DURHAM, N.C -- Warming in the North Atlantic over the last 32 years has significantly reduced winter sea ice cover in harp seal breeding grounds, resulting in sharply higher death rates among seal pups in recent years, according to a new Duke University-led study. "The kind of mortality we're seeing in eastern Canada is dramatic. Entire year-classes may be disappearing from the population in low ice years – essentially all of the pups die," said David W. Johnston, research scientist at the Duke University Marine Lab. "It calls into question the resilience of the population." The ...

MEDIA AVAILABILITY Experimental vaccine partially protects monkeys from HIV-like Infection: Study reveals factors associated with prevention, control of HIV infection WHAT: New vaccine research in monkeys suggests that scientists are homing in on the critical ingredients of a protective HIV vaccine and identifies new HIV vaccine candidates to test in human clinical trials. The research, which appears online in Nature on Jan. 4, was co-funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. In the study, ...

What is Closing Circle? Closing Circle (www.closingcircle.com) is a B2B social network dedicated to Investment and M&A firms and professionals to facilitate networking and dealmaking. An exclusive, innovative, and international community, Closing Circle is a powerful platform for dealmakers to expand reach and increase visibility. A two-fold innovation: - Drawing inspiration from social networks like Facebook and Linkedin, Closing Circle is a new generation of sector-focused B2B network designed for dealmakers - Revolutionizing the Investment and M&A market ...

Men and women have large differences in personality, according to a new study published Jan. 4 in the online journal PLoS ONE. The existence of such differences, and their extent, has been a subject of much debate, but the authors of the new report, led by Marco Del Giudice of the University of Turin in Italy, describe a new method for measuring and analyzing personality differences that they argue is more accurate than previous methods. The researchers used personality measurements from more than 10,000 people, approximately half men and half women. The personality test ...

(SILVER SPRING, MD)—Results from a recent study show that novel vaccine combinations can provide partial protection against infection by Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) in rhesus monkeys. In addition, in the animals that became infected, the optimal vaccine combinations also substantially reduced the amount of virus in the blood. Results from the studies were published online today in the journal Nature. This proof-of-concept study, which tested MVA, Ad26, and Ad35 vector-based vaccines, is the first to show partial vaccine protection in the stringent animal model ...

Venus Ramos, MD, to launch SeXercise on the hit syndicated talk show "The Doctors." The segment will air on January 5th, 2012 - (http://thedoctorstv.com/main/show_page/D4075) - check your TV guide for local station and time slot in your area. Dr. Venus Ramos, an expert in physical training and rehabilitation medicine, and also a practicing physician in Los Angeles, demonstrates the moves which will keep you fit as well as boost your love life in the bedroom. Dr. Ramos, a graduate of the University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL is an Assistant Clinical ...

The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL, www.eol.org) continues to expand at a record pace with the addition of new content and partners. At the start of 2012, EOL provides data on nearly half of all described species, with new content in Spanish, rich information about conservation issues from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and NatureServe, and more images and videos than ever before. In the four years since its first release, EOL has grown from 30,000 pages with content to more than 900,000, a 2,900% increase, and from a dozen content partners ...

Wildize Foundation is celebrating its tenth anniversary and on this special occasion it is giving exclusive membership offers to the new members as well as to the existing ones. This Aspen-based non-profit foundation which supports projects in Africa that are meant for African Community development and African wildlife conservation, has received love and support of people from different countries. The Founder and President of Wildize, Eli Weiss, said that she was extremely grateful to the supporters and members of the foundation without whom it would not had been possible ...

PASADENA, Calif. -- Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is an intriguing, alien world that's covered in a thick atmosphere with abundant methane. With an average surface temperature of a brisk -297 degrees Fahrenheit (about 90 kelvins) and a diameter just less than half of Earth's, Titan boasts methane clouds and fog, as well as rainstorms and plentiful lakes of liquid methane. It's the only place in the solar system, other than Earth, that has large bodies of liquid on its surface. The origins of many of these features, however, remain puzzling to scientists. Now, researchers ...

In fourteen short months "Gusfirefly" OnlineAuction.com's FIRST Seller of the Month in 2012 has received over ten thousand (10,000) positive feedbacks from members of OnlineAuction.com. Sharon and Joel Hellmann, a.k.a. "Gusfirefly", started selling online about 15 years ago as a natural expansion of their mall store. "Having thousands of additional shoppers helped us to move inventory." "It's also really fun! Putting an item on a shelf with a price tag is fine, but putting a starting price, picture, and description online and ...

Confronting an abusive boss is easier said than done: employees coping with the stress of abusive treatment prefer to avoid direct communication even though it would be the most effective tactic in terms of emotional well-being. This has been shown in a new study from the University of Haifa, published in the International Journal of Stress Management (American Psychological Association). "Abusive supervision is highly distressing for employees. Our study shows that the strategies being used by employees to cope with the stress caused by such behavior do not lead to the ...

Metcalf & Associates, a leading management, consulting and coaching firm, today was selected by TechColumbus as a semi-finalist for the 'Women in Technology' Innovation Award. Metcalf's recently published book, "Innovative Leadership Fieldbook", synthesizes well researched theories and business case studies and provides leaders with a thoughtful six-step process to develop innovative leadership qualities. "It is an honor to be selected by TechColumbus as a semi-finalist and to be recognized for innovative work as a part of my recently published book," ...

The open-access journal PhytoKeys – known for applying cutting edge technologies in publishing and dissemination to accelerate biodiversity research – is pioneering an electronic-only publishing workflow in a series of papers published over the course of the first week of January 2012 (see related press release). As of the 1st of January 2012, extensive new changes took effect to the way plant scientists name new plants, algae, and fungi. Traditionally, the publication of new plant names, which is governed by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN), has ...

"At Eyecare Medical Group in Portland, Maine, January represents the time we pay particular attention to getting the word out reminding patients to take advantage of the advances in the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma as this sight stealing eye disease is a leading cause of preventable blindness," commented Clement Berry, Chief Executive Officer of Eyecare Medical Group. Prevent Blindness America has designated January as National Glaucoma Awareness Month. In African-American and Hispanic populations, Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness. "The ...

Philadelphia, PA, January 4, 2012 – Psychiatric disorders can be described on many levels, the most traditional of which are subjective descriptions of the experience of being depressed and the use of rating scales that quantify depressive symptoms. Over the past two decades, research has developed other strategies for describing the biological underpinnings of depression, including volumetric brain measurements using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the patterns of gene expression in white blood cells. During this period, a great deal of research has attempted to ...

Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits. While you are more likely to do something if you plan it in advance, research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), shows that partnering up or planning with someone can really boost the likelihood of sticking to your resolutions. This finding suggests that 'buddy schemes' could make a big difference to people following dieting plans, health programmes and could be integrated into government well-being initiatives. "Specific plans regarding when, where and how a person will act ...

"Humanity's adventurous, stubborn, mad and glorious aspiration to reach the stars" is the subject of Physics World's lead feature in January. Sidney Perkowitz, Candler Professor of Physics Emeritus at Emory University, Atlanta, US, reports from the 100 Year Starship Study (100YSS) conference and discusses the challenges that interstellar travel presents. With current propulsion technology only able to move spacecraft at 0.005% of the speed of light, a one-way trip to the star system nearest our Sun, Alpha Centauri, would take 80,000 years to travel the four light-years ...

Software developed by computer scientists could help to quickly and accurately locate missing people, rapidly identify those suffering from malnutrition and effectively point people towards safe zones simply by checking their phones. It is hoped the smartphone technology could potentially not only help save lives but could also ease the financial and emotional burden on aid organisations. The largest system developed by Dr Gavin Brown and his team Peter Sutton and Lloyd Henning in the Machine Learning and Optimisation group at The University of Manchester is the REUNITE ...

Researchers are being urged to differentiate between two types of bladder cancer when they carry out studies, after a detailed trends analysis revealed significant differences between the main subtypes of the disease. A major study of nearly 128,000 American bladder cancer cases, published in the January edition of the urology journal BJUI, shows that bladder cancer rates showed a 9% overall decrease between 1973 and 2007. However, when the researchers looked at the two main subtypes, which accounted for 94% of the bladder tumours, they found that papillary transitional ...

Ventana Research has promoted industry veteran Alan S. Kay to Senior Vice President of Research Management. Alan, who recently celebrated his sixth anniversary with Ventana Research, formerly served as Vice President of Research Management. In his new position, Alan will continue his management role and growth of the development, publication, accessibility, delivery and syndication of Ventana Research's educational research spanning its industry recognized benchmark research, value index, syndicated research, educational white papers and research perspectives. This research ...

Weight loss surgery is not a cure for type 2 diabetes, but it can improve blood sugar control, according to a new study published in the British Journal of Surgery. Whereas some previous studies have claimed that up to 80 per cent of diabetes patients have been cured following gastric bypass surgery, researchers at Imperial College London found that only 41 per cent of patients achieve remission using more stringent criteria. The research was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre awarded to Imperial College Healthcare ...

VIDEO: Trash and tombs went hand in hand in ancient Pompeii. That's according to UC research that provides new insights into daily life of that city before the eruption of Vesuvius... Click here for more information. Cemeteries in ancient Pompeii were "mixed-use developments" with a variety of purposes that included serving as an appropriate site to toss out the trash. That's according to findings from University of Cincinnati research at Pompeii to be presented Jan. 7, ...

IAM Corp (International Arts Management Corp) is pleased to announce the worldwide launch of the GEObet Gambling Network. GEObet.com, operated by Olympian Trading Limited and North Star Entertainment Limited, has launched award winning products including sportsbook, casino, poker, bingo and VIP customer service, affiliate tracking, automated banner delivery and back end systems. GEObet has been built to be a highly competitive international gaming product that operates seamlessly across all of the product channels. GEObet offers online partnerships to tribal casinos and ...

A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology shows that most patients who survive for at least five years after oesophageal cancer surgery recover an average quality of life. However, quality of life deteriorates significantly for one in six patients to a level that remains much lower than the average population in the five years after surgery. This suggests, say the researchers, that hospitals must be better at identifying this patient group. Globally, oesophageal cancer is the eighth most common form of cancer. The prognosis is a poor one, and only 10 ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's Institute for Regenerative Medicine and colleagues have discovered a new protein that may play a critical role in how the human body regulates blood sugar levels. Reporting in the current issue of Pancreas, the research team says the protein may represent a new target for treating type 1 diabetes. "This data may change the current thinking about what causes type 1 diabetes," said Bryon E. Petersen, Ph.D., professor of regenerative medicine and senior author. "Much more research is needed to understand ...