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 ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- More than 2,000 years after Archimedes found a way to determine the density of a king's crown by measuring its mass in two different fluids, MIT scientists have used the same principle to solve an equally vexing puzzle — how to measure the density of a single cell. "Density is such a fundamental, basic property of everything," says William Grover, a research associate in MIT's Department of Biological Engineering. "Every cell in your body has a density, and if you can measure it accurately enough, it opens a whole new window on the biology of that ...

(Edmonton) A University of Alberta researcher has co-written an extensive study of the caribou population in the Fort McMurray oilsands region that show the animals' survival isn't as threatened as was perceived in the past. The study recommends efforts to manage human activity around resource development before resorting to the drastic measure of a wolf kill. U of A statistical researcher Subhash Lele was part of the team that used specially trained dogs to find scat from caribou, moose and wolves in an area south of Fort McMurray. Laboratory analysis of animal scat ...

WASHINGTON — Because strong evidence indicates that policies beyond the health sector have substantial effects on people's health, all levels of U.S. government should adopt a structured approach to considering the health effects of any major legislation or regulation, says a new report by the Institute of Medicine. In addition, federal and state policymakers should review and revise public health laws so that they adequately address current health challenges. "The law has been an essential factor for improving the public's health through policies such as decreasing ...

Tesco is already gearing up for back to school in September, even though the summer tern has only just started, by unveiling its one-price-fits-all school uniform. Despite rising cotton prices, Tesco has managed to offer customers a low-price school uniform option from the Tesco Value range. The flat price applies to all sizes (3-16 years) so regardless of a child's age parents can expect to pay the same price giving families on the tightest budgets great value. Jan Marchant, Tesco Clothing buying director said: "Parents like different price options for Back ...

The answer to treating painful arthritis could lie in an age old herbal remedy - frankincense, according to Cardiff University scientists. Cardiff scientists have been examining the potential benefits of frankincense to help relieve and alleviate the symptoms of the condition. "The search for new ways of relieving the symptoms of inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis is a long and difficult one," according to Dr Emma Blain, who leads the research with her co-investigators Professor Vic Duance from Cardiff University's School of Biosciences and Dr Ahmed Ali ...

WORCESTER, Mass. – For migratory birds and sea turtles, the ability to sense the Earth's magnetic field is crucial to navigating the long-distance voyages these animals undertake during migration. Humans, however, are widely assumed not to have an innate magnetic sense. Research published in Nature Communications this week by faculty at the University of Massachusetts Medical School shows that a protein expressed in the human retina can sense magnetic fields when implanted into Drosophila, reopening an area of sensory biology in humans for further exploration. In many ...

Cash-n-Carry, the Savannah salvage yard that has always put customer satisfaction at the top of their to-do list, is holding a contest for a 1994 Toyota Camry from June 15-July 15. This is a contest so simple in nature that anyone can enter. All you have to do is go to their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cash-n-Carry/184077364961594 and hit the "like" button and then you will enter the contest once you click sweepstakes on the page. It really is as simple as that! This is an opportunity to win one of America's most popular automobiles. The ...

Once we learn the relationship between a cue and its consequences—say, the sound of a bell and the appearance of the white ice cream truck bearing our favorite chocolate cone—do we turn our attention to that bell whenever we hear it? Or do we tuck the information away and marshal our resources to learning other, novel cues—a recorded jingle, or a blue truck? Psychologists observing "attentional allocation" now agree that the answer is both, and they have arrived at two principles to describe the phenomena. The "predictive" principle says we search for meaningful—important—cues ...

A study of the reaction by the United States stock market to international financial crises shows that small companies are often hit hardest, and the impact is above and beyond what would be expected given their exposure to global market factors. This unexpected result suggests the significant impact that investors' actions can have during emerging market crises. During these crises, investors flee to the perceived safety of big companies and shed stocks of smaller companies, despite comparable levels of international exposure during normal periods. "The take-away is, ...

Optimalon Software has released version 4.0 of their GNCutter32 stock-cutting optimization library for software developers. The calculation algorithm of cutting plan generation for multi-size stock cutting has been significantly re-designed. A completely new cutting layout minimization algorithm has been developed and successfully implemented in the new version. Finding the optimal stock-cutting plan is a hard optimization problem that arises in woodworking, glass and metal industries on a regular basis. The problem gets even harder when several sizes of the stocks are ...

Bethesda, MD -- If you think yeast is most useful for beer and pizza crust, here's something else to chew on: a team of U.S. researchers has identified and compared the genetic codes for all known species of yeasts closely related to bakers' and brewers' yeast. This information, published in the Genetics Society of America's new open-access journal, G3: Genes | Genomes | Genetics (http://www.g3journal.org), lays the foundation for future understanding of mutation and disease, as studies of yeasts often identify key genes and mechanisms of disease. "We hope to learn to ...

CHAMPAIGN, lll. — A new study offers a detailed look at the status of Lyme disease in Central Illinois and suggests that deer ticks and the Lyme disease bacteria they host are more adaptable to new habitats than previously appreciated. Led by researchers at the University of Illinois, the study gives an up-close view of one region affected by the steady march of deer ticks across the upper Midwest. Their advance began in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and is moving at a pace of up to two counties a year in Illinois and Indiana. Today the deer tick is established in 26 Illinois ...

Since 2000, Aces High has been the leader of the pack in flight simulation games. One reason is that HiTech Creations does not believe in standing pat with what they have created. Over the years more than 37 different versions of this wildly popular World War 2 flight simulator game have been introduced and this new version is far and away the best. While other companies tinker around with four or five different games, in effect watering down the attention given to any one game, HiTech Creations founder Dale Addink has always believed that the concentration of talent ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have made a discovery in the lab that could help drug manufacturers develop new antiepileptic drugs and explore novel strategies for treating seizures associated with epilepsy – a disease affecting about two million Americans. Neurons, the basic building blocks of the nervous system, are cells that transmit information by electrical and chemical signaling. During epileptic seizures, which generally last from a few seconds to minutes and terminate spontaneously, the concentrations of ions both ...

A team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have uncovered a novel mechanism regulating gene expression and transcription linked to Spinocerebellar ataxia 7, an inherited neurological disorder. The discovery promises to have broad ramifications, suggesting that abundant non-coding transcripts of ribonucleic acid (RNA) may be key players in neurological development and function, and could be powerful targets for future clinical therapies. The research, headed by Albert La Spada, MD, PhD, chief of the division ...

In quantum physics there are two classes of fundamental particles. Photons, the quanta of light, are bosons, while the protons and neutrons that make up atomic nuclei belong to the fermions. Bosons and fermions differ in their behavior at a very basic level. This difference is expressed in their quantum statistics. In the 1980s a third species of fundamental particle was postulated, which was dubbed the anyon. In their quantum statistics, anyons interpolate between bosons and fermions. "They would be a kind of missing link between the two known sorts of fundamental ...