For patients suffering from epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a hereditary skin disease, even a gentle touch is extremely painful. Now Dr. Li-Yang Chiang, Dr. Kate Poole and Professor Gary R. Lewin of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin-Buch have discovered the causes underlying this disease. Due to a genetic defect, individuals with EB cannot form laminin-332, a structural molecule of the skin that in healthy individuals inhibits the transduction of tactile stimuli and neuronal branching (Nature Neuroscience, doi: 10.1038/nn.2873)*. According to the ...

MADISON – An estimated two billion people in the developing world heat and cook with a biomass fuel such as wood, but the practice exposes people – especially women – to large doses of small-particle air pollution, which can cause premature death and lung disease. In a study just published online in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have associated indoor air pollution with increased blood pressure among older women. In a remote area of Yunnan Province, China, 280 women in an ethnic minority ...

Orthodontist Dr. Stephen Yao of San Jose, is hosting an E-Waste event on Saturday, July 23rd from 9am-2pm at his 4010 Moorpark Ave location to benefit the San Jose Giants Community Foundation! The mission of the Giants Sports Foundation is "to encourage and foster the development of healthy lifestyles in children and teens through physical activity and education." "Our Children are our future! I feel they should be active and not just playing video games or other sedentary activities," says Dr. Yao. Helping the San Jose Giants Community Foundation ...

New research from the University of Adelaide has added to the debate about whether dinosaurs were cold-blooded and sluggish or warm-blooded and active. Professor Roger Seymour from the University's School of Earth & Environmental Sciences has applied the latest theories of human and animal anatomy and physiology to provide insight into the lives of dinosaurs. The results will be published this month in Proceedings B, the Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences), and can now be found online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2011.0968 Human thigh bones ...

This release is available in German. What happens if you cannot recall your memory correctly? You are able to associate and store the name and face of a person, yet you might be unable to remember them when you meet that person. In this example, the recall of the information is temporarily impaired. How such associative memories are "read out" in the brain remains one of the great mysteries of modern neurobiology. Now, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried and from the Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles in Paris, ...

All motorists should drive cautiously to avoid crashes on U.S. roads, but drivers in New Jersey have a new reason to be more attentive while driving. A recent insurance company survey rated New Jersey drivers poorly on licensed motorists' responses to typical driver's test questions. While the state has improved its seat-belt use lately and lowered its fatal crash rate last year, New Jersey drivers can still use this current ranking to continue improving driver education and knowledge of basic traffic laws and practices. Dangerous Conditions New Jersey roads and intersections ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Oh, the challenges of being a neuron, responsible for essential things like muscle contraction, gland secretion and sensitivity to touch, sound and light, yet constantly bombarded with signals from here, there and everywhere. How on earth are busy nerve cells supposed to pick out and respond to relevant signals amidst all that information overload? Somehow neurons do manage to accomplish the daunting task, and they do it with more finesse than anyone ever realized, new research by University of Michigan mathematician Daniel Forger and coauthors demonstrates. ...

NEW YORK – July 8, 2011 – A study by Columbia Business School's marketing professors Ran Kivetz, Philip H. Geier, Jr. Professor of Marketing, and Oded Netzer, Philip H. Geier Jr. Associate Professor, Marketing, alongside Rom Schrift, Assistant Professor of Marketing, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (he received his Ph.D. from Columbia Business School in 2011), demonstrates the existence of "complicating choice" – the process that decision-makers unintentionally initiate when making certain decisions – and the underlying psychological mechanisms that ...

Immigration has always been a hot-button issue in the United States. Many states have started to draft legislation that makes it extremely difficult for people here illegally to receive benefits of any kind. In addition to tough new rules, legislators and other groups have begun to attack or repeal laws already in place that will prevent undocumented immigrants from receiving benefits offered to U.S. citizens. One of the most pressing controversies deals with the issue of an undocumented immigrant's access to higher education. With many states facing budget deficits, ...

BOSTON – As any student who's had to study for multiple exams can tell you, trying to learn two different sets of facts one after another is challenging. As you study for the physics exam, almost inevitably some of the information for the history exam is forgotten. It's been widely believed that this interference between memories develops because the brain simply doesn't have the capacity necessary to process both memories in quick succession. But is this truly the case? A new study by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) suggests that specific ...

HOUSTON -- (July 8, 2011) -- New research from Rice University and Italy's Eugenio Medea Scientific Institute is yielding clues about hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), a group of inherited neurological disorders that affect about 20,000 people in the United States. A study in the July 5 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences offers the first detailed account of the biochemical workings of atlastin, a protein produced by one of the genes linked to HSP. The primary symptoms of HSP are progressive spasticity and weakness of the leg and hip muscles. ...

According to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Connecticut ranks poorly in the amount of funding and quality of services it provides to victims of elder abuse. Connecticut ranks 32nd out of 35 states in the amount of money it provides for adult protective services. It also ranks fifth lowest (out of 26) in the number of "substantiated" instances of elder abuse: only 446 of the approximately 3,800 elder abuse reports filed in 2009 were completely resolved or referred for prosecution. Reaction to the report has been mixed. Some say the ...

Stocks of seabed-living fish in the Firth of Clyde have reached their highest level since 1927 – according to research by academics at the University of Strathclyde. However, the report, produced by Professor Mike Heath and Dr Douglas Speirs of the University's Marine Population Modelling Group, shows that while fish are actually more abundant than ever, the majority are too small to be landed. The findings are part of extensive analysis and contradict previous indications from 2010 that the Firth of Clyde had been so heavily fished that it risked being emptied of almost ...

A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine confirms what medical malpractice attorneys and physicians already suspected: There is a breakdown in the lines of communication between primary care physicians, also called PCPs, and medical specialists that could be putting patients at risk. The study -- which analyzed data compiled by the 2008 Health System Change Health Tracking Physician Survey -- found a marked difference in how PCPs and specialists viewed the quality of information-sharing going on between them. The lack of accurate, timely communication about ...

Many employers, including construction companies, have focused on workers' conduct on the job site as the key to ending workplace fatalities and injuries. The AFL-CIO reports that 4,340 workers were killed on the job in 2009, including 184 New York workers. In 2010, OSHA inspectors investigated 40 of the workplace fatalities in New York, but only assessed about $150,000 in penalties to New York employers combined. Labor advocates argue workers already take on too much responsibility to reduce workplace accidents and improve safety in the workplace. While workers definitely ...

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and in Michigan, North Carolina and Spain have discovered how genetic mutations cause a number of rare human diseases, which include Meckel syndrome, Joubert syndrome and several other disorders. The work gives doctors new possible targets for designing better diagnostics to detect and drugs to treat these diseases, which together affect perhaps one in 200 people in the United States. On the surface, these diseases look very different. Meckel syndrome causes deadly brain malformations and kidney cysts. Joubert ...

In February 2011, the IRS announced the 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative. Motivated by the success of previous disclosure programs -- and the federal government's urgent need for more revenue -- the 2011 OVDI is designed to get taxpayers with offshore financial accounts into compliance and to recoup the money in offshore accounts into U.S. tax coffers. It does this by allowing U.S. citizens, green card holders, and U.S. tax residents with previously undeclared offshore accounts to become current with their taxes. FBAR Reporting Requirement for Offshore Accounts For ...

Protease inhibitor drugs are one of the major weapons in the fight against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but their effectiveness is limited as the virus mutates and develops resistance to the drugs over time. Now a new tool has been developed to help predict the location of the mutations that lead to drug resistance. First discovered in 1995, protease inhibitor drugs have dramatically reduced the number of AIDS deaths. Taken in combination with two other anti-HIV drugs, protease inhibitors work by halting the action of the protease enzyme, a protein produced by HIV ...

Agility UK has launched a new website to promote its health and safety and employment law training and advisory services to businesses across the UK. Indicating significant progress for the organisation, the launch of the new website better promotes the company's range of cost-effective, flexible and solution-focused health and safety and employment law services. In a triangulated initiative between a web development team, a leading digital agency, and a design agency, the new website offers refreshed branding, improved usability and more comprehensive information ...

RENO, Nev. – An ambitious University of Nevada, Reno project to understand and characterize geothermal potential at nearly 500 sites throughout the Great Basin is yielding a bounty of information for the geothermal industry to use in developing resources in Nevada, according to a report to the U.S. Department of Energy. The project, based in the University's Bureau of Mines and Geology in the College of Science, is funded by a $1 million DOE grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It has reached the one-year mark and is entering phase two, when ...

Littlewoods Europe has announced the launch of its new collection for autumn 2011, which will be available on its website. The new season collection will launch with over 10,000 new lines on offer, comprising 5,000 new fashion lines for the whole family, including women, men and children. In addition there will also be new lines of shoes, accessories, electrical, childrens toys and great new season pieces for the home. In addition to this the new collection for autumn 2011 will include an increased range from the popular menswear brand Goodsouls, a heritage collection ...

PHILADELPHIA - For the past decade, researchers have tried to reprogram the identity of all kinds of cell types. Heart cells are one of the most sought-after cells in regenerative medicine because researchers anticipate that they may help to repair injured hearts by replacing lost tissue. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are the first to demonstrate the direct conversion of a non-heart cell type into a heart cell by RNA transfer. Working on the idea that the signature of a cell is defined by molecules called messenger ...

My new blog, "Workplace Ethics Advice," expands on my popular Ethics Sage website to provide reasoned advice how best to deal with workplace ethics issues. Workplace ethics issues may include: - What to do when you suspect financial wrongdoing by a supervisor or top management - What to do when you have been told to do something you feel is inappropriate - What to do when you have been asked to do something you feel is inappropriate - What to do when you have been ordered to keep quiet about a company action - How to handle workplace stress issues including: ...

While a movie about giant robots that undergo structural transformations is breaking box office records this summer, a scientific study about structural transformations within single nanocrystals is breaking new ground for the design of novel materials that will serve next-generation energy storage batteries and solar energy harvesting devices. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have reported the first direct observation of structural transformations within a single nanocrystal of copper sulfide, a ...

Researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery have found that in comparison to open surgery, arthroscopic treatment of a common hip problem that leads to arthritis produces similar outcomes in terms of repairing structural problems in most patients. The study will be published in the July 2011 TK issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine. "For the majority of patients with more typical hip impingement, arthroscopic approaches should be just as effective at adequately restoring the mechanics as the open surgical technique," said Bryan T. Kelly, M.D., co-director of ...