BUFFALO, N.Y. – An international survey of tobacco use in three billion individuals, published in the current issue of The Lancet, demonstrates an urgent need for policy change in low- and middle-income countries, according to the University at Buffalo professor who led the research. "Governments around the world need to start giving economic and regulatory advantages to agricultural products that promote health instead of to products like tobacco that kill people," says lead author Gary A. Giovino, PhD, chair of the Department of Community Health and Health Behavior ...

When it comes to protecting endangered species, the power of the people is key, an analysis of listings under the U.S. Endangered Species Act finds. The journal Science is publishing the analysis comparing listings of "endangered" and "threatened" species initiated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency that administers the Endangered Species Act, to those initiated by citizen petition. "We found that citizens, on average, do a better job of picking species that are threatened than does the Fish and Wildlife Service. That's a really interesting and surprising ...

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have identified a type of E. coli bacteria that may encourage the development of colon cancer. The Liverpool team had previously shown that people with colon cancer and with the inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, have high numbers of a sticky type of E. coli in their colons. The team have now found that E. coli bacteria, which carry pks genes that encode a toxin that damages DNA in the cells of the gut lining, are more commonly found in the colons of patients that have inflammatory bowel disease ...

While the health benefits of breast feeding baby are well known, a new study published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Pediatrics finds that, for very low birth weight (VLBW) babies, a small amount of fortification can improve growth rates without sacrificing the benefits associated with mother's milk. Human milk provides babies with exactly the right nutrients for growth and also helps protect against infections and diseases. Breast fed babies are less likely to have diarrhea or vomiting, they have fewer chest and ear infections, and long term are less likely ...

Treatment for cervical disease does not appear to increase the risk of subsequently giving birth prematurely, according to a study of over 44,000 women in England. The study, published online in the British Medical Journal [1] today (Friday), is the largest in the UK to investigate this and contradicts previous research suggesting treatment could be linked to an increased risk. Professor Peter Sasieni, professor of cancer epidemiology and biostatistics at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, part of Queen Mary, University of London (UK), led the study. "This ...

A team of researchers led by George Whitesides, the Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor, has already broken new engineering ground with the development of soft, silicone-based robots inspired by creatures like starfish and squid. Now, they're working to give those robots the ability to disguise themselves. As demonstrated in an August 16 paper published in Science, researchers have developed a system – again, inspired by nature – that allows the soft robots to either camouflage themselves against a background, or to make bold color displays. Such a ...

The 2012 Marine Climate Change in Australia Report Card shows climate change is having significant impacts on Australia's marine ecosystems. The report card provides information about the current and predicted-future state of Australia's marine climate and its impact on our marine biodiversity. The report card also outlines actions that are underway to help our marine ecosystems adapt to climate change. "Australia has some of the world's most unique marine ecosystems," project leader CSIRO's Dr Elvira Poloczanska said. "They are enjoyed recreationally, generate considerable ...

Earthworms could be used to extract toxic heavy metals, including cadmium and lead, from solid waste from domestic refuse collection and waste from vegetable and flower markets, according to researchers writing in the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management. Swati Pattnaik and M. Vikram Reddy of the Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, at Pondicherry University, in Puducherry, India, explain how three species of earthworm, Eudrilus eugeniae, Eisenia fetida and Perionyx excavates can be used to assist in the composting of urban waste and ...

Researchers have found what they believe is the key to understanding why the human brain is larger and more complex than that of other animals. The human brain, with its unequaled cognitive capacity, evolved rapidly and dramatically. "We wanted to know why," says James Sikela, PhD, who headed the international research team that included researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine and the National Institutes of Mental Health. "The size and cognitive capacity of the human brain sets us apart. But how did that happen?" "This ...

Fast-growing retail medical clinics are attracting more older patients and delivering more preventive care, particularly flu shots and other vaccinations, according to a new study from the RAND Corporation. Researchers found that visits to retail medical clinics increased four-fold from 2007 to 2009, with the proportion of patients over age 65 growing from 8 percent to 19 percent of all visits during this period. More than 44 percent of visits to the clinics occurred on the weekend or other hours when physician offices typically are closed, suggesting retail clinics ...

As November draws near, many Americans are thinking about which political candidates will be receiving their support. For die-hard Democrats and Republicans, the decision may be a no-brainer. As the country grows increasingly divided between liberals and conservatives, however, many voters have rejected traditional partisan identities, choosing to call themselves Independents. But new research suggests that Independents may not be as independent as they think. Psychological scientists Carlee Beth Hawkins and Brian Nosek of the University of Virginia decided to use a ...

Researchers have discovered molecular and protein signatures that predict rapid onset of liver damage in hepatitis C patients following a liver transplant. The markers appeared soon after transplant and well before clinical evidence of liver damage. Such early detection of susceptibility to hepatitis C virus-induced liver injury could lead to more personalized monitoring and treatment options after a transplant. Also, because the markers stem from an underlying pathology occurring at a very basic level, they might reveal why hepatitis C is so clinically variable, and ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Two studies suggest that two peptide agents used either together or individually with a low-dose of a standard chemotherapy drug might offer more effective cancer therapy than current standard single-drug treatments. The studies used animal models of breast cancer to show that the peptide combinations dramatically delay tumor onset and progression by both inhibiting tumor growth and blocking the formation of new tumor blood vessels, say the researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — A parasite thought to be harmless and found in many people may actually be causing subtle changes in the brain, leading to suicide attempts. New research appearing in the August issue of The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry adds to the growing work linking an infection caused by the Toxoplasma gondii parasite to suicide attempts. Michigan State University's Lena Brundin was one of the lead researchers on the team. About 10-20 percent of people in the United States have Toxoplasma gondii, or T. gondii, in their bodies, but in most it was thought to ...

WASHINGTON – Blacks who survived a stroke caused by bleeding in the brain had higher blood pressure than whites a year later, according to a study published today in the journal Stroke. The finding might help explain why blacks have a greater risk of suffering a second stroke than whites. The research, a part of the Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) Stroke Disparities Program led by Chelsea Kidwell, M.D., was designed to examine racial and ethnic differences in strokes known as intracranial hemorrhage or ICH. ICHs account for 10 percent of all strokes, but carry ...

LOS ANGELES — Research from the University of Southern California (USC) and Cancer Prevention Institute of California (CPIC) found that cooking red meats at high temperatures, especially pan-fried red meats, may increase the risk of advanced prostate cancer by as much as 40 percent. Mariana Stern, Ph.D., associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, led analyses for the study, "Red meat and poultry, cooking practices, genetic susceptibility and risk of prostate cancer: Results from the California Collaborative Prostate Cancer Study." ...

BEER-SHEVA, Israel, August 16, 2012 – Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers revealed that a majority of children suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) treated with montelukast, a drug approved for asthma or hay fever, showed significant improvement in respiratory disturbance and adenoid size, according to a new study published in Pediatrics Journal. A considerable percentage of children who suffer from OSA and undergo tonsillectomies and polypectomies occasionally suffer from post-operative infection, bleeding and dehydration. Some children experience ...

Engineers at a company co-founded by a University of Texas at Dallas professor have identified a material that can reduce the pollution produced by vehicles that run on diesel fuel. The material, from a family of minerals called oxides, could replace platinum, a rare and expensive metal that is currently used in diesel engines to try to control the amount of pollution released into the air. In a study published in the August 17 issue of Science, researchers found that when a manmade version of the oxide mullite replaces platinum, pollution is up to 45 percent lower ...

To speed up the process of identifying threatened and endangered plant species, a team of New York Botanical Garden scientists has developed a streamlined method for evaluating the conservation status of large numbers of plant species, using information from plant research collections and Geographic Information Systems technology. Faced with such threats as deforestation, climate change, and invasive species, a significant proportion of the world's plant species are commonly believed to be in serious decline and possibly headed toward extinction. For government officials, ...

DENVER — Almost half of college students judge men and women with similar sexual histories by the same standard and hold equally negative attitudes towards both their male and female peers who they believe hook up "too much," suggests new research to be presented at the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association. "Men and women are increasingly judging each other on the same level playing field," said Rachel Allison, co-author of the study and a doctoral candidate in the University of Illinois at Chicago's Department of Sociology. "But, gender equality ...

DENVER — Many have argued the Marxist theories of a classless society died with the collapse of the Soviet Union and a faltering Cuba, but a University of Dayton study has found a place where such approaches may have a shot of survival—Facebook, and other social networking sites. University of Dayton sociologist and criminologist Art Jipson discovered in his most recent research that the homeless, along with everyone else, are turning to social media and that social media sites are turning into places where all people are truly equal. Jipson, an associate sociology ...

DENVER — New research out of the University of Cincinnati is believed to be the first to examine the relative impact of militarization and corruption on civilian populations. The findings reveal that a specific form of military organization—praetorian militarization—as well as national-level corruption—both adversely affect the well-being of citizens. The findings by Steve Carlton-Ford, a professor and head of the UC sociology department, and T. David Evans, a UC emeritus associate professor of sociology, will be presented at the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological ...

In a 2010 survey of laid-off workers across the United States, married moms spent more time between jobs and were overall less likely to find new jobs compared with married dads. Once re-employed, married moms experienced a decrease in earnings of $175 more per week compared with married dads. The results suggest that the recent recession, dubbed the "man-cession" or "he-cession" because more men than women lost jobs, could also be viewed as a "mom-cession" as laid-off moms had the hardest time finding new jobs. "These findings hold true across different backgrounds, ...

Maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with wheeze and asthma inpreschool children, even among children who were not exposed to maternal smoking late inpregnancy or after birth, according to a new study. "Epidemiological evidence suggests that exposure to maternal smoking during fetal andearly life increases the risk of childhood wheezing and asthma, but earlier studieswere not able to differentiate the effects of prenatal and postnatal exposure," said lead author Åsa Neuman. MD, of the Institute of Environmental Medicine at the KarolinskaInstitutet in Stockholm, ...

The housing foreclosure crisis has been blamed for widespread economic and social problems in the United States, including reduced property values, depressed consumer spending and a decline in government services. Some observers speculate that it has also led to more crime in hard-hit cities. Not so, according to research by doctoral student Roderick Jones and professor William Alex Pridemore of the Department of Criminal Justice at Indiana University Bloomington. In an examination of 142 U.S. metropolitan areas, they found no association between housing-mortgage stress ...