The media has discovered what his patients already knew. Dr. Michael Weinberg was one of the first Toronto plastic surgery experts to introduce combination procedures to give post-partum moms back the bodies they once had. He was chosen to be featured in an article on Mommy makeovers for Lifestyles magazine this fall. He has perfected the combination of tummy tuck, liposuction and breast implants. Toronto audiences will also be able to view his surgical results in an upcoming television segment on the hit television show Plastic Makes Perfect. Dr. Weinberg sites several ...

Recently celebrating their 50th Anniversary, the owners of Serta Mattress in Lockhart, Texas are extremely proud of their family business that was started during the depression. Founded in Austin by Milton T. Smith as a custom upholstery shop, Economy Furniture Industries (EFI) expanded their product line to include institutional furniture and later, became a Serta Licensee in 1959. Crucial to this expansion was Milton's wife, Helen, who ran the business and made EFI the largest independent furniture manufacturer west of the Mississippi River for a many years. During ...

The event which took place on October 2nd in Geneva helped raise over CHF22,000 for Children in Need, the Clair Bois Foundation, Association Paidos and Deworm the World. The ball took place at the Mandarin Hotel in Geneva and was attended by 136 people. Paul Dodds, deVere Group's Managing Partner in Switzerland, said, "We are delighted with the outcome of this event. We had over 50 of our clients attend the ball and were pleased to see so many of them donate generously for a good cause. The event seems to get bigger and better each year and we look forward to sponsoring ...

The recent cold weather has prompted some to turn on their furnace and boilers only to find them needing repairs, according to the CEO of a local environmental abatement company, Abatepro, Inc. Nicholas Feco has been performing asbestos inspections since 2004 and has seen a steady influx of HVAC systems needing repairs as fall weather approaches. "When it gets cold, equipment will fail," says Mr. Feco, "and the reputable HVAC guys won't touch asbestos pipes, boilers or duct wrap." This year the number of inspections has dropped. Mr. Feco believes this trend will ...

October 6, 2010 — (BRONX, NY) — The osteoporosis drug raloxifene may be useful in treating kidney disease in women, suggests a new study led by Michal Melamed, M.D., M.H.S., assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology & population health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. According to government statistics, an estimated 23 million American adults over age 20 suffers from chronic kidney disease―more than one out of 10. More than a half-million patients are under treatment for end-stage renal disease. New treatments are urgently ...

Internationally renowned geophysicist Dr Wouter Schellart has developed the first dynamic model to explain the mystery of the largest and most fascinating volcano in Europe, Mount Etna. Dr Schellart's results from fluid dynamic models provide an alternative explanation for the existence of Mount Etna, its geological environment and evolution, as well as volcanism in the surrounding region. His theory suggests that Mount Etna is not directly the result of tectonic plate boundary activity, but that it resulted from decompression melting of upper mantle material flowing ...

Microbes matter -- perhaps more than anyone realizes -- in basic biological development and, maybe, they could be a target for reducing cancer risks, according to University of Oregon researchers. In a study of very basic biology of zebrafish, scientists in the UO Institute of Molecular Biology focused on the developing intestine during its early formation in the sterile environment of its eggshell through the exposure to natural colonizing bacteria after hatching. What they found was eye opening, said Karen Guillemin, professor of biology: Resident microbes in the ...

With bits of DNA extracted from century-old museum specimens, researchers have found a place for the extinct Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) in the family tree of pigeons and doves, identifying this unique bird's closest living avian relatives for the first time. The new analysis, which appears this month in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, reveals that the Passenger Pigeon was most closely related to other North and South American pigeons, and not to the Mourning Dove, as was previously suspected. "This research demonstrates the remarkable potential of ...

LOS ANGELES (Oct. 6, 2010) – Cardiac imaging researchers at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute are recommending that physicians not overlook fatty deposits around the heart when evaluating patients for risk of major heart problems. Although abdominal fat is often considered in making these assessments, recent research suggests that measuring fatty tissue around the heart is an even better predictor, and noninvasive CT scanning may provide this important information. The recommendation appeared in an editorial comment published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: ...

There is still time to save the world's ailing coral reefs, if prompt and decisive action can be taken to improve their overall health, leading marine researchers say. Writing in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, eminent marine scientists from Australia and the USA have called for an international effort to improve the resilience of coral reefs, so they can withstand the impacts of climate change and other human activities. "The world's coral reefs are important economic, social and environmental assets, and they are in deep trouble. How much trouble, and ...

New York, NY, October 6, 2010 – In recognition of the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the October issue of Disability and Health Journal has brought together a series of articles to examine whether the ADA has in fact improved the health of people with disabilities. Areas of progress are identified, most notably acknowledging physical barriers and need for better staff training and communication about and with people with disabilities. However, there continue to be ongoing challenges, including recurrent barriers to health ...

STANFORD, Calif. - An alarming number of adolescents already battling eating disorders are also intentionally cutting themselves, and health-care providers may be failing to diagnose many instances of such self-injury, according to a new study from Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. The researchers found that 40.8 percent of patients with eating disorders in their study had documented incidents of intentionally harming themselves, most often by cutting and burning. What's more, the study suggests that inadequate clinical screening ...

Transgenic corn's resistance to pests has benefitted even non-transgenic corn, a new study led by scientists from the University of Minnesota shows. The study, published in the Oct. 8 edition of the journal Science, found that widespread planting of genetically modified Bt corn throughout the Upper Midwest has suppressed populations of the European corn borer, historically one of corn's primary pests. This areawide suppression has dramatically reduced the estimated $1 billion in annual losses caused by the European corn borer, even on non-genetically modified corn. Bt ...

LA JOLLA, CA – October 4, 2010 – Researchers have determined the structure of a protein that helps guide blood-forming stem cells, or hematopoetic stem cells. The protein is also one of the main receptors used by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to get inside blood cells. The findings are described in the October 7, 2010 issue of the journal Science. The structure offers a detailed view of how the cell surface receptor, called CXCR4, interacts with molecules outside the cell. The results have implications for developing new drugs for hematopoetic stem cell transplantation, ...

VIDEO: This model shows how HIV, in gray, might latch on to immune cell receptor molecules, allowing the virus to enter and infect the cell. The viral protein, gp120, shown in... Click here for more information. In a technical tour de force, structural biologists funded by the National Institutes of Health have determined the three-dimensional structure of a molecule involved in HIV infection and in many forms of cancer. The high-resolution structure sheds light on how the ...

Washington, DC/Beijing, China (7-8 October 2010)—A new study released today in Washington, DC and Beijing suggests that one of the world's largest and "greenest" paper companies, in concert with local officials and other middlemen, used illegal means to gain control over thousands of hectares of Chinese forestlands, with a goal of acquiring 120 thousand hectares for a eucalyptus plantation in the Guangxi Autonomous Region of southern China. The authors say their research shows that the middlemen, acting on behalf of Finnish paper and pulp manufacturer Stora Enso, often ...

For the first time, biologists have described the evolution of the size of a female trait which males use to choose a partner. The research, published in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, shows that male cichlid fish prefer females with a larger pelvic fin and that this drives females to grow fins out of proportion with their body size. Sebastian Baldauf from the University of Bonn, Germany, worked with a team of researchers to study the effects of female ornamentation in the African cichlid fish Pelvicachromis taeniatus. He said, "In contrast to the ...

Ultrasound can speed the healing of fractures. A randomized controlled trial reported in the open access journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders has found that the use of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) in patients with tibial fractures which showed inadequate progress toward healing resulted in 34% greater bone mineral density (BMD) in the fracture area after 16 weeks than use of a sham device. Jon E. Block, Ph.D. worked with a team of researchers from University Hospital Marburg and the University of Ulm, Germany, to test LIPUS in 51 patients and 50 controls. ...

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, have solved a case of fraud that has been pending for 40 million years. Arum palaestinum, also called the Solomon's lily, attracts drosophilids (vinegar flies) as pollinators by emitting odor molecules that resemble those produced during alcoholic fermentation of rotting fruit initiated by yeast. The plant accomplishes the illusion of yeast simply by producing six chemicals that - together in a specific mix - create the impression of fermentation in the fly brain. The produced volatiles include ...

The Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC), a national leader in information security research and education, today announced the release of the GTISC Emerging Cyber Threats Report for 2011, outlining the top three areas of security risk and concern for consumer and business Internet and computer users. The report was released today at the annual GTISC Security Summit on the Evolving Nature of Cyber Security Threats. The summit gathers leading industry and academic leaders who have distinguished themselves in the field of cyber security. According to the report, ...

MADISON – Widespread planting of genetically modified Bt corn throughout the Upper Midwest has suppressed populations of the European corn borer, a major insect pest of corn, with the majority of the economic benefits going to growers who do not plant Bt corn, reports a multistate team of scientists in the Oct. 8 edition of the journal Science. In Wisconsin, 75 percent of the $325 million cumulative economic benefit linked to Bt corn's pest suppression between 1996-2009 went to non-Bt corn growers. Wisconsin currently has about 3.9 million corn acres, with approximately ...

A low Apgar score at birth is strongly associated with cerebral palsy in childhood, concludes a study from researchers in Norway published on bmj.com today. The Apgar score is a quick and simple way to assess a baby's condition at birth. The baby is assessed on five simple criteria (complexion, pulse rate, reaction when stimulated, muscle tone, and breathing) on a scale from zero to two. The five values are then summed up to obtain a score from zero to 10. Scores of 3 and below are generally regarded as critically low, 4 to 6 fairly low, and 7 to 10 generally normal. Cerebral ...

Women have to work harder than men in order to start sweating, while men are more effective sweaters during exercise, according to new research published in the journal Experimental Physiology. The study by Japanese scientists at Osaka International University and Kobe University looked at differences between men and women's sweating response to changes in exercise intensity. The researchers asked four groups of subjects (trained and untrained females, trained and untrained males) to cycle continuously for an hour in a controlled climate with increasing intensity intervals. The ...

AURORA, Colo. (Oct. 7, 2010)—In 2006, Dr. Shimya Yaminaka of Kyoto University in Japan set the stem cell and regenerative medicine research world on fire when he successfully transformed differentiated mouse skin cells into cells that looked and behave like embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells, the subject of much controversy when used in research, have the ability to differentiate into any type of tissue. Yaminaka's creation of induced pluripotent stem cells [iPSCs] meant that in the future, research to improve human disease might be able to use iPSCs in lieu ...

### Recommendations for the management of postmenopausal vaginal atrophy are published in the December 2010 edition of Climacteric, and are available at www.imsociety.org. Patient education materials are also available. NOTES TO EDITORS A webcast of the IMS press briefing for World Menopause Day will be available from Monday 11th October at www.imsociety.org. About the IMS The International Menopause Society (IMS) was established in 1978 and was the first menopause society in the world. At the time, it signalled to the medical community that there was a need ...