COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Adolescence can be an impressionable time for girls as they begin forming ideas about dating and sexuality. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that sisters often take on key roles of confidants, sources of support and mentors during conversations about romantic relationships. Sisters may be helpful in health education efforts to promote safe-sex practices and healthy romantic relationships. "Our findings indicate that sisters play important roles as adolescent girls form ideas about romantic relationships and sexuality," said Sarah Killoren, ...

Imagine creating something completely new — something improbable and provocative that has never existed on Earth before. This kind of unconventional science that defies long-standing assumptions in chemistry is the topic of the latest episode of a popular video series from the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society. The videos are available at http://www.acs.org/PrizedScience and on DVD. Titled Prized Science: Chemical Detectives: Preparing New Matter in the Universe, the third episode of the 2013 series features the research of Gregory ...

Consumers have the power to do more than just respond to products that companies put on the market; they can actually change and develop new markets, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Firm-centric models of market development view consumers as relatively passive, downstream actors, whose agency and ability to affect a market are limited to decision making in a realm of choices controlled by marketing institutions," write authors Diane M. Martin and John W. Schouten (both Aalto University). "Recently consumer culture scholars have explored ...

When consumers assign human characteristics to time, it makes it more difficult to wait for things (especially for people who don't feel powerful), according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Consumers often choose between a readily available product and a version of the product that is superior, but requires a wait time. (Should I buy an iPad now or wait for the newer version?) If wait time is perceived to have human mental states such as a will and intentions, consumers may show less patience," write authors Frank May and Ashwani Monga (both University ...

In a paper appearing in Nature's Scientific Reports, Dr. Ramesh Mani, professor of physics and astronomy at Georgia State University, reports that a giant magnetoresistance effect depends on the physical size of the device in the GaAs/AlGaAs semiconductor system. Giant magnetoresistance indicates a large change in the electrical resistance with the application of a small magnetic field. This effect can be used to detect the presence of small magnetic fields. Magnetic sensors based on this concept are used to read out information stored in magnetic particles on rotating ...

Contradicting long-standing conventional wisdom, results of a Johns Hopkins-led analysis of data previously gathered on more than 3,000 family caregivers suggests that those who assist a chronically ill or disabled family member enjoy an 18 percent survival advantage compared to statistically matched non-caregivers. In a report, published in the current online version of the American Journal of Epidemiology, researchers found that providing care for a chronically ill or disabled family member not only fails to increase health risk, but also is associated with a nine-month ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– In the 2013 Ocean Health Index (OHI) –– an annual assessment of ocean health lead by Ben Halpern, a research associate at UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management –– scientists point to food provision as the factor that continues to require serious attention. The OHI defines a healthy ocean as one that sustainably delivers a range of benefits to people now and in the future based on 10 diverse public goals. The 2013 score of 65 out ...

This news release is available in French. The brain is plastic - adapting to the hundreds of experiences in our daily lives by reorganizing pathways and making new connections between nerve cells. This plasticity requires that memories of new information and experiences are formed fast. So fast that the body has a special mechanism, unique to nerve cells, that enables memories to be made rapidly. In a new study from The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, The Neuro, McGill University with colleagues at the Université de Montréal, researchers have discovered ...

1. President Taft's letters to his physician show emerging modern approach to treating obesity Correspondence between President William H. Taft, one of the first public figures in U.S. history to be defined popularly in terms of his obesity, and his physician, Nathaniel E. Yorke-Davies, provide a rare glimpse into the history of the obesity experience in the United States. At 314 pounds, Taft wrote to English diet expert Yorke-Davies because he thought weight loss could alleviate uncomfortable symptoms (heartburn, indigestion, fatigue, and restless sleep) and help him ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The data Medicare uses to publicly report hospital rates of patients developing pressure ulcers (or bedsores) is not an accurate source for comparing hospitals on how well they prevent the condition, says a new University of Michigan study. Bedsores are skin wounds often caused by pressure against the skin when staying in one position for too long. They are among many common hospital-acquired conditions Medicare's Hospital Compare website reports in an effort to help consumers compare the quality of their care at different hospitals. Hospital bedsore ...

Researchers studying young bonobos in an African sanctuary have discovered striking similarities between the emotional development of the bonobos and that of children, suggesting these great apes regulate their emotions in a human-like way. This is important to human evolutionary history because it shows the socio-emotional framework commonly applied to children works equally well for apes. Using this framework, researchers can test predictions of great ape behavior and, as in the case of this study, confirm humans and apes share many aspects of emotional functioning. Zanna ...

Doctors should evaluate your physical activity habits as routinely as checking your blood pressure and other risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, the American Heart Association recommends in a scientific statement published in its journal Circulation. "Most healthcare providers have not routinely assessed physical activity levels among their patients because they have not had the right tools," said Scott Strath, Ph.D., lead author of the statement and associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's College of Health ...

Award-winning Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke hospitals are more likely than Primary Stroke Center certified hospitals to provide all the recommended guideline-based care for patients, according to new research in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Get With The Guidelines-Stroke (GWTG-S) Performance Achievement Award (PAA) recognizes hospitals that meet specific criteria in following research-based guidelines for stroke care. Primary Stroke Center (PSC) certification, a collaboration of the American ...

WASHINGTON — Georgetown University Medical Center researchers say a compound derived from cruciferous vegetable such as cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli protected rats and mice from lethal doses of radiation. Their study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) suggests the compound, already shown to be safe for humans, may protect normal tissues during radiation therapy for cancer treatment and prevent or mitigate sickness caused by radiation exposure. The compound, known as DIM (3,3'-diindolylmethane), previously has been found ...

Compensation for chief executive officers at nonprofit hospitals varies around the country but averaged almost $600,000 in a study of top executives at nearly 2,700 hospitals, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. Little information is known about how hospital CEOs are paid and the factors that affect their compensation, according to the study background. Karen E. Joynt, M.D., M.P.H., of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues examined seven data sources, including publicly available tax forms for nonprofit ...

Multiple courses of prenatal corticosteroids, compared with a single course, taken by pregnant women to help prevent preterm birth was associated with no increase or decrease in the risk of death or disability for their children at age 5, according to a study published by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication. Preterm birth (between 24 and 33 weeks) is a significant health problem and a single course of prenatal (also known as antenatal) corticosteroid therapy is recommended for women at risk of preterm birth. Questions remain about whether additional courses of ...

OAKLAND, Calif., October 14, 2013 — Children receiving measles-containing vaccines at 12-15 months of age have a lower increased risk of fever and seizures than those who receive them at 16-23 months of age, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published in JAMA Pediatrics. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a two-dose series of measles-containing vaccines, with the first dose administered at 12-15 months and the second dose at 4-6 years of age. Most children receive their first dose of a measles-containing vaccine between the ages of 12 and ...

New research published today in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews has found the first evidence that large rivers control desert sands and dust in Northern China. Northern China holds some of the world's most significant wind-blown dust deposits, known as loess. The origin of this loess-forming dust and its relationship to sand has previously been the subject of considerable debate. The team of researchers led by Royal Holloway University, analysed individual grains of fine wind-blown dust deposited in the Chinese Loess Plateau that has formed thick deposits over ...

New research at the University of Chicago is laying the groundwork for touch-sensitive prosthetic limbs that one day could convey real-time sensory information to amputees via a direct interface with the brain. The research, published early online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, marks an important step toward new technology that, if implemented successfully, would increase the dexterity and clinical viability of robotic prosthetic limbs. "To restore sensory motor function of an arm, you not only have to replace the motor signals that the brain ...

AURORA, Colo. (Oct. 11, 2013) Researchers at the University of Colorado have new insight into the age-old question of why maximum heart rate (maxHR) decreases with age. This decrease in maxHR not only limits the performance of aging athletes but it is also a leading cause for nursing home admittance for otherwise-healthy elderly individuals who no longer have the physical capacity required for independent living. We say we're just getting old and slowing down, but exactly what is it that is slowing down? Everybody knows that aerobic capacity decreases with age. You ...

MADISON, Wis. – Faced with news of suicides and brain damage in former professional football players, geneticist Barry Ganetzky bemoaned the lack of model systems for studying the insidious and often delayed consequences linked to head injuries. Then he remembered an unexplored observation from nearly 40 years ago: a sharp strike to a vial of fruit flies left them temporarily stunned, only to recover a short time later. At the time he had marked it only as a curiosity. Now a professor of genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Ganetzky is turning his accidental ...

PHILADELPHIA — An optical imaging technique that measures metabolic activity in cancer cells can accurately differentiate breast cancer subtypes, and it can detect responses to treatment as early as two days after therapy administration, according to a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. "The process of targeted drug development requires assays that measure drug target engagement and predict the response (or lack thereof) to treatment," said Alex Walsh, a graduate student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering ...

Researchers in Norway found that negative affectivity is linked to light alcohol use and binge drinking during pregnancy. Results published in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, a journal of the Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology, show 16% of women had light alcohol use in the first trimester and 10% in the second trimester. Binge drinking occurred in 12% of women during their first trimester and 0.5% in the second trimester. Experts describe negative affectivity as the tendency to experience negative emotions such as anxiety and ...

NEW YORK – OCTOBER 15, 2013 – A new randomized controlled trial conducted by Baylor College of Medicine researchers and published today as an Article in Press in The American Journal of Medicine finds that overweight and obese adults following a community-based weight loss intervention, namely Weight Watchers, lost significantly more weight than those who tried to lose weight on their own (10.1 lbs. vs. 1.3 lbs. at six months). Those in the Weight Watchers group were provided with three access routes – group meetings, mobile applications, and online tools – and further ...

Neurons that process sensory information such as touch and vision are arranged in precise, well-characterized maps that are crucial for translating perception into understanding. A study published by Cell Press on October 14 in the journal Developmental Cell reveals that the actual act of birth in mice causes a reduction in a brain chemical called serotonin in the newborn mice, triggering sensory maps to form. The findings shed light on the key role of a dramatic environmental event in the development of neural circuits and reveal that birth itself is one of the triggers ...