The Eatery on Beach Street in Fort Worth now features iPads with the popular game Angry Birds to entertain children while Chef Don Gifford prepares homestyle meals from scratch. "Young ones can help the Angry Birds get revenge for stolen eggs on The Eatery's iPads while I make their favorites from our new dinner menu," said Chef Don Gifford. "Our made-from-scratch gourmet Mac and Cheese bar has been bringing lots of families with children to The Eatery on Thursday nights, and the kids light up when they see the iPads," said Cindy Gifford. The ...

A high level of a hormone that regulates phosphate is associated with an increased risk of kidney failure and death among chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, according to a recent study led by researchers at the University of Miami and funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Diseases and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health. Results are in the June 15 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. In a previous study of patients beginning hemodialysis for treatment of kidney failure, individuals with elevated blood ...

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – A Rutgers University astrophysicist is part of a scientific team that has unveiled evidence of black holes being common in the early universe. The discovery, made using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, shows that these young black holes grew more aggressively than scientists previously thought. The finding has important implications for how astronomers understand the early cosmos, according to Eric Gawiser, assistant professor in Rutgers' Department of Physics and Astronomy, School of Arts and Sciences. "There is a deep and mysterious connection ...

Every living plant cell and animal cell is surrounded by a membrane that helps it communicate with other cells and the outside world. These cellular membranes contain receptor molecules that serve as the cell's eyes and ears. The receptor molecules accomplish three basic things in the communication process: 1) recognize an outside signal, 2) transport that signal across the cell's membrane and 3) initiate the reading of the signal inside the cell and then initiate the cell's response to that signal. These steps are collectively known as transmembrane signaling. Transmembrane ...

FAIRFAX, Va., June 15, 2011—George Mason University scientists discovered recently that a phenomenon called a giant magnetic rope is the cause of solar storms. Confirming the existence of this formation is a key first step in helping to mitigate the adverse effects that solar storm eruptions can have on satellite communications on Earth. The discovery was made by associate professor Jie Zhang and his graduate student Xin Cheng using images from the NASA Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) spacecraft. Though the magnetic rope was believed to be the cause of these giant ...

MR enterography reduces exposure to ionizing radiation Revising protocol may reduce costs, complexity while maintaining integrity of diagnosis Use of anti-peristalitc agent may not be necessary to obtain high-quality images (Providence, R.I.) – A new study from Rhode Island Hospital has found that MR enterography (MRE) without the use of an anti-peristaltic agent were as reliable as CT enterography (CTE) in determining the presence of Crohn's disease. Additionally, MRE reduces the patient's exposure to ionizing radiation. The study is now published online in advance ...

Men are sometimes criticized for being unwilling to ask for directions when they travel, but they can benefit from looking for help as they begin their journeys as fathers, according to a researcher on fatherhood at the University of Chicago. Along the way, they should not shy from asserting their roles, said Jennifer Bellamy, an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. "Sometimes dads feel like they don't get the same level of support that moms do when they become parents, but I think dads should seek opportunities from ...

CHICAGO (June 15, 2011) – A study of Canadian home-care patients suggests doctors may be overprescribing antibiotics for patients receiving ongoing medical care at home. The study, published in the June issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, suggests that more should be done to monitor antibiotic use in home-care patients to avoid misuse that could decrease the efficacy of the drugs over time. According to the study, led by researchers from McMaster University in Ontario, antibiotic prescriptions ...

CHICAGO (June 15, 2011) – Use of a glowing gel that shows kids how well they wash their hands by illustrating bacteria they missed while washing and may significantly improve hand hygiene, according to a study published in the July issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. What makes this particular intervention unique is where it was performed: a children's hospital emergency department waiting room. "Waiting for the doctor is usually a tiresome and unproductive experience, but we were able ...

TORONTO, ON – Researchers at the University of Toronto are the first to indentify a potential cause for a severe sleep disorder that has been closely linked to Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. "Our research is the first to establish a potential genetic link to human REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD). That's important because between 60 and 80 per cent of people diagnosed with human RBD develop Parkinson's disease or other neurodegenerative disorders later in life," says Dr. John Peever, lead author of the study that recently appeared in The Journal ...

DURHAM, NC – By shooting a beam of neutrinos through a small slice of the Earth under Japan, physicists say they've caught the particles changing their stripes in new ways. These observations may one day help explain why the universe is made of matter rather than anti-matter. The T2K experiment has been using the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, or J-PARC, located on the east coast, to shoot a beam of muon neutrinos 185 miles, or 295 kilometers, underground toward the Super-Kamiokande, or Super-K, detector in Kamioka, near Japan's west coast. The goal of the ...

CHICAGO (June 15, 2011) – Geisinger Health System vaccinated more than 92% of all employees against influenza this season, with a modification of a mandatory program. On average, fewer than half of all healthcare workers receive flu vaccinations. In an article published in July's Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, Dr. Lisa Esolen demonstrated the effectiveness of Geisinger's influenza vaccination that helped achieve high rates of vaccine compliance for two consecutive years. This past season, ...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Like rock stars of the rodent world, the flashiest performers of a Central American mouse species get the most attention from the ladies, a University of Florida study shows. Neotropical singing mice woo their mates with high-pitched vocal trills, and a bravura performance attracts more interest from females, according to a study published online this week in the journal Animal Behaviour by doctoral candidate Bret Pasch and colleagues in the department of biology at the University of Florida. The males' prowess could give female mice clues to a ...

DURHAM, NC -- A person scanning baggage or X-rays stands a better chance of seeing everything they're searching for if they aren't feeling anxious, according to a new laboratory experiment. Duke psychologists put a dozen students through a test in which they searched for particular shapes on a computer display, simulating the sort of visual searching performed by airport security teams and radiologists. Stephen Mitroff, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience who led the experiment, says this area of cognitive psychology is important for improving homeland ...

Have you ever thought you could lose weight and star on The Biggest Loser if you weren't so darned hungry all the time? Unfortunately, the diets we turn to for help don't do the job. How often have you heard that weight loss is as simple as taking in fewer calories than you burn and--voila!--the pounds will come off? It's actually a bit more complicated than that. Doctors used to think that a calorie was a calorie. It didn't matter if your diet plan called for eating 1,200 calories in Twinkies all day. If you cut out enough calories, you could lose weight. Now, they're ...

Using sophisticated methods of dating rocks, a team including University of Southampton researchers based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, have pinned down the timing of the start of an episode of an ancient global warming known as the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM), with implications for the triggering mechanism. The early part of the Cenozoic era, which started around 65.5 million years ago witnessed a series of transient global warming events called hyperthermals. The most severe of these was the PETM at the Paleocene–Eocene boundary, around ...

INDIANAPOLIS – Researchers have used cutting-edge stem cell technology to correct a genetic defect present in a rare blinding disorder, another step on a promising path that may one day lead to therapies to reverse blindness caused by common retinal diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa which affect millions of individuals. In a study appearing in an advance online publication of the journal Stem Cells on June 15, 2011, investigators used recently developed technology to generate induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from a human patient with an ...

A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research explains why sad people are more likely to want to hug a teddy bear than seek out a visual experience such as looking at art. Hint: It has to do with our mammalian instincts. "Human affective systems evolved from mammalian affective systems, and when mammals are young and incapable of thinking, their brain systems have to make these pups able to perform the 'correct' behavior," write authors Dan King (NUS Business School, Singapore) and Chris Janiszewski (University of Florida, Gainesville). One way the brain encourages ...

When consumers think about the groups they belong to, they recall ads better, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "A key determinant of how much consumers remember from an ad is the connection between the ad content and the consumer's own self-concept," write authors Kathryn R. Mercurio (UCLA) and Mark Forehand (University of Washington, Seattle). Consumers identify with many different demographic groups, such as race, gender, or age. They also identify with family role groups (mother, father, sister), or occupational groups such as lawyer, ...

Strongly identifying with an organization or workplace can change people's lives in profound ways, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Managers often hope that consumers identify with organizations they regularly patronize, and firms sometimes encourage labor to encourage employees to identify with firms they work for, because in both cases organizations benefit from such identification," write authors Melea Press and Eric J. Arnould (both University of Wyoming, Laramie). The authors focus on identification formation from the perspective of ...

Magical thinking, usually dismissed as naïve and irrational, can actually help consumers cope with stressful situations like trying to lose weight, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Magical thinking occurs when an individual invokes mystical, supernatural forces to understand, predict, or even influence events to overcome these stressful situations," write authors Yannik St. James (HEC Montreal), Jay M. Handelman, and Shirley F. Taylor (both Queen's University, Kingston, Canada). "Weight loss activities are stressful for a number of reasons: ...

Having an attractive model shill for a product only helps influence sales in certain situations, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. It seems it all depends on the set-up for the advertising. "Sometimes attractive endorsers increase persuasion, sometimes they decrease persuasion, and sometimes they have no effect at all," write authors Janne van Doorn and Diederik A. Stapel (both Tilburg University, the Netherlands). In four experiments, the authors demonstrated that context is everything when it comes to evaluating the role of the attractive ...

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Water Resources Research (WRR), Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres (JGR-D), Paleoceanography (PA), and the Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans (JGR-C). In this release: How yearly cholera outbreaks propagate in the Bengal Delta Surge in North Atlantic hurricanes due to better detectors, not climate change Potential for Atlantic current collapse hinted by complex global circulation model Formation of Indonesian Archipelago destroyed ...

Consumers react strongly to their product choices being copied, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. They really dislike it when the copycat is someone similar to them. "Have you ever gone to a party only to learn upon arrival that another guest is wearing the same dress or shirt as you?" ask authors Katherine White (University of British Columbia) and Jennifer J. Argo (University of Alberta). The researchers looked at what happens when someone else copies a consumer's product choice. Although past research suggests that people are often motivated ...

MONTREAL, June 15, 2011 – The results of a national online study show that 45% consider their parents to be their sexuality role model. Shattering stereotypes that parents and society hold about teen sexuality, the survey also revealed that only 32% looked to their friends and just 15% took inspiration from celebrities. Dr. Jean-Yves Frappier, a researcher at the University of Montreal's affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Centre will be presenting the results at the Canadian Paediatric Society's 88th Annual Conference on June 18, 2011. Importantly, the survey ...