CHICAGO --- Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has been passed down in many families for generations -- causing reproductive and metabolic health problems for millions of women around the world. Yet, its cause remains unknown despite more than 80 years of research since the disorder was first described in 1935. A new Northwestern Medicine genome-wide association study of PCOS -- the first of its kind to focus on women of European ancestry -- has provided important new insights into the underlying biology of the disorder. Using the DNA of thousands of women and genotyping ...

LAWRENCE -- Compulsory schooling laws instituted in the late 1800s and early 1900s caused more people in Northern states to marry people at their same education level and race, possibly contributing to economic inequality, according to a University of Kansas researcher's study. Emily Rauscher, a KU assistant professor of Sociology, found no increase in assortative mating in Southern states as a result of the laws, suggesting the influence of educational expansion on marital sorting depends on context. "It's difficult to know why the compulsory laws had different effects ...

Solo travellers don't go alone because they have to, they do it because they want to, a new Queensland University of Technology study has found. Professor Constanza (Connie) Bianchi, from QUT Business School, said there were a growing number of people who preferred to travel alone, despite having family and friends. She said solo travellers were choosing freedom, uncompromised fun and meeting new people over the desire to have a companion to share their experiences. In a study published in the International Journal of Tourism Research, Professor Bianchi looked at ...

This news release is available in Japanese. An international research team has some good news for the struggling honeybee, and the millions of people who depend on them to pollinate crops and other plants. These valuable pollinators have faced widespread colony losses over the past decade, largely due to the spread of a predatory mite called Varroa destructor. But the bees might not be in as dire a state as it seems, according to research recently published in Nature Communications. Researchers found a population of wild bees from around Ithaca, New York, which ...

Current international disease surveillance systems are mainly based on reports made by doctors after treatment of infected patients. As a consequence, disease-causing microorganisms and resistance bacteria have time to spread and make large population groups sick before they are detected. There is currently only very limited information about the global occurrence and transfer of antimicrobial resistance and infectious diseases. Researchers at the National Food Institute and DTU Systems Biology are working to develop faster methods to detect and respond to outbreaks ...

Scientists at VIB and KU Leuven have shown that blocking the PHD1 oxygen sensor hinders the activation of p53, a transcription factor that aids colorectal cancer (CRC) cells in repairing themselves and thus resisting chemotherapy. Chemotherapy resistance remains a major clinical issue in the treatment of CRC. These findings indicate that PHD1 inhibition may have valuable therapeutic potential. The study was published in the leading medical journal EMBO Molecular Medicine, which features molecular biology-driven research. Chemotherapy remains the most widely used cancer ...

Safinamide (trade name: Xadago) has been available since February 2015 as add-on therapy for the treatment of mid- to late-stage Parkinson disease in adults. In combination with levodopa alone or together with other Parkinson disease medicinal products, this monoamine oxidase (MAO-B) inhibitor is used to help restore dopamine levels in the brain. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined in a dossier assessment whether this drug offers an added benefit over the appropriate comparator therapy. Such an added benefit cannot be derived ...

The study, by scientists at the University of St Andrews, shows that simple increases in a man's height and age automatically makes them appear more dominant. The research, published today (Wednesday 19 August 2015) by the SAGE journal 'Perception', sheds light on why Hollywood directors might choose certain actors to play leading roles. The study was carried out by Carlota Batres, Daniel Re, and Professor David Perrett of the Perception Lab at the University's School of Psychology & Neuroscience. Carlota and her team used computer graphic manipulations to make subtle ...

The older the clinician, the more likely they are to think playing video games leads to violent behavior, according to new research published in Computers in Human Behavior. Psychology professor Dr. Christopher Ferguson, author of the study from Stetson University, US, says his findings go some way to explaining why people have different opinions about the effect of video games and suggests many of the reasons come down to generational issues. For parents, one way to close this gap is speaking to children and testing out the games themselves. As long as video games ...

WASHINGTON and NEW YORK (August 19, 2015)--A new report examining newly-released data from the 2014 Uniform Data System (UDS), which collects patient and health care information from the nation's community health centers, shows how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is changing insurance coverage and health care in the nation's most medically underserved urban and rural communities. Examining data collected from nearly 1,300 federally funded health centers operating in over 9,000 locations, the report shows that between 2013 and 2014, the number of health center patients with ...

CHICAGO, IL, August 19, 2015 - A new study revealed that your cereal choice at breakfast might have an impact on how much you eat for lunch. Newly published research in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition showed that a hearty bowl of instant oatmeal helped curb food intake at lunch better than a leading oat-based, cold cereal -- even when each bowl provided the same number of calories. The statistically significant results of the randomized, controlled crossover study (n=47) showed that a 250-calorie instant oatmeal serving (with an additional 113 calories ...

Racial disparity in mortgage rates is widespread between black and white borrowers, according to a newly published study which found more financially vulnerable black women suffer the most. The study, led by Ping Cheng, Ph.D., professor of finance in Florida Atlantic University's College of Business, used data from three waves of U.S. Survey of Consumer Finance and found that black borrowers on average pay about 29 basis points more than comparable white borrowers, or .29 percent more. Their article was published in the July 2015 issue of The Journal of Real Estate Finance ...

Reducing trade barriers between countries reduces the likelihood of armed conflict and leads to a reduction in defence spending. In turn, this promotes a domino effect in relation to other countries, which has a positive effect on the situation in the world as a whole. This is the conclusion reached by Roman Zakharenko, Assistant Professor of the HSE International College of Economics and Finance, and his colleagues regarding the relationship between trade and defence spending. In today's word, armed conflicts are not as frequent as they used to be, but defence spending ...

Scientists at the University of Surrey found peak concentrations of potentially harmful ultrafine particles reach up to 4000 times local background levels when undertaking building activities such as drilling. Breathing of these particles is linked with serious cardiovascular and respiratory system related diseases, with ultrafine particles penetrating deeper into the lungs. The researchers also found that the greatest ultrafine particle emissions occurred during wall chasing (cutting grooves into a wall using an electrical tool, for example to lay electrical cables). ...

BOSTON, Aug. 19, 2015 -- Tomato lovers rejoice: Adding or rearranging a few simple steps in commercial processing could dramatically improve the flavor of this popular fruit sold in the grocery store, according to researchers. The scientists will present new research on flavor-saving methods at the 250th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society. The meeting features more than 9,000 reports on new advances in science and other topics. It is being held here through Thursday. "Ideally, tomatoes should ...

BOSTON, Aug.19, 2015 -- Cross contamination in commercial processing facilities that prepare spinach and other leafy greens for the market can make people sick. But researchers are reporting a new, easy-to-implement method that could eliminate or reduce such incidences. The scientists will present their work at the 250th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society. The meeting features more than 9,000 reports on new advances in science and other topics. It is being held here through Thursday. Each year ...

BOSTON, Aug. 19, 2015 -- Alcoholism inflicts a heavy physical, emotional and financial toll on individuals and society. Now new discoveries and promising animal studies are offering a glimmer of hope that a new class of drugs could treat the disease without many of the unwanted side effects caused by current therapies. Researchers are presenting the results of their work today at the 250th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society. The meeting features more than 9,000 presentations on a wide range of science ...

University of Tokyo researchers discovered an increase in a helium isotope during a ten-year period before the 2014 Mount Ontake eruption in central Japan. The finding suggests that this helium isotope anomaly is related to activation of the volcano's magma system and could be a valuable marker for long-term risk mitigation concerning volcanic eruption. Small quantities of the isotope helium-3 are present in the mantle, while helium-4 is produced in the crust and mantle by radioactive decay. A higher ratio of helium-3 to helium-4 therefore indicates that a sample of helium ...

Seven million women a year in the developing world are treated in healthcare facilities for complications following unsafe abortion, finds a study published today (19 August) in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (BJOG). Every day, approximately 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Unsafe abortion accounts for 8 - 15% of maternal deaths and remains one of the leading causes of maternal mortality worldwide.[1] However, these figures do not take into account the number of women who are surviving but need hospital ...

New research from the University of East Anglia could one day help build computers from DNA. Scientists have found a way to 'switch' the structure of DNA using copper salts and EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) - an agent commonly found in shampoo and other household products. It was previously known that the structure of a piece of DNA could be changed using acid, which causes it to fold up into what is known as an 'i-motif'. But new research published today in the journal Chemical Communications reveals that the structure can be switched a second time into ...

A nine-gene molecular prognostic index (MPI) for patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was able to provide accurate survival stratification and could potentially inform the use of adjuvant therapy in patients struggling with the disease, according to a study published August 18 in the JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for roughly 85% of all lung cancers, additionally; lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death through out the world. While gene expression profiles have been shown to ...

Alexandria, VA - The American Geosciences Institute's Center for Geoscience and Society is pleased to release two reports concerning geosciences education in the United States. The reports were developed in response to the need for comprehensive monitoring of the U.S. educational system in terms of the instruction of geoscience content and participation in geoscience-related learning experiences. The reports are based on data pertaining to science education collected from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The "Report on the Status of K-5 Geosciences Education ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Scientists at The Ohio State University have developed a nearly complete human brain in a dish that equals the brain maturity of a five-week-old fetus. The brain organoid, engineered from adult human skin cells, is the most complete human brain model yet developed, said Rene Anand, professor of biological chemistry and pharmacology at Ohio State. The lab-grown brain, about the size of a pencil eraser, has an identifiable structure and contains 99 percent of the genes present in the human fetal brain. Such a system will enable ethical and more rapid ...

Baltimore, August 18, 2015--Contact precautions are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for all patients known to be infected with or carrying multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE). Yet, the use of contact precautions--which require a patient to be isolated in a single hospital room and health care providers to wear a gown and gloves when caring for patients--is widely debated in the medical community. To help inform best practices, a ...

This news release is available in French. The atmosphere is so unstable that a butterfly flapping its wings can, famously, change the course of weather patterns. The celebrated "butterfly effect" also means that the reliability of weather forecasts drops sharply beyond 10 days. Beyond this, there are strong fluctuations in temperature, with increases tending to be followed by decreases, and vice-versa. The same pattern holds true over months, years and decades. "This natural tendency to return to a basic state is an expression of the atmosphere's memory that is so ...