On September 18th, Britain's most important cycling race concludes with a thrilling time trial through central London, culminating in an epic dash down instantly recognisable Whitehall. Beginning on September 11th, the tour starts at Peebles in the Scottish Highlands, and wends it way through Blackpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Caerphilly, Exeter and Sandringham before arriving in the capital. The tour has helped to further the careers of many famous cyclists since it returned to prominence in 2004, with leading British rider Mark Cavendish and Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, two ...

Every September, the banks of London's famous waterway host the Mayor's Thames Festival, a weekend of family friendly fun involving music, dance, art and an inclusive, carnival atmosphere. Festivities range from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge and beyond, incorporating Blackfriars, Waterloo and London Bridges along the way. Highlights of the festival, which is on the weekend of September 10th-11th this year, include the stunning firework finale and the Feast on the Bridge, where revellers take a seat at the long, communal table to share a meal, in what is perhaps ...

Indie fans can look forward to a top night of rocking tunes later this year when The Drums and Okkervil River share the bill at Madrid's Teatro Circo Price. The Heineken Music Selector event takes place on September 1st and may give attendees the chance to check out new material by The Drums, who are due to unveil their second album Portamento a few weeks later. Earlier this year, the group released a single entitled The New World following the natural disaster in Japan. The Drums' stripped-down sound has proved to be hugely popular in the past few years, but ...

Barcelona is preparing to welcome The Baseballs to the Sala Razzmatazz later this year for an evening of rock'n'roll covers of hit pop songs. The German trio - referred to only as Sam, Digger and Basti - go all out on their onstage appearance, sporting retro outfits to match their oversized sideburns and quiffs. Umbrella, Let's Get Loud and Love in this Club are just a few of the songs featured on the debut album from 2009, Strike. The Baseballs followed this up with an updated version of the record the next year called Strike Back, which included covers of ...

GAF and Chandler's Roofing, Inc. are partnering with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles to provide roofing materials and professional installation for two local Habitat homes in Lawndale, California. The installation and materials donations are part of a national partnership between GAF and Habitat for Humanity, to match roofing materials donations from GAF with installation services donated by GAF Master Elite and Certified Contractors in communities across the United States. "Our National partnership with GAF will support Habitat for Humanity's mission ...

Fox Valley Plastic Surgery (www.fvpsurgery.com) performs a custom procedure, the moderate tummy tuck for Milwaukee area patients who want to reshape their abdomen without tightening their muscles. As a result, they can recover, take care of their families and return to work sooner than full tummy tuck patients. "We're very proud of this custom procedure, and the fact that we are one of a few practices that offers it," says Dr. David Janssen. "The moderate abdominoplasty is designed for our patients who don't need the muscle tightened. While this type ...

Dr. Jose Rios, who specializes in plastic surgery in the Naperville area, has taken a unique approach to helping his patients achieve their cosmetic goals while saving time and money: he offers both traditional cosmetic surgery and a state-of-the-art medical spa. "Although most other Joliet and Naperville area plastic surgeons also offer a wide range of cosmetic surgery procedures, my practice is unusual in offering both medical spa treatments and surgical procedures," says Dr. Rios. "As a result, my patients don't have to spend time trying to find both ...

In new research that could have implications for improving fertilization in humans and other mammals, life scientists studied interactions between individual sperm and eggs in red abalone, an ocean-dwelling snail, and made precise chemical measurements and physical models of these interactions. They are the first scientists to do so. By simulating the natural habitat of the abalone in the laboratory, the scientists were able to determine the conditions under which sperm–egg encounters and fertilization were most likely to occur. "If we can understand the basic physics, ...

If you have driven around certain parts of St Charles County lately you may have seen the signs Starting Point Real Estate (we buy houses) Rebuilding St Charles One House at A Time. These signs belong to two a Real Estate Broker and Investor, who own and operate Starting Point, LLC a company that buys and fixes homes in St Charles County neighborhoods. Once an eyesore for the neighborhood or burden for the owner, these homes are now being renovated by Garner and sold to many first time homebuyers and other investors. Starting Point Real Estate, LLC is run by, Jeffrey ...

WASHINGTON -- Nearly half of college students who are U.S. military veterans reported thinking of suicide and 20 percent said they had planned to kill themselves, rates significantly higher than among college students in general, according to a study presented at the American Psychological Association's 119th Annual Convention. "These alarming numbers underscore the urgent need for universities to be adequately staffed and prepared to assist and treat student veterans," said M. David Rudd, PhD, of the University of Utah and lead author of the study entitled, "Student ...

WASHINGTON – Picture black and white students at an Ivy League college learning about black students who are a year or so ahead of them in that school. They're told that the older black students were anxious about fitting in and how they would be viewed in college when they first arrived. But as the older black students got more involved in campus life, they began to find the school rewarding, even exciting as their life course took shape. "For the black kids who were given this narrative, their [grade point] averages in the next semester were a third of a letter grade ...

About 80% of the active population suffers from low back pain at some point in their lives. In a paper published on August 4th 2011 in PLoS Computational Biology, researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) show that overloading on already degenerated discs is less damaging than on discs which are still healthy – and that changes in cell density in discs are fundamental to the process of disc degeneration. Back pain is closely related to ageing of the discs in the spine, a process characterized by a series of changes in their structure and function, ...

When developing babies are growth restricted in the womb, they are typically born with heads that are large relative to their bodies. The growing brain is protected at the expense of other, less critical organs. Now, researchers reporting in the August 5th issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication, unearth new molecular evidence that explains just how the brain is spared. In studies of rapidly growing fruit fly larvae, they've traced this developmental phenomenon to the activity of a gene called Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK). "ALK breaks the link between dietary nutrients ...

Researchers have come up with a recipe for making functional neurons directly from human skin cells, including those taken from patients with Alzheimer's disease. The new method may offer a critical short cut for generating neurons for replacement therapies of the future, according to research published in the August 5th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication. Already, the converted neurons are beginning to yield insights into what goes wrong in the Alzheimer's brain and how diseased neurons might respond to treatment. In earlier approaches to generate neurons ...

Researchers have found a way to turn mouse embryonic stem cells into sperm. This finding, reported in the journal Cell in a special online release on August 4th, opens up new avenues for infertility research and treatment. A Kyoto University team has coaxed mouse embryonic stem cells into sperm precursors, called primordial germ cells (PGCs), and shown that these cells can give rise to healthy sperm. The researchers say that such in vitro reconstitution of germ cell development represents one of the most fundamental challenges in biology. When transplanted into mice ...

A new alternative to traditional liposuction in the Boston area is now available at Longwood Plastic Surgery (www.cosmeticsurgeonboston.com). Body-Jet uses a spray of fluid to help loosen fat for easier removal. In addition to reducing trauma to surrounding tissue and discomfort, Body-Jet achieves attractive body contouring results. "The benefits of Body-Jet liposuction for Boston area residents are two-fold: first, it helps remove unwanted fat gently and thoroughly with less force than standard tumescent liposuction," says Dr. Michael Tantillo, board-certified ...

### JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA. The University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory operates the HiRISE camera, built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory provided and operates CRISM. For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro . END ...

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology and the University of California, San Diego have discovered a way to prevent light signals on a silicon chip from reflecting backwards and interfering with its operation. Otherwise, the light beams would interfere with lasers and other photonic components on the chip and make the chip unstable. The breakthrough marks a significant achievement in the development of integrated photonic chips that could replace electronic chips as the backbone of information technology. Their findings are published Aug. 5 in the journal ...

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme announces the launch of its Million Dollar Raffle fundraiser. Ticket holders can win the grand prize of $1 million cash. Other prizes include a 2012 BMW Mini Cooper, 2012 Chevrolet Corvette, trip to Paris, Harley-Davidson motorcycle and cash. The 2011 Boys & Girls Club Million Dollar Raffle grand prize drawing is scheduled for Dec. 30. Early bird drawings will be Sept. 24, Oct. 28, and Nov. 30; early bird drawing winners are still eligible to win the grand prize. The multi-ticket drawing will be Dec. 30 ...

New Orleans, LA – A research team that included Hamilton E. Farris, PhD, Research Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Otorhinolaryngology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, reveals that two entirely different species show similar perception of auditory cues that drive basic biological functions; that these perceptions may be universally shared among animals; and that such perception may also limit the evolution of communication signals. The work is published in the August 5, 2011 issue of Science. Using the labs at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute ...

New York University neuroscientists have identified the parts of the brain we use to remember the timing of events within an episode. The study, which appears in the latest issue of the journal Science, enhances our understanding of how memories are processed and provides a potential roadmap for addressing memory-related afflictions. Previous research has shown the brain's medial temporal lobe (MTL) has a significant role in declarative memory—that is, memory of facts and events or episodes. Past studies have shown that damage to the MTL causes impairment in memory for ...

Interest rate changes will affect you less with a bond ladder. Here's why: - If interest rates go down over the next few years, you will already have locked in higher rates--and the current market value of your fixed income portfolio will be rising. - If interest rates stay the same, you will be earning longer term yields, so your return should exceed what you would be earning if you left your investment short term. - If interest rates go up, the current market value of your fixed income portfolio will be falling. However, as each rung on the ladder matures, ...

New research finds that growing blood stem cells in the laboratory for about a week may help to overcome one of the most difficult roadblocks to successful transplantation, immune rejection. The study, published by Cell Press in the August issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, may lead to more promising therapeutic strategies for transplanting blood stem cells. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are cells that can give rise to all of the different types of blood cells. Transplantation of HSCs has been used to treat leukemia, lymphoma, and other types of cancer, as well as ...

Recent studies have shown that the heart contains cardiac stem cells that can contribute to regeneration and healing during disease and aging. However, little is known about the molecules and pathways that regulate these cells. Now, a new study utilizing a heart failure model is providing insight into one way to coax the cardiac stem cells into repairing the damaged heart. The research, published by Cell Press in the August 2011 issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, finds that low doses of erythropoietin (EPO), a hormone best known for controlling the production of red blood ...

Scientists have identified a mutation that might underlie an extremely rare condition, called "adermatoglyphia," which causes people to be born without any fingerprints. The research, published by Cell Press online August 4th in The American Journal of Human Genetics, not only provides valuable insight into the genetic basis of adermatoglyphia and of typical fingerprint formation but also underscores the usefulness of rare genetic mutations as a tool for investigating unknown aspects of our biology. Human skin has ridges called dermatoglyphs that are present on the fingers, ...