MIAMI – The behavior of marine larvae is central to fully understanding and modeling the pelagic (open ocean) stage for many coastal organisms. For the first time, a numerical study conducted by the University of Miami (UM) incorporates horizontal larval fish navigation skills into realistic 3D flow fields, creating a powerful tool that spells out how larvae use environmental cues to find their way back to the reef after being out on the open ocean. The new model uses reliable larval swimming speeds and vertical migration, known life history traits and spawning time to ...

A research partnership represented by the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) National Center for Organization Development (NCOD) is examining factors predicting the turnover of senior executives in the federal workplace. It's an area that has not been widely researched, yet it can result in a costly toll on organizations – both financially in replacing senior staff as well as professionally in the loss of the knowledge, skills and strategy-building talent of senior-level management. The project ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have identified a new way to deliver long-lasting pain relief through an ancient medical practice. In an article published in the April 23 online edition of Molecular Pain, UNC researchers describe how exploiting the molecular mechanism behind acupuncture resulted in six-day pain relief in animal models. They call this new therapeutic approach PAPupuncture. Principal investigator Mark J. Zylka, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology and the UNC ...

Next time you need to choose between vegetable oil and margarine in that favorite recipe, think about your health and reach for the oil. While the question of whether vitamin E prevents or promotes cancer has been widely debated in scientific journals and in the news media, scientists at the Center for Cancer Prevention Research, at Rutgers Mario School of Pharmacy, and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, believe that two forms of vitamin E – gamma and delta-tocopherols – found in soybean, canola and corn oils as well as nuts do prevent colon, lung, breast and prostate ...

PITTSBURGH—Using a new fluorescent biosensor they developed, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have discovered how a key set of immune cells exchange information during their coordinated assault on invading pathogens. The immune cells, called dendritic cells, are harnessed by cancer vaccines and other therapeutics used to amplify the immune system. The finding, published online March 29 in the journal Angewandte Chemie, marks the first time that scientists have visualized how antigens are transferred in the immune system between dendritic cells. "Knowing the ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 18, 2012 – Serious birth defects of the brain and spine in America's babies, particularly those of Hispanic origin, could be reduced if the nation's corn masa flour products were fortified with the B vitamin folic acid, according to a new petition filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by a coalition of six organizations: Gruma Corporation Spina Bifida Association March of Dimes Foundation American Academy of Pediatrics Royal DSM N.V. National Council of La Raza The ...

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have rewritten the job description of the protein TopBP1 after demonstrating that it guards early brain cells from DNA damage. Such damage might foreshadow later problems, including cancer. Researchers showed that cells in the developing brain require TopBP1 to prevent DNA strands from breaking as the molecule is copied prior to cell division. Investigators also reported that stem cells and immature cells known as progenitor cells involved at the beginning of brain development are more sensitive to unrepaired DNA damage ...

Open surgery appears to be associated with an increased risk of small-bowel obstructions compared to laparoscopic procedures. This is shown by a new study at the Sahlgrenska Academy, at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. In many cases, the surgical technique is the most important factor when it comes to adhesive small-bowel obstruction, even when taking factors such as age, previous operations and other health conditions into account. This is shown by a study carried out at the University of Gothenburg's Sahlgrenska Academy, which reviewed 108,141 operations carried ...

Type 1 diabetes is caused by autoimmune destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells. Over 250,000 patients suffer from type 1 diabetes in Germany who are treated with daily insulin injections to maintain glucose metabolism. Replacement of the destroyed beta cells by transplantation of either a complete pancreas organ or isolated human beta cells is the only effective way to cure the disease. However, due to the shortage of organ donors this method can be offered to only few patients. As an alternative approach researchers are exploring xenotransplantation, i.e. transplantation ...

AURORA, Colo. (April 23, 2012) A CU School of Medicine researcher who suffers from benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and had to "fix it" before she could go to work one day was using a maneuver to treat herself that only made her sicker. "So I sat down and thought about it and figured out an alternate way to do it. Then I fixed myself and went in to work" and discovered a new treatment for this type of vertigo. More than seven million people in the U.S. can expect to have benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, a common vertigo disorder, especially as they ...

The super low profile septic tank, or Epurbloc as they are known, have just been released in the UK. These septic tanks are fantastic new technology, the iPad of the sewage world. The tanks are short, which means no more deep excavations. They can be installed with little or no knowledge within 3-4 hours with a mini digger. They require no concrete base or blanket, and only need emptying once every 7 years.The Septic Tank Shop is the UK's largest supplier of septic tanks. For free advice or sales please contact us on 0800 907 0051. Alternatively please visit www.theseptictankshop.co.uk. ...

A bacterium historically associated with cat scratch fever and transmitted predominately by fleas may also play a role in human rheumatoid illnesses such as arthritis, according to new research from North Carolina State University. Bartonella is a bacterium that is maintained in nature by fleas, ticks and other biting insects. It can be transmitted to humans both by these parasites as well as by bites or scratches from infected cats and dogs. The most commonly known Bartonella-related illness is cat scratch disease, caused by B. henselae, a species of Bartonella that ...

Tampa, Fla. (April. 23, 2012) –When laboratory mice were modeled with colitis and treated with human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal cells, the cells homed in on the inflamed colon and effectively ameliorated colitis, reported a study published in a recent issue of Cell Transplantation (20:9), now freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/. According to study corresponding author Dr. Zhong Chao Han of the Institute of Hematology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Peking Union of Medical Sciences, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - New research confirms an association between smoking and a reduced risk for a rare benign tumor near the brain, but the addition of smokeless tobacco to the analysis suggests nicotine is not the protective substance. The study using Swedish data suggests that men who currently smoke are almost 60 percent less likely than people who have never smoked to develop this tumor, called an acoustic neuroma. But men in the study who used snuff, which produces roughly the same amount of nicotine in the blood as smoking, had no reduced risk of tumor development. "We ...

Tampa, Fla. (April. 23, 2012) – Researchers interested in determining the direct effects of a high saturated fat and high cholesterol (HFHC) diet on implanted fetal hippocampal tissues have found that in middle-aged laboratory rats the HFHC diet elevated microglial activation and reduced neuronal development. While the resulting damage was due to an inflammatory response in the central nervous system, they found that the effects of the HFHC diet were alleviated by the interleukin (IL)-1 receptor antagonist IL-1Ra, leading them to conclude that IL-Ra has potential use in ...

WASHINGTON, April 23—Whether surgeons slice with a traditional scalpel or cut away with a surgical laser, most medical operations end up removing some healthy tissue, along with the bad. This means that for delicate areas like the brain, throat, and digestive tract, physicians and patients have to balance the benefits of treatment against possible collateral damage. To help shift this balance in the patient's favor, a team of researchers from the University of Texas at Austin has developed a small, flexible endoscopic medical device fitted with a femtosecond laser "scalpel" ...

As militaries develop autonomous robotic warriors to replace humans on the battlefield, new ethical questions emerge. If a robot in combat has a hardware malfunction or programming glitch that causes it to kill civilians, do we blame the robot, or the humans who created and deployed it? Some argue that robots do not have free will and therefore cannot be held morally accountable for their actions. But University of Washington psychologists are finding that people don't have such a clear-cut view of humanoid robots. The researchers' latest results show that humans apply ...

KATHMANDU, NEPAL (24 April 2012)—Today, recognizing the knowledge gap between the existing evidence of climate change and adaptation on the ground, researchers in Asia launched a novel learning platform to improve agricultural resilience to changing weather patterns, and to reduce emissions footprint. The Climate Smart Agriculture Learning Platform for South Asia, established by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), will improve communication between scientists, government officials, civil society and farmers on best "climate ...

A dirty bomb attack centered on downtown Los Angeles' financial district could severely impact the region's economy to the tune of nearly $16 billion, fueled primarily by psychological effects that could persist for a decade. The study, published by a team of internationally recognized economists and decision scientists in the current issue of Risk Analysis, monetized the effects of fear and risk perception and incorporated them into a state-of-the-art macroeconomic model. "We decided to study a terrorist attack on Los Angeles not to scare people, but to alert policymakers ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- In the limited time of an office visit, how can a primary care physician make the case to parents that their child should be vaccinated? During National Infant Immunization Week, a Mayo Clinic vaccine expert and a pediatrician offer suggestions for refuting three of the most common myths about child vaccine safety. Their article, The Clinician's Guide to the Anti-Vaccinationists' Galaxy, is published online this month in the journal Human Immunology. "Thousands of children are at increased risk because of under-vaccination, and outbreaks of highly ...

Montreal, April 23, 2012 — Most people go through life setting goals for themselves. But what happens when a life-altering experience makes those goals become unachievable or even unhealthy? A new collaborative study published in Psycho-Oncology by Carsten Wrosch of Concordia University's Department of Psychology and Centre for Research in Human Development and Catherine Sabiston of McGill's Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education and the Health Behaviour and Emotion Lab found that breast cancer survivors who were able to let go of old goals and set new ones ...

Alexandria, Va., USA – The International and American Associations for Dental Research have published two studies about dental caries in children. These articles, titled "Hypoplasia-Associated Severe Early Childhood Caries – A Proposed Definition" (lead author Page Caufield, New York University College of Dentistry) and "Deciduous Molar Hypomineralization and Molar Incisor Hypomineralization" (lead author M.E.C. Elfrink, Academic Centre for Dentistry, Amsterdam) discuss the definitions of dental caries susceptibility to the hypomineralization and hypoplasia. The study ...

INDONESIA (23 April 2012) — The importance of collaboration among all research partners in agroforestry was recently emphasised at a historic workshop to develop a national strategy on agroforestry research in Indonesia. During the meeting, five key challenges facing agroforestry in Indonesia were also identified. The first challenge mentioned was the Government's partial approach to research, which translates into low adoption of research recommendations. Second, land tenure insecurity, particularly in State forest areas, leads to social conflict and degradation of ...

Identifying diseases at an early, presymptomatic stage may offer the best chance for establishing proper treatment and improving patient outcomes. A new technique known as immunosignaturing harnesses the human immune system as an early warning sentry—one acutely sensitive to changes in the body that may be harbingers of illness. Now, Brian Andrew Chase and Barten Legutki, under the guidance of Stephen Albert Johnston, director of the Center for Innovations in Medicine at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute have shown that these immunosignatures are not only ...

John Martin, founder and CEO of BeyondRecognition, LLC, announced today that BeyondRecognition ("BR") has developed software to cluster like documents based on an analysis of document images and to then quickly build cluster-specific, location-based data extraction rules. Those rules combined with BR's innovative glyph-clustering text recognition process permit the extraction of fields of data about a document's attributes or contents. Martin predicted, "Image-based document clustering and the graphical interface for the rapid development of cluster-specific ...