RICHLAND, Wash. – Natural gas extracted from the nation's coal beds and methane-rich geologic features must first be purged of hydrogen sulfide before it can be used as fuel. Until now, processing methods have often proved to be inefficient, requiring large amounts of heat. But a team of Battelle researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has discovered a method that could dramatically cut the amount of heat needed during processing, reducing the amount of energy needed during a key processing step by at least 10 percent. The research ...

Seventy per cent of men who received androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) after surgery to remove their prostate gland gained significant weight in the first year, putting on an average of 4.2kg, according to a paper in the March issue of the urology journal BJUI. Researchers studied the recorded weights of 132 men who underwent radical prostatectomy between 1988 and 2009 at four US Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in California, Georgia and North Carolina, before and after they received ADT. This showed that the majority of the men gained significant weight during the ...

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) – which causes AIDS – invades human immune cells and causes them to produce new copies of the virus, which can then infect new cells. A research team led by Professor Don C. Lamb (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich) and Priv.-Doz. Dr. Barbara Müller of Heidelberg University Hospital have now analyzed the involvement of particular components of the infected cell in virion release, and discovered that the enzyme VPS4A plays a more active role in the process than was previously thought. VPS4A was already known to act after virus budding ...

This release is available in German. VIDEO: Chrysomela lapponica: The larva emits toxic secretions, visible as vesicles, from their defensive glands as a chemical protection against predators. Click here for more information. Leaf beetles fascinate us because of their amazing variety of shapes and rich coloring. Their larvae, however, are dangerous plant pests. Larvae of the leaf ...

Entrusting the life of a loved one to a nursing home can be a difficult transition. No matter how much investigating and pre-checking you perform beforehand, there is always risk and fear involved. What is Wrongful Death? Wrongful death is death directly attributable to the fault of another individual or collection of individuals. When your loved one is not provided adequate care or treated with the compassion and respect he or she deserves while a resident in a nursing home, it can be heart wrenching. When that abuse and neglect results in nursing home wrongful ...

Cirilo Cholula Maranchel, 19, of Lakewood, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to crimes committed in 2009. Maranchel sexually assaulted eight girls, who ranged in age from four to nine. He faced six counts of aggravated sexual assault, as well as two additional sexual assault charges. Maranchel chose not to try his case, as he wanted to spare his victims the strain that would accompany any trial. However, not everyone charged with a sex offense has such an easy decision. Often, uninformed decisions are made that severely diminish the rights of ...

The DNA studies carried out by a team of Spanish and Greek researchers, and published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, show that more than 30% of the hake products sold in Spain and Greece are wrongly labelled. "We have found that hake caught in Africa are being labelled as American or European, meaning consumers pay a higher price for them", Eva García Vázquez, a professor at the University of Oviedo (Spain) and co-author of the study, tells SINC. The researchers analysed 93 packages of fresh hake and several frozen brands in various hypermarkets ...

The divorce process provides ample opportunity for frustration and conflict. One spouse may be shocked by the prospect, the other impatient for change, but if children are involved both parents have a duty to keep conversations civil as issues like property division, child custody and visitation get resolved. As parents start discussing future living arrangements, they should put aside the reasons why the marriage went wrong and make an honest assessment of the children's best interests. They must also realize that those best interests don't stop evolving after the end ...

Montreal, March 11, 2011 – A Concordia graduate student has designed a promising computer program that could serve as a new tool in missing-child investigations and matters of national security. Khoa Luu has developed a more effective computer-based technique to age photographic images of people's faces – an advance that could help to indentify missing kids and criminals on the lam. "Research into computer-based age estimation and face aging is a relatively young field," says Luu, a PhD candidate from Concordia's Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering ...

Although universal prenatal supplementation with iron is recommended, an extra intake of iron does not noticeably benefit pregnant women, except when they are anemic. This was observed by researchers of the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp and colleagues who followed more than a thousand pregnant women in Burkina Faso. Our body needs iron to produce hemoglobin, the substance in our red blood cells responsible for the transport of oxygen through our body. In Western countries anemia – a shortage of oxygen transporters – is rare, but in Africa up to half of all women ...

One of the last bills signed by former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- with a storied history of motorcycle mishaps himself -- was Jarrad's Law in memory of Sacramento-area teen Jarrad Cole, who died tragically in a summer 2007 motorcycle accident. On the day that 18-year-old Cole got his new Suzuki motorcycle, his father wanted to create a learning course on their quiet suburban cul-de-sac, so he entered the garage to fetch orange cones. Meanwhile, Cole, who was driving with only a motorcycle learner's permit that he received after passing a written examination, ...

This release is available in German. The natural product wood grows in locations with different climate, soil and environmental conditions. These differences influence its properties as construction material: "Scandinavian spruce, for instance, has smaller knots and lower raw densities than spruce coming from central Europe, and this results in different strength and stiffness values," explains Professor Jan-Willem van de Kuilen from the Department of Wood Technology at TUM. That is why, to ensure the stability of wooden structures, timber must be strength graded before ...

New research from Mount Sinai School of Medicine has discovered that rhodopsin, a pigment of the retina that is responsible for the first events in the perception of light, may also be involved in temperature sensation. This detection had not been revealed in previous studies. The work emerged from a collaboration between the laboratory of Andrew Chess, M.D., Professor in the Departments of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology and Genetics and Genomic Sciences at Mount Sinai, and the laboratory of Craig Montell, Ph.D., Professor of Biological Chemistry ...

The United States Department of Transportation says that almost 5,500 people died and half a million were injured in 2009 in crashes involving distracted drivers. A recent accident on Interstate 81 in Pennsylvania brings new life to these staggering statistics. A dump truck carrying 24 tons of rock salt crashed caused a five-vehicle crash in the Susquehanna township. State police believe the truck driver was distracted, although they have not yet said how. Police investigating the fatal truck accident said that the truck driver never slowed when approaching stopped traffic ...

This release is available in German. The droning of a car driving along the highway can be nerve-racking. Often, a driver cannot understand the passengers in the rear seat, not to mention the pianissimo on the car stereo. Actually, though, there are ways to drive this disruptive vibration out of the car. This is possible thanks to "smart materials" – intelligent materials that can tailor their own condition to changing situations with highest speed. The possible applications are diverse and promising – not just for carmakers but also for mechanical engineering and the ...

An Australian study to determine the likelihood of school-aged children waking up to their home smoke alarm found that 78% of children slept through a smoke alarm sounding for 30 seconds. The outcomes of the study are published today in the journal Fire and Materials. Home smoke detectors have been relied on since the 1960s, and have been known to save lives in domestic fires. The study's results show children are most at risk of not waking up to the sound of their home's smoke detector. Though related studies have been conducted in the past, the sample size used in ...

What is UM Insurance? Uninsured motorist insurance, or UM or UMI, provides protection when you are in an accident with an uninsured driver. UM also provides benefits in cases when you are involved in a hit and run accident so long as the uninsured vehicle made physical contact with your car. In addition to UM coverage, there also is UIM, or underinsured motorist, coverage. UIM provides benefits when you are in an accident with a driver who does not have enough insurance to cover all of your losses - which you are at risk of having happen any time you are in an accident ...

Nanoscale whiskers from sea creatures could grow human muscle tissue Minute whiskers of nanoscale dimensions taken from sea creatures could hold the key to creating working human muscle tissue, University of Manchester researchers have discovered. Scientists have found that cellulose from tunicates, commonly known as sea squirts, can influence the behaviour of skeletal muscle cells in the laboratory. These nanostructures are several thousand times smaller than muscle cells and are the smallest physical feature found to cause cell alignment. Alignment is important ...

SAN ANTONIO (March 11, 2011) — Cell biologists pondering the death of neurons — brain cells — said today that by eliminating one ingredient from the cellular machinery, they prolonged the life of neurons stressed by a pesticide chemical. The finding identifies a potential therapeutic target to slow changes that lead to neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. The researchers, from The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, found that neurons lacking a substance called caspase-2 were better able to withstand pesticide-induced ...

Bruno Mars became a forefront figure in the music industry the minute his popular songs like "Grenade" and "Just the Way You Are" hit the airwaves. But his honest and wholesome image soon became tainted when media outlets exposed his recent cocaine bust last September 2010 in a public restroom at the popular Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel. Since then, not much has been disclosed about Mars' legal woes--until now. The Associated Press reports that the singer recently accepted a plea deal. Mars, whose real name is Peter Hernandez, pled guilty last month to a felony cocaine ...

BOSTON/NEW YORK – March 11, 2011 –A study by Professor Stephan Meier, Assistant Professor, Management at Columbia Business School, and co-author Andreas Fuster, Ph.D. candidate, Harvard University Department of Economics, which was published in Management Science, an INFORMSR publication, found that while monetary incentives in the workplace, such as subsidies or bonuses, are regarded to be effective ways to encourage staff contributions, incentives can interfere in public and workplace environments dependent on informal norm enforcement. In the context of this study, informal ...

Scientists are collaborating on a new international research project to identify antibiotics that can kill tuberculosis and fight resistant strains. "We want to accelerate the discovery of new compounds that can be turned into effective drugs," said Professor Tony Maxwell from the John Innes Centre, a key player in "More Medicines for Tuberculosis", a new European research project. Two billion people are currently infected with TB and three million die every year. TB causes more deaths than any other infectious disease. Rates are increasing, especially in sub-Saharan ...

Each year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) numbers show that there are more than 4 million babies born. While most of the babies born each year are healthy infants, it is estimated that approximately 185,000 are born each year with health problems from genetic disorders such as spina bifida or Down syndrome; and another five to seven newborns per 1,000 experience birth injuries or birth trauma that can cause permanent damage, such as Erb's palsy or cerebral palsy. Parents experience a significant amount of stress and anxiety in the course of pregnancy, childbirth ...

A longstanding debate as to whether genius is a byproduct of good genes or good environment has an upstart challenger that may take the discussion in an entirely new direction. University of Alberta researcher Marty Mrazik says being bright may be due to an excess level of a natural hormone. Mrazik, a professor in the Faculty of Education's educational psychology department, and a colleague from Rider University in the U.S., have published a paper in Roeper Review linking giftedness (having an IQ score of 130 or higher) to prenatal exposure of higher levels of testosterone. ...

Proteins in fluids bathing the brain are essential for building the brain, discover scientists in a report published March 10 in the journal Neuron. The finding promises to advance research related to neurological disease, cancer and stem cells. Before now, the fluid surrounding the brain was generally considered to be a sort of salt-solution that simply maintained the brain's ionic balance. Recent reports of fluctuating proteins in the fluid suggested otherwise, however. And thus, a multi-institutional research teams at the Children's Hospital in Boston, led by Maria ...