COLUMBIA, Mo. - Youths identified as American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) have the greatest lifetime smoking rate of all racial groups, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Nearly half of the 1.2 million AI/AN youths in the U.S. smoke cigarettes. A University of Missouri study found that public health strategies to combat smoking should teach refusal skills to help youths combat smoking influences, including family members and peers. "Smoking and quitting behaviors are heavily influenced by factors in the immediate environment, including family, ...

For almost a quarter of a century, the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has distributed alcohol permits to bar and restaurant owners based on a formulaic population quota system rooted in state law. But this system of liquor license rationing has proven a major headache for enterprising Utah restaurant moguls looking to take advantage of one of the fastest growing markets for eateries in the nation. Census reports show slower than expected population growth in Utah (so the number of issued liquor licenses actually exceeds the amount technically allowed ...

A recent news story talks about the tension between driving safely and the proliferation of electronic devices one can use in a car. Many of them can now be used "hands free" with the hope that it will prevent drivers from fumbling around, trying to type in a number or a text as they drive down the highway. Not everyone is convinced that merely making cell phones, GPSs, iPods and every other electronic device people use in cars, hands free will really help people drive safely. Studies by the National Transportation Safety Board have pointed out that texting while ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. - More than 40 percent of Americans have at least one step relative, according to a recent Pew Center study. Relationships between stepchildren and stepparents can be complicated, especially for children. University of Missouri experts have found that stepchildren relate with stepparents based on the stepparents' treatment of them and their evaluations, or judgments, of the stepparents' behaviors. "It takes both parties – children and adults – to build positive relationships in stepfamilies," said Larry Ganong, professor in the Department of Human Development ...

WASHINGTON—April 6, 2011—With Congress at a budget impasse, a new poll suggests the nation's leaders should look more deeply at the public's priorities, particularly regarding proposed cuts to medical, health and scientific research. Research!America urges our nation's leaders to put the public's interest and the nation's future ahead of politics and to move past polarizing budget battles and the uncertainty of continuing resolutions that resolve nothing. Americans are hungry for solutions from Washington. The poll, commissioned by Research!America, surveyed a mix of ...

In the same way that a drunk driving accident may result in criminal (DUI) charges as well as civil claims (for property damage or injuries caused in the accident), worksite accidents may also give rise to both criminal charges and civil claims for damages. A recent case out of San Luis Obispo County is a perfect example where both civil and criminal consequences arose out of a construction accident. A construction site foreman was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of violating the Labor Code in connection with a worksite accident in ...

CHICAGO --- In a large multi-center clinical trial, a new PSA test to screen for prostate cancer more accurately identified men with prostate cancer -- particularly the aggressive form of the disease -- and substantially reduced false positives compared to the two currently available commercial PSA tests, according to newly published research from Northwestern Medicine. The only currently available Food and Drug Administration-approved screening tests for prostate cancer result in a high number of false positives and lead to unnecessary biopsies and possible over-detection ...

Troy, N.Y. – Proteins are critically important to life and the human body. They are also among the most complex molecules in nature, and there is much we still don't know or understand about them. One key challenge is the stability of enzymes, a particular type of protein that speeds up, or catalyzes, chemical reactions. Taken out of their natural environment in the cell or body, enzymes can quickly lose their shape and denature. Everyday examples of enzymes denaturing include milk going sour, or eggs turning solid when boiled. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Professor ...

Royal Oak health law attorney Andrew B. Wachler provided a review of the past year's developments in Medicare and Medicaid hospital audits at the American Health Lawyers Association's Hospital and Health System Law Institute in February in Las Vegas. The Law Institute sessions provided practicing health care lawyers with an analysis of the legal challenges they face. The principal for Royal Oak law firm Wachler & Associates, P.C., Wachler has been practicing health care law for over 25 years. He counsels U.S. health care providers and organizations in a variety of health ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Public relations professionals constantly look for ways to most effectively promote their messages to the media. Sun-A Park, a researcher at the University of Missouri School of Journalism surveyed more than 300 health journalists and found that those who cover strokes and stroke prevention tend to hold negative views of corporate pharmacy media relations, while those who regularly read medical journals tend to cover more stories based on corporate press releases. Park says one key factor influencing journalists' attitudes concerning corporate media press ...

A groundbreaking clinical study of a new method for preventing premature birth in millions of women each year, published in the medical journal Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology, shows that the rate of early preterm delivery in women (< 33 weeks) can be reduced by 45 percent – simply by treating pregnant women at risk with a low-cost gel of natural progesterone during the midtrimester of pregnancy until term. The peer-reviewed findings were led by the Perinatology Research Branch of the National Institutes of Health, housed by the Wayne State University School of ...

LIVERMORE, Calif. --Unlike many conventional chemical detectors that require an external power source, Lawrence Livermore researchers have developed a nanosensor that relies on semiconductor nanowires, rather than traditional batteries. The device overcomes the power requirement of traditional sensors and is simple, highly sensitive and can detect various molecules quickly. Its development could be the first step in making an easily deployable chemical sensor for the battlefield. The Lab's Yinmin "Morris" Wang and colleagues Daniel Aberg, Paul Erhart, Nipun Misra, Aleksandr ...

VIDEO: CfA astronomers have found a pair of white dwarf stars orbiting each other once every 39 minutes. In a few million years, they will merge and reignite as a helium-burning... Click here for more information. White dwarfs are dead stars that pack a Sun's-worth of matter into an Earth-sized ball. Astronomers have just discovered an amazing pair of white dwarfs whirling around each other once every 39 minutes. This is the shortest-period pair of white dwarfs now known. ...

Government regulation is meant to protect safety and reduce risks to people who might otherwise be injured. The Declaration of Independence promised "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," but when that pursuit is unchecked, people too often get hurt by others' dangerous conduct. In our system, government is supposed to level the playing field. That is why, for much of the twentieth century, regulation by states and the federal government grew -- and the result was a safer America. It was democracy in action, as elected legislatures agreed upon safety standards ...

Washington, D.C. — Although its name may make many people think of flowers, the element germanium is part of a frequently studied group of elements, called IVa, which could have applications for next-generation computer architecture as well as implications for fundamental condensed matter physics. New research conducted by Xiao-Jia Chen, Viktor Struzhkin, and Ho-Kwang (Dave) Mao from Geophysical Laboratory at Carnegie Institution for Science, along with collaborators from China, reveals details of the element's transitions under pressure. Their results show extraordinary ...

Living along the coast has its advantages. The nice weather and quick access to beaches provide ample opportunities to relax. However, there are some drawbacks that accompany these perks, especially for those who live along the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes and other weather-related events can make living in this region dangerous, and residents need to be prepared in the event of a hurricane. Hurricane insurance is just one part of any hurricane preparation plan. Many homeowners that live right along the coast have had to deal with the high costs of homeowner's insurance, ...

Contagious yawning is not just a marker of sleepiness or boredom. For chimpanzees, it may actually be a sign of a social connection between individuals. New research at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, may help scientists understand empathy, the mechanism thought to underlie contagious yawning, in both chimpanzees and humans. The research also may help show how social biases strengthen or weaken empathy. Scientists at Yerkes discovered chimpanzees yawn more after watching familiar chimpanzees yawn than after watching strangers yawn. The ...

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA — Delivering quality health care rather than health care sustainability is a key issue for Canada's federal election, and Canadians need a vision from federal leaders to radically transform our health care system, states an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/doi/10.1503/cmaj.110540. While health care delivery is a provincial and territorial jurisdiction, renegotiation of Canada's health accord is a federal responsibility. "Without hesitation, we should all ask how governments propose to deliver quality ...

In February, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided to allow the family of a woman killed in a car accident to sue Mazda for failing to install shoulder belts for all passengers in its minivans. Until now, this type of lawsuit has been thrown out by lower courts, since federal regulations allow companies to install lap belts only for middle second or third row seats. The new ruling will likely open up a variety of legal options for those injured in cars that do not meet the strictest safety standards. The Case Thanh Williamson died in a 2002 accident while riding ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Communication researchers at four major universities have found that if you receive a lot of email, habitually respond to a good portion of it, maintain a lot of online relationships and conduct a large number of transactions online, you are more susceptible to email phishing expeditions than those who limit their online activity. The study, "Why Do People Get Phished?" forthcoming in the journal Decision Support Systems and Electronic Commerce, uses an integrated information processing model to test individual differences in vulnerability to phishing. ...

Frequent reports of accelerating species losses invariably raise questions about why such losses matter and why we should work to conserve biodiversity. Biologists have traditionally responded to such questions by citing societal benefits that are often presumed to be offered by biodiversity--benefits like controlling pests and diseases, promoting the productivity of fisheries, and helping to purify air and water, among many others. Nevertheless, many of these presumed benefits are have yet to be supported by rigorous scientific data. But Bradley J. Cardinale of the ...

A recent Los Angeles Times article provided interesting insights about ongoing efforts to make automobile event data recorders (EDRs or "black boxes") mandatory on all vehicles sold in the U.S., and to make better data available to promote public safety. In the aftermath of a motor vehicle accident, such data can help investigators understand whether the crash was caused by a negligent driver, an auto defect or a hazardous highway condition. Jim Hall, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, and Tom Kowalick, a North Carolina college professor, ...

ROCKVILLE, April 6, Maryland, 2011 – Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE Amex: CUR) announced that the Phase I safety trial of its human spinal cord stem cells (HSSCs) in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) is the subject of three presentations at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting, April 9-16th, in Honolulu, HI (http://www.aan.com/go/am11). Chief among these will be a presentation by Eva Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., who is an unpaid consultant to Neuralstem and the Principal Investigator in the ongoing ALS trial, entitled: "A Phase I, Open-Label, ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Chemical engineers at UC Santa Barbara expect that their new process to create molecular probes may eventually result in the development of new drugs to treat cancer and other illnesses. Their work, reported in the journal Chemistry & Biology, published by Cell Press, describes a new strategy to build molecular probes to visualize, measure, and learn about the activities of enzymes, called proteases, on the surface of cancer cells. Patrick Daugherty, senior author and professor of chemical engineering at UCSB, explained that the probes are ...

A new bill before the Arizona legislature aims to ease tough DUI laws that put in place in 2001, when Arizona passed a rule that established a blood-alcohol concentration of .08 percent as the legal limit within the state. Since then, the DUI laws have become even tougher. Presently, first-time offenders face at least ten days in jail, fines of $250 or more, and if they blow a .15 percent BAC or higher, the installation of an ignition interlock device in their vehicles for an entire year. The ignition interlock device is connected to the car's starter; a driver must ...