MARSABIT, KENYA (21 October 2011) – In the midst of a drought-induced food crisis affecting millions in the Horn of Africa, an innovative insurance program for poor livestock keepers is making its first payouts today, providing compensation for some 650 insured herders in northern Kenya's vast Marsabit District who have lost up to a third of their animals. Known as Index Based Livestock Insurance or IBLI, payouts are triggered when satellite images show that grazing lands in the region have deteriorated to the point that herders are expected to be losing more than 15 ...

Professor Qin Wenbin from BaoTou Medical College first identified the hemoglobin (Hb) A2 phenomenon 30 years ago. His first paper on this phenomenon was published in Acta Biochimica et Biophysica Sinica, in Chinese, in 1981. Subsequent research investigating its mechanism was published in Chinese in the Chinese Biochemical Journal and Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics in 1991 and more recently in Electrophoresis, in 2010. Using electrophoretic methods, he discovered that Hb is re-released in living red blood cells (RBCs) and demonstrated the significance of this process ...

After decades of decline, the worldwide death rate from full anesthesia is quietly creeping higher. According to an article recently published in the German Medical Association's official international science journal, the death rate during full anesthesia has reached approximately seven patients per million. In contrast, deaths from full anesthesia only affected four patients per million at the end of the 1980s. This disturbing trend may serve as a wakeup call to alert doctors that special precautions are warranted when anesthetizing at risk patients. Reasons Anesthesia ...

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an established technique which over the years has made it possible for researchers and healthcare professionals to study biological phenomena in the body without using ionising radiation, for example X-rays. The images produced by normal MRI are, to put it simply, pictures of water in the body, since the body is largely made up of water. MRI produces images of the hydrogen nuclei in water molecules. It can also be used to study other types of nuclei in many other interesting molecules. The only problem is that the concentration of ...

However, Svante Björck, a climate researcher at Lund University in Sweden, has now shown that global warming, i.e. simultaneous warming events in the northern and southern hemispheres, have not occurred in the past 20 000 years, which is as far back as it is possible to analyse with sufficient precision to compare with modern developments. Svante Björck's study thus goes 14 000 years further back in time than previous studies have done. "What is happening today is unique from a historical geological perspective", he says. Svante Björck has gone through the global ...

The benefits of virtual worlds can be used to help autistic children develop social skills beyond their anticipated levels, suggest early findings from new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Researchers on the Echoes Project have developed an interactive environment which uses multi-touch screen technology where virtual characters on the screener act to children's actions in real time. During sessions in the virtual environment, primary school children experiment with different social scenarios, allowing the researchers to compare their ...

Nearly one in three Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some point in their lives, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In Pennsylvania, as in many other states, the law recognizes the fact that there is often more than one at-fault party in a drunk driving accident. Under a Pennsylvania statute known as the "dram shop law," business establishments and social hosts may be held liable when they serve alcohol irresponsibly to someone who later causes an injury. Business Establishments Pennsylvania ...

Celebrated writers such as Charles Dickens and George Eliot described characters' faces vividly without going into detail about their features, according to a research group led at the University of Strathclyde. Experts in literature, psychology, neurology and music suggested that vividness can be created not only by describing individual features, such as the eyes, nose or chin, but by the strength of readers' feelings about how a person is depicted. These feelings may be triggered by the 'mirror neuron system,' in which people who see an action being performed have ...

Finnish researchers found a new mechanism inhibiting the spread and growth of cancer found in motile cells It has long been held that cells use different mechanisms for regulating migration and growth. This conception was proven false by research scientists Anja Mai and Stefan Veltel from the research team of Professor Johanna Ivaska. Their findings on aggressively spreading breast cancer cells revealed – completely contrary to previous expectations – that a single cell protein (p120RasGAP) acts as an important inhibitor of both cell migration and growth. Cancer cells ...

A University of Michigan Health System-led team of researchers has found a biomarker they believe can help rapidly identify one of the most serious complications in patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood disorders who have received a transplant of new, blood-forming cells. Known as a hematopoietic stem cell transplant, these patients receive bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells from a matched donor who is either a family member or an unrelated volunteer. The most common fatal complication of this type of transplant is graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), ...

In a summer with unprecedented weather events, from tornados, floods, fires and hurricanes, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing found that physiological changes associated with aging and the presence of chronic illness make older adults more susceptible to illness or injury, even death, during a disaster. Investigators followed 17 long-term care residents, with a mean age of 86, who were evacuated for five days due to a severe summer storm and were relocated to different facilities with different care providers and physical surroundings. The ...

Lithium-ion batteries are applied widely, but their storage capacity is limited. In the future, battery systems of enhanced energy density will be needed for mobile applications in particular. Such batteries can store more energy at reduced weight. For this reason, KIT researchers are also conducting research into alternative systems. A completely new concept for secondary batteries based on metal fluorides was developed by Dr. Maximilian Fichtner, Head of the Energy Storage Systems Group, and Dr. Munnangi Anji Reddy at the KIT Institute of Nanotechnology (INT). Metal ...

For those suffering a stroke, effective early treatment is critical in order to avoid long term complications or even death. But, stroke is commonly thought of as a condition only affecting older patients. According to a study presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference, this misperception often leads to misdiagnosis when stroke victims seek medical attention in an emergency room setting. Nearly One in Seven Young Stroke Sufferers Misdiagnosed It is true that the typical stroke victim is at least 55 years old. However, research shows ...

Research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists advances a strategy for taming the side effects and enhancing the therapeutic benefits of steroids and other medications that work by disrupting the activity of certain hormones. The approach relies on a small molecule developed at St. Jude. In this study, scientists showed that a compound known as SJ-AK selectively blocked the activity of genes in a cell signaling pathway regulated by thyroid hormone. Investigators showed that SJ-AK also affected cells growing in the laboratory, reducing cell proliferation ...

In a report to be published soon in EPJE¹, researchers from the National University of the South in Bahía Blanca, Argentina studied the condition for model cavity and tunnel structures resembling the binding sites of proteins to stay dry without losing their ability to react, a prerequisite for proteins to establish stable interactions with other proteins in water. E.P. Schulz and colleagues used models of nanometric-scale hydrophobic cavities and tunnels to understand the influence of geometry on the ability of those structures to stay dry in solution. The authors ...

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is known as a leading American health care provider. Yet, despite UPMC's high ranking in hospital rating publications, serious medical errors can and do occur in its facilities. In early 2011, Michael Yocabet received a kidney from longtime girlfriend Christina Mecannic in an operation performed at UPMC Presbyterian. Although the surgery was completed without incident, it was later discovered that the donated kidney was infected with hepatitis C, which was passed to Yocabet. As a result, UPMC's living kidney donor transplant ...

Athens, Ga. – A commonly prescribed blood pressure-lowering medication appears to kick start recovery in the unaffected brain hemisphere after a stroke by boosting blood vessel growth, a new University of Georgia study has found. The discovery, based on a study using rats and published recently in the online journal PLoS ONE, occurred only because the team, led by Susan Fagan, professor of clinical and administrative pharmacy at the UGA College of Pharmacy, struck a new path in stroke research by examining the healthy side of brain after the stroke occurred. "I'm ...

Reconstructive surgical approaches can help delay endoprosthetic joint replacement in patients with osteoarthritis. Henning Madry and coauthors introduce such procedures in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011; 108[40]: 669-77). Articular cartilage defects often develop subsequent to injury or osteoarthritis. The authors in their article provide an overview of currently available medical and surgical therapeutic options. Medical therapy aims to preserve articular function for as long as possible and to delay surgical intervention. ...

WORCESTER, Mass. — A team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Harvard Medical School, Stanford University and the Prince Felipe Research Centre in Spain have deciphered the complete three-dimensional structure of the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus's chromosome. Analysis of the resulting structure —published this week in Molecular Cell — has revealed new insights into the function of genetic sequences responsible for the shape and structure of this genome. Scientists know that the three-dimensional shape of a cell's chromosome plays a role ...

New research reveals how we make decisions. Birds choosing between berry bushes and investors trading stocks are faced with the same fundamental challenge - making optimal choices in an environment featuring varying costs and benefits. A neuroeconomics study from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital – The Neuro, McGill University, shows that the brain employs two separate regions and two distinct processes in valuing 'stimuli' i.e. 'goods' (for example, berry bushes), as opposed to valuing the 'actions,' needed to obtain the desired option (for example flight ...

A motorcyclist was killed on Interstate 88 in Warrenville, Illinois, on his way to Chicago, when he was thrown from his bike and hit by a passing truck. At the time, Nicholas Linton was riding with a group of other cyclists on his way to Chicago when he lost control, swerved, and was thrown from his bike. The accident is still under investigation; eye witness statements give conflicting reasons for the cyclist's loss of control. On I-80, another motorcycle rider was thrown from his bike after hitting a bump in the road produced by recent road construction. The rider ...

"Picture yourself hiking through the woods or walking across a lawn," says Elizabeth Haswell, PhD, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. "Now ask yourself: Do the bushes know that someone is brushing past them? Does the grass know that it is being crushed underfoot? Of course, plants don't think thoughts, but they do respond to being touched in a number of ways." "It's clear," Haswell says, "that plants can respond to physical stimuli, such as gravity or touch. Roots grow down, a 'sensitive plant' folds its leaves, and ...

Sexual harassment in the workplace has long been illegal. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of1964 classifies sexual harassment as discrimination. The specific definition is "unwelcome verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is severe or pervasive and affects working conditions or creates a hostile work environment." The EEOC, the federal agency responsible for policing discrimination in the workplace notes the following: Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of circumstances, including but not limited to the following: - The victim ...

The court uses a complex set of factors when determining a New Jersey child support award. Child support, intended to provide for the care, maintenance and education of a child, can be a hotly contested issue. In some cases, parents try to manipulate the system in an effort to receive more or pay less. While it is important to make sure that the court has all the facts when considering child support, it is also important to remember why child support exists in the first place -- to support minor children after divorce or when parents never married. The court evaluates ...

Consumers who tell little white lies to avoid confrontation might find themselves rewarding the people who inconvenienced them, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Most consumers have told an inquiring server that their cold meal is fine, a hairdresser that they like their unexpected 'new look,' or a friend that his/her too-snug jeans look great," write authors Jennifer J. Argo (University of Alberta) and Baba Shiv (Stanford University). But according to the researchers, white lies have negative repercussions for the people who tell them. In ...