For cooperation to persist in the often violently competitive realm of bacteria, cheaters must be kept in line. Two Indiana University Bloomington biologists have learned that in one bacterium, at least, bacterial cooperators can evolve to "police" the cheaters and arrest their bids for dominance. "Even simple organisms such as bacteria can evolve to suppress social cheaters," said Gregory Velicer, who with Ph.D. student Pauline Manhes has reported the policing behavior in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Their laboratory experiments suggest ...

Research suggests that landfill gas-recovery projects should be implemented quickly if the maximum amount of methane gas is to be retrieved from organic waste in as short as time as possible, according to a study published in the latest issue of the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management. Through appropriate management, landfill can be used to generate an alternative fuel gas containing that has half the caloric value of natural gas. Landfill gas (LFG) comprises approximately 50% methane and 50% carbon dioxide. However, such management requires significant ...

Bats at Wetlands is sure to be a popular exhibition for fans of the winged animal who visit the wildlife park. It has been organised as part of the venue's fifth anniversary and will be running until October 31st 2011. In a statement, the organisers said: "Visitors may discover the fun facts about the behaviour, cultural symbolism and conservation research projects on bats through a wide range of high-tech games, videos, interactive panels and interpretation sessions." They went on to point out that the animal has a special significance in Hong Kong, ...

New research shows that residents of the Stroke Belt—a southern portion of the U.S. with significantly elevated stroke morality rate—also have a greater incidence of cognitive decline than other regions of the country. Researchers believe shared risk factors among members of this population are to blame. Results of this study, funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), are published in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association. In 1965 the Stroke Belt first appeared in medical literature to describe the ...

FORT LEE, N.J., May 26, 2011 -- Neurologix, Inc. (OTCBB: NRGX) announced the presentation today of efficacy results through one year of follow-up in patients treated as part of the Company's successful Phase 2 clinical trial for its novel, investigational gene therapy NLX-P101 for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). Improvements in the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) at 12 months for the randomized, double-blind, sham surgery-controlled trial of 45 subjects with advanced PD confirmed that patients treated with NLX-P101 experienced sustained, positive, ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — For the first time, researchers have shown why precision-tinted lenses reduce headaches for migraine sufferers, a finding that could help improve treatment options for patients battling the debilitating ailment. Jie Huang of Michigan State University's Department of Radiology used functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to reveal how precision-tinted lenses normalize brain activity in patients with migraine headaches, preventing such attacks. Huang's research appears in the current edition of the journal Cephalalgia, published by SAGE. While ...

Portrait of Moscow has opened at the Seoul Museum of History (SMH), offering visitors a chance to learn about a broad period of Russia's past. Images in the collection date from modern times all the way back to the late 19th century, with each one providing a snapshot of the political or social context in which it was taken. There are 80 pictures to view, all of which have been borrowed from the Moscow City Museum (MCM). Attendees will find the exhibition split into four sections, with one featuring historical images, another looking at scenes from Moscow's Soviet ...

WASHINGTON, May 26—Vanderbilt University engineers have created a "spongy" silicon biosensor that shows promise not only for medical diagnostics, but also for the detection of dangerous toxins and other tiny molecules in the environment. This innovation was originally designed to detect the presence of particular DNA sequences, which can be extremely helpful in identifying whether or not a person is predisposed to heart disease or certain kinds of cancer. The new sensor is described in the Optical Society's open access journal, Optics Express. Biological chemical sensors ...

Next month will see some of the top badminton players in the world congregate for the Singapore Open Super Series 2011. Running from June 14th to 19th, the event is one of the highlights of the country's badminton calendar. It takes place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and will give attendees the chance to see the best players on the domestic scene take on international stars. Some names to watch out for are Danny Bawa Christnanta, Vannessa Neo and Hendra Wijaya. They all came home from the recent Li Ning New Zealand International Challenge 2011 with trophies. Christnanta ...

San Diego's leading news site SignOnSanDiego.com recently partnered with digital agency Cuker Interactive to redesign Daily Deals, a service featuring deals of up to 90 percent off of local restaurants, attractions, and services. Located at http://dailydeal.signonsandiego.com, the program allows users to sign up to receive email notifications for daily deals, share them with friends and family, and earn credits for referral purchases. Since the site launched in March, the Daily Deals site has generated significant revenue, including a record-setting $366,035 through a single ...

This release is available in Spanish. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers and a university colleague have found several factors involved in blueberry splitting, a significant problem that can cause losses of $300 to $500 per acre. Splitting and cracking occur in southern highbush and rabbiteye blueberries if they receive preharvest rainfall when fully ripe or approaching ripeness, according to scientists with USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS). ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency. ARS horticulturist Donna Marshall, retired ...

OAKLAND, Calif. — A woman's risk of developing diabetes during pregnancy can be identified up to seven years before she becomes pregnant based on routinely assessed measures of blood sugar and body weight, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in the online issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., studied 580 ethnically diverse women who took part in a multiphasic health checkup at Kaiser Permanente Northern California between1984 and 1996. The researchers looked ...

AUDIO: Listen to a plumbeous vireo singing in a quiet area. This was recorded by lead author Clinton Francis of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center. Click here for more information. Durham, NC — Some birds that live near noisy sites can alter their songs to deal with din. But closely related species with similar songs may tweak their tunes in different ways, says a new study led by Clinton Francis of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, NC. The ...

White Digital Media (WDM), the leading digital business news source for C-level executives, recently announced Sasha Orman, former staff writer for Exec Digital, as the Content Director of Food and Drink Digital - one of White Digital Media's leading brands. Food and Drink Digital serves as one of WDM's nine industry sector brands, providing the latest business news to executives and professionals working in the food and beverage industry worldwide. "I'm definitely excited to take on the responsibility of Content Director of Food and Drink Digital," explains ...

STANFORD, Calif. — Human skin cells can be converted directly into functional neurons in a period of four to five weeks with the addition of just four proteins, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The finding is significant because it bypasses the need to first create induced pluripotent stem cells, and may make it much easier to generate patient- or disease-specific neurons for study in a laboratory dish. It may also circumvent a recently reported potential problem with iPS cells, in which laboratory mice rejected genetically ...

CHAMPAIGN, lll. — Researchers (and some cat-owners) wanted to know: What do feral and free-roaming house cats do when they're out of sight? A two-year study offers a first look at the daily lives of these feline paupers and princes, whose territories overlap on the urban, suburban, rural and agricultural edges of many towns. The study used radio telemetry and a sophisticated activity-tracking device to capture the haunts and habits of dozens of owned and un-owned cats living at the southern edge of Champaign and Urbana, neighboring cities in Central Illinois. Together, ...

White Digital Media, the leading digital business news source for C-level executives across the globe, announced today the promotion of Robert Rosales, former Social Media Coordinator, to Marketing Coordinator. After tremendous success in managing the social media channels for each of White Digital Media's brands, Rosales proved that he was ready to take on greater responsibility within the Marketing department and within the company as a whole. "I am proud to have contributed to the success of our growing company," said Rosales. "I welcome the opportunity ...

In an interview with Business Review Canada, Ken George, CEO of York Care Center discusses how the facility built a reputation in aging care by focusing on education, knowledge transfer and character. By operating under the principle that this sector of the industry deserves more consideration, York Care Centre demonstrates excellence and has followed the lead of other health care organizations that have been credentialed as Magnet organizations. "We believe that it's time to breathe some life into this business. These folks deserve better than what's left over ...

Bethesda, Md. (May 26, 2011)—For many years doctors believed the estrogen women consumed in the form of oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) pills was good for their patients' hearts. Recent studies however have shown that long-term exposure to estrogen can be a danger to women as it has been associated with high blood pressure, a key link to heart- and brain-attacks (strokes). Although the process by which estrogen induces high blood pressure in females is unclear, Michigan State University (MSU) researchers have found that long-term estrogen exposure ...

This release is available in German. Stress promotes neuropathological changes that are also seen in Alzheimer's disease. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich have discovered that the increased release of stress hormones in rats leads to generation of abnormally phosphorylated tau protein in the brain and ultimately, memory loss. Protein deposits in nerve cells are a typical feature of Alzheimer's disease: the excessive alteration of the tau protein through the addition of phosphate groups – a process known as hyperphosphorylation – causes ...

A drug that has been on the market for decades to treat leukemia and skin disorders such as acne and psoriasis may be a possible therapy for vascular diseases, including atherosclerosis and hypertension, which can lead to heart attack or stroke. Previously, researchers discovered that retinoids – commonly used natural or man-made drugs related to vitamin A – blunted experimental vascular disease by spurring into action a very particular segment of a gene known for its ability to curb cancer cell growth. The gene, usually shut off or silenced in cancer cells, enabling ...

Boulder, CO, USA - Locations studied include Alligator Point, Cat Island, Bahamas; Rice Lake, Ontario, Canada; Liverpool Land, east Greenland; Mount Rainier, Washington, USA; the Yangtze Gorges area, South China; the Moresby Seamount detachment, Woodlark Basin (east of Papua New Guinea); Hilo Ridge, Hawaii, USA; the Isua supracrustal belt, southern West Greenland; the northern Bohemian Massif; the Lonar crater, Deccan traps, India; the Rhone Glacier; and the Mersa/Wadi Gawasis along the Egyptian Red Sea coast. Keywords: Jurassic Tank, Cat Island, sediment transfer, ground-based ...

In an interview with Business Review USA, Bob Jones, General Manager of Augustine Casino discusses how the facility has grown in its community and integrated green initiatives with exceptional service. Augustine Casino is truly "a locals' casino" and prides itself on the tremendous job it has done to grow over the years. "We've really made a focused effort to ensure that when a guest comes to our property that they can have great food at a reasonable price, slot machines with the loosest pay tables in the area, table games with fair, player-friendly rules ...

Unlocking the mechanisms that cause neurodegenerative prion diseases may require a genetic key, suggest new findings reported by University of Illinois at Chicago distinguished professor of biological sciences Susan Liebman. Prions can turn a normal protein into a misfolded form. One prion in mammals promotes progressive neurodegenerative disorders like "mad cow" disease that often prove fatal. But how this process happens remains an open question for scientists. Prions have been found to exist in a wide range of organisms. Those in brewer's yeast, which researchers ...

AMES, Iowa – The long, slow decay of carbon-14 allows archaeologists to accurately date the relics of history back to 60,000 years. And while the carbon dating technique is well known and understood (the ratio of carbon-14 to other carbon isotopes is measured to determine the age of objects containing the remnants of any living thing), the reason for carbon-14's slow decay has not been understood. Why, exactly, does carbon-14 have a half-life of nearly 6,000 years while other light atomic nuclei have half-lives of minutes or seconds? (Half-life is the time it takes for ...