Research summary: The study shows how normal cells in tumors can enhance the growth of the tumor's cancer cells after losing an important tumor suppressor gene called Pten. The findings suggest a new strategy for treating breast cancer by interrupting signals between normal cells and cancer cells in tumors. COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study published in the journal Nature Cell Biology has discovered how normal cells in tumors can fuel tumor growth. Led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard ...

A new draft computer security publication from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides guidance for vendors and security professionals as they work to protect personal computers as they start up. The first software that runs when a computer is turned on is the "Basic Input/Output System" (BIOS). This fundamental system software initializes the hardware before the operating system starts. Since it works at such a low level, before other security protections are in place, unauthorized changes—malicious or accidental—to the BIOS can cause a significant ...

Cosmetic dentist in Chicago, Dr. Carolyn Belke, invites patients to take advantage of Belke Dental's new extended office hours. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Dr. Belke is excited to offer patients later office hours. Rather than closing at five on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Dr. Carolyn Belke, Chicago cosmetic dentist, has extended the office hours to 6:00 p.m. Patients can now enjoy the added hour to office hours for convenience and ease of receiving dental care. Additionally, patients can continue to visit the office during regular hours on Mondays and Wednesdays of 9:00 a.m. ...

A newly revised publication from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) expands the options for government agencies that need to verify the identity of users of their Web-based services. Electronic Authentication Guideline (NIST Special Publication 800-63-1) is an extensive revision and update of the original document, released in 2006, and it recognizes that times, and technologies, have changed. "Changes made to the document reflect changes in the state of the art," explains NIST computer security expert Tim Polk, Cryptographic Technology Group manager ...

Ironically, despite excessive caloric intake, many obese women are deficient in vitamins vital to a healthy pregnancy. This and other startling statistics abound when obesity and pregnancy collide. Together, they present a unique set of challenges that women and their doctors must tackle in order to achieve the best possible outcome for mom and baby. In the December issue of the journal Seminars in Perinatology, maternal fetal medicine expert Loralei L. Thornburg, M.D., reviews many of the pregnancy-related changes and obstacles obese women may face before giving birth. ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- New research from the University of Michigan suggests obesity can be seen as one of the unintended side effects of free market policies. A study of 26 wealthy nations shows that countries with a higher density of fast food restaurants per capita had much higher obesity rates compared to countries with a lower density of fast food restaurants per capita. "It's not by chance that countries with the highest obesity rates and fast food restaurants are those in the forefront of market liberalization, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, ...

Leading dentist in Boulder, Dr. Mark Barnes, has over 1100 hours of post-graduate training and commits to many hours each year for remaining up-to-date with dental advancements. Dr. Barnes maintains continuing education course, as well as lectures on subjects such as TMJ and sleep apnea treatment in Boulder and other areas. Dr. Barnes, Boulder dentist, and his staff regularly participate in continuing education programs, while doing everything they can to offer patients the best care possible. Continuing education allows Dr. Barnes to help his patients achieve and maintain ...

A study examining the prevalence of the fungus Fusarium in bathroom sink drains suggests that plumbing systems may be a common source of human infections. In the first extensive survey of its kind, researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences sampled nearly 500 sink drains from 131 buildings -- businesses, homes, university dormitories and public facilities -- in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and California. They analyzed fungal DNA to compare the spectrum of Fusarium species and sequence types found ...

Dr. Ardalan Sanati, Vienna dentist, invites patients to leave reviews of their experience via online search engines - Google, Yelp and Yahoo! The reviews are easily accessible via any of the available search engines and allow patients to view how other patients' experiences at Dr. Sanati's office were. Patients can visit Google, Yelp and Yahoo! to read reviews from previous patients who have received treatment from Dr. Sanati, cosmetic dentist in McLean. "It is important for me to know what my patients' concerns are so that I know what I can do to make their time ...

Lean beef can contribute to a heart-healthy diet in the same way lean white meats can, according to nutritional scientists. The DASH diet -- Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension -- is currently recommended by the American Heart Association to lower cholesterol and reduce risk of heart disease. People following the DASH diet are encouraged to eat fish and poultry, but not much beef. According to the Centers for Disease Control about 26 percent of American deaths are caused by heart disease. "The DASH diet is currently the gold standard for contemporary diet recommendations," ...

Dr. Robert Katz, East Hartford family dentist, of Burnside Dental Care gives patients a reason to smile. With new patient forms now available online via the practice's website, patients can spend more one-on-one quality time with Drs. Robert Katz, Elzbieta Wallace and Alison Hadden. "I understand that new patient paperwork often takes up a large amount of time at a patient's first appointment with our office. For this reason, I am happy to offer new patient forms online for easy access and to save time while in the office for more one-on-one treatment time," ...

Imagine you're a hockey goalie, and two opposing players are breaking in alone on you, passing the puck back and forth. You're aware of the linesman skating in on your left, but pay him no mind. Your focus is on the puck and the two approaching players. As the action unfolds, how is your brain processing this intense moment of "multi-tasking"? Are you splitting your focus of attention into multiple "spotlights?" Are you using one "spotlight" and switching between objects very quickly? Or are you "zooming out" the spotlight and taking it all in at once? These are the ...

A new UCLA study shows that physicians who work shorter shifts are less likely to make mistakes during medical procedures. Dr. Christian De Virgilio, lead investigator at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor- UCL A Medical Center (LA BioMed), led a team that studied the medical records of 2,470 patients who had undergone laparoscopic gallbladder surgery. The study focused on operations that took place before and after rules were put in place in 2003 limiting hours worked by doctors. About half of the operations were performed before a reduction in ...

Premier Cincinnati general dentist, Dr. Stuart Levy, is honored to be voted as a "Top Dentist" in Cincinnati Magazine by his peers for the third consecutive year in a row. Dr. Levy has been voted as a top dentist in Cincinnati in 2009, 2010, and 2011. "It is an honor to be voted as a top dentist in Cincinnati by my peers. Being recognized for quality dental health care is an honorable award that I truly appreciate. Each year I find myself on the list of top dentists, is a positive reassurance that I am providing the best care possible," said Dr. ...

CORAL GABLES, FL – Approximately 80,000 industrial chemicals are in use and about 700 new chemicals are introduced to commerce each year in the United States, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. To assess human health risks from exposure to harmful substances, James Englehardt, professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Miami, is proposing a new technique that is more efficient than current methods. The new model reduces the data requirements 21-fold from previous models, and can predict the likelihood of illness not just from exposure ...

PHILADELPHIA -- Often, and without much warning, pancreatic cancer cells slip through the endothelial cells, head into the blood and out to other parts of the body to metastasize, making it one of the deadliest and hardest to treat cancers today. Now, researchers from Thomas Jefferson University's Center for Translational Medicine have found that reducing levels of a well-known, cell-surface protein known as N-cadherin in those cancer cells can interfere with that activity. The disruption slowed down the pancreatic cancer cells' mobility, they found, and prolonged survival ...

CORAL GABLES, FL (December 20, 2011) – University of Miami biology professor Akira Chiba is leading a multidisciplinary team to develop the first systematic survey of protein interactions within brain cells. The team is aiming to reconstruct genome-wide in situ protein-protein interaction networks (isPIN) within the neurons of a multicellular organism. Preliminary data were presented at the American Society for Cell Biology annual meeting, December 3 through 7, 2011, in Denver, Colorado. "This work brings us closer to understanding the mechanics of molecules that keep ...

Premier Virginia Beach dentist, Dr. Christopher Hooper, extends essential features of his practice to the online community. By visiting the practice's website, patients can gain access to the convenient online appointment requesting feature. "I understand that my patients are not always able to call our office to make appointments during the day, and for that reason I am happy to offer my patients the opportunity to request appointments online. It only takes a moment to fill out the request form and submit it to our office, so our patients no longer have to worry ...

Richelene Mitchell, a single mother of seven, grapples with the humiliation of public assistance while living in a sprawling Connecticut housing project in her heart-shattering memoir, "Dear Self: A Year in the Life of a Welfare Mother". Found and published posthumously, "Dear Self" is an insightful portrait of a former member of 'the 99%' that revisits the roots of greed, corruption, and wealth inequality in America. Born the daughter of a sharecropper in the South, Richelene Mitchell struggled to make her life better. An honor student in high school, ...

A report by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health provides an expanded review of six new air quality regulations proposed or recently adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA). These include the first national standards for reducing dangerous emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from power plants. Though the cost of implementing the new regulations is estimated to be about $195 billion over the next 20 years or so, the economic, environmental and health benefits amount to well over $1 trillion, considerably outweighing ...

Reston, Va. – Positron emission tomography (PET) and a molecular imaging agent that captures the proliferation of cancer cells could prove to be a valuable method for imaging a form of Non-Hodgkin's disease called mantle cell lymphoma, a relatively rare and devastating blood cancer. The pilot study is published in the December issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Lymphoma is the term used for an array of cancers that affect blood cells and the lymphatic system. These cancers are typically categorized as either Hodgkin's or non-Hodgkin's. Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) ...

Recently, a convicted sex offender was taken into custody and arrested as a result of an anonymous tip provided to the police. The man, identified as Brian Liska, was located at a Boy Scout's meeting at Irving Elementary School in Bloomington, Illinois. Liska faces Class 4 felony charges of being a child sex offender in a school zone. At the time of his arrest, Liska was reportedly wearing a Cub Scout leader uniform. Procedure necessitated the uniform being taken as evidence in the ongoing investigation resulting from the felony charges. Bloomington police spokesperson ...

Where does prejudice come from? Not from ideology, say the authors of a new paper. Instead, prejudice stems from a deeper psychological need, associated with a particular way of thinking. People who aren't comfortable with ambiguity and want to make quick and firm decisions are also prone to making generalizations about others. In a new article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, Arne Roets and Alain Van Hiel of Ghent University in Belgium look at what psychological scientists have learned about ...

HOUSTON -- Variations in health care spending by Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) are similar throughout the state despite previous research, which found significant spending differences between the private and commercial sector in McAllen, Texas. The latest research results from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), the Commonwealth Fund, and the Brookings Institution are published in the December issue of the American Journal of Managed Care. Researchers compared variations in spending and inpatient admissions in ...

"Title washing" is an emerging form of fraud that allows car owners to take advantage of unwitting car buyers by concealing information on the car's title. It is principally done in one of two ways. Frequently the perpetrators take advantage of varying vehicle documentation laws among different states to hide flood-damaged and salvaged title labels on the car's title. Scammers are also able to dupe victims by filing fraudulent paperwork with the state to obtain a duplicate title that does not show the valid lien attached to a vehicle. Insurance companies brand ...