The manager of TDS Insurance discovered Islamaphobic vandalism on his store and reported it to police, reported the New York Daily News (2/9/2012). The apparent New York hate crime incident occurred last week. "'Allah is s--t,'" said the anti-Muslim graffiti, according to the New York Daily News. As reported by the tabloid, Bangladeshis in Kensington said they are now "living in fear" and "emotionally scarred" as a result of the apparent hate crime. "Hate crime is not acceptable," said New York civil rights violation lawyer ...

Philadelphia, PA, February 22, 2012 – Mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are cardinal injuries associated with combat stress, and TBI increases the risk of PTSD development. The reasons for this correlation have been unknown, in part because physical traumas often occur in highly emotional situations. However, scientists at University of California at Los Angeles provide new evidence from an animal model of a mechanistic link underlying the association between TBI and PTSD-like conditions. Using procedures to separate the physical ...

NEW YORK – February 22, 2012 – Research on the relationship between teacher characteristics and teacher effectiveness has been underway for over a century, yet little progress has been made in linking teacher quality with factors observable at the time of hire. A recent study by Columbia Business School's Prof. Jonah Rockoff, Sidney Taurel Associate Professor of Business, Finance and Economics; Brian Jacob, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan; Thomas Kane, Professor of Education and Economics, ...

Separating complex mixtures of cells, such as those found in a blood sample, can offer valuable information for diagnosing and treating disease. However, it may be necessary to search through billions of other cells to collect rare cells such as tumor cells, stem cells or fetal cells. "You're basically looking for a needle in a haystack," says Sukant Mittal, a graduate student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). Mittal and his colleagues at MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have now demonstrated a new microfluidic device that ...

New Orleans, LA – Glen Palmer, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Immunology & Parasitology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, was part of an international research team led by Luigina Romani, MD, at the University of Perugia, that discovered opportunistic fungi like Candida albicans can sense the immune status of host cells and adapt, evading immune system defenses. Unlike previous studies, this research investigated both sides of the infection equation as well as the interaction between the fungi and the cells they will invade. The findings are published ...

4t Networks, a managed virtual hosting company based in metro Atlanta, is pleased to announce that it now offers Parallels Plesk Panel 10.4 for both its VPS hosting and Cloud hosting clients. "We couldn't wait for the latest version of Plesk to be released," says Kevin Gray, President of 4t Networks. "We find that Parallels Plesk Panel 10.4 continues the improvements that were started with the release of Plesk 10." Parallels Plesk Panel 10.4 gives clients an intuitive interface to control the management of their Virtual Private Servers and their ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Contrary to common perception, state and local police are often on the front lines against product counterfeiting, yet it's unclear how prepared they are to deal with the growing crime, according to a new report from two Michigan State University criminologists. Justin Heinonen and Jeremy Wilson found that local and/or state police were involved in nearly half of the identified product counterfeiting cases related to Michigan, which range from jewelry to car windshields to cholesterol drugs. "Product counterfeiting may have links to terrorism and ...

WASHINGTON -- Young adult blacks, especially those with higher levels of education, are significantly less likely to seek mental health services than their white counterparts, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association. "Past research has indicated people with higher education levels are more likely to seek out and receive mental health services. While that may be true for whites, it appears the opposite is true for young adult blacks," said study author Clifford L. Broman, PhD, of Michigan State University. Broman's article was published ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A paper from Rhode Island Hospital and Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit examines whether different presentation formats, presenter characteristics, and patient characteristics affect decision-making for patients requiring treatment for asymptomatic carotid stenosis. Based on the study, the researchers concluded that how the treatment options are presented to a patient strongly impacts patients' decision-making, while the patient's age, gender, and education level may also influence the decision. The study was recently published in the journal Neurology. Lead ...

Howtotrainagermanshepherd.org was created with the intention to become a useful resource for those who are interested in german shepherd training. Learning how to train a German Shepherd is not as hard as it might sound since it is a breed that loves to please its owner. John considers his German Shepherd a true friend that he has actually learned a lot from. "A dog is a being that shows affection without hesitation" That is what John tries to teach all dog owners since he feels that training German Shepherds is also a time when dog owners discover more about ...

The results of an activity (physical or mental) partly depend on the efforts devoted to it, which may be incentive-motivated. For example, a sportsperson is likely to train with "increased intensity" if the result will bring social prestige or financial gain. The same can be said for students who study for their exams with the objective of succeeding in their professional career. What happens when physical and mental efforts are required to reach an objective? Mathias Pessiglione and his team from Inserm unit 975 "Centre de recherche en neurosciences de la Pitié-Salpêtrière" ...

"Broken-hearted" isn't just a metaphor—social pain and physical pain have a lot in common, according to Naomi Eisenberger of the University of Califiornia-Los Angeles, the author of a new paper published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. In the paper, she surveys recent research on the overlap between physical and social pain. "Rejection is such a powerful experience for people," Eisenberger says. "If you ask people to think back about some of their earliest negative experiences, they will often be ...

TAMPA, Fla. (Feb. 22, 2012) – Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., and the University of South Florida (USF) College of Medicine evaluated the experience of medical students who participated in videotaped sessions where they practiced conveying difficult news to "standardized patients" (SPs). The SPs role-played patients with a variety of cancers and who were receiving bad medical news. The study aimed at both evaluating student perceptions of the methods used in teaching how to break bad news and also at determining the effectiveness of the educational ...

(Garrison, NY) Researchers almost always offer money as an incentive for healthy volunteers to enroll in research studies, but does payment amount to coercion or undue inducement to participate in research? In the first national study to examine their views on this question, the majority of institutional review board members and other research ethics professionals expressed persistent ethical concern about the effects of offering payment to research subjects. But they differed in their views of the meaning of coercion and undue influence and how to avoid these problems ...

Los Angeles, (February 22, 2012)—While medical professionals have long known breastfeeding positively impacts infant and maternal health, few effective tools are available to measure breastfeeding practices nationally. According to a new study, one preexisting government-funded program is a potential wealth of accurate data about the breastfeeding practices of low-income mothers. This study was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Human Lactation (published by SAGE). The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), a USDA-funded ...

NEW YORK (Feb. 22, 2012) -- Oncologists have known that in order for cancer cells to spread, they must transform themselves so they can detach from a tumor and spread to a distant organ. Now, scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College have revealed critical steps in what happens next -- how these cells reverse the process, morphing back into classical cancer that can now grow into a new tumor. Their findings, now published online and in a upcoming issue of Cancer Research and funded through a National Cancer Institute grant to the Cornell Center on the Microenvironment ...

Fallout from the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power facility in Japan was measured in minimal amounts in precipitation in the United States in about 20 percent of 167 sites sampled in a nationwide study released today. The U.S. Geological Survey led the study as part of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP). Levels measured were similar to measurements made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the days and weeks immediately following the March 2011 incidents, which were determined to be well below any level of public health concern. Many NADP ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The first anniversary is approaching of the March, 2011, earthquake and tsunami that devastated Fukushima, Japan, and later this year debris from that event should begin to wash up on U.S. shores – and one question many have asked is whether that will pose a radiation risk. The simple answer is, no. Nuclear radiation health experts from Oregon State University who have researched this issue following the meltdown of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant say the minor amounts of deposition on the debris field scattered in the ocean will have long since ...

MANHATTAN, KAN. -- A Kansas State University researcher and former park ranger is helping people take a new view of the prairie and see it as more than a seemingly empty landscape. Tyra Olstad, doctoral student in geography, North Tonawanda, N.Y., is studying the rich -- although sometimes hidden -- beauty of Kansas landscapes. It's an abstract, yet important, field of study that may help develop new ways to promote and celebrate Kansas tourism, history and geography. "I became interested in the pejoratives that people layer on prairie landscapes," Olstad said. "I wanted ...

CHICAGO, February 22, 2012 – The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) today announced major changes in how the nation's medical residency programs will be accredited in the years ahead, putting in place an outcomes-based evaluation system where the doctors of tomorrow will be measured for their competency in performing the essential tasks necessary for clinical practice in the 21st century. Summarized in a paper published in the February 22, 2012 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, the ACGME's next accreditation system for graduate ...

Tampa, FL (Feb. 22, 2012) -- A nicotinic drug approved for smoking cessation significantly improved the walking ability of patients suffering from an inherited form of ataxia, reports a new clinical study led by University of South Florida researchers. The randomized controlled clinical trial investigated the effectiveness of varenicline (Chantix®) in treating spinocerebellar ataxia type 3, or SCA3. The findings were published online earlier this month in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neuroscience. Lead author Dr. Theresa Zesiewicz and colleagues ...

Following their recent string of promotions this festive season, Sky Poker is now offering players membership to the Sky Poker Priority Club, aimed to benefit and reward those who regularly play poker online with Sky. To join, players simply need to accrue over 10,000 Sky Poker Points each month by entering online games and tournaments. The membership status of each player is determined Sky Poker according to the previous months' play. Some of the fantastic advantages available to Sky Poker Priority Club members are: Direct Buy-ins to Sky Poker Tour events If playing ...

As scientists warn that the Earth is on the brink of a period of mass extinctions, they are struggling to identify ecosystem responses to environmental change. But to truly understand these responses, more information is needed about how the Earth's staggering diversity of species originated. Curiously, a vexing modeling mystery has stymied research on this topic: mathematical models have told us that complex ecosystems, such as jungles, deserts and coral reefs, in which species coexist and interact with another, cannot persist--even though they obviously do. But now, ...

Despite brutal cold and lingering darkness, life in the frigid waters off Alaska does not grind to a halt in the winter as scientists previously suspected. According to preliminary results from a National Science Foundation- (NSF) funded research cruise, microscopic creatures at the base of the Arctic food chain are not dormant as expected. After working aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy for six weeks in waters where winds sometimes topped 70 knots, wind chills fell to -40 degrees and samples often had to be hustled safely inside before seawater froze to the ...

Troy, N.Y. – A new study led by nanotechnology and biotechnology experts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is providing important details on how proteins in our bodies interact with nanomaterials. In their new study, published in the Feb. 2 online edition of the journal Nano Letters, the researchers developed a new tool to determine the orientation of proteins on different nanostructures. The discovery is a key step in the effort to control the orientation, structure, and function of proteins in the body using nanomaterials. "To date, very little is known about how ...