EurekAlert! - Social and Behavioral Science

Indiana U. at APHA: Studies about health education for people with ID, stability balls at work

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Indiana University) The first study examines a curriculum used to help people with intellectual disabilities make good decisions about their health and fitness. People with ID are living more and more independently yet they aren't taught about personal health. The second study examines how the use of a stability ball for an office chair affects leg muscles. It also looks at the influence of handedness.

Less than 1 in 3 Toronto bystanders who witness a cardiac arrest try to help: Study

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(St. Michael's Hospital) Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital working in conjunction with EMS services, paramedics and fire services across Ontario found that a bystander who attempts CPR can quadruple the survival rate to over 50 percent. But Dr. Laurie Morrison and the research team at Rescu have found only 30 percent of bystanders in Toronto are willing to help, one of the lowest rates of bystanders helping others in the developed world.

Local health investigation sheds light on gastroschisis birth defect

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(University of Nevada, Reno) Results of an investigation conducted by University of Nevada, Reno researchers, public health officials and area physicians published this week in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, indicate that Washoe County experienced a cluster of a particular birth defect, gastroschisis, during the period April 2007-April 2008. Subsequent review of medical records since the study's conclusion indicates that while the rate is still elevated, the cluster appears to have subsided.

Can stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation help CHD patients prevent future heart attacks?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Maharishi University of Management) The National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute will fund a $1 million collaborative study by the Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management Research Institute and Columbia University Medical Center to determine whether the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation technique can help patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) prevent future heart attacks, strokes and death.

Psychiatric impact of torture could be amplified by head injury

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Massachusetts General Hospital) Depression and other emotional symptoms in survivors of torture and other traumatic experiences may be exacerbated by the effects of head injuries, according to a study from the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, based at Massachusetts General Hospital. The researchers found structural changes in the brains of former South Vietnamese political detainees who had suffered head injuries and clearly linked those changes to psychiatric symptoms often seen in survivors of torture.

Babies with an accent

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) Newborns cry differently depending on their mother tongue.

Blood test identifies women at risk from Alzheimer's

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(University of Gothenburg) Middle-aged women with high levels of a specific amino acid in their blood are twice as likely to suffer from Alzheimer's many years later, reveals a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. This discovery this could lead to a new and simple way of determining who is at risk long before there are any signs of the illness.

We spend more on products with detailed nutritional information

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology) People would be willing to pay more for products that carry detailed nutritional information than for the so-called light items. Thus it has been confirmed by researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela and the Center for Agro-Food Research and Technology of Aragón (CITA) in a new study on the nutritional labeling of breakfast biscuits.

Hodgkinson Prize goes to 'Handbook of Community Movements and Local Organizations'

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Springer) Springer's Handbook of Community Movements and Local Organizations, edited by Ram A. Cnaan and Carl Milofsky, has been awarded the 2009 Virginia A. Hodgkinson Research Prize by the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA). The prize is given annually to the best book on philanthropy and the nonprofit sector that informs policy and practice.

A blue revolution: The key to future food security

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(International Water Management Institute) "We will need nothing less than a 'Blue Revolution' if we are to achieve food security, and avert a serious water crisis in the future," said Dr. Colin Chartres, Director General of the Sri Lanka-based International Water Management Institute. Dr. Chartres was speaking to the Economic and Finance Committee of the UN General Assembly, at a special event on "Enhancing Water Governance," convened by the UN today.

DNA barcodes: Creative new uses span health, fraud, smuggling, history, more

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL)) Some 350 experts from 50 nations gathering in Mexico for their 3rd global meeting will outline the latest creative applications of DNA barcoding, including several projects related to human health, fraud, smuggling, the food chain and reconstructing environmental history.

Biologists, educators recognize excellence in evolution education

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(American Institute of Biological Sciences) The National Association of Biology Teachers will recognize Leonard C. Yannielli, professor of biological sciences at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury, Conn., with the 2009 Evolution Education Award during the NABT annual professional development conference to be held Nov. 11-14, 2009 in Denver, Colo.

UAB awarded $11.5 million to explore ways to test youth for HIV, link them to care

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(University of Alabama at Birmingham) Two new grants are for leadership and coordination of the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Intervention (ATN), a research network in the United States and Puerto Rico working to curb the epidemic through prevention, testing and treatment for youth ages 12 to 24. Projections show at least one-half of all new HIV infections each year worldwide are in youth under age 25, says Craig Wilson, M.D., a UAB professor and ATN leader.

US and European experts applaud new transatlantic task force on antibiotic resistance threat

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Infectious Diseases Society of America) U.S. and European Experts Applaud New Transatlantic Task Force on Antibiotic Resistance Threat

Federal stimulus funds support studies geared to improving HIV care and prevention

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(University of California - San Francisco) One study will look at using mobile phone text messages linked to a web-based personal health record to help HIV patients' adherence to pill-taking regimens. The other study will test the feasibility and acceptability of a Web-based strategy that seeks to reduce drug and alcohol use and accompanying HIV risk behaviors and improve antiretroviral medication adherence by HIV positive patients.

Iranian-Canadian scholar's commitment to non-violence garners Spanish peace prize

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(University of Toronto) University of Toronto political philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo is the recipient of the 2009 Peace Prize awarded by the Association for the United Nations in Spain. The award recognizes Jahanbegloo's extensive intellectual work advancing non-violence both as a philosophy and a political strategy, supporting the ideal of universal freedom of thought, and the promotion of dialogue and building bridges between different cultures.

Mom was right: Nice guys don't always finish last

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Binghamton University) Picture it: one jerk in a bar spends the night delivering bad come-ons to women. By the end of the evening, the women aren't receptive to even the nicest guys around. It's a scenario with a basis in evolutionary theory. Males increase their fitness by acquiring more mates; however, this is often not the case for females -- and therein lies the conflict.

Autism Consortium symposium draws record number of researchers, advocates, parents for autism update

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Autism Consortium) The Autism Consortium, an innovative collaboration of researchers, clinicians, funders and families dedicated to catalyzing research and enhancing clinical care for autism spectrum disorders, held its fourth annual symposium on Oct. 28, 2009, at Harvard Medical School in Boston. The meeting gave scientists, clinicians, advocates and parents an opportunity to gather for the latest information on causes of autism and their implications for diagnosis, prognosis and therapies for people with autism spectrum disorders.

Crossing the line: how aggressive cells invade the brain

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) Real-time observation sheds new light on multiple sclerosis.

How does the mind grasp climate change?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(The Earth Institute at Columbia University) A new 43-page guide, "The Psychology of Climate Change Communication," released today by Columbia University's Center for Research on Environmental Decisions, looks at how people process information and decide to take action, or not.

For improving early literacy, reading comics is no child's play

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Carol L. Tilley, a professor of library and information science at Illinois, says that comic books are just as sophisticated as other forms of literature, and children benefit from reading them at least as much as they do from reading other types of books.

Higher health insurance costs force doctors to talk about money with patients

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center) As health insurers require people to base more treatment decisions on out-of-pocket costs, physicians should learn to talk to patients about money, according to researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Parents just don't understand

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Association for Psychological Science) Recent studies investigating the question of parental control in the west and in east Asian countries suggest that extreme meddling by parents can have negative effects on their children's psychological development in both of those regions, although the effects may not be uniform.

Does prostate-specific antigen velocity help in early detection prostate cancer?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(European Association of Urology) The November issue of European Urology, the official journal of the European Association of Urology, features an article focusing on prostate specific antigen velocity and early cancer detection. It has been suggested that changes in PSA over time aid prostate cancer detection.

$11 million NIH grant for stem cell research awarded to Rhode Island Hospital

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

(Lifespan) Rhode Island Hospital has received an $11 million grant that will fund research that will lead to a general understanding of stem cell biology and identify unique approaches to tissue regeneration in lung and marrow diseases. The 5-year grant, awarded to Peter Quesenberry, MD, director of hematology/oncology at Rhode Island Hospital, also provides funding for the development of a major stem cell research center at Rhode Island Hospital.