Park West Gallery furthered its national outreach initiative, Park West Gallery CARES, by donating 20 works by various artists to the International School in Bellevue, WA on February 28, 2011. Additionally, Park West artist Noah gave an inspirational lecture to art students at the International School. The International School is a nationally recognized public charter school, ranking among the top ten schools in the United States. It serves middle and high school students in the Bellevue School District in Bellevue, WA. "We run a rigorous program in which students ...

The numbers are, well, depressing: More than 2 million people age 65 and older suffer from depression, including 50 percent of those living in nursing homes. The suicide rate among white men over 85 is the highest in the country — six times the national rate. And we're not getting any younger. In the next 35 years, the number of Americans over 65 will double and the number of those over 85 will triple. So the question becomes, how to help elderly depressed individuals? Researchers at UCLA turned to a gentle, Westernized version of tai chi chih, a 2,000-year-old ...

IC Companys A/S is a Danish listed group formed in 2001 by the merger of Carli Gry International A/S and InWear Group A/S. The company, which registered an annual revenue of DKK 3.5 billion in 2009/10, runs and develops 11 strong and independent brands: Peak Performance, Tiger of Sweden, Jackpot, InWear, Matinique, Saint Tropez, Part Two, Cottonfield, By Malene Birger, Soaked in Luxury and Designers Remix. With the global financial crisis crippling companies worldwide, IC Companys worked hard to cut back costs and weathered the storm by staying profitable throughout ...

For worms, choosing when to search for a new dinner spot depends on many factors, both internal and external: how hungry they are, for example, how much oxygen is in the air, and how many other worms are around. A new study demonstrates this all-important decision is also influenced by the worm's genetic make-up. In the simple Caenorhabditis elegans nematode, the researchers found that natural variations in several genes influence how quickly a worm will leave a lawn of bacteria on which it's feeding. One of the genes, called tyra-3, produces a receptor activated by adrenaline—a ...

Once thought to exclusively inhabit its namesake mountain range, the threatened Andean cat—a house cat-sized feline that resembles a small snow leopard in both appearance and habitat—also frequents the Patagonian steppe at much lower elevations, according to a new study published by the Wildlife Conservation Society and partners. The finding represents a range extension for the Andean cat, which normally occurs at altitudes above 3,000 meters (approximately 9,800 feet). The new survey presents evidence of the cats occurring at elevations as low as 650 meters (approximately ...

Paleontologists agree that it's difficult to observe behavior in fossil specimens that are dead – even extinct – and petrified. One method is to find a modern, living, species that has some similarities to the ancient animal. That's the strategy adopted by David L. Meyer, University of Cincinnati professor of geology and colleagues as they study a group of ancient shellfish known as brachiopods. Although they resemble clams or other shelled mollusks, brachiopods are more closely related to marine worms. Relatively rare today, brachiopods were a dominant species in Paleozoic ...

Home shoppers who want the bigger bedroom count, but not the responsibilities of a big yard, have two great choices at Pardee Homes' Manzanita Trail in Pacific Highlands Ranch. The classic front porch designed Plan 1 and Plan 2 homes each have four bedrooms and very manageable side courtyards that help free the homeowner from yard work. Residents at Manzanita Trail also enjoy all the benefits of living within walking distance to the private Pacific Highlands Ranch Recreation Center. Families like the McSherrys, who have four children, were thrilled to downsize from their ...

Washington, D.C. (March 16, 2011) -- Measuring the mechanical strength of cancer cell mucus layers provides clues about better ways to treat cancer, and also suggests why some cancer cells are more resistant to drugs than others, according to Kai-tak Wan, associate professor of engineering at Northeastern University, Boston, Mass. According to Wan, healthy tissues naturally secrete mucus to protect against infection. Cancer cells, however, produce far more mucus than healthy cells. Mucus consists of protein "stalks" attached to sugar sidechains, or "branches." This ...

(Edmonton) If you have time to quickly swipe your pager or cell phone three times, that would be your best bet to get rid of most of the bacteria. And a simple tissue moistened with saline would do the trick. But if you only have time for a single swipe of a 'dirty' phone – you'd be better off reaching for a disinfectant wipe. Those are the highlights of a recently published research study that appeared online in PubMed, with the discoveries having been made by a team of researchers in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta. "It was the mechanical ...

Few specimens inspire greater thrills among fossil collectors than a complete trilobite. These ancient arthropods – relatives of lobsters, spiders and insects – went extinct more than 250 million years ago, but are sometimes found in beautifully preserved condition. In rare instances, an entire population of trilobites is found fossilized together. Carlton E. Brett finds evidence for ancient environment and behavior in these mass graves. Brett, University of Cincinnati professor of geology, will present his findings March 20 at the Geological Society of America regional ...

A promising new approach for checking the accuracy of measurements of hazardous indoor air pollutants may soon be ready for prime time, report researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Virginia Tech.* The measurement tool, a reference sample for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), would be a boon to testers of indoor air quality and to manufacturers of paints, rugs, cleaners and other building products. The researchers put their innovation—thin squares of plastic saturated with vapors of a common solvent—through the paces at four testing ...

Just as a chain is as strong as its weakest link, a building is as secure against the environment as its most degraded joint sealants, about 50 percent of which fail in less than 10 years after installation. The upshot for U.S. homeowners is that moisture damage due to failed sealants is responsible for much of the $65 billion to $80 billion they collectively shell out for house repairs annually. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are assembling a toolkit of measurement devices and scientific data that will help manufacturers of ...

A recent study from North Carolina State University shows that while the number of visits to state parks across the country has grown, fund support for park operations has been significantly reduced. The reduction in funding during a time of park growth endangers the more than $20 billion in economic impact that state parks have on the nation's economy. "Obviously the reduction in general-fund support for operations puts stress on America's state-park systems," says Dr. Yu-Fai Leung, NC State associate professor of recreation ecology, park planning and visitor management, ...

PHILADELPHIA -- More than three quarters of domestic violence victims who report the incidents to police seek health care in emergency rooms, but most of them are never identified as being victims of abuse during their hospital visit. These findings, from a new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine study, point to a missed opportunity to intervene and offer help to women who suffer violence at the hands of an intimate partner. "Emergency departments are a safety net for women with health issues of all kinds, but our study shows we're not doing a good enough job ...

16.03.2011 | Potsdam: The earthquake disaster on 11 March 2011 was an event of the century not only for Japan. With a magnitude of Mw = 8.9, it was one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded worldwide. Particularly interesting is that here, two days before, a strong foreshock with a magnitude Mw = 7.2 took place almost exactly at the breaking point of the tsunami-earthquake. The geophysicist Joachim Saul from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences (Helmholtz Association) created an animation which shows the sequence of quakes since March 9. The animated image ...

Eating out in the UK at top restaurant chains just became more affordable to all thanks to the latest deals from consumer voucher codes website DiscountVouchers.co.uk. The country's diners can enjoy money-saving deals this month redeemable at famous restaurants Zizzi, Ask and La Tasca. Zizzi is one of the country's favourite Italian restaurant chains and this month DiscountVouchers.co.uk can help people enjoy eating out there without having to break the bank. Available at present on the DiscountVouchers.co.uk website is a Zizzi voucher for getting 2 main meals for only ...

Bursts of intense global warming that have lasted tens of thousands of years have taken place more frequently throughout history than previously believe, according to evidence gathered by a team led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego researchers. Richard Norris, a professor of geology at Scripps who co-authored the report, said that releases of carbon dioxide sequestered in the deep oceans were the most likely trigger of these ancient "hyperthermal" events. Most of the events raised average global temperatures between 2° and 3° Celsius (3.6 and 5.4° ...

In just a few months, millions of young adults will graduate from college and step into productive careers in the global economy. Meanwhile, those already involved in standardization, particularly in the engineering and technology sectors, and increasingly those with policy, legal, and business backgrounds, are working in a new environment where standards play a crucial role in international trade and competitiveness. But according to the attendees of a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Subcommittee on Standards and Conformance, comparatively few new ...

When you pull off the highway and head into your favorite campground, don't forget to tune in the latest Internet program - The RV Chef. RV Chef is produced for RVers to show that food on the road does not have to be fast or mediocre. With some planning and preparation, wonderful meals are no further away than the picnic table. As the producer and chef, George Murphy has gained a lot of experience in the 25 years he's been RVing. "We hope to produce one program every week or so that will run from 5 - 8 minutes and each and will show the viewer how to make wonderful ...

In the business of concrete making, what's old—even ancient—is new again. Almost 1,900 years ago, the Romans built what continues to be the world's largest unreinforced solid concrete dome in the world—the Pantheon. The secret, probably unknown to the Emperor Hadrian's engineers at the time, was that the lightweight concrete used to build the dome had set and hardened from the inside out. This internal curing process enhanced the material's strength, durability, resistance to cracking, and other properties so that the Pantheon continues to be used for special events to ...

More than 40 years ago, pioneering tectonic geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson published a paper in the journal Nature describing how ocean basins opened and closed along North America's eastern seaboard. His observations, dubbed "The Wilson Tectonic Cycle," suggested the process occurred many times during Earth's long history, most recently causing the giant supercontinent Pangaea to split into today's seven continents. Wilson's ideas were central to the so-called Plate Tectonic Revolution, the foundation of contemporary theories for processes underlying mountain-building ...

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released its final report on its study of the June 18, 2007, fire at the Sofa Super Store in Charleston, S.C., that trapped and killed nine firefighters, the highest number of firefighter deaths in a single event since 9/11. The final report is strengthened by clarifications and supplemental text based on comments provided by organizations and individuals in response to the draft report of the study, released for public comment on Oct. 28, 2010. The revisions did not alter the study team's main finding: the ...

It's been more than 20 years since scientists first discovered the gene that causes cystic fibrosis (CF), yet questions about how the mutated gene causes disease remain unanswered. Using a newly created pig model that genetically replicates the most common form of cystic fibrosis, University of Iowa researchers have now shown that the CF protein is "misprocessed" in the pigs and does not end up in the correct cellular location. This glitch leads to disease symptoms, including gastrointestinal abnormalities and lung disease in the pigs, which mimic CF in humans. The findings ...

SEATTLE—Online messaging can deliver organized follow-up care for depression effectively and efficiently, according to a randomized controlled trial of 208 Group Health patients that the Journal of General Internal Medicine e-published in advance of print. After five months, compared to the half of the patients randomly assigned to receive usual care, the half who had three online care management contacts with a trained psychiatric nurse were significantly more likely to feel less depressed, take their antidepressant medication as prescribed, and be "very satisfied" ...

By national publicity expert, Annie Jennings, of the famous PR firm, Annie Jennings PR Authors are flocking to print on demand publishing and other non-traditional methods of publishing their book. With this growth of authors hitting the scene, so do a myriad of ways to promote a book. With so many choices available to them, how do author choose the right book marketing and book promotion strategy for them. National publicity expert, Annie Jennings PR, whose national PR firm has worked with thousands of book authors, shares 3 ways to tell if you like your book marketing ...