Book World Prague, the Czech Republic's biggest annual literary event, returns for its 18th edition on Thursday May 17th. The four-day book fair traditionally attracts more than 40,000 visitors to the Prague Exhibition Grounds each year, with approximately 400 exhibitors expected to attend the 2012 event. Book World is aimed at both industry figures and members of the public, as booksellers, publishers and agents mix with lovers of literature from around the world. As well as the chance to browse through thousands of books, the event offers a programme of specialist ...

British comedy legend John Cleese will take his unique brand of humour to Dubai next month. The star of Monty Python's Flying Circus and Fawlty Hours is due to appear at the Madinat Jumeirah's First Group Theatre from Wednesday May 23rd to Saturday May 26th. People attending An Evening with John Cleese can expect a hilarious one-man show that sees the 72-year-old reflect on his highly eventful career as a comedic writer and performer. As well as his success in the UK with various film and TV projects, Cleese cracked America with the 1988 crime caper A Fish Called ...

Apart from the perennial commitment-phobia, there are lots of guys out there who have their own reasons for putting off the all important question: will you marry me? So what are the top 10 reasons for a guy being worried about proposing? In no particular order here are some to consider: 1. Loss of freedom. When we have been used to having our own way, decide when we want to go out and with whom, it can be difficult to adjust to accommodate somebody else's wishes. Many guys fear that the partner they have chosen to spend the rest of their lives with will curtail ...

The Usher Hall in Edinburgh is set to stage a performance of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Leading clarinettist Martin Frost will play the famous work, backed by the orchestra and its chief conductor Donald Runnicles, at the concert hall on Sunday May 13th. One of Mozart's final completed compositions, the Clarinet Concerto was written in 1791 for Austrian musician Anton Stadler. The piece is known for its delicate, melancholic beauty and understated solo part. Frost, who hails from Sweden, has collaborated with orchestras around ...

Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt will be in action at next month's Compeed Golden Gala in Rome. The 25-year-old athlete, who currently holds the world record for the 100 m and 200 m, will prepare for this year's Olympic Games by running in the Italian capital on Thursday May 31st. Bolt is set to line up against his compatriot Asafa Powell and Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre in the 100 m. Lemaitre is currently known as the fastest man in Europe, having claimed the 100 m, 200 m and 4x100 m relay titles at 2010's European Championships in Barcelona. The 21-year-old ...

The San Miguel Primavera Sound festival returns to Barcelona in late May, with a typically diverse line-up of performers due to appear. People heading to the Catalan city can look forward to music from the likes of Rufus Wainwright, Beach House, M83, Franz Ferdinand, Saint Etienne, Wilco, Spiritualized, Kings of Convenience and Bjork. Due to run from Wednesday May 30th to Sunday June 3rd, the festival will also feature performances from US hip hop stars ASAP Rocky and Danny Brown, as well as legendary British group The Cure. With a reputation for eclecticism and ...

Macau's museums will be throwing their doors open for free this May as they prepare a series of special events and promotions to mark International Museum Day. Taking place on May 18th annually, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) event debuted in 1977 and is designed to raise awareness of the cultural importance of these establishments. To commemorate the occasion this year, admission to all of the museums in Macau will be free on different days of the month. For example, locations that will be open for free on the day itself include the Maritime Museum, ...

Boracay will play host to a sizzling sports event next month when the Boracay International Beach Touch 2012 takes place on May 18th and 19th 2012. The tournament is being organised by Touch Football Pilipinas and will see teams from across Asia taking part in fun-filled rugby matches at scenic White Beach, in front of D'Mall Station 2. Offering two days of beach touch matches, the event is open to women's, men's and mixed teams, with squads of between four and eight players set to compete. Games last for eight or ten minutes and will see players battling to score ...

Singapore visitors are to be treated to eight weeks of great deals and promotional bargains when the Great Singapore Sale takes place across the country once again this May, June and July. The annual event sees prices reduced on items of all descriptions across a huge range of retail outlets, with this year's sale beginning on May 25th and lasting until July 22nd. Consumers will be able to find amazing value deals on clothes, watches, jewellery, electronics, toys and much more, with special privileges and rewards on offer for users of MasterCard, the official credit ...

A new production of the timeless opera Dido and Aeneas will be performed in Bangkok this May by a cast of talented local musicians. To be staged at the Thailand Cultural Centre, the show runs from May 18th to 20th and comes courtesy of the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra in association with B Grimm and NUNi Productions. Penned by one of England's most famous classical composers Henry Purcell, the three-act Baroque opera was first performed in the late 1600s and tells the tragic story of a doomed romance between Dido, the queen of Carthage, and the Trojan hero Aeneas. This ...

Popular US rockers Lifehouse will be playing a gig in Manila this May, treating audiences in the Philippines to some of their greatest hits. Organised by Dayly Entertainment, the show will take place at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on May 26th 2012 and will see Jason Wade, Ben Carey, Rick Woolstenhulme Jr and Bryce Soderberg performing together on stage. The alternative rockers shot to prominence back in 2001 with their smash Hanging by a Moment, with the subsequent decade producing hits such as Sick Cycle Carousel, Spin, You and Me, First Time and Broken. Lifehouse ...

Contrary to a trend in treatment, breast cancer patients with suspicious lymph nodes should have an ultrasound-guided axillary node biopsy, and if that biopsy is positive these patients should undergo an axillary dissection, a new study shows. The study, conducted at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, compared 199 patients with a positive ultrasound-guided axillary node biopsy to 434 patients with a positive sentinel lymph node biopsy. "About 50% of patients with a positive ultrasound-guided axillary node biopsy had substantial lymph node involvement; they were ...

Adding digital breast tomosynthesis to 2D mammography screening results in a 40% reduction in patient recall rates compared to routine screening mammography alone, a new study shows. The study, conducted at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT, of 7,578 screening mammograms, found that the recall rate was 6.6% for digital breast tomosynthesis plus 2D screening mammography. It was 11.1% for 2D screening mammography alone, said Melissa Durand, MD, one of the authors of the study. Similar recall rates were seen in both groups for masses, but the recall rate ...

Members of the Washington University in St. Louis cross country team are ready to run a race in the global marketplace with a goal to fight world hunger and water needs. Janji - the name means promise in Malay - is a socially conscious business that is launching a line of running apparel this month and will be available in more than 60 specialty running stores this summer. "This public release is something we've been building towards for two years," says Mike Burnstein an avid runner and one of the founders of Janji. Burnstein will graduate this month with ...

More than half the women aged 40-49 diagnosed with breast cancer on screening mammography report no family history, a new study shows. The study, conducted at Elizabeth Wende Breast Care, LLC in Rochester, NY of all breast cancers diagnosed between 2000 and 2010, found that 228 out of 373 cancers (61%) were found in women, aged 40-49 with no family history of breast cancer. Seventeen of the 228 patients did have a prior personal history of breast cancer or abnormal cells at a prior biopsy, and were not included in this analysis. Out of 211 women that remained for ...

A partial, duplicate copy of a gene appears to be responsible for the critical features of the human brain that distinguish us from our closest primate kin. The momentous gene duplication event occurred about two or three million years ago, at a critical transition in the evolution of the human lineage, according to a pair of studies published early online in the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, on May 3rd. The studies are the first to explore the evolutionary history and function of any uniquely human gene duplicate. These "extra" genes are of special interest ...

Oscar-nominated film Moneyball has inspired a data revolution of sorts within the field of human resources. Like Brad Pitt's character in the movie, numerous HR professionals are embracing the value of data and dedicating a great deal of time to analysis in an effort to determine the best HR moves for their organizations. Trummell Valdera, an HR expert who has led many a company to success in its HR operations, has adopted a similar approach. In fact, Trummell Valdera is urging other HR professionals to consider the immense value that such data can provide. In Moneyball, ...

Under some conditions, the brains of embryonic chicks appear to be awake well before those chicks are ready to hatch out of their eggs. That's according to an imaging study published online on May 3 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, in which researchers woke chick embryos inside their eggs by playing loud, meaningful sounds to them. Playing meaningless sounds to the embryos wasn't enough to rouse their brains. The findings may have implications not only for developing chicks and other animals, but also for prematurely born infants, the researchers say. Pediatricians ...

Picking has been great this month for the Clarke appraisal team. They have managed once again to put together what -- in the humble opinion of Irish owner and founder, Ronan Clarke - is one of the most diverse and exciting auction offerings in the New York area this month. While Sotheby's, Doyle's, Christy's, etc. all have great art sales this month, Clarke not only has great art but also a diverse and eclectic mix of midcentury modern, silver, porcelain, rugs, continental furniture and collectibles. As always, Clarke has its usual gathering of furniture and even ...

Cervical spine CT examinations are unnecessary for emergency department (ED) patients who are a victim of "simple assault" or who have a "ground-level fall", unless the patient has a condition that predisposes the patient to spine fracture, a new study finds. The study, conducted at Grady Memorial Hospital by researchers from the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences of the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, found that out of 218 exams for simple assault, there were none that were positive, said Andrew Nicholson, MD, lead author of the study. In the ...

Imaging surveillance is an acceptable alternative to surgical excision in patients with benign papilloma, diagnosed at breast core biopsy without cell abnormalities, a new study shows. The study, conducted at the Breast Health Center of California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, included 119 papillomas diagnosed at core biopsy without abnormal cells. Imaging follow-up of a minimum of two years without surgical excision was performed on 66 lesions; no cancer was found in this group, said Jessica Leung, MD, FACR, lead author of the study. Surgical excision was ...

Contrary to current guidelines, women with benign breast biopsies do not need follow-up at six months; they may not need close surveillance at all, a new study shows. The study, conducted at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL, followed 388 patients for six, 12 and 24 months. No cancer was found in these patients at six and 12 months, said Shannon Reed, MD, one of the authors of the study. "Of the 197 follow-up examinations performed at 24 months, two women were positive for cancer in a different area than had been previously biopsied," said Dr. Reed. An annual ...

Changes in the speed that ice travels in more than 200 outlet glaciers indicates that Greenland's contribution to rising sea level in the 21st century might be significantly less than the upper limits some scientists thought possible, a new study shows. "So far, on average we're seeing about a 30 percent speedup in 10 years," said Twila Moon, a University of Washington doctoral student in Earth and space sciences and lead author of a paper documenting the observations published May 4 in Science. The faster the glaciers move, the more ice and meltwater they release ...

Sex differences account for some of the most of the spectacular traits in nature: the wild colours of male guppies, the plumage of peacocks, tusks on walruses and antlers on moose. Sexual conflict – the battle between males and females over mating – is thought to be a particularly potent force in driving the evolution traits that differ in males and females. However, the genetic processes responsible for producing such traits are not well understood, nor how they evolved from their simpler less elaborate ancestral forms. We tend to assume that each tiny step in evolution ...

CINCINNATI – Researchers have rejuvenated aged hematopoietic stem cells to be functionally younger, offering intriguing clues into how medicine might one day fend off some of the ailments of old age. Scientists at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the Ulm University Medicine in Germany report their findings online May 3 in the journal Cell Stem Cell. The paper brings new perspective to what has been a life science controversy – countering what used to be broad consensus that the aging of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) was locked in by nature and not reversible ...