BINGHAMTON, NY -- Two of the biggest influences on children — parents and schools — may unintentionally contribute to childhood obesity. That's the observation of Susan Terwilliger, clinical as­sociate professor in the Decker School of Nursing at Binghamton University, who studies the problem. "As a pediatric nurse practitioner I've taken care of children and their families for about 30 years, and I saw this huge increase [in childhood obesity] from 5 to 30 percent over about a 10-year period when I was in the school-based health centers," she says. In researching ...

A stunning display of royal jewellery, clothing and art is on show at an exhibition entitled Queen Margherita - The Legend of Modernity in Post-Unification Naples. The installation is available to view at the city's Palazzo Reale until July 17th 2011 and will explore the wider nation, as well as the titular royalty. It has been organised as part of Naples' 150th anniversary celebrating Italy's unification, which recently prompted a huge number of special events all over the country. The Queen Margherita show will look at the impact the regal figure had on social ...

The huge tsunami triggered by the 9.0 Tohoku Earthquake destroyed coastal towns near Sendai in Japan, washing such things as houses and cars into the ocean. Projections of where this debris might head have been made by Nikolai Maximenko and Jan Hafner at the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Maximenko has developed a model based on the behavior of drifting buoys deployed over years in the ocean for scientific purposes. What this model predicts about the tsunami debris can be seen in Figure 1. The debris first spreads out eastward from ...

Whowish has announced the official launch of a new Facebook application: 2Meet4. The online scheduler and meeting wizard helps Facebook friends arrange get-togethers and professionals schedule meetings. For skilled service providers who have integrated Facebook into their business, 2Meet4 also can schedule office visits or visits to a customer's home. "2Meet4 is one of those Facebook apps that truly is a useful utility for everyone, from teens and college students to adults and business professionals," says Sam Kittayapong, CEO of Whowish. "These days both young and ...

BOGOR, Indonesia (April 5, 2011) _ New research shows that mangroves store exceptionally more carbon than most tropical forests, but they are being destroyed from coastlines at a rapid rate causing significant emissions of greenhouse gases. The findings from the study, which was carried out by scientists from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the USDA Forest Service, underscore a call by scientists for mangroves to be protected as part of global efforts to combat climate change. "Mangroves are being destroyed at an alarming rate. This needs ...

Rome's Palazzo delle Esposizioni is showcasing a fascinating history of currency in Italy as part of the country's unification celebrations. The exhibition will look at how the nation changed its monetary system in the 19th century and the challenges it had to overcome to do so. From Lira to Euro parallels this story with the background of the single European currency and explores similarities in the two periods of change. The show runs from April 5th to July 1st and is free to attend thanks to sponsorship by the Bank of Italy. It includes original banknotes ...

Veteran rock band Dropkick Murphys will headline an event in Milan later this month. The group will play the Loud & Proud Festival on April 26th along with Madball, Devil's Brigade and more guests still to be confirmed. Dropkick Murphys have been building up their reputation for delivering a fearsome live show filled with Celtic-influenced punk tunes since 1996. They released their seventh studio album earlier this year and the quality of the guests on the record shows how respected the band are. Both NOFX's Fat Mike and iconic singer Bruce Springsteen made ...

The gruelling 2011 International Samui Island Triathlon comes to the Thai resort of Koh Samui later this month. Entrants will be tasked with swimming four km, cycling around the island one and a half times - a combined distance of 122 km - and running 30 km. The overall winner is set to pocket 800,000 Thai baht (GBP16,000) for their efforts, while the top woman will receive 500,000 Thai baht. Proceedings are scheduled to take place on April 24th, kicking off at 07:25 local time from Bophut Beach. Although demanding, the course will give athletes and fans the ...

The 2011 Formula One (F1) Chinese Grand Prix is scheduled to get underway in Shanghai in just two weeks' time. Shanghai's 5.4 km International Circuit plays host to the race from April 15th to 17th. It was designed by architects Peter Wahl and Hermann Tilke to represent the Chinese character 'shang', meaning high or above. Other traditional imagery can be found throughout the venue, including the team buildings, which are arranged like pavilions in a lake. This has been done to resemble Shanghai's ancient Yuyan Garden. F1 legend and seven-time world champion ...

Orlando, Fla. − Smoke from cigarettes can affect nearly every organ in the body by promoting cell damage and causing inflammation, but no one has understood which smoker is or is not susceptible to disease development. At the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, however, researchers from Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, a part of Georgetown University Medical Center, demonstrate how cigarette smoke produces different "metabolites" or active biological compounds, in individual smokers, compared to non-smokers. In ...

Horror Film Icons Sid Haig, Stuart Gordon, Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs have been confirmed as special celebrity guests at the premiere of Charles Band's film in selected cities. Gearing up towards his theatrical release, Charles Band, as always, goes over the top with a premier scheduled to release in several cities nationwide in 3-D and Sniff-o-Rama. Evil Bong 3-D promises to be not just any movie screening, it is going to be a full event, including celebrity appearances in each city, interactive contests with audience participation and prizes awarded and, of ...

ORLANDO, Fla. — Oncologists can use colorectal cancer patients' own immune system to boost the effects of chemotherapy and increase progression-free survival, according to Phase III study results presented at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, held here April 2-6. Patients with advanced colorectal cancer are typically treated with combination chemotherapy with fluorouracil or the derivative product, capecitabine with or without levofolinic acid with irinotecan (FOLFIRI) or oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) given alone, or with the monoclonal antibodies bevacizumab, cetuximab or ...

ORLANDO, Fla. — Breast cancer survivors with poor physical health scores had an elevated risk of poorer cancer outcomes, including recurrence and death, according to the results of an observational study presented at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, held April 2-6. Survivors of breast cancer who had poor health scores were 27 percent more likely to experience either a recurrence of their cancer or a new breast cancer. Physical health also impacted survival quite strongly; risk of death from any cause was 65 percent greater among those with poorer health scores. Researchers ...

ORLANDO, Fla. — Freeze-dried strawberries may be an alternative to drugs for the prevention of esophageal cancer, according to research presented at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, held here April 2-6. "We concluded from this study that six months of eating strawberries is safe and easy to consume. In addition, our preliminary data suggests that strawberries can decrease histological grade of precancerous lesions and reduce cancer-related molecular events," said lead researcher Tong Chen, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, division of medical oncology, department ...

ORLANDO, FL (April 6, 2011) – Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women, with more than 200,000 women diagnosed each year. Being exposed to estrogen over a long period of time is one factor that can increase a woman's risk of developing the disease. One way a woman can combat this risk factor is by taking the breast cancer drug tamoxifen, which interferes with the activity of estrogen. Now, researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have found that omega-3 fatty acids—abundant in fish—could be a safe and beneficial booster for tamoxifen therapy. Jose Russo, ...

ORLANDO, FL (April 6, 2011) – Numerous studies show that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) reduce the risk of colon cancer. However, animal studies testing the NSAID naproxen or its derivative, NO-naproxen, have focused primarily on chemically-induced tumor formation. Now, researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center find that naproxen and NO-naproxen reduce tumor formation in a strain of mutant mice that spontaneously develop colon tumors. The data also suggest that naproxen blocks a gatekeeper step that initiates tumor formation. Margie Clapper, PhD, Co-Leader ...

New research suggests that workers exposed to welding fumes may be at risk for developing brain damage in an area of the brain also affected in Parkinson's disease. The study is published in the April 6, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Fumes produced by welding contain manganese. Manganese is a chemical element that, even at low levels, has been linked to neurologic problems, including Parkinson's disease-like symptoms. "There are over one million workers who perform welding as part of their job functions ...

Two genes in which variation affects intake of caffeine, the most widely consumed stimulant in the world, have been discovered. A team of investigators from the National Cancer Institute, Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill examined genetic variation across the entire genome of more than 47,000 individuals from the U.S., as described in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics. The genes identified were CYP1A2, which has previously been implicated in the metabolism of caffeine, and AHR, involved ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Eating strawberries may be a way to help people at risk of esophageal cancer protect themselves from the disease, according to a new study by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) and researchers in China. Dr. Tong Chen will present the findings during a press briefing at 8 a.m. April 6 at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 102nd meeting 2011 in Orlando, Fla. The study is the first-ever collaborative Ohio State cancer ...

The United States should pay close attention to how the United Kingdom carries out plans to assess a new drug's worth using factors that go beyond clinical and cost effectiveness, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. In a commentary to appear in the April 7 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the bioethicists detail and discuss a new, "value-based pricing" policy proposed by the British government. Up to now, companies have been able to price their drugs freely. But if the new policy is implemented, the U.K. will start ...

Experts from The Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center presented new research findings at the American Association for Cancer Research 102nd Annual Meeting 2011 held April 2-6, 2011 in Orlando, Florida. NYU Cancer Institute researchers discussed various breakthroughs such as a novel test for early-stage asbestos-related pulmonary cancer, a promising treatment strategy for glioblastomas, genome-wide mapping of nickel-related cancer and greater understanding of melanoma and bladder cancer. Detection of Mesothelioma in Asbestos Exposed Individuals with Aptamer ...

To participate in the Trion:Z Masters Tournament giveaway contest, all you have to do is pick which of the three Rs is going to win. Trion:Z's triple threat; Rickie Fowler, Rory Mc Ilroy and Ryo Ishikawa - all will be competing for the coveted green jacket. Each possess the skill, talent, and drive to be the next Masters Champion. According to Reuters' Mark Lamport-Stokes, "Mc Ilroy long regarded as a future world #1 is probably the most spectacular member of the emerging generation to watch." However, Ishikawa is playing for the pride of Japan and is donating his 2011 ...

Orlando, Fla. – How do certain multiple myeloma treatment drugs cause complications? How does the immune system become dysfunctional due to cancer? How safe is a vaccine that could prevent development of precancerous colon polyps? Those are among the many questions that will be answered by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine during the American Association for Cancer Research 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, April 2 to 6, in Orlando, Fla. UPCI and Pitt researchers will present more than 80 ...

Welcome to the April issue of Business Review India! The Smartphone market in India is predictably growing and how! After all, with better browser speeds, affordable rates and a holistic user-friendly experience, the customer is lured into buying these palm-candies that promise oodles and fun and functionality. This issue of Business Review India helps buyers pick their ideal soul-Smartphone! Plus, discover how online chatting on social media is an untapped market that has lots to offer! Read this story to discover some essential secrets of this segment. Along with ...

VIDEO: New research by Murray Huff, a vascular biology scientist with the University of Western Ontario has found a flavanoid in tangerines called Nobiletin not only prevents obesity, but also offers... Click here for more information. New research from The University of Western Ontario has discovered a substance in tangerines not only prevents obesity, but also offers protection against type 2 diabetes, and even atherosclerosis, the underlying disease responsible for most ...