Technology – Page 659 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Proximity to Coal-Tar-Sealed Pavement Raises Risk of Cancer, Study Finds

People living near asphalt pavement sealed with coal tar have an elevated risk of cancer, according to a study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. Much of this calculated excess risk results from exposures in children, age six or younger, to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the sealant.

“The increased cancer risk associated with coal-tar-sealed asphalt (CSA) likely affects a large number of people in the U.S. Our results indicate that the presence of coal-tar-based pavement sealants is associated with significant increases in estimated excess lifetime cancer risk for nearby residents,” said E. Spencer Williams, Ph.D., principal author of the study and Baylor University assistant research scientist at the Center for Reservoir and Aquatic Systems Research in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences. (more…)

Peer support shows promise in epilepsy fight

Peer support groups show promise for combating the debilitating stigma that surrounds epilepsy in much of the developing world, according to a new study led by a Michigan State University medical student.

The researchers report in the journal Epilepsy and Behavior that young people with the disease felt significantly less stigmatized after meeting regularly to discuss their illness. (more…)

To Celebrate Kids Helping Kids Across the Globe, Microsoft Sponsors First U.S. We Day

As part of its YouthSpark initiative to create opportunities for youth, Microsoft welcomes 15,000 students to We Day at Seattle’s KeyArena.

SEATTLE — March 27, 2013 — At the age of 12, while looking for the morning comics in the newspaper, Craig Kielburger stumbled upon a news item about a 12-year-old boy killed in Pakistan for speaking out against child labor. Outraged by the story, he desperately wanted to do something to help. After a number of phone calls and attempts to contact nonprofit organizations, Kielburger realized it wasn’t so easy for kids to get involved with social activism. That’s when he got an idea.

That same year, the young Canadian founded his own nonprofit, Free The Children, to pave the way for kids to help other kids around the world. Twelve years later, in 2007, Kielburger took his organization to the next level, launching the We Act program in schools across Canada and creating a more widespread approach to helping youth make a difference. As part of the program, Free The Children hosts a celebration in each participating city called We Day. (more…)

Jordanna Bailkin studies postwar Britain in new book ‘The Afterlife of Empire’

Jordanna Bailkin is a University of Washington professor of history and author of the new book “The Afterlife of Empire.” She answered a few questions about the book for UW Today. (more…)

Political strife undermines HIV treatment

Among other tragedies in countries with HIV epidemics, political violence can have the additional long-term consequence of an increase in viral resistance to treatment and HIV treatment failure, say the authors of a new paper in AIDS Reviews. The researchers, who have studied post-strife treatment failure and resistance in Kenya, argue that officials and health care providers need to study and prepare for how violence disrupts antiretroviral treatment and complicates the epidemic. (more…)

One brain-y student

Erin Diamond shines as a brain researcher

In October 2010 freshman Erin Diamond first walked into Yang Zhang’s lab, knowing nothing about his specialty: brain imaging.

Before the day was out, she was setting up experiments, putting an EEG cap on volunteers, and generally undergoing total immersion in the field. (more…)

Supercomputer Helps Planck Mission Expose Ancient Light

Like archeologists carefully digging for fossils, scientists with the Planck mission are sifting through cosmic clutter to find the most ancient light in the universe.

The Planck space telescope has created the most precise sky map ever made of the oldest light known, harking back to the dawn of time. This light, called the cosmic microwave background, has traveled 13.8 billion years to reach us. It is so faint that Planck observes every point on the sky an average of 1,000 times to pick up its glow. (more…)

UCLA Relies on Breakthrough ‘Big Data’ Technology from IBM To Help Patients with Traumatic Brain Injuries

Bedside Early-Warning System from IBM and Excel Medical Electronics Can Analyze Large Amounts of Data in Real Time to Predict Dangerous Changes in a Patient’s Condition

Armonk, N.Y. and Los Angeles, CA – 26 Mar 2013: IBM, and Excel Medical Electronics (EME) are collaborating with the UCLA Department of Neurosurgery in a study to test the effectiveness of a real-time alarm intended to predict rising brain pressure in patients with traumatic brain injuries. The experimental system uses big data analytics software developed by IBM Research and EME that analyzes in real-time streams of vital signs continuously collected from the bedside monitor to spot subtle changes in the patient’s pulse, blood and intracranial pressure, heart activity, and respiration, signaling that dangerous high-risk increases in brain pressure are on the way. (more…)