Thistle Marble Arch's treasured head of housekeeping, Barbara Sheridan, is celebrating her new title of Housekeeper of the Year.  Barbara received the honour at the annual industry awards ceremony celebrating operational excellence within hotels; the Hotel Cateys 2010. Also shortlisted in the competition were housekeepers from London's Athenaeum Hotel, London's Park Plaza Riverbank and Manchester's Radisson Blu Hotel at Manchester Airport. Barbara gladly collected the sought-after award at a glamorous ceremony held in central London. Fondly regarded by the entire ...

Superbreak, the short break specialist, has announced the addition of several headline acts to its concerts and events break programme. The company has secured tickets to some of the most popular pop, rock and comedy acts currently touring including Kings of Leon, Bon Jovi and Peter Kay. Recently Superbreak has noticed a surge in demand for its event breaks as its hotel and ticket packages for Take That's Progress Tour went on sale and interest into other live events soared. The Yorkshire based tour operator has responded to current customer demands' for big name acts ...

2entertain has announced the release of Outnumbered series three on DVD. Fresh from its success at the 2009 British Comedy Awards, including the top prize of Best Comedy, the semi-improvised family-based sitcom Outnumbered returns for a third series. Written by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkins (creators of 'Drop the Dead Donkey') this critically acclaimed comedy puts three young children at the very centre of the story - and allows them to improvise. Series 3 introduces conspiracy theories, sex education, psychotherapy, colonoscopies, astrology and kangaroo saliva ...

Oculus Capital Group ("OCG"), an emerging multifamily and student housing owner and manager, has announced the acquisition of University Village at Slippery Rock (formerly known as "The Ivy" student apartments). University Village at Slippery Rock is a 632-bed, 200-unit property located less than a quarter of a mile from Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, PA. The property offers two-bedroom, two-bathroom and four-bedroom, four-bathroom units. All units are equipped with stainless steel appliances, leather furniture, full-size washer and dryer, and hardwood cabinetry. ...

Embvue Inc., a leading provider of certifiable embedded systems, network and testing products, and professional services for mission-critical, safety-critical and security-sensitive systems, announced today that it plans to enter into a strategic teaming agreement with Edgewood Ventures, an Indian-based technology accelerator focusing on high growth ventures for the Indian market. A memorandum agreement was signed by both companies on November 10, 2010. The memorandum agreement sets out the basic terms of the business relationship between the companies and sets a timetable ...

INDONUSA Esa Unggul University is a leading private university in Jakarta, founded by Kemala Foundation. Today, the university has successfully maintained its position as one of the best in Indonesia. For the future, INDONUSA Esa Unggul University will utilize its valuable resources in order to achieve the vision of the university: "Becoming a world-class university based on intellectuality, creativity and entrepreneurship which is powered by the quality management in delivering Tridharma." The vision will be achieved through three purposeful missions: 1. Develop ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---African American and Native American teens who do well in school suffer from a higher "nerd penalty" than white, Asian, and Hispanic youth, according to a new analysis. "The negative social consequences of getting good grades were particularly pronounced for black and Native American students in high-achieving schools with small proportions of students similar to themselves," said University of Michigan developmental psychologist Thomas Fuller-Rowell, the lead author of the study. The analysis of a nationally representative sample of more than 13,000 ...

CHICAGO - Testing for 11 specific genetic variations in hundreds of people with no history of heart disease provided information that led to revision of their estimated heart attack risk, say Mayo Clinic researchers. In a study presented today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Chicago, the researchers say that using a genetic score like the one they tested may provide added information to help cardiologists better estimate risk of heart attack in their patients and treat them accordingly. "The method we have been using for decades to predict ...

Dire or emotionally charged warnings about the consequences of global warming can backfire if presented too negatively, making people less amenable to reducing their carbon footprint, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley. "Our study indicates that the potentially devastating consequences of global warming threaten people's fundamental tendency to see the world as safe, stable and fair. As a result, people may respond by discounting evidence for global warming," said Robb Willer, UC Berkeley social psychologist and coauthor of a study to ...

New University of Arizona research indicates that leaf vein patterns correlate with functions such as carbon intake and water use – knowledge that could help scientists better understand the complex carbon cycle that is at the heart of global climate warming. "Leaves have very different networks of veins. They have different shapes, different sizes, different thicknesses," said Benjamin Blonder, a doctoral student in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology. "The really interesting question is how a leaf with a certain form produces a certain function." Blonder ...

Orangutans threatened with extinction could be brought back from the brink with help from a Queensland University of Technology (QUT) statistician. Professor Kerrie Mengersen, from the School of Mathematical Sciences, is part of a study to guide efforts for saving the Indonesian primate whose name means "person of the forest". Professor Mengersen said the study had found a quarter of villagers who lived side-by-side with orangutans did not know it was illegal under Indonesian law to kill the primates, and five per cent admitted to killing 1000 orangutans last year. Professor ...

Arlington, Va. — New research being presented at the 2010 FIP Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress in association with the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Annual Meeting and Exposition will highlight a targeted inhalable dry powder vaccine that may prove preferable in terms of needle avoidance and expected lower cost than the current commercial human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine used throughout the world. HPV is the number one cause of cervical cancer, which is the second most common cancer in women around the globe. According to the World Health ...

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) more than doubles a veteran's risk of death from any cause and is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2010. PTSD is more than a psychological disorder, and the study suggests that physicians should provide early and aggressive evaluation and treatment of cardiovascular risk factors in patients with PTSD, said Naser Ahmadi, M.D., M.S., and Ramin Ebrahimi, M.D., co-principal investigators of the study. PTSD is a cluster of symptoms ...

9 a.m. Abstract 20649 – Some ICD recipients may not get optimal medical therapy Guidelines recommending optimal medical therapy are not always followed for patients receiving implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), a new study found. Researchers examined optimal medical therapy — beta blocker and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI)/angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) at discharge — among ICD patients with ejection fractions below 35 percent. Of the 231,725 patient stays analyzed, 73.1 percent of the patients received optimal medical therapy at ...

Cardiac stem cells — even in elderly and sick patients — could generate new heart muscle and vessel tissue and be used to treat heart failure, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2010. Scientists surgically removed tissue from the muscular wall of the heart's chambers in 21 patients. They then isolated and multiplied the cardiac stem cells (CSCs) found there. Most of the patients had ischemic cardiomyopathy (enlarged and weakened muscle due to coronary artery disease). Eleven also had diabetes. The average age of patients ...

San Diego -- Researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center's departments of neuroscience, pharmacology, physiology, biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, and the interdisciplinary program of neuroscience will present more than 50 research abstracts at the 40th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience Nov. 13th through the 17th in San Diego. Modulation of temporal relationships between default mode and task-positive networks by the dopamine transporter genotype during working memory and the resting state Session: Imaging Human Memory Function Abstract/Poster: ...

Two separate discoveries by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) offer potential for development of a first-ever pharmacological treatment for cocaine addiction. In one study, a common beta blocker, propranolol, currently used to treat hypertension and anxiety, has shown to be effective in preventing the brain from retrieving memories associated with cocaine use in animal-addiction models, according to Devin Mueller, UWM assistant professor of psychology and a co-author with James Otis of the research. The work was presented today at the annual ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Exposure to even dim light at night is enough to cause physical changes in the brains of hamsters that may be associated with depression, a new study shows. Researchers found that female Siberian hamsters exposed to dim light every night for eight weeks showed significant changes in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. This is the first time researchers have found that light at night, by itself, may be linked to changes in the hippocampus. These alterations may be a key reason why the researchers also found that the hamsters exposed to dim ...

Widely prescribed for their cholesterol-lowering properties, recent clinical research indicates that statins can produce a second, significant health benefit: lowering the risk of severe bacterial infections such as pneumonia and sepsis. A new explanation for these findings has been discovered by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, who describe for the first time how statins activate the bacterial killing properties of white blood cells. The research is published in the November ...

Being able to read and understand words like anemia, hormones and seizure means a patient with heart failure may be less likely to be hospitalized, according to a new study from Emory University School of Medicine. Findings will be presented Nov. 17 at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions conference in Chicago. The research, led by Emory cardiologist Javed Butler, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, Emory School of Medicine and director of Heart Failure Research at Emory Healthcare, involved the use of a simple test called the Rapid Estimates of Adults Literacy ...

When cardiac or skeletal muscle is not receiving enough oxygen to meet metabolic demands, a person will experience pain, such as angina, chest pain during a heart attack, or leg pain during a vigorous sprint. This type of pain is called "ischemic" pain and is sensed in the body by receptors on sensory neurons. It has been suggested that lactic acid, which increases during muscle exertion under conditions where oxygen is low, is a potential mediator of ischemic pain via action at acid sensing channel #3 (ASIC3). However, the acid signal it generates is quite subtle and is ...

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Embargoed for 2 p.m. EST, November 17, 2010 – Global ophthalmic device company OptiMedica Corp. has announced that results from a clinical study of its Catalys Precision Laser System were published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Translational Medicine ("Femtosecond Laser-Assisted Cataract Surgery with Integrated Optical Coherence Tomography," Volume 2, Issue 58, November 17, 2010). The data showed that, when compared to manual techniques, the Catalys Precision Laser System helped surgeons achieve significant improvement in precision during several ...

They are often accused of being distracting, but recent research has found that action packed video games like Halo and Call of Duty can enhance visual attention, the ability that allows us to focus on relevant visual information. This growing body of research, reviewed in WIREs Cognitive Science, suggests that action based games could be used to improve military training, educational approaches, and certain visual deficits. The review, authored by a group led by Dr Daphne Bavelier from the University of Rochester, focused on the impact video games have on visual attention, ...

WHAT: Researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have determined a key mechanism by which Bacillus anthracis bacteria initiate anthrax infection despite being greatly outnumbered by immune system scavenger cells. The finding, made by studying genetically modified mice, adds new detail to the picture of early-stage anthrax infection and supports efforts to develop vaccines and drugs that would block this part of the cycle. To start an infection, anthrax bacteria release a toxin that binds ...

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) refers to a group of disorders associated with degeneration of the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. Symptoms include dementia, aphasia, and semantic disorders. Mutation of the gene for PGRN is associated with the most common form of FTLD, which is also characterized by inclusions of TDP-43 protein in the brain. Abnormal accumulation of TDP-43 has also been linked with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). While it is clear that a reduction in PGRN is causative for FTLD-TDP, the underlying mechanism is unknown. "Elucidation ...