For additional information please contact: Genevieve Maul, Office of Communications, University of Cambridge Tel: direct, +44 (0) 1223 765542, +44 (0) 1223 332300 Mob: +44 (0) 7774 017464 Email: Genevieve.maul@admin.cam.ac.uk Notes to editors: 1. The paper is entitled "Weak intermolecular interactions in an ionically bound molecular adsorbate: Cyclopentadientyl/Cu(111)" and will be published in Physical Review Letters on Friday, 06 May. 2. Authors of the work: - Surface, Microstructure and Fracture Group, Physics Department, Cambridge (http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/research/smf/) Holly ...

The Effect of Bankruptcy on Credit Scores People who are mired in debt often dread the thought of filing for bankruptcy protection and the effect it will have on their credit scores. Many in this situation fear that they will never be able to obtain a loan, get a credit card or that they will be turned down for jobs, all because of a poor credit score. As a matter of course, bankruptcy can have a serious effect on your credit score. It can lower your score by nearly 240 points. How much it will drop will depend on the type of debts you have and your prior credit history. ...

Music producers have for decades had electronics tricks at their disposal for improving a recorded vocal performance. They can add a little reverb or echo to bolster a weak rendition, use effects such as phasing and delay to add color to the vocal, fix duff notes with auto-tuning or even reprogram a whole melody line in software. In recent years, voice synthesis for converting text to spoken word has improved considerably but combining that technology with auto-tuning capability allows computers to "sing". Software, such as Vocaloid, can successfully create lead vocals ...

In the first-of-its-kind analysis of Groupon's impact on a startup company, a new Rice University study found that the daily deal promotion was beneficial even though it had no material impact on the company's profits when unredeemed Groupons were not accounted for. When those unredeemed Groupons were factored in, the company had a substantial 30 percent increase in profits. Having run the Groupon promotion, the company – Houston-based startup Gourmet Prep Meals (GPM) – had greater exposure and earned revenues almost 140 percent higher than it would have earned had it ...

Florida Legislature Looks at Better Criminal Identification Procedures TV crime programs tend to suggest that every aspect of solving a crime lends itself to forensic science, as if CSI has been reduced to a magical formula. But in many criminal investigations, identification of the alleged perpetrator is still dependent on the recollections of eyewitnesses. And all too often, a false identification can lead to a prosecution of the wrong suspect in a homicide, sexual assault or theft case, all due to a convergence of unfortunate circumstances. Florida legislators ...

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – From a bucket of seawater, scientists have unlocked information that may lead to deeper understanding of organisms as different as coral reefs and human disease. By analyzing genomes of a tiny, single-celled marine animal, they have demonstrated a possible way to address diverse questions such as how diseased cells differ from neighboring healthy cells and what it is about some Antarctic algae that allows them to live in warming waters while other algae die out. Debashish Bhattacharya, professor of ecology, evolution and natural resources in Rutgers' ...

Newly released images from ESA's Mars Express show Nili Fossae, a system of deep fractures around the giant Isidis impact basin. Some of these incisions into the martian crust are up to 500 m deep and probably formed at the same time as the basin. Nili Fossae is a 'graben' system on Mars, northeast of the Syrtis Major volcanic province, on the northwestern edge of the giant Isidis impact basin. Graben refers to the lowered terrain between two parallel faults or fractures in the rocks that collapses when tectonic forces pull the area apart. The Nili Fossae system contains ...

Bard Avaulta Surgical Mesh Lawsuits Implantable medical devices from artificial hips to heart values have made it possible for people to have healthier, longer and more productive lives. There can be a dark side to these devices, however, as sometimes they are more harmful than helpful. For example, in October 2008, the FDA issued a warning regarding the potential danger of surgical meshes after receiving more than 1,000 adverse-event reports. Since the FDA warning, a number of women have filed product liability lawsuits against C.R. Bard, Inc. and other mesh manufacturers ...

Experts from medical and patient communities call on national policymakers in the Asia-Pacific region to take urgent action against preventable strokes that strike millions of people with atrial fibrillation (AF) each year Countries in the Asia-Pacific region carry a disproportionate share of the burden of stroke with millions of people affected; a burden that will grow as life expectancy rises1 AF, the most common, sustained abnormal heart rhythm, increases the risk of stroke five-fold and is responsible for 15-20% of all strokes, and for 20% of all ischaemic strokes ...

Options For Homeowners Facing Foreclosure If you have missed a payment on your mortgage or have received notice from your lender they are filing a foreclosure action, you still have some options. You may be able to save your house and prevent being saddled with unmanageable debt. Foreclosure A foreclosure is the legal process where a mortgage lender takes back a piece of property from the party to whom it loaned funds to originally. Foreclosure permits the lender to evict the occupier, resell the property and potentially assess a deficiency balance (the difference ...

The May issue of JAMIA, the top-ranked journal reporting on informatics in biomedical and health informatics, features new scientific research—in print and online—on healthcare's hottest HIT-related topics, written by prominent experts working in health and biomedicine. Editor-in chief Lucila Ocho-Machado bullets some of the rich content in the newly released, current issue: "A secure protocol for protecting the identity of providers when disclosing data for disease surveillance" (Editor's Choice, available free online) — Lead author Khaled El Emam of Children's Hospital ...

An international panel of experts from The Heart Rhythm Society and the European Heart Rhythm Association issued new guideline recommendations for all health care professionals about cardiovascular genetic testing at the Heart Rhythm Society's 32nd Annual Scientific Sessions. Silvia G. Priori, MD, PhD, a leader in the field of inherited cardiovascular diseases and director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Program at NYU Langone Medical Center, was co-lead author of the HRS/EHRA Expert Consensus Statement on the State of Genetic Testing for the Channelopathies and Cardiomyopathies. ...

Economy Not Recovering Fast Enough for Some Economists and other financial experts speak continually about signs of improvement in the US economy. With the overall number of bankruptcy and foreclosure filings showing moderate decreases nationally, some are saying this is an indication that the country is coming out of the recession. Others, however, are not so convinced, especially with the national unemployment rate hitting over 10 percent in February - the same percentage as one year ago. While foreclosure and bankruptcy rates are declining in North Carolina, the economy ...

Edmonton – Researchers with the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta have discovered that some "protective" T-cells can kill neurons. This finding is significant because a specific type of T-cell therapy is being touted in the medical community as a potential treatment for MS and other autoimmune conditions. Dr. Fabrizio Giuliani and his post-doctoral fellow, Yohannes Haile, both from the Division of Neurology, collaborated on this research which was recently published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, a peer-reviewed medical journal. "Using ...

A new strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria associated with exposure to livestock was recently discovered in one Iowa child care worker who reported no contact with livestock, according to University of Iowa researchers. The discovery was an unexpected finding in a study of Staphylococcus aureus in child day care facilities conducted by Erin Moritz, a doctoral student in epidemiology in the UI College of Public Health, for her dissertation. The finding was reported in a letter written by Moritz and her advisor, Tara Smith, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology ...

While children of all ethnicities can contract Kawasaki disease (KD), a study led by researchers at the Kawasaki Disease Research Center at the University of California, San Diego and Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego finds that Filipino children with KD are at a higher risk for inflammation of the blood vessels of the heart than those of other Asian and non-Asian backgrounds. Nearly 24 percent of Filipino children with KD in San Diego County were found to have aneurysms compared to 10.5 percent of children of other Asian descent. The study appears in the May 6, 2011 ...

LA JOLLA, CA – May 6, 2011 – Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have found a temperature-sensing protein within immune cells that, when tripped, allows calcium to pour in and activate an immune response. This process can occur as temperature rises, such as during a fever, or when it falls—such as when immune cells are "called" from the body's warm interior to a site of injury on cooler skin. The study, recently published online ahead of print by Nature Chemical Biology, is the first to find such a sensor in immune cells—specifically, in the T lymphocytes that ...

New York City Bus Crash Leads to Examination of Driver Qualifications Several bus crashes in the New York area, including the deadly crash of a bus returning from Mohegan Sun casino, have raised questions regarding bus safety. As discount bus travel companies increase in popularity, the hiring practices and procedures for drivers is facing greater scrutiny. Currently, no training is required for those who drive buses. As long as drivers obtain a valid commercial driver's license, they will be considered qualified to transport passengers. Drivers are limited to ten ...

WACO, Texas (May 6, 2011) — People living in countries with governments that have a greater number of social services report being more satisfied with life, according to a study by a Baylor University researcher. Dr. Patrick Flavin, assistant professor of political science at Baylor, said the effect of state intervention into the economy equaled or exceeded marriage when it came to satisfaction. The study is published in the spring issue of the journal Politics & Policy. Free market capitalism has been championed by leaders such as the late President Ronald Reagan and ...

In the May-June issue of the journal American Mineralogist, a team of scientists announced the discovery of the new mineral krotite, one of the earliest minerals formed in our solar system. It is the main component of an unusual inclusion embedded in a meteorite (NWA 1934), found in northwest Africa. These objects, known as refractory inclusions, are thought to be the first planetary materials formed in our solar system, dating back to before the formation of the Earth and the other planets. This particular grain is known affectionately as "Cracked Egg" for its distinctive ...

Authorities have yet to determine if the brutal assault of a transgender woman at a McDonald's was a hate crime. After examining the initial evidence, New York civil rights violation lawyer David Perecman believes that the violent attack may be classified as a hate crime. As reported by the New York Daily News, Chrissy Lee Polis says it's not the first time she's been assaulted because of her sexual identity. Polis said she was attacked after she used the ladies restrooms at a McDonald's in Baltimore, Maryland. The 22-year-old claims one of the female attackers ...

College Park, Md. (May 6, 2011) — A bold new design for thin film solar cells that requires significantly less silicon – and may boost their efficiency – is the result of an industry/academia collaboration between Oerlikon Solar in Switzerland and the Institute of Physics' photovoltaic group at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. One long-term option for low-cost, high-yield industrial production of solar panels from abundant raw materials can be found in amorphous silicon solar cells and microcrystalline silicon tandem cells (a.k.a. Micromorph)—providing an ...

A female chef at a midtown restaurant associated with Gordon Ramsay has filed a sexual harassment complaint with the State Division of Human Rights, accusing male chefs at Gordon Ramsay at The London NYC of sexually harassing her. New York civil rights violation lawyer David Perecman supports her actions, if these allegations are true. "Everybody has a right to work in a civil work environment free of workplace gender discrimination," said Perecman, a civil rights violation lawyer in New York for over 30 years. Commis chef Janet Kim contended that executive ...

It is an article of faith among many critics of public schools that there is no correlation between spending and learning outcomes. But it's not so—at least where library spending is concerned. When support for school libraries rises, reading scores go up and learning by other measures increases also. That's what researchers at Mansfield University in Mansfield, PA found when they examined and summarized the results of 23 studies done around the United States and Canada. "Quality school library programs impact student achievement," says Debra E. Kachel, a professor ...

Over the past decades, researchers seeking to understand molecular mechanisms underlying various diseases, notably cancer, have taken advantage of DNA microarrays to interrogate tissues specimen of patients for the expression status of thousands of genes at once. Jointly, such gene expression status of each gene in the genome, measured as the level of their transcripts, constitutes the gene expression profile. Since each of the tens of thousands of genes can be switched on or off, a gene expression profile contains complex information, akin to a huge bar code with tens ...