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Science 2012-05-18

RHS Chelsea Flower Show

This year the show will commence on May 22nd and wrap up on May 26th. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show contains many different aspects including unique exhibits every year, showcases from emerging talents and seminars to help amateurs solve the many challenges of gardening in both an urban and country setting. Held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show quite literally takes over south-west London during the 5 days which it is held in May. Many of the feature gardens require some assembly so massive awnings and screens are erected to not ...
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Medicine 2012-05-18

Scientists study serious immune malfunction

Defects in the gene that encodes the XIAP protein result in a serious immune malfunction. Scientists used biochemical analyses to map the protein's ability to activate vital components of the immune system. Their results have recently been published in Molecular Cell, a journal of international scientific repute. Researchers at The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research at the University of Copenhagen have mapped how the XIAP protein activates a vital component of the immune defence system, specifically the component that fights bacterial infections in the ...
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Medicine 2012-05-18

Genetic testing may not trigger more use of health services

SEATTLE—People have more and more chances 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 new study in the May 17, 2012 early online issue of Genetics in Medicine. The study was done by researchers with the Multiplex Initiative, a multi-center collaborative initiative involving investigators from the National Institutes of Health's Intramural Research Program, Group ...
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Science 2012-05-18

Kefalonia Holiday Packages Have Become Inexpensive Following Greek Finance Worries

Greece is a yet to recover completely from the economic turmoil that it was going through, but the tourism industry seems to have taken an excellent initiative to make sure that the flow of foreign currency remains intact - almost the entire tourism department of Greece seems to have gone on a price slashing spree and the industry is mainly banking on Kefalonia. The property owners and the hotel owners catering to tourists to Greece have reduced their prices considerably and that has made Kefalonia an exotic destination less the price tag associated with such destinations. Kefalonia ...
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A new category of heel: The customer service saboteur
Science 2012-05-18

A new category of heel: The customer service saboteur

PULLMAN, Wash.—There are jerks, and then there are jerks. Joel Anaya has given them a fair amount of study, focusing on that very special jerk who can take a routine service experience—dining out, paying at a cash register, air travel—and make it a nightmare. Anaya has even coined a term for it—"customer service sabotage"—and discerned seven different categories of rude customers who can be a serious liability for the service industry. "Customers don't just go to a restaurant to enjoy a burger," he says. "They go to have a good time, to enjoy the ambience of the establishment. ...
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Science 2012-05-18

Governor Christie Signs Tough Road Rage Bill Into Law

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie recently signed a bill into law that increases penalties for bodily harm caused by aggressive driving. Jessica Rogers' Law Jessica Rogers was 16 when she was involved in an automobile accident that left her paralyzed from the chest down and necessitated 24 surgeries. Jessica's accident was the result of aggressive and reckless driving behavior, known commonly as "road rage." After her accident, Jessica's parents lobbied for tougher laws for those that commit road rage crashes, believing that current laws did not penalize ...
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Science 2012-05-18

New York Lawmakers Debate Reforms to Scaffolding Law

Some New York lawmakers and other tort reform advocates wish to reform the state's scaffolding laws, reducing the liability of contractors and property owners and leaving injured employees at risk. Current New York Scaffolding Law New York is the only state in the nation that holds contractors and property owners absolutely liable for any worker injury sustained from a fall or a falling object, otherwise known as a fall injury. This type of liability is known as "strict liability." The law also requires employers to take all reasonable action to prevent ...
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Science 2012-05-18

Parents are happier people

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Contrary to recent scholarship and popular belief, parents experience greater levels of happiness and meaning in life than people without children, according to researchers from the University of California, Riverside, the University of British Columbia and Stanford University. Parents also are happier during the day when they are caring for their children than during their other daily activities, the researchers found in a series of studies conducted in the United States and Canada. These findings appear in a paper — "In Defense of Parenthood: Children ...
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Science 2012-05-18

Bluetooth baby

Checking the heart of the unborn baby usually involves a stethoscope. However, an inexpensive and accurate Bluetooth fetal heart rate monitoring system has now been developed by researchers in India for long-term home care. Details are reported in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Computers in Healthcare. Vijay Chourasia of the LNM Institute of Information Technology in Jaipur and Anil Kumar Tiwari of the Indian Institute of Technology Rajasthan, in Jodhpur, explain how fetal phonocardiography is the modern equivalent of the stethoscope in ante-natal ...
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Science 2012-05-18

New York Institutes Reforms to Improve Bus and Bicycle Safety

Two new safety reforms should help keep New Yorkers safe on the Empire State's roads and highways. Cuomo Funds New Bus Safety Inspection Program New York Governor Andrew Cuomo promised $1 million to fund a new bus safety inspection system targeting the worst-performing companies. Cuomo's decision came on the heels of a tumultuous year for New York fatal bus accidents. One accident last March resulted in the deaths of 15 people. The accident involved a bus which routinely shuttled gamblers from New York City to a popular Connecticut casino. Another accident last ...
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Medicine 2012-05-18

Zebrafish could hold the key to understanding psychiatric disorders

Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London have shown that zebrafish could be used to study the underlying causes of psychiatric disorders. The study, published online in the journal Behavioural Brain Research, found zebrafish can modify their behaviour in response to varying situations. Dr Caroline Brennan, from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences who led the study, said: "Zebrafish are becoming one of the most useful animal models for studying the developmental genetic mechanisms underlying many psychiatric disorders; they breed prolifically ...
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Medicine 2012-05-18

Specialized care by experienced teams cuts death and disability from bleeding brain aneurysms

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — People with bleeding brain aneurysms have the best chance of survival and full recovery if they receive aggressive emergency treatment from a specialized team at a hospital that treats a large number of patients like them every year, according to new guidelines just published by the American Stroke Association. Diagnosing and immediately treating this kind of "bleeding stroke", and using advanced techniques to prevent re-bleeding and aneurysm recurrence, reduces the chance of immediate death and disability by 30 percent for patients with aneurysm-related ...
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Medicine 2012-05-18

Physician Privacy Versus Patient Informed Consent

The Debate Continues The need for surgery can make anyone feel vulnerable. Most people find solace in the fact that they will be treated by surgeons with many years of training. Even so, the rate of medical mistakes that result in injury or death is shocking: a 1999 study by The Institute of Medicine reported that medical errors were responsible for almost 100,000 deaths and more than one million injuries every year in the United States. Those rates have steadily increased in the past 13 years since that study was performed. In fact, The New England Journal of Medicine ...
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Science 2012-05-18

Common genetic variants identify autism risk in high risk siblings of children with ASD

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 ...
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Fighting bacteria's strength in numbers
Medicine 2012-05-18

Fighting bacteria's strength in numbers

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 ...
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Science 2012-05-18

Fatal Dog Attack Kills Four-Year-Old Texas Boy

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 ...
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Science 2012-05-18

Commercial Truck Fleets Developing Distracted Driving Policies

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 ...
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Science 2012-05-18

New study shows simple task at 6 months of age may predict risk of autism

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 ...
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Science 2012-05-18

Could cap and trade for water solve problems facing the United States' largest rivers?

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 ...
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Space 2012-05-18

Space Age Alcohol Detection System Funded in 2012 Transportation Bill

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 ...
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Computing experts unveil superefficient 'inexact' chip
Technology 2012-05-18

Computing experts unveil superefficient 'inexact' chip

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 ...
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Science 2012-05-18

Oregon Driver Arrested On Suspicion of Being Drunk Had Kids in the Car

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 ...
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Environment 2012-05-18

New York Construction Accident Lawyer from The Perecman Firm Reflects on the Dangerous Work Environment for Ironworkers as Union Recruits Apprentices

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 ...
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Medicine 2012-05-18

Hybrid vaccine demonstrates potential to prevent breast cancer recurrence

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 ...
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Science 2012-05-18

Preventing post-traumatic stress

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 ...
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