Measles is not always being reported in Germany as required by law, particularly when cases are sporadic. In this edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2011; 108[12]: 191𔃄), Annedore Mette's working group presents its conclusions. The WHO aims to eliminate measles in Europe by 2015. The criteria for this are for there to be no measles cases among the country's inhabitants, and for any measles arriving from abroad not to spread any further within the country, as a result of the high vaccination rate and compulsory reporting. In their study, ...

(Boston) – Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have concluded that the anatomy of the pelvis following robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) is considerably different when compared to the anatomy of the pelvis following an open prostatectomy (OP). These findings, which are the first to ever compare pelvic anatomy following RARP and OP surgery, may have implications for patients requiring post-operative radiation. The study currently appears on-line in Practical Radiation Oncology. Prostate cancer is the most common non-cutaneous cancer ...

Could adult children's strategies for coping with pain come from watching their parents react to and deal with pain? According to Suzyen Kraljevic, from the University Hospital Split in Croatia, and colleagues, a family may have a specific cognitive style of coping with pain. Their work, which looks at the relationship between how parents and their children respond to pain, is published online in Springer's International Journal of Behavioral Medicine. It is already recognized that parents' pain behavior is associated with the way their children experience and express ...

WASHINGTON — A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency draft assessment of the potential health effects associated with formaldehyde exposure needs substantial revision, says a new report from the National Research Council, which recommends improvements for EPA's final assessment. The report finds that EPA supports its conclusions that formaldehyde can cause irritation to the eyes, nose, and throat; lesions in the respiratory tract; and genetic mutations at high concentrations. Furthermore, the report finds that the evidence is sufficient for EPA to conclude that formaldehyde ...

Tampa, Fla. (April 11, 2011) – Periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) have been found to be the most efficacious of three kinds of clinically tested dental tissue-derived stem cells, reports a study published in the current issue of Cell Transplantation (20:2), freely available on-line at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct/. According to researchers in Seoul, South Korea, transplantation of PDLSCs into beagle dogs modeled with advanced periodontal (gum) disease that affected their premolars and molars, which are morphologically similar to the corresponding ...

Unlike the situation in other caves, damage caused by tourists at the Águila cave in Ávila, Spain is "imperceptible", despite it receiving tens of thousands of visitors each year. This is the main conclusion of an international research study headed by the University of Alcalá (UAH), which measured heat variations in the cave. "Despite the tens of thousands of visitors that the Águila Cave receives each year, the temperature variations in it are related to the weather outside, while the long-term impact of tourism is virtually non-existent", David Domínguez Villar, researcher ...

In a comparison of 9 leading translation vendors, highly ranked Foreign Translations, Inc. was commended for providing "accurate translations and responsive customer service." Foreign Translations, Inc. specializes in foreign language translation, interpreting, and website localization and offers translation services for a wide range of projects, from technical manuals, legal contracts, and marketing collateral to financial statements, training manuals, websites, and software programs. To receive the Bronze Award, Foreign Translations, Inc. excelled in categories ...

WHAT: In a new study from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, scientists describe successfully mutating specific genes of Chlamydia bacteria, which cause the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States as well as a type of blindness common in developing nations. The procedure they used will help advance scientists' understanding of how these bacteria cause human disease and expedite the development of new strategies to prevent and control these infections. The advance could ...

An intensive program that taught low-income, poorly educated diabetics to better manage their disease resulted in significantly improved long-term blood sugar control, according to Johns Hopkins researchers who designed and implemented the program. The findings, published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, offer clinicians a proven new tool to help those with poorly controlled diabetes make lifestyle changes to improve their health, the researchers says. They noted that many educational programs for people with diabetes typically have little impact and ...

The mere taste of something extremely bitter—even if you don't swallow it at all—is enough to cause that dreaded feeling of nausea and to set your stomach churning, according to a new study reported in the April 12th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. "This work shows that our body and our physiology anticipate the consequences of foods we might eat, even if those foods contain toxins or anti-nutrients," said Paul Breslin of the Monell Chemical Senses Center and Rutgers University. Of course, it is well known that the promise of something tempting to ...

A chance observation by a Queen's researcher might have ended a decades-old debate about the precise way antifreeze proteins (AFP) bind to the surface of ice crystals. "We got a beautiful view of water bound to the ice-binding site on the protein," says Peter Davies, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and a world leader in antifreeze protein research. "In a sense we got a lucky break." AFPs are a class of proteins that bind to the surface of ice crystals and prevent further growth and recrystallization of ice. Fish, insects, bacteria and plants that live ...

A new 600-pound cuber ice machine on average costs between $4K to $9K, while a 6-pan combi steam oven will cost about $12K to $35K. For a commercial semi-automatic espresso machine, a company has to spend between $8K to $20K. Even purchasing a 5-year old used machine, a company can expect to pay at least one-third of the new cost. With traffic only recently starting to increase after nearly a two year decline, operators have been understandably reluctant to spend on new equipment. As a result, foodservice equipment manufacturers saw a decline in sales of 15%-30%, or higher, ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A diet high in saturated fat is a key contributor to type 2 diabetes, a major health threat worldwide. Several decades ago scientists noticed that people with type 2 diabetes have overly active immune responses, leaving their bodies rife with inflammatory chemicals. In addition, people who acquire the disease are typically obese and are resistant to insulin, the hormone that removes sugar from the blood and stores it as energy. For years no one has known exactly how the three characteristics are related. But a handful of studies suggest that they ...

WASHINGTON – Fluctuations in penguin populations in the Antarctic are linked more strongly to the availability of their primary food source than to changes in their habitats, according to a new study published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Funded in part by the Lenfest Ocean Program, this research indicates that species often considered likely "winners" of changing conditions, such as large-scale ice melting, may actually end up as the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The two penguin species of focus in the study ...

Improved management of chronic pain can significantly reduce disability in older adults, according to the latest issue of the WHAT'S HOT newsletter from The Gerontological Society of America (GSA). Based largely on presentation highlights from GSA's 63rd Annual Scientific Meeting in November 2010, the current WHAT'S HOT examines the impact of pain in older adults, strategies for managing pain and preserving function, and methods to improve the assessment and management of pain for residents in long-term care facilities, including those who have dementia. Support for this ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. (April 11, 2011) – New research suggests that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could help detect Alzheimer's disease (AD) at an early stage, before irreversible damage has occurred, according to a new study published online and in the June print edition of Radiology. With no known treatment to alter its course, AD exacts an enormous toll on society. The Alzheimer's Association estimates that 5.4 million Americans are living with the disease today, and the cumulative costs for care could top $20 trillion over the next four decades. As a result, there is ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Stress not only sends the human immune system into overdrive – it can also wreak havoc on the trillions of bacteria that work and thrive inside our digestive system. New research suggests that this may be important because those bacteria play a significant role in triggering the innate immune system to stay slightly active, and thereby prepared to quickly spring into action in the face of an infection. But exactly how stress makes these changes in these bacteria still isn't quite clear, researchers say. "Since graduate school, I've been interested ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – When researchers had college-age women view magazines for five straight days that only included images of women with thin, idealized body types, something surprising happened: the readers' own body satisfaction improved. But the boost in body image came with a catch. Those women whose body satisfaction improved the most also were more likely to report that they engaged in dieting behaviors such as skipping meals or cutting carbohydrates during the course of the study. That suggests these women may be inspired by the images they view and become momentarily ...

FINDINGS: Certain differentiated cells in breast tissue can spontaneously convert to a stem-cell-like state, according to Whitehead Institute researchers. Until now, scientific dogma has stated that differentiation is a one-way path; once cells specialize, they cannot return to the flexible stem-cell state on their own. These findings hold true for normal mammary cells as well as for breast cancer cells. RELEVANCE: These findings may redefine how researchers view cancer stem cells – the cells capable of seeding new tumors at primary and distant sites in the body. Therapies ...

This release is available in German. FRANKFURT. Creating artificial structures from DNA is the objective of DNA nanotechnology. This new discipline, which combines biology, physics, chemistry and material science makes use of the ability of the natural DNA-strains' capacity for self assembly. Smileys or small boxes, measuring only 10s of nanometers (10 one-billionths of a meter) were created from DNA in a drop of water. Prof Alexander Heckel and his doctoral student Thorsten Schmidt from the "Cluster of Excellence for Macromolecular Complexes" at Goethe University were ...

Patience may be a virtue in a person, but in an infectious disease, it is insidious. Witness tuberculosis, which can lie dormant in a human host for decades before bursting forth into infection. TB's stealthy nature has made it difficult to decipher how it spreads, seriously hampering efforts to control it. The World Health Organization estimates that a third of the people on Earth are infected. Now, a study led by Stanford scientists has provided new insights into the behavior of tuberculosis by tracing the travels of a particular strain of the disease that was unintentionally ...

Although nearly 80 percent of ambulatory providers that have purchased an EMR are confident they will qualify for meaningful use (MU) in 2011, a closer look at what functionalities they have actually implemented reveals that most still have significant holes to fill, according to a KLAS report. Over two thirds of the surveyed providers are not sharing medical records electronically with patients, and nearly half have not implemented clinical decision support (CDS) rules, two key MU requirements. The report, "Ambulatory EMR: A KLAS Guide to Meaningful Use Success," presents ...

A major new study finds that nitrogen pollution is costing each person in Europe around £130 - £650 (€150 – €740 Euros) a year. The first European Nitrogen Assessment (ENA) is launched at a conference today in Edinburgh, Scotland. The study, carried out by 200 experts from 21 countries and 89 organizations, estimates that the annual cost of damage caused by nitrogen across Europe is £60 - £280 billion (€70 -320 billion), more than double the extra income gained from using nitrogen fertilizers in European agriculture. Professor Bob Watson Chief Scientific Advisor to ...

In a development that holds intriguing possibilities for the future of industrial catalysis, as well as for such promising clean green energy technologies as artificial photosynthesis, researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have created bilayered nanocrystals of a metal-metal oxide that are the first to feature multiple catalytic sites on nanocrystal interfaces. These multiple catalytic sites allow for multiple, sequential catalytic reactions to be carried out selectively and in tandem. "The demonstration ...

Pop Cult Studio's Mark Mushkin is currently producing TV shows as content for a new wave of media headed for America's living room. The Internet and TV are engaged to be married and there are big name companies scheduled to attend. Google and YouTube are looking to purchase TV shows to distribute on a network of channels being set up in preparation for the next generation of TV's that will connect to the Internet. Pop Cult Studios' Executive Producer Mark Mushkin says, "We plan to take advantage of this opportunity to get our new TV shows seen by these major distributors." ...