EMBARGOED UNTIL 12P.M. EST, Friday, July 8, 2011, Cleveland: Cleveland Clinic researchers have identified a cellular pathway that cancer stem cells use to promote tumor growth in malignant glioma, an aggressive brain tumor. The research – published in the July 8 issue of Cell – also found that existing medications block this cancer-promoting pathway and delay glioma growth in animal models, suggesting a new treatment option for these often fatal brain tumors. Malignant gliomas account for more than half of the 35,000-plus primary malignant brain tumors diagnosed each ...

Advances in research into Alzheimer's disease: transporter proteins at the blood CSF barrier and vitamin D may help prevent amyloid β build up in the brain Advancing age is a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and is associated with build- up of the peptide amyloid β in the brain. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Fluids and Barriers of the CNS shows that removal of amyloid β from the brain depends on vitamin D and also on an age-related alteration in the production of transporter proteins which move amyloid β in ...

Geneva/Boston (July 8, 2011) -- Today at the Neglected Tropical Diseases Meeting of the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID-NTD) in Boston, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) announced the first research and development project in its new helminth infection drug portfolio to address unmet needs of patients in Africa and Asia. The project will assess the potential of the drug flubendazole to treat a highly neglected subset of helminth infections, notably co-infection of two of the three filarial diseases: onchocerciasis (river blindness) ...

Scientists have shed light on why it is easier to learn about things related to what we already know than it is to learn about unfamiliar things, according to a new study. The team says this is a paradox, as very different things are arguably more novel, yet adding to what we already know is so much easier. Researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh and Tokyo have found that building on existing knowledge activates a key set of genes in the brain. These 'plasticity' genes do not respond so well to subjects about which we know very little, making it harder for us ...

The research was undertaken on the basis of the most pessimistic and severe scenarios for conditions of climate change in the future and claims that for 2080, the oak woods of the Basque Country would undergo a significant or almost total reduction of their habitat, given that, in our territory, wooded areas will not meet the variables of temperature and humidity necessary for their development. Neiker-Tecnalia experts consider that this study illustrates the tendency towards the 'Mediterraneanisation" of woods in Euskadi. The technological centre is analysing this ...

This release is available in German. A robot carefully lifts and positions a heavy component while a worker welds light-weight aluminum components to a machine right next to it. Although such scenarios are visions of the future at present, they will soon be part of the everyday work routine if industry has its way. Humans and robots will team up, especially on assembly jobs, and collaboratively employ their particular capabilities: Steel assistants could bring their power, durability and speed to bear and humans their dexterity and motor skills. At present, automated ...

Crazy Vegas Online Casino has just launched three new games onto its No-Download Flash Casino. These new games are added to the already generous assortment of over 550 games and 24 Progressive Jackpots that are available in the casino lobby. Riviera Riches Riviera Riches is a 5-Reel Video Slot game that is themed around the game of Roulette at a Land-Based Casino. The 15 Paylines are filled with Wilds, Scatters and Bonus Symbols. 12 recursive Free Spins are up for grabs when 3 or more Scattered Cash symbols spin into place on the Reels. All winnings made during the ...

This release is available in German. Drivers were freed from their dependence on maps a long time ago – nowadays they rely on their navigation device to get them to destinations in unfamiliar areas. But this luxury has so far remained elusive for users of local public transport systems. A personal guide – similar to a car's navigation system – designed to show them the way to their destination and help avoid hold-ups and out-of-service lines would be a tremendous help. Commuters and locals could switch to alternative routes if their bus or train was late and tourists ...

For patients suffering from epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a hereditary skin disease, even a gentle touch is extremely painful. Now Dr. Li-Yang Chiang, Dr. Kate Poole and Professor Gary R. Lewin of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin-Buch have discovered the causes underlying this disease. Due to a genetic defect, individuals with EB cannot form laminin-332, a structural molecule of the skin that in healthy individuals inhibits the transduction of tactile stimuli and neuronal branching (Nature Neuroscience, doi: 10.1038/nn.2873)*. According to the ...

MADISON – An estimated two billion people in the developing world heat and cook with a biomass fuel such as wood, but the practice exposes people – especially women – to large doses of small-particle air pollution, which can cause premature death and lung disease. In a study just published online in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have associated indoor air pollution with increased blood pressure among older women. In a remote area of Yunnan Province, China, 280 women in an ethnic minority ...

Orthodontist Dr. Stephen Yao of San Jose, is hosting an E-Waste event on Saturday, July 23rd from 9am-2pm at his 4010 Moorpark Ave location to benefit the San Jose Giants Community Foundation! The mission of the Giants Sports Foundation is "to encourage and foster the development of healthy lifestyles in children and teens through physical activity and education." "Our Children are our future! I feel they should be active and not just playing video games or other sedentary activities," says Dr. Yao. Helping the San Jose Giants Community Foundation ...

New research from the University of Adelaide has added to the debate about whether dinosaurs were cold-blooded and sluggish or warm-blooded and active. Professor Roger Seymour from the University's School of Earth & Environmental Sciences has applied the latest theories of human and animal anatomy and physiology to provide insight into the lives of dinosaurs. The results will be published this month in Proceedings B, the Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences), and can now be found online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2011.0968 Human thigh bones ...

This release is available in German. What happens if you cannot recall your memory correctly? You are able to associate and store the name and face of a person, yet you might be unable to remember them when you meet that person. In this example, the recall of the information is temporarily impaired. How such associative memories are "read out" in the brain remains one of the great mysteries of modern neurobiology. Now, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried and from the Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles in Paris, ...

All motorists should drive cautiously to avoid crashes on U.S. roads, but drivers in New Jersey have a new reason to be more attentive while driving. A recent insurance company survey rated New Jersey drivers poorly on licensed motorists' responses to typical driver's test questions. While the state has improved its seat-belt use lately and lowered its fatal crash rate last year, New Jersey drivers can still use this current ranking to continue improving driver education and knowledge of basic traffic laws and practices. Dangerous Conditions New Jersey roads and intersections ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Oh, the challenges of being a neuron, responsible for essential things like muscle contraction, gland secretion and sensitivity to touch, sound and light, yet constantly bombarded with signals from here, there and everywhere. How on earth are busy nerve cells supposed to pick out and respond to relevant signals amidst all that information overload? Somehow neurons do manage to accomplish the daunting task, and they do it with more finesse than anyone ever realized, new research by University of Michigan mathematician Daniel Forger and coauthors demonstrates. ...

NEW YORK – July 8, 2011 – A study by Columbia Business School's marketing professors Ran Kivetz, Philip H. Geier, Jr. Professor of Marketing, and Oded Netzer, Philip H. Geier Jr. Associate Professor, Marketing, alongside Rom Schrift, Assistant Professor of Marketing, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (he received his Ph.D. from Columbia Business School in 2011), demonstrates the existence of "complicating choice" – the process that decision-makers unintentionally initiate when making certain decisions – and the underlying psychological mechanisms that ...

Immigration has always been a hot-button issue in the United States. Many states have started to draft legislation that makes it extremely difficult for people here illegally to receive benefits of any kind. In addition to tough new rules, legislators and other groups have begun to attack or repeal laws already in place that will prevent undocumented immigrants from receiving benefits offered to U.S. citizens. One of the most pressing controversies deals with the issue of an undocumented immigrant's access to higher education. With many states facing budget deficits, ...

BOSTON – As any student who's had to study for multiple exams can tell you, trying to learn two different sets of facts one after another is challenging. As you study for the physics exam, almost inevitably some of the information for the history exam is forgotten. It's been widely believed that this interference between memories develops because the brain simply doesn't have the capacity necessary to process both memories in quick succession. But is this truly the case? A new study by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) suggests that specific ...

HOUSTON -- (July 8, 2011) -- New research from Rice University and Italy's Eugenio Medea Scientific Institute is yielding clues about hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), a group of inherited neurological disorders that affect about 20,000 people in the United States. A study in the July 5 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences offers the first detailed account of the biochemical workings of atlastin, a protein produced by one of the genes linked to HSP. The primary symptoms of HSP are progressive spasticity and weakness of the leg and hip muscles. ...

According to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Connecticut ranks poorly in the amount of funding and quality of services it provides to victims of elder abuse. Connecticut ranks 32nd out of 35 states in the amount of money it provides for adult protective services. It also ranks fifth lowest (out of 26) in the number of "substantiated" instances of elder abuse: only 446 of the approximately 3,800 elder abuse reports filed in 2009 were completely resolved or referred for prosecution. Reaction to the report has been mixed. Some say the ...

Stocks of seabed-living fish in the Firth of Clyde have reached their highest level since 1927 – according to research by academics at the University of Strathclyde. However, the report, produced by Professor Mike Heath and Dr Douglas Speirs of the University's Marine Population Modelling Group, shows that while fish are actually more abundant than ever, the majority are too small to be landed. The findings are part of extensive analysis and contradict previous indications from 2010 that the Firth of Clyde had been so heavily fished that it risked being emptied of almost ...

A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine confirms what medical malpractice attorneys and physicians already suspected: There is a breakdown in the lines of communication between primary care physicians, also called PCPs, and medical specialists that could be putting patients at risk. The study -- which analyzed data compiled by the 2008 Health System Change Health Tracking Physician Survey -- found a marked difference in how PCPs and specialists viewed the quality of information-sharing going on between them. The lack of accurate, timely communication about ...

Many employers, including construction companies, have focused on workers' conduct on the job site as the key to ending workplace fatalities and injuries. The AFL-CIO reports that 4,340 workers were killed on the job in 2009, including 184 New York workers. In 2010, OSHA inspectors investigated 40 of the workplace fatalities in New York, but only assessed about $150,000 in penalties to New York employers combined. Labor advocates argue workers already take on too much responsibility to reduce workplace accidents and improve safety in the workplace. While workers definitely ...

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and in Michigan, North Carolina and Spain have discovered how genetic mutations cause a number of rare human diseases, which include Meckel syndrome, Joubert syndrome and several other disorders. The work gives doctors new possible targets for designing better diagnostics to detect and drugs to treat these diseases, which together affect perhaps one in 200 people in the United States. On the surface, these diseases look very different. Meckel syndrome causes deadly brain malformations and kidney cysts. Joubert ...

In February 2011, the IRS announced the 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative. Motivated by the success of previous disclosure programs -- and the federal government's urgent need for more revenue -- the 2011 OVDI is designed to get taxpayers with offshore financial accounts into compliance and to recoup the money in offshore accounts into U.S. tax coffers. It does this by allowing U.S. citizens, green card holders, and U.S. tax residents with previously undeclared offshore accounts to become current with their taxes. FBAR Reporting Requirement for Offshore Accounts For ...