London, UK (May 11th, 2011) - In 1988 Margaret Thatcher took control of business rates away from local councils and in 2011 Eric Pickles wants to give it back to them. In his article, What do business rates measure? published by SAGE, Dominic Williams carries out research into the link between business rates and the local economy. Within this article Williams looks at the consequences should this change go ahead and what this would mean for poorer councils. He also explores supporters' views that this would give councils an incentive to promote growth in their local ...

Alkaviva Water Ionizers has being a leading name in water ionization for over 5 years and enjoys an A+ ranking from the Better Business Bureau. AlkaViva offers the best quality water ionization products at honest prices and with unmatched after sales service. The AlkaViva 9 is the latest addition to AlkaViva's extensive lineup of water ionizers and comes with a 60 day money back satisfaction guarantee. What makes the AlkaViva 9 stand out from other water ionizers is it's low price even though it is made to outperform models more than twice the cost. Unlike Chinese ...

This release is available in French and Spanish. Scientists at the University of Granada have confirmed that injecting a local anesthetic or botulinum toxin (botox) into certain points named "trigger points" of the pericraneal and neck muscles reduce migraine frequency among migraine sufferers. University of Granada researchers have identified the location of these trigger points –which activation results in migraine– and their relationship with the duration and severity of this condition. Headache is a universal experience. At present, there are more than 100 different ...

Liquid smoke flavoring made from hickory and other wood — a mainstay flavoring and anti-bacterial agent for the prepared food industry and home kitchens — may get a competitor that seems to be packed with antioxidant, antiallergenic and anti-inflammatory substances, according to a new study in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. It is the first analysis of liquid smoke produced from rice hulls, the hard, inedible coverings of rice grains. Mendel Friedman, Seok Hyun Nam and colleagues explain that wood from trees is typically used to produce liquid smoke, ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. - Pancreatic cancer has one of the highest mortality rates of any of the major cancers, and of the 43,000-plus Americans diagnosed with the disease each year, more than 94 percent die within five years of diagnosis. One reason for this high number of deaths is a lack of effective screening tools for catching the disease early. Now, in an effort to try to gain the upper hand on this deadly form of cancer, Mayo Clinic researchers believe they have found a new way to test for pancreatic cancer with DNA testing of patients' stool samples. The research was presented ...

Doug Huggins Founder of OwnDepot announced today that the company website, www.owndepot.com has officially launched. The Site provides the insured community with a secure inventory solution that allows the customer or a designated agent to inventory all home valuables. OwnDepot provides proof of ownership by recording detailed purchase information, while providing customers with tools to help them manage their home life. OwnDepot has created a new market category - a Home Management Solution that focuses on personal asset management and household simplification. It ...

About two years ago, Dr. Philippe Gros, a McGill University professor in the Department of Biochemistry and a Principal Investigator in thd McGill Life Sciences Complex, described a mouse mutant that was immunodeficient and hypersensitive to the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine and to tuberculosis (TB). In this model, Gros's team had found that the immunodeficiency was caused by a mutation in a regulatory protein of the immune system named IRF8. A year later, a physician in Newcastle who had heard about Gros's work, contacted him about a three-month-old patient ...

For diagnosing head and neck ailments, tests that use radiation are always less desirable than those that don't. Otolaryngologists have a wide range of techniques available to them, including CT or "CAT" scans, MRI and ultrasound. CT uses significant radiation and MRI a lower amount, but ultrasound is a non-invasive, non-radiating technique. It does not require injection of radioactive contrast material and has no side effects. Now, a new study by Tel Aviv University exploring the efficacy of expensive and invasive CT scans has found that, in some cases, they don't offer ...

Some of the most effective and expensive cancer drugs, dubbed "smart drugs" for their ability to stop tumors by targeting key drivers of cancer cell growth, are not effective in some patients. In two related studies, Yale School of Medicine researchers examined one such driver, the EGF receptor (EGFR), and found that a decoy receptor might be limiting the amount of drug that gets to the intended target. "We know that smart drugs like Cetuximab are not always effective in the cancer cells they're supposed to target because there are no positive predictive markers for ...

An innovative program to encourage sustainable farming in rural China has helped restore eroded forestland while producing economic gains for many farmers, according to a new study by Stanford University researchers. Their findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). "The Sloping Land Conversion Program, which began in 2000 after massive flooding caused in part by land clearing, focuses on China's largest source of soil erosion and flood risk – farms on steep slopes," said study co-author Gretchen Daily, a professor of biology ...

ZyLAB, a leading eDiscovery and information management technology company, today announced that the popular webcast titled "Contemporary Productions and Metadata for 21st Century Disclosures" is now available on demand from the company's website. The lively and informative 80-minute webcast addresses the controversy surrounding the recent ruling in the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) v. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) case involving ESI productions and metadata. NDLON plaintiff counsel, Anthony Diana, of Mayer Brown LLP, ...

New research from McMaster University may answer a controversial question: do the blind have a better sense of touch because the brain compensates for vision loss or because of heavy reliance on their fingertips? The study, published in the most recent edition of the Journal of Neuroscience, suggests daily dependence on touch is the answer. Twenty-eight profoundly blind participants—with varying degrees of Braille expertise—and 55 normally sighted adults were tested for touch sensitivity on six fingers and both sides of the lower lip. Researchers reasoned that, ...

Vitamins and medications may one day take rides on starch compounds creating stable vitamin-enriched ingredients and cheaper controlled-release drugs, according to Penn State food scientists. The technique may offer drug and food companies a less expensive, more environmentally friendly alternative in creating, among other products, medications and food supplements. In a series of experiments, researchers formed pockets with corn starch and a fatty acid ester to carry oil soluble vitamins, such as vitamin A and vitamin C, into the body, according to Gregory Ziegler, ...

The first results from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), a national study of 8,000 older people aged 50 and over in Ireland, were launched this week by the Minister for Health and Children, Dr James Reilly. TILDA is the most comprehensive study ever conducted on ageing in Ireland. Between 2009- 2011, over 8,000 people aged 50 and over were randomly selected across the country and interviewed about many aspects of their lives including issues such as health, financial circumstances and quality of life. Almost 85 per cent of the participants also underwent ...

How useful would it be to anticipate how well someone will control their emotions? To predict how well they might be able to stay calm during stress? To accept critical feedback stoically? Heath A. Demaree, professor of psychology at Case Western Reserve University, finds clues in what psychologists call "hot" and "cold" psychology. "People differ with regard to how well they can control their emotions, and one factor that predicts it is non-emotional in nature – it is a 'cold' cognitive construct," Demaree explains referring to Working Memory Capacity. Working ...

Scientists are reporting development of three promising formulations that could be used in a vaccine to treat methamphetamine addiction — one of the most serious drug abuse problems in the U.S. The report appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. In the paper, Kim Janda and colleagues note that methamphetamine use and addiction cost the U.S. more than $23 billion annually due to medical and law enforcement expenses, as well as lost productivity. The drug, also called "meth" or "crystal meth," can cause a variety of problems including cardiovascular damage ...

This release is available in German. When storms lash northern and eastern Germany, it regularly gets tight in the high-voltage and highest-voltage electrical grids. Electricity from renewable resources has priority on the grid. But, on stormy days in particular, wind turbine systems must be taken offline, because the gird capacities are insufficient. "Currently we are in a situation where we have high inflows from renewable energies into our high voltage line system and are expecting large increases in the future. However, the grid is not designed for this level of ...

A new software called QED (Quantitative Electron Diffraction), which has been licensed by Max Planck Innovation, has now been released by HREM Research Inc., a Japan based company, which is developing products and services in the field of High-Resolution Electron Microscopy. QED allows transmission electron microscopes to acquire novel kinds of data, opening up new possibilities in electron crystallography. Transmission electron microscopes create magnified images of samples and are, in contrast to the light microscope, even able to resolve individual atoms. When transmitting ...

Mini Cities announces that on Thursday, May 12, 2011 it will be presenting at the NYC Early-Stage Angel and Venture Capital Event hosted by FundingPost. "We are very excited to be able to pitch Mini Cities to such a great group of investors." Said Ana Abraham, founder of MiniCities.com. "Mini Cities is in a great space right now with the acquisition of Patch and Bckyrd.com we are in the right market at the right time." Mini Cities is built on a proprietary multi-tiered multitenant platform. Each Mini Cities site is a hyperlocal destination site for ...

WASHINGTON—May 11, 2011—Most Maryland residents trust the health and medical research information provided by traditional media—newspapers (77%), television (71%), magazines (68%), radio (66%)—and the Internet (also 66%), according to a new state poll commissioned by Research!America. Social media fared less well, with 51% saying social media is not trustworthy for health and medical research issues. Fewer than 20% use their cell phone or other mobile device to find health information. The Maryland poll findings were released today at a forum on science journalism at ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Despite playing an increasingly vital role in criminal investigations, digital forensic examiners face staffing cuts, heavy caseloads and stress within police departments that may not fully understand their responsibilities, according to a study led by a Michigan State University criminologist. Police officials should consider hiring more digital forensic examiners or, failing that, improving their work environment, said Thomas Holt, MSU assistant professor of criminal justice. His study appears in the May issue of the Journal of Contemporary Criminal ...

The bad economy has spurned a dramatic increase in burglaries and home invasions across the country. In April, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released crime statistics for 2010, which showed that Nashville saw a 21% increase in burglaries in 2010. As other agencies begin to release similar reports, the results are clear. Many of the nations cities saw burglaries increase in 2010 after falling for a number years and homeowners are growing concerned. "The number's reflect what we have been hearing from listeners all over the country. The bad economy has caused ...

Nanoparticles of silver are being found increasingly in the environment—and in environmental science laboratories. Because they have a variety of useful properties, especially as antibacterial and antifungal agents, silver nanoparticles increasingly are being used in a wide variety of industrial and consumer products. This, in turn, has raised concerns about what happens to them once released into the environment. Now a new research paper* adds an additional wrinkle: Nature may be making silver nanoparticles on its own. A team of researchers from the Florida Institute ...

Bottlenose dolphins* and beluga whales**, two marine species at or near the top of their respective food webs, accumulate more chemical pollutants in their bodies when they live and feed in waters near urbanized areas, according to scientists working at the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML), a government-university collaboration in Charleston, S.C. In papers recently published online by the journal Environmental Science & Technology, one research team looked at the levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) found in male dolphins along the U.S. East and Gulf of Mexico ...

In a step toward taking the most advanced atomic clocks on the road, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have designed and demonstrated a super-stable laser operating in a cramped, vibrating location—a minivan. The experiment shows how advanced lasers can be made both stable and transportable enough for field use in geodesy, hydrology, improved radar and space-based tests of fundamental physics. The drive tests, limited to a short excursion of five meters across the grass at the NIST Boulder, Colo., campus, are described in Optics ...