M&S Pet Insurance has revealed that if it came down to "it's me or the pet", 42% of people would always choose their cat or dog over their partner, according to a recent survey it conducted. The survey found that almost 42% of cat and dog owners would cancel a date if their pet was ill. So people who find themselves without a date this Valentine's Day may want to blame the dog instead of their partner. Yet despite the nation's love for their dogs and cats, take-up of pet insurance is still relatively low. Only 42% of dog owners and 26% of cat owners have insurance ...

Escapade fancy dress has announced it has seen a booster year in sales of sexy Valentine's Day fancy dress costumes. Starting at the end of January, the fancy dress company has recorded a steep increase in the orders of risque and sexy fancy dress costumes. The quantity of sales for these costumes is unusual for the season with Escapade selling more sexy fancy dress costumes since the start of this year than they did in during the entirety of the previous year. The company has attributed the increase in orders of sexy fancy dress to the fast approaching Valentine's Day. ...

Jumeriah is celebrating the 50th birthday of Knightsbridge landmark, the Carlton Tower. The building has stood the test of time in a neighborhood renowned for its glamour and glitz and is home to the luxury five-star Jumeirah Carlton Tower hotel. This milestone was marked with an employee party and birthday cake by renowned Patissier Eric Lanlard. Derek Picot, regional vice-president Europe, Jumeirah cut the cake along with doorman, Miroslav Mileusnic surrounded by hotel employees. The birthday celebrations are also being extended through the year as the luxury hotel ...

Topshop has joined forces with up-and-coming film maker Tyrone Le Bon and stylist Beth Fenton to create a fashion film which will showcase its trends for SS11. The film features two models, Kat and Esme, as they show off this season's hottest trends. The film is designed to encapsulate the overriding feeling that spring is all about dressing up and having fun with fashion. It was shot on a mix of normal film and cinefilm and features an impressive soundtrack. The video features styles that will be prominent in this season's collection and were selected by Beth Fenton ...

ProfitKey International, a leader in ERP software for discrete manufacturers for over 30 years, is beginning 2011 with a large scale marketing push, including launching an ERP blog titled "Navigating ERP". Other marketing efforts include all new social media sites and developing a new email campaign program. The social media sites include Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. "Sharing thoughts and information can benefit all involved on multiple levels. By using social media we can have an honest and straightforward conversation with the market place," explains Lindsey Shinners, ...

LearnSomething, Inc., is planning their annual trip to the Avectra Users & Developers Conference (AUDC) being held February 27 - March 1, 2011, at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Florida. As a provider of eLearning solutions for national associations, LearnSomething values the opportunity to sponsor and attend the annual AUDC conference. This year the company will showcase Isoph Blue and LearnPro+, their two learning management systems built to support associations and integrate with Avectra's Association Management Systems (AMS). Mark ...

A 13-week campaign giving away 25-cent coupons for any La Bella product in Vallarta Supermarkets is coupled with a contest to win a $1000 grocery value gift certificate. The promotion is the latest venture aimed to connect with the Hispanic community, a market segment increasingly attracted to the La Bella brand which represents a message of beauty, quite literally. The natural connection with the brand has proven advantageous to Newhall Laboratories, the creator and producer of the La Bella line, as the latest U.S. Census figures underscore growth of the Hispanic ...

In Numbeo's survey (http://www.numbeo.com), New York is used as the base city for the index and scores 100 points, with all cities compared against New York and currency movements measured against the US Dollar and EURO. Sydney (Australia) scored 113.14 points, making it nearly three times as costly as La Paz (Bolivia) with an index score of 39.00. At the beginning of 2011, the most expensive cities (excluding rent) are: - Oslo, Norway (CPI 149.26) - Stavanger, Norway (145.65) - Zurich, Switzerland (143.93) - Geneva, Switzerland (143.71) - Bergen, Norway (142.46) - ...

The deVere Group, the world's largest group in financial consultancy, is pleased to announce that it has signed a new partnership with the online trading specialist Saxo Bank, giving deVere clients worldwide the opportunity to buy and sell stocks in an efficient and cost-effective manner. deVere clients can now make use of a user-friendly online stock trading that is customisable and can be accessed via the web or downloaded on a PC. The Saxo Web Trader allows clients to easily find comparable companies, and compare investments to peer averages with complex trading techniques. ...

A study by researchers at the UCLA Stroke Center found that stroke and cardiovascular disease have exacted an enormous toll on Hollywood stars. The findings were presented at the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference (ISC) in Los Angeles on Feb. 10. "Since this is the first time the ISC is being held in Los Angeles, we thought it was an appropriate occasion to investigate the frequency and impact of stroke among leading Hollywood actors," said Hannah Smith, a staff research associate at the UCLA Stroke Center. ...

In the largest stroke rehabilitation study ever conducted in the United States, stroke patients who had physical therapy at home improved their ability to walk just as well as those who were treated in a training program using a body-weight supported treadmill device, followed by walking practice. UCLA's neurologic rehabilitation program was one of six U.S. sites that conducted the study, which also found that patients continued to improve up to one year after stroke, defying conventional wisdom that recovery occurs early and tops out at six months. In fact, even patients ...

One of the most important genes in the human genome is called p53 and its function is to suppress tumours, according to Roger Leng, a researcher in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. Leng has discovered the mechanism by which p53 is inactivated in cancerous cells, allowing tumours to grow. "Successful completion of the proposed experiments could lead to novel anti-cancer therapies that could potentially improve the prognosis for cancer patients and reduce the public health burden from cancer," said Leng. It has long been known by scientists that another protein, MDM2, ...

Women suffering from anorexia or bulimia draw themselves with prominently different characteristics than women who do not have eating disorders and who are considered of normal weight. This has been revealed in a new joint study from the University of Haifa, Soroka University Medical Center and Achva Academic College, Israel, published in The Arts in Psychotherapy. "The results of this study show that women suffering or prone to developing eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, can be diagnosed with a simple and non-intrusive self-figure drawing assessment," explained ...

The more humanity acidifies and warms the world's oceans with carbon emissions, the harder we will have to work to save our coral reefs. That's the blunt message from a major new study by an international scientific team, which finds that ocean acidification and global warming will combine with local impacts like overfishing and nutrient runoff to weaken the world's coral reefs right when they are struggling to survive. Modelling by a team led by Dr Ken Anthony of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and The University of Queensland's Global Change Institute ...

Monday, February 14, 2011 – Cleveland – Researchers from Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute have discovered that resveratrol – a compound found in red wine – when combined with rapamycin can have a tumor-suppressing effect on breast cancer cells that are resistant to rapamycin alone. The research – recently published in Cancer Letters – also indicates that the PTEN tumor-suppressing gene contributes to resveratrol's anti-tumor effects in this treatment combination. Charis Eng, MD, Ph.D., Chair of the Genomic Medicine Institute of Cleveland Clinic's Lerner ...

Nonmilitary personnel serving in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan were more likely to be evacuated with non–war-related injuries and more likely to return to duty after such injuries compared with military personnel, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj100244.pdf. About 50% of personnel serving in Iraq and around two-thirds in Afghanistan are nonmilitary. "Nonmilitary personnel play an increasingly critical role in modern wars," writes Dr. Steven P. Cohen, Johns ...

New clinical guidelines for use of noninvasive ventilation in critical care settings are published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj100071.pdf. The use of noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation and noninvasive continuous positive airway pressure by mask has increased significantly among acutely ill patients. A growing body of literature and variations in practice in recent years have necessitated the development of new clinical practical guidelines to help manage patients with acute respiratory distress ...

A recent outbreak of tuberculosis in Nunavut, with a population infection rate 62 times the Canadian average, points to a need to rebuild trust in public health to combat the disease, states an editorial published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj110160.pdf. Nunavut is Canada's third territory in the eastern Arctic, created in 1999. Its population is about 30,000 people, and almost 80% are Inuit, spread over an area of more than 2 million square kilometers. At least 100 new active cases of tuberculosis ...

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Measurements of hand movement control may help determine the severity of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children, according to joint studies published in the February 15, 2011, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. ADHD is a brain disorder characterized by impulsiveness, hyperactivity, such as not being able to sit still, and inattention or difficulty staying focused. The studies were led by Stewart H. Mostofsky, MD, with the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore and Donald L. Gilbert, ...

New research shows that all not mammals are created equal. In fact, this work shows that the animals most commonly used by scientists to study mammalian genetics -- mice -- develop unusually quickly and may not always be representative of embryonic development in other mammals. The study, published by Cell Press in the February 14 issue of the journal Developmental Cell, identifies significant differences in the timing of cell fate commitment during mouse and cattle embryonic development and raises important strategic implications for the generation of embryonic stem cells. The ...

After analyzing data on 2,155 private contractors, diplomats and other civilians supporting war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan who were medically evacuated out of combat zones, researchers have found they are more likely to be evacuated for noncombat-related injuries, but more likely to return to work in-country after treatment for these conditions. Still, the findings of the Johns Hopkins-led research team, published online in CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association, note that 75 percent of the nonmilitary group medically evacuated from the war zones to ...

BOSTON – February 14, 2011 – Once people develop type 2 diabetes, high blood glucose levels alter their metabolism so much that it becomes difficult to sift through all the clues to find what might enable the disease. "To identify factors that play a primary role in disease susceptibility, we want to investigate people before they get to that point," says Mary-Elizabeth Patti, M.D. of Joslin Diabetes Center. By examining people across the spectrum of diabetes—from healthy to the full-blown disease—scientists in her lab have found a molecular pathway that offers novel targets ...

The newly approved drug dabigatran is an alternative to warfarin to help prevent dangerous blood clots in patients with atrial fibrillation, according to updated guidelines from the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association and the Heart Rhythm Society. The "Focused Update" — published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, Journal of the American College of Cardiology and HeartRhythm Journal — specifically updates the section on emerging antithrombotic agents in atrial fibrillation treatment guidelines released by the three organizations ...

Among women with breast cancer, approximately 25% have a subtype that is characterized by high levels of expression of the protein HER2. HER2-positive breast cancer tends to be more aggressive than other breast cancer subtypes. Increased molecular understanding of why HER2-positive breast cancer is so aggressive could aid in the development of new therapeutics. By studying mouse models, a team of researchers, led by Lewis Chodosh, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, has now identified a key role for the protein Hunk in the formation of tumors ...

Most, if not all, solid tumors contain regions that are not well oxygenated. Tumor cells in these regions, which are known as hypoxic regions, are usually resistant to the death-inducing effects of chemotherapeutics. But now, Caroline Dive and colleagues, at Manchester University, United Kingdom, have identified a compound (ABT-737) that induces human cancer cells exposed to hypoxic conditions in vitro to undergo a form of cell death known as apoptosis. In addition, cells in hypoxic regions of human tumors xenografted in mice were susceptible to ABT-737–induced apoptotic ...