Concepción/Halle (Saale)/Prague/Sydney • Invasive plant species in Chile pose a higher threat to its neighbour, Argentina, than vice versa. This was concluded by scientists from the University of Concepción in Chile and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) after analysing the flora of both countries. In particular, 22 non-native species which occur in Chile on connecting roads leading to Argentina present a high risk according to the researchers, writing in the journal Biological Invasions. Trade between Chile and Argentina mainly takes place by road. ...

Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) provides a flexible and cost-effective means of extending an enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA) to the cloud. However, not all PaaS offerings are the same. Some only serve narrow needs--for example focusing solely on integration or application development. Others take a proprietary approach that can make migrating from the PaaS prohibitively difficult and costly. By contrast, WSO2 has extended its entire enterprise middleware platform to the cloud with WSO2 Stratos (http://wso2.com/cloud/stratos?071411p). The 100% open source WSO2 ...

Lung diseases in the Middle East range from the centuries-old pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) to modern manifestations caused by chemical warfare. A new paper now available in Respirology, a journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology, provides pulmonologists and patients with the first comprehensive review of respiratory illnesses specific to the Persian Gulf region, and the challenges in treating them. This unique review is the first of its kind in this topic and will serve as an important landmark reference article. A wide spectrum of pulmonary disorders affect ...

This release is available in French. Montreal, July 13, 2011 — Raising taxes on cigarettes, a public health measure used by governments to encourage people to quit, doesn't motivate all smokers to stop the deadly habit. A study on the long-term impact of taxing cigarettes, led by two Concordia University economists and published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, found higher taxes do prompt low-and middle-income earners to quit. Yet price increases don't persuade wealthier smokers or those aged 25 to 44 to butt out. "Contrary ...

Miami-based Safe Harbor Equity just announced they sold two commercial assets in Miami. With years of experience, the firm has built a reputation within the Southern Florida community as a well-known and reputable investment management institution. Principal Eric Picchetti works alongside the team to manage investments focused primarily on defaulted debt instruments, distressed real estate assets and non-performing mortgages. The company focuses their attention on acquisitions taking place in the office, retail, industrial, warehouse and residential markets. Mr. Picchetti ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A novel application of carbon nanotubes, developed by MIT researchers, shows promise as an innovative approach to storing solar energy for use whenever it's needed. Storing the sun's heat in chemical form — rather than converting it to electricity or storing the heat itself in a heavily insulated container — has significant advantages, since in principle the chemical material can be stored for long periods of time without losing any of its stored energy. The problem with that approach has been that until now the chemicals needed to perform this conversion ...

PHILADELPHIA — Humans produce billions of clot-forming platelets every day, but there are times when there aren't enough of them, such as with certain diseases or during invasive surgery. Now, University of Pennsylvania researchers have demonstrated that a single drug can induce bone marrow cells called megakaryocytes to quadruple the number of platelets they produce. Jae-Won Shin, a graduate student of pharmacology in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine, and Dennis E. Discher, professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in the School of Engineering ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study of political polarization in the United States suggests that changes in the labor market since the 1970s has helped create more Republican and Democratic partisans and fewer independents. The growth in partisanship has to do with people's current income and – importantly – their expectations of job security, said Philipp Rehm, author of the study and assistant professor of political science at Ohio State University. At one time, many voters were "cross-pressured" – when looking at what they earned now and their risks of losing that income, ...

CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson University researchers, working with simulation technology company DriveSafety, have developed a new driving simulator designed for patient rehabilitation that now is being used at 11 Army, Navy and Veterans Affairs facilities. The program recently expanded to Europe with the addition of a driving simulator at Charité Hospital in Berlin, Germany. Driving simulators provide patients with engaging treatment sessions in a safe environment, including practicing realistic driving skills. Therapists can work with patients on treatment areas including ...

White dwarfs are the burned-out cores of stars like our Sun. Astronomers have discovered a pair of white dwarfs spiraling into one another at breakneck speeds. Today, these white dwarfs are so near they make a complete orbit in just 13 minutes, but they are gradually slipping closer together. About 900,000 years from now - a blink of an eye in astronomical time - they will merge and possibly explode as a supernova. By watching the stars converge, scientists will test both Einstein's theory of general relativity and the origin of some peculiar supernovae. The two white ...

SlotsOnline.co.uk is a brand new, consumer information site focused on helping interested visitors learn more about the Internet betting phenomenon of online slots and progress to finding a reputable online casino if they want to explore this form of gaming further. For decades slot machines have been firm fixtures amongst the entertainment to be found at amusement arcades and land-based casinos around the world, and their simple gameplay made them extremely suited to early computer technology - giving rise to the genre of 'Video Slots' in the 1980s - and more recently ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study gauging the impact of consuming more fish oil showed a marked reduction both in inflammation and, surprisingly, in anxiety among a cohort of healthy young people. The findings suggest that if young participants can get such improvements from specific dietary supplements, then the elderly and people at high risk for certain diseases might benefit even more. The findings by a team of researchers at Ohio State University were just published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity. It is the latest from more than three decades of research ...

The Andes of southern South America form a hostile mountain range with glaciers, salty deserts and meagre high elevation steppes. Birds from more moderate climate zones cross this mountain range only rarely. Nevertheless, many species live on both sides of the Andes, as in the case of the burrowing parrot Cyanoliseus patagonus. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, together with colleagues from the University of Freiburg and the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology, Vienna, found that the ancestral population of the burrowing parrot occupied what is ...

Red Bus Bingo is giving its players the chance to enjoy a City Break. The game is taking place on Sunday 2nd October at 10pm. Tickets for this game cost GBP2 tickets or players can earn one free ticket for every 500 City Break points earned. The prize includes return travel to London as well as three 3 nights' Hotel accommodation, afternoon tea at the Ritz, a pair of tickets to see a top West End show and GBP500 spending cash. There are several ways players can earn City Break points. They can email in their stories about why they should win a trip to London and they ...

MADISON, WI, JULY 13, 2011 -- Winter cover crops are an important component of nutrient cycling, soil cover and organic matter content. Although its benefits are well documented, cover crop use in farming systems is relatively low. Research has shown that time and money are the two primary reasons why farmers are hesitant to adopt the technique. Developing innovative and cost-effective crop cover systems could increase the use of winter cover crops. A scientist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and colleagues investigated the potential use of self-seeding ...

High doses of the hormone progesterone can kill neuroblastoma cells while leaving healthy cells unscathed, scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have found in laboratory research. The results, published in the journal Molecular Medicine, suggest that progesterone could be used to fight neuroblastoma, the most common form of cancer affecting small children. More research is necessary to determine the optimal dose, how long progesterone treatment should last and if it should be used alone or in combination with radiation or chemotherapy. Emory scientists ...

Wink Bingo is giving its players the chance to win a share of GBP500 thanks to the Pole Position competition. Wink Bingo players will earn points for playing games at Wink Bingo. The person with the most points when the chequered flag is waved on July 17 will be the winner. Each of the top 10 will win a prize. Players earn a point for every GBP3 they wager on any instant game. Additionally they can earn two points for every 50p wagered on bingo. This isn't the only competition that Wink Bingo is having. The Sizzling Summer bingo promotion allows players to win a ...

Hospitalized patients who had conversations about religion and spirituality with the healthcare team were the most satisfied with their overall care. However, 20 percent of patients who would have valued these discussions say their desires went unmet, according to a new study¹ by Joshua Williams from the University of Chicago, USA, and his colleagues. Their work appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine², published by Springer. Religious and spiritual concerns are particularly prominent during times of illness, suffering and death. Some medical leaders ...

A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows that community members correlate an increase in HIV vulnerability among adolescent girls with weak structural support systems. While adolescent girls are three to four times more likely than adolescent boys to be living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, few studies have examined the reasons community members believe girls are so vulnerable to HIV. The findings are published in the journal Social Science & Medicine. Carol Underwood, PhD, lead author of the study and assistant ...

Two Baylor University professors use a bottle of Coca-Cola to teach basic business principles to minimally educated entrepreneurs in developing countries. "Sold in more than 200 countries and territories, it is a readily available resource for teaching business lessons in developing countries," said Blaine McCormick, Ph.D., professor of management at Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business. "Our goal is to teach small business owners how to increase demand for what they sell and the many ways that Coke does that." Writing in a recent issue of the Journal of Management ...

Tel Aviv — Stem cells from early embryos can be coaxed into becoming a diverse array of specialized cells to revive and repair different areas of the body. Therapies based on these stem cells have long been contemplated for the treatment of diabetes, but have been held back by medical and ethical drawbacks. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University are capitalizing on the "memories" of stem cells generated from adult cells to bring new hope to sufferers of juvenile or type 1 diabetes, which affects three million people in the United States. Prof. Shimon Efrat of TAU's ...

This time of year is Festival time. Whether it is Glastonbury or Bestival, thousands leave their homes and offices and trek out to the countryside where they can enjoy the music, the outdoors and nature. Posh Bingo is commemorating the festivals with a number of bingo promotions. There is Fest-Essentials. Here players who bingo the most on the digital camera pattern will win. Then there is the Hot Tune where the player who bingos the most on the candlestick pattern and the player who bingos the most on the letter C pattern, will each win GBP15 bingo funds. Finally there ...

A breakthrough in sensing at Rice University could make finding signs of Alzheimer's disease nearly as simple as switching on a light. The technique reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society should help researchers design better medications to treat the devastating disease. The lab of Rice bioengineer Angel Martí is testing metallic molecules that naturally attach themselves to a collection of beta amyloid proteins called fibrils, which form plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers. When the molecules, complexes of dipyridophenazine ruthenium, ...

NEW YORK (July 13, 2011) – The Wildlife Conservation Society has discovered a surprisingly healthy population of rare snow leopards living in the mountainous reaches of northeastern Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor, according to a new study. The discovery gives hope to the world's most elusive big cat, which calls home to some of the world's tallest mountains. Between 4,500 and 7,500 snow leopards remain in the wild scattered across a dozen countries in Central Asia. The study, which appears in the June 29th issue of the Journal of Environmental Studies, ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Several types of cancer, including stomach, liver and colon, are far more common in men than in women. Some scientists have theorized that differences in lifestyle, such as diet and smoking, may account for the discrepancy, but growing evidence suggests that the differences are rooted in basic biological differences between men and women. Adding to that evidence, a new study from MIT shows that treating male mice with estrogen dramatically lowers their rates of stomach cancer — specifically, cancers caused by chronic infection by the bacterium Helicobacter ...