The regulation of personal data varies hugely across countries and sectors, research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) reveals. The study, which was conducted by Professor Andreas Busch of Oxford University, examined privacy regulations in four countries across three different areas - the use of Closed Circuit TV cameras in public places; Radio Frequency Identification Technology chips in consumer goods, such as electronic toll collection tags; and the introduction of biometric features in passports and identity cards. The policies in the United ...

Broadcasters failed to prepare audiences for events in North Africa and the Middle East, according to new research from the International Broadcasting Trust (IBT) and the University of East Anglia (UEA). Published today (Weds June 22), the Outside the Box report looks in detail at the nature of non-news factual coverage on all the main television channels in 2010 and finds that some countries like Libya and Yemen received little or no coverage at all. In 2010, five out of the 12 countries which have experienced revolutions, civil uprisings or major protests to date were ...

Rodriguez MD, a new Lawrenceville clinic and bilingual Lawrenceville family practice near Gwinnett Medical Center now offers Saturday hours. Located in Terrace Park Medical Center at 771 Old Norcross Rd., Suite 250, the practice has a physician on-site and available to see patients the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month from 8:00am - 12 noon. Upcoming Saturday dates include: - Saturday, July 2 - Saturday, July 16 - Saturday, August 6 - Saturday, August 20 Saturday hours are perfect for people who have weekday conflicts that make scheduling a medical check-up difficult ...

Advanced crafting of stone spearheads contributed to the development of new ways of human thinking and behaving. This is what new findings by archaeologists at Lund University have shown. The technology took a long time to acquire, required step by step planning and increased social interaction across the generations. This led to the human brain developing new abilities. 200 000 years ago, small groups of people wandered across Africa, looking like us anatomically but not thinking the way we do today. Studies of fossils and the rate of mutations in DNA show that the ...

TORONTO, Ont., June 21, 2011—Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital have found more evidence of the benefits of home dialysis for patients with kidney failure. Cells that help protect blood vessels work better in patients who undergo dialysis at home during the night than those who undergo standard daytime dialysis in a hospital, according to Dr. Darren Yuen, a nephrologist. This is important for patients with kidney failure, which causes damage to the endothelial cells that line blood vessels and help control the flow of blood. While standard dialysis in hospital is ...

PITTSBURGH—Driver assistance technologies, such as adaptive cruise control and automatic braking, promise to someday ease traffic on crowded routes and prevent accidents. Proving that these automated systems will work as intended is a daunting task, but computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have now demonstrated it is possible to verify the safety of these highly complex systems. To do so, the researchers first developed a model of a distributed car control system in which computers and sensors in each car combine to control acceleration, braking and lane ...

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have discovered a molecular mechanism which could bring about the development of new treatments for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) — a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Dr Bruno Gran, a Clinical Associate Professor in the Division of Clinical Neurology in the School of Clinical Sciences, working in collaboration with Professor Paul Moynagh from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, has discovered a synthetic chemical compound which inhibits the pro-inflammatory signals produced by the immune system ...

New Haven, Conn.—Astronomers have probed into the distant universe and discovered that galaxies display one of two distinct behaviors: they are either awake or asleep, actively forming stars or are not forming any new stars at all. Scientists have known for several years that galaxies in the nearby universe seem to fall into one of these two states. But a new survey of the distant universe shows that even very young galaxies as far away as 12 billion light years are either awake or asleep as well, meaning galaxies have behaved this way for more than 85 percent of the ...

Jumeirah Restaurants has announced that the highly anticipated Ivy restaurant is set to open its doors in Dubai, taking forward the long-standing tradition of the international brasserie in London. The Ivy in Dubai will share the same standards of food, ambience and service as The Ivy in London, but will also take on board the best that Dubai has to offer. Located on the ground floor of The Boulevard, Jumeirah Emirates Towers, which is one of Jumeirah's Dubai hotels, The Ivy has been welcoming diners since 9 June, 2011. Designed by Martin Brudnizki, the restaurant ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Once eggs are laid, their natural resistance to pathogens begins to wear down, but a Purdue University scientist believes he knows how to rearm those defenses. Kevin Keener, an associate professor of food science, created a process for rapidly cooling eggs that is designed to inhibit the growth of bacteria such as salmonella. The same cooling process would saturate the inside of an egg with carbon dioxide and alter pH levels, which he has found are connected to the activity of an enzyme called lysozyme, which defends egg whites from bacteria. "This ...

Boots has that Cottages4you, provider of cottage and holiday lettings will be joining Treat Street. This will be a new offering for the 'travel' area of the Boots Treat Street website, which will allow customers to collect more Boots Advantage Card points through the Treat Street site. This is a great addition to the site and arrives just in time for the summer holidays. It is hoped it will appeal to UK customers who are looking for accommodation. The Cottages4you website has the widest selection of cottages from coast to country, with over 13,000 hand-selected ...

Despite significant advancements in increasing distribution and development of vaccines against childhood killer diseases – including pneumococcal disease, rotavirus, and Haemophilus influenzae Type B – global efforts to reduce the burden of infection from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) has greatly lagged, argues Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) President Dr. Peter Hotez in an article for the June edition of Health Affairs. NTDs, a group of 17 parasitic infections, represent a significant contributor to global poverty, and have well documented chronic and disabling ...

Waco, Texas (June 21, 2011) - Women who return to work after giving birth are more likely to stay on the job if they have greater control over their work schedules, according to a Baylor University study. Researchers also found that job security and the ability to make use of a variety of their job skills leads to greater retention of working moms, while the impact of work-related stress on their physical and mental health causes greater turnover. The study is published online in the Journal of Applied Psychology. "Having a flexible schedule is an important element ...

Hays and The Times have announced that Louisa James, of Wandsworth, London, has triumphed in the Hays and The Times PA of the Year Award 2011, being named the country's top PA. Her energy and enthusiasm have seen her expand her role, embracing significant project management and organisational leadership such as being actively involved in the 'Jamie's 30-minute meals' award-winning app, helping her secure the top spot. PA to the managing director at Jamie Oliver Ltd, Louisa was announced as the winner at an awards ceremony held by Hays, the leading recruiting expert, ...

Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz (HIM), together with their colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg and the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, have observed spin quantum-jumps with a single trapped proton for the first time. The fact that they have managed to procure this elusive data means that they have overtaken their research competitors at the elite Harvard University and are now the global leaders in this field. The result is a pioneering step forward ...

This release is available in Spanish. Compounds in blueberries might turn out to have a powerful effect on formation of strong, healthy bones, if results from studies with laboratory rats turn out to hold true for humans. Jin-Ran Chen and his colleagues are exploring this idea in research funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) at the Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center (ACNC) in Little Rock. Chen is a principal investigator and lead scientist at the center's Skeletal Development Laboratory, and an assistant professor in the department of pediatrics at ...

Montreal, June 21, 2011 – Multicultural daycares don't necessarily foster a desire for kids of visibly different ethnicities to play together. A study on Asian-Canadian and French-Canadian preschoolers has found these children may have a preference to interact with kids of their own ethnic group. Led by researchers from Concordia University and the University of Montreal, the findings are published in the European Journal of Developmental Psychology. "We found Asian-Canadian and French-Canadian children seemed to prefer interacting with kids of the same ethnic background," ...

Debenhams has revealed that teenagers across the country won't be attending school discos over the coming weeks but instead dancing at American style school proms.  The phenomenon is so prevalent that in some areas nine out of ten secondary schools will be hosting the events, sending sales of prom style dresses soaring and creating a new sales peak second only to Christmas says the store. Unlike the school disco, the prom is a much more formal affair with evening wear and black tie being the required dress code.  Since the start of the 'season' Debenhams has seen ...

MANHATTAN -- Not all consumers share the same attitudes toward animal cloning, but the latest research from Sean Fox, Kansas State University professor of agricultural economics, shows that Americans may be more accepting of consuming cloned animal products than Europeans. Much of Fox's research focuses on consumer attitudes toward food safety. He worked with Shonda Anderson, a recent master's graduate in agricultural economics, Durango, Colo., to recently explore consumer attitudes on cloned animals. "We were interested in finding out how different groups of consumers ...

DURHAM, N.C. – Brain cancer patients who are able to exercise live significantly longer than sedentary patients, scientists at the Duke Cancer Institute report. The finding, published online Monday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, adds to recent research that exercise improves how cancer patients feel during and after treatments, and may also extend their lives. "This provides some initial evidence that we need to look at the effects of exercise interventions, not only to ease symptoms but also to impact progression and survival," said Lee W. Jones, PhD, associate ...

This month in ecological science, researchers evaluate the U.S. National Fire Plan to restore western U.S. forests, fire's key role in the return of a native lizard to the Ozarks and what historical fire records and sediment cores can tell us about the Arctic Tundra's fire regime. These articles are available online or published in recent issues of the Ecological Society of America's (ESA) journals. Taking stock of U.S. strategies to restore forests in the West A study published in the June issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment is the first to analyze recent ...

Jumeirah Burj Al Arab, The world's most luxurious hotel, has announced the re-design of its Assawan Spa and Health Club menu of treatments and services coinciding with the launch of The Ultimate Fitness Retreat. Burj Al Arab's Assawan Spa has partnered with PTX Performance Training to bring an exclusive programme of hospitality, high impact performance training, physical fitness instruction, healthy dining and personal mentoring to deliver The Ultimate Fitness Retreat. The programme, devised to be physically and mentally challenging, will be delivered over a four ...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A University of Florida review of research finds the polyphenol compound known as resveratrol found in red wine, grapes and other fruits may not prevent old age, but it might make it more tolerable. News stories have long touted resveratrol as a cure for various diseases and a preventative against aging. "We're all looking for an anti-aging cure in a pill, but it doesn't exist. But what does exist shows promise of lessening many of the scourges and infirmities of old age," said UF exercise psychologist Heather Hausenblas, one of the researchers ...

A new study shows that being married boosts survival odds for both men and women with colon cancer at every stage of the disease. Married patients had a 14 percent lower risk of death according to researchers at Penn State's College of Medicine and Brigham Young University. That estimate is based on analysis of 127,753 patient records. Similar to studies of other types of cancers, the researchers did find that married people were diagnosed at earlier stages of colon cancer and sought more aggressive treatment. The researchers took those and other factors into account ...

Choice Hotels International (NYSE: CHH), the global hotel group behind the Comfort, Quality and Clarion brands and one of the largest and most successful lodging franchisors in the world, has announced that two more independently-run UK hotels have joined its network; Comfort Hotel Luton and the Clarion Collection Croydon Park Hotel. The award-winning Croydon Park Hotel has been re-branded as the Clarion Collection Croydon Park Hotel. Located in the heart of Croydon town centre and only a short walk from East Croydon Station, it provides both business and leisure travellers ...