The National Trust has announced it is kick-starting a six-month nationwide project to find out if the UK public is losing touch with the outdoors. The launch of the Trust's Outdoor Nation initiative follows a series of high-profile reports and academic studies that have all shown a growing disconnection between people and the natural environment. Recent reports have shown, for example, that 64 per cent of children play outside less than once a week and the distance children stray from their homes has decreased by 90 per cent since the 1970s*. Meanwhile, some 26 per ...

Kuoni is bringing to life the wonders of Egypt, Dubai, Morocco and Arabia with its latest holiday brochure. Valid from January 2011 to March 2012, it provides a snapshot of all that is worth seeing and experiencing in this richly historical region. The new brochure gives holiday makers the chance to take an Egypt holiday and soar over Abu Simbel's temples by light aircraft, barter in Morocco's bustling souks, try the world's fastest roller coaster in Abu Dhabi, follow Oman's Frankincense Trail, marvel at Libya's finest preserved Roman city and Petra's 2,000-year-old ...

NH Hotels' Olomouc Congress hotel in Olomouc, Moravia was recently voted the Czech Republic's "Building of the Year" by a prestigious jury that included the Czech Ministry for Industry and Trade, The Foundation for Architecture and Building Development, the National Alliance of Entrepreneurs and the magazine "Economy and Stavitel". The recently built four-star hotel's avant-garde design, the impact of the hotel on the local area and its ambitious environmental sustainability plan all helped to persuade the jury to vote unanimously for the NH Olomouc Congress in the eighteenth ...

etyres, the UK's leading online tyre retailer, has released a short online video showing motorists how changing a tyre is so easy even a child can do it. Most motorists dread the idea of getting a puncture and being stranded at the roadside waiting for a breakdown truck.   Now etyres has released a short online video which shows drivers how they can fit their spare wheel in a matter of minutes and be back on the road in no time. And to demonstrate just how easy it is, the entire procedure is filmed being carried out by 10-year-old William Stepney. Tony Bowman, ...

Albertan businessman and philanthropist Jesse Willms has donated $1,000 to the Greater Edmonton Poppy Fund in order to help out local veterans and their families when they are facing hard times. "Remembrance Day is just around the corner," Willms said. "Now is the time to do what we can to let local veterans know that we have not forgotten the sacrifices they have made for our country. We owe them a huge debt, and it is our duty to help them in their time of need." Click here to watch the Jesse Willms Poppyfund.ca video. The Greater Edmonton Poppy Fund is run ...

Citizens of the United States had some interesting decisions to make this week as they headed to the polls for the 2010 mid-term elections. On the minds of millions as they posted their ballets was the nation's current stance towards the legalities of playing poker online. MyPokerBasics.com has been closely following the campaigns of the United States' newly elected and re-elected officials to determine the potential for legalization of online poker in some parts of the US. In short, there is good news and bad news for supporters of legal online poker. The Poker Players ...

New book, based on 21 developmental areas, reveals best practices to capitalize on mistakes and then move on, refuse routine focus on failure and disappointment, and to encourage the pursuit of our entitlement to live up to our absolute best each day. Available now in all bookstores everywhere! "You can change your future by not making the mistake of living in the past with all of its setbacks and misfortunes, and regain four years of life through triumph, self transformation, and a personal pursuit of happiness designed to help you live your absolute best with each ...

Ringtones have been known not only to work as the call identifiers, but, they also provide a source of entertainment for the mobile phone users. However, when downloading from the World Wide Web, there are certain issues that should be kept in mind. One of the concerns is that the file type information according to the mobile phone models for which the free ringtones are being searched for should be known. After all it does not make sense investing time and energy in finding the ringtones which cannot be played on the mobile set. Thus the information about the file types ...

A.Hak Industrial Services BV today announces that it purchased the company activities of InTANK, a subsidiary of Berkeley Springs Instruments of Berkeley Springs, WV. The acquisition concerns all activities of InTANK, including all patents, trademarks and technology rights. InTANK specializes in the development and application of robotic systems for the in-service inspection and cleaning of above ground storage tanks for the oil & gas, petrochemical and power generation industries. A.Hak Industrial Services BV is a member of the A.Hakpark BV Group with headquarters ...

John Rosatti recently featured his new 162 Mega Yacht "Remember When", built by Christensen Yachts, at this year's 2010 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. The 51st Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show was held October 28-November 1, 2010 with hundreds of thousands of boating enthusiasts and marine industry professionals in attendance. John Rosatti launched his newest Mega Yacht earlier this year from the Christensen boat yard located in Vancouver. "Remember When" then cruised down the West Coast, through Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Galapagos Islands, on through ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---A table-top gamma-ray detector created at the University of Michigan can not only identify the presence of dangerous nuclear materials, but can pinpoint and show their exact location and type, unlike conventional detectors. "Other gamma ray detectors can tell you perhaps that nuclear materials are near a building, but with our detector, you can know the materials are in room A, or room B, for example," said Zhong He, a professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences. "This is the first instrument for this purpose that ...

Youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning (LGBTQ) are vulnerable to bullying, harassment, compromised achievement, and emotional and behavioral health problems. A national survey of LGBTQ youth in secondary schools found that nearly all of them heard homophobic remarks in school, and three-quarters heard such remarks often. Moreover, 40 percent had been physically harassed and 20 percent had been physically assaulted. A new Social Policy Report from SRCD on Safe Schools Policy for LGBTQ Students provides an overview of the research ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Researchers at Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.org/) have found a significant difference in cancer progression and death in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients who had sufficient vitamin D (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-d/NS_patient-vitamind) levels in their blood compared to those who didn't. VIDEO ALERT: Additional audio and video resources, including excerpts from an interview with Dr. Tait Shanafelt, are available on the Mayo Clinic News Blog (http://newsblog.mayoclinic.org/2010/11/03/mayo-clinic-finds-insufficient-vitamin-d-levels-in-cll-patients-linked-to-cancer-progression-and-death/). In ...

LA JOLLA, CA, November 3, 2010 – For Immediate Release – As babies grow, their brain cells develop from a pool of stem cells—some stem cells continuously divide, replenishing the pool, whereas others morph into mature functioning nerve cells. Now researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have shown that as the newly formed nerve cells start firing electrical signals, this activity slows down stem cell division, emptying out the stem cell pool in favor of nerve cell formation. The study, published in the November 4 issue of the journal Neuron, shows that brain activity ...

Telomerase is an enzyme that maintains the DNA at the ends of our chromosomes, known as telomeres. In the absence of telomerase activity, every time our cells divide, our telomeres get shorter. This is part of the natural aging process, as most cells in the human body do not have much active telomerase. Eventually, these DNA-containing telomeres, which act as protective caps at the ends of chromosomes, become so short that the cells die. But in some cells, such as cancer cells, telomerase, which is composed of RNA and proteins, is highly active and adds telomere DNA, ...

By applying electrical current to the brain, researchers reporting online on November 4 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have shown that they could enhance a person's mathematical performance for up to 6 months without influencing their other cognitive functions. The findings may lead to treatments for the estimated 20 percent of the population with moderate to severe numerical disabilities (for example, dyscalculia) and for those who lose their skill with numbers as a result of stroke or degenerative disease, according to the researchers. "I am certainly ...

Researchers have experimentally shown that some species of reef fish will enact punishment on the parasitic saber-tooth blennies that stealthily attack them from behind and take a bite, even though their behavior offers no immediate gain. The study, published online on November 4 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, shows that punishment ultimately serves all members of the reef fish species well. In future attacks, blennies are more likely to go after "free-riding" individuals that don't take the time or expend the energy to punish their enemies, the researchers ...

The adult human skeleton undergoes constant remodeling, with new bone forming at sites that have been broken down by a precise process called resorption. During remodeling, skeletal stem cells are recruited to resorption sites and directed to differentiate into bone-forming cells. Osteoporosis, a condition characterized by weak and fragile bones, develops when there is an imbalance in the remodeling process and more bone is lost than replaced. Now, new research published by Cell Press in the November issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell uncovers a mechanism that may guide ...

Although human and chimpanzee immune systems have many identical components, this is not the case for the family of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) controlling white blood cells known as natural killer (NK) cells. Published in the open-access journal PloS Genetics on November 4, a paper by Stanford University researchers describes qualitative KIR differences, acquired after humans and chimpanzees separated 6 million years ago and mainly a consequence of innovation in the human line. These differences open up an exciting avenue for explaining the differential ...

A new study published today shows a genetic 'battle of the sexes' could be much harder to resolve and even more important to evolution than previously thought. This battle, observed across many species and known as intralocus sexual conflict, happens when the genes for a trait which is good for the breeding success of one sex are bad for the other – sparking an 'evolutionary tug-o-war' between the sexes. It has previously been thought these issues were only resolved when the trait in question evolves to become sex-specific in its development – meaning the trait only ...

ASDs include a range of neurodevelopmental conditions that are being diagnosed at an increasing rate. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that ASD currently affects 1 in 110 people. The prevalence of schizophrenia, with a diagnostic rate of 1 in 100 to 1 in 20, is similar. ASD and schizophrenia affect males more often than females, and both are thought to have a strong and overlapping genetic component. "The genetic overlap between ASD and schizophrenia, both of which have a high heritability, has been the focus of several recent studies; however, no ...

A research team led by Teh-hui Kao, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State University, in collaboration with a team lead by Professor Seiji Takayama at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan, has discovered a large suite of genes in the petunia plant that acts to prevent it from breeding with itself or with its close relatives, and to promote breeding with unrelated individuals. In much the same way that human inbreeding sometimes results in genetic disease and inferior health, some inbred plants also experience decreased fitness, and ...

Tiny variants in a protein that alerts the immune system to the presence of infection may underlie the rare ability of some individuals to control HIV infection without the need for medications. In a report that will appear in Science and is receiving early online release, an international research team led by investigators from the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), MIT and Harvard and from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard describe finding that differences in five amino acids in a protein called HLA-B are associated with whether or not HIV-infected ...

A registry of health care information on patients with mild to moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD) could help physicians improve care for affected individuals, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The results suggest that officials could use such a registry to develop a national surveillance system to identify and track various aspects of CKD. The incidence and health care costs of CKD are growing. A national reporting system that collects health care details on dialysis patients and ...

Today, individuals with lupus nephritis benefit from better treatments than a decade ago, according to a review appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The article suggests that patients with the disease can now live full lives without suffering from many treatment-related side effects that plagued them in the past. In the future, patients will likely experience additional benefits from treatment strategies currently being explored in clinical trials. Individuals with the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus ...