(New York, NY, June 1, 2015)-- The Big Apple is one of the most walkable cities in the nation, providing many opportunities for physical activity, and New Yorkers are more likely to exercise regularly than the average U.S. adult. But they are also sitting far more than what is considered healthy. According to a new study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in its journal Preventing Chronic Disease, the average New York City resident sits more than seven hours a day--greatly exceeding the three hours or more per day that is associated with ...

HOUSTON - (June 2, 2015) - Hispanics and women in Texas showed the largest percentage of reductions in rates of uninsured since enrollment began in the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Health Insurance Marketplace, according to a new report released today by the Episcopal Health Foundation and Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. The report found that from September 2013 to March 2015, the percentage of Hispanics without health insurance fell 38 percent (from 39.1 percent uninsured to 24.3 percent), more than any other ethnic group. The percentage of uninsured ...

HOUSTON - (June 2, 2015) - Women who suffer from fibromyalgia benefit from a treatment regimen in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, according to researchers at Rice University and institutes in Israel. A clinical trial involving women diagnosed with fibromyalgia showed the painful condition improved in every one of the 48 who completed two months of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Brain scans of the women before and after treatment gave credence to the theory that abnormal conditions in pain-related areas of the brain may be responsible for the syndrome. Results of the study ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A new study by University at Buffalo geographers explores how humans altered the arboreal make-up of Western New York forests before European settlers arrived in large numbers. The research looked at land survey data from around 1799-1814, and used this information to model which tree species were present in different areas of Chautauqua County, New York, at that time. The analysis placed hickory, chestnut and oak trees in larger-than-expected numbers near the historical sites of Native American villages, said co-author Steve Tulowiecki, who conducted ...

MAYWOOD, Ill. - Drawing on its Jesuit Catholic heritage, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine has long understood the importance of reflection in medical education as a key element in physician formation. With physician burnout on the rise, it is all the more integral for students to learn ways to engage better with the challenges faced in the medical profession. Stritch faculty members believe reflection is a fundamental tool to help students process and cope with the tremendous physical, emotional, and mental pressure that can accompany their vocation. These ...

Hamilton, ON (June 2, 2015) - What causes us to lose muscle strength as we age and how exercise can prevent it from happening has never been thoroughly understood, but McMaster University researchers have discovered a key protein required to maintain muscle mass and muscle strength during aging. This important finding means new and existing drugs targeting the protein may potentially be used to preserve muscle function during aging. "We found that the body's fuel gauge, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), is vital to slow muscle wasting with aging," said Gregory Steinberg, ...

Researchers of the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg have discovered with the help of computer models how gut bacteria respond to changes in their environment - such as a decrease in oxygen levels or nutrient availability. Microorganisms that normally compete or overthrow one another can switch to a cooperative lifestyle when their living conditions change: They even start producing substances to make life easier for the other species, helping them to survive. The entire microbial community then stabilises - and together adapts ...

New Orleans, Louisiana - June 1, 2015 - The skin microbiome is considered our first line of defense against pathogens. Across our bodies, we are covered with a diverse assemblage of bacteria. However, the skin can be a harsh environment for beneficial bacteria to live on due to UV exposure, high salinity, and desiccation stress. Research being presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology found that these suboptimal conditions may cause some bacteria to enter a dormant state, while other bacteria may simply die. In this study, Sarah Cummins ...

New Orleans, Louisiana - June 1, 2015 - Prevalence of a recently discovered serotype of oral bacterium, with a possible link to a number of systemic diseases, was found for the first time in a small cohort of African-American schoolchildren in a southwest Alabama town, according to research being presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. Streptococcus mutans serotype k, first discovered in Japan in 2004, has been linked to a number of systemic diseases, including bacteremia, infective endocarditis and hemorrhagic stroke. "However, the bacteria ...

New Orleans, Louisiana - May 31, 2015 - The antibacterial effectiveness of Agion silver zeolite technology was tested on door handles across the Penn State Erie campus and after four years of sampling, a significant difference was observed between the bacterial populations isolated from silver versus control-coated door handles. This research is presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. "In our study we have analyzed the bacterial populations found on silver- and control-coated door handles within four different building on the Penn State ...

A new study led by UC Santa Cruz researchers has found that a protein associated with cancer cells is a powerful suppressor of the biological clock that drives the daily ("circadian") rhythms of cells throughout the body. The discovery, published in the June 4 issue of Molecular Cell (and online now), adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting a link between cancer and disruption of circadian rhythms, while offering new insights into the molecular mechanisms of the biological clock. The ticking of the biological clock drives fluctuations in gene activity and protein ...

A Northwestern University team has confirmed a new way to help the airline industry save dollars while also saving the environment. And the solution comes in three dimensions. By manufacturing aircrafts' metal parts with 3-D printing, airlines could save a significant amount of fuel, materials, and other resources. Led by Eric Masanet, the team used aircraft industry data to complete a case study of the life-cycle environmental effects of using 3-D printing for select metal aircraft parts, a technique that is already being adopted by the industry. The team concluded that ...

Carnegie Mellon University chemists, led by Mark Bier, have separated and weighed virus particles using mass spectrometry (MS). This is the first time that researchers successfully used matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization MS to analyze a mixture of intact virus particles. Bier, research professor of chemistry and director of Carnegie Mellon's Center for Molecular Analysis, and graduate student Logan Plath will present their findings in a poster session at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics today, June 2, ...

In a clinical study of patients in the United States and China, researchers found that a low-cost, portable, battery-powered microendoscope developed by Rice University bioengineers could eventually eliminate the need for costly biopsies for many patients undergoing standard endoscopic screening for esophageal cancer. The research is available online in the journal Gastroenterology and was co-authored by researchers from nearly a dozen institutions that include Rice, Baylor College of Medicine, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the National Cancer Institute. The ...

BOSTON, MA - Use of antidepressants late in pregnancy has been controversial since the FDA issued a Public Health Advisory in 2006 warning that the use of antidepressants in late pregnancy may increase risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN), a condition that typically occurs in term or near-term infants and presents within hours of birth with severe respiratory failure requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation. The 2006 public health advisory was based on a single epidemiologic study that found a six-fold increase in risk associated with ...

An analysis of approximately 3.8 million pregnancies finds that use of antidepressants late in pregnancy may be associated with an increased risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN), according to a study in the June 2 issue of JAMA. However, the absolute risk was small and the risk increase appears more modest than suggested in previous studies. PPHN is a rare but life-threatening condition that occurs when a newborn's circulation system doesn't adapt to breathing outside the womb. Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn is associated with ...

Implementation of a pre-surgical intervention that included screening for the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, treating patients who were positive for this bacteria, and the administration of antibiotics based on these culture results was associated with a modest reduction in S. aureus surgical site infections, according to a study in the June 2 issue of JAMA. S. aureus carriage increases the risk of S. aureus surgical site infections (SSIs). The risk for these infections may be decreased by screening patients for nasal carriage of S. aureus and decolonizing carriers ...

An analysis of the use of computerized clinical decision support systems regarding orders for advanced diagnostic imaging found that the systems failed to identify relevant appropriateness criteria for the majority of orders, according to a study in the June 2 issue of JAMA. Computerized clinical decision support (CDS) systems that match patient characteristics against appropriateness criteria to produce algorithmic treatment recommendations are a potential means of improving care. The Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 mandates use of CDS systems for the ordering ...

Using tools that help physicians decide whether to use expensive imaging studies such as MRI scans can help reduce the ordering of unnecessary tests, but implementation of the tools in real-world settings has many challenges, according to a new RAND Corporation study. The tools, computer-based programs that match a patient's characteristics against treatment criteria and recommend a treatment, helped increase the proportion of tests for Medicare fee-for-service patients rated as appropriate, according to findings published in the June 2 edition of the Journal of the American ...

This news release is available in French. Montreal, June 2nd, 2015 - A team of researchers from Universite de Montreal, Polytechnique Montreal and the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) in France is the first to succeed in preventing two-dimensional layers of black phosphorus from oxidating. In so doing, they have opened the doors to exploiting their striking properties in a number of electronic and optoelectronic devices. The study's results were published in the prestigious journal Nature Materials. Black phosphorus: future key player in new technologies Black ...

Any box or bottle of over-the-counter (OTC) medicine lists its active ingredients prominently on the label. But are consumers using that information to make wise choices about taking two or more OTC drugs at the same time? Probably not, suggests a new study in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. "A consumer who takes a cold medicine containing, for instance, acetaminophen, may see nothing wrong with taking an additional medicine that also contains acetaminophen," write authors Jesse R. Catlin (California State University, Sacramento), Connie Pechmann (University ...

You go to the grocery store to buy a pound of ground beef and a can of tomato sauce. You walk out with the ground beef, the sauce, and a bag of chocolate-covered almonds, a silicon spatula, and the latest celebrity magazine. What happened? According to a new study in the Journal of Marketing, what and when you purchased determined the array of items you eventually bought. "Shoppers enter the grocery store planning to buy certain things, but are tempted to buy unplanned items," write authors Timothy J. Gilbride (University of Notre Dame), Jeffrey Inman (University of Pittsburgh), ...

Consumers often complain that online companies violate their privacy--but the problem may be with the consumers themselves. According to a new study in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, there can be a big discrepancy between what consumers believe that online privacy policies promise and what those policies do in fact promise. Many consumers assume policy protections that were never there. "The difference between the level of privacy consumers think they have after reading a privacy notice and the level of privacy they actually have can be striking," writes the ...

A new study by a University of Toronto Mississauga researcher has taken the first-ever look at the academic outcomes of children with epilepsy who have had brain surgery, and found that they have a higher chance of struggling in class following their surgery. Psychology professor Mary Lou Smith was co-leader of a team of researchers who studied the arithmetic, spelling, reading and reading comprehension abilities of children after having resective epilepsy surgery, a procedure that involves removing a part of the brain in order to halt seizures. The patients completed ...

Not too long ago, Microsoft mailed loyal Xbox customers an e-card encoded with twenty-five cents' worth of Microsoft points. The software behemoth might have thought it was showing appreciation. But recipients of the company's "generosity" might have felt "Is that all I'm worth?" According to a new study in the Journal of Marketing, companies that bestow monetary gifts in too small amounts can leave customers feeling, well, small. "Financial acknowledgments, if they are too insignificant, can definitely backfire," write authors Peggy J. Liu (Duke University), Cait Lamberton ...