Brothers and sisters are more powerful role models than friends or parents when it comes to teenage drinking and smoking, research has shown.

Researchers from The University of Queensland and University of Washington have proved that tobacco and alcohol use by older siblings increases the odds of similar behaviour from younger siblings by three to five times.

University of Washington Sociologist Dr Abby Fagan studied the contributions and influence of parents, sibl

In an important new longitudinal study forthcoming in the Feb. 2006 issue of the American Journal of Education, researchers draw on a nationally representative sample of more than 8,000 kindergarteners and 500 U.S. public schools to explore the role of full-day vs. half-day kindergarten in early academic achievement. The researchers found that full-day programs, which are most commonly available to less-advantaged children, are roughly equivalent to an additional month of schooling each year when co

Study is first to associate calorie restriction with delayed primary aging in humans

The hearts of people who follow a low-calorie, yet nutritionally balanced, diet resemble those of younger people when examined by sophisticated ultrasound function tests, and they tend to have more desirable levels of some markers of inflammation and fibrosis, according to a new study in the Jan. 17, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

“Eating less, if it i

Results suggest that coffee may impair peak heart function

In healthy volunteers, the equivalent of two cups of coffee reduced the body’s ability to boost blood flow to the heart muscle in response to exercise, and the effect was stronger when the participants were in a chamber simulating high altitude, according to a new study in the Jan. 17, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

“Whenever we do a physical exercise, myocardial blood flow

St. Jude study finds that more than 85 percent of adults with X-linked agammaglobulinemia work full time or are full-time students

Individuals who have a rare genetic immune system disorder that prevents them from making antibodies nevertheless appear to be moderately healthy and lead productive lives, according to results of a study by investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. A report on this study appears in the current online edition of Clinical Immunolog

A research team at UT Southwestern Medical Center has discovered a cell-signaling mechanism instrumental in the most common brain cancer in adults.

The study, published in today’s issue of the journal Cancer Research, opens an avenue to develop therapeutic drugs to target the epidermal growth factor receptor genes that play a major role in the development of deadly brain tumors, researchers said.

The median survival of patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM

Research published in the recent issue of Ethology has discovered that men are able to potentially use smell as a mechanism to establish when their current or prospective sexual partners are at their most fertile.

Females of a number of primate species display their fertile period by behavioural and/or morphological changes. The prevalent opinion was that there are no noticeable changes in humans across the cycle. Havlícek et al, however, have found that women’s axillary odour is ass

One in five patients taking diuretics commonly prescribed for high blood pressure or heart conditions end up with reduced sodium and potassium levels, according to a study published in the January issue of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

But as few as a third of patients on the drugs have their electrolyte levels tested — despite the fact that reduced levels can lead to a wide range of health problems.

A team from The University of Nottingham and Queen’s M

Warmer temperatures enhance growth conditions of fatal fungus

Results of a new study provide the first clear proof that global warming is causing outbreaks of an infectious disease that is wiping out entire frog populations and driving many species to extinction.

Published in the Jan. 12 issue of the journal Nature, the study reveals how the warming may alter the dynamics of a skin fungus that is fatal to amphibians. The climate-driven fungal disease, the author&#14

In an important new study, world-renowned economists–including a Nobel Prize winner and a MacArthur “genius”–argue that when demand for a good is inelastic, the cost of making consumption illegal exceeds the gain. Their forthcoming paper in the Journal of Political Economy is a definitive explanation of the economics of illegal goods and a thoughtful explication of the costs of enforcement.

The authors demonstrate how the elasticity of demand is crucial to understanding the effects of p

The Tizard Centre at the University of Kent has been awarded a 350,000 euro grant by the European Commission to find out how many disabled people are still cared for in institutions across Europe and what would be the costs of replacing institutions with services in the community.

The project is led by Professor Jim Mansell and Dr Julie Beadle-Brown from the Tizard Centre, and Professor Martin Knapp from the London School of Economics. It involves researchers in Spain, Germany, Belgium a

An inhaled anti-rejection drug can dramatically improve survival after a lung transplant, according to a study conducted at the University of Pittsburgh and led by lung disease specialists who are now at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. The results of the study are published in the January 12, 2006 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study, which was the first double-blind, placebo-controlled trial ever conducted in lung transplant patients, tested an in

Environmental and genetic factors lead to neural tube defects in 1 in every 1,000 births and cause 1 in 20 of every spontaneous abortion. One cause of these defects is the failure of cells within the neural tube to migrate to the middle of the developing neural tube.

A study in this week’s issue of Nature is the first to report on the molecular mechanism that directs cells to migrate to the correct local within the developing neural tube of vertebrates.

Marek Mlodz

Can becoming an adult be hazardous to your health? A new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Carolina Population Center indicates that may be the case, with leading health indicators showing serious declines as adolescents become adults.

A survey involving an ethnically diverse and nationally representative sample of 14,000 young people found diet, inactivity, obesity, health-care access, substance use and reproductive health to worsen with age. Only self-p

One in five patients taking diuretics commonly prescribed for high blood pressure or heart conditions end up with reduced sodium and potassium levels, according to a study published in the January issue of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

Yet recent evidence suggests that perhaps as few as a third of patients on the drugs – used by one in eight adults – have their electrolyte levels tested, despite the fact that reduced levels can lead to a wide range of health

Increasing RN staff saves 6,700 lives and 4 million patient days each year

A study in the January/February 2006 issue of the journal Health Affairs concludes that increasing the number of registered nurses and hours of nursing care per patient would save 6,700 lives and 4 million days of patient care in hospitals each year.

The research by UCLA’s Jack Needleman, Ph.D., and Vanderbilt University School of Nursing’s Peter Buerhaus, Ph.D., R.N., also finds tha