Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have developed an immersive, first-person player video game designed to teach students in elementary to high school how to program in Java, one of the most common programming languages in use today. The researchers tested the game on a group of 40 girls, ages 10 to 12, who had never been exposed to programming before. They detailed their findings in a paper they presented at the SIGCSE conference in March in Denver. Computer scientists found that within just one hour of play, the girls had mastered some of ...

Fear of public speaking tops death and spiders as the nation's number one phobia. But new research shows that learning to rethink the way we view our shaky hands, pounding heart, and sweaty palms can help people perform better both mentally and physically. Before a stressful speaking task, simply encouraging people to reframe the meaning of these signs of stress as natural and helpful was a surprisingly effective way of handling stage fright, found the study to be published online April 8 in Clinical Psychological Science. "The problem is that we think all stress is ...

Patients with type 2 diabetes who tailor their own treatment in cooperation with their doctor can reduce their risk of complications such as heart attack with up to 20 percent. This is the result of a new Danish study from the Research Unit for General Practice, University of Copenhagen. Patients who cooperate with their general practitioner and set personal goals for treatment while receiving continuous feedback from their doctor can reduce their risk of complications with up to 20 percent. This is one of the research results of a Danish study just published, "Diabetes ...

The World Heart Federation has published a new position statement outlining the five key strategic targets required to meet its strategic goal for rheumatic heart disease (RHD) – a 25% reduction in premature deaths from rheumatic fever (RF) and RHD among individuals aged END ...

This press release is available in Spanish. The study analyzes the potential of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook to coordinate people. In recent years there have been a number of examples of how social networks have served to mobilize volunteers during natural disasters, political campaigns, health emergencies, etc. But can we really depend on the use of social networks to carry out these tasks? And if it is possible, what is the risk that this strategy will fail? Using recent results of the spacio-temporal structure of social networks and experimental ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio—When renowned explorer Richard E. Byrd returned from the first-ever flight to the North Pole in 1926, he sparked a controversy that remains today: Did he actually reach the pole? Studying supercomputer simulations of atmospheric conditions on the day of the flight and double-checking Byrd's navigation techniques, a researcher at The Ohio State University has determined that Byrd indeed neared the Pole, but likely only flew within 80 miles of it before turning back to the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. Gerald Newsom, professor emeritus of astronomy at ...

A study at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine has identified a chicken-killing virus as a promising treatment for prostate cancer in humans. Researchers have discovered that a genetically engineered Newcastle disease virus, which harms chickens but not humans, kills prostate cancer cells of all kinds, including hormone-resistant cancer cells. The work of Dr. Elankumaran Subbiah, an associate professor of virology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology at Virginia Tech, along with Dr. Siba Samal, associate dean and chairman ...

The rapid growth of the solar power industry over the past decade may have exacerbated the global warming situation it was meant to soothe, simply because most of the energy used to manufacture the millions of solar panels came from burning fossil fuels. That irony, according to Stanford University researchers, is coming to an end. For the first time since the boom started, the electricity generated by all of the world's installed solar photovoltaic (PV) panels last year probably surpassed the amount of energy going into fabricating more modules, according to Michael ...

VIDEO: UC Davis chemist Annaliese Franz is applying her expertise in pharmaceutical chemistry to find ways to boost fuel production by microscopic green algae. Click here for more information. Taking an approach similar to that used for discovering new therapeutic drugs, chemists at the University of California, Davis, have found several compounds that can boost oil production by green microscopic algae, a potential source of biodiesel and other "green" fuels. The work ...

Tampa, FL (April 8, 2013) -- A new discovery about the malaria-related parasite Toxoplasma gondii -- which can threaten babies, AIDS patients, the elderly and others with weakened immune function -- may help solve the mystery of how this single-celled parasite establishes life-long infections in people. The study, led by a University of South Florida research team, places the blame squarely on a family of proteins, known as AP2 factors, which evolved from the regulators of flowering in plants. In findings published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study of how carbon is trapped and released by iron-rich volcanic magma offers clues about the early atmospheric evolution on Mars and other terrestrial bodies. The composition of a planet's atmosphere has roots deep beneath its surface. When mantle material melts to form magma, it traps subsurface carbon. As magma moves upward toward the surface and pressure decreases, that carbon is released as a gas. On Earth, carbon is trapped in magma as carbonate and degassed as carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that helps Earth's atmosphere ...

Exposure to tobacco smoke could negatively impact adolescent kidney function; this is according to a new study led by a team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. They examined the association between exposure to active smoking and kidney function among U.S. adolescents and found the effects of tobacco smoke on kidney function begin in childhood. The results are featured in the April 2013 issue of Pediatrics. "Tobacco use and exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke are major health problems for adolescents, ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A study from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine offers new insights into how the nervous system processes hot and cold temperatures. The research led by neuroscientist Mark J. Zylka, PhD, associate professor of cell biology and physiology, found an interaction between the neural circuits that detect hot and cold stimuli: cold perception is enhanced when nerve circuitry for heat is inactivated. "This discovery has implications for how we perceive hot and cold temperatures and for why people with certain forms of chronic pain, such as ...

An exploding star observed in 1604 by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler held a greater fraction of heavy elements than the sun, according to an analysis of X-ray observations from the Japan-led Suzaku satellite. The findings will help astronomers better understand the diversity of type Ia supernovae, an important class of stellar explosion used in probing the distant universe. "The composition of the star, its environment, and the mechanism of the explosion may vary considerably among type Ia supernovae," said Sangwook Park, an assistant professor of physics at the ...

HOUSTON – Guillermina "Gigi" Lozano, Ph.D., chair and professor in the Department of Genetics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is the recipient of the 16th annual Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship awarded by The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), recognizing her contributions to the field of cancer research and the advancement of women in science. A pioneer in understanding the p53 tumor suppressor pathway, Lozano will deliver her award lecture, "Activities of Mutant p53 Proteins in Cancer," today as part ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Nearly half of the world's population is at risk of infection by the dengue virus, yet there is no specific treatment for the disease. Now a therapy to protect people from the virus could finally be a step closer, thanks to a team at MIT. In a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers, from MIT's Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research, present a novel approach to developing a dengue therapy using mutated antibodies. According to a study by the International Research Consortium on Dengue Risk ...

As any stepdad can tell you, it's one thing to win a mom's heart and another to win over her children. Although one-third of American children live in a stepfamily during part of their childhood, little is known about the development of the relationship between stepfathers and stepchildren. New research from Brigham Young University fills that gap with a study that identified three factors that significantly contribute to closeness in stepfamilies: The couple keeps arguments to a minimum Mothers help children feel comfortable sharing their frustrations The ...

(CHICAGO) – Older adults who are subject to elder abuse, neglect and exploitation face a greater risk of being hospitalized than other seniors, according to the results of a study published in the April 8 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. "Elder abuse is independently associated with increased mortality risk, especially for cardiovascular related mortality. However, the relationship between elder abuse and health services utilization still remains unclear," said Dr. XinQi Dong, a researcher and geriatrician at Rush University Medical Center and the study's lead author. ...

The shape of an individual's spinal column may predict his or her risk for nursing home admission or need of home assistance in old age, according to a new article published online in the Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences. A team of researchers based in Japan discovered that the trunk angle of inclination — the angle between the true vertical and a straight line from the first thoracic vertebra to the first sacral vertebra (view image) — is associated with becoming dependent on help for activities of daily living (ADL). These activities ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Studies show 97 percent of American adults get less than 30 minutes of exercise a day, which is the minimum recommended amount based on federal guidelines. New research from the University of Missouri suggests certain genetic traits may predispose people to being more or less motivated to exercise and remain active. Frank Booth, a professor in the MU College of Veterinary Medicine, along with his post-doctoral fellow Michael Roberts, were able to selectively breed rats that exhibited traits of either extreme activity or extreme laziness. They say these rats ...

Monday, April 8, 2013, Cleveland: Patients who have open heart surgery for heart disease caused by radiation cancer treatment are nearly twice as likely to die in the years following their surgery compared to similar patients who did not undergo radiation treatment, according to new research from Cleveland Clinic published today in the American Heart Association journal Circulation. The team of researchers, led by Milind Desai, M.D., a cardiologist in the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic, examined 173 patients who underwent ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– There's an epic battle taking place that's not on the national radar: intercellular competition. While it's not an Olympic event, new research from UC Santa Barbara demonstrates that this microscopic rivalry can be just as fierce as humans going for the gold. Christopher Hayes, UCSB associate professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, along with postdoctoral fellow Sanna Koskiniemi, graduate student James Lamoureux, and others, examined the role certain proteins, called rearrangement hotspots (Rhs), play in intercellular competition ...

WASHINGTON—Teenagers who increased the days on which they got just 20 minutes of exercise were able to cut down on their smoking habit. And teenage smokers were more likely to quit altogether if they participated in a smoking cessation/fitness program—and they ramped up the days on which they got at least 30 minutes of physical activity, according to a study published online April 9. "This study adds to evidence suggesting that exercise can help teenagers who are trying to quit smoking," says lead author Kimberly Horn, EdD, the Associate Dean for Research at the George ...

Newly discovered mouse viruses could pave the way for future progress in hepatitis research, enabling scientists to study human disease and vaccines in the ultimate lab animal. In a study to be published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, scientists describe their search for viruses related to the human hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human pegiviruses (HPgV) in frozen stocks of wild mice. The discovery of several new species of hepaciviruses and pegiviruses that are closely related to human viruses suggests they might be used ...

San Diego, CA, April 9, 2013 – A new study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine finds that Google searches for information across all major mental illnesses and problems followed seasonal patterns, suggesting mental illness may be more strongly linked with seasonal patterns than previously thought. Monitoring population mental illness trends has been an historic challenge for scientists and clinicians alike. Typically, telephone surveys are used to try to glimpse inside the minds of respondents, but this approach is limited because ...