Using the zebrafish, a model organism widely used in genetic studies, researchers have found that when it comes to social interactions with other fish, individual zebrafish learn to prefer one fish color pattern over another according to their early experience with these patterns. The work extends the utility of zebrafish to studies of behavior and evolution and is reported by University of Texas researchers Raymond E. Engeszer, Dr. David M. Parichy, and Dr. Michael J. Ryan.
Social behavior
Preliminary results of a European Commission-funded study, the SIREN project, presented today at a workshop in Brussels, show that growing insecurity and inequality in Europeans’ work life is contributing to the electoral success of right-wing populist and extremist parties. The study covers eight European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Switzerland) and is based on more than 300 interviews and a telephone survey of 5,800 employed persons.
According
The idea that dying people hang on to life in order to celebrate one more birthday or holiday lacks any scientific basis, say scientists who reviewed two decades’ worth of research.
“The studies published to date have not convincingly established that death can be postponed through force of will or hastened by the loss of the desire to live,” say Judith A. Skala, R.N., Ph.D., and Kenneth E. Freedland, Ph.D., of Washington University School of Medicine.
Available research is c
UMHS researcher finds gap between what parents, children report
Parents think their children use bicycle helmets and seatbelts more often than children say they use them, according to a new study by a University of Michigan Health System pediatric surgeon.
In a survey of 731 fourth and fifth grade pupils and 329 of their parents, researchers found that while 70 percent of parents say their child always wears a bicycle helmet while riding, only 51 percent of children report we
Women can markedly lower the risk of neural tube defects in their offspring by ingesting tablets before or just after conception
Only about 25 per cent of women in many countries voluntarily take folic acid tablets before conception, says a U of T researcher.
Dr. Joel Ray, along with fellow researchers Gita Singh of McMaster University in Hamilton and Robert Burrows of Monash University in Australia, reviewed nearly 50 studies conducted in about 20 countries between 1992 an
Variability in weight ranges and drug content of split tablet may put patients at risk of receiving too much/too little medication
Back and neck pain sufferers who divide the most frequently prescribed muscle relaxant may be getting anywhere from half to one-and-a-half times the amount of medicine they believe they are taking, suggests a new study examining the practice of tablet splitting. This may place them at an increased risk of encountering side effects such as drowsiness and f
While sound can disrupt sleep, scents cannot. People cannot rely on their sense of smell to awaken them to the danger of fire, according to a new Brown University study.
Study participants easily detected odors when awake and in the early transition into sleep (Stage One sleep) but, once asleep, did not. The findings indicate a significant alteration of perceptual processing as a function of sleep.
“Human olfaction appears insufficiently sensitive and reliable to act as a sentinel s
People who followed a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet lost more weight than people on a low-fat, low-cholesterol, low-calorie diet during a six-month comparison study at Duke University Medical Center. However, the researchers caution that people with medical conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure should not start the diet without close medical supervision.
“This diet can be quite powerful,” said lead researcher Will Yancy, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine at Duke U
A study by researchers at U of T suggests that music teachers are routinely exposed to noise levels that could result in hearing loss
Led by research associate Alberto Behar and electrical and computer engineering professors Hans Kunov and Willy Wong, the team found that while general noise exposure over the course of an average day is marginally acceptable, noise levels during teaching periods could damage the inner ear. “The hair cells of the inner ear simply crumble under the load
New studies show success in reducing tumor growth
Two Dartmouth medical studies have produced promising results in the fight against pancreatic cancer, one of the most deadly and aggressive forms of cancer, and may lead to the development of new, highly targeted therapies to manage previously untreatable tumors.
In two trials targeting some of the most challenging traits of pancreatic tumor cell growth, researchers from Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) and the Norris Cotton Can
The Markets for Fire Protection Worldwide increase up to more than 30 Billion Euro 2004 and will grow to 54 Billion Euro in 2015. Beijing Olympics 2008 set new standards
Fire Protection have gained importance the last years because of increasing fire problems, damage and death. The loss of assets is about 70 billion Euro in 2004 with increasing tendency. Since many years there is a strong controvercy among passive and active fire protection and the building design and construction.
Exploring the connection
Out-of-school time can be developmentally enriching for adolescents, providing experiences that support growth in healthy behaviors and academic success, or it can be detrimental, affording opportunities for unsupervised or harmful activities that increase the likelihood adolescents will engage in delinquent activities that lead to declines in overall well-being.
For young adolescents growing up in impoverished families and communities, the need for s
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is nearly four times as common in veterans of the first Persian Gulf War as in nonveterans, according to a new study. The study, to be published May 14, 2004 in the online edition of Muscle & Nerve, examined the possibility that genetic factors may play a role in developing the disease. The full study will be available via Wiley InterScience .
Fatigue that has no known medical
For decades, parents have been told they can deter adolescent misbehavior by monitoring and setting firm limits on their children’s activities and friendships. In 2000, this assertion was challenged by papers published in the journals Child Development and Developmental Psychology. The authors of these papers cautioned parents not to assume that controlling, supervising, and monitoring their children would reduce the likelihood that adolescents would become involved in problem behavior such as drug
Many children who grow up in poverty have higher levels of behavioral problems and lower IQ scores than children who grow up in middle class families. However, some children from poor family backgrounds are resilient — that is, they behave better and score higher on intelligence tests than might be expected given the level of social and economic deprivation they have experienced.
Researchers have identified several protective factors that promote children’s resilience, including a chil
Let go, kids will do better in school
What can parents do to help children who are doing poorly in school? To investigate this question, we conducted two studies examining interactions between mothers and their elementary school-aged children over simulated schoolwork and after real-life failures.
In the first study, we evaluated 110 mothers’ use of control and their support of autonomy as they assisted their children with a simulated homework task. When the mothers assisted
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