A study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has raised safety concerns about an investigational approach to treating cancer. The strategy takes aim at a key signaling pathway, called Notch, involved in forming new blood vessels that feed tumor growth. When researchers targeted the Notch1 signaling pathway in mice, the animals developed vascular tumors, primarily in the liver, which led to massive hemorrhages that caused their death. Their findings are reported online Jan. 25 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation and will appear ...

New Rochelle, NY, January 25, 2011—Give caffeine to cells engineered to produce viruses used for gene therapy and the cells can generate 3- to 8-times more virus, according to a paper published in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com). The paper is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/hum This simple and inexpensive strategy for increasing lentivirus production was developed by Brian Ellis, Patrick Ryan Potts, and Matthew Porteus, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas. In their paper, ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have invented a technique that uses inexpensive paper to make "microfluidic" devices for rapid medical diagnostics and chemical analysis. The innovation represents a way to enhance commercially available diagnostic devices that use paper-strip assays like those that test for diabetes and pregnancy. "With current systems that use paper test strips you can measure things like pH or blood sugar, but you can't perform more complex chemical assays," said Babak Ziaie, a Purdue University professor of electrical and computer engineering and ...

Washington, D.C. (January 25, 2011) -- In a development that may revolutionize handheld electronics, flat-panel displays, touch panels, electronic ink, and solar cells, as well as drastically reduce their manufacturing costs, physicists in Iran have created a spintronic device based on "armchair" graphene nanoribbons. Spintronic devices are being pursued by the semiconductor and electronics industries because they promise to be smaller, more versatile, and much faster than today's electronics. As described in the American Institute of Physics journal Applied Physics Letters, ...

CHESTNUT HILL, MA (1/25/11) -- Researchers from Boston College, MIT, Clemson and Virginia have used nanotechnology to achieve a 60-90 percent increase in the thermoelectric figure of merit of p-type half-Heusler, a common bulk semiconductor compound, the team reported in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters. The dramatic increase in the figure of merit, used to measure a material's relative thermoelectric performance, could pave the way for a new generation of products – from car exhaust systems and power plants to solar power technology – that that runs ...

Washington, D.C. (January 25, 2011) -- A team of physicists has taken a big step toward the development of useful graphene spintronic devices. The physicists, from the City University of Hong Kong and the University of Science and Technology of China, present their findings in the American Institute of Physics' Applied Physics Letters. Graphene, a two-dimensional crystalline form of carbon, is being touted as a sort of "Holy Grail" of materials. It boasts properties such as a breaking strength 200 times greater than steel and, of great interest to the semiconductor and ...

NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of the very cold clouds that house powerful thunderstorms within the Southern Indian Ocean's newest tropical depression, number 10S. The depression quickly strengthened into a tropical storm and continues to affect the northern coast of Western Australia. When Aqua passed over the Tropical Storm 10S on January 25 at 05:53 UTC (12:53 a.m. EST), the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument captured an infrared image of the storm's clouds. The image showed that most of the coldest cloud tops (-63 Fahrenheit/-52 Celsius) ...

Boulder, CO, USA – The February issue of Geology is online now. Articles cover Patagonian glaciations, the Younger Dryas cold period, paleodiversity, submarine gullies, the Transantarctic Mountain micrometeorite collection, the "fastest glacier on Earth," salt diapirs in the Nordkapp Basin, reinterpretation of James Hutton's historic discovery on the Isle of Arran, a new tool to directly date dinosaur-bone fossils, ancient megalakes in Australia, Egypt's Kamil Crater, and more. GSA TODAY examines seismic activity to gain insights into the Rio Grande Rift. Keywords: Ammonoids, ...

Wilma caught the eye of NASA. NASA's Aqua satellite captured visible and infrared images of Cyclone Wilma in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean and her eye was clearly visible from space. On January 25 at 00:59 UTC (8:59 p.m. EST on Jan. 24), the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument captured data that was used to create infrared and visible images at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The images showed Cyclone Wilma had strengthened overnight and now has a visible eye. AIRS Infrared imagery showed strong, very cold thunderstorm cloud tops around ...

SEATTLE – Women who have experienced hot flushes and other symptoms of menopause may have a 50 percent lower risk of developing the most common forms of breast cancer than postmenopausal women who have never had such symptoms, according to a recent study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The results of the first study to examine the relationship between menopausal symptoms and breast cancer risk are available online ahead of the February print issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention. The protective effect appeared to increase along ...

Charles Darwin based his groundbreaking theory of natural selection on the realization that genetic variation among organisms is the key to evolution. Some individuals are better adapted to a given environment than others, making them more likely to survive and pass on their genes to future generations. But exactly how nature creates variation in the first place still poses somewhat of a puzzle to evolutionary biologists. Now, Joanna Masel, associate professor in the UA's department of ecology and evolutionary biology, and postdoctoral fellow Etienne Rajon discovered ...

Measuring the attractive forces between atoms and surfaces with unprecedented precision, University of Arizona physicists have produced data that could refine our understanding of the structure of atoms and improve nanotechnology. The discovery has been published in the journal Physical Review Letters. Van der Waals forces are fundamental for chemistry, biology and physics. However, they are among the weakest known chemical interactions, so they are notoriously hard to study. This force is so weak that it is hard to notice in everyday life. But delve into the world of ...

In an effort to better understand the dynamics of complex networks, scientists have developed a mathematical model to describe interactions within ecological food webs. This research, performed by Northwestern University physics professor Adilson Motter and his student, Sagar Sahasrabudhe, is published in the January 25 issue of Nature Communications. The work illustrates how human intervention may effectively aid species conservation efforts. "Our study provides a theoretical basis for management efforts that would aim to mitigate extinction cascades in food web networks. ...

Aneesoft Corporation, a leading digital multimedia software company, announces the release of Aneesoft Free Image Editor today, a free image editing software which fulfills all the basic needs of the average users. Like a review from Softpedia.com, the second largest download site in Europe, said of Aneesoft Free Image Editor, "Image editing was never simpler". Aneesoft Free Image Editor supports most common image file format, such as .JPG, .PNG, .BMP, .GIF, etc. It provides some basic functions for image editing: crop, rotate, watermark and most attractive of all, various ...

Agora Gallery is delighted to announce the opening of the Chelsea International Fine Art Competition. This will be the 26th year of the well-known annual competition, which will begin accepting entries on February 2nd, 2011. The submission deadline is March 14th, 2011, and the results will be announced on April 5th, 2011. Details of how to enter can be found here - http://www.agora-gallery.com/competition/default.aspx. The prizes total a value of $38,000, and include a range of awards, all designed to aid in promoting the careers of the artists whose work will be selected ...

Organizers are hard at work on the first annual New York City Vegetarian Food Festival, which will arrive on Sunday, April 3, in the Chelsea district of Manhattan. Touted as a celebration and showcase of cruelty-free food, the festival will come complete with speakers, live music, and food contests. Attendees will be able to sample and buy vegetarian food and related lifestyle wares. There will also be information tables for non-profit groups such as Mercy for Animals, which will hand out free literature and vegetarian starter kits to help people connect humane issues ...

The newly published USDA School Nutrition Guidelines were on everyone's mind and main topic of interest during the California CSNA School Nutritional Association Annual Conference in Pasadena, CA last week. The Epicure Digital Menu Boards that meet the New USDA School Nutrition Guidelines that featured at the show became a show highlight. The newly published proposed USDA guidelines would encourage schools to provide at least one additional cup of vegetables daily for students, as well as more fruit, particularly during breakfast. It would require a reduction in sodium ...

myRMX releases their app that targets fans of music who like to be creative and show/share that creativity off to their friends. This release is an updated port to Nokia's S60 V3 phones on Ovi with music by Selena Gomez, Mix Mater Mike, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, and Grouch & Eligh. As myRMX continues to add artists from around the world, additional mixPACKs will be introduced on both the Nokia and Apple mobile platforms. With the Nokia launch myRMX adds 200 million additional handsets to its 85 million iPhone and iPod touch target user base. Having a Nokia version ...

Las Vegas -- Interiors of the Bay (http://www.interiorsofthebay.com/), a leading retailer of high quality space saving guest bed solutions, will be featuring their new Xtra Bed at the Las Vegas Furniture Market from January 24 - 28, 2011. The Las Vegas Furniture Market provides furniture retailers throughout the country easy access to more than 1,500 world-class products, manufacturers and resources. The Xtra Bed is just one such amazing new product and the perfect space saving solution for any home. When: Monday, January 24 - Friday, January 28, 2011 Where: Building ...

Dr. Patty Ann Tublin, an internationally renowned relationship expert, has just posted a new article on her web site, where she shares three tips on how to de-stress in 2011. The article, "3 Ways to De-Stress Your Life & Your Relationship in 2011," is available at http://www.drpattyann.com/Newsletters/1-14-10.html Many people toast health and happiness in the New Year, and according to Dr. Patty Ann, one of the best ways to improve your health is to reduce and control your stress. In the article, she gives three tips to do just that, including communicating your stress ...

LET'S HAVE A KID is thrilled to welcome Dr. Jeremy J. Frederick as our exclusive physician columnist. Dr. Frederick's premier column, FERTILE GROUND, provides his point of view on LET'S HAVE A KID-related topics including * Can a hysteroscopy help infertility? * Should I make money donating eggs? * How do I know what I'm getting in a sperm donation? * Why is 35 not "advanced maternal age?" Dr. Frederick's launch FERTILE GROUND topic, "What is an epidural? Do I need one?" can currently be read on LetsHaveAKid.com. In the coming months, LET'S HAVE A KID members ...

LAN airlines opened a new direct route from Lima, Peru to the remote Easter Island last week and the Tour Operator Escaped to Latin America were on board. Previously the main link to the most remote inhabited island in the world had been via the LAN flight from Santiago, Chile but the airline has now added a twice weekly direct flight from Lima. The inaugural flight took off from the Peruvian capital on the 9th of January and carried a contingent of travel agents, operators and hoteliers as well as a large number of eager tourists taking advantage of discounted rates. ...

The surge in healthy living last year put plant-based meals on the mainstream map, and now there's a company making healthy food incredibly easy for everyone to get their hands on: Veggie Brothers delivers meat-free feasts straight to your front door! "We are proud to offer delicious vegan food that people already know, love and enjoy, and that doesn't require anyone to give up their culture, identity or traditions," said Michael Balducci, founder of Veggie Brothers. Mr Balducci started Veggie Brothers in 2005 after learning how to treat his own varied illnesses by switching ...

A new paper just published in Nutrition Journal cites overwhelming evidence that focusing on weight loss as the only route to achieve a healthy life style is ineffective and harmful. Co-authors Linda Bacon, an associate nutritionist at the University of California, Davis Department of Nutrition, and Lucy Aphramor, an NHS specialist dietician and honorary research fellow at the Applied Research Centre in Health and Lifestyle Interventions at Coventry University, England cite evidence from almost two hundred studies and come to surprising conclusions; a weight loss centered ...

Award-winning caterer Herban Feast (www.herbanfeast.com) announced today the opening of its new Herban Design Studio, presenting a full spectrum of event design services with guided DIY workshops, full-service event styling, floral design, party favors, and a large selection of unique pieces that are available to rent. The distinctive, working studio is managed by resident design expert and studio coordinator Chad Burnworth, a designer and floral artist known for his striking and memorable use of botanicals and natural and found objects. The Herban Design Studio, located ...