This press release is available in Spanish. Studies by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists indicate that organic farmers who need to periodically amend their soils with compost after planting can still control weeds--and hold down costs--by using fabric ground covers. This will be welcome news to organic farmers who till composted manure into their crop fields after planting. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) soil scientist Larry Zibilske, who works at the agency's Integrated Farming and Natural Resources Research Unit in Weslaco, Texas, set out to see ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – As wolf populations grow in parts of the West, most of the focus has been on their value in aiding broader ecosystem recovery – but a new study from Oregon State University also points out that they could play an important role in helping to save other threatened species. In research published today in Wildlife Society Bulletin, scientists suggest that a key factor in the Canada lynx being listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act is the major decline of snowshoe hares. The loss of hares, the primary food of the lynx, in turn may be caused ...

Transvaginal mesh devices are usually implanted to strengthen a woman's vaginal tissue and support the weight of the surrounding organs after a woman experiences pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Recent reports from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicate that these transvaginal mesh devices can cause injury in women who have had the potentially defective device implanted. What Is Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP)? It is not uncommon following a pregnancy or other medical condition for a woman's vaginal tissue to weaken. When this happens, a woman may experience POP, ...

After studying current school inspection and review reports as well as an independent impact study report commissioned by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), author Michael Lightfoot stated that many technology-related policies overlook the real needs of students. Lightfoot wrote that while ICT infrastructure aims to incorporate electronic classes and teaching systems that enhance students' and teachers' technological abilities, in reality it has become little more than a way to mechanically optimize the operation of equipment and to perpetuate cultural ...

Researchers at the University of British Columbia and the Child & Family Research Institute have shown that parental stress during their children's early years can leave an imprint on their sons' or daughters' genes – an imprint that lasts into adolescence and may affect how these genes are expressed later in life. The study, published online today in the journal Child Development, focused on epigenetics – the expression of genes as opposed to the underlying sequence of DNA. A central component of epigenetics is methylation, in which a chemical group attaches to parts ...

In late June, three young state residents facing disabilities were recognized by the Michigan Legislature for their efforts to make bicycling safer. Nineteen-year-old James Kleimola of Ypsilanti, along with Katie Birchmeier and Conor Waterman of Saline, both 10, are involved in the Programs to Educate All Cyclists (PEAC). Last year, their testimony before the Michigan House and Senate Transportation committees as well as the Disability Caucus helped shepherd into law Complete Streets legislation that will ensure future transportation plans across the state take into ...

When the body fights oxidative damage, it calls up a reservist enzyme that protects cells – but only if those cells are relatively young, a study has found. Biologists at USC discovered major declines in the availability of an enzyme, known as the Lon protease, as human cells grow older. The finding may help explain why humans lose energy with age and could point medicine toward new diets or pharmaceuticals to slow the aging process. The researchers showed that when oxidative agents attack the power centers of young cells, the cells respond by calling up reinforcements ...

Scientists from the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville have determined that an inexpensive semiconductor material can be "tweaked" to generate hydrogen from water using sunlight. The research, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, was led by Professors Madhu Menon and R. Michael Sheetz at the UK Center for Computational Sciences, and Professor Mahendra Sunkara and graduate student Chandrashekhar Pendyala at the UofL Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research. Their findings were published Aug. 1 in the Physical Review Journal (Phys Rev B 84, 075304). The ...

A new study by Transportation For America takes a state-by-state look at pedestrian safety in the U.S. In the wake of public awareness campaigns for motorcycle safety and distracted driving, pedestrian safety has seen less public attention, resources and funding. The study found that, between 2000 and 2009, over 47,700 pedestrians were killed nationwide and an additional 688,000 pedestrians were injured. Data from the study ranks Memphis as the fifth deadliest metro area for pedestrians out of a list of 54 cities with populations over 1 million. Memphis had the highest ...

Are new England's iconic maple trees at risk? If a beetle has its way, the answer may be yes. Results from the first study of the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) in forests show that the invasive insect can easily spread from tree-lined city streets to neighboring forests. A paper reporting the results appears today in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research. Successful ALB eradication efforts in Chicago, and ongoing eradication efforts in Boston, New York, and other U.S. cities have focused exclusively on urban street trees. The ongoing ALB infestation in Worcester, ...

Researchers at the Intermountain Clinical Genetics Institute at LDS Hospital have developed a new method for identifying patients who carry a gene that affects treatment for colon and other forms of cancer. In addition to being more cost effective than previously existing tests, the novel technique ensures accurate results; it could soon be the gold standard in early detection and treatment for many colon cancer patients. Diagnosing Lynch Syndrome May Inform Treatment Decisions A number of cancer patients suffer from an inherited condition known as Lynch syndrome. ...

A team of USC scientists has developed a robust, efficient method of using hydrogen as a fuel source. Hydrogen makes a great fuel because of it can easily be converted to electricity in a fuel cell and because it is carbon free. The downside of hydrogen is that, because it is a gas, it can only be stored in high pressure or cryogenic tanks. In a vehicle with a tank full of hydrogen, "if you got into a wreck, you'd have a problem," said Travis Williams, assistant professor of chemistry at the USC Dornsife College. A possible solution is to store hydrogen in a safe ...

When married couples with children divorce or obtain a legal separation, the court has the authority and an obligation to order child support. It is public policy in Minnesota that both parents shall be liable for the financial responsibilities of raising a child. As such, a support order is issued to compel a non-custodial parent to support the custodial parent in raising the child. The parent who is ordered to pay support is called the obligor. The parent who receives such support is called the obligee. Child Support Generally Under Minnesota law, child support ...

Nurses, just like many of their patients, struggle to find time and motivation to exercise. But a new study may give these all-important caregivers some additional pressure and responsibility: nurses' attitudes can influence whether their patients commit to a healthy lifestyle. "Nurses should model healthy exercise behavior," said Joyce Fitzpatrick, an author of the study in the International Journal of Nursing Practice and the Elizabeth Brooks Ford Professor of Nursing at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. The study found, ...

NEW YORK – August 30, 2011 – Research in Marketing Science by Professor Kamel Jedidi, John A. Howard Professor of Business, Marketing, Columbia Business School; Professor Oded Netzer, Philip H. Geier Jr. Associate Professor, Marketing, Columbia Business School; and Professor Ricardo Montoya, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile, reveals how pharmaceutical managers can maximize the return on marketing investments – by determining the physicians to target as well as when and how to target them. The researchers investigate the effectiveness ...

An estimated 7,000 deaths and 1.3 million injuries occur each year because of medication errors in America's hospitals. Research by the Institute of Medicine suggests that a typical hospital patient is subjected to an average of at least one medication error per day. Common Types of Medication Errors The most common type of error is the administration of an improper dose of medication, which accounts for 41 percent of all medication error deaths. Sixteen percent of medication errors are the result of hospital staff administering the wrong drug altogether, or of using ...

Can changing a single word on a sign motivate doctors and nurses to wash their hands? Campaigns about hand-washing in hospitals usually try to scare doctors and nurses about personal illness, says Adam Grant, a psychological scientist at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. "Most safety messages are about personal consequences," Grant says. "They tell you to wash your hands so you don't get sick." But his new study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that this ...

Two studies in the latest issue of the Journal of Law and Economics cast doubt on whether sex offender registry and notification laws actually work as intended. One study, by J.J. Prescott of the University of Michigan and Johan Rockoff of Columbia University, found that requiring sex offenders to register with police may significantly reduce the chances that they will re-offend. However the research also finds that making that same registry information available to the broader public may backfire, leading to higher overall rates of sex crime. Meanwhile, another study ...

It seems inconceivable, but surgeons sometimes operate on the wrong side of a patient's body. It is a horrible mistake that should never happen, but unfortunately it does. Nearly 40 patients across the U.S. each week will come out of surgery and learn that doctors operated on the wrong body part, wrong patient or that they completed the wrong procedure. According to the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare, a healthcare accreditation body, wrong-site surgeries are still a problem even after the Commission set forth guidelines meant to prevent such errors ...

Working with the government of Lao PDR, the Wildlife Conservation Society has helped to successfully hatch a clutch of 20 Siamese crocodiles, a species threatened across its range by hunting, habitat fragmentation and loss, and other factors. Hatched from eggs taken from the wild and incubated at the Laos Zoo, the baby crocodiles represent a success for a new program that works to save the Siamese crocodile and the wetlands and associated biodiversity of Laos' Savannakhet Province. The project is supported by the Savannakhet Province Agriculture and Forestry Office ...

Police, firefighters, paramedics and other emergency responders risk injury and death on a daily basis. And, while the recent injuries sustained while on duty by two Maryland law enforcement officers serve as a reminder of this danger, it is important to note that the recovery period and paying medical bills after an injury may be just as great of concern as actually being injured while on duty. While responding to a domestic violence call, an officer was shot by a man wielding a rifle. Fortunately, the officer did not sustain serious injuries. During the same week, ...

[EMBARGOED FOR AUG. 31, 2011, ARLINGTON, Va.] – Immunizations, including a yearly flu vaccine, are the best way to protect children from life-threatening pneumonia, according to new guidelines from the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). The guidelines, which are the first on diagnosing and treating community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in infants and children, place preventing bacterial pneumonia as a top priority. Every year, pneumonia kills more than 2 million children ages 5 years and younger worldwide. ...

On August 11, 2011, two New York construction workers were sent to the Hudson Valley Hospital Center after the side of a ten-foot trench caved-in, burying one of the workers alive. Details of the Recent Construction Accident The crew had been finishing up a water-piping job when the trench gave way. Two coworkers and a passerby quickly rushed to the aid of the buried man in a rescue effort that a police lieutenant responding to the incident described as "heroic." When the worker was unearthed, he was missing teeth, bleeding profusely and seemed to have ...

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), commercial-vehicle accidents cost the U.S. economy more than $60 billion each year. With nearly 500,000 trucking companies and 5 million commercial drivers operating nationally, it is important to establish and maintain comprehensive safety rules to protect the public from dangerous truck accidents. Federal Trucking Laws There have been a number of improvements to federal motor-carrier laws in the last 25 years. Beginning with the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986, national standards were ...

Anyone who has driven on Arizona highways lately knows that they can be an extremely dangerous place. While you may be exercising safe driving habits, it is not uncommon to see other drivers speeding or talking on their cell phone as they drive by. Unfortunately, some of these drivers end up causing serious accidents that could change a life forever. Before heading out on an end-of-summer road trip, there are some steps you can take to help you make it to your destination safely. Check the condition of your vehicle. Is the vehicle having any mechanical issues that may ...