ANN ARBOR—Forget the "me" generation. A new analysis of long-term trends in egotism shows there's been a "me" century in America. The analysis, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, shows that characteristics related to self-interest, compared to interest in the lives and needs of other people, was low during the 19th century but rose steadily after the turn of the 20th century. "We found that self-interest tends to peak after economic booms," said William Chopik, a doctoral candidate in psychology at U-M and first author of the paper just published ...

Researchers from The Netherlands found that snacking on high-fat and high-sugar foods was independently associated with abdominal fat and fatty liver (hepatic steatosis). According to the study published in Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, hypercaloric diet with frequent meals increases intrahepatic triglyceride content (IHTG) and fat around the waist, but increasing meal size did not. Obesity is a global health concern with the World Health Organization reporting that more than 200 million men and close to 300 million ...

New research in Biotropica asks FIFA to follow through with its environmental claims. The 2014 FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup will be played in Brazil. Its "Football for the Planet" program aims to monitor greenhouse gasses, provide environmentally friendly stadiums, and better waste management. However, FIFA has not maximized this opportunity. In an article published in the upcoming issue, researchers challenge the role that FIFA and the Brazilian government play in protecting the environment, asking both to: protect 1,000 hectares ...

Behavior-change techniques are not well represented in the marketing materials for top-rated physical-activity apps, according to a team of Penn State researchers. They also found that two types of physical-activity apps are available on the market -- those that focus on educating users on how to perform different exercises and those that focus on supporting users' motivation for physical activity. "The app marketplace is largely unregulated and users make decisions based on developers' descriptions of apps," said David Conroy, professor of kinesiology. "Our results ...

The sight of seabirds following trawlers in order to feast from discarded fish is a common maritime sight, but each year many thousands of seabirds are killed by overhanging cables or in nets. New research in Animal Conservation assesses mortality figures from South Africa to show that a simple bird scaring line can reduce the mortality rate by over 90%. The research compiled data from five years of observations to compare current and historic mortality rates. Previous research shows that in 2006 approximately 18,000 seabirds were killed each year by the South African ...

Thanks to the efforts of an international group of scientists – one of them is Tobias Bolch from Technische Universität Dresden, Germany - who have mapped all of the world's glaciers, glaciologists can now study with unprecedented accuracy the impacts of a changing climate on glaciers worldwide, and determine their total extent and volume on a glacier-by-glacier basis. Overall, glaciers cover an area of about 730,000 km2 and have a volume of about 170,000 km3. The scientists found nearly 200,000 of them, but they say that this is the least important result of the mapping ...

VIDEO: This movie is a simple 0 m to -210 m geographical loop sequence at 5 m increments. Important features are the substantial gaps between Galapagos' "core " islands even at -100... Click here for more information. The Galapagos Islands have an iconic status in the history of evolutionary study, now new research shows that the islands' own geological past may have influenced the evolution of the chain's native species. Writing in the Journal of Biogeography, ...

WASHINGTON -- People who grew up with a parent who abused alcohol may be 85 percent more likely to attempt suicide than people whose parents did not abuse alcohol, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. Furthermore, having divorced parents increased by 14 percent the risk that a person would try to take his or her own life when compared to people whose parents did not divorce, the study found. But putting those two factors together - parents who abuse alcohol and are divorced -- did not increase suicide attempts, according to the study, ...

TORONTO, ON – People who claim to see "Jesus in toast" may no longer be mocked in the future thanks to a new study by researchers at the University of Toronto and partner institutions in China. Researchers have found that the phenomenon of "face pareidolia"--where onlookers report seeing images of Jesus, Virgin Mary, or Elvis in objects such as toasts, shrouds, and clouds--is normal and based on physical causes. "Most people think you have to be mentally abnormal to see these types of images, so individuals reporting this phenomenon are often ridiculed", says lead researcher ...

ATLANTA--Chimpanzees have almost the same personality traits as humans, and they are structured almost identically, according to new work led by researchers at Georgia State University. The research also shows some of those traits have a neurobiological basis, and that those traits vary according to the biological sex of the individual chimpanzee. "Our work also demonstrates the promise of using chimpanzee models to investigate the neurobiology of personality processes," said Assistant Professor Robert Latzman of Psychology, who led the research team. "We know that ...

Although the nation is spending more on welfare than ever before, most of that money is going to better-off families rather than the very poorest, a researcher found. Robert A. Moffitt, the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Economics at the Johns Hopkins University, found that the United States has become more generous over time in supporting low-income families, spending 74 percent more in inflation-adjusted dollars on welfare programs in 2007 than in 1975. But for the 2.5 million single parent families with the absolute lowest levels of earnings, aid dropped 35 percent ...

Orlando, Fla. — In two separate studies, scientists have developed methods to convert non-embryonic stem cells into eye cells that could be used to restore sight. The research is being presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Orlando. In the first method, researchers converted cells taken from the front of a patient's eye into stem cells, which were then programmed to become nerve cells found in the back of the eye. The second study involved introducing stem cells to a single growth factor, which ...

Orlando, Fla. — In an effort to avoid serious side effects suffered after surgery to repair retinal detachment, vision scientists have developed a new product to help stabilize the eye while it heals. The research is being presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Orlando, Fla. In a recent study, Healaflow® a gel based on one of the most common compounds found in the liquid that fills the eye, was tested in rabbit eyes. After surgery to repair retinal detachment in the rabbits, Healaflow® did ...

Orlando, Fla. — Scientists have developed the first reversible glue that could be used on the battlefield to treat eye injuries, potentially saving soldiers' vision. The research is being presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Orlando, Fla. When applied to a wounded eye, the adhesive warms up and becomes sticky, sealing the wound and minimizing further damage while the soldier is transported for treatment. Upon arriving at a hospital, doctors can simply apply cool saline solution to the glue, ...

SEATTLE – Economic findings were released today on the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), estrogen plus progestin (E+P) trial. The WHI is one of the largest National Institutes of Health-funded studies ever conducted on women. Housed at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, it is a 15-year, multimillion-dollar study established in 1991, involving more than 160,000 women nationwide, including some 3,500 in Washington. The overall economic return from the WHI E+P trial indicates that changes in practice stemming from the trial provided a net economic return ...

An antioxidant that targets specific cell structures—mitochondria—may be able to reverse some of the negative effects of aging on arteries, reducing the risk of heart disease, according to a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder. When the research team gave old mice—the equivalent of 70- to 80-year-old humans—water containing an antioxidant known as MitoQ for four weeks, their arteries functioned as well as the arteries of mice with an equivalent human age of just 25 to 35 years. The researchers believe that MitoQ affects the endothelium, a thin layer of cells ...

Orlando, Fla. — New research finds that cataract surgery dramatically decreases the number of falls individuals suffer due to poor vision. The research is being presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Orlando, Fla. In a study of more than 400 Vietnamese patients who were 50-plus years old with cataracts in both eyes, the number of falls patients suffered before and after cataract surgery was monitored. Researchers found a 78% decrease in the risk of falls the year after patients had cataract ...

Orlando, Fla. — Scientists have developed a model that mimics the complex structure of the cornea to enable the transplant of healthy corneal stem cells. The research is being presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) this week in Orlando Fla. Used to restore sight, corneal stem cells live in a specific physical environment. Transplanting these stem cells requires accurate mimicry of their natural surroundings during transport. In this work, vision scientists have recreated the 3D architecture where corneal ...

An international team of astronomers has made a measurement of a distant neutron star that is one million times more precise than the previous world's best. The researchers were able to use the interstellar medium, the 'empty' space between stars and galaxies that is made up of sparsely spread charged particles, as a giant lens to magnify and look closely at the radio wave emission from a small rotating neutron star. This technique yielded the highest resolution measurement ever achieved, equivalent to being able to see the double-helix structure of our genes from the ...

Dr. Ruxu Zhang and colleagues from Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University in China previously found that the K141N mutation in heat shock protein B8 (HSPB8) was responsible for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2L in a large Chinese family. Therefore, they generated a transgenic mouse model bearing the K141N mutation in the human HSPB8 gene, and to determine whether this K141NHSPB8 transgenic mouse model would manifest the clinical phenotype of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2L, and consequently be suitable for use in studies of disease pathogenesis. The K141NHSPB8 ...

Different types of retinal damage could induce plastic changes of retinal synapses, which might precede the serious damage of neuron soma. These morphological and functional changes to synapses after retinal injury could explain why many intervention measures protected neurons from death but failed to fully recover the damaged visual function. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate both the protection of synapses as well as protecting neurons from death. Dr. Lihong Zhou and co-workers from Central South University in China suggested that retinal glial cell activation ...

Currently, the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease is not entirely clear, but it has been generally considered to be the result of interactions among various genetic and environmental factors. Ting Zou and coworkers from Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University in China previously found that Parkin mutation causes Parkin-associated endothelin receptor-like receptor (Pael-R) protein deposition, and the associated cytotoxicity leads to dopaminergic neuronal apoptosis. These researchers speculated that the Pael-R gene is possibly involved in the action of rotenone ...

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction is associated with neuronal apoptosis, which may result from post-surgery inflammation, the phosphorylation of tau protein and the accumulation of amyloid in aged people. 5′adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) can be involved in anti-inflammation, neuronal repair and anti-inflammation of the body through different downstream proteins and pathways. In addition, the activation of AMPK regulates tau protein phosphorylation and reduces amyloidogenesis in neurons. Yanlin Bi and co-workers from the Affiliated Qianfoshan ...

"We are turning the professional social workers into moral agents. This development recalls a time before the welfare state, when we had poor relief and when the extent to which the state could help you depended on your own dignity." This is the assertion by Marie Østergaard Møller, who is associate professor at the Department of Political Science and Government, Aarhus University regarding the labour market policy that has been carried out in Denmark since the 1990s. More specifically, since 1994 the opportunities for citizens to get relief from the state have been reduced. ...

Overlapping impacts of climate change such as drought or flooding, declining crop yields or ecosystem damages create hotspots of risk in specific parts of Africa. These are for the first time identified in a study now published by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. The uncertainties in assessing the impacts do not necessarily hamper but can inform development strategies, according to the scientists. Likelihood and potential severity of impacts can be weighed to decide on suitable adaptation measures. "We found three regions to be amongst those most at ...