The Kuningan day holiday is celebrated at the end of the Galungan festival, one of the most significant Hindu celebrations which marks the occasion of one's ancestors entering into heaven. Seminyak Beach is a popular place for Indonesian Hindus to spend the holiday since its pretty streets and coastal roads make ideal backdrops for Kuningan's processions and parades. Foreign tourists are also welcome to join in the celebrations and with Seminyak Beach being a popular travel destination in its own right, the town can expect to be thriving around July 16th when Kuningan ...

Difficulty remembering important dates and medications, and gathering paperwork, is more common in older individuals with mild cognitive impairment than in those with no cognition problems, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. According to background information in the article, mild cognitive impairment is a condition that includes some difficulty with cognition and, in the amnestic subtype (aMCI), difficulty with memory, but does not include considerable problems with daily tasks, work, or social ...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Research from the University of Louisville published today (June 6) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates the removal of a tiny RNA molecule in mice suppresses carcinogenic tumor formation. The study appears in the journal's Early Edition online at www.pnas.org. Yong Li, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and his research team led by postdoctoral fellows Xiaodong Ma and Munish Kumar found that the removal of a non-coding RNA molecule known as MicroRNA 21 suppressed the formation of skin tumors ...

Patients in residential treatment programs for drug and alcohol abuse may benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy for depressive symptoms, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The article notes, as background information, that depression and substance abuse often co-occur, but that individuals with both disorders are not always treated for both. "The consequences of this unmet need are great," report the authors. "The interactive nature of the two disorders leads to poorer depression and substance ...

Puerto Galera makes for a stunning backdrop to a training course like the PADI workshop, but also ensures that there is high demand for places on the course. The location also means that there will be higher than average demand for a Puerto Galera hotel, leading Internet-based hotel room comparison website DirectRooms.com to advise early, online booking. PADI qualification is the scuba diving industry's most popular qualification, allowing successful divers the status of being able to go diving in any location around the world. The July training course will be held in ...

Roanoke, Va. -- Gratuities, gifts, sponsorship, product price, free samples, favors all can influence judgment and decision-making. If a person is influenced in their choice of cereal, the result is a bit of income for a manufacturer. But a lot of people can be impacted if a politician is influenced by support from a special interest; or the health of a handful of patients can be affected if a physician is influenced by gifts from drug reps. Scientists with the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have demonstrated through behavioral research and brain scans using ...

Scotland's Lesley Paterson, who won the inaugural Xterra off-road triathlon Pacific Championships in Santa Cruz in Northern California just two weeks ago, followed that up with her first ever Ironman victory at the 2011 Mooseman Ironman 70.3 in New Hampshire. Paterson finished in the time of 4 hours 30 minutes 58 seconds, 48 seconds in front of the second place Caitlin Snow. Having been injured and ill with a stomach parasite off and on for most of the past year, an injury free Paterson was finally able to put it all together for the victory, posting an even 27 minute ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – June 6, 2011 – A natural nutritional supplement, marketed for the last decade as a sexual aid, has been shown to significantly improve overall quality of life for female cancer survivors, according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The findings will be presented today at the 2011 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago. Interested in quality of life issues for female cancer survivors, Kathryn M. Greven, M.D., a radiation oncologist at Wake Forest Baptist, first learned of the supplement, called ...

It may have started this way: one passerine flying high above a plant-free, uninhabited and unnamed island - in the Pacific, north of the equator - unknowingly drops one seed from a mud-encrusted thigh. That seed and many others brought to the islands by other birds, animals, people and the wind now feeds the island's residents and visitors. That island is presently called Hawaii. Ancient Hawaiians were innovative farmers and skilled fisherman whose customs of sharing food amongst their communities lives on today as residents of present-day Hawaii struggle to return ...

To fully optimize a drug therapy for osteoporosis and low bone mineral density (BMD), patients should maintain vitamin D levels above the limits recently recommended by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), according to a new study by researchers from Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. The study will be presented at the Endocrine Society's Annual Meeting in Boston, June 4-7. The study demonstrated that maintaining a circulating vitamin D level above 33 ng/ml is associated with a seven-fold greater likelihood of having a more favorable outcome with bisphosphonate therapy. ...

Wrinkles are a telltale sign of aging, and they might also be able to predict a woman's bone fracture risk, according to Yale School of Medicine researchers who report in a new study that the severity and distribution of skin wrinkles and overall skin quality could tell the story of bone mineral density in early menopausal women. The findings will be presented June 6 at the Endocrine Society Meeting in Boston, Mass., by Lubna Pal, associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Science at Yale School of Medicine. "Skin and bones share ...

Patients in the intensive care unit who do not tolerate adequate nutrition from tube feeding should wait a week before receiving intravenous (IV) feeding because, compared with early IV feeding, it enhances recovery from critical illness. Results of a new multicenter study from Belgium will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "These findings have enormous impact for improving quality and reducing the cost of medical care for critically ill patients," said the study's principal investigator, Greet Van den Berghe, MD, PhD, a professor ...

New research finds that gestational diabetes, or pregnancy-related diabetes, may not raise the risk of heart disease independent of other cardiovascular risk factors except in certain high-risk populations, such as Hispanics. The results will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "The prevalence of gestational diabetes is increasing, and its impact for the mother can extend well beyond pregnancy by raising her risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease," said study co-author Rhonda Bentley-Lewis, MD, of Massachusetts ...

Women with low bone density are seven times more likely to benefit from a bisphosphonate drug when their vitamin D blood levels are above recent recommendations from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) as adequate for bone health. These new study results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "Maintaining adequate vitamin D levels above those recently recommended by the IOM is important for optimizing a standard therapy for osteoporosis: bisphosphonates," said coauthor Richard Bockman, MD, PhD, chief of the endocrine service at ...

Overweight girls lose more weight and can better stay on a healthy diet if they eat sugar-free, low-fat desserts several times weekly, as opposed to any dessert once a week, a new study finds. The results will be reported Monday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "Dieters commonly splurge on dessert once a week, usually choosing fattening items," said lead investigator Antonia Dastamani, MD, PhD, a pediatrician and research fellow at Athens University School of Medicine in Athens, Greece. "However, we found a positive effect of more frequent consumption ...

Post-menopausal women have better memory after daily treatment with a testosterone spray for six months, a new preliminary study finds. The results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "Women have a higher risk of developing dementia compared to men," said Sonia Davison, MD, PhD, the study's lead investigator and a postdoctoral research fellow at Monash University, Melbourne. "These results offer a potential therapy, where none currently exists, to slow cognitive decline in women." The researchers compared a control group ...

This Father's Day, Joe Sutton's charming children's tale starring Wanda, a mischievous, gum-chewing yet lovable little girl, launches, giving a nod to the lost art of storytelling -- passing stories, family histories and values from one generation to the next. "Wanda and the Oblahlahs", (Bright Sky Press, September 2011), the brainchild of then Army Colonel Sutton, emerged at bedtime for his rambunctious young daughters, Gretchen and Megan. Now 35 years later, Wanda's imaginative adventure lives on for Sutton's grandchildren and, as a children's book, can share ...

A lower dose of zoledronic acid than currently recommended for prevention of bone fractures due to osteoporosis decreases bone resorption and increases bone density, and may be effective in reducing the risk of osteoporotic fractures, a study finds. The new research findings will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "Our research suggests that one fifth or one half of the recommended dose might be sufficient to decrease fracture risk," said Andrew Grey, MD, principal investigator of the study and an associate professor of medicine ...

A new study comparing lifelong obesity with the weight fluctuations of "yo-yo dieting" suggests it is better to attempt to lose weight despite repeated failures at keeping the weight off than to not diet and remain obese. The results will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "It is clear that remaining on a stable, healthy diet provides the best outcome for health and longevity," said the study's principal investigator, Edward List, PhD, a scientist at Ohio University, Athens. "However, obese individuals commonly weight cycle—they ...

Women who have higher levels of the appetite-controlling hormone leptin have fewer symptoms of depression, and this apparent inverse relationship is not related to body mass index (BMI), a new study finds. On Monday the results will be presented at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "Animal data suggest that leptin may reduce anxiety and improve depression. Our study in women suggests that leptin may indeed have antidepressant qualities," said the study's lead author, Elizabeth Lawson, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School ...

Buried mangrove layer dampens seismic shaking along Caribbean coasts Engineers have long used a soft flexible layer, often made of rubber bearings, between a rigid building and the soil to reduce the impact of ground shaking on the structure. Now French scientists have determined that a buried mangrove layer along the coasts of Guadeloupe Island, close to the Caribbean subduction zone, serves a similar purpose. The mangrove swamps limit the effects of seismic waves on the uppermost sandy layer, reducing the potential of liquefaction from shaking caused by earthquakes. ...

CHICAGO – As the world marks the 30-year anniversary of the first reporting of HIV/AIDS, now comes the realization of a new challenge for people with the incurable disease. For reasons not yet clear, people with HIV face a higher rate of cancers not usually associated with HIV. This increasing rate of "non-AIDS defining cancers" includes lung, head and neck, liver, kidney, and anal cancers, among others. The alarming uptick in cancer rates highlights the critical need to understand how to treat tumors in people taking highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) for ...

Scientists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have discovered a key molecule needed to kill the blood vessels that supply tumours. The research team from the institute's Molecular Genetics of Cancer and Cancer and Haematology divisions found that for anti-cancer therapies that target tumour blood vessels to work the death- inducing molecule Bim is required. The finding could lead to improved anti-cancer treatments that are based on a two- or three-pronged attack on both the tumour and its blood supply. The research will be published online in the Journal of Experimental ...

Researchers at the National University of Singapore have invented a graphene-based polarizer that can broaden the bandwidth of prevailing optical fibre-based telecommunication systems. The graphene research team, led by Professor Kian Ping Loh at the National University of Singapore, invented an ultra-slim broadband polarizer that uses graphene, a single-atomic-layer crystallized carbon, to convert light beam into polarized light. This is the first experimental demonstration of using graphene as an ultrathin waveguide to couple and modulate light. Light modulation by ...

Researchers from the University of Hull have discovered a way to load up nanoparticles with large numbers of light-sensitive molecules to create a more effective form of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for treating cancer. Photodynamic therapy uses molecules which, when irradiated with light, cause irreparable damage to cells by creating toxic forms of oxygen, called reactive oxygen species. Most PDT works with individual light-sensitive molecules – but the new nanoparticles could each carry hundreds of molecules to a cancer site. A number of different light-sensitive molecules ...