Culture

COLUMBIA, Mo. –Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are preparing for their first presidential debate this week. William Benoit, one of the nation's leading experts on political campaigns at the University of Missouri, says presidential debates have become an important part of presidential campaigns since 1960.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies in the world. It is usually manifested in the 6th and 7th decade of life. Extrahepatic metastases are seen in 64% of patients with HCC. The most frequent sites of extrahepatic metastases are lung, abdominal lymph node and bone, but peritoneal dissemination is unusual. Rupture of hepatocellular carcinoma is a life-threatening complication. The incidence of spontaneous rupture of HCC is about 8% - 26% in Asia and accounts for the 10% mortality of HCC patients.

Specific molecular forms of GST are known to be expressed in preneoplastic cells, and have been known to participate in their resistance to drugs. GST-pi are present in most epithelial tissues of the human gastrointestinal tract. Significant amounts of the class pi GST was expressed in the majority of human tumors and human tumor cell lines. Studies have shown that GST-pi expressed highly in neoplasm and could be regarded as a tumor marker. However the immunohistochemical and the immunoelectron microscopical localization of GST-pi, in human polyps, are not clear.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- Leading Florida-based scientific researchers released two new studies today, including a Florida State University report finding that climate change will cause significant impacts on Florida's coastlines and economy due to increased sea level rise. A second study by researchers at Florida Atlantic University recommends that the state of Florida adopt a series of policy programs aimed at adapting to these large coastal and other impacts as a result of climate change. Key findings of the FAU report were included just this week by Florida Gov.

Accidental swallowing of foreign bodies occurs in children and adults. The majority of ingested foreign bodies pass uneventfully through the gastrointestinal tract. However, in some patient, the ingested foreign body may cause impaction, perforation, or obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract.

The research team led by Dr. Tzu-Chieh Chao from Taiwan report a rare case of duodenal perforation caused by an ingested 12-cm long toothbrush handle. This will be published on July 21, 2008 of the World Journal of Gastroenterology.

Sigmoid volvulus has been described since ancient times, but its treatment is still evolving. Several surgical approaches have been used including, resection, non-operative reduction using a colonoscope, sigmoidopexy and mesosigmoidoplasty. There is no consensus at present with regard to the optimal surgical management in an acute situation. RPA has emerged as the treatment of choice for sigmoid volvulus over the past two centuries. However, using this approach, anastomotic leakage may occur in the elderly and hemodynamically unstable patients with sigmoid volvulus.

LIVERMORE, Calif. -- The deep interior of Neptune, Uranus and Earth may contain some solid ice.

Through first-principle molecular dynamics simulations, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists, together with University of California, Davis collaborators, used a two-phase approach to determine the melting temperature of ice VII (a high-pressure phase of ice) in pressures ranging from 100,000 to 500,000 atmospheres.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Congress should resurrect the nationwide gambling ban that existed through most of the 20th century to help soothe a fragile U.S. economy shaken by the worst credit and financial crisis in decades, a University of Illinois professor and national gambling critic says.

John W. Kindt argues that gambling is a multi-billion dollar drag on the economy, not the moneymaking boost touted by supporters. Cash merely changes hands from bettors to casino owners, he says, creating no products or anything else of value.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – With many polls showing presidential candidates Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain in a dead heat, many are predicting that the first presidential debate on Sept. 26 could be a turning point in the election. In addition, with the surprising selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate, the St. Louis vice presidential debate could be the most viewed in U.S. history.

The way the evangelical movement is defined has profound implications for where evangelicals fit into the political spectrum, according to a study by sociologists at Rice University and the University of Texas-Austin.

"In this election year, there is much debate over whether Sen. Obama can shave off enough evangelical votes to carry certain swing states, said Rice's D. Michael Lindsay, one of the researchers. "That depends a great deal on which poll you are looking at and, more importantly, how the survey defines the evangelical population."

WASHINGTON -- Using data from NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), scientists have identified an unexpected motion in distant galaxy clusters. The cause, they suggest, is the gravitational attraction of matter that lies beyond the observable universe.

"The clusters show a small but measurable velocity that is independent of the universe's expansion and does not change as distances increase," says lead researcher Alexander Kashlinsky at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "We never expected to find anything like this."

Alternatives to fossil fuels and natural gas as carbon sources and fuel are in demand. Biomass could play a more significant part in the future. Researchers in the USA and China have now developed a new catalyst that directly converts cellulose, the most common form of biomass, into ethylene glycol, an important intermediate product for chemical industry. As reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the catalyst is made of tungsten carbide and nickel on a carbon support.

WASHINGTON, DC, 23 September 2008 – Whether young people get drunk as a purposeful behavior or as an unintended consequence depends on what country they live in, according to new research on young people in seven countries. The research finds that young people's views on alcohol and drunkenness were influenced more by culture than by factors such as age and sex.

The research, sponsored by the International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP), also finds striking similarities about drinking among young people in different parts of the world including:

If there's one thing that separates humankind from the animals, it's that human beings wait in lines. To make a deposit at the bank, to pay for groceries, even to vote -- we've all learned to queue, one behind the other. And we've learned, if not to like it, then at least to grin and bear it.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Widespread reports had most people afraid to eat tomatoes this summer and when tomatoes were vindicated, eating peppers became a fear. A University of Missouri food safety expert says there is only so much that can be done to assure produce is safe to eat.