The Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville will stage a production of Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlo this summer. It will be performed four times between June 24th and July 3rd with musical accompaniment by the Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevilla. The powerful story, which paints Spain's Phillip II as a cruel tyrant, is one of the composer's most acclaimed pieces. In Seville, Pedro Halffter takes on directorial duties, while the cast is led by Fiorenza Cedolins, Dolora Zajick and Walter Fraccaro as the titular character. The plot revolves around Don Carlo's wife-to-be ...

It might not seem like scraping the top of a cold stick of butter with a knife could be a scientific test, but engineers at MIT say the process is very similar to the "scratch test," which is perhaps the oldest known way to assess a material's hardness and strength — or, in scientific language, its resistance to deformation. Using the scraping of butter as a starting point, the engineers launched a study to see if the age-old scratch test could be used to determine a material's toughness, or how well it resists fracturing after a small crack has already formed. The answer: ...

The huge San Siro stadium will host two performances of the hit opera production Notre Dame de Paris next month. Officially known as Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, AC Milan and Inter Milan's football stadium will be transformed into a concert venue for the shows on June 29th and 30th. Notre Dame de Paris has been a consistent success since first being performed in 2001 and it is celebrating its tenth anniversary by going on tour. However, production values will not be compromised, with a huge cast and a complex staging system all being brought to entertain the Milan audience. Tickets ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — While recent studies have shown long-term exposure to estrogen can be a danger to women – overturning physicians' long-held beliefs that the hormone was good for their patients' hearts – the process by which estrogen induces high blood pressure was unclear. In a new study, Michigan State University researchers found long-term estrogen exposure generates excessive levels of the compound superoxide, which causes stress in the body. The buildup of this compound occurs in an area of the brain that is crucial to regulating blood pressure, suggesting that ...

The diversity service provider 360 diversity welcomes changes in equality and diversity legislation regarding paternity leave. Nick Clegg's plans will see the introduction of new paternity rights to new fathers taking time off when their baby is born. These changes mean that the mother and father can share blocks of parental leave for which they will be paid. Stuart Bray, Business Development Manager of 360 Diversity, comments "360 diversity welcomes this news, and hopes that employers will embrace these changes. Historically, many households have centred around ...

In April 2009, researchers at UCLA announced they had discovered a link between Parkinson's disease and two chemicals commonly sprayed on crops to fight pests. That epidemiological study didn't examine farmers who constantly work with pesticides but people who simply lived near where farm fields were sprayed with the fungicide maneb and the herbicide paraquat. It found that the risk for Parkinson's disease for these people increased by 75 percent. Now a follow-up study adds two new twists. Once again the researchers returned to California's fertile Central Valley, ...

TORONTO, Ont., May 26, 2011—Folic acid supplements given to pregnant and breast-feeding rats reduced the rate of colon cancer in their offspring by 64 per cent, a new study has found. The research, led by Dr. Young-in Kim, a gastroenterologist at St. Michael's Hospital, adds to the growing but sometimes contradictory evidence that folic acid supplementation during pregnancy and lactation can increase or decrease the development or progression of some pediatric malignancies and common cancers in their offspring in adulthood. For example, a separate study by Kim published ...

In an article published by Bloomberg.com on May 12, 2011 it was reported that global food prices could climb an additional 4.4% by the end of the year, providing further evidence that the current state of the world's food supply is in flux and in dire need of stabilization. Unfortunately the need isn't being met with enough action as more than 44 million people have been pushed into poverty since last June due to rising food prices and that figure will likely climb alongside the anticipated escalation of food costs. As it becomes evident that governmental involvement and ...

Thirty-eight million years ago, tropical jungles thrived in what are now the cornfields of the American Midwest and furry marsupials wandered temperate forests in what is now the frozen Antarctic. The temperature differences of that era, known as the late Eocene, between the equator and Antarctica were half what they are today. A debate has been ongoing in the scientific community about what changes in our global climate system led to such a major shift from the more tropical, greenhouse climate of the Eocene to modern and much cooler climates. New research results ...

CORAL GABLES, FL (May 26, 2011) A new research study conducted by University of Miami Frost School of Music's Music Engineering Technology Group touches upon multi-touch surfaces as emerging valuable tools for collaboration, display, interaction, and musical expression. The study will be presented at the 2011 International Conference on New Instruments for Musical Expression in Oslo, Norway this month. A Low-Cost, Low-Latency Multi-Touch Table with Haptic Feedback for Musical Applications, authored by Matthew Montag GMuE '11 (Cedar Rapids, IA), Stefan Sullivan GMuE '12 ...

There are several cleaning products for flatscreen televisions and then there are anti-static screen cleaners. Now, even the retailers who sell you televisions will tell you that you would do best to buy an anti-static screen cleaner for flatscreen TVs because they are what will ensure long-term protection for your device. Here we shall see the benefits of using such a cleaning product over other cleaners. The anti-static technology was patented by Reckitt Benckiser. These are the people who had developed the very popular Brasso cleaning product, which has become almost ...

Conflicts and misunderstandings frequently arise between individuals from different cultures. But what makes cultures different; what makes one more restrictive and another less so? A new international study led by the University of Maryland and supported by the National Science Foundation's Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences offers insights that may help explain such cultural differences and bridge the gaps between them. Published in the May 27 issue of the journal Science, the study for the first time assesses the degree to which countries are restrictive ...

As predicted, Typhoon Songda intensified and was a super typhoon with wind speeds estimated at over 130 knots ( ~145 mph) when NASA's TRMM satellite passed directly over head on May 26, 2011 at 0806 UTC (4:06 a.m. EDT). The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite captured the heavy rainfall rates within the super typhoon using TRMM's Visible and InfraRed Scanner (VIRS) instrument. The rainfall analysis from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data showed that Songda had a circular eye with extremely heavy rainfall (as much as 2 inches/50 ...

The more advanced the electronics, the more power they use. The more power they use, the hotter they get. The hotter they get, the more likely they'll overheat. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand what typically happens next: The electronics fry. In the world of electronics, thermal control is always one of the limiting factors -- particularly in space where there is no air to help cool down electronic components. However, Jeffrey Didion, a thermal engineer at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and Dr. Jamal Seyed-Yagoobi, a professor ...

On October 18, 2010, 1-800-GET-THIN announced that they had joined forces with the Lifetime Network throughout the month of October, teaming up in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. The ultimate goal of the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign is to emphasize the importance of self-examinations as well as professional breast examinations and encourage them to be proactive with their health care. It is also important for women to be educated and aware of the signs and symptoms that could indicate a health problem. When cancer is detected earlier, there may be a better chance ...

The results of this study, conducted in Germany, re-open the debate on whether it is ethical to conduct placebo-controlled studies where patients in the placebo-group are at a serious disadvantage compared to patients taking the new treatments. The study analysed current study designs, for new therapies such as abatacept (Orencia®), golimumab (Simponi®) or tocilizumab (Actemra®), and showed that patients in the placebo group experienced no change in medication, having to continue with their former, ineffective treatment plus placebo. "According to the Helsinki-Declaration ...

Only three percent (n=181) of patients in the study cohort receiving anti-tumour necrosis factor agents (anti-TNFs) for treatment of their arthritis developed a first cancer within nine years and overall risk was not dependent on the type of arthritis. The nine year follow-up study conducted at Gentofte University Hospital, Denmark demonstrated that relative risk ((RR)=1.03 (95%confidence interval 0.82-1.30)) was not increased in patients treated with anti-TNFs compared to patients who had never taken anti-TNFs during 23,965 person-years follow-up. Overall cancer risk ...

Results of a study, involving 98,454 patients demonstrated that at 30 days following their first heart attack, RA patients were approximately 20% less likely to be prescribed standard MI treatments, such as statins and betablockers, compared to healthy patients. These finding remained relatively unchanged at 180 days, further highlighting differences between the two groups, with a high number being prescribed the current standards of care within the 180 day period (statins 80%, betablockers 82%, clopidogrel 70%, aspirin 79%) in general. "Previous research has established ...

Results demonstrate that 91% of RCTs recording this kind of FCOI achieved a positive - outcome, compared to 66.7% of RCTs without specific FCOI (p=0.02) and adjusting for confounding factors did not change this finding. Results of this American study demonstrate that between the two periods 2002-3 and 2006-7 there was a significant increase in the number of RA RCTs listing lead authors as receiving consulting fees/honoraria (14.6% in the first time period compared to 40% in the second (p=0.004)). FCOIs including research grants, employment by sponsoring pharmaceutical ...

Scientists from the University of Warwick have discovered why a newly found form of cholesterol seems to be 'ultra-bad', leading to increased risk of heart disease. The discovery could lead to new treatments to prevent heart disease particularly in people with type 2 diabetes and the elderly. The research, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), found that 'ultrabad' cholesterol, called MGmin-low-density lipoprotein (LDL), which is more common in people with type 2 diabetes and the elderly, appears to be 'stickier' than normal LDL. This makes it more likely to attach ...

The cross-Channel operator, which whisks customers and their cars from Folkestone to Calais in just 35 minutes, is official travel partner for The EuroChampsChallenge, which is a celebration of every team that's ever won European football's leading club tournament, The Champions League, and its predecessor, The European Cup. The team behind the challenge set off by car on Sunday 15 May from Celtic FC in Glasgow and is travelling to the ground of every past winner - covering 7,000 miles, visiting 21 football clubs in 16 countries in just 14 days. The team is travelling ...

For over seven years Aperio Training has been a leader in offering online training and education in the Internet marketing, SEO, and web design/development arena is now going to be offering their most popular WordPress classes on weekends to help working individuals receive the opportunity to enroll and take their constantly booked WordPress Training. The new schedule for these upcoming weekend WordPress Training classes will be posted on the company's interactive training calendar hosted on their website for students to select which class will fit their schedule best. ...

Dr. Natalia Stadler of All Smiles Dental, a leading Pompano Beach dentist, invites patients to visit the practice's information rich website to view the online smile gallery of before-and-after photos. The smile gallery contains photos of previous cosmetic and restorative procedures performed by experienced Pompano Beach dentist, Dr. Natalia Stadler. With the addition of a smile gallery, patients are able to gain confidence they may need, knowing the outcome of the procedures can be as rewarding as the ones showcased in the gallery. The gallery represents such improvements ...

Whether searching for personal stationary, invitations, and checks or corporate brochures, catalogs and letterhead, DiPuma's online presence will demonstrate that this Houston printing company is able to meet all printing needs. With the release of the new website, DiPuma enables their Houston printing clients to upload their art file directly to their office using an FTP server. By following detailed directions online for both Mac and PC users, clients may submit their requirements to allow this Houston printing company to start on the project immediately. The integration ...

FLS designed and installed an overhead FlexRail and Single Point Anchor Fall Protection Systems in the maintenance hangar. To eliminate the risks of taglines being caught on the aircraft while positioning in the hangar, FLS designed a remote powered tagline system. The powered tagline system features a remote controlled winch that raises and lowers the Self Retracting Lifeline to the user. The customer commented that all expectations and requirements were met and would recommend FLS for future Fall Protection Solutions requirements. Sales Director of Flexible Lifeline ...