Featured Articles

Genomic Study Says Our Immune Response To Rhinovirus Causes Common Cold Symptoms, Not The Virus Itself

Genomic Study Says Our Immune Response To Rhinovirus Causes Common Cold Symptoms, Not The Virus Itself

Oct 24 2008 | comment(s)

Today, scientists from Procter&Gamble (P&G), the University of Calgary and the University of Virginia announced results from the first study to examine the entire human genome's response to the most common cold virus, human rhinovirus.

Bite Splint Wirelessly Lets Paraplegics Play Piano With The Foot Pedals

Bite Splint Wirelessly Lets Paraplegics Play Piano With The Foot Pedals

Oct 24 2008 | comment(s)

A wish could come true for paraplegics who play the piano and are paralyzed from the hips down: Heidelberg researcher Dr.-Ing. Rüdiger Rupp has developed a method with which a pianist can operate the right pedal of a concert grand wirelessly – a first in the world. A paraplegic pianist can thus overcome the handicap of being able to play the piano using only his arms and hands.

Dr. Rupp, director of the research department at the spinal cord injury unit of the Orthopedic Clinic of Heidelberg University Hospital (Director: Prof. Dr. Hans Jürgen Gerner), was honored for this invention with € 15,000 from the Innovation Award 2008 of the German Paraplegic Foundation (DSQ).

Why 'Genetic Differences' In Northern Europe Are Greater Than Other Areas

Why 'Genetic Differences' In Northern Europe Are Greater Than Other Areas

Oct 24 2008 | comment(s)

Genetically, the Germans and British are very close to each other but the genetic distances between the Swedes and Eastern and Western Finns are larger, and the diversity in these populations is lower.

A recent study shows that genetic differences in Central Europe appear smaller than between and even within North European populations.    The study, led by researcher Päivi Lahermo from Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) and University of Helsinki, Finland, and professor Juha Kere from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.

The understanding of genetic variation in human populations is important not only for obtaining information on population history, but also for successful studies of genetic factors behind human diseases, says Juha Kere. 
Ethical? 50 Percent Of Surveyed Doctors Give Placebos Without Telling Patients

Ethical? 50 Percent Of Surveyed Doctors Give Placebos Without Telling Patients

Oct 24 2008 | comment(s)

If a doctor believes an antibiotic or sedative is not needed and instead provides a placebo to a patient, is the physician protecting public health or subjectively disregarding the ethics of full disclosure? You decide.

Many rheumatologists and general internal medicine physicians in the US say they regularly prescribe "placebo treatments" including active drugs such as sedatives and antibiotics, but rarely admit they are doing so to their patients, according to a study on BMJ.com today.

Heterodontosaurus - Tiny Two Inch Dinosaur Has Big Insight Into Evolution Of Plant Eaters

Heterodontosaurus - Tiny Two Inch Dinosaur Has Big Insight Into Evolution Of Plant Eaters

Oct 24 2008 | comment(s)

One of the smallest dinosaur skulls ever discovered has been identified and described by a team of scientists from London, Cambridge and Chicago. The skull would have been only 45 millimeters (less than two inches) in length. It belonged to a very young Heterodontosaurus, an early dinosaur. This juvenile weighed about 200 grams, less than two sticks of butter. 

In the Fall issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, the researchers describe important findings from this skull that suggest how and when the ornithischians, the family of herbivorous dinosaurs that includes Heterodontosaurus, made the transition from eating meat to eating plants.
The Enneagram Meets Psychology For Good Relationships And Global Compassion

The Enneagram Meets Psychology For Good Relationships And Global Compassion

Oct 23 2008 | comment(s)

Take a centuries-old system of personalities charted in a nine point diagram called the Enneagram, mix it with modern psychology and nonsectarian spiritual ideas, and you have a means for understanding ourselves and others that prompts compassionate and empathetic behavior.



The Enneagram has undergone a renewal of scholarly attention in the last decade. Helen Palmer, co-founder of Enneagram Worldwide and the Enneagram Professional Training Program considers the system crucial and promising in uniting psychological and spiritual insight and awareness.


A dark and stormy night of regret

A dark and stormy night of regret

Oct 23 2008 | comment(s)

It was a dark and stormy night in the Black Hawk condo complex of Saint Lucifer, California. Okay, it wasn't storming, it was balmy; and it wasn't Black Hawk, it was Bahia Vista in San Rafael, California, not Saint Lucifer; and it wasn't quite dark, but the sun was setting.


Altira To Speak At 21st Annual NREL Industry Growth Forum

Altira To Speak At 21st Annual NREL Industry Growth Forum

Oct 23 2008 | comment(s)

DENVER, October 23 /PRNewswire/ --

Altira Group LLC, a leader and pioneer in Energy Technology Investment will attend and speak in Denver on October 28-30 at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel.

Altira Group announced today Peter Edwards, Partner, will participate on the USDOE Initiatives Future Policies for Accelerating Technology Commercialization panel on Tuesday October 28th at 1:45pm during next week's 21st Annual NREL Industry Growth Forum in Denver.

Announcing: Scientificblogging Costume Contest

Announcing: Scientificblogging Costume Contest

Oct 23 2008 | comment(s)

Send us pictures of your best Halloween Costume to win Official Scientificblogging stuff!

Remember the Halloween when you pinned cinnamon buns over your ears because you were Princess Leia and the time you covered yourself in foil and said you were a baked potato? Well, we at Scientificblogging are dying to see pictures of your Halloween costumes.

PRIZES
First Place: Scientificblogging Sweatshirt
Second Place: Scientificblogging Shirt
Third Place: Scientificblogging Mug

Deadline: Wednesday, October 29th
Send your pictures to jen@scientificblogging.com
I'd love to go paperless

I'd love to go paperless

Oct 23 2008 | comment(s)

Spending all day reading from a computer monitor is a drag. By the end of the day reading from a monitor drives me crazy, which means that I end up printing out hard copies of way too many papers.

Amazon's Kindle looks like an intriguing solution, but I think this reader is going to be much, much better.
One To One Interactive Receives 10 Finalist Nominations For MITX Awards

One To One Interactive Receives 10 Finalist Nominations For MITX Awards

Oct 23 2008 | comment(s)

BOSTON, October 23 /PRNewswire/ --

MITX, the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange, has announced the finalists for the 13th Annual Interactive Awards and One to One interactive has received ten nominations across six different award categories.

We are truly honoured to receive the highest number of nominations for the 2008 MITX Awards, said Jeremi Karnell, Co-Founder and President of One to One Interactive. We see this recognition as a testament to the incredible momentum which we have been able to develop for our growing list of Fortune 1000 clients over the past year and which will continue to accelerate us into 2009.

Nominations:

Unite Hugely Disappointed Staythorpe Contractors Will Not Move On Jobs For UK Workers

Unite Hugely Disappointed Staythorpe Contractors Will Not Move On Jobs For UK Workers

Oct 23 2008 | comment(s)

LONDON, October 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the breakdown of talks today with Alsthom, REW and the two Spanish contractors constructing the Staythorpe power station, Unite official Steve Syson said:

It is hugely disappointing that after more than five hours of talking with these companies they will not listen to reason and ensure that local workers get a chance to work on the construction of this plant.

All we are asking for is that UK workers get a fair crack of the whip. Let local workers show that they have the skills and experience to be the best in the business. It makes no economic sense to bring in workers and it certainly makes no sense to this community when skilled workers are unemployed yet there are jobs to be had on their doorstep.

Sanofi-aventis Is Complying With The EMEA's Recommendation To Temporarily Suspend The Marketing Authorisation Of Acomplia(R) In Obese And Overweight Patients

Sanofi-aventis Is Complying With The EMEA's Recommendation To Temporarily Suspend The Marketing Authorisation Of Acomplia(R) In Obese And Overweight Patients

Oct 23 2008 | comment(s)

PARIS, October 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- Sanofi-aventis Will Comply With the European Authorities Request to Temporarily Suspend the Marketing Authorisation of Acomplia(R) in Obese and Overweight Patients and Will Make Every Effort to Actively Support Patients and Health Care Professionals in This Process.

- Sanofi-aventis is Committed to Provide Additional Evidence for the Re-evaluation of the Benefit / Risk Profile of Acomplia(R) in patients with diabetes and Cardiovascular Diseases Through the ongoing Clinical studies.

- Sanofi-aventis Remains Committed to Acomplia(R) to Bring an Important Therapeutic Approach to Obese and Overweight Patients.

No Theory Of Everything Is Possible

No Theory Of Everything Is Possible

Oct 23 2008 | comment(s)

Pierre-Simon de Laplace, the 18th century French astronomer who proposed one of the early theories of the formation of the solar system, famously postulated a “Demon” who had enough information to know what would happen in any place in the universe at any time. It was the height of mechanistic and deterministic hubris in science, and it seemed that it was only a matter of time before physicists would find out everything there was to find out about the way the world works
Small Genomes In Pterosaurs Too.

Small Genomes In Pterosaurs Too.

Oct 23 2008 | comment(s)

My colleagues Chris Organ and Andrew Shedlock, who provided evidence that theropod dinosaurs already had (somewhat) reduced genome sizes prior to the evolution of birds (Organ et al. 2007) have followed up their study by estimating the genome sizes of several species of pterosaurs.

Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight, having taken to the air 70 million years before birds and 150 million years prior to bats. Interestingly (though perhaps not surprisingly at this point), they seem to have possessed reduced genome sizes, and these downsizings of DNA amount began before flight arose.
Industry's Largest 10 Gigabit Ethernet Test Conducted With Spirent(R) Communications

Industry's Largest 10 Gigabit Ethernet Test Conducted With Spirent(R) Communications

Oct 23 2008 | comment(s)

SUNNYVALE, California, October 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- Spirent TestCenter(TM) Selected to Benchmark Cisco Nexus 7000 Data Center Switch

Cytochroma Announces Initiation Of Phase II Clinical Trial Of CTA018 For Chronic Kidney Disease Patients

Cytochroma Announces Initiation Of Phase II Clinical Trial Of CTA018 For Chronic Kidney Disease Patients

Oct 23 2008 | comment(s)

MARKHAM, Canada, October 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Cytochroma today announced that it has initiated a Phase II clinical trial of CTA018 Injection, the Company's product candidate for the treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The Phase II clinical trial is an open label, dose escalating pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, efficacy and safety study of CTA018 Injection in CKD patients with SHPT undergoing hemodialysis.

DeCarta Extends Mobile Platform To The IPhone

DeCarta Extends Mobile Platform To The IPhone

Oct 23 2008 | comment(s)

SAN FRANCISCO, October 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- deCarta Mobile API streamlines development of location-enabled applications

deCarta devCON'08 -- deCarta, the leading supplier of software and services for the Location-Based Services (LBS) industry, today launched an application programming interface (API) for deCarta Mobile(TM) that supports rapid development of location-enabled applications for the iPhone(TM). The new API complements the J2ME version of deCarta Mobile previously announced in September 2008. deCarta Mobile is a location software platform designed to allow application developers to simplify the integration of sophisticated, scalable location capability on mobile devices.

NanoVibronix Receives FDA Clearance For Its PainShield(TM) MD Device

NanoVibronix Receives FDA Clearance For Its PainShield(TM) MD Device

Oct 23 2008 | comment(s)

NESHER, Israel, October 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- Portable Solution for Effective Localized Pain Management

NanoVibronix, a medical device company, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted 510K clearance to market PainShield(TM) MD, a diathermy device used to treat pain. PainShield is the first hands-free, patch-based diathermy device, thus allowing for an entirely new dimension in ultrasound treatment of pain and soft tissue healing. The PainShield consists of a disposable patch connected to a portable reusable driver and generates ultrasound waves to the desired area of the body.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081023/325823 )