This press release is available in Spanish. Two U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists may have discovered "the map to El Dorado" for the American elm-a previously hidden population of elms that carry genes for resistance to Dutch elm disease. The disease kills individual branches and eventually the entire tree within one to several years. It has been accepted for 80 years that American elms (Ulmus americana) are tetraploids, trees with four copies of each chromosome. But there have also been persistent but dismissed rumors of trees that had fewer copies-triploids, ...

Depression erodes intimate relationships. A depressed person can be withdrawn, needy, or hostile—and give little back. But there's another way that depression isolates partners from each other. It chips away at the ability to perceive the others' thoughts and feelings. It impairs what psychologists call "empathic accuracy" —and that can exacerbate alienation, depression, and the cycle by which they feed each other. Three Israeli researchers—Reuma Gadassi and Nilly Mor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Eshkol Rafaeli at Bar-Ilan University—wanted to understand ...

In a study published online this week in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, an international team of researchers report that a virus that causes respiratory disease in humans infected and contributed to the deaths of mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park. This finding raises questions about the safety of ecotourism for endangered species. The study, which appears in the April issue of the journal, was conducted by scientists at Columbia University's Center for Infection and Immunity (CII), Roche 454 Life Sciences, the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center and the ...

HB&G Building Products Inc., the world's leading manufacturer of porch columns, has announced a strategic alliance with Columns Inc., the original innovator and manufacturer of high quality aluminum columns. The Distribution, License and Supply Agreement now gives HB&G the exclusive right to manufacture, market, sell and distribute aluminum columns by Columns Inc. Operating out of Pearland, Texas, Columns Inc. revolutionized the porch column industry with the development of the first aluminum column dating back to 1963, and have consistently led that segment of the ...

NOAA's Fisheries Service scientists studying the cooperative hunting behavior of killer whales in Antarctic waters observed the animals favoring one type of seal over all other available food sources, according to a study published in the journal Marine Mammal Science. Researchers Robert Pitman and John Durban from NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, Calif., observed killer whales hunting in ice floes, off the western Antarctic Peninsula during January of 2009. While documenting the whales' behavior of deliberately creating waves to wash seals off ...

Planet hunters have found hundreds of planets outside the solar system in the last decade, though it is unclear whether even one might be habitable. But it could be that the best place to look for planets that can support life is around dim, dying stars called white dwarfs. In a new paper published online Tuesday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Eric Agol, a University of Washington associate professor of astronomy, suggests that potentially habitable planets orbiting white dwarfs could be much easier to find – if they exist – than other exoplanets located so far. White ...

Boulder, CO, USA - GSA BULLETIN is now offering pre-issue publication of papers online. GSA invites you to sign up for e-alerts and be the first to have access to new journal content as it becomes available. Sign in at http://www.gsapubs.org/cgi/alerts with your e-mail address to manage your subscriptions for full tables of contents, TOC notification-only alerts, new "ahead of print" postings, and more. Widespread basement erosion during the late Paleocene-early Eocene in the Laramide Rocky Mountains inferred from 87Sr/86Sr ratios of freshwater bivalve fossils Majie ...

TORONTO, ON - Essays are being written, final exams are looming and classes are reaching their busy conclusion. With conflicting demands from work, home and the classroom, this hectic time of year can be filled with stress. But according to new research from the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), a little self-reflection could do us all a world of good. "People need to ask themselves, 'What roles do I play?' and 'Are these roles working for me?'" says Julie McCarthy, associate professor of organizational behaviour at UTSC. "And if they're not working, we then need ...

Instinct and the annual increase of daylight hours have long been thought to be the triggers for birds to begin their spring migration. Scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, however, have found that that may not be the case. Researchers have focused on how warming trends in temperate breeding areas disrupt the sensitive ecology of migratory birds. This new research shows that changes in rainfall on the tropical wintering grounds could be equally disruptive. The team's findings are published in scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, ...

Top 50 accountancy firm SJD Accountancy has appointed Search Engine Marketing specialist agency iThinkMedia to maximise their online presence in Search Engines along with providing a host of other web support services. Founded by entrepreneur Simon Dolan in 1992, SJD Accountancy is the UK's largest accountancy firm specialising in the Contractor, Freelancer and SME market with over 10,000 Limited Company clients and offices in all major UK cities. iThinkMedia have already completed a number of projects for SJD including the design and build of a new SJD Accountancy ...

Netbook Navigator (www.NetbookNavigator.com), a leading provider of mobile devices, today announced the launch of the NAV7 Slate PC. Powered by Windows 7 and loaded with innovative best-in-class features, this cutting-edge new tablet redefines the concept of wireless PC mobility. Weighing just 1.25 lbs and equipped with a 1.6GHz Intel processor, up to 2GB RAM, 1.8" Solid State hard drive with up to 64GB of storage, 2 USB ports, front-side webcam, WIFI, Bluetooth and optional embedded 3G broadband, the NAV7 is essentially a full computer that can be carried with you practically ...

UCLA researchers have demonstrated that a key regulator of cholesterol and fat metabolism in the liver also plays an important role in the development of liver fibrosis — the build-up of collagen scar tissue that can develop into cirrhosis. Cirrhosis, in turn, is a major cause of premature death and is incurable without a liver transplant. Published in the March issue of the journal Gastroenterology, the study shows that liver X receptors (LXRs), master regulators of cholesterol, fat and inflammatory gene expression, also control the fibrosis-making cells of the liver, ...

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — UC Davis cancer researchers have found that older men with early-stage testicular cancer who opt for surveillance with regular CT scans over lymph node removal are at greater risk for secondary cancers. The findings, published online last week in the journal Cancer, indicate that physicians should consider the risk of new cancers with surveillance when discussing treatment options with their patients. Along with a multi-disciplinary team of UC Davis researchers, Karim Chamie, a UC Davis urology resident at the time of the study, examined the cases ...

(ST. LOUIS): The Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) has played a significant role in identifying a new genus, Yasunia, with two confirmed species from Ecuador and Peru, Y. quadrata and Y. sessiliflora. New species are often found among the samples that are gifted to the Missouri Botanical Garden for identification. While hundreds of new plant species are identified each year, new genera are extremely uncommon, and being coupled with the two new species makes Yasunia very distinctive. Henk van der Werff is the Head of Monographic Studies Department at the Missouri Botanical ...

They say the best things in life are free, but when it comes to online scientific publishing, a new research report in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) suggests otherwise. In the report, Philip M. Davis from Cornell University shows that free access to scientific journal articles leads to increases in downloads, but not to increases in citations (their use), a key factor used in scientific publishing to assess a research article's relative importance and value. This study should help scientists make informed decisions about where they publish their work and assist ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 30, 2011 –The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) weighed in on today's FDA announcement to continue to allow pharmacies to compound hydroxyprogesterone caproate, also known as 17P. This FDA announcement comes in response to an outcry from SMFM, ACOG and others regarding the costs of the just-released pharmaceutical version of the drug. The new drug, Makena, made by KV Pharmaceuticals, is being sold at $1,500 per dose as opposed to the pharmacy compound which typically costs $10 to $20 per dose. "The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine ...

InternetReputation.com, a Denver-based Internet reputation management firm has announced a new brand protection strategy for both large and small businesses. InternetReputation.com is a leading search engine marketing firm that has carved a niche by developing Internet brand reputation management packages for executives, professionals, celebrities, athletes and businesses. InternetReputation.com focuses on helping individuals and companies protect their good online image. With years of experience in Internet marketing and brand protection, the founders have developed ...

Most research studies that look at parenting focus on mothers. But fathers also exert direct, unique influences on their children, most likely because they engage with their children in different activities and have different styles of interaction than mothers—such as greater encouragement of risk taking and children's independence. Today, there is renewed attention to the role played by fathers, and there's new research on fathers and their influences on children's development. At a symposium during the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Biennial Meeting, ...

Across the globe, adolescence and early adulthood are considered important periods for the development of civic involvement. Civic involvement, in turn, has been shown to promote adolescents' development of initiative, empathy, social relations and skills, and personal growth. Civic involvement by teens is considered important, and efforts to promote it are widespread. In this context, it's important to gain more insight into this type of involvement to inform efforts to boost youths' participation. The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) will host a symposium ...

Food security is defined by access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States and Canada, the number of households considered food insecure has increased more than 50 percent over the past four years, with one in three households in the United States experiencing very low food security. Young children and households headed by women are disproportionately affected. Children raised in food insecure households are at increased risk of academic, health, and socio-emotional ...

Popular books and media reports have perpetuated the belief that children and adolescents are overscheduled in their extracurricular activities, and that this can disrupt how families function and undermine young people's opportunities for success. Although there is little empirical research to support this idea, some studies suggest a threshold effect in which the benefits of involvement stabilize or drop slightly after a certain point. But we know little about who becomes involved in extracurricular activities to this extent, what happens at such high levels of involvement, ...

School victimization of sexual-minority youths—those who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, for example—is well documented. This type of victimization has been linked to a variety of negative psychosocial and academic outcomes. But a number of questions about the effects of victimization on sexual-minority youths remain. The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) will host a symposium during its Biennial Meeting that brings together researchers to consider this issue from a number of perspectives. Among the questions that will be addressed: Is victimization ...

Launched in 2006, the website has steadily been able to gain traction in the last two years, projecting higher growth, and further integration into social media sphere. According toe Alexa.com, existing ventures have helped to boost Sinrex.com's traffic ranking steadily over the past 3 months, moving the site 392,000 positions to its present position of the 51,647 most visited website in the world. In the United States, Sinrex.com is one of the Top 10,000 most visited websites. The news has been particularly promising for private investors involved in the company. ...

Although adolescents need just as much sleep as younger children, sleep times decrease over the course of development, leaving many teens chronically sleep-deprived. Studies have consistently indicated that insufficient sleep can have a negative effect on many aspects of adolescents' lives, leading to mood disturbances, poorer physical health, and academic difficulties. But few studies have examined how sleep affects the ways adolescents function on a daily basis or how the effects of sleep change over time. The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) will host ...

Cincinnati, OH, March 31, 2011 -- Roughly 15% of children suffer from migraines, and approximately one-third of these affected children have migraines with aura, a collection of symptoms that can include weakness, blind spots, and even hallucinations. Although the causes of migraines are unclear, a new study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics suggests a connection between migraine headaches in children and a heart defect called patent foramen ovale, which affects 25% of people in the U.S. Dr. Rachel McCandless and colleagues from the Primary Children's ...