Breast or bottle? It is one of the most important decisions a new mother can make and the inspiration behind a unique study by a University of Queensland researcher.
Virginia Thorley has just completed a study into the history of infant feeding in 20th Century Australia through UQ’s School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, the first such study of the entire century.
“A lot of people think the current trend back to breastfeeding is only a recent deve
Individual variation in social behavior is one of the most striking features of cooperative animal societies. In a new study from the June issue of American Naturalist, Michael A. Cant (University of Cambridge), Justine B. Llop (University of Cambridge), and Jeremy Field (University College London) investigate the extent to which differences in aggressive behavior within a cooperative society can be explained by “inheritance rank”–the likelihood that an individual will get to mate successfully in th
Researchers from around the world teamed up to make discovery; Only specimen part of Field Museum collections
For the first time in 83 years, scientists have identified a new genus of a living primate from Africa, according to research to be published by Science May 11 in the online Science Express.
“This is exciting news because it shows that the ’age of discovery’ is by no means over,” says William Stanley, a co-author of the study and mammal Collection M
Plant and animal breeders have long used hybridization to transfer useful traits between species. But does the same process happen without human aid? In a new study in the June issue of American Naturalist, Kenneth D. Whitney (Indiana University and Rice University), Rebecca A. Randell (Indiana University), and Loren H. Rieseberg (Indiana University), explore how spontaneous hybridization – known as adaptive trait introgression – has a vital impact on adaptation and evolutionary diversification.
Prediction of species’ distributions is central to diverse applications in ecology, evolution and conservation science. There is now increasing electronic access to vast sets of occurrence records in museums and herbaria all over the world, yet there has been little effective guidance on how best to use this information to model and predict species distributions.
A recent study in the journal Ecography by an international team of researchers now offers the by far most comprehensive mo
Although young adults are faced with a diversity of life choices, they seem to be coming to terms with themselves and their lives in their 20s, says new University of Alberta research that shows psychological well-being improves after adolescence and girls improve faster than boys.
Dr. Nancy Galambos from the Department of Psychology followed a sample of the same cohort of people over a seven-year period and looked specifically at how 18-25 year olds make the transition from a
Imperial College London and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich are to take the lead in a Euro 11 million (GBP 8 million) study to examine how genetics and environment influence the development of asthma in Europe.
The GABRIEL project, funded through an EC Framework 6 grant, involves over 150 scientists from 14 European countries and Russia, using the latest research across a variety of disciplines, including genetics, epidemiology and immunology, to identify key factors in the
The Internet – millions of people rely on it for everyday tasks. But when is the line crossed between average use and addiction? An article published in Perspectives in Psychiatric Care states, “The Internet has properties that for some individuals promote addictive behaviors and pseudo-intimate interpersonal relationships.” Nurse practitioners will soon find themselves faced with the issues of “internet addicts” and their inability to get offline.
While not yet defined as a true ad
Put a mouse or a rat under stress and what does it do? It stops eating. Humans should be so lucky. When people suffer nontraumatic stress they often head for the refrigerator, producing unhealthy extra pounds.
When Syrian hamsters, which are normally solitary, are placed in a group-living situation, they also gain weight. So scientists at the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience at Georgia State University are using hamsters as a model for human stress-induced obesity. They
Generosity of health insurance plans varies widely by state; Urban states get more for their premium dollar
Employees in the smallest firms (1-9 workers) pay an average 18% more in health insurance premiums than those in the largest firms (1,000+ workers), when actuarial value–the percentage of total medical expenses paid by a health plan–is taken into account, a new Commonwealth Fund-supported study finds.
In this look at employer-provided health coverage, researche
College freshmen under the age of 20 at several colleges in the southeastern U.S. were almost 70 percent more likely to test positive for chlamydia than students between 20 and 24 years of age, according to findings to be presented on May 9 by Adelbert James, PhD, MPH, senior associate in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. James will present results of his data analysis at the 2006 National STD Prevention Conference in Jacksonville, Fla. His effor
New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has identified and established the substance in grapefruit juice that causes potentially dangerous interactions with certain medications.
For almost a decade, people have been told by their doctors and pharmacists to avoid grapefruit juice if they are being treated with certain medications, including some drugs that control blood pressure or lower cholesterol. Studies have shown that grapefruit juice can cause more
IQWiG publishes a comparative review of inhaled insulin versus insulin administered subcutaneously
There is currently no evidence available that inhaled insulin (Exubera) in diabetes therapy shows advantages over short-acting human insulin or insulin analogues administered subcutaneously. The available studies do not provide evidence that Exubera would improve the quality of life or treatment satisfaction of diabetes patients in Germany. However, they do provide indications of di
Most people who are visually impaired could see better if they had the proper eyeglasses or contact lenses
A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study has found that although 94 percent of Americans aged 12 and older have good vision, the remaining six percent, or 14 million, are visually impaired. Of these, more than 11 million have uncorrected visual impairment, such as nearsightedness. They need eyeglasses or contact lenses to improve their vision. Teenagers, people with d
New technologies that mimic the way insects, plants and animals overcome engineering problems could help reduce our dependence on energy, according to new research published in the Royal Society journal Interface.
When faced with engineering difficulties, such as lifting a load or coping with extremes of heat, up to 70 per cent of man-made technologies manipulate energy, often increasing the amount used, in order to resolve the problem.
However, new research which has
Two new studies from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center show that computerizing ordering of chemotherapy and other types of intravenous drug infusions for children greatly reduces the risk of potentially dangerous medical errors.
An online infusion calculator and a computerized drug ordering system, developed under the leadership of Christoph Lehmann, M.D., director of clinical information technology at the Children’s Center, have been in use there for about three years
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