By comparing the genes of current-day North and South Americans with African and European populations, an Oxford University study has found the genetic fingerprints of the slave trade and colonisation that shaped migrations to the Americas hundreds of years ago. The team, which also included researchers from UCL (University College London) and the Universita' del Sacro Cuore of Rome, analysed more than 4,000 previously collected DNA samples from 64 different populations, covering multiple locations in Europe, Africa and the Americas. Since migration has generally flowed ...

Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine researchers have discovered a biological clue that could help explain why some drinkers develop a dependence on alcohol and others do not. The findings move researchers closer to identifying those at risk for addiction early and designing better drug treatments to help people stop drinking. About 18 million people in the United States have an alcohol use disorder, according to National Institutes of Health statistics. The vast majority go untreated. "There are few and inadequate pharmacological treatments to help ...

More schooling -- and the more mentally challenging problems tackled in those schools -- may be the best explanation for the dramatic rise in IQ scores during the past century, often referred to as the Flynn Effect, according to a team of researchers. These findings also suggest that environment may have a stronger influence on intelligence than many genetic determinists once thought. Researchers have struggled to explain why IQ scores for developed nations -- and, now, developing nations -- have increased so rapidly during the 20th century, said David Baker, professor ...

Queen's University cancer researcher Madhuri Koti has discovered a biomarker that will help lead to better predictions of the success of chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients. This discovery could lead to better treatment options in the fight against ovarian cancer. Biomarkers are an indicator of a biological state or condition. "Recent successes in harnessing the immune system to combat cancer are evidence for the significant roles of a cancer patient's immune responses in fighting cancer," explains Dr. Koti (Biomedical and Molecular Sciences). "Many of these success ...

National Democratic Party Member of Parliament Megan Leslie is calling on the Canadian government to list microbeads, tiny plastic flakes used in cosmetics, as a potential toxic substance. Health Canada claims the beads are safe for use as an additive, but Leslie says they pose a danger to the aquatic environment. Researchers at the University of Waterloo are warning that microbeads and plastic debris of all sizes could be a bigger environmental problem for the Great Lakes than previously thought. "We know more and more about ocean plastics, but, paradoxically, we have ...

If we are ever to fully harness the power of light for use in optical devices, it is necessary to understand photons - the fundamental unit of light. Achieving such understanding, however, is easier said than done. That's because the physical behavior of photons - similar to electrons and other sub-atomic particles - is characterized not by classical physics, but by quantum mechanics. Now, in a study published in Physical Review Letters, scientists from Bar-Ilan University have observed the point at which classical and quantum behavior converge. Using a fiber-based ...

Tropical Cyclone Nathan has been weakening as it continued to move over land in Australia's Northern Territory on March 24. NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible picture of the storm over land. Just one day before the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite saw some heavy rainfall in Nathan. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite captured rainfall rate and cloud height data when it passed above Nathan on March 23, 2015 at 0631 UTC (2:31 a.m. EDT) before Nathan moved inland. Nathan had intensified and had hurricane force winds of about 65 knots ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts league, has experienced large growth in popularity and economic success in recent years. UFC has achieved this success by marketing to fans who attend live fighting events and who purchase Pay Per View (PPV) options to watch UFC events on television. Now, a researcher at the University of Missouri has found that fans' interest in the sport and, thus, their desire to spend money differs based on the venue. Nicholas Watanabe, an assistant professor of sport management in the MU Department of ...

Children as young as 5 years old are less likely to help a person in need when other children are present and available to help, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. "The children in our study helped at very high levels only when responsibility was clearly attributable to them," explains psychological scientist and lead researcher Maria Plötner of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. "These findings suggest that children at this age take responsibility ...

The recent Ebola outbreak highlighted the challenges to governments and local public health authorities in determining when individuals or populations should be subjected to quarantine. While one state or country can legally enact such laws, others may not. In many instances unintended negative consequences have resulted, and the ensuing chaos has led to major frustration both for patients and medical staff, as well as for local authorities. Donna Barbisch, Institute for Global and Regional Readiness, and co-authors Kristi L. Koenig, UC Irvine, Center for Disaster Medical ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 24, 2015 -- Move over, vapor compression cooling technology. Emerging "elastocaloric" refrigeration is potentially much more efficient and, unlike vapor compression, relies on environmentally-friendly refrigerants. In elastocaloric materials a change in mechanical stress can create a change in temperature. In the Journal of Applied Physics, from AIP Publishing, a team of researchers from Technical University of Denmark report that the elastocaloric effect opens the door to alternative forms of solid-state refrigeration that are direct replacements ...

WASHINGTON D.C., March 24, 2015 - Attempting to develop a novel type of permanent magnet, a team of researchers at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland has discovered a new class of magnetic materials based on Mn-Ga alloys. Described as a zero-moment half metal this week in the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing, the new Mn2RuxGa magnetic alloy has some unique properties that give it the potential to revolutionize data storage and significantly increase wireless data transmission speeds. The discovery realizes a goal researchers have sought for several ...

Among patients with symptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis (narrowing of an artery inside the brain), the use of a balloon-expandable stent compared with medical therapy (clopidogrel and aspirin) resulted in an increased of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), according to a study in the March 24/31 issue of JAMA. Intracranial arterial stenosis is a common cause of stroke worldwide. The recurrent stroke risk with severe symptomatic intracranial stenosis may be as high as 23 percent at 1 year, despite medical therapy, according to background information in the ...

An analysis of the trends in salaries of registered nurses (RNs) in the United States from 1988 through 2013 finds that male RNs outearned female RNs across settings, specialties, and positions, with no narrowing of the pay gap over time, according to a study in the March 24/31 issue of JAMA. Fifty years after the Equal Pay Act, the male-female salary gap has narrowed in many occupations. Yet pay inequality persists for certain occupations, including medicine and nursing. Studies have documented higher salaries for male registered nurses, although analyses have not considered ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 24, 2015 - Silicon solar cells dominate 90 percent of the global photovoltaic market today, yet the record power conversion efficiency of silicon photovoltaics has progressed merely from 25 percent to 25.6 percent during the past 15 years -- meaning the industry is keen to explore alternatives. A collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford University may be poised to shake things up in the solar energy world. By exploring ways to create solar cells using low-cost manufacturing methods, the team has developed ...

A multivalent candidate vaccine elicits broad antibody responses to a range of norovirus strains, including strains not included in the vaccine or previously encountered by participants, according to a new study published this week in PLOS Medicine. The results of the study, led by Lisa Lindesmith and Ralph Baric of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, indicate that a vaccine to norovirus may be available in the future. Worldwide, noroviruses cause one in five cases of viral gastroenteritis. An estimated annual 300 million cases of norovirus infection contribute ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass--Researchers at MIT and Stanford University have developed a new kind of solar cell that combines two different layers of sunlight-absorbing material in order to harvest a broader range of the sun's energy. The development could lead to photovoltaic cells that are more efficient than those currently used in solar-power installations, the researchers say. The new cell uses a layer of silicon -- which forms the basis for most of today's solar panels -- but adds a semi-transparent layer of a material called perovskite, which can absorb higher-energy particles ...

After decades of debate there remains no generally accepted definition of a "natural" food product. Regulatory agencies have refused to settle the issue but may be under new pressure from consumer lawsuits, according to a new study in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. "Consumers don't agree on a definition either, yet clearly believe that 'natural' is important," writes author Ross D. Petty (Babson College). "In 2009, 30% of newly launched foods claimed to be natural but by 2013 this dropped to 22%, possibly due to an increase in the number of consumer lawsuits. ...

New research from NYU Langone orthopaedic surgeons finds patients with diabetes who fracture their ankle incur significantly more inpatient health care costs compared to patients who do not have diabetes. The research, led by Kenneth A. Egol, MD, a professor and vice chair of education in the Department of Orthoapedic Surgery at NYU Langone, showed patients with diabetes who undergo ankle fracture surgery have significantly longer lengths of stay and total hospital charges compared to non-diabetics, with worse trends seen among patients with complicated disease. NYU ...

Philadelphia, PA, March 24, 2015 - In a new study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, researchers from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill compared the relative risks of laparoscopic hysterectomy (with morcellation) with abdominal surgery for hysterectomy in premenopausal women undergoing surgery for presumed uterine fibroids. Examining short- and long-term complications, quality of life, and overall mortality, they found that abdominal surgery carries a higher risk of complications, decreased quality of life, and death. Hysterectomy ...

Adolescent patients who need scoliosis surgery may benefit most from going to a hospital that performs a high volume of the procedures, according to new research from NYU Langone spine surgeons presented March 24 at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 2015 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas. Researchers looked at a New York State database of hospital discharges and identified 3,928 surgeries for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, and found reoperation rates were significantly lower among surgeons who perform a high volume of the procedures. Specifically, 14.1 percent ...

WHAT: Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, have determined that certain red blood cell traits in children can increase or decrease their risk for malaria. The findings could help identify future targets for new malaria drugs and vaccines. From 2008 to 2011, NIAID scientists and their collaborators followed 1,543 children ranging from 6 months to 17 years old in Mali, a West African country with a high incidence of childhood malaria. Throughout the study period, the children experienced a ...

Despite catastrophic earthquakes, the most vulnerable residents do not take steps to prepare themselves against future disaster, according to a new study in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. The authors provide an example from southern Spain. "Spain's persistent economic crisis and unemployment rate suggest that many residents of southern Spain belong to this vulnerable segment," write authors Shintaro Okazaki (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Amadeo Benavent-Climent (University of Madrid), Angeles Navarro (Universidad de Murcia), and Jörg Henseler (University ...

Online word-of-mouth communications are having a significant effect on product sales, yet research to date has failed to understand why that effect fluctuates, according to a new study in the Journal of Marketing. "Previous investigation into online communications had focused on product reviews, but it was clear that far more information was needed," write authors Ya You (College of Charleston), Gautham G. Vadakkepatt (George Mason University), and Amit M. Joshi (University of Central Florida). "The current study hypothesized that additional platforms such as blogs, ...

Consumers are tuning out TV commercials, making advertisers run louder, higher-energy ads to force their attention. This may be backfiring critically when consumers are watching sad or relaxing shows, according to a new study in the Journal of Marketing. "This research stands to fundamentally change the ways advertisers approach the use of commercials," write authors Nancy M. Puccinelli (Oxford University), Keith Wilcox (Columbia University), and Dhruv Grewal (Babson College). "Firms will realize substantially greater success if they use moderately energetic commercials ...