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Medicine30 Sep 2010

Less than half of essential workers willing to report to work during a serious pandemic

September 28, 2010 – Although first responders willingly put themselves in harm's way during disasters, new research indicates that they may not be as willing— if the disaster is a potentially lethal pandemic. In a recent study, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health found that more than 50% of the first responders and other essential workers they surveyed might be absent from work during a serious pandemic, even if they were healthy. The study, reported online in the October issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, ...

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Science30 Sep 2010

Dirty hands, dirty mouths: U-M study finds a need to clean the body part that lies

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Apparently your mom had it right when she threatened to wash your mouth out with soap if you talked dirty. Lying really does create a desire to clean the "dirty" body part, according to a University of Michigan study. "The references to 'dirty hands' or 'dirty mouths' in everyday language suggest that people think about abstract issues of moral purity in terms of more concrete experiences with physical purity," said Spike W.S. Lee, a U-M doctoral candidate in psychology, who conducted the study with Norbert Schwarz, a psychologist at the U-M Institute ...

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Social Science30 Sep 2010

Rice University study finds Groupon is more beneficial for consumers than businesses

Social promotions such as those offered by deal-of-the-day website Groupon are wildly popular with shoppers, but they might not be as big a hit for businesses, according to a recent study by Rice University's Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business. Groupon promotions were profitable for 66 percent of the businesses surveyed for the study, but they were unprofitable for 32 percent. More than 40 percent of the respondents indicated they would not run such a promotion again. Groupon is a social promotion site that features a daily deal for each city in which it operates ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2010

Addition of immunotherapy boosts pediatric cancer survival in children with neuroblastoma

Administering a new form of immunotherapy to children with neuroblastoma, a nervous system cancer, increased the percentage of those who were alive and free of disease progression after two years, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and fellow institutions. The percentage rose from 46 percent for children receiving a standard therapy to 66 percent for children receiving immunotherapy plus standard therapy, according to the study published in the Sept. 30, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. "This is the ...

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Technology30 Sep 2010

Notre Dame and Wyoming scientists genetically engineer silkworms to produce artificial spider silk

A research and development effort by the University of Notre Dame, the University of Wyoming, and Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. has succeeded in producing transgenic silkworms capable of spinning artificial spider silks. "This research represents a significant breakthrough in the development of superior silk fibers for both medical and non-medical applications," said Malcolm J. Fraser Jr., a Notre Dame professor of biological sciences. "The generation of silk fibers having the properties of spider silks has been one of the important goals in materials science." Natural ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2010

CEO's fate in hands of external constituents

A CEO's fate might be in the hands of external constituents, according to a new study from Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business. The study found that investment analysts and their negative stock ratings can sway a board to dismiss its CEO. Conventional research has focused on internal factors that contribute to CEO dismissal -- poor firm performance and organization power and politics. But the new study, published by the Strategic Management Journal, turned its attention outward to discover the significant influence investment analysts have on a board ...

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Environment30 Sep 2010

NRL's Wide-Field Imager selected for Solar Probe Plus mission

NASA has chosen the Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL's) Wide-field Imager to be part of the Solar Probe Plus mission slated for launch no later than 2018. The Solar Probe Plus, a small car-sized spacecraft will plunge directly into the sun's atmosphere approximately four million miles from our star's surface. It will explore a region no other spacecraft ever has encountered in an effort to unlock the sun's biggest mysteries. For decades, scientists have known that the corona, or the outer atmosphere, is several hundreds of times hotter than the visible solar surface ...

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Science30 Sep 2010

New NIST 'standard cigarette' available for fire-resistance testing

Cigarettes are the most frequent cause of fatalities from residential fires in the United States. So, it might seem surprising to learn that a cigarette that burns stronger than others has been used for decades by manufacturers of home furnishings to test the fire resistance of their products. Making certain that they can continue this life- and property-saving effort is the job of a new standard reference material (SRM) from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST SRM 1196, "Standard Cigarette for Ignition Resistance Testing," consists of 10 packs ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2010

Studies show improved patient tolerance for unsedated colonoscopy using novel water method

OAK BROOK, Ill. – September 29, 2010 – The October issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), features the results of two randomized controlled trials of unsedated colonoscopy comparing water infusion versus air insufflation to distend the colon. Both studies showed that patient tolerance with the water method during unsedated colonoscopy was greater than with air insufflation and enhanced patient willingness to undergo a repeat unsedated exam; however, the cecal intubation ...

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Science30 Sep 2010

Growing nanowires horizontally yields new benefit: 'nano-LEDs'

While refining their novel method for making nanoscale wires, chemists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) discovered an unexpected bonus—a new way to create nanowires that produce light similar to that from light-emitting diodes (LEDs). These "nano-LEDs" may one day have their light-emission abilities put to work serving miniature devices such as nanogenerators or lab-on-a-chip systems. Nanowires typically are "grown" by the controlled deposition of molecules—zinc oxide, for example—from a gas onto a base material, a process called chemical vapor ...

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Technology30 Sep 2010

NIST 'Vision Science Facility' aims for lighting revolution

Light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, have become popular with backpackers and cyclists who mount them on headbands for a reliable, hands-free source of illumination. Now, a new lab at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is helping to bring these tiny but brilliant devices into your home, to help save both energy costs and the environment. "LEDs can be very energy efficient, and they are a lot smaller and last a lot longer than light bulbs," says NIST vision scientist Wendy Davis. "They're what we'll likely use in the future to light our houses and public ...

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Science30 Sep 2010

Children's well-being and varying degrees of family instability

Bowling Green, OH—September 29, 2010— A forthcoming issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family states that children today are less likely to be born into a "traditional" family structure, defined as two biological married parents. Growing numbers of children in the United States experience multiple family living arrangements during childhood. How these transitions affect the individual child's well-being needs to be fully addressed by researchers and policymakers alike. This article fully reviews the existing research from the past ten years on these topics in an effort ...

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Social Science30 Sep 2010

NIST residential fire study education kit now available

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the International Association of Fire Fighters have prepared an educational resource for fire chiefs, firefighters, and public officials to summarize and explain the key results of a landmark study on the effect of the size of firefighting crews on the ability of the fire service to protect lives and property in residential fires. The study, Report on Residential Fireground Field Experiments, was published by NIST last April. The study is the first to quantify the effects of crew sizes and ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2010

MD Anderson study finds increases in 5-, 10-year survival at every stage of breast cancer

VIDEO: This study finds higher survival rate at every stage of breast cancer. Click here for more information. HOUSTON - Advances in screening for disease detection, better surgical techniques available to more women, and an increased number of therapies that reduce the risk of relapse in patients with both locally advanced and early stage disease, have collectively contributed to dramatic improvements in breast cancer's survival rates, according to a review of 60 years ...

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Space30 Sep 2010

No evidence for Clovis comet catastrophe, archaeologists say

New research challenges the controversial theory that an ancient comet impact devastated the Clovis people, one of the earliest known cultures to inhabit North America. Writing in the October issue of Current Anthropology, archaeologists Vance Holliday (University of Arizona) and David Meltzer (Southern Methodist University) argue that there is nothing in the archaeological record to suggest an abrupt collapse of Clovis populations. "Whether or not the proposed extraterrestrial impact occurred is a matter for empirical testing in the geological record," the researchers ...

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Science30 Sep 2010

A downside to work flexibility?

TORONTO, ON – Is there a downside to schedule control at work? According to new research out of the University of Toronto, people who have more schedule control at work tend to report more blurring of the boundaries between work and the other parts of their lives, especially family-related roles. Researchers measured the extent of schedule control and its impact on work-family processes using data from a national survey of more than 1,200 American workers. Sociology professor Scott Schieman (U of T) and PhD student Marisa Young (U of T) asked study participants: "Who ...

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Science30 Sep 2010

In-country OB/GYN training programs contributed to retention of doctors in Ghana, U-M study shows

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Ghanaian Obstetrics and Gynecology residents say in-country training programs contributed to their decision to remain in their home country to practice medicine, new University of Michigan research shows. The retention of trained health care providers in developing countries is a key component to improving health and achieving the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which aim to decrease maternal and child mortality. But the migration of health workers from developing to developed countries has resulted in a health care workforce crisis that ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2010

Study finds women with triple negative breast cancer and BRCA mutations have lower risk of recurrence

HOUSTON - Patients with triple negative breast cancer that also have mutations in the BRCA gene appear to have a lower risk of recurrence, compared to those with the same disease without the deleterious genetic mutation, according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The findings may offer a direction for study of personalized therapy in this select group of triple negative breast cancer patients, as well as highlight the unique need for genetic testing in a patient population. Ana M. Gonzalez-Angulo, M.D., associate professor in MD Anderson's ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2010

Research examines vicious cycle of overeating and obesity

New research provides evidence of the vicious cycle created when an obese individual overeats to compensate for reduced pleasure from food. Obese individuals have fewer pleasure receptors and overeat to compensate, according to a study by University of Texas at Austin senior research fellow and Oregon Research Institute senior scientist Eric Stice and his colleagues published this week in The Journal of Neuroscience. Stice shows evidence this overeating may further weaken the responsiveness of the pleasure receptors ("hypofunctioning reward circuitry"), further diminishing ...

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Science30 Sep 2010

Impending death for paper coupons?

Representing a relatively new phenomenon in shopping, digital coupons show great promise for revolutionizing couponing. In studying the marketing and usability of a specific type of electronic coupon – digital coupons – one University of Arizona research team has found some interesting and important preliminary findings about what consumers thought of digital coupons, how they used them, why they used them and what problems were associated with their use. "In the literature, there is some information about these coupons, but there is no empirical data," said Anita Bhappu, ...

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Science30 Sep 2010

Researchers find first genetic evidence for loss of teeth in the common ancestor of baleen whales

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – In contrast to a toothed whale, which retains teeth that aid in capturing prey, a living baleen whale (e.g., blue whale, fin whale, humpback, bowhead) has lost its teeth and must sift zooplankton and small fish from ocean waters with baleen or whalebone, a sieve-like structure in the upper jaw that filters food from large mouthfuls of seawater. Based on previous anatomical and fossil data studies, scientists have widely believed that both the origin of baleen and the loss of teeth occurred in the common ancestor of baleen whales about 25 million years ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2010

UT MD Anderson study finds women treated for breast cancer while pregnant have improved survival

HOUSTON - Long associated with a worse outcome, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered that women treated for breast cancer while pregnant, in fact, have improved disease-free survival and a trend for improved overall survival compared to non-pregnant women treated for the disease. Jennifer Litton, M.D., assistant professor in MD Anderson's Department of Breast Medical Oncology, presented the findings in a poster discussion session at the 2010 Breast Cancer Symposium. "Until now, older registry studies showed that breast cancer ...

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Science30 Sep 2010

Dog ownership is associated with reduced eczema in children with dog allergies

Cincinnati, OH, September 30, 2010 — Children with eczema, a chronic skin condition that often begins in childhood, have a greater risk of developing asthma and food allergies. The number of children with eczema is rising, but the reasons for this are unclear. A new study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics examines the relationship between pet ownership and eczema. Researchers found that dog ownership among children with dog allergies may reduce the risk of developing eczema by age 4 years; cat ownership, however, may increase the risk among children with ...

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Medicine30 Sep 2010

New health insurance exchanges should be independent, aim for level playing field

New York, NY, September 30, 2010—A new report from The Commonwealth Fund provides recommendations for state and federal policymakers as they design and implement the new health insurance exchanges which are a key element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The state-based exchanges, to be set up by states and the federal government to provide a health insurance marketplace with subsidized health insurance for small businesses and individuals without employer or public coverage, will play a major role in enhancing many Americans' access to health insurance ...

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Social Science30 Sep 2010

Kenji Hakuta to address education of language minority students at AERA's Brown Lecture

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 30, 2010—Kenji Hakuta, a Stanford University scholar who strives to improve education opportunities for language minority students, will deliver the Seventh Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research here next month. Hosted by the American Educational Research Association (AERA), this lecture commemorates the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision of the U.S. Supreme Court and features significant scholarship that advances equality and equity in education. The 2010 Brown Lecture, "Educating Language Minority Students and Affirming Their ...

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