A study on the effect of different alcoholic beverages and drinking behaviour on the risk of acute pancreatitis was conducted, using the Swedish Mammography Cohort and Cohort of Swedish Men, to study the association between consumption of spirits, wine and beer and the risk of acute pancreatitis. In total, 84,601 individuals, aged 46-84 years, were followed for a median of 10 years, of whom 513 developed acute pancreatitis. There was a dose–response association between the amount of spirits consumed on a single occasion and the risk of acute pancreatitis. After multivariable ...

Sexual assault charges can bring tremendous notoriety and an immediate risk to the accused offender's freedom. Law enforcement gives cases involving rape, child molestation, indecent assault and other sex crimes focused attention, and the police often rush to apprehend a suspect if the victim does not personally know the alleged assailant. This means that anyone matching the description given by the victim will be at risk for being accused and charged with the crime, particularly if that person is at the wrong place at the wrong time. Such was the case when a so-called ...

For nearly 60 years, Pyrazinamide (PZA) has been used in conjunction with other medications to treat tuberculosis (TB), but scientists did not fully understand how the drug killed TB bacteria. PZA plays a unique role in shortening the duration of current TB therapy to six months and is used frequently to treat multi-drug resistant TB. A new study, led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, suggests that PZA binds to a specific protein named RpsA and inhibits trans-translation, a process that enables the TB bacteria to survive under stressful ...

DURHAM, N.C. – Duke engineers have already shown that they can "cloak" light and sound, making objects invisible -- now, they have demonstrated the theoretical ability to significantly increase the efficiency of ships by tricking the surrounding water into staying still. "Ships expend a great deal of energy pushing the water around them out of the way as they move forward," said Yaroslav Urzhumov, assistant research professor in electrical and computer engineering at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering. "What our cloak accomplishes is that it reduces the mass of fluid ...

It has been just over a year since the Upper Big Branch mine disaster in West Virginia killed 29 miners, and the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has come out with proposed coal mining safety rule revisions. The proposal is intended to ensure that underground coal mine operators find and fix violations of mandatory health or safety standards, with an overall goal of improving miner health and safety. This comes as MSHA releases the findings from its yearlong investigation of the Upper Big Branch mine explosion. MSHA assistant secretary Joseph A. Main ...

Many small-business owners think their choice is between having in-house counsel or employing outside counsel for their legal needs. The fear inherent to this line of thinking is that, in reality, the choice becomes one of expensive in-house counsel or no legal counsel at all. However, a middle ground exists to provide solutions for a variety of business sizes and needs: outsourced in-house counsel services. Almost all Business Decisions Have Legal Implications When you are running your own business, to say you are busy is usually an understatement. From day-to-day ...

MADISON, WI, AUGUST 11, 2011 -- Recent studies report that corn hybrids released in the late 2000s, especially Bt hybrids, require higher seeding rates than commercial hybrids released in the 1990s to reach maximum yields. Expectedly, corn seeding rates in the USA have increased significantly in the past 10 years. However, limited data is available on silage yield and quality responses of recently released hybrids to seeding rates. Cornell scientist William Cox investigated the response of eight hybrids (three Bt and a non-Bt hybrid, two brown midrib and two silage specific ...

One of the earliest lessons in science that students learn is that a ray or beam of light travels in a straight line. Students also learn that light rays fan out or diffract as they travel. Recently it was discovered that light rays can travel without diffraction in a curved arc in free space. These rays of light were dubbed "Airy beams," after the English astronomer Sir George Biddell Airy, who studied what appears to be the parabolic trajectory of light in a rainbow. Now, scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have demonstrated the ...

Every day Congressional legislatives and authorities across the country are finding new ways to crack down on drunk driving. A recent bill would have allocated funds for a government-research project aimed at working with auto manufacturers to install a type of alcohol detection device inside future vehicles was recently on the table. The bill failed to pass the House and Senate, but it's likely legislators will continue to support and sponsor similar bills. The Research of Alcohol Detection Systems for Stopping Alcohol-related Fatalities Everywhere (known as the ROADS ...

A discrimination lawsuit was filed in Queens County Supreme Court against the Sizzler Restaurant in Forest Hills, New York on behalf of Liza Friedlander. Friedlander was allegedly attacked by a manager while trying to dine with friends. It is believed that this case is the first test of the newly enacted anti-bias crime law passed in August 2010 that allows victims of anti-gay and lesbian violence and intimidation to sue their attackers in civil court. The Sizzler is accused of violating New York City and State Civil and Human Rights Laws because Friedlander was attacked ...

Computer science researchers in the University of Minnesota's College of Science and Engineering are leading a team that has confirmed a substantial gender gap among editors of Wikipedia and a corresponding gender-oriented disparity in the content. The team's research will be presented at the 2011 WikiSym conference, the seventh annual International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration, in California this fall. Over the past decade, Wikipedia has become a premier online information resource. About 400 million people around the world visit Wikipedia on the web every ...

While "Deadliest Catch" might have entertained television viewers with risky examples of life at sea, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has confirmed something that has been known for years: longshore and maritime industry jobs are some of the most dangerous occupations in America. About 350 maritime and longshore industry workers are seriously injured in work-related accidents each year. Longshore workers do more than just load and unload cargo. They also repair ships and build bridges, among other duties. As a result, harbor and dock workers are subject ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – With the global economy in a state of unrest, saving money seems to be an obvious strategy for households to protect themselves. But are global households saving enough? Researchers at the University of Missouri have compared savings habits of households from two of the world's most powerful economies: China and the United States. Rui Yao, an assistant professor in the personal financial planning department in the College of Human Environmental Sciences at the University of Missouri, found that urban Chinese households, on average, save much more than American ...

Marine researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups have created a map of the world's corals and their exposure to stress factors, including high temperatures, ultra-violet radiation, weather systems, sedimentation, as well as stress-reducing factors such as temperature variability and tidal dynamics. The study, say the authors, will help to conserve some of the world's most important coral reefs by identifying reef systems where biodiversity is high and stress is low, ecosystems where management has the best chance of success. The paper appears ...

The new Volkswagen Crafter officially launches in August when the first vehicles and test drive demonstrators arrive in Volkswagen Van Centre showrooms with an extensive advertising campaign highlighting how efficient the new model is with class-leading fuel economy of up to 38.7 mpg, lower running costs and emissions from 199 g/km.   To make it the most efficient in the large van class, the new Crafter has a new engine range using Volkswagen's latest 2.0-litre TDI common rail engine, already proven in the new Transporter and Amarok.  It is available with power outputs ...

Jumeirah, the Dubai-based luxury hotel group and member of Dubai Holding, has announced the opening of Jumeirah Frankfurt. The five star hotel in Frankfurt is spread over 25 floors and offers stunning views over the city. The 218 rooms and suites have a minimum size of 35m2, making them the largest rooms in Frankfurt and each room features original artwork by German contemporary artist, Hartwig Ebersbach. The hotel's signature restaurant, Max on One, is managed by Executive Chef Martin Steiner, previously of the Savoy Hotel in London and Hotel Adlon in Berlin. The ...

(Vancouver – August 11, 2011) – Pregnant women taking prenatal supplements may not be getting enough vitamin D, shows a new Vancouver-based study led by the Child & Family Research Institute at BC Children's Hospital that was published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health. The study found that while almost 80 per cent of pregnant women reported taking supplements containing vitamin D, many were vitamin D insufficient. Insufficient means that blood levels of the specific vitamin are below national recommendations. The study of 336 women who were 20-35 weeks pregnant ...

Cancer needs blood. In fact, some cancer medications work solely to slow or prevent cancer cells from creating new capillaries, choking off their much-needed blood and nutrient supply to halt the growth of tumors. In a paper published online Aug. 8 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at Stanford University describe the creation of a new type of engineered protein that is significantly more effective at preventing the formation of blood vessels by targeting not one, but two of the chemical receptors that control the creation of new capillaries ...

Last week we talked about writing successful resumes; the cover letter is the other half of your application and should complement your resume. In all likelihood it will also be the first impression a prospective employer has of you, since the majority of hirers will read the cover letter before reading the resume. If you have detailed your achievements and employment history in your resume, you really do not need to do this all over again in your cover letter. The cover letter should ideally be no more than one and a half pages in length, including addresses, salutation ...

BOSTON (August 11, 2011) – Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center and Children's Hospital Boston have shown that a type of "good" fat known as brown fat occurs in varying amounts in children – increasing until puberty and then declining - and is most active in leaner children. The study used PET imaging data to document children's amounts and activity of brown fat, which, unlike white fat, burns energy instead of storing it. Results were published in The Journal of Pediatrics. "Increasing the amount of brown fat in children may be an effective approach at combating ...

Currently embroiled in the 3rd Test of the series with India, and leading 2-0 England are set to bring cricket back to London on August 18th. And to help fans support the team, LondonTown.com are offering a number of deals at London hotels in close proximity to the action. This time the match is taking place at the Kia Oval in Kennington. It may lack the cachet of Lords, but the Kia Oval provides fans with just as pleasant a day out - provided the men in white perform on the day. And South London has something that leafy NW8 does not: a large Indian population who will ...

Regardless of a person's educational background, he or she is less likely to approach the Bible in a literal word-for-word fashion when surrounded by a greater number of church members who went to college, according to a Baylor University sociology researcher. "When you go to Sunday school and everyone is talking about the cultural and historical background of a passage and its literary genre — a way of reading often learned in college —it's likely to rub off on you," said Samuel Stroope, a Baylor University doctoral student, in an award-winning research paper. Using ...

Our Western Society has been on a shopping spree since the Second World War. The public has been deceived all these years that shopping is a way of life and is enjoyable. That is far from the truth and has directly contributed to personal debt and even sovereign debt, according to Wayne Sedawie the Founder of auction sites. Buying retail is the best way for middle class population to be kept POOR. No longer do we buy quality products but instead people spend money on the cheaper items that don't last long and cost you dearly due to the constant update or renewal. Buying ...

Researchers from the Indiana University have identified common barriers and strategies for successfully implementing practice changes in Intensive Care Units (ICUs). The study, published in the August issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, reveals shared lessons learned from six ICUs as they implemented evidence-based practices to reduce Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. "Our research found that while implementation plans should be locally-derived, reducing ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A computerized epidemiological model of the spread of the mosquito-borne West Nile virus in 17 counties of California in 2005 successfully predicted where 81.6 percent of human cases of the disease would arise and defined high-risk areas where the risk of infection turned out to be 39 times higher than in low-risk areas, according to newly published research. The DYCAST software used in those predictions is now open-source and is being applied to other diseases. "One of the things that really differentiates DYCAST from other approaches ...