America’s charter schools serve a larger percentage of minority and low-income students than do the nation’s traditional public schools, according to a comprehensive new study of the growing charter movement.

That’s partly because charters remain a predominantly urban phenomenon, the researchers found, with charter schools three times as likely as regular public schools to be in located in a big city.

“One of driving forces behind charter schools has be

Findings signify need for patient education on complications of misusing painkillers

According to a study supported by the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), over-the-counter and prescription painkillers are often used inappropriately and there is an alarming number of people who are ignorant to the potential side effects. Despite the widespread use of store-bought and prescription painkillers, also known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), this is

The nomination period for the Millennium Technology Prize 2006, the world’s biggest technology award, has closed and the process of selecting a winner has begun. High-level proposals have been received from 32 countries.

Expressing his satisfaction with the geographical coverage of the nominations received, Dr. Tapio Alvesalo, Secretary General of the Millennium Prize Foundation and Secretary of the International Selection Committee, said ”In terms of international awareness

Low job satisfaction in working mothers increases the stress levels of their children, but spending longer in childcare can help overcome these effects, new research has shown.

In a study involving more than 50 nursery school children, researchers found higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in children whose mothers found their jobs less rewarding, or left them feeling emotionally exhausted, than those who reported more enjoyment from their jobs.

Levels of cortis

The dramatic rise in the number of Britons going broke has been partly caused by a dangerous addiction to reinvention and ‘want now’ consumerism, according to Professor Anthony Elliott of the University of Kent.

Elliott, Professor of Sociology in Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, argues that consumers are so bewitched by seductive services, designer goods and hi-tech products that they become addicted to spending. This is an addiction that is blind

Just five years ago Britain’s coffee houses were in a sorry state of decline. Today, and confounding many pundits’ expectations, coffee houses are springing up across the UK’s cities, towns and villages in the form of latte-serving cafes and coffee shop chains. But, what is everyday life like in these new public places in the city? And is Britain’s new cappuccino community livelier than the traditional pub crowd?

Researchers, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and b

Latest advances in health psychology may help physicians implement improved HIV care

Initial results from the OpenMind study, the largest behavioural study to look at both patients’ and physicians’ perceptions of HIV care in treatment-experienced patients, were revealed today at EACS. The study’s findings are anticipated to help physicians implement improved care to HIV patients and help pave the way for better acceptance and integration of other new innovative drugs such as monocl

Nearly a third of surveyed physicians do not keep a record when patients report domestic violence. Published today in the open access journal BMC Family Practice, a study of clinicians’ reports on patients who experienced domestic violence also reveals that 90% of the clinicians surveyed do not document domestic violence adequately. Their reports do not record whether they offered support and information about domestic violence to patients who might have needed it.

Megan Gerber, from Ha

The cognitive cost of being a twin: evidence from comparisons within families in the Aberdeen children of the 1950s cohort study, BMJ Online First

Social and economic circumstances do not explain why twins have significantly lower IQ in childhood than single-born children, according to a study in this week’s BMJ.

Researchers studied 9,832 single-born children and 236 twins born in Aberdeen, Scotland between 1950 and 1956, using a previous child development survey as

Counting calories isn’t the best way to lose weight, according to a new Brigham Young University study that suggests that an approach toward food called “intuitive eating” is better at producing lower cholesterol levels, body mass index scores and cardiovascular disease risk.

“The basic premise of intuitive eating is, rather than manipulate what we eat in terms of prescribed diets — how many calories a food has, how many grams of fat, specific food combinations or anything like t

Manufacturing competition

A new study of nearly 650 Georgia manufacturing companies underscores the importance of innovation as a competitive strategy – at a time when international outsourcing continues to impact Georgia’s manufacturing community.

The 2005 Georgia Manufacturing Survey shows that companies basing their competitive strategies on the development of innovative products or processes enjoy higher returns on sales, pay better wages and have less to fear

As older workers approach 65 and the official retirement age, many say that they want the Government and employers to be more flexible over retirement age so that they can continue working if they desire. They think that people should be able to retire before 65 or continue to work if that is what they want. Many of those interviewed now want to go on working as they think they still have much to offer their employers. However, they do not want the official age of retirement to rise from 65 years a

USC Study suggests alternative approach to anti-aging research in humans

A counterintuitive experiment has resulted in one of the longest recorded life-span extensions in any organism and opened a new door for anti-aging research in humans.
Scientists have known for several years that an extra copy of the SIR2 gene can promote longevity in yeast, worms and fruit flies.

That finding was covered widely and incorporated into anti-aging drug development programs at seve

A surprising new study by an international team of researchers has concluded Earth’s continents most likely were in place soon after the planet was formed, overturning a long-held theory that the early planet was either moon-like or dominated by oceans.

The team came to the conclusion following an analysis of a rare metal element known as hafnium in ancient minerals from the Jack Hills in Western Australia, thought to be among the oldest rocks on Earth. Hafnium is found in assoc

Immigrant youth are better able to handle discrimination, have fewer emotional problems, and get along better in school and in the community when they remain strongly attached to their own ethnic culture rather than try to melt into a national culture, a Queen’s University-based international psychological study has found. They do even better when they have a double attachment to both the national society and to their heritage culture.

Encompassing more than 5,000 interviews wi

Finding advances efforts to tailor drugs to individual patients

Having high blood pressure and a particular genetic alteration dramatically increases the risk of heart attack, stroke or death, and may explain why some hypertensive patients fare worse than others – even if they take the same medication, University of Florida researchers announced this week.

The discovery, reported at the annual Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association, brings scientists a