Does wisdom really come with age? It depends on the culture
2012-08-30
"Wisdom comes with winters," Oscar Wilde once said. And it's certainly comforting to think that aging benefits the mind, if not the body. But do we really get wiser as time passes?
There are many way to define what exactly wisdom is, but previous literature suggests that having wisdom means that you are also good at resolving conflict. But conflict is not handled the same way across cultures. Americans have been shown to emphasize individuality and solve conflict in a direct manner, such as by using direct persuasion. In contrast, the Japanese place a greater emphasis ...
Viruses could be the key to healthy corals
2012-08-30
Corals are an invaluable part of the marine ecosystem, fostering biodiversity and protecting coastlines. But they're also increasingly endangered. Pathogenic bacteria, along with pollution and harmful fishing practices, are one of the biggest threats to the world's coral populations today.
One of the solutions to the crisis may lie in human medicine. Prof. Eugene Rosenberg of Tel Aviv University's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, working in collaboration with Dr. Ilil Atad of his own laboratory and Prof. Yossi Loya of TAU's Department of Zoology, ...
No-till farming helps capture snow and soil water
2012-08-30
A smooth blanket of snow in the winter can help boost dryland crop productivity in the summer, and no-till management is one way to ensure that blanket coverage, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) research.
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) soil scientist David Huggins conducted studies to determine how standing crop residues affect snow accumulation and soil water levels across entire fields. ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency, and this work supports the USDA priority of responding to climate change.
Huggins, who works at ...
'Hulk' protein, Grb10, controls muscle growth
2012-08-30
Bethesda, MD — Scientists have moved closer toward helping people grow big, strong muscles without needing to hit the weight room. Australian researchers have found that by blocking the function of a protein called Grb10 while mice were in the womb, they were considerably stronger and more muscular than their normal counterparts. This discovery appears in the September 2012 issue of The FASEB Journal. Outside of aesthetics, this study has important implications for a wide range of conditions that are worsened by, or cause muscle wasting, such as injury, muscular dystrophy, ...
Wayne State's new flexible electronics technology may lead to new medical uses
2012-08-30
DETROIT — A Wayne State University researcher has developed technology that opens new possibilities for health care and medical applications of electronic devices.
Yong Xu, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering, has developed a simple technology compatible with silicon-on-insulator (SOI) complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) processes for making flexible electronics. "A Silicon-On-Insulator Complementary-Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Compatible Flexible Electronics Technology," published recently in Applied Physics ...
New research uncovers diverse metabolic roles for PML tumor suppressor gene
2012-08-30
BOSTON -- Two papers led by scientific teams from the Cancer Genetics Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) shed new light on the genetic mechanisms underlying cellular energy and metabolism and, at the same time, highlight both the challenges and opportunities of genetic approaches to cancer treatment.
Appearing in the September 2012 issues of The Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI) and Nature Medicine, the new findings reveal surprising insights into how PML regulates metabolism via the fatty acid oxidation (FAO) pathway and, in the process, uncover ...
A surprisingly bright superbubble
2012-08-30
This composite image shows a superbubble in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way located about 160,000 light years from Earth.
Many new stars, some of them very massive, are forming in the star cluster NGC 1929, which is embedded in the nebula N44, so named because it is the 44th nebula in a catalog of such objects in the Magellanic Clouds. The massive stars produce intense radiation, expel matter at high speeds, and race through their evolution to explode as supernovas. The winds and supernova shock waves carve out huge cavities ...
Smartphone app can track objects on the battlefield as well as on the sports field
2012-08-30
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- University of Missouri researchers have developed new software using smartphones' GPS and imaging abilities, that determine the exact location of distant objects as well as monitor the speed and direction of moving objects. The software could eventually allow smartphone-armed soldiers to target the location of their enemies. On the home front, the software could be used by everyone, including golfers judging distance to the green and biologists documenting the location of a rare animal without disturbing it.
"The great advantage of a smartphone is that ...
Los Alamos provides HOPE for radiation belt storm probes
2012-08-30
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., August 30, 2012 — Los Alamos National Laboratory expertise in radiation detection and shielding is poised to help a national team of scientists better understand a mysterious region that can create hazardous space weather near our home planet.
The Helium Oxygen Proton Electron (HOPE) analyzer is one of a suite of instruments that was successfully launched today as part of the Radiation Belt Storm Probe mission—an effort by NASA and the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory to gain insight into the Sun's influence on Earth and near-Earth ...
Lyme retreatment guidance may be flawed
2012-08-30
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Most doctors treat Lyme disease with antibiotics for two to four weeks after diagnosis, but if symptoms persist after that, medical guidelines recommend against antibiotic retreatment. That recommendation may not be warranted. A newly published statistical review of the four studies upon which those guidelines are based reports flaws in design, analysis, and interpretation that call into question the strength of the evidence against retreatment.
Allison DeLong, a biostatistician at Brown University's Center for Statistical Sciences ...
People merge supernatural and scientific beliefs when reasoning with the unknown, study shows
2012-08-30
AUSTIN, Texas — Reliance on supernatural explanations for major life events, such as death and illness, often increases rather than declines with age, according to a new psychology study from The University of Texas at Austin.
The study, published in the June issue of Child Development, offers new insight into developmental learning.
"As children assimilate cultural concepts into their intuitive belief systems — from God to atoms to evolution — they engage in coexistence thinking," said Cristine Legare, assistant professor of psychology and lead author of the study.
...
Cameleon Software Shows Net Profit for the First Half of 2012: 7% of Revenue
2012-08-30
Cameleon Software (FR0000074247), market leader in product design, sales configuration, and quotes and proposals software, announced its provisional net income for the first half of 2012, approved by the Board of Directors meeting held today. Please be advised that the audit procedures are in the finalization phases.
(SEE IMAGE TABLES)
(EUR Million) H1 2012 H1 2011
Software revenue 3.90 3.42
Services revenue 1.27 1.01
Revenue 5.17 4.43
Gross margin 5.14 4.40
Employee benefits (3.55) (2.88)
Current operating income 0.34 0.14
Restructuration costs - (0.55)
Operating ...
Potential methane reservoirs beneath Antarctica
2012-08-30
The new study demonstrates that old organic matter in sedimentary basins located beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet may have been converted to methane by micro-organisms living under oxygen-deprived conditions. The methane could be released to the atmosphere if the ice sheet shrinks and exposes these old sedimentary basins.
The researchers estimate that 50 per cent of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (1 million km2) and 25 per cent of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (2.5 million km2) overlies preglacial sedimentary basins, containing about 21,000 billion tonnes of organic carbon.
Team ...
NIH scientists map first steps in flu antibody development
2012-08-30
National Institutes of Health scientists have identified how a kind of immature immune cell responds to a part of influenza virus and have traced the path those cells take to generate antibodies that can neutralize a wide range of influenza virus strains. Study researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of NIH, were led by Gary Nabel, M.D., Ph.D., director of NIAID's Vaccine Research Center. Their findings appear online in advance of print in Nature.
"This new understanding of how an immature immune cell transforms into a ...
Mayo Clinic: Diabetes can be controlled in patients after pancreas removal
2012-08-30
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Removing the entire pancreas in patients with cancer or precancerous cysts in part of the organ does not result in unmanageable diabetes — as many physicians previously believed, research at Mayo Clinic in Florida has found. The study, published online Sunday in the journal HPB Surgery, evaluates how well patients who had their entire pancreas removed could control their resulting diabetes. The pancreas produces insulin to remove sugar from the blood, so when the organ is gone, insulin must be replaced, usually through an external pump or with injections.
The ...
US performs worst on potentially preventable death rates compared to France, Germany, and the UK
2012-08-30
New York, NY, August 29, 2012—The United States lags three other industrialized nations—France, Germany, and the United Kingdom—in its potentially preventable death rate, and in the pace of improvement in preventing deaths that could have been avoided with timely and effective health care, according to a Commonwealth Fund–supported study published as a web first online today in Health Affairs. Between 1999 and 2006/2007, the overall potentially preventable death rate among men ages 0 to 74 dropped by only 18.5 percent in the United States, while the rate declined by nearly ...
New study evaluates noninvasive technology to determine heart disease
2012-08-30
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – August 29, 2012 – A study published in the most recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) presented encouraging news regarding physicians' ability to determine blood flow and associated coronary artery disease (CAD) using noninvasive CT scanning technology. Data from the Determination of Fractional Flow Reserve by Anatomic Computed Tomographic Angiography (DeFACTO) study were presented on August 26 at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich, Germany. John R. Lesser, MD, a Cardiologist and senior researcher at ...
Fast food restaurant lighting and music can reduce calorie intake and increase satisfaction
2012-08-30
Your mood for food can be changed by a restaurant's choice of music and lighting, leading to increased satisfaction and reduced calorie intake, according to a new study.
"When we did a makeover of a fast-food restaurant, we found that softer music and lighting led diners to eat 175 fewer calories and enjoy it more," said the study's lead author, Brian Wansink, professor of marketing and director of Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab.
Wansink and his co-author, Koert van Ittersum of the Georgia Institute of Technology, found that softening the lighting and music ...
Study pinpoints malignant mesothelioma patients likely to benefit from drug pemetrexed
2012-08-30
Previous studies have hypothesized that low levels of the enzyme thymidylate synthase (TS) likely mark patients who will benefit from the drug pemetrexed – but results have been inconclusive at best and at times contradictory. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study recently published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology provides an explanation why: only in combination with high levels of a second enzyme, FPGS, does low TS predict response to pemetrexed in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.
"The hope is that oncologists could test a patient for TS and ...
For diabetics, a steady job is good for your health
2012-08-30
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—If you're diabetic or prone to diabetes, having a steady job appears to be good for your health, and not just because of the insurance coverage.
A new University of Michigan study found that that jobless working-age people with diabetes are less likely to adhere to their oral anti-diabetic medications than diabetics who are employed. Further, people of working age with diabetes are more likely to be unemployed than those who do not have diabetes.
The lack of a clear-cut, cause-and-effect relationship between insurance and medication adherence surprised ...
Soil Science Society of America announces 2012 award recipients
2012-08-30
MADISON, WI - Aug. 29, 2012 – The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) announces the following 2012 awards that will be formally presented during their Annual Meetings, Oct. 21-24, 2012 in Cincinnati, OH.
Susan Brantley, Earth and Environmental Systems Institute at Penn State - SSSA Presidential Award: Susan Brantley is Distinguished Professor of Geosciences in the Department of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University. She received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in Geological and Geophysical Sciences from Princeton University.
Daniel Hillel, Columbia University ...
Nurse leader resistance perceived as a barrier to high-quality, evidence-based patient care
2012-08-30
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A new national survey of more than 1,000 registered nurses suggests that serious barriers - including resistance from nursing leaders - prevent nurses from implementing evidence-based practices that improve patient outcomes.
When survey respondents ranked these barriers, the top five included resistance from nursing leaders and nurse managers - a finding that hasn't been reported in previous similar studies - as well as politics and organizational cultures that avoid change.
When asked what would help them implement evidence-based practice, respondents ...
African-American males most likely to lose academic scholarships, MU study finds
2012-08-30
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- College student retention and low graduation rates are the most significant problems associated with state-provided financial aid. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that African-American males are the most likely to lose state lottery-funded scholarships with academic stipulations. Charles Menifield, a professor in the Truman School of Public Affairs at MU, found that more than 50 percent of African-American males lost state-funded scholarships over the course of a four-year academic career.
"Race turns out to be one of the best predictors ...
New Nature study illuminates 55 million years of the carbon cycle and climate history
2012-08-30
A study in the August 30 issue of Nature provides, in unprecedented detail, the history of a crucial indicator of the relationship between the carbon cycle and climate processes over the past 55 million years. Over this time period, when the Earth is known to have transitioned from "hothouse" to "icehouse" conditions, the oceans also experienced a dramatic shift in the carbonate compensation depth, or CCD. Defined as the depth below which carbonate minerals (such as calcite) dissolve completely, the CCD is known to fluctuate over time – it shallows during warm periods, ...
Computer viruses could take a lesson from showy peacocks
2012-08-30
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Computer viruses are constantly replicating throughout computer networks and wreaking havoc. But what if they had to find mates in order to reproduce?
In the current issue of Evolution, Michigan State University researchers created the digital equivalent of spring break to see how mate attraction played out through computer programs, said Chris Chandler, MSU postdoctoral researcher at MSU's BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action.
"This is actually a big question that still generates a lot of debate," said Chandler, who co-authored the ...
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