Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (27 October, 2010)—As agricultural leaders across the globe look for ways to increase investments in agriculture to boost world food production, experts in African livestock farming are meeting in Addis Ababa this week to deliberate on ways to get commercialized farm production, access to markets, innovations, gender issues and pro-poor policies right for Africa's millions of small-scale livestock farmers and herders. More than 70 percent of Africa's rural poor are livestock farmers. Each farm animal raised is a rare source of high-quality food, particularly ...

When prenatal diagnosis detects the severe heart defect hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) in a fetus, a comprehensive prenatal evaluation is important to provide parents an accurate prognosis. In HLHS, one of the heart's pumping chambers is severely underdeveloped. However, say researchers, in two-thirds of cases, reconstructive surgery affords the infant an excellent chance of early survival. Researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia report on five years of experience at that hospital, in a review of 240 fetuses diagnosed with HLHS from 2004 to 2009. ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research links three molecules to a critical tumor suppressor gene that is often turned off in multiple myeloma, a presently incurable cancer of the blood. The findings might offer a new strategy for treating this disease and other blood cancers, according to researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) who led the study. The silenced molecules are called miR-192, miR-194 and miR-215. All of them are microRNAs, a large class of molecules ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – An obscure provision in the health care reform bill has the potential to seriously alter the long-term care landscape for older Americans, but it may not be as beneficial to retirees as it will be for near-retirees and successive generations of workers, new research by a University of Illinois elder law expert warns. Richard L. Kaplan, an expert on federal taxes and retirement issues, says the new federal entitlement program, known as Community Living Assistance Services and Supports, or CLASS, shouldn't be viewed as a replacement for long-term care ...

SAN DIEGO -- Prostate cancer patients who receive intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) are less apt to suffer serious gastrointestinal complications following their treatment than those who receive three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (CRT), according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The study, which will be presented Nov. 1 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in San Diego, found that men who were treated with IMRT had fewer serious bowel complications, including painful rectal ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Asian-American youth are one of the fastest growing populations in the United States. Although Asian Americans begin smoking later in life, they are more likely to smoke regularly and at a higher rate than other ethnic or racial groups, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Now, a University of Missouri researcher is examining the unique differences in adolescent tobacco use among Asians and other groups to provide specific recommendations for prevention and treatment. "Given the large number of addicted teenagers, tobacco control ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — With big storms ripping across the Midwest, Bob Drost is hoping people are paying attention to the severe weather and tornado warnings. Unfortunately, Drost, a doctoral student at Michigan State University, knows that many times those warnings are ignored, according to his research. "Only 63 percent understood that a warning is the most urgent National Weather Service statement during severe weather," he said. Next week, Drost will present his research findings at the Geological Society of America's annual conference to fellow earth scientists ...

CHAPEL HILL – The method used to assess infertility in at-home tests might not be the best for identifying which women will have trouble getting pregnant, according to new research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. The study found that the cutoffs used by such infertility tests, which measure levels of a molecule called follicle stimulating hormone or FSH, label many women as infertile who actually go on to have children naturally. It also suggests that another hormone, called antimullerian hormone or AMH, could prove to be a much ...

Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and The Children's Hospital have taken a big step toward understanding what causes one of the most serious liver diseases in infants. The disease is called biliary atresia, It blocks the bile ducts in young infants, through which bile, crucial for digestion, flows to the small intestine. The disease is rare – it strikes in about one in 10,000 births. But it's life-threatening. "It is fatal if not treated quickly," says Cara Mack, MD, who led the CU research. Surgical removal of the blocked main bile duct ...

Most babies are delivered head-first, but in about 4% of all deliveries babies are "born breech" ― with their buttocks or feet first. Doctors usually exercise caution and use caesarean sections (C-sections) as the delivery method of choice for such births, believing it safer for the baby. After a large-scale international study in 2000, C-sections became the near-universal choice for such births. But now researchers at Tel Aviv University are saying that, under certain circumstances, traditional vaginal delivery for breech babies is not only safe for baby, but even ...

Berkeley, CA—A team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has detected six isotopes, never seen before, of the superheavy elements 104 through 114. Starting with the creation of a new isotope of the yet-to-be-named element 114, the researchers observed successive emissions of alpha particles that yielded new isotopes of copernicium (element 112), darmstadtium (element 110), hassium (element 108), seaborgium (element 106), and rutherfordium (element 104). Rutherfordium ended the chain when it decayed by spontaneous fission. ...

Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is a multifactorial disease of complex etiology characterized by the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells. In addition to genetic susceptibility, it is generally accepted that environmental factors play important roles in triggering disease, with virus infection having perhaps the strongest association. Multiple viral infections including cytomegalovirus, mumps, rubella, enteroviruses, and parvovirus have all been associated with human T1D. Indeed, the effects of diverse viruses in triggering T1D may ...

Scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are helping ensure that the smoked salmon that's always a hit at festive gatherings also is always safe to eat, including among their achievements the development of a first-of-its-kind mathematical model that food processors and others can use to select the optimal combination of temperature and concentrations of salt and smoke compounds to reduce or eliminate microbial contamination of the product. The studies are led by food technologist Andy (Cheng-An) Hwang with the USDA Agricultural Research Service's (ARS) ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – In a short, violent battle that could have happened somewhere this afternoon, the lizard made a fast lunge at the dragonfly, bit its head off and turned to run away. Lunch was served. But the battle didn't happen today, it happened about 100 million years ago, probably with dinosaurs strolling nearby. And the lizard didn't get away, it was trapped in the same oozing, sticky tree sap that also entombed the now-headless dragonfly for perpetuity. This ancient struggle, preserved in the miracle of amber, was just described by researchers from Oregon State ...

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 27, 2010 – University of Utah computer scientists developed software that quickly edits "extreme resolution imagery" – huge photographs containing billions to hundreds of billions of pixels or dot-like picture elements. Until now, it took hours to process these "gigapixel" images. The new software needs only seconds to produce preview images useful to doctors, intelligence analysts, photographers, artists, engineers and others. By sampling only a fraction of the pixels in a massive image – for example, a satellite photo or a panorama made of hundreds ...

Professor Zhipeng Wu has invented a portable scanner based on radio frequency technology, which is able to show in a second the presence of tumours – malignant and benign – in the breast on a computer. Using radio frequency or microwave technology for breast cancer detection has been proven by researchers in the US, Canada and UK. However, up to now, it can take a few minutes for an image to be produced, and this had to be done in a hospital or specialist care centre. Now Professor Wu, from the University's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, says concerned ...

Rosendin Electric (www.rosendin.com), the nation's largest private electrical contractor and a 100-percent employee-owned company, has been recognized by the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) for its contribution to completion of the Nogales International Waste Water Treatment Plant in Rio Rico, Arizona. At the 2010 Design-Build Conference & Expo held in Las Vegas last week, the DBIA awarded the 2010 Water/Wastewater Over $25 Million Design-Build Merit Award to PCL Construction as the contracting firm, Stantec Engineering as the engineering firm, and Rosendin ...

Pro Energy Consultants, a national energy auditing company, has consistently received high customer satisfaction ratings, the company reported today. Pro Energy, established September 2008, began carefully tracking its customers' satisfaction levels the following year. "This is attributed to the professionalism of our franchise owners nationwide and the fact that an energy audit really does benefit homeowners in many ways," said Pro Energy Consultants Chief Operations Officer Suave Brachowski, who says the satisfaction rating is currently at 99.8 percent. "After all, ...

Experience Mapping author, Karen Newman, announced today that her industry acclaimed book now has a new comprehensive website containing detailed information, testimonials, real-life case studies and reviews. Experience Mapping is a process for taking an inventory of your skills, abilities, training, education, experience, and anything else that enables you to earn an income, and then realigning all of those assets and resources in a new career. "It's a simple and totally effective process that can absolutely change your life," said Newman, "just like it changed mine." As ...

Borrowing from the technology industry, Farella Braun + Martel LLP is "open sourcing" its Diversity Pipeline Internship Program curriculum aimed at diverse or disadvantaged high school students. The details of the program are now available to the legal community and firms seeking to adopt similar initiatives to minimize the significant start-up investment involved in developing and launching an internship program. "An 'open source' philosophy has helped many software developers in their quest to innovate and build new programs," says managing partner Steve Lowenthal. ...

With the 2010 holiday season rapidly approaching, finding the perfect gift for your loved ones, especially children, is no small feat. Whether you're looking for a gift for your son or daughter, grandson or granddaughter, nephew or niece, or any other special child in your life, give a gift that is both challenging and rewarding, and one that ensurs he or she stays active throughout the year. My mini Golf, distributed exclusively in the United States and Canada by Starting Time, is a durable, 19-piece putting set that any child can pick up and play anytime, anywhere on ...

Midtown Tavern, 1101 North 2nd Street, is teaming up with newly-formed Beyond the Grade Events and Promotion, and local DJ-phenom, Geoffro, to kick off the fall with a brand-new Tuesday night called Rock Steady, with DJ Geoffro spinning all reggae music, all night, beginning at 9pm. There will be appropriately themed food and drink offers to set the mood for the evening, topped off with special giveaways (what will it be?) and future special guests. Rock Steady Tuesdays will replace Midtown Tavern's 'open mic' night. The weekly event is a free cover, 21+, and kicks off ...

Marita O'Neil-Maloley received the biggest "Thank you" ever when she answered the phone on October 12th. It was Tom Schrader, CEO of CottageCare, and Karen Crawford, Manager of the Ft. Wayne, Indiana office, calling to inform her that she had won the $1000 prize giveaway. "I LOVE CottageCare," stated O'Neil-Maloley. "They make my life so much easier; I am always impressed with the girls who come to clean. They are so nice and professional, they do a great job and Ginger and Karen are a pleasure to work with. Thank you, CottageCare!" Ms. O'Neil-Maloley is not only a customer ...

On Oct. 27, Freedom Debt Relief (FDR) will launch the "Fresh Start" program, designed to help consumers get out of debt quickly with no up-front fees. FDR's Fresh Start program gives customers complete confidence that FDR will not charge fees until services are performed, and complies with final Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rules regulating the debt settlement industry, says Andrew Housser, CEO of FDR. "Since Freedom Debt Relief settles more credit card debt than any company in the nation, we are confident that Fresh Start will be one of the most effective debt ...

The Game Creators recently ran a Games for Notebooks competition in association with Intel and it proved to be a huge success. The Game Creators recently teamed up with Intel to offer game developers the chance to win some amazing prizes for developing new game apps for netbooks. There were several fantastic prizes on offer with the top prize being an all expenses paid vacation worth up to US $5,000! The competition produced superb and extremely keen entries with The Game Creators (TGC) community taking to the competition extremely enthusiastically. The entries came ...