Head injuries can be classified in one of two ways, open and closed. Open, or penetrating, head wounds are what most of us think of when picturing common brain injuries. They occur when an object pierces the skull, and are usually easy to observe and detect. Closed head injuries, on the other hand, typically involve a blow from an object that does not break the skull. Closed head injuries are often difficult to diagnose, since they often evince no external signs. Yet, they can be just as damaging as their open counterparts. An article by Leonardo Rangel-Castilla, ...

The results from a very well-done meta-analysis support other data generated on the risk of alcohol consumption and gastric cancer – that is – that the risk may be real for heavy alcohol consumption but not for moderate intake. The type of gastric cancer relating to heavier alcohol intake in this study tended to be tumors involving the noncardia, but differences between the association with tumors of the gastric cardia were not significant. There was no increased risk of gastric cancer from alcohol intake among Asians; this may be due to their lower alcohol intake; ...

PHILADELPHIA—Cancer researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson and an international team of collaborators have discovered a biomarker in breast cancer that may help identify which women will respond to anti-estrogen therapy. The research appears in the May 16 online issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Anti-estrogen drugs, most notably tamoxifen, are widely used in patients diagnosed with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. However, as many as a third of the women given tamoxifen fail to respond. In this new study, the investigators found ...

Baylor University, in collaboration with the U.S Forest Service (USFS) Rocky Mountain Research Station, has developed a model that predicts the risk of wetland habitat loss based on local wetland features and characteristics of the landscape surrounding the wetland. The new model was used to predict the fate of wetland habitats over a 13-state area in the southern United States and was published in the journal Ecological Applications. "Because conservation resources are scarce, it is essential to focus conservation efforts on those geographic areas where the risks for ...

"Seeing something invisible with your own eyes is an exciting experience," say Joachim Fischer and Tolga Ergin. For about one year, both physicists and members of the team of Professor Martin Wegener at KIT's Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN) have worked on refining the structure of the Karlsruhe invisibility cloak to such an extent that it is also effective in the visible spectral range. In invisibility cloaks, light waves are guided by the material such that they leave the invisibility cloak again as if they had never been in contact with the object to be ...

When we speak, our enunciation and pronunciation of words and syllables fluctuates and varies from person to person. Given this, how do infants decode all of the spoken sounds they hear to learn words and meanings? To replicate the challenges of learning language as an infant, Carnegie Mellon University's Lori Holt and Sung-Joo Lim and Stockholm University's Francisco Lacerda used video game training with a mock "alien" language. They discovered that listeners quickly recognize word-like units. They will present their findings at the Acoustical Society of America's ...

A recent story shows the potential mischief that can be caused by simply having a Facebook page. Richard Leon Barton Jr. posted pictures of his wedding on his Facebook page. One problem. Technically, he wasn't divorced from his first wife. And she saw the pictures. He is now facing polygamy charges in Michigan. Apparently, he believed he was divorced from his first wife, Adina Quarto. While they had discussed divorce, and were separated, they had never finalized the divorce. He had "defriended" his first wife before he married his second, but Quarto came ...

Scientists from the University of Sheffield have developed pigment-free, intensely coloured polymer materials, which could provide new, anti-counterfeit devices on passports or banknotes due to their difficulty to copy. The polymers do not use pigments but instead exhibit intense colour due to their structure, similar to the way nature creates colour for beetle shells and butterfly wings. These colours were created by highly ordered polymer layers, which the researchers produced using block copoylmers (an alloy of two different polymers). By mixing block copolymers ...

NEW YORK – Slowing down the aggregation or "clumping" of vitamin A in the eye may help prevent vision loss caused by macular degeneration, research from Columbia University Medical Center has found. Rather than changing the way the eye processes vitamin A, a team of researchers led by Ilyas Washington, a professor in the department of ophthalmology at Columbia's Harkness Eye Institute, decided to focus on changing the structure of vitamin A itself. In turn, Dr. Washington and his lab have taken a novel step toward treating age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a top ...

Teplis Travel, a leading corporate travel agency, recently moved its corporate headquarters in Atlanta, GA to a new, nearby location in Atlanta's prestigious Central Perimeter area. Previously located on Perimeter Center Parkway, Teplis Travel's global headquarters is now in The Terraces South, part of a twin 11-story tower complex that is situated on a lush, wooded 25-acre site with a lake. At The Terraces tenants can enjoy the buildings' sunlit atriums, beautiful reflecting pools and fountains inside the facility and stunning views of downtown Atlanta. The property ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] —Dairy products can be high in harmful saturated fat but not necessarily in risk to the heart. A newly published analysis of thousands of adults in Costa Rica found that their levels of dairy consumption had nothing to do statistically with their risk of a heart attack. "Things like milk and cheese are very complex substances," said Stella Aslibekyan, a community health graduate student at Brown University and the lead author of the study, published in advance online May 4 in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases. ...

The research group AGR 206 at the University of Granada Department of Physiology and Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology "Jose Matáix", coordinated by professor Margarita Sánchez Campos, have proven that goat milk has nutritional characteristics beneficial to health. The regular consumption of goat milk by individuals with iron deficiency anemia improves their recovery, since it enhances the nutritional use of iron and enhances the regeneration of hemoglobin; this means that this type of milk minimizes calcium and iron interactions. Conversely, this type of milk ...

A new survey of hospice care in the United States says that the rapidly growing role of for-profit companies in providing end-of-life care for terminally ill patients raises serious concerns about whose interests are being served under such a commercial arrangement: those of shareholders or those of dying patients and their loved ones. "Under a corporate model of hospice care, there's an inherent conflict of interest between a company's drive to maximize profits and a patient's need for the kind of holistic, multidisciplinary and compassionate care originally envisioned ...

Thomson, a leading tour operator, has launched three new May Edition Summer 12 brochures; Summer Collection, Faraway Shores and Florida. Following on from sister-brand First Choice's move to 100% all-inclusive from next summer, Thomson will continue to offer holidays across all boards, from room only in Florida, to all inclusive at its exclusive Sensatori properties. Due to First Choice's re-branding, all Florida properties will now be available through Thomson, and to reflect this, the new Florida brochure contains all the top International-drive hotels, villas and ...

New research from North Carolina State University shows that a "gatekeeper" protein plays an important role in skin-cancer prevention in humans and lab mice. The protein, C/EBP alpha, is normally abundantly expressed to help protect skin cells from DNA damage when humans are exposed to sunlight. The NC State research shows, however, that the protein is not expressed when certain human skin cancers are present. Moreover, when the protein is inactivated in special lab mice exposed to small amounts of the UVB solar radiation, the mice become more susceptible to skin cancer. Dr. ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Despite the fears of some Americans, Arab television networks such as Al Jazeera do not promote anti-American feelings among all their viewers, according to a new study. Research based on surveys of nearly 20,000 residents of six Arab countries suggests that while watching networks like Al Jazeera fuels anti-American feelings in some viewers, it actually reduces such sentiment in others. The results suggest that it is too simplistic to blame the Arab media for stoking resentment and hatred of America, said Erik Nisbet, lead author of the study and assistant ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic has developed a screening procedure that could dramatically increase testing for Lynch syndrome (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lynch-syndrome/DS00669), a hereditary genetic disorder that raises cancer risk, particularly for colorectal cancer. An estimated 3 percent of colon cancers can be attributed to Lynch syndrome. At least 80 percent of people with Lynch syndrome develop colorectal cancer (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/colon-cancer/DS00035), many of them before age 50. In the past, as few as 50 percent of patients who fit the ...

TUI UK & Ireland, parent company of Thomson and First Choice Holidays, becomes the first tour operator to introduce NVQ Level 2 Diploma in Tour Operations to its 800 overseas holiday advisor roles. The ground-breaking programme has been tailored to the needs of the tour operator, and has been certificated by City & Guilds, so both managers and holiday advisors will gain professional qualifications whilst driving even higher standards in holiday experience. Based on UK National Occupational Standards, this pioneering work-based qualification will differentiate ...

A gene-sequencing study of children with autism, described in an advance online publication in Nature Genetics on 15 May, offers a sneak peek at a technique which, combined with other approaches, may explain 40 to 50 percent of the genetic causes of the disorder within just a few years, proposes the study's lead investigator. This approach, says Evan Eichler of the University of Washington in Seattle, will potentially allow clinicians to "lift the hood on what has gone wrong in each individual child with autism," with the hope of ultimately devising individually-tailored ...

Vitamin D, which is primarily absorbed from the sun, plays a role in protection against childhood asthma. Now, a new study led by Valencian researchers has shown that children who live in colder, wetter cities are at greater risk of suffering from this respiratory problem, since there are fewer hours of sunlight in such places. "Prolonged exposure to the sun can cause cancer, but it's also dangerous to avoid it. There has to be a balance between the pros and cons", Alberto Arnedo-Pena, an epidemiologist at the Public Health Centre in Castellón and lead author of the research, ...

First Choice has announced that its summer 2012 holidays are now available to book. The leading operator has also unveiled the first of its new look brochures. The first two brochures to be launched are First Choice's Tropical and the Summer Sun preview brochures.  Both feature new additions, including a new Holiday Village in Menorca, the Club Turquesa Mar. The hotel will be receiving a family friendly make-over this winter, getting kitted out with all the high-ropes and child care facilities to ensure it meets the standards expected of a Holiday Village.  It is scheduled ...

PHILADELPHIA — A biomechanical experiment conducted at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science has answered a long-standing theoretical question: Will microorganisms swim faster or slower in elastic fluids? For a prevalent type of swimming, undulation, the answer is "slower." Paulo Arratia, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics, along with student Xiaoning Shen, conducted the experiment. Their findings were published in the journal Physical Review Letters. Many animals, microorganisms and cells move by undulation, ...

Thomson Airways has announced that in just three years, sales of 'Thirsty Planet' bottled water have raised over GBP142,000 towards Pump Aid, the charity that aims to provide clean water for underprivileged communities.  In this time Pump Aid has built over 4,000 Elephant Pumps, bringing water supplies to at least an estimated 350,000 people in Sub-Saharan Africa. Thomson Airways first started working with 'Thirsty Planet' in November 2007 and have since sold millions of bottles of their water. For every bottle of 'Thirsty Planet' water sold onboard, five pence is donated ...

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL, Minn. (May 18, 2011) – University of Minnesota Medical School researchers have discovered a method to quickly and exponentially grow regulatory T-cells – also known as "suppressor cells." The new process enables replication of the cells by tens of millions in several weeks, a dramatic increase over previous duplication methods. Historically, regulatory T-cells have been difficult to replicate. The new technique will give patients a better chance of having a successful bone marrow or organ transplant, and will have profound implications for patients ...

CHESTNUT HILL, MA (5/18/2011) – Carbon found within ancient rocks has played a crucial role developing a time line for the emergence of biological life on the planet billions of years ago. But applying cutting-edge technology to samples of ancient rocks from northern Canada has revealed the carbon-based minerals may be much younger than the rock they inhabit, a team of researchers report in the latest edition of the journal Nature Geoscience. The team – which includes researchers from Boston College, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, NASA's Johnson Space Center ...