The current edition of JAMIA, today's top-ranked journal in biomedical and health informatics, features new scientific research—in print and online—on some of healthcare's most hotly discussed HIT-related topics, written by prominent experts working in health and biomedicine: "The case for randomized controlled trials to assess the impact of clinical information systems" Joseph L. Y. Liu of The University of Dundee and The University of Edinburgh, UK; and Jeremy C. Wyatt of University of Warwick and The University of Dundee, UK, provide a perspective on the critical ...

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Weill Cornell Medical College have designed artificial "protocells" that can lure, entrap and inactivate a class of deadly human viruses—think decoys with teeth. The technique offers a new research tool that can be used to study in detail the mechanism by which viruses attack cells, and might even become the basis for a new class of antiviral drugs. A new paper* details how the novel artificial cells achieved a near 100 percent success rate in deactivating experimental analogs of Nipah ...

Bruce Ramsey, CEO of Heirloom Fund Management Ltd. (the "Manager") is pleased to announce the launch of the Heirloom Caribbean Real Estate Fund (the "Fund"). The Fund's principal investment objective is to provide investors with capital appreciation and income by investing in a diversified portfolio of real estate projects and assets in the Caribbean Region and in Latin American countries whose shores are bounded on the Caribbean Sea. The Fund focuses on investing in a diversified portfolio of income properties and development properties of varying risk profiles and ...

Before you can build that improved turbojet engine, before you can create that longer-lasting battery, you have to ensure all the newfangled materials in it will behave the way you want—even under conditions as harsh as the upper atmosphere at supersonic speed, or the churning chemistry of an ion cell. Now computer scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have improved software* that can take much of the guesswork out of tough materials problems like these. The software package, OOF (Object-Oriented Finite element analysis) is a specialized ...

A powerful scientific tool for selecting cost-effective and environmentally preferable building products is now available as a free, web-based application. Developed and maintained by the National Institute Standards and Technology (NIST), BEES (Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability) Online is based on consensus standards and designed to be practical, flexible and transparent. bees onlineThe web-based version allows easier access for users and will enable new building products to be added to the database as the information becomes available. BEES originally ...

A new mouse model closely resembles how the human body reacts to early HIV infection and is shedding light on nerve cell damage related to the disease, according to researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study in today's Journal of Neuroscience demonstrates that HIV infection of the nervous system leads to inflammatory responses, changes in brain cells, and damage to neurons. This is the first study to show such neuronal loss during initial stages of HIV infection in a mouse model. The study was conducted by a team of scientists from the University ...

It takes just 10 new paid members to win your choice of an Apple iPad, a stripper pole and stage, or a trip for two to the annual Vegas swingers takeover. Kasidie.com's "Spring Promotion and Membership Drive" gives a bonus to the recently launched affiliate program. "We are excited to launch this contest, especially since everyone can win," said Darren Hurst, Kasidie's VP of Affiliate Programs, "and of course the prizes are in addition to the high paying revenue share program so our partners can get these great prizes along with their affiliate payments." Contest details ...

BOZEMAN, Mont. –- Solar scientists from around the world were puzzled when sunspots recently disappeared for more than two years, but a former Montana State University physics graduate student and two collaborators have solved the mystery. In the process, they found a way to predict the next lapse in solar activity, which will help people who oversee communication systems or plan long trips into space, said MSU solar physicist Piet Martens. Dibyendu Nandi, Andres Munoz-Jaramillo and Martens published a paper in the March 3 issue of Nature that they said explained for ...

Lower potassium levels in the blood may help explain why African-Americans are twice as likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes as whites, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers. The findings, if confirmed, suggest that part of diabetes prevention may someday prove as easy as taking a cheap potassium supplement. "This research doesn't mean people should run out and start taking potassium supplements," says Hsin-Chieh "Jessica" Yeh, Ph.D., an assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and an author of the study, ...

A retrovirus that inserted itself into the human genome thousands of years ago may be responsible for some cases of the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gherig's disease. The finding, made by Johns Hopkins scientists, may eventually give researchers a new way to attack this universally fatal condition. While roughly 20 percent of ALS cases appear to have a genetic cause, the vast majority of cases appear to arise sporadically, with no known trigger. Research groups searching for a cause of this so-called sporadic form had ...

An international consortium of researchers led by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) genetically characterises almost all Spanish patients and studies the clinical impact of the mutations. The study describes over 130 pathogenic mutations and the origins and world distribution of some of the most frequent mutations. The predominant genetic mutation originated in Europe thousands of years ago and later migrated to America. The Canary island of La Palma and Brazil, with a high prevalence of the disease, were two areas in which the mutation spread widely. A consortium ...

Scientists are reporting the first evidence that consumption of a healthful antioxidant substance in apples extends the average lifespan of test animals, and does so by 10 percent. The new results, obtained with fruit flies — stand-ins for humans in hundreds of research projects each year — bolster similar findings on apple antioxidants in other animal tests. The study appears in ACS's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Zhen-Yu Chen and colleagues note that damaging substances generated in the body, termed free radicals, cause undesirable changes believed to ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University scientist and researchers in Japan have produced a new class of improved plant growth regulators that are expected to be less toxic to humans. Angus Murphy, a professor of horticulture, said the growth inhibitors block the transport of auxin, a plant hormone that, when transported throughout the plant, controls growth processes. Current growth regulators that inhibit auxin transport are inefficient because they also have hormonelike activity or affect other important plant processes. Current growth inhibitors also are often toxic. Growth ...

On February 20th, Alaric Flower Design participated in their first Fashion Week at the Waldorf Astoria. They showcased three concept floral dresses called "The Arrangement Collection" and were very well-received. Alaric Flower Design's Lena Yelagina and Olga Meshcheryakova are familiar with style, being one of the top florists in Midtown Manhattan for over five years.  Their floral designs have been described as stylish, stunning, elegant, and classy: a combination of description often coveted in the fashion world.  They presented three ready-to-wear dresses created ...

Scientists are reporting discovery of a protein in the blood of lung cancer patients that could be used in a test for the disease — difficult to diagnose in its earliest and most treatable stages — and to develop drugs that stop lung cancer from spreading. Their study appears in ACS's Journal of Proteome Research. In the report, Je-Yoel Cho and colleagues note that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Lung cancer is so deadly because of its tendency to spread — or metastasize — to distant sites in the body, such as the liver or the brain. Early ...

Technological progress may be fast-paced in many fields, but one mundane area has been almost left in the doldrums for the last 150 years: The basic technology for permanently coloring hair. That's the conclusion of an analysis of almost 500 articles and patents on the chemistry of permanent hair dyeing, which foresees much more innovation in the years ahead, including longer lasting, more-natural-looking dyes and gene therapy to reverse the gray. The article appears in ACS's journal Chemical Reviews. Robert Christie and Olivier Morel note that hair dye already is a multibillion ...

In a study that the authors describe as lending credence to the idiom, "by the skin of your teeth," scientists are reporting that the protective shield fluoride forms on teeth is up to 100 times thinner than previously believed. It raises questions about how this renowned cavity-fighter really works and could lead to better ways of protecting teeth from decay, the scientists suggest. Their study appears in ACS's journal Langmuir. Frank Müller and colleagues point out that tooth decay is a major public health problem worldwide. In the United States alone, consumers spend ...

Real-life scientists, whose work has overtones of Indiana Jones as they search for plants in remote areas of the world that could become the source of life-saving new medicines, are currently trying to figure out how a new international agreement on biodiversity will affect their work. That's the topic of an article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS's weekly newsmagazine. C&EN Associate Editor Carmen Drahl explains that environment ministers from 200 countries hammered out the agreement late last year. Called the Nagoya protocol, it extends a 1993 United Nations ...

For the first time, scientists discovered that a specific type of human cell, generated from stem cells and transplanted into spinal cord injured rats, provide tremendous benefit, not only repairing damage to the nervous system but helping the animals regain locomotor function as well. The study, published today in the journal PLoS ONE, focuses on human astrocytes – the major support cells in the central nervous system – and indicates that transplantation of these cells represents a potential new avenue for the treatment of spinal cord injuries and other central nervous ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois researchers have combined two molecular imaging technologies to create an instrument with incredible sensitivity that provides new, detailed insight into dynamic molecular processes. Physics professors Taekjip Ha and Yann Chemla and combined their expertise in single-molecule biophysics – fluorescence microscopy and optical traps, respectively – to study binding and unbinding of individual DNA segments to a larger strand. They and their joint postdoctoral researcher Matthew Comstock detail their technique in a paper published in the Feb. 20 ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Rice, which is sensitive to drought due to its high water requirement, is particularly vulnerable to how global climate change is altering the frequency and magnitude of floods and droughts. If rice plants' combined tolerance to flooding and drought could be improved, however, rice productivity could be protected and even substantially increased. Now plant scientists at the University of California, Riverside have made a discovery that can greatly benefit rice growers and consumers everywhere. The researchers have demonstrated in the lab and greenhouse ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – New research by a University of Illinois expert in employment relations and labor economics shows that, for more than a decade, Wisconsin teacher salaries have fallen behind changes in the cost of living as well as wage growth in the private sector. Craig A. Olson, a professor of labor and employment relations, says the salaries of Wisconsin teachers have lost ground to those of their private sector counterparts over the last 16 years. The paper compares the earnings of an average college graduate employed in the private sector in the U.S. versus the ...

TORONTO, March 2, 2011 – York University researchers have zeroed in on a genetic process that may allow ovarian cancer to resist chemotherapy. Researchers in the university's Faculty of Science & Engineering studied a tiny strand of our genetic makeup known as a MicroRNA, involved in the regulation of gene expression. Cancer occurs when gene regulation goes haywire. "Ovarian cancer is a very deadly disease because it's hard to detect," says biology professor Chun Peng, who co-authored the study. By the time it's diagnosed, usually it is in its late stages. And by that ...

The Sun has been in the news a lot lately because it's beginning to send out more flares and solar storms. Its recent turmoil is particularly newsworthy because the Sun was very quiet for an unusually long time. Astronomers had a tough time explaining the extended solar minimum. New computer simulations imply that the Sun's long quiet spell resulted from changing flows of hot plasma within it. "The Sun contains huge rivers of plasma similar to Earth's ocean currents," says Andres Munoz-Jaramillo, a visiting research fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics ...

Retail executives from across the nation will be descending upon San Francisco March 8th-10th for the Retail Advertising & Marketing Association's (RAMA) annual Retail Innovation & Marketing Conference. The show, catered to senior executives in retail e-commerce, marketing and technology, is about the changing business and marketing landscape. RAMA Chairman of the Board and Executive Vice President of Half Price Books, Kathy Doyle Thomas, will be among conference attendees. "This year's conference will showcase the leaders of our industry discussing what they do best: ...