EurekAlert! - National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 21-Aug-2012

Child Development
Chain of violence
Children exposed to ethnic and political violence in the Middle East are more aggressive than other children, and the younger the child, the stronger the effect.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 21-Aug-2012

Child Development
Time with parents is important for teens' well-being
This study finds that although parent-teen time when others were also present declined from the early to late teen years, parent-teen time with just the parent and the teen present actually increased in early and middle adolescence -- a finding that contradicts the stereotype of teens growing apart from their parents. The study used home and phone interviews and included over 200 White, middle- and working-class families living in small cities, towns, and rural communities.

NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Public Release: 21-Aug-2012

Child Development
Ethnic and political violence increases children's aggressive behavior
A longitudinal study in the Middle East finds that ethnic and political violence can increase violence in families, schools, and communities, which can in turn boost children's aggressiveness, especially among eight-year-olds. The three-wave study used parent and child interviews and involved 1,500 Palestinian-Arab, Israeli-Jewish, and Israeli-Arab families. In the first wave, a third of the children were eight, a third were 11, and a third were 14.

NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Public Release: 21-Aug-2012

Child Development
Infants' avoidance of drop-off reflects specific motor ability, not fear
Researchers have long studied infants' perceptions of safe and risky ground by observing their willingness to cross a visual cliff, a large drop-off covered with a solid glass surface. Now a new study has found that although infants learn to avoid the drop-off while crawling, this knowledge doesn't transfer to walking. This suggests that what infants learn is to perceive the limits of their ability to crawl or walk, not a generalized fear of heights.

NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Public Release: 20-Aug-2012
Study to evaluate zoning code reforms and physical activity
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have received a $1.5 million federal grant to examine the relationship between zoning code reforms, the physical environment, and physical-activity behavior in communities throughout the US.

NIH/National Cancer Institute

Public Release: 20-Aug-2012
COPD Foundation and BWH announces second phase of groundbreaking COPDGene project
The COPD Foundation recently announced that the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute will fund the second phase (2012-2017) of the COPDGene project as R01 grants to National Jewish Health and the Brigham and Women's Hospital.

NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Public Release: 20-Aug-2012
Brain-wave-reading robot might help stroke patients
Robotics and a noninvasive brain wave interface being developed by Rice University, the University of Houston and TIRR Memorial Hermann might help stroke victims.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 20-Aug-2012

American Chemical Society's 244th National Meeting & Exposition
Nanoparticles added to platelets double internal injury survival rate
Nanoparticles tailored to latch onto blood platelets rapidly create healthy clots and nearly double the survival rate in the vital first hour after injury lab research led by Case Western Reserve University, shows.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 20-Aug-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Stroke disrupts how brain controls muscle synergies
A new study from MIT, Harvard Medical School and the San Camillo Hospital in Venice finds that after a stroke, muscle synergies are activated in altered ways.

National Institutes of Health, Italian Ministry of Health

Public Release: 20-Aug-2012

Journal of Neuroscience
Psychologists link emotion to vividness of perception and creation of vivid memories
Have you ever wondered why you can remember things from long ago as if they happened yesterday, yet sometimes can't recall what you ate for dinner last night? According to a new study led by psychologists at the University of Toronto, it's because how much something means to you actually influences how you see it as well as how vividly you can recall it later.

NIH/National Institute for Mental Health, Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Public Release: 20-Aug-2012

Journal of Neuroscience
Brain enzyme is double whammy for Alzheimer's disease
β-amyloid -- a toxic protein known to accumulate in the brains of most Alzheimer's disease patients -- is formed by several enzymes, including BACE1. In a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute researchers found that BACE1 does more than just help produce β-amyloid -- it also regulates another cellular process that contributes to memory loss. This is important information for drug makers looking to target BACE1 to prevent or treat Alzheimer's disease.

NIH/National Institute on Aging, NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Public Release: 20-Aug-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Model shows dramatic global decline in ratio of workers to retired people
A new statistical model predicts that by 2100 the number of people older than 85 worldwide will increase more than previously estimated, and there will be fewer working-age adults to support them than previously expected.

NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Public Release: 20-Aug-2012

Archives of Internal Medicine
Hebrew SeniorLife links delirium and long-term cognitive decline in Alzheimer's patients
Patients with Alzheimer's disease who suffered episodes of delirium while hospitalized had a sharply increased rate of mental decline for up to five years after being hospitalized compared to those who did not have any such episodes, according to a study by researchers at the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

NIH/National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer's Association, Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center

Public Release: 17-Aug-2012

Science
Princeton study reveals the brain's mysterious switchboard operator
Princeton University researchers report that a mysterious region deep in the human brain could be where we sort through the onslaught of stimuli from the outside world and focus on the information most important to our behavior and survival.

National Science Foundation, NIH/National Eye Institute