Faced with declining enrollment and rising costs, some small liberal arts colleges have added professional and vocational majors, a decision University of Iowa researchers say has strengthened rather than undermined the mission of the schools. In fact, students at liberal arts colleges realized virtually the same educational gains, no matter their major, according to the UI report released earlier this month. The only differences were liberal arts major expressed a greater interest in literacy while professional majors scored higher in leadership skills. "Essentially, ...

A collaborative team of leaders in the field of cancer immunology from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has made a key discovery that advances the understanding of why some patients respond to ipilimumab, an immunotherapy drug, while others do not. MSK was at the forefront of the clinical research that brought this CTLA-4 blocking antibody to melanoma patients. A report published online first today in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that in patients who respond to ipilimumab, their cancer cells carry a high number of gene mutations--some of which make ...

Barcelona, Spain: Patients with a form of advanced colorectal cancer that is driven by a mutated version of the BRAF gene have limited treatment options available. However, results from a multi-centre clinical trial suggest that the cancer may respond to a combination of three targeted drugs. Professor Josep Tabernero, head of the medical oncology department at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital and director of the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, Spain, will tell the 26th EORTC-NCI-AACR [1] Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Barcelona ...

(PHILADELPHIA) - Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that primarily kills motor neurons, leading to paralysis and death 2 to 5 years from diagnosis. Currently ALS has no cure. Despite promising early-stage research, the majority of drugs in development for ALS have failed. Now researchers have uncovered a possible explanation. In a study published November 20th in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, researchers show that the brain's machinery for pumping out toxins is ratcheted up in ALS ...

A lot of research has shown that poor regulation of the serotonin system, caused by certain genetic variations, can increase the risk of developing psychiatric illnesses such as autism, depression, or anxiety disorders. Furthermore, genetic variations in the components of the serotonin system can interact with stress experienced during the foetal stages and/or early childhood, which can also increase the risk of developing psychiatric problems later on. In order to better understand serotonin's influence in the developing brain, Alexandre Dayer's team in the Psychiatry ...

Working at the edge of a coal mine in India, a team of Johns Hopkins researchers and colleagues have filled in a major gap in science's understanding of the evolution of a group of animals that includes horses and rhinos. That group likely originated on the subcontinent when it was still an island headed swiftly for collision with Asia, the researchers report Nov. 20 in the online journal Nature Communications. Modern horses, rhinos and tapirs belong to a biological group, or order, called Perissodactyla. Also known as "odd-toed ungulates," animals in the order have, ...

Bremerhaven/Germany, 20 November 2014. Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have identified a possible source of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases that were abruptly released to the atmosphere in large quantities around 14,600 years ago. According to this new interpretation, the CO2 - released during the onset of the Bølling/Allerød warm period - presumably had their origin in thawing Arctic permafrost soil and amplified the initial warming through positive feedback. The study now appears ...

The residents of Longyearbyen, the largest town on the Norwegian arctic island archipelago of Svalbard, remember it as the week that the weather gods caused trouble. Temperatures were ridiculously warm - and reached a maximum of nearly +8 degrees C in one location at a time when mean temperatures are normally -15 degrees C. It rained in record amounts. Snow packs became so saturated that slushy snow avalanches from the mountains surrounding Longyearbyen covered roads and took out a major pedestrian bridge. Snowy streets and the tundra were transformed into icy, ...

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass-- Tufts University School of Engineering researchers and collaborators from Texas A&M University have published the first research to use computational modeling to predict and identify the metabolic products of gastrointestinal (GI) tract microorganisms. Understanding these metabolic products, or metabolites, could influence how clinicians diagnose and treat GI diseases, as well as many other metabolic and neurological diseases increasingly associated with compromised GI function. The research appears in the November 20 edition of Nature Communications ...

AMHERST, Mass. -- Predicting the beginning of influenza outbreaks is notoriously difficult, and can affect prevention and control efforts. Now, just in time for flu season, biostatistician Nicholas Reich of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and colleagues at Johns Hopkins have devised a simple yet accurate method for hospitals and public health departments to determine the onset of elevated influenza activity at the community level. Hospital epidemiologists and others responsible for public health decisions do not declare the start of flu season lightly, Reich ...

A team of scientists hope to trace the origins of gamma-ray bursts with the aid of giant space 'microphones'. Researchers at Cardiff University are trying to work out the possible sounds scientists might expect to hear when the ultra-sensitive LIGO and Virgo detectors are switched on in 2015. It's hoped the kilometre-scale microphones will detect gravitational waves created by black holes, and shed light on the origins of the Universe. Researchers Dr Francesco Pannarale and Dr Frank Ohme, in Cardiff University's School of Physics and Astronomy, are exploring the potential ...

(PHILADELPHIA) - Pulmonary fibrosis has no cure. It's caused by scarring that seems to feed on itself, with the tougher, less elastic tissue replacing the ever moving and stretching lung, making it increasingly difficult for patients to breathe. Researchers debate whether the lung tissue is directly damaged, or whether immune cells initiate the scarring process - an important distinction when trying to find new ways to battle the disease. Now research shows that both processes may be important, and suggest a new direction for developing novel therapies. The work will publish ...

WASHINGTON, DC, November 17, 2014 -- A new study finds that having job authority increases symptoms of depression among women, but decreases them among men. "Women with job authority -- the ability to hire, fire, and influence pay -- have significantly more symptoms of depression than women without this power," said Tetyana Pudrovska, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin and the lead author of the study. "In contrast, men with job authority have fewer symptoms of depression than men without such power." Titled, ...

WASHINGTON, DC, November 18, 2014 -- A new study indicates that heterosexuals have predominately egalitarian views on legal benefits for -- but not public displays of affection (PDA) by -- same-sex couples. "We found that, for the most part, heterosexuals are equally as supportive of legal benefits for same-sex couples as they are for heterosexual couples, but are much less supportive of public displays of affection for same-sex couples than they are for heterosexuals," said Long Doan, a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at Indiana University and the lead author ...

The cost of patients not taking their medications as prescribed can be substantial in terms of their health. Although a large amount of research evidence has tried to address this problem, there are no well-established approaches to help them, according to a new systematic review published in the Cochrane Library. The authors of the review examined data from 182 trials testing different approaches to increasing medication adherence and patient health. Even though the review included a significant number of the best studies to date, in most cases, trials had important problems ...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Job authority increases symptoms of depression among women, but decreases them among men, according to a new study from University of Texas at Austin sociologist Tetyana Pudrovska. "Women with job authority -- the ability to hire, fire, and influence pay -- have significantly more symptoms of depression than women without this power," said Pudrovska, the lead author of the study. "In contrast, men with job authority have fewer symptoms of depression than men without such power." The study, "Gender, Job Authority, and Depression," published in the December ...

Pioneering use of whole genome sequencing in real time to help control a hospital outbreak is reported in an article published in the open access journal Genome Medicine. The research corroborates the use of the technique as a rapid and cost-effective way of tracking and controlling the spread of drug-resistant hospital pathogens. Acinetobacter baumannii is a multi-drug resistant pathogen found in hospitals across the globe and emerged as a significant threat to casualties in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. It affects severely ill patients, particularly trauma and burns ...

The Sun may be playing a part in the generation of lightning strikes on Earth by temporarily 'bending' the Earth's magnetic field and allowing a shower of energetic particles to enter the upper atmosphere. This is according to researchers at the University of Reading who have found that over a five year period the UK experienced around 50% more lightning strikes when the Earth's magnetic field was skewed by the Sun's own magnetic field. The Earth's magnetic field usually functions as an in-built force-field to shield against a bombardment of particles from space, known ...

A new study published online today in the journal Oxford Economic Papers has found that, on average, terrorist attacks decrease fertility, reducing both the expected number of children a woman has over her lifetime and the number of live births occurring during each year. In recent years, terrorism has grown as a significant factor affecting our lives in unforeseen ways. Much has been written regarding the causes of terrorism, yet the ramifications of prolonged exposure to terrorism are still to be thoroughly studied. This new study, carried out by Dr. Claude Berrebi ...

Scientists at Queen's University Belfast have led the discovery of a volcanic ash cloud that travelled from Alaska to Northern Ireland and beyond - overturning previously held assumptions about how far ash deposits can drift, with major implications for the airline industry. The discovery, which was made in partnership with an international team of academics and has been published in the journal Geology, is the first evidence that ash clouds can travel across the Atlantic Ocean, confirming Queen's as a global leader in research. This particular ash, found in sites across ...

Barcelona, Spain: Researchers have found a way of identifying which ovarian cancer patients are likely to respond well to a new anti-cancer drug called rucaparib. Results of clinical trials have shown that women with tumours that are sensitive to platinum-based chemotherapy and who carry inherited mutations in the BRCA1/2 genes respond well to rucaparib. But in new findings presented today (Thursday) at the 26th EORTC-NCI-AACR [1] Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Barcelona, Spain, researchers say that they have identified a biological indicator ...

Barcelona, Spain: A drug that is already well established as a treatment for infection of the retina in people with AIDS has been shown, for the first time, to sensitise cervical cancer to chemotherapy and radiotherapy without an increase in toxic side-effects. Cidofovir is an anti-viral drug that is effective against several viruses, including the human papilloma virus (HPV), which is implicated in the onset of cervical cancer. It targets the cancer-causing proteins (oncoproteins) produced by HPV. These oncoproteins interfere with the action of other proteins that control ...

Barcelona, Spain: Patients with B-cell Non-Hodgkin lymphomas and advanced solid tumours have responded to a new drug that is being tested for the first time in humans in a phase I clinical trial. Preliminary results from the trial will be presented today (Thursday) at the 26th EORTC-NCI-AACR [1] Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Barcelona, Spain. They show responses in four lymphoma patients who have failed numerous previous treatments and also in one patient with a cancer for which there is no approved medical treatment at all - a malignant rhabdoid ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Older couples in a bad marriage -- particularly female spouses -- have a higher risk for heart disease than those in a good marriage, finds the first nationally representative study of its kind. The findings suggest the need for marriage counseling and programs aimed at promoting marital quality and well-being for couples into their 70s and 80s, said lead investigator Hui Liu, a Michigan State University sociologist. "Marriage counseling is focused largely on younger couples," said Liu, associate professor of sociology. "But these results show ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Scientists have created video games that add an important element of fun to the repetitive training needed to improve vision in people - including adults - with a lazy eye and poor depth perception. The training tools, including a Pac-Man-style "cat and mouse" game and a "search for oddball" game, have produced results in pilot testing: Weak-eye vision improved to 20/20 and 20/50 in two adult research participants with lazy eyes whose vision was 20/25 and 20/63, respectively, before the training began. Unlike the common use of eye patches on dominant ...