Evidence against physically punishing kids is clear, researchers say

Phase 1/2 clinical trial of CoronaVac in 550 children and adolescents aged 3-17 years in China suggests two doses of the vaccine are safe and generate a strong antibody response. First published data on safety and immune response generated by a COVID-19 vaccine in children as young as 3-years-old supports use of CoronaVac - which was recently approved for emergency use in China among children over 3-years-old - in further studies to inform immunisation strategies. Two doses of CoronaVac are safe and provoke a strong antibody response among children and adolescents ...

In first-of-its kind research led by a University of Massachusetts Amherst psychotherapy researcher, mental health care patients matched with therapists who had a strong track record of treating the patients' primary concerns had better results than patients who were not so matched. In addition, this "match effect" was even more beneficial and pronounced for patients with more severe problems and for those who identified as racial or ethnic minorities. The findings are published in JAMA Psychiatry and the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. "One of the things we've been learning in our field ...

PULLMAN, Wash. - A research team led by Washington State University has created a computer model to understand how plants store energy in the thylakoid membrane, a key structure to photosynthesis in plant leaves. The team confirmed the accuracy of the mathematical model with lab experiments. Their work was recently published in the journal Nature Plants. "We provided an important piece to the overall puzzle of plant metabolism," said Helmut Kirchhoff, a professor in WSU's Institute of Biological Chemistry and leader of the team who made this discovery. "If we integrate our model into the bigger picture, it may provide a good path for how to improve plants for ...

Two recent collaborative publications by CU Cancer Center members provide insights into how chronic inflammation can serve as a key factor in the development of leukemia and other blood cancers. Eric Pietras, PhD, CU Cancer Center member and assistant professor in the CU School of Medicine Division of Hematology, and James DeGregori, PhD, deputy director of the CU Cancer Center and professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, were corresponding authors on both papers. Both papers provide support for the theory of adaptive oncogenesis, which was developed by DeGregori. The theory stipulates that chronic inflammation (such ...

AMES, Iowa - During the course of a criminal investigation, it is common for investigators to interview individuals who are exhausted and have had little sleep. While unavoidable in some cases, a new Iowa State University study found sleep disruption or deprivation may limit the amount of information provided during an interview. The study, published in the academic journal SLEEP, is one of the first to look at how sleep affects behavior during interrogations or interviews. Zlatan Krizan, an ISU professor of psychology, says while beliefs about the impact of sleep on interrogation subjects have existed for decades, he and co-authors, ISU professor Christian Meissner and graduate student Anthony Miller, found little direct scientific evidence related to its effectiveness. Krizan ...

A new national study finds that children in the United States with greater screen time usage at ages 9-10 are more likely to gain weight one year later. The study, publishing in Pediatric Obesity on June 28, found that each additional hour spent on virtually all forms of screen time was associated with a higher body mass index (BMI) one year later. In particular, researchers found that each extra hour spent watching or streaming television, YouTube videos, video games, video chat, and texting led to a higher risk of weight gain one year later. At the start of the study, 33.7% of children were considered overweight ...

Scientists isolated a molecule, extracted from the leaves of the European chestnut tree, with the power to neutralize dangerous, drug-resistant staph bacteria. Frontiers in Pharmacology published the finding, led by scientists at Emory University. The researchers dubbed the molecule Castaneroxy A, after the genus of the European chestnut, Castanea. The use of chestnut leaves in traditional folk remedies in rural Italy inspired the research. "We were able to isolate this molecule, new to science, that occurs only in very tiny quantities in the chestnut leaves," says Cassandra Quave, senior author of the paper and associate professor in Emory's Center for the Study of Human Health and the School of Medicine's ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Mountaintop glacier ice in the tropics of all four hemispheres covers significantly less area -- in one case as much as 93% less -- than it did just 50 years ago, a new study has found. The study, published online recently in the journal Global and Planetary Change, found that a glacier near Puncak Jaya, in Papua New Guinea, lost about 93% of its ice over a 38-year period from 1980 to 2018. Between 1986 and 2017 the area covered by glaciers on top of Kilimanjaro in Africa decreased by nearly 71%. The study is the first to combine NASA satellite imagery with data from ice cores drilled during field expeditions on tropical ...

Cunjiang Yu, Bill D. Cook Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston, is reporting the development of a camera with a curvy, adaptable imaging sensor that could improve image quality in endoscopes, night-vision goggles, artificial compound eyes and fish-eye cameras. "Existing curvy imagers are either flexible but not compatible with tunable focal surfaces, or stretchable but with low pixel density and pixel fill factors," reports Yu in Nature Electronics. "The new imager with kirigami design has a high pixel fill factor, before stretching, of 78% and can retain its optoelectronic performance while being biaxially stretched by 30%." Modern digital camera systems using conventional rigid, flat imaging sensors require ...

The world's human population is expanding, which means even more agricultural land will be needed to provide food for this growing population. However, choosing which areas to convert is difficult and depends on agricultural and environmental priorities, which can vary widely. A study led by Princeton University illustrates this challenge by using several different approaches to solve the same puzzle: Given a target amount of food, where should new croplands be put to minimize environmental or biodiversity impacts? The researchers used the country of Zambia as a case study given that it currently harbors a significant ...