TORONTO, Sept. 27, 2010 − Homeless young people are victims of crime at rates that society would consider unacceptable for any other group, according to a new report by researchers at York University and the University of Guelph. The report, Surviving Crime and Violence: Street Youth and Victimization in Toronto, highlights the degree to which it is street youth themselves − often perceived as delinquent and dangerous − who are vulnerable to crime and violence. "The very people we are taught to fear are the ones who are most at risk," said Professor ...

Researchers have long held that there are steps that can be taken to make brainstorming sessions more productive. New research from North Carolina State University finds that these recommendations actually do contribute to success when applied in real-world business environments. "Previous research has laid out best practices that are conducive to brainstorming, or group decision making, and we wanted to see whether using those practices makes a difference in the real world," says Dr. Joe Brazel, associate professor of accounting at NC State and co-author of a paper describing ...

The appearance of a spot of light on the retina causes sudden activation of millions of neurons in the brain within tenths of milliseconds. At the first cortical processing stage, the primary visual cortex, each neuron thereby receives thousands of inputs from both close neighbors and further distant neurons, and also sends-out an equal amount of output to others. During the recent decades, individual characteristics of these widespread network connections and the specific transfer characteristics of single neurons have been widely derived. However, a coherent population ...

Diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory agent, has been deployed successfully in human medicine for decades. In most EU countries medication containing Diclofenac is only approved for treatment of humans. In India, Pakistan and Nepal it has been deployed in veterinary medicine as well since the 90s, in particular for livestock. When vultures feed on cattle carcasses, they too ingest the drug. As a result, the populations of three species of these birds of prey – the Indian vulture, the Oriental white-backed vulture and the slender-billed vulture – have shrunk to a mere three percent ...

At the Large Hadron Collider at CERN protons crash into each other at incredibly high energies in order to 'smash' the protons and to study the elementary particles of nature – including quarks. Quarks are found in each proton and are bound together by forces which cause all other known forces of nature to fade. To understand the effects of these strong forces between the quarks is one of the greatest challenges in modern particle physics. New theoretical results from the Niels Bohr Institute show that enormous quantities of random numbers can describe the way in which ...

Coughing episodes are closely related to gastroesophageal reflux symptoms in patients who experience chronic cough, irrespective of other diagnoses, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute. Gastroesophageal reflux occurs when the acid contents of the stomach back up, or reflux, into the esophagus. This typically produces heartburn, a burning sensation below the sternum where your ribs come together. "This is the first study to investigate the temporal relationship between cough ...

It is to become the largest X-ray telescope ever: The International X-Ray Observatory (IXO), which has been planned in a cooperation between NASA, ESA and Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA, will be launched into space in 2021 and provide the world with brand new information about black holes and, thus, about the origin of the universe. Its dimensions are gigantic: The surface of the mirror alone, which is to capture, for example, the cosmic X-radiation of black holes, will be 1300 m2 in size. It will consist of commercially available silicon wafers with pores of ...

The idea behind this research arose because of the huge disparity in existing laws regulating the area of consumer protection, which made it necessary, according to the researchers, to carry out a systematic study to develop a "general report" which would gather the common principles and regulations regarding the different laws governing consumer protection. During the time this research study was underway, the Texto Refundido de la Ley General para la Defensa de los Consumidores y Usuarios (Consolidated Text of General Law of Consumer Protection) (LGDCU) was published; ...

Entanglement is a fascinating property connecting quantum systems. Albert Einstein called it the "spooky action at a distance". This bizarre coupling can link particles, even if they are located on opposite sides of the galaxy. The strength of their connections is behind the promising quantum computers, the dream machines capable of quick and efficient computations. The team lead by Rainer Blatt at the Institute of Experimental Physics of the University of Innsbruck has been working very successfully towards the realization of a quantum computer. In their recent study, ...

Healthcare professionals are still not receiving the appropriate training and support they need to help people who self-harm and this can result in negative attitudes and inadequate levels of care. Those are the key findings of a research review carried out by mental health specialists from the University of Nottingham, UK, and published in the October issue of the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. Staff nurse Jo McHale and lecturer Anne Felton studied 19 papers from the UK, Australia, Sweden and Ireland, dating from 1998 to 2009 and covering the views ...

"If you study, you are more likely to get a stable job, even if it doesn't have anything to do with your training". This is the thinking of workers living in Spain, according to a research study by the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), which studied the level of over-education in Spain, Italy and France, and the relationship between this and temporary work. "This can be explained by the high levels of employment insecurity in Spain in comparison with other European countries", Luis Ortiz, author of the study and a researcher at the UPF, tells SINC. The study, which has ...

A recent study undertaken by investigators at five research centres, amongst which is the CSIC-University of the Basque Country Biophysics Unit, provides new clues for the understanding of the 'cell suicide' process. The research was published in the latest issue of the prestigious Cell journal. Our bodies daily eliminate in a controlled manner more than 100 million defective cells, by means of a procedure known as 'cell suicide' or apoptosis. This is a highly complicated process, any imbalances thus arising causing serious diseases, prominent amongst which is cancer. ...

Flowering plants produce nectar to attract insect pollinators. Some plant species, such as Lima bean, also secrete nectar from so-called extrafloral nectaries to attract ants which in turn fend off herbivores. Scientists of the Max Planck Institute in Jena, Germany, have discovered that the production of extrafloral nectar is light dependent. They have shown that the plants are able not only to distinguish between day and night, but also to adapt their nectar secretion to current light conditions by using a special photoreceptor, the phytochrome. Phytochrome probably influences ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- In one of the first studies to focus exclusively on the outcomes after treatment for patients with high-risk prostate cancer,(http://www.mayoclinic.org/prostate-cancer/) researchers have found that surgery provides high survival rates. Collaborating researchers at Mayo Clinic and Fox Chase Cancer Center (http://www.fccc.edu/) in Philadelphia discovered that patients with the most aggressive forms of prostate cancer who had radical prostatectomy procedures had a 10-year cancer-specific survival rate of 92 percent and an overall survival rate of 77 percent. The ...

While the U.S. has made great progress in the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis, the nation has become more susceptible to potential epidemics of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), according a study led by Johns Hopkins researchers. Computer simulations show that as TB prevalence falls, the risk for more extensive MDR-TB increases. In addition, the simulation also showed that higher detection of TB cases without proper treatment of cases also increased risk. The study findings are published in the September 22 edition of the journal PLoS ONE. An interactive ...

Newport Beach, CA – September 27, 2010 – Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian recently announced encouraging clinical study results for patient-specific vaccine therapy to treat metastatic melanoma. The study is ongoing, but the report concludes that patient-specific vaccines can sometimes induce durable complete regression of progressing soft-tissue melanoma metastases, as demonstrated in one particular patient who participated in the trial. The study report, entitled: "Durable Complete Response of Refractory, Progressing, Metastatic Melanoma after Treatment with a ...

About ten years ago, the discovery of microRNAs ― tiny cellular molecules that regulate our genetic code ― unlocked a world of scientific possibilities, including a deeper understanding of human disease. One new analytical technology is "deep sequencing," which gives scientists the ability to discover invaluable information about human diseases at a genetic level. Now, Tel Aviv University researchers have developed the cutting-edge technology to better analyze these results. The software, called miRNAkey, was developed by Roy Ronen as part of a team of researchers ...

Elevated concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus, nutrients that can negatively impact aquatic ecosystems and human health, have remained the same or increased in many streams and aquifers across the Nation since the early 1990's, according to a new national study by the U.S. Geological Survey. "This USGS report provides the most comprehensive national-scale assessment to date of nitrogen and phosphorus in our streams and groundwater," said Marcia McNutt, USGS Director. "For years we have known that these same nutrients in high concentrations have resulted in 'dead ...

URBANA – Tile drainage in the Mississippi Basin is one of the great advances of the 19th and 20th centuries, allowing highly productive agriculture in what was once land too wet to farm. In fact, installation of new tile systems continues every year, because it leads to increased crop yields. But a recent study shows that the most heavily tile-drained areas of North America are also the largest contributing source of nitrate to the Gulf of Mexico, leading to seasonal hypoxia. In the summer of 2010 this dead zone in the Gulf spanned over 7,000 square miles. Scientists ...

INDIANAPOLIS – Not since victory gardens helped World War II era Americans on the home front survive food shortages have urban gardens been as necessary and popular as they are today. With more food production in cities, the safety of the produce grown there becomes increasingly important. As city dwellers across the country are harvesting fruits and vegetables for family consumption and planning ahead for the next planting season, geochemist Gabriel Filippelli, Ph.D., professor of earth sciences at the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Getting an inside look at the center of a cell can be as easy as a needle prick, thanks to University of Illinois researchers who have developed a tiny needle to deliver a shot right to a cell's nucleus. Understanding the processes inside the nucleus of a cell, which houses DNA and is the site for transcribing genes, could lead to greater comprehension of genetics and the factors that regulate expression. Scientists have used proteins or dyes to track activity in the nucleus, but those can be large and tend to be sensitive to light, making them hard ...

Electric cars hold greater promise for reducing emissions and lowering U.S. oil imports than a national renewable portfolio standard, according to research conducted by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. This assessment is among several contained in a new major policy study the Baker Institute Energy Forum will release at a Sept. 27-28 conference titled "Energy Market Consequences of an Emerging U.S. Carbon Management Policy." The study comprises several academic working papers on a variety of topics, such as carbon pricing, the wind industry, global ...

Unlike nerves of the spinal cord, the peripheral nerves that connect our limbs and organs to the central nervous system have an astonishing ability to regenerate themselves after injury. Now, a new report in the October 1st issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication, offers new insight into how that healing process works. "We know a lot about how various cell types differentiate during development, but after a serious injury like an amputation, nerves must re-grow," said Allison Lloyd of University College London. "They need a new mechanism to do that because the developmental ...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Sandia National Laboratories researchers have developed a new system to monitor how clouds affect large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants. By observing cloud shape, size and movement, the system provides a way for utility companies to predict and prepare for fluctuations in power output due to changes in weather. The resulting models will provide utility companies with valuable data to assess potential power plant locations, ramp rates and power output. Sandia researchers' work is currently focused at the 1.2-megawatt La Ola Solar Farm on ...

Rosemont, Ill. – As a patient safety best practice and endorsement of evidence-based medicine, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Board of Directors approved and released a clinical practice guideline, which found a strong recommendation against a popular procedure called vertebroplasty as a way to treat fractures in the spine. Clinical practice guidelines are one avenue the Academy uses to ensure that patients receive high quality care. Vertebroplasty is a surgical procedure developed to reduce or eliminate the pain associated with compression fractures ...