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Social Science 2015-08-24

Lightness/darkness of skin affects male immigrants' likelihood of gaining employment

CHICAGO -- Skin color is a significant factor in the probability of employment for male immigrants to the United States, according to a new study by two University of Kansas (KU) researchers. The researchers, Andrea Gomez Cervantes, a doctoral candidate in sociology, and ChangHwan Kim, an associate professor of sociology, found that among men, darker skin color negatively influenced their likelihood of employment, even after accounting for the effects of race and other demographic and education related variables. The negative effect of darker skin color was particularly ...
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Medicine 2015-08-24

Heart medications that target stress may help prolong survival in women with ovarian cancer

A new analysis of patient records indicates that certain drugs taken to improve heart health may also have anti-cancer properties. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings indicate that additional studies are warranted to determine whether patients with cancer may benefit from adding beta blockers to their treatment regimen. There is growing evidence that stress hormones can stimulate cancer to grow and spread. Beta blockers, which are drugs commonly used to treat hypertension and other heart-related conditions, ...
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Science 2015-08-24

One in 5 over-65s who drink alcohol do so at unsafe levels

One in five older people who drink alcohol are consuming it at unsafe levels - over 21 units of alcohol for men and 14 units for women each week - according to a study by King's College London. The research in inner-city London, published in BMJ Open, found these unsafe older drinkers are more likely to be of higher socioeconomic status. The researchers used anonymised electronic GP health records for 27,991 people aged 65 and over in the Borough of Lambeth in London. From these records, they identified 9,248 older people who had reported consuming alcohol and of these ...
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Physics 2015-08-24

New study indicates magnetic stimulation effective in reducing bed-wetting

Amsterdam, NL, August 24, 2015 - Bedwetting, or nocturnal enuresis, causes distress in children and young adults, as well as for their parents or caregivers. The causes are not fully understood and there may be both physiological and psychological components to the condition. In a new study published in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, researchers report that repetitive sacral root magnetic stimulation (rSMS) can reduce the frequency of nighttime bedwetting and improve quality-of-life for sufferers. In a study conducted by researchers at the Assiut University Hospital, ...
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Science 2015-08-23

Want a better relationship and a better sex life?

CHICAGO-If men take up more of the child-care duties, splitting them equally with their female partners, heterosexual couples have more satisfaction with their relationships and their sex lives, according to new research by Georgia State University sociologists. The research was presented Aug. 23 at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. Daniel L. Carlson, along with graduate students Sarah Hanson and Andrea Fitzroy used data from more than 900 heterosexual couples' responses in the 2006 Marital Relationship Study (MARS). The researchers found ...
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Physics 2015-08-23

Polygamy and alcohol linked to physical abuse in African marriages

CHICAGO -- African women in polygamous marriages or with alcoholic husbands have a significantly higher risk of being physically abused by their husbands than women in monogamous marriages or women whose husbands don't abuse alcohol, new research shows. A trio of researchers pulled data from the Demographic Health Survey to look at intimate partner physical violence in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. The four countries have high rates of domestic violence. The researchers selected the countries based on the availability of timely data and to represent different regions ...
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Science 2015-08-23

Study finds people's spiritual awareness varies throughout the day

CHICAGO -- People who report having spiritual awareness have it vary throughout the day, rather than being constant, according to a study by University of Connecticut researchers. The study, which will be presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA), found that people had the highest levels of spiritual awareness in the morning and while engaged in activities such as praying, worship, and meditation. Spiritual awareness also was high when people listened to music, read, or exercised. It was low while people were doing work-related ...
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Science 2015-08-23

US has 5 percent of world's population, but had 31 percent of its public mass shooters from 1966-2012

CHICAGO -- Despite having only about 5 percent of the world's population, the United States was the attack site for a disproportionate 31 percent of public mass shooters globally from 1966-2012, according to new research that will be presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA). "The United States, Yemen, Switzerland, Finland, and Serbia are ranked as the Top 5 countries in firearms owned per capita, according to the 2007 Small Arms Survey, and my study found that all five are ranked in the Top 15 countries in public mass shooters ...
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Science 2015-08-23

Couples that split childcare duties have higher quality relationships and sex lives

CHICAGO -- Heterosexual couples that split childcare duties have higher quality relationships and sex lives than those who don't, according to new research that will be presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA). The study by Daniel L. Carlson, an assistant professor of sociology at Georgia State University (GSU), and GSU graduate students Sarah Hanson and Andrea Fitzroy, used data from 487 heterosexual couples in the 2006 Marital and Relationship Survey (MARS). The GSU researchers grouped the couples, all of whom had children, ...
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Science 2015-08-23

Study explores how nations' policies affect mothers' ability to balance work-family life

CHICAGO -- When it comes to supporting working mothers, the United States' work-family welfare policies leave much to be desired, according to a comparative study of working mothers in multiple countries by the University of Texas (UT) at Austin. "Work-family policies reflect and reinforce ideologies about gender: what men and women 'should' and 'shouldn't' do," said study author Caitlyn Collins, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at UT Austin. "Through policies, countries say something about their citizens and shape the opportunities available to them." In ...
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Medicine 2015-08-23

Study suggests same-sex couples face more obstacles to infertility treatment

CHICAGO -- Same-sex couples encounter more obstacles to treatment for infertility than opposite-sex couples, suggests a new study that will be presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA). "For example, same-sex couples often must undergo psychological evaluations before being treated for infertility -- a process that is not normally required for opposite-sex couples," said study author Ann V. Bell, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Delaware, who noted that the U.S. medical system is standardized to work ...
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Environment 2015-08-23

Demand for coffee can create ecological, economic rift with poorer nations

CHICAGO -- The explosion in worldwide coffee consumption in the past two decades has generally not benefitted farmers of coffee beans in poorer nations along the equator. A University of Kansas (KU) researcher studying trade and globalization has found that the shift to "technified" coffee production in the 1970s and 1980s has created harsher economic and ecological consequences for heavy coffee-producing nations, such as Honduras, Colombia, Guatemala, Brazil, Vietnam and Ethiopia. "Historically, coffee has been exploited by the West in various ways, because it's consumed ...
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Science 2015-08-22

Study shows TV's subliminal influence on women's perception of pregnancy and birth

CHICAGO -- In an era where popular culture is increasingly recognized for its impact on lay understanding of health and medicine, few scholars have looked at television's powerful role in the creation of patient expectations, especially regarding pregnancy and birth. As part of a larger research project funded by a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant, Danielle Bessett, an assistant professor of sociology in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati, examined how women understand their television viewing practices ...
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Science 2015-08-22

Americans support local food markets to feel part of something bigger than themselves

CHICAGO -- More Americans than ever before are supporting their local food markets, and it's not just because they believe the food is fresher and tastes better. According to a new University of Iowa (UI) study, people are shopping at farmers markets and joining food co-ops in record numbers because they enjoy knowing who grows their food. These so-called "locavores" are also driven to eat locally grown produce and locally raised meat because their commitment to do so makes them feel a part of something greater than themselves -- a community that shares their passion ...
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Engineering 2015-08-22

Veterans live in more diverse neighborhoods than their civilian counterparts of same race

CHICAGO -- When members of the U.S. military leave the service, they tend to settle in neighborhoods with greater overall diversity than their civilian counterparts of the same race, according to a new study that will be presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA). "It's encouraging that having served in the military appears to have a long-term impact on how people choose their neighborhoods," said study co-author Mary J. Fischer, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut. "According to the social contact ...
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Science 2015-08-22

Women more likely than men to initiate divorces, but not non-marital breakups

CHICAGO -- Women are more likely than men to initiate divorces, but women and men are just as likely to end non-marital relationships, according to a new study that will be presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA). "The breakups of non-marital heterosexual relationships in the U.S. are quite gender neutral and fairly egalitarian," said study author Michael Rosenfeld, an associate professor of sociology at Stanford University. "This was a surprise because the only prior research that had been done on who wanted the breakup was ...
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Social Science 2015-08-22

Unmarried women: Politically cohesive, more concerned about women's status

CHICAGO -- Why do unmarried women tend to be more liberal and Democratic than their married counterparts? A key reason is because unmarried women -- those who have never been married and those who are divorced -- are more concerned about the status of women as a collective group, suggests a new study that will be presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA). "Over 67 percent of never married women and 66 percent of divorced women perceive what happens to other women as having some or a lot to do with what happens in their own ...
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Science 2015-08-22

American women use book club memberships in dating field

CHICAGO -- For American women, a book club membership means more than having status as a reader, as it might pay dividends to them in the dating field as well. A University of Kansas (KU) researcher as part of a study on gendered sexuality compared women's book clubs in Colorado and Ireland and made the finding regarding how the women in each country used the role of reading in romantic relationships. "American women utilized their status as readers and book club members to increase their popularity in the dating field and explained that they would never date or marry ...
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Energy 2015-08-22

Both sides framed Keystone XL Pipeline debate in Nebraska

CHICAGO -- As supporters and opponents of the proposed Keystone XL (KXL) Pipeline testified at public hearings in Nebraska between 2010-2013, several interest groups attempted to frame the debate in different ways. A University of Kansas (KU) researcher who examined 528 testimonies from public hearings in Nebraska said the debate boiled down to a confrontation between stakeholders in two types of natural resources: water from the Oglala Aquifer and bitumen extracted from Alberta, Canada. "It's not a battle between these two resources, but the cultural values people ...
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Social Science 2015-08-21

Teaching vocab to kids early may lead to better academics, behavior

Two-year-old children with larger oral vocabularies enter U.S. kindergarten classrooms better at reading and mathematics as well as better behaved, according to a team of researchers lead by Paul Morgan, associate professor of education policy studies, Penn State. Other research has found that children who are doing better academically in kindergarten are more likely to go to college, get married, own homes and live in higher-income households. "Our findings provide compelling evidence for oral vocabulary's theorized importance as a multifaceted contributor to children's ...
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Social Science 2015-08-21

GVSU professor finds social surveys no longer accurately measure sex and gender in US

ALLENDALE, Mich. -- New research released by professors from Grand Valley State University and Stanford University reveals most social surveys in the U.S. are not measuring what surveyors think is being measured in regard to sex and gender. "The way that surveys have historically measured sex and gender and how they still continue to do so does not align with current gender theory or lived experiences," said Laurel Westbrook, associate professor of sociology at Grand Valley and co-author of the study. "While gender theorists see sex and gender as separate concepts, surveys ...
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Chestnut leaves yield extract that disarms deadly staph bacteria
Medicine 2015-08-21

Chestnut leaves yield extract that disarms deadly staph bacteria

Leaves of the European chestnut tree contain ingredients with the power to disarm dangerous staph bacteria without boosting its drug resistance, scientists have found. PLOS ONE is publishing the study of a chestnut leaf extract, rich in ursene and oleanene derivatives, that blocks Staphlococcus aureus virulence and pathogenesis without detectable resistance. The use of chestnut leaves in traditional folk remedies inspired the research, led by Cassandra Quave, an ethnobotanist at Emory University. "We've identified a family of compounds from this plant that have an ...
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Medicine 2015-08-21

Improving cardiorespiratory fitness reduces risk of arrhythmia recurrence

WASHINGTON (August 24, 2015) -- Obese atrial fibrillation patients have a lower chance of arrhythmia recurrence if they have high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, and risk continues to decline as exercise capacity increases as part of treatment, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Cardiorespiratory fitness gain provides an incremental gain over weight loss in long-term freedom from arrhythmia. "While weight loss is important for heart disease patients, especially those with arrhythmia, our study shows it's ...
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Science 2015-08-21

Study finds that genetic ancestry partially explains 1 racial sleep difference

DARIEN, IL - A new study clearly establishes a partial genetic basis underlying racial differences in slow-wave sleep, suggesting that it may be possible to develop sleep-related therapies that target specific genetic variants. Using a panel of 1,698 ancestry informative genetic markers, the study found that greater African genetic ancestry was associated with lower amounts of slow-wave sleep in African-American adults. African ancestry explained 11 percent of the variation in slow-wave sleep after adjustment for potential confounders. Although a similar association was ...
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Physics 2015-08-21

Graphene oxide's secret properties revealed at atomic level

Since its discovery, graphene has captured the attention of scientists and engineers for its many extraordinary properties. But graphene oxide -- an oxidized derivative of graphene -- largely has been viewed as graphene's inferior cousin. "Graphene is so perfect," said Northwestern Engineering's Jiaxing Huang. "And graphene oxide is more defective, so it's like the weaker, less exciting version of graphene." Now a Northwestern University team has found that graphene oxide's seemingly undesirable defects surprisingly give rise to exciting mechanical properties. Led by ...
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