Guoman Hotels has announced that it will be launching a Wizard of Oz themed Afternoon Tea at The Royal Horseguards Hotel in London's Whitehall in order to celebrate the launch of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Wizard of Oz, which opens at the London Palladium in February. To create an enjoyable evening of theatre and food, the hotel has designed an exclusive Wizard of Oz afternoon tea menu, ideal for enjoying prior to attending the musical. Conveniently located close to the London Palladium, The Royal Horseguards' Wizard of Oz Afternoon Tea has been designed by the hotel's ...

The National Trust, the Art Fund and National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) are delighted to announce that Pieter Brueghel the Younger's 'The Procession to Calvary' has been saved for the nation after an intensive three month fundraising campaign. The GBP2.72 million total was announced with the news of the NHMF grant of GBP1,034,000. Along with the Art Fund's GBP500,000 grant that kick started the appeal, over GBP680,000 from members of the public - many of whom were Art Fund and National Trust members - and nearly GBP510,000 from trusts and foundations, 'The Procession ...

As anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows, there are a large number of different weight loss plans or "solutions" found online, and also many broken promises and programs that simply don't work. Most of these lose weight fast scams are very unhealthy, and can't back up any of their claims. And unfortunately for many people, this causes them to give up hope, and the fight to lose the weight that they so desperately want and need to lose. This is why finding a solution that really works, and a company you can trust, are so critical. Which brings us the HCG Diet ...

This is the reason they are accessorizing their mobile sets with the help of the different skins and other options available. However, surprisingly, the mobile phone accessory that is most in demand all around the world is the mobile phone ringtones. There are two reasons for the popularity of the free ringtones. Firstly, the mobile ringtones can be assigned to play versatile tunes and other sound tracks every time one receives a call or a message, which is a pleasant replacement of the routine beeps or rings emitted by the mobile phones. Secondly, the World Wide Web, has ...

The combined data from several NASA satellites has astonished astronomers by revealing unexpected changes in X-ray emission from the Crab Nebula, once thought to be the steadiest high-energy source in the sky. "For 40 years, most astronomers regarded the Crab as a standard candle," said Colleen Wilson-Hodge, an astrophysicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., who presented the findings today at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle. "Now, for the first time, we're clearly seeing how much our candle flickers." The Crab Nebula ...

WASHINGTON -- Global surface temperatures in 2010 tied 2005 as the warmest on record, according to an analysis released Wednesday by researchers at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. The two years differed by less than 0.018 degrees Fahrenheit. The difference is smaller than the uncertainty in comparing the temperatures of recent years, putting them into a statistical tie. In the new analysis, the next warmest years are 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2007, which are statistically tied for third warmest year. The GISS records begin in 1880. The ...

In the outer reaches of our solar system lies a mysterious region far more remote and difficult to explore than the Australian outback. It remains the only part of our solar system not visited by spacecraft. Called the Kuiper Belt, this area beyond Neptune is home to the dwarf planets Pluto, Eris, Makemake, and Haumea. It also harbors thousands of smaller objects that form a second, icy asteroid belt (or more appropriately, comet belt). In this realm of perpetual twilight, the distant sun looks like just another bright star. A new telescope has begun to virtually explore ...

In 2003, the year a complete draft of the human genome was released, the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute launched the ENCODE project (ENCyclopedia of DNA Elements), to develop an encyclopedia of the epigenome, that is, of all of the many factors that can change the expression of the genes without changing the genes. Four years later, the National Institutes of Health funded modENCODE (the Model Organism ENCylopedia of DNA Elements) to work out the epigenomes of two model organisms: the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, lurker among rotten bananas, and the ...

Coffee, that morning elixir, may give us an early jump-start to the day, but numerous studies have shown that it also may be protective against type 2 diabetes. Yet no one has really understood why. Now, researchers at UCLA have discovered a possible molecular mechanism behind coffee's protective effect. A protein called sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG) regulates the biological activity of the body's sex hormones, testosterone and estrogen, which have long been thought to play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes. And coffee consumption, it turns out, increases ...

Scientists have developed Australia's first adult induced pluripotent stem cell lines using skin biopsies from patients with the rare genetic disease Friedreich Ataxia (FA). The study was conducted by the University of Melbourne and Monash Institute of Medical Research and is published in the current online edition of the international journal Stem Cell Reviews and Reports. It is the first time adult pluripotent stem cells, known as iPS cells have been developed for a specific disease in Australia, allowing for the development of new treatments for FA and related conditions ...

PITTSBURGH—The fruit fly has evolved a method for arranging the tiny, hair-like structures it uses to feel and hear the world that's so efficient a team of scientists in Israel and at Carnegie Mellon University says it could be used to more effectively deploy wireless sensor networks and other distributed computing applications. With a minimum of communication and without advance knowledge of how they are connected with each other, the cells in the fly's developing nervous system manage to organize themselves so that a small number of cells serve as leaders that provide ...

Chickens genetically modified to prevent them spreading bird flu have been produced by researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh. The scientists have successfully developed genetically modified (transgenic) chickens that do not transmit avian influenza virus to other chickens with which they are in contact. This genetic modification has the potential to stop bird flu outbreaks spreading within poultry flocks. This would not only protect the health of domestic poultry but could also reduce the risk of bird flu epidemics leading to new flu virus epidemics ...

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center researchers have discovered a previously unknown feature of common tumor cells – massive overexpression of certain DNA sequences that do not code for proteins. These DNA sequences – called satellite repeats – have been studied for their role in chromosomal structure but previously were not suspected of having a role in cancer. The report will appear in the journal Science and is receiving early online release. "Satellite repeats make up a large part of our genome but had been thought to be inactive," explains David ...

Patients returning to dialysis after kidney transplant failure present unique challenges compared with other dialysis patients: they have been exposed to very powerful immunosuppressive medications and have been on dialysis for a longer period of time than other dialysis patients. This puts them at particularly high risk for various complications and death. According to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN), despite complications, these patients can choose to undergo dialysis in the comfort of their own ...

Planet X, an often-sought 10th planet, is so far a no-show, but Sukanya Chakrabarti has high hopes for finding what might be called Galaxy X – a dwarf galaxy that she predicts orbits our Milky Way Galaxy. Many large galaxies, such as the Milky Way, are thought to have lots of satellite galaxies too dim to see. They are dominated by "dark matter," which astronomers say makes up 85 percent of all matter in the universe but so far remains undetected. Chakrabarti, a post-doctoral fellow and theoretical astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, has developed ...

Students can combat test anxiety and improve performance by writing about their worries immediately before the exam begins, according to a University of Chicago study published Friday in the journal Science. Researchers found that students who were prone to test anxiety improved their high-stakes test scores by nearly one grade point after they were given 10 minutes to write about what was causing them fear, according to the article, "Writing about Testing Boosts Exam Performance in the Classroom." The article appears in the Jan. 14 issue of Science and is based on research ...

Among older adults with a recent heart attack (myocardial infarction), those with lower levels of kidney function are less likely to take their medications as prescribed, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). "Several types of medications have proven benefit for preventing recurrent heart attacks, yet only about half of people with heart disease take their medications correctly," comments Wolfgang C. Winkelmayer, MD, ScD (Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA). "Adherence ...

Among older adults with a recent heart attack (myocardial infarction), those with lower levels of kidney function are less likely to take their medications as prescribed, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). "Several types of medications have proven benefit for preventing recurrent heart attacks, yet only about half of people with heart disease take their medications correctly," comments Wolfgang C. Winkelmayer, MD, ScD (Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA). "Adherence ...

BOULDER –-The magnitude of climate change during Earth's deep past suggests that future temperatures may eventually rise far more than projected if society continues its pace of emitting greenhouse gases, a new analysis concludes. The study, by National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) scientist Jeffrey Kiehl, will appear as a "Perspectives" piece in this week's issue of the journal Science. Building on recent research, the study examines the relationship between global temperatures and high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere tens of millions of years ago. ...

Scientists at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) and the Federal Research Institute for Animal Health (FLI; Tuebingen) have challenged the notion that airborne prions are innocuous.Details of how inhalation of prion-tainted aerosols induced disease are published January 13 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens. It is known that prions can be transmitted through contaminated surgical instruments and, more rarely, through blood transfusions. However, prions are not generally considered to be airborne - in contrast to many viruses such as influenza and chicken pox. In ...

The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association has proposed metrics that healthcare professionals can use to monitor the diagnosis and treatment of patients at stroke centers to help improve the quality of care stroke patients receive. The recommendations are published in a scientific statement in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. The metrics are being proposed to assist in the standardized designation of Comprehensive Stroke Centers. These centers would be expected to monitor new diagnostic and treatment metrics, in addition to the standard ...

Chevy Chase, MD—According to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), exposure to electrical light between dusk and bedtime strongly suppresses melatonin levels and may impact physiologic processes regulated by melatonin signaling, such as sleepiness, thermoregulation, blood pressure and glucose homeostasis. Melatonin is a hormone produced at night by the pineal gland in the brain. In addition to its role in regulating the sleep-wake cycle, melatonin has been shown to lower blood pressure ...

Chevy Chase, MD—A recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), found higher Bisphenol A (BPA) levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) compared to controls. Furthermore, researchers found a statistically significant positive association between male sex hormones and BPA in these women suggesting a potential role of BPA in ovarian dysfunction. BPA is a very common industrial compound used in food and drink packaging, plastic consumer products and dental materials. PCOS is the most ...

When it comes to advising obese patients, blacks receive less weight reduction and exercise counseling from physicians than their white counterparts. This is according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who examined the impact of patient and doctor race concordance on weight-related counseling. The results are featured in the January 2011 online issue of Obesity. "Contrary to our expectations, we did not observe a positive association between patient-physician race concordance and weight-related counseling," ...

The continental crust is the principal record of conditions on the Earth for the last 4.4 billion years. Its formation modified the composition of the mantle and the atmosphere, it supports life, and it remains a sink for carbon dioxide through weathering and erosion. The continental crust therefore has had a key role in the evolution of the Earth, and yet the timing of its generation remains the topic of considerable debate. It is widely believed that the juvenile continental crust has grown from the depleted upper mantle. One common way to assess when new crust was ...