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Focus On Bullying Hotspots
"Bullying behavior, and school violence more generally, typically occurs in predictable locations within schools," he says.
"Research has shown that violence occurs more in unmonitored areas within schools such as hallways, bathrooms, stairwells, and playgrounds. Thus, one way of cutting down on violence in schools is to identify 'hotspots' within the school where children feel that violence is likely to occur, and then to place school monitors in those areas".
In his study, Pitner asked students to pinpoint on maps the areas in their school that make them feel unsafe or where fights are likely to occur. Other questions asked for the time of day those places were unsafe and for whom they were unsafe.
"School officials can use this information in their strategy to make their schools safer," said Pitner, who noted that these high-risk areas likely will vary by school.
"Although this approach will not completely eliminate bullying, research has shown that it would at least cut down on the areas where violence is likely to occur," he says.........
Posted by: Jenn Permalink Source
Trial Of New Asthma Treatment Calls For Volunteers
The trial, the first test of the procedure in the United States, focuses on a procedure called bronchial thermoplasty to treat asthma. Early patient data from trials outside the United States suggest it may hold promise for moderate and severe asthmatic patients.
"This is an exciting trial because for the first time ever in the U.S., we are looking at a non-pharmacological treatment for asthma," says Mario Castro, M.D., principal investigator of the study at the School of Medicine and associate professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. "Currently, if you suffer from asthma, medicine is the only treatment available to you for relief, so there is the potential this clinical trial may change the way we care for millions of asthma sufferers".
Asthma is one of the most common and costly diseases in the world. It affects more than 20 million people in the United States alone, with an estimated 2 million emergency room visits and 5,000 deaths per year. The prevalence of asthma is on the rise, and there is no cure.........
Posted by: Jenn Permalink Source
Technology For Brain Cooling Unlikely To Help Trauma Patients
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis used rats to validate a "cold shielding" effect of blood flow that they previously predicted theoretically. The shielding effect, created by large quantities of warm blood that continually perfuse brain tissue, prevents a drop in temperatures around the head from penetrating beyond a certain depth in the brain.
Many ongoing clinical trials try to reduce brain temperatures through cooling units incorporated into hats or other devices that surround the head. However, the new findings, published online this month in the Journal of Applied Physiology, suggest in most patients such techniques will be unable to defeat the natural temperature regulation built into the brain via the blood system.
"In adult humans, the characteristic length that this kind of cold assault appears to penetrate is approximately a tenth of an inch, leaving the temperature of approximately 6 inches of brain tissue unchanged," says senior author Dmitriy Yablonskiy, Ph.D., professor of radiology at the School of Medicine and of physics in Arts and Sciences. "Our findings suggest that the reason trials of this kind have so far produced inconsistent results is because we're not cooling enough of the brain".........
Posted by: Jenn Permalink Source
Image of the Month August 2006
Taken from: Bates et al., BMC Developmental Biology 2006, 6:33.........
Posted by: Jenn Permalink Source
Two-headed Snakes May Make Guinness Book
Image courtesy of Stltoday.com
In regard to multiple heads, there are Guinness records for the most heads of state together, most heads shaved in four hours and the most consecutive haircuts given in a day.
But a record that combines snakes and multiple heads? A record, say, for the largest exhibit of two-headed animals?........
Posted by: Jenn Permalink Source
Top Sprinter Lost In The Fog Has Cancer
Image courtesy of msnbc
The horse underwent an exploratory procedure Friday which determined the cancer in his spleen had spread, said veterinarian, Don Smith, in a conference call with trainer Greg Gilchrist.
"Unfortunately, we found two other tumors in his abdomen," Smith said. "There is one in his membrane and ligament, about the size of an egg. Unfortunately, there is another along his back and it's about the size of a football".
They plan to bring the horse back to Golden Gate Fields so that Lost in the Fog can rest comfortably in his own stall.........
Posted by: Jenn Permalink Source
Spinal Cord Injury Treatment Progress
Scientists from Case Western Reserve University, Drexel University and the University of Arkansas bypassed this roadblock in the spinal cord. First, the scientists regenerated the severed nerve fibers, also called axons, around the initial large lesion with a segment of peripheral nerve taken from the leg of the same animal that suffered the spinal injury. Next, they jump started neural traffic by allowing a number of nerve fibers to exit from the end of the bridge. This was accomplished, for the first time, by using an enzyme that stopped growth inhibitory molecules from forming in the small scar that forms at the exit ramp of the bridge, where it is inserted into the spinal cord on the other side of the lesion. This allowed the growing axons to reconnect with the spinal cord.
Jerry Silver, a professor of neurosciences at the Case School of Medicine, was senior author among the scientists reporting in the Journal of Neuroscience article, "Combining an Autologous Peripheral Nervous System 'Bridge' and Matrix Modification by Chondroitinase Allows Robust Functional Regeneration beyond a Hemisection Lesion of the Adult Rat Spinal Cord." The other scientists were John Houle, the lead author, and Veronica Tom (a Case alum) from Drexel University College of Medicine; and Gail Wagoner and Napoleon Phillips from the University of Arkansas.........
Posted by: Jenn Permalink Source
All Tobacco Bad For The Heart
The study by professors Salim Yusuf and Koon Teo of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences in Hamilton, is published in this week's issue of The Lancet.
In collaboration with colleagues from 52 countries, they calculated the risk of heart attack for various forms of active tobacco use (both smoking and non-smoking) and second hand smoking in all areas of the world. The INTERHEART study included data from more than 27,000 people in 52 countries. In their calculations, the researchers accounted for other lifestyle factors that could affect the heart attack risk, such as diet and age.
They observed that tobacco use in any form, including sheesha smoking popular in the Middle East and beedie smoking common in South Asia, was harmful. In comparison to people who had never smoked, smokers had a three-fold increased risk of a heart attack. Even those with relatively low levels of exposure of eight to 10 cigarettes a day doubled their risk of heart attack. Each cigarette smoked per day, increased the risk by 5.6 per cent.
However, the scientists did find that the risk of heart attack decreased with time after stopping smoking. Light smokers, those who consume fewer than 10 cigarettes a day, benefit the most. They have no excess risk three to five years after quitting. By contrast, moderate and heavy smokers of 20 or more cigarettes a day still had an excess risk of around 22 per cent, 20 years after quitting.........
Posted by: Jenn Permalink Source
Cause of Ischemic Stroke Analyzed
Researchers studied clots removed from the brain blood vessels of 25 stroke victims. The clots were retrieved during treatment using a novel mechanical clot-retrieval device called the MERCI (Mechanical Embolus Removal in Cerebral Ischemia) Retriever. The removed clots were analyzed under the microscope to compare their component structures.
"Unexpectedly, no two retrieved clots looked the same, even though all were constructed from the same basic components of fibrin, white cells and red blood cells," said lead author Dr. Victor Marder, professor of hematology and oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a UCLA Stroke Center member. "The same components were involved in both the newly formed and mature, enlarging clots. Red blood-cell accumulations had previously been considered to dominate the structure of clots that formed within a heart chamber, but our results suggest that red cells often accumulated on clots after impaction in the brain artery".
The findings could lead to better therapies to prevent clots, clear blockages and reverse strokes in the crucial first hours after they occur.........
Posted by: Jenn Permalink Source
Cohabiters Are Traditional
Most of the 30 cohabiting working-class couples interviewed for the study still comply with traditional patterns throughout their relationships, including the initiation of the first date, moving in together and discussing marriage, Sassler said. They also are not egalitarian in pursuing careers or doing housework.
"Our results indicate that the institution of gender is so pervasive and entrenched that it shapes even the behaviors of individuals in such alternative living arrangements as cohabitation," said Sassler, associate professor of policy analysis and management in the College of Human Ecology.
Eventhough the findings are based on working-class couples, Sassler said that there is reason to think that middle-class cohabiting couples follow similar patterns, but more studies are needed to confirm this.........
Posted by: Jenn Permalink Source
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