Those looking for the latest product standards-related news, regulatory developments, events and workshops around the world now can turn to the new Global Standards Information (GSI) Web site (http://gsi.nist.gov). Launched on Sept. 1, 2010, the new site includes a variety of interactive tools and will serve as an essential "first stop" for users seeking up-to-date information on international product standards. "Given the rapid adoption and complexity of new product standards both locally and globally, we realized we needed to create a new way for our customers to find ...

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued its first Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security, which includes high-level security requirements, a framework for assessing risks, an evaluation of privacy issues at personal residences, and additional information for businesses and organizations to use as they craft strategies to protect the modernizing power grid from attacks, malicious code, cascading errors and other threats. The product of two formal public reviews and the focus of numerous workshops and teleconferences over the past 17 months, ...

New Haven, Conn.—Navigating our way down the street is something most of us take for granted; we seem to recognize cars, other people, trees and lampposts instantaneously and without much thought. In fact, visually interpreting our environment as quickly as we do is an astonishing feat requiring an enormous number of computations—which is just one reason that coming up with a computer-driven system that can mimic the human brain in visually recognizing objects has proven so difficult. Now Eugenio Culurciello of Yale's School of Engineering & Applied Science has developed ...

A new study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine reveals that women with low sexual arousal experienced clinically significant symptom changes after taking a placebo. Andrea Bradford, Ph.D., a psychologist at Baylor College of Medicine, along with co-author Cindy Meston, Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin, analyzed the behaviors and symptoms of 50 women who were randomly chosen to receive placebo in a large clinical trial of a drug treatment for low sexual arousal. Neither the women nor the study doctors knew whether they were taking the real drug or placebo. Results ...

DURHAM, N.H. – Whether or not a company's CEO holds a college degree from a top school has no bearing on the firm's long-term performance. And when it comes to getting canned for poor performance, CEOs with degrees from the nation's most prestigious schools are no safer than the average CEO, according to new research from the University of New Hampshire. Conducted by Brian Bolton, assistant professor of finance at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire, the new research is presented in the working paper "CEO Education, CEO Turnover, ...

September 16, 2010 – (Toronto) – New research from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), both in Toronto, Canada provides further clues as to why Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects four times more males than females. The scientists discovered that males who carry specific alterations of DNA on the sole X-chromosome they carry are at high risk of developing ASD. The research is published in the September 15 issue of Science Translational Medicine. ASD is a neurological disorder that affects brain functioning, ...

Oxtail, marinated in homemade spicy African seasoning, slowly cooked it until it falls off the bone. Where can you enjoy this delicious delicacy and other hard-to-find dishes? Only during a unique fine dining experience at Chef Point Cafe. Franson Nwaeze, the head chef at Chef Point Cafe, has never been afraid to try something new. He is giving curious diners the opportunity to take a walk on the wild side with his new, one-of-a-kind "Acquired Taste" Menu. The most popular dish on the special menu has been Liver and Onions. The dish of beef liver sauteed with mushrooms, ...

CiCi's Pizza, home of the $4.99 endless pizza, pasta, salad and dessert buffet, announces today its plans to add 500 restaurants in the next five to six years. "Our 'One Brand' mission is well underway, ensuring we have a repeatable approach to operations that gives guests across the country a consistent, high-quality experience with every visit," said Mike Shumsky, CiCi's Pizza CEO. "Our team of industry leaders will take CiCi's to the next level and grow the company." CiCi's has hired two industry veterans Bill Spae and Nancy Hampton to drive the expansion of the ...

In an article published in the Sept. 15 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, (JAMA), author Edward H. Shortliffe, MD, PhD, points out that although information underlies all clinical work, and despite the growing role that information management and access play in healthcare delivery and clinical support, there is a dearth of informatics competency being developed in America's future corps of physicians. Formalized education in the application of informatics and the use and methodologies of health information technology and exchange, Dr. Shortliffe ...

PULLMAN, Wash.—Diet and exercise have long been the top two elements of effective weight loss. Now add a third: reading the labels on packaged foods. Washington State University Economist Bidisha Mandal has found that middle-aged Americans who want to lose weight and who take up the label-reading habit are more likely to lose weight than those who don't. In some cases, label reading is even more effective than exercise. "I'm finding that reading labels is useful," said Mandal, an assistant professor in the WSU School of Economic Sciences. "People who are trying to lose ...

The diversity of life that can be seen in environments ranging from the rainforests of the Amazon to the spring blooms of the Mohave Desert is awe-inspiring. But this diversity would not be possible if the ancestors of modern plants had just stayed in the water with their green algal cousins. Moving onto dry land required major lifestyle changes to adapt to this new "hostile" environment, and in turn helped change global climate and atmospheric conditions to conditions we recognize today. By absorbing carbon while making food, and releasing oxygen, early plants shaped ecosystems ...

Glaciers can help actively growing mountains become higher by protecting them from erosion, according to a University of Arizona-led research team. The finding is contrary to the conventional view of glaciers as powerful agents of erosion that carve deep fjords and move massive amounts of sediment down mountains. Mountains grow when movements of the Earth's crust push the rocks up. The research is the first to show that the erosion effect of glaciers – what has been dubbed the "glacial buzzsaw" – reverses on mountains in colder climates. The researchers were surprised, ...

September 15, 2010 – (BRONX, NY) – By constructing a microscope apparatus that achieves resolution never before possible in living cells, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have illuminated the molecular interactions that occur during one of the most important "trips" in all of biology: the journey of individual messenger Ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules from the nucleus into the cytoplasm (the area between the nucleus and cell membrane) so that proteins can be made. The results, published in the September 15 online edition of Nature, ...

New Haven, Conn.—Glaciers have carved some of the planet's most dramatic landscapes, from Yosemite National Park to the Himalayas. Now geologists have discovered that glaciers can do more than erode mountain peaks and shape valleys—they can actually encourage mountain growth. A new study, which appears in the September 16 issue of Nature, found that glaciers in the southern reaches of the Patagonian Andes have acted as a kind of protective shield throughout the mountain range's 25-million-year history, providing the first evidence to contradict the widely held belief ...

Cambridge, Mass., September 15, 2010 – bluebird bio (formerly Genetix Pharmaceuticals Inc.) an emerging leader in the development of innovative gene therapies for severe genetic disorders, today announced publication in the journal Nature of its promising Phase 1/2 data highlighting positive results of LentiGlobin™ gene therapy treatment in a young adult with severe beta-thalassemia, a blood disorder that is one of the most frequent inherited diseases. The patient, who had been transfusion dependent since early childhood, has become transfusion independent for the past ...

Experts from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Transplantation at King's College London, based at Guy's Hospital, have revealed exciting new scientific developments for people with an organ transplant, intended to help prevent rejection of the new organ and extend its life. Although organ transplantation has been taking place for over 50 years, there are a number of significant challenges, such as a shortage of donor organs, maintaining the quality of an organ in transit, and the risk of organ rejection both immediately after transplant and in the following ...

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have developed a new computational method that will help streamline the analysis of gene expression experiments and provide scientists with a better mechanistic understanding of the differences between diseased and normal cells. The new database and software, called ChIP Enrichment Analysis (ChEA), will revolutionize how researchers identify drug targets and biomarkers. Researchers can find the tool online at http://amp.pharm.mssm.edu/lib/chea.jsp. The data are published in the September 15th issue of Bioinformatics. Until ...

BOSTON--A new focus on the immune system's ability to both unleash and restrain its attack on disease has led Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists to identify cells in mice that prevent the immune system from attacking the animals' own cells, protecting them from autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, and lupus. The discovery, reported online on Sept. 16 by the journal Nature, may give scientists an effective way of operating the immune system's internal "control panel," leading to improved therapies for a variety of diseases – from vaccines ...

If these walls had ears, they might tell a homeowner some interesting things. Like when water is dripping into an attic crawl space, or where an open window is letting hot air escape during winter. The walls do have ears, thanks to a device that uses a home's electrical wiring as a giant antenna. Sensors developed by researchers at the University of Washington and the Georgia Institute of Technology use residential wiring to transmit information to and from almost anywhere in the home, allowing for wireless sensors that run for decades on a single watch battery. The technology, ...

VIDEO: NC State's Dr. Greg Buckner has developed a robotic catheter that is significantly more maneuverable than existing devices, which could lead to reduced operating times for patients undergoing heart surgery... Click here for more information. Atrial fibrillation is a heart disorder that affects more than two million Americans, and is considered a key contributor to blood clots and stroke. Now researchers from North Carolina State University are developing a new ...

Employees with a high level of emotional intelligence are more dedicated and satisfied at work, compared to other employees. This has been shown in a new study from the University of Haifa. "This study has shown that employees with a higher level of emotional intelligence are assets to their organization. I believe it will not be long before emotional intelligence is incorporated in employee screening and training processes and in employee assessment and promotion decisions" stated Dr. Galit Meisler, who conducted the research. The study, which Dr. Meisler carried out ...

A gene network behind hardening of the arteries and coronary heart disease has been identified by a team of scientists from Australia, Europe and the United Kingdom. Their findings expose potential targets for the treatment of heart disease. Dr Michael Inouye, a postdoctoral fellow at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia, began the study at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the UK and completed it earlier this year at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Researchers from Finland's National Institute for Health and Welfare, the University of ...

Australian researchers are embarking on a study of mums in the United Kingdom to discover if "guilt-tripping women" into breastfeeding is effective in persuading them to opt for breast over bottle. Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a recognised leader in breastfeeding research and has already undertaken a study in Australia and the US. Lead researcher Joy Parkinson, from QUT's School of Advertising Marketing and Public Relations, said women were often made to feel guilty for not breastfeeding their children when in fact a more supportive approach might be ...

Scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) are launching a groundbreaking new project to investigate the benefits of broccoli in the fight against osteoarthritis. Initial laboratory research at UEA has found that a compound in broccoli called sulforaphane blocks the enzymes that cause joint destruction in osteoarthritis – the most common form of arthritis. Broccoli has previously been associated with reduced cancer risk but this is the first major study into its effects on joint health. With funding from both Arthritis Research UK and the Diet and Health ...

The support provided for women with secondary breast cancer is inadequate and urgent steps are needed to provide better services for patients with this progressive incurable disease, which kills half a million women worldwide every year. Those are the key recommendations to emerge from a trio of papers in the September issue of the European Journal of Cancer Care. Fifty-seven per cent of breast care nurses who took part in a UK survey for Breast Cancer Care told researchers that they felt there was inadequate provision for women whose cancer has spread to other organs, ...