(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– An international team of scientists has developed a way to predict how much a person can learn, based on studies at UC Santa Barbara's Brain Imaging Center. A study published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) details the findings. Researchers collected brain imaging data from people performing a motor task, and then analyzed this data using new computational techniques. They found evidence that the flexibility of a person's brain can be used to predict how well someone will learn. The researchers view flexibility ...

Dentist in Jacksonville, Dr. Siamac Mashod, has recently added an educational library, providing patients with up-to-date information on various dental health topics including teeth whitening, veneers and implants in Jacksonville. Patients can visit the newly developed website to access the online patient education library and further strengthen their knowledge of proper dental health care. When patients need information about dental health care from this Jacksonville emergency dentist, they can simply visit the practice's website to access the patient education library ...

Leading dentist in Carlsbad, Dr. Scott Peters, has released a new, convenient website feature - online new patient forms. Patients can simply visit the practice's interactive website to access the new patient forms feature. By downloading and filling out the new patient forms, more time can be spent evaluating and receiving treatment rather than on paperwork in the waiting area. "It is important that each of my patients receives the appropriate care they need and deserve. Allowing my patients to view and print new patient forms from the practice's website further ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study shows how inflammation can help cause cancer. Chronic inflammation due to infection or to conditions such as chronic inflammatory bowel disease is associated with up to 25 percent of all cancers. This study by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) found that inflammation stimulates a rise in levels of a molecule called microRNA-155 (miR-155). This, in turn, causes a drop in levels of proteins involved in DNA repair, ...

High up in the sky near the poles some 50 miles above the ground, silvery blue clouds sometimes appear, shining brightly in the night. First noticed in 1885, these clouds are known as noctilucent, or "night shining," clouds. Their discovery spawned over a century of research into what conditions causes them to form and vary – questions that still tantalize scientists to this day. Since 2007, a NASA mission called Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) has shown that the cloud formation is changing year to year, a process they believe is intimately tied to the weather and ...

Agog Digital Marketing Strategy Ltd (Agog Digital) was awarded as the No.1 Hong Kong search engine optimization (SEO) company in March 2011 by an independent search authority, Topseos. Agog Digital is really pleased with the achievement, especially as Agog Digital insists in using white-hat SEO techniques only. "In Hong Kong, many SEO service providers adopt search engine spamming techniques commonly referred to as black-hat techniques. It can gain a quick-fix result but may risk clients' websites' long-term presence in search engines," Mr. Jimsun Lui, Senior ...

Heart Test Laboratories, Inc. is proud to announce its partnership with Miller Public Relations. With over fifteen years' experience helping medical health professionals, Miller Public Relations is the ideal partner to help raise Heart Test Laboratories' profile in the medical community. Having forged long-standing relationships with some of the nation's most renowned medical device, technology and pharmaceutical companies, the award-winning Medical Marketing Team at Miller Public Relations will create public relations and advertising programs that support the launch ...

Animals that reproduce asexually by somatic cloning have special mechanisms that delay ageing provide exceptionally good health. Scientists at the University of Gothenburg have shown how colony-forming ascidians (or sea squirts) can activate the enzyme telomerase, which protects DNA. This enzyme is more active also in humans who attain an advanced age. "Animals that clone themselves, in which part of an individual's body is passes on to the next generations, have particularly interesting conditions related to remaining in good health to persist. This makes it useful to ...

Capt. Max Hardberger, known as "The Good Pirate" for his efforts to repossess illegitimately seized ships around the world, will present a free WorkBoat.com webinar on "Vessel Operations in Third-World Countries" on Wednesday, April 27. Registration is now open for the webinar, which will be held from 1 p.m.-2 p.m. EST, noon-1 p.m. CST. To register, visit www.WorkBoat.com. "With U.S. workboat operators expanding into global markets and sometimes sending vessels to work in unstable countries, it's essential to know the dangers and pitfalls ...

Squamous cell cancers, which can occur in multiple organs in the body, can originate from hair follicle stem cells, a finding that could result in new strategies to treat and potentially prevent the disease, according to a study by researchers with UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA. Researchers also found that the progeny of those cells, although just a few divisions away from the mother hair follicle stem cells, were not capable of forming squamous cell cancers. Further ...

DNA is under constant attack, from internal factors like free radicals and external ones like ionizing radiation. About 10 double-strand breaks – the kind that snap both backbones of the double helix – occur every time a human cell divides. To prevent not only gene mutations but broken chromosomes and chromosomal abnormalities known to cause cancer, infertility, and other diseases in humans, prompt, precise DNA repair is essential. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), working with cell lines of the fruit ...

Prepare for The 12th Annual Heart's Delight Wine Tasting & Auction, benefiting The American Heart Association, May 11-14, 2011 (www.HEARTSDELIGHTWINEAUCTION.org). The May 11 - May 14 benefit, known as a premier destination event, will feature master winemakers, culinary greats and distinguished guests. Wednesday's United States of Wine reception will showcase American Wine. Thursday's Private Dinner Series will offer a series of intimate wine dinners. Friday night Vintners Dinner will highlight the wines of Chateau Haut Brion, and following will be a live auction ...

By identifying a surprising association of two intracellular proteins, University of Iowa researchers have laid the groundwork for the development of new therapies to treat B cell lymphomas and autoimmune disease. The researchers studied mouse B cells expressing the viral protein Latent Membrane Protein 1 (LMP1), which has been implicated in several types of cancer because of its role in the proliferation and survival of Epstein-Barr virus infected B cells. They discovered that LMP1 needs the cellular protein Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor-Associated Factor 6 (TRAF6) ...

A new study from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows how analysing spinal fluid can help to detect Alzheimer's disease at an early stage. The researchers behind the study hope that their findings will contribute to a greater international breakthrough for this type of diagnostic method. It all comes down to biomarkers, substances that are found at abnormally high or low levels in patients who go on to develop Alzheimer's. The most common biomarkers to be identified by the researchers in the spinal fluid of patients with Alzheimer's are proteins and peptides – ...

Los Angeles health insurance agents at Master Insurance Services have now made it easier than ever for self-employed individuals to find an insurance plan that suits their needs. Anyone can receive an instant quote by filling out the online form on Master Insurance Service's website and compare different plans from different providers and find the one that suits their needs without the hassle of searching around and checking different websites. The changing economic conditions continue to bring uncertainty to workers. Workers are learning to make personal sacrifices ...

Håkan Eggert's studies from Iceland and the Gullmar fjord on the Swedish west coast, reveal that when commercial fishermen are given fishing rights they voluntarily choose more sustainable fishing methods and earn far more. His research at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, demonstrates that over-capacity in the fishing fleet can be reduced. Transferrable fishing rights were introduced in Sweden as late as 2009, and then only for species such as herring and mackerel. A report from the inquiry into Sweden's new Fishery Conservation Act has recently been out for consultation ...

Youngsters are, on average, 16 years old and sober when they make their sexual debut with somebody they have known for a while. However, condoms feature in just half of sexual encounters with new or casual partners, reveals a major survey on the sexual habits, attitudes and knowledge of young people carried out by the University of Gothenburg on behalf of the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control. "We have to get young people to view condoms as an essential part of having sex," says Ronny Heikki Tikkanen, one of the researchers behind the study which polled ...

Rotavirus vaccination in all areas of Brazil is associated with reduced diarrhea-related deaths and hospital admissions in children aged under five years, reports a study in this week's PLoS Medicine. Manish Patel from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and colleagues show that these real-world impact data—what actually happens in reality rather than in strictly controlled clinical trial settings—are consistent with the clinical trials and conclude that their study strengthens the evidence base for use of rotavirus vaccination as ...

Policies to promote healthy ageing often emphasize a healthy diet and maintaining physical activity. But currently there is little good evidence to support the benefits of improved nutrition and increased physical activity levels for older adults from low-income or transition economies. Alan Dangour from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, and colleagues report this week in PLoS Medicine the outcomes of the Cost-effectiveness Evaluation of a Nutritional supplement and EXercise program for older people — CENEX — which evaluated whether Chile's ...

In this week's PLoS Medicine, Stephan Harbarth from the University of Geneva, Switzerland and colleagues argue that the International Health Regulations (IHR) should be applied to the global health threat of antimicrobial resistance. They say that certain events marking the emergence and spread of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, especially those involving new pan-resistant strains for which there are no suitable treatments, may constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and are notifiable to WHO under the IHR notification requirement. In an ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Each year, more than two million critically ill patients are transferred from one hospital emergency department (ED) to another for appropriate care. With the ability to successfully import data from a CD-ROM containing the patient's diagnostic medical images, hospitals may be able to significantly reduce unnecessary medical imaging tests, some of which expose patients to radiation. These findings are reported in a new study published in the July issue of Radiology. According to researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, the implementing ...

A new study found that treatment-resistant epilepsy (TRE) is common in idiopathic autism. Early age at the onset of seizures and delayed global development were associated with a higher frequency of resistance to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Full findings appear online in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of developmental disabilities that can significantly impact social interaction, ...

An analysis of data from Medicare beneficiaries who underwent hip replacement or subsequent follow-up corrective surgery between 1991 and 2008 indicates that the length of hospital stay after surgery declined during this time period, as did the proportion of patients discharged home, while there was an increase in the rate of hospital readmissions and discharge to a skilled care facility, according to a study in the April 20 issue of JAMA. "Total hip arthroplasty [replacement] is a safe and effective therapy for patients with advanced degenerative joint disease. In recent ...

DURHAM, N.C.--Deforestation in parts of the Peruvian Amazon has increased six-fold in recent years as small-scale miners, driven by record gold prices, blast and clear more of the lowland rainforest, according to a new Duke University-led study. The study, published today in the online journal PLoS ONE, combined NASA satellite imagery spanning six years with economic analyses of gold prices and mercury imports to document the forces responsible for deforestation in Peru's biologically diverse Madre de Dios region. Roughly 7,000 hectares, or about 15,200 acres, of pristine ...

Cancer survival rates could improve soon with whole-genome sequencing, according to two studies published in the April 20, 2011, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association that describe the first clinical applications of the high-tech process in patients with cancer. The papers are remarkable examples of the power that genomic data hold for patients with a cancer diagnosis, according to an accompanying editorial by Boris Pasche, M.D., deputy director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center and professor of medicine, and Devin ...