A patient's viewpoint of the severity of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms can be influenced not only by physical symptoms of IBS but broader psychological problems, according to a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. "Clinicians who face pressure to treat patients in a cost-effective manner within tight time constraints and at a satisfactory level are likely to find that patient-reported outcome data can increase their understanding of what patients mean when they describe how ...

Animals like foxes and raccoons are highly adaptable. They move around and eat everything from insects to eggs. They and other "generalist feeders" like them may also be crucial to sustaining biological diversity, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). McGill biology researchers have developed a unified, spatially based understanding of biodiversity that takes into account the complex food webs of predators and prey. "Biodiversity exists within a landscape. Predators and prey are continuously on the move as their ...

Carbon nanotubes, tiny cylinders composed of one-atom-thick carbon lattices, have gained fame as one of the strongest materials known to science. Now a group of researchers from the University of Michigan is taking advantage of another one of carbon nanotubes' unique properties, the low refractive index of low-density aligned nanotubes, to demonstrate a new application: making 3-D objects appear as nothing more than a flat, black sheet. The refractive index of a material is a measure of how much that material slows down light, and carbon nanotube "forests" have a low ...

MacTransco is one of South Africa's leading haulers of processed and unprocessed goods. Markus van der Merwe, Director of MacTransco, believes one of the company's key advantages lies in the location of its operations in Lephalale and Messina. He describes Messina, which is also where the company's head office is situated, as "the gateway to Africa" because of its continued development. "There is a lot of commodity coming through Messina into Africa in addition to large investments being made in the mines," explains van der Merwe. Van der Merwe stresses ...

Hydrodynamics of writing with ink Jungchul Kim, Myoung-Woon Moon, Kwang-Ryeol Lee, L. Mahadevan, and Ho-Young Kim Physical Review Letters (forthcoming) For millennia, writing has been the preferred way to convey information and knowledge from one generation to another. We first developed the ability to write on clay tablets with a point, and then settled on a reed pen, as preserved from 3000 BC in Egypt when it was used with papyrus. This device consisted of a hollow straw that served as an ink reservoir and allowed ink to flow to its tip by capillary action. A quill ...

Bokamoso Private Hospital, located just west of Gaborone in Botswana, has been operational since January 2010. The vision in setting up a brand new hospital was to provide specialist services and facilities not previously catered for in existing hospitals in Botswana. "One of our unique selling points is the range of specialist services that we provide," says Gontle Moleele, the Chief Medical Officer at Bokamoso Private Hospital. Services available at the hospital include neurology, cardiology, endocrinology, haemodialysis, sports medicine, pathology and gynecology, ...

The Powerhouse Clothing Company is one of South Africa's most flexible and innovative clothing manufacturers. The company is 100 percent dedicated to manufacturing solely in South Africa, despite a growing competition from companies in the East and cheap imports from outside SA being at all time high in the clothing industry. As a result of Powerhouse's aim to be a wholly South African company, its supply chain is one of its most important operating focuses. "If your supply chain is not working in tandem together then everything falls apart," notes Justin Mansfield, ...

Costs for second-generation ethanol processing, which will ease the stress on corn and sugarcane, are unlikely to be competitive until 2020, according to a unique Queen's University study. "This study really lays out in black and white where we are and where we are going," says Warren Mabee, an assistant professor in the School of Policy Studies and Department of Geography. "It should prompt companies to reassess (their processes going forward)." The researchers found that building large scale facilities for second-generation ethanol production will be more costly than ...

Only a few decades ago, scientists discovered the existence of "sprites" 30 to 55 miles above the surface of the Earth. They're offshoots of electric discharges caused by lightning storms, and a valuable window into the composition of our atmosphere. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University say that sprites are not a phenomenon specific to our planet. Jupiter and Saturn experience lightning storms with flashes 1,000 or more times more powerful than those on Earth, says Ph.D. student Daria Dubrovin. With her supervisors Prof. Colin Price of TAU's Department of Geophysics ...

Although JP Pretorius, Dealer Principal and Director of Autohaus Windhoek, admits customer service is very important, a quality product portfolio like Audi, VW and MAN gives the company a unique and strong selling point. "We try to innovate and put our customers first, but we also have some fantastic products to back-up our service. Accolades and recognitions from its vehicle manufacturers have also reinforced Autohaus Windhoek's standing as a premiere distributor. "In the last three years we have received 14 VW and Audi South Africa awards, which includes ...

MADISON – Hydrogen peroxide isn't just that bottled colorless liquid in the back of the medicine cabinet that's used occasionally for cleaning scraped knees and cut fingers. It's also a natural chemical in the body that rallies at wound sites, jump-starting immune cells into a series of events. A burst of hydrogen peroxide causes neutrophils, the immune system's first responders, to rush to the wound to fight microorganisms, remove damaged tissue and then start the inflammation process. University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers now have discovered the molecular ...

SJM Flex is a major player in the automotive industry, manufacturing flexible couplings for vehicle exhaust systems. SJM Flex SA has all the necessary and required accreditations for it to operate on a global scale. Its TS 16949, ISO 9000 and ISO 9002 accreditations ensure its operating and production process are of the highest quality and are continuously improving, while its OHSAS 18001 certification guarantees occupational health and safety. Meanwhile, it's ISO 14001 qualification recognises its sustainable and environmentally friendly operating initiatives. "If ...

Genetically modified animals are designed to contain the spread of pathogens. One prerequisite for the release of such organisms into the environment is that the new gene variant does not spread uncontrollably, suppressing natural populations. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, Germany, have now established that certain mutations are maintained over an extended period if two separate populations exchange individuals with one another on a small scale. The new gene variant may remain confined to one of the two populations. The migration ...

Electronic pop duo Junior Boys are set to perform at Barcelona's Sala Razzmatazz next month.   Their show in the Catalan capital on Tuesday December 20th will be the penultimate date on the Canadian duo's current tour of Europe, with the final gig taking place in Madrid the following night.   Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus won critical acclaim for their latest album It's All True, which was released by Domino Records earlier this year.   Their music is known for mixing dancefloor-friendly disco, house and techno influences, although many of the duo's songs also ...

A new model developed by scientists of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) allows the potential presence of bluefin tuna to be tracked through daily updated maps, helping to protect endangered stocks and fight illegal fishing. The model, based on satellite remote sensing data, provides for the first time an overall view of the preferred bluefin tuna habitats in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as their changes over time. Satellite-based habitat mapping can help identify more precisely areas to be inspected or to be closed for fisheries and it can also help ...

FAIRFAX, Va., November 21, 2011—People who believe there is a lot of disagreement among scientists about global warming tend to be less certain that global warming is happening and less supportive of climate policy, researchers at George Mason, San Diego State, and Yale Universities report in a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. A recent survey of climate scientists conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois found near unanimous agreement among climate scientists that human-caused global warming is happening. This new George Mason ...

Can dementias and mild cognitive impairment be influenced in their course by diseases and risk factors? This is the subject of a study reported by Thorleif Etgen and co-authors in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011; 108[44]: 743-50). Increasingly larger numbers of people are affected by mild cognitive impairments and even dementia, which means that early detection of possible precursors as well as diagnosis and therapy of risk factors that can actually be influenced are gaining in importance. The term "mild cognitive impairment" ...

NEW YORK (Nov. 21, 2011) -- Older adults receiving home health care may be taking a drug that is unsafe or ineffective for someone their age. In fact, nearly 40 percent of seniors receiving medical care from a home health agency are taking at least one prescription medication that is considered potentially inappropriate to seniors, a new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine has revealed. The study's researchers, led by Dr. Yuhua Bao, assistant professor of public health at Weill Cornell Medical College, found that home health care patients aged 65 and over ...

A collection of dramatic ice sculptures will be seen on the streets of York next month, when the city's Festival of Angels returns for 2011.   Held during the run-up to Christmas each year, the event is a popular winter celebration that also includes snow showers, street entertainment, shopping stalls and plenty of food and drink.   This year's festival is due to take place on Saturday December 10th and Sunday December 11th.   The ice sculptures are the main attraction of the event, which has been held in York since 2000.   Illuminated by the city's Christmas lights, ...

Financial incentives work for doctors. Could they work for patients, too? Could they encourage them to change unhealthy behaviors and use preventive health services more? In some cases, yes, according to Dr. Marita Lynagh from the University of Newcastle in Australia, and colleagues. Their work, looking at why financial incentives for patients could be a good thing to change risky health behaviors, indicates that incentives are likely to be particularly effective at altering 'simple' behaviors e.g. take-up of immunizations, primarily among socially disadvantaged groups. ...

EUGENE, Ore. -- (Nov. 21, 2011) -- An anti-cancer drug used extensively in chemotherapy binds pervasively to RNA -- up to 20-fold more than it does to DNA, a surprise finding that suggests new targeting approaches might be useful, according to University of Oregon researchers. Medical researchers have long known that cisplatin, a platinum compound used to fight tumors in nearly 70 percent of all human cancers, attaches to DNA. Its attachment to RNA had been assumed to be a fleeting thing, says UO chemist Victoria J. DeRose, who decided to take a closer look due to recent ...

Disney on Ice: Princesses and Heroes is heading to the Czech capital next month.   The spectacular ice skating show, which will be staged at the Tesla Arena on Saturday December 3rd and Sunday December 4th, should provide a pre-Christmas treat for families in the city.   Members of the audience can expect to see many of their favourite characters from Disney's most popular films, including Cinderella, Snow White, Jasmine from Aladdin and Ariel from The Little Mermaid.   There will also be plenty of daring high jumps and acrobatic feats from the skaters, as well as ...

AMES, Iowa - Research at Iowa State University has led to discovery of a genetic method that can increase biomass in algae by 50 to 80 percent. The breakthrough comes from expressing certain genes in algae that increase the amount of photosynthesis in the plant, which leads to more biomass. Expressing genes means that the gene's function is turned on. "The key to this (increase in biomass) is combination of two genes that increases the photosynthetic carbon conversion into organic matter by 50 percent over the wild type under carbon dioxide enrichment conditions," said ...

The joys of Christmas pantomimes are to be brought to Pattaya in a fun-filled production of Cinderella this winter.   Staged by the Pattaya Players, a popular amateur theatre troupe, the show premieres on November 25th and 26th, with further dates on December 1st, 3rd, 4th, 9th and 10th.   Attendees will be able to experience all the fun of the famous fairytale story in this British panto classic, which has been adapted for local audiences by writer Ray Lightbown and director Wendy Khan.   Kids and grown-ups alike will delight in the antics of Cinderella, Buttons, ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Nursing is among construction and law enforcement as one of seven professions reporting the most on-the-job injuries, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Sprains, strains or tears due to overexertion account for many of the injuries. Those injuries often can be attributed to improperly lifting, handling and moving patients. Now, nursing students at the University of Missouri have a new facility that will help them develop skills to keep themselves and their patients safe. An unused locker room in the Sinclair School of Nursing has been ...