Toronto, CANADA (May 17, 2012)— By focusing on the identification of common genetic variants, researchers have identified 57 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that predict—with a high degree of certainty--the risk that siblings of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) will also develop the condition. The findings were presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research. ASD is among the most common form of severe developmental disability with prevalence rates up to 1 in 88 children. Boys are greater than four times more likely to be diagnosed with ...

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have opened the way for more accurate research into new ways to fight dangerous bacterial infections by proving a long-held theory about how bacteria communicate with each other. Researchers in the University's School of Molecular Medical Sciences have shown for the first time that the effectiveness of the bacteria's communication method, a process called 'quorum sensing', directly depends on the density of the bacterial population. This work will help inform wider research into how to stop bacteria talking to each other with ...

A recent pit bull attack led to the tragic death of an East Texas boy and many questions about dog bite liability. The four-year-old had wandered away from home around sunset and was found dead late the next morning by a neighbor after an all-night search by family members and more than 100 volunteers and law enforcement officers. The boy had apparently entered the neighbor's yard about a half mile from home, where several dogs were restrained. A Victoria County Sheriff's Deputy told reporters that one of the dogs, a pit bull or pit mix, had mauled the boy. Media attention ...

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued new regulations that ban commercial motor vehicle drivers from using handheld cell phones. The regulations became effective on January 1, 2012. These regulations have forced many trucking companies to revise their communication policies with their drivers. Cell phones provide a quick and convenient method for companies and their dispatchers to remain in contact with their driver and shipments. If a crash occurs when a driver is talking or texting on a cell phone there is a strong inference that the phone ...

VIDEO: New research from Kennedy Krieger finds that a simple pull-to-sit task at six months of age may predict risk of an autism spectrum disorder. Researchers at Kennedy Krieger identified weak... Click here for more information. BALTIMORE, Md. – A new prospective study of six-month-old infants at high genetic risk for autism identified weak head and neck control as a red flag for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and language and/or social developmental delays. Researchers at the ...

Lake Mead, on the Colorado River, is the largest reservoir in the United States, but users are consuming more water than flows down the river in an average year, which threatens the water supply for agriculture and households. To solve this imbalance scientists are proposing a Cap and Trade system of interstate water trading. The proposal, published in Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA), builds on the success of such an initiative in Australia. The research was inspired by a first-year university assignment by Noelani (Olenka) Forde, who was studying ...

Most drivers are aware that a DUI conviction can lead to the installation of an ignition interlock device in their vehicle. An ignition interlock, of course, will not allow a vehicle to start unless the driver breathes into the device and passes a test for alcohol consumption; the driver may also be required to periodically provide a breath sample while the engine is in operation. The consequences of a DUI arrest can be harsh if you are ultimately convicted, and an ignition interlock may be the least of your worries. But forget alcohol testing as a consequence: some ...

HOUSTON -- (May 17, 2012) -- Researchers have unveiled an "inexact" computer chip that challenges the industry's dogmatic 50-year pursuit of accuracy. The design improves power and resource efficiency by allowing for occasional errors. Prototypes unveiled this week at the ACM International Conference on Computing Frontiers in Cagliari, Italy, are at least 15 times more efficient than today's technology. The research, which earned best-paper honors at the conference, was conducted by experts from Rice University in Houston, Singapore's Nanyang Technological University ...

Samuel Lee Sanders, 37, was arrested in early April on a laundry list of charges. Police in Washington County booked Sanders on suspicion of driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII), reckless endangering, reckless driving, refusal of a breath test and driving with a suspended license. Significantly, Sanders had two young children with him in the car at the time of his arrest. If he is unable to stage a successful Oregon drunk driving defense, this could mean substantially increased penalties. Reckless Endangering Charge Tacked On For DUII With Children in ...

Union officials handed out applications for 50 recently-opened ironworkers apprenticeship positions, reported the New York Daily News (5/2/2012). http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/hardhat-hopefuls-flood-woodside-chance-apprentice-article-1.1071408#ixzz1tpUyl4HR All 500 applications were handed out in approximately three hours, union officials told the New York Daily News. Hundreds of job seekers had camped out in front of Metallic Lathers Local 46 in Woodside, Queens for their chance to apply. The first person in line had arrived a week before the applications ...

CHICAGO — A breast cancer vaccine already shown to elicit a powerful immune response in women with varying levels of HER2 expression has the ability to improve recurrence rates and is well tolerated in an adjuvant setting, according to new research from a clinical trial led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The findings, released today, will be presented on Monday, June 4 in an oral presentation at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). It builds on previous research showing the vaccine, known as ...

A decade after the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, studies have shown that the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among troops is surprisingly low, and a Harvard researcher credits the drop, in part, to new efforts by the Army to prevent PTSD, and to ensure those who do develop the disorder receive the best treatment available. In an article that appears in the May 18 issue of Science, Professor of Psychology Richard J. McNally says there is reason for cautious optimism when it comes to the prevalence of PTSD. While early estimates suggested ...

WHO: Renee Weber is VP, Consumer Strategy and Research at The Marketing Store Worldwide, one of the largest brand activation, loyalty, and youth and family marketing agencies in the world, leads youth research for consumer products, toys and promotional marketing efforts working with major brands. Renee is an expert in youth and family. At The Marketing Store, her primary responsibilities are to provide more in-depth understanding of youth/families, youth promotions/product development, help lead consumer-based product innovation and establish The Marketing Store Play ...

Picture a turtle the size of a Smart car, with a shell large enough to double as a kiddie pool. Paleontologists from North Carolina State University have found just such a specimen – the fossilized remains of a 60-million-year-old South American giant that lived in what is now Colombia. The turtle in question is Carbonemys cofrinii, which means "coal turtle," and is part of a group of side-necked turtles known as pelomedusoides. The fossil was named Carbonemys because it was discovered in 2005 in a coal mine that was part of northern Colombia's Cerrejon formation. The ...

David Cerami, CKBR (Certified Kitchen & Bath Remodeler), owner of Hometech Renovations, Inc. & Let's Face It, Inc., has been selected by Remodeling magazine to join the remodeling Big50. The Big50 awards were presented at a gala dinner at the Remodeling Leadership Conference in Baltimore, MD on May 11, 2012. The 2012 Big50 winners are featured in the May issue of remodeling, a national trade publication read by more than 80,000 professional remodeling contractors. Each year since 1986, the remodeling Big50 inducts 50 owners of remodeling companies that have ...

Playing make-believe is more than a childhood pasttime. According to psychologists, it's also crucial to building creativity, giving a child the ability to consider alternative realities and perspectives. And this type of thinking is essential to future development, aiding interpersonal and problem-solving skills and the ability to invent new theories and concepts. That has been shown to be a component of future professional success in fields from the arts to the sciences and business. But can creativity be taught? Prof. Nira Liberman ofTel Aviv University's School of ...

New research by psychologists at three North American universities, including the University of British Columbia, finds that parents experience greater levels of happiness and meaning from life than non-parents. The findings, which contrast sharply with recent scholarship and popular beliefs, suggest that parents are happier caring for children than they are during other daily activities. The research also suggests that the benefits of parenthood appear more consistently in men and older and married parents. To be published in the journal Psychological Science, the ...

People have increasing opportunities to participate in genetic testing that can indicate their range of risk for developing a disease. Receiving these results does not appreciably drive up or diminish test recipients' demand for potentially costly follow-up health services, according to a study performed by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and colleagues at other institutions. The study in the May 17, 2012 early online issue of Genetics in Medicine was done by investigators with the Multiplex Initiative, a multi-center collaborative initiative involving ...

Roanoke, Va. – Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on my parahippocampal gyrus. Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have found that suspicion resides in two distinct regions of the brain: the amygdala, which plays a central role in processing fear and emotional memories, and the parahippocampal gyrus, which is associated with declarative memory and the recognition of scenes. "We wondered how individuals assess the credibility of other people in simple social interactions," said Read Montague, director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory ...

52,000 bluebells were delivered to Sherwood Forest this week which are being planted along the entrance drive. Since 8th May, Center Parcs Conservation Rangers at Sherwood Forest have been planting the bluebells which guests will be able to see when arriving for their forest breaks and departing. Grown from their seed for three years, the 13,000 pots of native English bluebells filled 26 trollies. They were transported this week from Norfolk, travelling more than 130 miles to their new home at Center Parcs Sherwood Forest. Chosen for their rarity in ancient woodlands ...

HOUSTON – An experimental drug targeting a common mutation in melanoma successfully shrank tumors that spread to the brain in nine out of 10 patients in part of an international phase I clinical trial report in the May 18 issue of The Lancet. The drug dabrafenib, which targets the Val600 BRAF mutation that is active in half of melanoma cases, also cut the size of tumors in 25 of 36 patients with late-stage melanoma that had not spread to the brain. The drug also showed activity in other cancer types with the BRAF mutation. "Nine out of 10 responses among patients with ...

The world's largest religious wax museum turns 25 this year. To honor the anniversary, BibleWalk, the Living Bible Museum located in Mansfield, Ohio is offering the tours for just 25 cents during its birthday week, Aug. 12-17. The museum offers four different tours, a collection of rare Bibles and the world's largest collection of American votive folk-art. This unique art form became stylish in the 1910s among newly arrived immigrants who would collect costume jewelry, hat and tie pins, beads, cuff links, collar studs, coins, and other items, sculpting them into elaborate ...

A device which could restore sight to patients with one of the most common causes of blindness in the developed world is being developed in an international partnership. Researchers from the University of Strathclyde and Stanford University in California are creating a prosthetic retina for patients of age related macular degeneration (AMD), which affects one in 500 patients aged between 55 and 64 and one in eight aged over 85. The device would be simpler in design and operation than existing models. It acts by electrically stimulating neurons in the retina, which ...

AURORA, Colo. (May 17, 2012) - We have known for years that when the proteins RalA and RalB are present, cells in dishes copy toward aggressive forms of cancer. However, until this week, no study had explored the effects of RAL proteins in human cancers – an essential step on the path to developing drugs to target these proteins. From metastasis in bladder cancer, to seminal vessel involvement in prostate cancer, to shortened survival in squamous cell carcinoma, a study published this week in the journal Cancer Research shows that proteins RalA and RalB are associated with ...

(Monterey, CA) – The work of Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Operations Research Professor Moshe Kress will be featured in the upcoming edition of the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Science Journal, a leading scientific research and news publication. Kress' article, titled "Modeling Armed Conflicts," reviews quantitative approaches to modeling military operations, threat situations, and force structure. The piece reviews historical, classical, present and future armed conflict models, including the dynamics of today's insurgencies. Kress has ...