Experts from medical and patient communities call on national policymakers in the Asia-Pacific region to take urgent action against preventable strokes that strike millions of people with atrial fibrillation (AF) each year Countries in the Asia-Pacific region carry a disproportionate share of the burden of stroke with millions of people affected; a burden that will grow as life expectancy rises1 AF, the most common, sustained abnormal heart rhythm, increases the risk of stroke five-fold and is responsible for 15-20% of all strokes, and for 20% of all ischaemic strokes ...

Options For Homeowners Facing Foreclosure If you have missed a payment on your mortgage or have received notice from your lender they are filing a foreclosure action, you still have some options. You may be able to save your house and prevent being saddled with unmanageable debt. Foreclosure A foreclosure is the legal process where a mortgage lender takes back a piece of property from the party to whom it loaned funds to originally. Foreclosure permits the lender to evict the occupier, resell the property and potentially assess a deficiency balance (the difference ...

The May issue of JAMIA, the top-ranked journal reporting on informatics in biomedical and health informatics, features new scientific research—in print and online—on healthcare's hottest HIT-related topics, written by prominent experts working in health and biomedicine. Editor-in chief Lucila Ocho-Machado bullets some of the rich content in the newly released, current issue: "A secure protocol for protecting the identity of providers when disclosing data for disease surveillance" (Editor's Choice, available free online) — Lead author Khaled El Emam of Children's Hospital ...

An international panel of experts from The Heart Rhythm Society and the European Heart Rhythm Association issued new guideline recommendations for all health care professionals about cardiovascular genetic testing at the Heart Rhythm Society's 32nd Annual Scientific Sessions. Silvia G. Priori, MD, PhD, a leader in the field of inherited cardiovascular diseases and director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Program at NYU Langone Medical Center, was co-lead author of the HRS/EHRA Expert Consensus Statement on the State of Genetic Testing for the Channelopathies and Cardiomyopathies. ...

Economy Not Recovering Fast Enough for Some Economists and other financial experts speak continually about signs of improvement in the US economy. With the overall number of bankruptcy and foreclosure filings showing moderate decreases nationally, some are saying this is an indication that the country is coming out of the recession. Others, however, are not so convinced, especially with the national unemployment rate hitting over 10 percent in February - the same percentage as one year ago. While foreclosure and bankruptcy rates are declining in North Carolina, the economy ...

Edmonton – Researchers with the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta have discovered that some "protective" T-cells can kill neurons. This finding is significant because a specific type of T-cell therapy is being touted in the medical community as a potential treatment for MS and other autoimmune conditions. Dr. Fabrizio Giuliani and his post-doctoral fellow, Yohannes Haile, both from the Division of Neurology, collaborated on this research which was recently published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, a peer-reviewed medical journal. "Using ...

A new strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria associated with exposure to livestock was recently discovered in one Iowa child care worker who reported no contact with livestock, according to University of Iowa researchers. The discovery was an unexpected finding in a study of Staphylococcus aureus in child day care facilities conducted by Erin Moritz, a doctoral student in epidemiology in the UI College of Public Health, for her dissertation. The finding was reported in a letter written by Moritz and her advisor, Tara Smith, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology ...

While children of all ethnicities can contract Kawasaki disease (KD), a study led by researchers at the Kawasaki Disease Research Center at the University of California, San Diego and Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego finds that Filipino children with KD are at a higher risk for inflammation of the blood vessels of the heart than those of other Asian and non-Asian backgrounds. Nearly 24 percent of Filipino children with KD in San Diego County were found to have aneurysms compared to 10.5 percent of children of other Asian descent. The study appears in the May 6, 2011 ...

LA JOLLA, CA – May 6, 2011 – Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have found a temperature-sensing protein within immune cells that, when tripped, allows calcium to pour in and activate an immune response. This process can occur as temperature rises, such as during a fever, or when it falls—such as when immune cells are "called" from the body's warm interior to a site of injury on cooler skin. The study, recently published online ahead of print by Nature Chemical Biology, is the first to find such a sensor in immune cells—specifically, in the T lymphocytes that ...

New York City Bus Crash Leads to Examination of Driver Qualifications Several bus crashes in the New York area, including the deadly crash of a bus returning from Mohegan Sun casino, have raised questions regarding bus safety. As discount bus travel companies increase in popularity, the hiring practices and procedures for drivers is facing greater scrutiny. Currently, no training is required for those who drive buses. As long as drivers obtain a valid commercial driver's license, they will be considered qualified to transport passengers. Drivers are limited to ten ...

WACO, Texas (May 6, 2011) — People living in countries with governments that have a greater number of social services report being more satisfied with life, according to a study by a Baylor University researcher. Dr. Patrick Flavin, assistant professor of political science at Baylor, said the effect of state intervention into the economy equaled or exceeded marriage when it came to satisfaction. The study is published in the spring issue of the journal Politics & Policy. Free market capitalism has been championed by leaders such as the late President Ronald Reagan and ...

In the May-June issue of the journal American Mineralogist, a team of scientists announced the discovery of the new mineral krotite, one of the earliest minerals formed in our solar system. It is the main component of an unusual inclusion embedded in a meteorite (NWA 1934), found in northwest Africa. These objects, known as refractory inclusions, are thought to be the first planetary materials formed in our solar system, dating back to before the formation of the Earth and the other planets. This particular grain is known affectionately as "Cracked Egg" for its distinctive ...

Authorities have yet to determine if the brutal assault of a transgender woman at a McDonald's was a hate crime. After examining the initial evidence, New York civil rights violation lawyer David Perecman believes that the violent attack may be classified as a hate crime. As reported by the New York Daily News, Chrissy Lee Polis says it's not the first time she's been assaulted because of her sexual identity. Polis said she was attacked after she used the ladies restrooms at a McDonald's in Baltimore, Maryland. The 22-year-old claims one of the female attackers ...

College Park, Md. (May 6, 2011) — A bold new design for thin film solar cells that requires significantly less silicon – and may boost their efficiency – is the result of an industry/academia collaboration between Oerlikon Solar in Switzerland and the Institute of Physics' photovoltaic group at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. One long-term option for low-cost, high-yield industrial production of solar panels from abundant raw materials can be found in amorphous silicon solar cells and microcrystalline silicon tandem cells (a.k.a. Micromorph)—providing an ...

A female chef at a midtown restaurant associated with Gordon Ramsay has filed a sexual harassment complaint with the State Division of Human Rights, accusing male chefs at Gordon Ramsay at The London NYC of sexually harassing her. New York civil rights violation lawyer David Perecman supports her actions, if these allegations are true. "Everybody has a right to work in a civil work environment free of workplace gender discrimination," said Perecman, a civil rights violation lawyer in New York for over 30 years. Commis chef Janet Kim contended that executive ...

It is an article of faith among many critics of public schools that there is no correlation between spending and learning outcomes. But it's not so—at least where library spending is concerned. When support for school libraries rises, reading scores go up and learning by other measures increases also. That's what researchers at Mansfield University in Mansfield, PA found when they examined and summarized the results of 23 studies done around the United States and Canada. "Quality school library programs impact student achievement," says Debra E. Kachel, a professor ...

Over the past decades, researchers seeking to understand molecular mechanisms underlying various diseases, notably cancer, have taken advantage of DNA microarrays to interrogate tissues specimen of patients for the expression status of thousands of genes at once. Jointly, such gene expression status of each gene in the genome, measured as the level of their transcripts, constitutes the gene expression profile. Since each of the tens of thousands of genes can be switched on or off, a gene expression profile contains complex information, akin to a huge bar code with tens ...

Recently, a surgeon operated on the wrong eye of a 4-year-old boy and he may have suffered permanent eye damage in what was supposed to be a simple procedure. Apparently, before the surgery, a nurse mistakenly covered the doctor's mark which indicated the eye needing correction. How did the doctor explain herself? She says she simply "lost sense of direction and didn't realize I had operated on the wrong eye until I was done operating on the eye." New York medical malpractice lawyer David Perecman believes this answer is not sufficient. "Dr. Shawn ...

NEW YORK – Green roofs like the one atop a Con Edison building in Long Island City, Queens can be a cost-effective way to keep water from running into sewer systems and causing overflows, Columbia University researchers have found. The Con Edison Green Roof, which is home to 21,000 plants on a quarter acre of The Learning Center, retains 30 percent of the rainwater that falls on it. The plants then release the water as vapor, the researchers said in the study (http://www.coned.com/greenroofcolumbia). If New York City's 1 billion square feet of roofs were transformed ...

Researchers at Columbia Engineering have established a new method to patch a damaged heart using a tissue-engineering platform that enables heart tissue to repair itself. This breakthrough, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/04/19/1104619108.long, is an important step forward in combating cardiovascular disease, one of the most serious health problems of our day. Led by Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University's Fu Foundation School of Engineering ...

Adalimumab (ADA), a drug often prescribed for women with Crohn's disease, actively crosses the placenta during the final trimester of pregnancy and remains in a newborn's bloodstream for at least three months, researchers at the University of California San Francisco have found. The new study has implications for pregnant women and their obstetricians and pediatricians because ADA is known to decrease the immune system's ability to fight infection. Infants exposed in utero should be monitored closely for infection in the first six months of life and should not receive ...

The National Trust is offering visitors an exciting new way to explore its great outdoor places by partnering with GPS experts Garmin this summer. Geocaching, a family friendly 'digital' treasure hunt, will be taking place at over 40 National Trust places across the country*. Visitors will be able to borrow a Garmin handheld GPS device to guide them to treasure 'caches' hidden in the countryside and coastland of National Trust sites. These modern-day treasure-hunts are a fun way for visitors to get out and really experience the outdoors with the National Trust. ...

Free bingo fan Tillybird is currently on her way to New York courtesy of City Bingo after winning a game of 75 ball bingo over the Easter and Royal Wedding period. The prize includes flights, luxury accommodation and GBP500 spending money as does this latest trip to Spain. As the urban-themed free bingo site with a distinctive global theme, City Bingo often sends its players around the world as a result of its promotions as well as running regular games of free bingo with no deposit required. The site has also published some promotional codes on the website for loyal ...

Prospective attendees for the "Invitation To Foodies" culinary seminar at the Makena Beach and Golf Resort on Maui in September can purchase the 3-day "Seminar - a la carte" package for $600.00 (normally priced at $960.00). This special discount is available from Friday, May 6, 2011, to Monday, May 9, 2011. Registration hours are 8:00am - 9:00pm/PST. There is limited space available for this registration category. THIS IS THE TWITTER TRAVEL DEAL - Help spread the word about TasteHawaiiOnline.com's Hawaii Food and Wine culinary seminar. Attendees ...

Realcomm Conference Group, LLC, chief executive officer Jim Young spoke at last week's Executive Client Summit Luncheon in Washington, DC, which was hosted by Robert Peck, Commissioner of Public Buildings for the US General Services Administration. The event brought top federal real estate leaders together to discuss challenges that all federal agencies are facing in the areas of asset management, sustainability and workplace planning. Young joined Larry Melton, GSA Assistant Commissioner for Facilities Management and Harry Mahar, Director of the Bureau of Administration ...