Bacterial genes that make urine less acidic could be good targets to prevent catheter blockage, according to research presented at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Harrogate. The findings could lead to new strategies to prevent serious infections, particularly in long-term catheterization patients. Urinary catheters are devices used in hospitals and community care homes to manage a range of bladder conditions, and are commonly used to manage incontinence in elderly individuals for long periods of time. Scientists from the University of Brighton, ...

Manuka honey could be an efficient way to clear chronically infected wounds and could even help reverse bacterial resistance to antibiotics, according to research presented at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Harrogate. Professor Rose Cooper from the University of Wales Institute Cardiff is looking at how manuka honey interacts with three types of bacteria that commonly infest wounds: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Group A Streptococci and Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Her group has found that honey can interfere with the growth ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System have uncovered a new link between genetic variations associated with alcoholism, impulsive behavior and a region of the brain involved in craving and anxiety. The results, published online April 12 in Molecular Psychiatry, suggest that variations in the GABRA2 gene contribute to the risk of alcoholism by influencing impulsive behaviors, at least in part through a portion of the cerebral cortex known as the insula, says study senior author Margit Burmeister, Ph.D., research professor at U-M's Molecular ...

On the off chance that any of my Wealth Counsel colleagues from warmer climes are unaware of conditions in the Midwest, southeast Michigan in mid-February is not full of sun and ripe for delightful outdoor activities (I've shocked you, I'm sure). Some people from our wonderful state enjoy all that our winters have to offer, including skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling. Our law practice, however, has a significant number of retirement-age clients, and for those clients, and for the rest of us who prefer to reserve our outdoor recreation for the warmer months, February ...

EDITOR'S PICK Protein could improve recovery from heart attacks Angiogenesis, the development of new blood vessels, is required during embryonic development and wound healing, as well as during disease processes such as tumor growth. The signals that direct angiogensis are incompletely understood, but could represent novel targets for the development of therapies that promote or inhibit this process. In this paper, Young-Guen Kwon and colleagues, of Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, investigated the role of two related proteins- DKK1 and DKK2- in angiogenesis. These ...

A team of scientists led by the Smithsonian Institution has discovered a fossilized dinosaur skull and neck vertebrae that not only reveal a new species, but also an evolutionary link between two groups of dinosaurs. The new species, Daemonosaurus chauliodus, was discovered at Ghost Ranch, N.M. The team's findings are published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Wednesday, April 13. The oldest known dinosaurs walked or ran on their hind legs and included early predatory species such as Herrerasaurus. They existed in what are now Argentina and Brazil early in the ...

This press release is available in French. Pigeons may not instill the same aura of fear as a Tyrannosaurus rex, but they inherited their sense of smell from such prehistoric killers. Birds are known more for their flying abilities and their senses of vision and balance than for their sense of smell. According to conventional wisdom, the sense of smell declined during the transition from dinosaurs to birds as the senses of vision and balance were improved for flight. But new research published today by scientists at the University of Calgary, the Royal Tyrrell Museum ...

A simple dictionary search for the word mediation reveals the following definition: action in mediating between parties, as to effect an agreement or reconciliation. Legal practitioners are familiar with mediation as an alternative dispute resolution technique that utilizes a neutral party, the mediator, to assist two or more parties in coming to an out-of-court resolution to a dispute. Mediation is a common and effective technique that has long been used in general civil disputes, as well as in divorce and child custody matters. In fact, I first trained as a domestic relations ...

Firm founder David Jasmer of The Jasmer Law Firm, located in Chicago, Illinois, recently secured a $1 million out-of-court settlement for a client who was rendered an incomplete quadriplegic following a fall down a defective stairway. Last July, while visiting a friend's home, an active 54-year-old woman fell down a steep, poorly lit stairway onto a cement basement floor. She was catastrophically injured, breaking her neck and sustaining serious injuries to her spinal cord and knee. Doctors diagnosed her as an incomplete quadriplegic, meaning that she still had some ...

There is growing inequality between different countries in Europe and central Asia in the proportion of people who die from stroke, according to a study published online today in the European Heart Journal [1]. In countries where the proportions of stroke deaths have been low at the end of the 20th century, the death rates are continuing to decrease sharply; these countries include most of the western European nations. But in countries where stroke deaths were moderate or high, there has been "a further unprecedented increase in this cause of death" say the authors of ...

Blue denim jeans are one of the most popular and iconic fashion items in the world; now a study published in Biotechnology Journal reveals a cheaper, more efficient and eco-friendly method for treating dyed denim. The process of 'surface activation' used to wash-down the denim following dyeing could also offer an alternative to the dangerous, and internationally banned, sandblasting technique. "The global production of denim is estimated at 3 billion linear meters and more than 4 billion garments per year," said Thomas Bechtold, from the Research Institute for Textile ...

CINCINNATI—The hormone ghrelin, known to promote hunger and fat storage, has been found to enhance exploratory "sniffing" in both animals and humans. The research, by University of Cincinnati (UC) scientists, suggests that ghrelin may be designed to boost detection of calories in our environment through smell and link those inputs with natural regulation of metabolism and body weight. Led by Jenny Tong, MD, and Matthias Tschöp, MD, both of UC's endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism division, the study appears in the April 13, 2011, issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, ...

A team of American and Chinese scientists studying the role of stem cells in repairing damaged retina tissue have found that pigs represent an effective proxy species to research treatments for humans. The study, published in STEM CELLS, demonstrates how stem cells can be isolated and transplanted between pigs, overcoming a key barrier to the research. Treatments to repair the human retina following degenerative diseases remain a challenge for medical science. Unlike species of lower vertebrates the human retina lacks a regenerative pathway meaning that research has ...

There are thousands of ways to classify a death: city officials categorize accidental deaths in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island using approximately 6,000 codes. Given the wide array of options in defining accidental death, an exhaustive list of the top contributors is a slippery concept. But, while lists may vary, there is a general hierarchy to sources of unintended tragedy. Unsurprisingly, motor vehicle accidents are the number one source of accidental deaths. Those 19-30 years old are most likely to be killed in traffic accidents, although ...

Using the amplifying power of a cosmic gravitational lens, astronomers have discovered a distant galaxy whose stars were born unexpectedly early in cosmic history. This result sheds new light on the formation of the first galaxies, as well as on the early evolution of the Universe. Johan Richard, the lead author of a new study [1] says: "We have discovered a distant galaxy that began forming stars just 200 million years after the Big Bang. This challenges theories of how soon galaxies formed and evolved in the first years of the Universe. It could even help solve the ...

A Travis County jury recently awarded a Texas man $1.6 million in damages resulting from business fraud committed by businessman and broker Christopher Bounds. Bounds worked for Merrill Lynch in Austin, where he conducted several business transactions that came to be the subject matter of the District Court lawsuit. Plaintiff David Fernea accused Bounds of committing investment fraud and theft through the sale of stock in two telemarketing businesses. In the sales agreement, Bounds was to transfer his business interests in Austrends Inc. and Bounds and Pinto Marketing ...

ATHENS, Ohio (April 12, 2011) – Birds are known more for their senses of vision and hearing than smell, but new research suggests that millions of years ago, the winged critters also boasted a better sense for scents. A study published today by scientists at the University of Calgary, the Royal Tyrrell Museum and the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine tested the long-standing view that during the evolution from dinosaurs to birds, the sense of smell declined as birds developed heightened senses of vision, hearing and balance for flight. The team compared ...

Individuals with fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited form of intellectual disability, often develop epilepsy, but so far the underlying causes are unknown. Researchers have now discovered a potential mechanism that may contribute to the link between epilepsy and fragile X syndrome. The protein that is missing in fragile X syndrome, FMRP, controls the production of a protein that regulates electrical signals in brain cells, scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have found. The results were published April 13 in the Journal of Neuroscience. Individuals ...

In recent years, the United States has seen one of the most uncertain economic times in its history. The housing market has suffered perhaps more than any other area of our economy. According to CoreLogic, over 10.8 million homes are underwater, where the borrower owes more than the home is worth. That number is actually down from the second quarter of 2010, when over 11 million properties were underwater. But CoreLogic cautions that the decline in the number of properties with negative equity may be a result of a spike in foreclosures as opposed to a rebound in the ...

An appetite-stimulating hormone causes people and animals to sniff odors more often and with greater sensitivity, according to a new study in the April 13 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings suggest ghrelin may enhance the ability to find and identify food. Researchers led by Jenny Tong, MD, and Matthias Tschöp, MD, at the University of Cincinnati found the appetite-related hormone also influences smell. The new study shows ghrelin, made mainly in the stomach, binds to molecules in the brain's olfactory bulb, suggesting the hormone is directly involved in ...

Older adults at risk for stroke have significantly increased risk for some types of cognitive decline, according to a multicenter study led by University of California scientists. The study, which involved 73 older women and men who had not had a stroke and did not have dementia, showed that participants had substantially greater risk for decline in some aspects of "executive function" – specifically in verbal fluency and the ability to ignore irrelevant information. Verbal memory and short term, or "working memory," were not affected. The finding is reported in a ...

Travelzest owned VFB Holidays has revealed it is cutting the cost of going to France with a special promotional offer on return ferry crossings, running right through till the 30th of April 2011. The special offers will mean that customers can book a holiday cottage in France with VFB Holidays at any time during the month of April 2011 and they will get a discounted rate on a return ferry crossing with Sea France, which will save them GBP226 on the normal peak crossing rate for a car. The offer is exclusive to VFB Holidays and gives travellers the ability to make ...

Mothers' exposure during pregnancy to pollutants created by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and other organic material may lead to behavioral problems in their children, according to a new study. Researchers found that within a sample of 215 children monitored from birth, those children with high levels of a pollution exposure marker in their cord blood had more symptoms of attention problems and anxiety/depression at ages 5 and 7 than did children with lower exposure. The study, "PAH/Aromatic DNA Adducts in Cord Blood and Behavior Scores in New York City Children," ...

Osteoporosis constitutes a major public health problem through its association with age-related fractures, most notably those of the hip. As life expectancy rises around the world, along with the number of elderly people in every geographic region, the incidence of hip fractures is estimated to reach 6.3 million in 2050 - assuming a constant age-specific rate of fracture in men and women. A new review paper by a scientific working group of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) shows however that age-specific hip fracture rates have changed during recent decades ...

Animal and bird species found only on a single island should still be common within that island. This is the finding of a new model developed by researchers from the University of Leeds and Imperial College London. The model could apply both to actual islands and isolated areas of habitat on the mainland that are home to unique species, such as the table top mountains of South America. The natural history of islands is littered with examples of unusual species found only in one place, such as the Hawaiian Goose, Galápagos Tortoises and Dodo that may once have been ...