Amsterdam, NL, 9 June 2011 – Few treatments for Parkinson's disease (PD) restore function for extended periods. In a new study published today in the inaugural issue issue of the Journal of Parkinson's Disease, an international group of researchers report that platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) restored function in rodents and shows promise as a clinical candidate drug for treatment of PD. Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, affecting 1𔃀% of the population over the age of 65. It is characterized by loss of brain cells ...

Amsterdam, NL, 9 June 2011 – In a new study published today in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Parkinson's Disease, Israeli researchers report that by tracking pharmacy purchases of anti-Parkinson drugs they could estimate the number of Parkinson's disease (PD) cases in a large population. The study identified a sharp rise in PD prevalence from 170/100,000 in 2000 to 256/100,000 in 2007 in Israel, which warrants further investigation. Surprisingly, much of the world lacks accurate figures for the percentage of the population (prevalence) with PD and the rate of ...

The idea is simple, says Kevin Moeller, PhD, and yet it has huge implications. All we are recommending is using photovoltaic cells (clean energy) to power electrochemical reactions (clean chemistry). Moeller is the first to admit this isn't new science. "But we hope to change the way people do this kind of chemistry by making a connection for them between two existing technologies," he says. To underscore the simplicity of the idea, Moeller and his co-authors used a $6 solar cell sold on the Internet and intended to power toy cars to run reactions described in an article ...

Confused.com has revealed that 56% of UK drivers have at some point, forgotten where they have parked their car, and 3% have picked up the phone to ask their breakdown service to help them find it. More than 50 in 2,000 drivers in the UK admit to making that call according to a new survey by car insurance comparison site Confused.com. The Confused.com survey has revealed some of the gaffes of UK drivers, which have led them to phone for their breakdown service, like 25% of drivers have locked their keys in the car and 10% of drivers have had to call for their breakdown ...

Amsterdam, NL, June 9, 2011 – IOS Press is pleased to announce the publication of a landmark study in which both traditional and innovative scientometric approaches have been employed to identify the top 100 Parkinson's disease (PD) investigators since 1985 and measure their scientific productivity as well as the impact of their contributions to the field. The article appears today in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Parkinson's Disease. This milestone analysis has been conducted by Aaron A. Sorensen, a noted expert in the fields of scientometrics and bibliometrics ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In a mouse study, scientists at Mayo Clinic Florida have demonstrated the feasibility of a promising new strategy for treating human type 2 diabetes, which affects more than 200 million people worldwide. In type 2 diabetes, the body stops responding efficiently to insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar. To compensate for the insensitivity to insulin, many diabetes drugs work by boosting insulin levels; for example, by injecting more insulin or by increasing the amount of insulin secreted from the pancreas. The new study, published in the ...

A leading provider of executive health and corporate health programs, concierge medical service EliteHealth has been selected by the southern division of Holman Automotive Group - one of the nation's top auto dealership and leasing companies - to provide a Wellness Program for their managerial staff. The move follows a successful implementation of EliteHealth's Executive Wellness Program in 2010, which has provided concierge medical services to 15 of Holman's southern executive management group. More and more companies are recognizing that corporate success is dependent ...

BOSTON--Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have uncovered a new role for a key cancer protein, a finding that could pave the way for more-effective radiation treatment of a variety of tumors. Many cancers are driven in part by elevated levels of cyclin D1, which allow the cells to escape growth controls and proliferate abnormally. In the new research, reported in the June 9 issue of Nature, researchers discovered that cyclin D1 also helps cancer cells to quickly repair DNA damage caused by radiation treatments, making the tumors resistant to the therapy. Based ...

PHILADELPHIA — For tens of thousands of years, the genomes of malaria parasites and humans have been at war with one another. Now, University of Pennsylvania geneticists, in collaboration with an international team of scientists, have developed a new picture of one way that the human genome has fought back. The international team was led by Sarah Tishkoff, a Penn Integrates Knowledge professor with appointments in the genetics department in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine and the biology department of biology in the School of Arts and Sciences, and Wen-Ya Ko, a postdoctoral ...

(Garrison, NY) Should physicians be banned from assisting in a lethal injection execution, or lose professional certification for doing so? A recent ruling by the American Board of Anesthesiology will revoke certification of anesthesiologists who participate in capital punishment, and other medical boards may act similarly. An article in the Hastings Center Report concludes that decertification of physicians participating in lethal injections by a professional certifying organization goes too far—though individual physicians and private medical groups like the AMA are ...

After eight years of work, researchers have unearthed what has been a well-kept secret of our immune system's success. The findings published online on June 9th in Immunity, a Cell Press publication, offer an explanation for how specialized immune cells are able to kill infected or cancerous cells without killing themselves in the process. The focus of the study is a molecule known as perforin, whose job it is to open up a pore in cells targeted for destruction. With that pore in place, proteases known as granzymes can enter target cells and destroy them. Perforin ...

Following its victory at the 2010 British Insurance Awards, in the Broking Initiative of the Year category, avantia is delighted to announce it's nomination for the 2011 British Insurance Awards - this time in the Business Transformation Deal of the Year category. avantia has been nominated in recognition of a joint initiative with comparison site giant Confused.com which led to the first proper comparison site proposition for people who normally struggle to find insurance because of where they live or their background. "The British Insurance Awards showcase ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Given how much patients invest in in vitro fertilization (IVF), both financially and emotionally, tools to inform couples about what they might expect during their treatment can be welcome. A study by researchers at Brown University and Women & Infants Hospital shows that as the IVF cycle is beginning, a blood test for levels of a hormone called AMH, or antimullerian hormone, can help predict the number of eggs that will be harvested. "Clinicians can measure AMH before or during ovarian stimulation to counsel couples about their likelihood ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — It's time for the United States to consider establishing higher standards for math teachers if the nation is going to break its "vicious cycle" of mediocrity, a Michigan State University education scholar argues in Science magazine. As American students continue to be outpaced in mathematics by pupils in countries such as Russia and Taiwan, William Schmidt recommends adopting more rigorous, demanding and internationally benchmarked teacher-preparation standards for math teachers. "Our research shows that current teacher-preparation programs for ...

An alarming new article in Respirology issues a serious warning of massive rises in deaths from asbestos-related lung diseases in Asia. Dr Ken Takahashi, Acting Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Occupational Health, and his team put together important data on asbestos use in 47 Asian countries in this landmark article. Cyprus, Israel and Japan had the highest age-adjusted mortality rates in Asia. This study published in Respirology, a journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology, will serve as an important reference document for health authorities in Asian-Pacific. Asian ...

Available beginning September 1, 2011, the Inn & Spa at Cedar Falls will once again offer its wildly popular Pawpaw Spa Facial, along with a special pawpaw menu and pawpaw infused cocktails, all of which debuted to rave reviews in 2010. Inn & Spa at Cedar Falls Spa Director, Randall Wellman LMT, MS, studied the homegrown wild pawpaw and its innate ability to soften and moisturize the skin and provide a natural anti-wrinkle treatment, then developed this proprietary spa facial treatment. "In their spa benefits, pawpaws are a super food ingredient, offering ...

A new study uncovers a brain mechanism that could be targeted for new medications designed to help people quit smoking without gaining weight. This research, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, shows that a specific subclass of brain nicotinic receptor is involved in nicotine's ability to reduce food intake in rodents. Prior research shows that the average weight gain after smoking is less than 10 pounds, but fear of weight gain can discourage some people who would like to quit. In the study, to be published ...

On rare occasion, the light-sensing photoreceptor cells in the eye misfire and signal to the brain as if they have captured photons, when in reality they haven't. For years this phenomenon remained a mystery. Reporting in the June 10 issue of Science, neuroscientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered that a light-capturing pigment molecule in photoreceptors can be triggered by heat, as well, giving rise to these false alarms. "A photon, the unit of light, is just energy, which, when captured by the pigment rhodopsin, most of the time causes ...

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, June 9, 2011 – A unique, international summit of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and future leaders from around the world has concluded with the release of the Equinox Summit: Energy 2030 Communiqué. The event's preliminary report includes visionary proposals for transformative action to reduce the electricity-related emissions that drive global warming. The full Equinox Communiqué is now available at: http://wgsi.org/files/EquinoxCommunique_June9_2011.pdf The Communiqué identifies a group of technological approaches and implementation ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Detroit entrepreneur surprised university engineers here recently, when he invented a heat-treatment that makes steel 7 percent stronger than any steel on record – in less than 10 seconds. In fact, the steel, now trademarked as Flash Bainite, has tested stronger and more shock-absorbing than the most common titanium alloys used by industry. Now the entrepreneur is working with researchers at Ohio State University to better understand the science behind the new treatment, called flash processing. What they've discovered may hold the key to making ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have developed a new type of imaging technology to diagnose cardiovascular disease and other disorders by measuring ultrasound signals from molecules exposed to a fast-pulsing laser. The new method could be used to take precise three-dimensional images of plaques lining arteries, said Ji-Xin Cheng, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and chemistry at Purdue University. Other imaging methods that provide molecular information are unable to penetrate tissue deep enough to reveal the three-dimensional structure of the plaques, ...

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The low pressure system that has been bringing rainfall to the northwestern Philippines has strengthened into the fifth tropical depression of the Northwest Pacific Ocean's hurricane season. Tropical Depression 05W (TD05W) also known as Dodong in the Philippines was caught by infrared NASA satellite imagery on June 8 at 1741 UTC (1:41 p.m. EDT). The infrared data showed some powerful thunderstorms with very cold cloud top temperatures near the threshold of AIRS data of -63 Fahrenheit and -52 Celsius. That indicates the coldest, strongest thunderstorms within the tropical ...

An innovative new eGreetings website, www.iAttachments.com, officially opens for business today. For a $20 annual fee subscribers can send an unlimited number of greetings over the Internet. The distinctiveness of the service is 1) a short film with a song or a lyric video that tells a story appropriate for the greeting occasion, and 2) the core greeting is customized by the sender with an animated "envelope" preceding the film and an animated digital closing personalized with a message to the recipient follows the film. Subscribers may also use the site's licensed ...

ST. PAUL, MN—Five years after the launch of a global effort to protect the world's most important food crop from variants of Ug99, a new and deadly form of wheat rust, scientists say they are close to producing super varieties of wheat that will resist the potent pathogen, while boosting yields by as much as 15 percent. According to research to be presented at a global wheat rust symposium in Minneapolis starting June 13, scientists report that variants of the Ug99 strain of stem rust are becoming increasingly virulent and are being carried by wind beyond the handful of ...