Boston, MA - Melatonin is known to have cancer-protective properties, and shift work can induce desynchrony of the circadian system, reducing melatonin production. Shift work has been thought to have important health impacts, with evidence linking shift work to an increased risk of several cancers including breast, endometrial, prostate, and colorectal, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In a recent study, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) found that shift work may be associated with a reduced risk of skin cancer in women. These findings are published online in ...

Not all the terrain of the same vineyard has the same properties. Research undertaken by Neiker-Tecnalia (the Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development) confirmed that, over the same zone of cultivated land, there are plots with soils of different characteristics, a fact which gives rise to significant differences in the production of the grape and in the quality of the must. Knowing these differences enables the winegrowers to carry out zoning on their vineyards with the goal of better adapting to the needs of fertilisation, irrigation and treatment of ...

German researchers have found a significant association of IL28B genotypes to interferon-based antiviral treatment outcome, and to graft inflammation caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV). The study determined that the presence of G-allele serves as a marker for severe HCV-induced graft inflammation, as well as a predictor for unsuccessful treatment. Study findings—the largest to report on the role IL28B variants in a transplant cohort with recurrent HCV—are published in the March issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. The ...

Turmeric, a bright yellow spice from south Asia belonging to the ginger family, is the main ingredient in curries — and ancient wisdom suggests that it's also good for your health. Taking this wisdom to the laboratory, Tel Aviv University researchers have discovered that turmeric's active ingredient called curcumin amplifies the therapeutic activity of highly toxic anti-inflammatory drugs used to fight colon cancer when used at high doses. Dr. Shahar Lev-Ari of Tel Aviv University's School of Public Health at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and his colleagues have found ...

In a decisive move to honor women whose courage and heroism have brought attention the plight of women in Muslim-majority countries, New York based non-profit Women's Voices Now will honor journalist Lara Logan and the Egyptian women who saved her, Iranian political martyr Neda Agha-Soltan and author and former political prisoner in Iran - Roxana Saberi at the opening night celebration of Women's Voices from the Muslim World: A Short-Film Festival. "We were so moved by the rescue of journalist Lara Logan by the Egyptian women and soldiers that we had to honor her and those ...

VIDEO: The Center for Injury Research and Policy released a study of boxing injuries and found the number of injuries has increased over the 19-year study period. Click here for more information. The risk and nature of injury in the sport of boxing has generated a great deal of controversy in the medical community, especially in relation to youth boxing. A new study, conducted by researchers in the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide ...

Fire, cattle and even prairie dogs all could play a role in sustaining the biodiversity of the western Great Plains, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researcher. As large grazers, cattle now perform the historical role of buffalo on the Great Plains. Ecologist David Augustine and his colleagues-in collaboration with state, federal, and university researchers-have results from several studies over the past 13 years showing that fire, cattle and prairie dogs together maintain a mosaic of diverse vegetation, with varying vegetation heights, that supports ...

COLLEGE STATION — Researchers have come closer to understanding how a common fungus "makes its living in the soil," which could lead to its possible "career change" as a therapeutic agent for plant and human health. That's according to Dr. Charles Kenerley, Texas AgriLife Research plant pathologist, and a team of scientists from the U.S., India and France, whose study on Trichoderma virens is in February's Journal of Biological Chemistry. T. virens already enjoy a good reputation in the plant world. The fungi is found throughout the world in all types of soil, Kenerley ...

A team of scientists has described two cladocerous crustaceans, which could be endemic to the Iberian Peninsula, and which were found in two lagoons, one in the lower basin of the Guadalquivir river, and the other in the grasslands of Extremadura. Both of these arthropods may today inhabit more areas in the Mediterranean region. "These two new crustaceans (Leydigia) are a species of living fossil and are very powerful bio-geographic and historical indicators", Miguel Alonso, one of the authors of the study, and a researcher in the Department of Ecology of the University ...

For the first time, quantitative—not qualitative—data analysis has demonstrated that time-of-flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET) scans can improve cancer detection. Research published in the March issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine shows that oncologic TOF fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET scans yielded significant improvements in lesion detection of lung and liver cancers over all contrasts and body mass indexes. Conventional PET scans create images by detecting gamma rays produced by radioisotopes that are injected into the body. Although these conventional ...

To determine if a tissue biopsy reveals the presence of cancer, a histologist often screens for cells with an abnormal appearance or a specific visible trait such as a larger-than-usual nucleus. However, by the time a cancer is physically noticeable, the disease may be in its later stages and more difficult to treat. In an effort to identify the earlier-onset, more subtle chemical changes occurring in a cell heading toward malignancy, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have developed a technique ...

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 ...