PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Trans-Nino years could foster tornado super outbreaks

2013-09-13
(Press-News.org) Alexandria, VA – One tornado can be damaging enough; severe weather systems that spawn hundreds of deadly tornadoes in super-outbreaks pose special challenges to the scientific and emergency management communities. Now, scientists have identified certain conditions in the Pacific Ocean that may lead to super-outbreaks over the U.S.' tornado alley.

Researchers are trying to determine if Trans-Niño years, which mark the onset or ebbing of El Niño and La Niña, are the main culprits behind the deadly super-outbreaks. According to the study, fueled by a powerfully interconnected global atmospheric system, as sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific shift the Jet Stream's course during Trans-Niño years, favorable conditions for violent weather in the United States are created. Follow as EARTH Magazine explores the implications this study has for citizens of tornado alley in the September issue: http://bit.ly/15dV7r0

EARTH Magazine offers even more in the full issue, available on the digital newsstand, including stories on developing mineral resources in Afghanistan, a reinterpretation of the Bushveld magnetic record and the secret lives of passive margins: http://www.earthmagazine.org/digital.

###

Keep up to date with the latest happenings in Earth, energy and the environment news with EARTH magazine online at http://www.earthmagazine.org/. Published by the American Geosciences Institute, EARTH is your source for the science behind the headlines.

The American Geosciences Institute is a nonprofit federation of geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 250,000 geologists, geophysicists and other earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interests in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geosciences education, and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role geosciences play in society's use of resources, resiliency to natural hazards, and interaction with the environment.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Esteem issues determine how people put their best Facebook forward

2013-09-13
How social media users create and monitor their online personas may hint at their feelings of self-esteem and self-determination, according to an international team of researchers. "The types of actions users take and the kinds of information they are adding to their Facebook walls and profiles are a refection of their identities," said S. Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory, Penn State. "You are your Facebook, basically, and despite all its socialness, Facebook is a deeply personal medium." People ...

Research shows denser seagrass beds hold more baby blue crabs

2013-09-13
When it comes to nursery habitat, scientists have long known that blue crabs prefer seagrass beds compared to open areas in the same neighborhood. A new study by researchers at William & Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science refines that knowledge, showing that it's not just the presence of a seagrass bed that matters to young crabs, but also its quality—with denser beds holding exponentially more crabs per square meter than more open beds where plants are separated by small patches of mud or sand. The study, led by VIMS graduate student Gina Ralph, appeared recently ...

Exposure/ritual prevention therapy boosts antidepressant treatment of OCD

2013-09-13
NIMH grantees have demonstrated that a form of behavioral therapy can augment antidepressant treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) better than an antipsychotic. The researchers recommend that this specific form of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) – exposure and ritual prevention – be offered to OCD patients who don't respond adequately to treatment with an antidepressant alone, which is often the case. Current guidelines favor augmentation with antipsychotics. In the controlled trial with 100 antidepressant-refractory OCD patients, 80 percent of those who ...

Medicare Center of Excellence Policy may limit minority access to weight-loss surgery

2013-09-13
Safety measures intended to improve bariatric surgery outcomes may impede obese minorities' access to care. This is according to a new research letter published online in the September 12 issue of JAMA which compares rates of bariatric (weight-loss) surgery for minority Medicare vs. non-Medicare patients before and after implementation of a Medicare coverage policy. The policy limits Medicare patients seeking bariatric surgery to high-volume hospitals designated as centers of excellence. Led by faculty from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the researchers ...

Revised Medicaid policy could reduce unintended pregnancies, save millions in health costs

2013-09-13
PITTSBURGH, Sept. 12, 2013 – A revised Medicaid sterilization policy that removes logistical barriers, including a mandatory 30-day waiting period, could potentially honor women's reproductive decisions, reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and save $215 million in public health costs each year, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Their findings, published today in the journal Contraception, support growing evidence for the need to revisit a national policy that disproportionately affects low-income and minority women at high ...

NASA's Terra satellite spots Hurricane Humberto's cloud-filled eye

2013-09-13
The MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of Hurricane Humberto that showed it's eye was cloud-filled. Humberto was moving away from the Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. On Thursday, Sept. 12 at 11 a.m. EDT/1500 UTC, Hurricane Humberto has maximum near 85 mph/140 kph, and the National Hurricane Center (NHC) expects gradual weakening later in the day. The center of Hurricane Humberto was located near latitude 21.8 north and longitude 29.0 west, about 515 miles/830 km northwest of the Cape Verde Islands. Humberto is moving toward ...

Bacteria responsible for gum disease facilitates rheumatoid arthritis

2013-09-13
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Does gum disease indicate future joint problems? Although researchers and clinicians have long known about an association between two prevalent chronic inflammatory diseases - periodontal disease and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) - the microbiological mechanisms have remained unclear. In an article published today in PLOS Pathogens, University of Louisville School of Dentistry Oral Health and Systemic Diseases group researcher Jan Potempa, PhD, DSc, and an international team of scientists from the European Union's Gums and Joints project have uncovered how ...

TheSkyNet -- T2 is born

2013-09-13
TheSkyNet is celebrating its two year anniversary today with the official launch of a new research project, as well as a range of improvements and new features to make contributing to astronomical research at home more enjoyable, and even easier. Launched on September 13th 2011, theSkyNet is a community computing project dedicated to astronomy, initiated by the International Centre of Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Perth, Western Australia. By using the idle processing power of thousands of computers connected to the Internet, theSkyNet simulates a powerful single ...

Novel vaccine reduces shedding of genital herpes virus

2013-09-13
Sexually transmitted infection researchers potentially have reached a milestone in vaccine treatment for genital herpes, according to a report to be presented at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Denver, Colo., on today, Sept. 12. Kenneth H. Fife, M.D., is the principal investigator for the IU School of Medicine clinical study of the vaccine for herpes simplex virus type 2 called GEN-003. According to an interim analysis, the experimental protein subunit vaccine made by Genocea Biosciences of Cambridge, Mass., effectively reduces ...

Youth more likely to be bullied at schools with anti-bullying programs, UTA researcher finds

2013-09-13
Anti-bullying initiatives have become standard at schools across the country, but a new UT Arlington study finds that students attending those schools may be more likely to be a victim of bullying than children at schools without such programs. The findings run counter to the common perception that bullying prevention programs can help protect kids from repeated harassment or physical and emotional attacks. "One possible reason for this is that the students who are victimizing their peers have learned the language from these anti-bullying campaigns and programs," said ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Heartier Heinz? How scientists are learning to help tomatoes beat the heat

Breaking carbon–hydrogen bonds to make complex molecules

Sometimes you're the windshield: Utah State University researcher says vehicles cause significant bee deaths

AMS Science Preview: Turbulence & thunderstorms, heat stress, future derechos

Study of mountaineering mice sheds light on evolutionary adaptation

Geologists rewrite textbooks with new insights from the bottom of the Grand Canyon

MSU researcher develops promising new genetic breast cancer model

McCombs announces 2024 Hall of Fame inductees and rising stars

Stalling a disease that could annihilate banana production is a high-return investment in Colombia

Measurements from ‘lost’ Seaglider offer new insights into Antarctic ice melting

Grant to support new research to address alcohol-related partner violence among sexual minorities

Biodiversity change amidst disappearing human traditions

New approaches to synthesize compounds for pharmaceutical research

Cohesion through resilient democratic communities

UC Santa Cruz chemists discover new process to make biodiesel production easier, less energy intensive

MD Anderson launches Institute for Cell Therapy Discovery & Innovation to deliver transformational new therapies

New quantum encoding methods slash circuit complexity in machine learning

New research promises an unprecedented look at how psychosocial stress affects military service members’ heart health

Faster measurement of response to antibiotic treatment in sepsis patients using Dimeric HNL

Cleveland Clinic announces updated findings in preventive breast cancer vaccine study

Intergenerational effects of adversity on mind-body health: Pathways through the gut-brain axis

Watch this elephant turn a hose into a sophisticated showering tool

Chimpanzees perform better on challenging computer tasks when they have an audience

New medical AI tool identifies more cases of long COVID from patient health records

Heat waves and adverse health events among dually eligible individuals 65 years and older

Catastrophic health expenditures for in-state and out-of-state abortion care

State divorce laws, reproductive care policies, and pregnancy-associated homicide rates

Emerging roles of high-mobility group box-1 in liver disease

Exploring the systematic anticancer mechanism in selected medicinal plants

University of Cincinnati researchers pen editorial analyzing present, future of emergency consent in stroke trials

[Press-News.org] Trans-Nino years could foster tornado super outbreaks