby, but haven't found the right person yet. The wonderful thing about Coparents.com is that it provides everyone who can't have a child ...

Montreal (Canada), February 6, 2012 – In a study published last week in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, a team led by Dr. Vincent Poitout of the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM)* has made an important step forward in understanding how insulin secretion is regulated in the body. This discovery has important implications for drugs currently in development to treat Type 2 diabetes, a disease which is diagnosed every 10 seconds somewhere throughout the world. Poitout's team studies the ...

New evidence-based guidelines from the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) address the many risk factors for developing a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or blood clot, as the result of long-distance travel. These risk factors include the use of oral contraceptives, sitting in a window seat, advanced age, and pregnancy. The Antithrombotic Therapy and Prevention of Thrombosis, 9th ed: American College of Chest Physicians Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines, published in the February issue of the journal CHEST, also suggest there is no definitive evidence to support ...

Savers in the Lancashire area have established themselves as the luckiest in the country as another 79 entrants into the Halifax Savers Prize Draw picked up a prize this month. A total of GBP10,600 is heading into the county in prizes this month, bringing the total amount Lancashire savers have won in the draw to GBP26,100 in just two months. A total of 153 local savers have won a prize of GBP100 or GBP1000 in the December and January draws. With over 560,000 registrations, the unique Halifax Savers Prize Draw has grown even further in popularity with UK savers in January. ...

Mapping the ancestry of sheep over the past 11,000 years has revealed that our woolly friends are stars among domestic animals, boasting vast genetic diversity and substantial prospects for continued breeding to further boost wool and food production for a rising world population. An international research team has provided an unprecedented in-depth view of the genetic history of sheep, one of the world's most important livestock species. The study, published February 7 in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology, maps out how humans have moulded sheep to suit diverse ...

New evidence-based guidelines from the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) recommend considering individual patients' risk of thrombosis when deciding for or against the use of preventive therapies for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and venous thromboembolism (VTE). Specifically, the Antithrombotic Therapy and Prevention of Thrombosis, 9th ed: American College of Chest Physicians Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines, published in the February issue of the journal CHEST, focus on risk stratification of patients, suggesting clinicians should consider a patient's ...

CINCINNATI—An editorial authored by University of Cincinnati (UC) diabetes researchers to be published in the Feb. 7, 2012, issue of the journal Cell Metabolism sheds light on the biological factors contributing to rising rates of obesity and discusses strategies to reduce body weight. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, about one-third of U.S. adults are obese, a number that continues to climb. "While we don't usually think of it this way, body weight is regulated. How much we weigh is influenced by a number of biological systems, and this is part ...

One way to tackle a tumor is to take aim at the metabolic reactions that fuel their growth. But a report in the February Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press Publication, shows that one metabolism-targeted cancer therapy will not fit all. That means that metabolic profiling will be essential for defining each cancer and choosing the best treatment accordingly, the researchers say. The evidence comes from studies in mice showing that tumors' metabolic profiles vary based on the genes underlying a particular cancer and on the tissue of origin. "Cancer research is dominated now ...

Contrary to current convention by which infection with the organism Clostridium difficile is regarded as an infection that is acquired by contact with symptomatic patients known to be infected with C. difficile, these may account for only a minority of new cases of the infection. These findings are important as they indicate that C. difficile infection, which can be fatal especially in older people, may not be effectively controlled by current hospital infection strategies. In a study led by Professor Tim Peto of the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, UK, and published ...

In low- and middle-income countries, mild cognitive impairment—an intermediate state between normal signs of cognitive aging, such as becoming increasingly forgetful, and dementia, which may or may not progress—is consistently associated with higher disability and with neuropsychiatric symptoms but not with most socio-demographic factors, according to a large study published in this week's PLoS Medicine. The established 10/66 Dementia Research Group interviewed approximately 15 000 people over 65 years of age who did not have dementia in eight low- and middle-incomes ...

Online parcel delivery specialist Parcel2Go has applauded the drive and will to succeed of the thousands of people across the UK who decide to start their own businesses. In the face of rising unemployment across Britain and the threat of a double-dip recession, entrepreneurs of all kinds are grasping the opportunity to take control of their own future. Figures released last month by the Office for National Statistics showed the number of people registered as self-employed in the UK increased by 101,000 during the three months to November 2011, representing a 3.5 per ...

Edward Mills of the University of Ottawa, Canada and colleagues argue in this week's PLoS Medicine that the HIV/AIDS response in Africa needs a more balanced approach to gender, so that both men and women are involved in HIV treatment and prevention. Traditionally, targeted efforts at reducing the impact of the HIV epidemic have focused on women and children while men have received considerably less attention. The authors say: "The epidemiological evidence is accumulating, and indicates that males in sub-Saharan Africa are not accessing HIV services as often as their ...

The average person in the UK has had their main bank account for more than 20 years, according to new research from Halifax. In figures that demonstrate the average person's reluctance to move bank account providers, the bank found that: - 1 in 10 adults still use the account that they opened between the ages of 1 and 15 years old as their main account today - A third of adults opened their main current account between the ages of 16-24 - Over a quarter of people (26%) have held their current main account for more than 26 years Parent and student account define ...

CHICAGO – Administration of routine infant immunizations with a vaccine for serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis, a bacterium that is a cause of serious disease such as sepsis and meningitis, was effective against meningococcal strains and produced minimal interference with the response to the routine vaccinations, according to a study in the February 8 issue of JAMA. Certain serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis (MenB) vaccines proved effective in clinical trials and controlled a clonal MenB outbreak in New Zealand; however, the high strain specificity of these vaccines ...

CHICAGO – Among postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, increasing age was associated with a higher risk of death from breast cancer, according to a study in the February 8 issue of JAMA. "Breast cancer is the leading contributor to cancer incidence and cancer mortality in women worldwide, with 1,383,500 new cases in 2008. In the United States in 2008, 41 percent of these women were aged 65 years or older at diagnosis. Because breast cancer incidence increases with increasing age, changing demographics and continuously increasing life expectancy ...

CHICAGO – Although some data have suggested a possible increased risk of intussusception (when a portion of the small or large intestine slides forward into itself, like a telescope) after administration of the pentavalent rotavirus vaccine in infants, an analysis that included almost 800,000 doses administered to U.S. infants found no increased risk of this condition following vaccination, according to a study in the February 8 issue of JAMA. "In 1999, the rhesus tetravalent rotavirus vaccine (RRV, Rotashield) was withdrawn from the U.S. market due to a significantly ...

CHICAGO – Short-term use of the antibiotic cefpodoxime for the treatment of women with uncomplicated cystitis (bladder infection) did not meet criteria for noninferiority for achieving clinical cure compared with ciprofloxacin, a drug in the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics for which there have been concerns about overuse and a resulting increase in resistance rates, according to a study in the February 8 issue of JAMA. The criteria for noninferiority was if the efficacy of cefpodoxime had been shown to be within a pre-specified margin of 10 percent of the efficacy ...