The Netherlands
The theory that a higher metabolism means a shorter lifespan may have reached the end of its own life, thanks to a study published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. The study, led by Lobke Vaanholt (University of Groningen, The Netherlands), found that mice with increased metabolism live just as long as those with slower metabolic rates.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands - March 09, 2009 - A new study appearing in Pain Practice successfully established the reliability a newly developed device for assessing pain. This device is called the continuous pain score meter (CPSM).
A Monash geoscientist and a team of international researchers have discovered the existence of an ocean floor was destroyed 50 to 20 million years ago, proving that New Caledonia and New Zealand are geographically connected.
Coeliac disease is a typical example of a malabsorption syndrome conferring increased risk for various deficiency states, including folate and vitamin B12. Hyperhomocysteinemia is significantly more frequent in patients with newly diagnosed coeliac disease than healthy controls.
Organizations that diversify the skill levels of their top leadership benefit more than those that try too hard for similar diversity in personality, according to the Management Insights feature in the current issue of Management Science, the flagship journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS(R)).
Research by TU Delft proves that Dutch power stations are able to cope at any time in the future with variations in demand for electricity and supply of wind power, as long as use is made of up-to-date wind forecasts. PhD candidate Bart Ummels also demonstrates that there is no need for energy storage facilities. Ummels will receive his PhD on this topic on Thursday 26 February.
Google "Edward the Confessor" and you'll get page after page of links to biographies of this 11th-century English king, to Westminster Abbey, which he founded and where he is buried, and to the Magna Carta, which was partly inspired by laws enacted during his 24-year reign.
"Picture from Peggy and me (5-07-2008, Bavaria, Germany)"
*Maurits van den Noort received his MA-degree in Social Psychology and Neuro- & Rehabilitation Psychology from the Radboud University Nijmegen (Nijmegen, the Netherlands) and his PhD-degree in Psychology from the University of Bergen (Bergen, Norway). His main areas of interest are: human rights/life aid work, art, science. He is currently working for the Free University of Brussels (Brussels, Belgium) and he is visiting professor at Kyung Hee University (Seoul, Republic of Korea).
In a finding that broadens our insight into the cause of certain kinds of UV-induced skin cancer, researchers at Erasmus University Medical Center (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) have employed an evolutionarily ancient enzyme-repair system to identify the principal type of DNA damage responsible for the onset of skin-tumor development. The researchers' findings also suggest that this enzyme system may be useful in developing preventative therapies against skin cancer.
A big advantage of space robots is that they need neither food nor drink and can support very inhospitable conditions. More important still, although expensive to design and produce, their loss is always preferable to that of an astronaut. ''On Earth, robots regularly take over when it comes to repetitive tasks or when human health may be at risk. They are used to assemble cars, deactivate bombs, weld pipes at the bottom of the sea and work in nuclear power plants... In space, it is even more attractive to use robots.''
A study from the Netherlands suggests that elderly persons who receive a yearly influenza vaccination have reduced risk of death from all causes, according to a new study. ''Influenza-associated morbidity and mortality increase with age, especially for individuals with high-risk conditions,'' the authors provide as background information in the article. ''The effectiveness of vaccination has been reported to decrease in high-risk persons. Annual influenza revaccination has been proposed as a strategy to increase vaccination effectiveness.''
Scientists have produced a potential solution to a problem fishing activity which costs the industry millions of pounds and has a major impact on the marine environment worldwide. A team from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, writing in the academic journal Marine Policy, say fishermen should be given incentives not to return unwanted fish and other marine animals -- known as 'discards' -- back into the sea after they are caught in their trawlers' nets. The study focused on the North Sea, which is bordered by Norway and the European Union countries Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland and the UK. However, there are plenty of other places in the world, such as North America, which have similar problems with discards. The findings of the research are expected to inform European Union policy about discards.
Scientists may be learning why it's so hard to stop the cycle of violence. The answer may lie in the nervous system. There appears to be a fast, mutual, positive feedback loop between stress hormones and a brain-based aggression-control center in rats, whose neurophysiology is similar to ours. It may explain why, under stress, humans are so quick to lash out and find it hard to cool down.
Surgical removal of the tonsils and adenoids (adenotonsillectomy) in children with mild symptoms of throat infections or enlarged tonsils and adenoids has no major benefits over watchful waiting, finds a new study. Adenotonsillectomy is a common procedure in children in western countries, yet evidence of its benefits in children with milder symptoms is lacking. Researchers in the Netherlands monitored 300 children aged 2-8 years with recurrent throat infections or enlarged tonsils and adenoids. Half were allocated to surgery and half to watchful waiting. All children were monitored over two years.
When it comes to making noise, both parrots and humans rely on extremely specialized vibrating organs in their throats. Now scientists at Indiana University and Leiden University in The Netherlands have shown for the first time that parrots, like humans, also can use their tongues to craft and shape sound. ''This is the first direct evidence that parrots are able to use their large tongues to change the acoustic properties of their vocalizations,'' said IU Bloomington neurologist Roderick Suthers, who participated in the research. ''The basic idea here, we believe, is that motor control of tongue movements is an important part of communication, just as it is in humans.''
