SEATTLE -- In 2013, Kansas became the first state to completely privatize its Medicaid system. Known as KanCare, the new program drew skepticism from healthcare consumer advocates who worked to ensure Medicaid consumers received the care they need.
"There is evidence to suggest that advocates helped secure modest wins for consumers," said Kevin McCannon, a University of Kansas doctoral student in sociology. "But they faced limits."
SEATTLE -- The dynamics of global environmentalism, ranging from indigenous people's rights to the reliance on non-governmental organizations, have been marked by a resurgence in environmental movements that more aggressively resist natural resource extraction, according to two University of Kansas (KU) researchers.
"Environmental protestors are now being taken more seriously by environmental policymakers," said Brock Ternes, a KU doctoral student of sociology.
A single approach can prevent both obesity and eating disorders in teenagers, according to new guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Scientific evidence summarized in the new recommendations shows that physicians and parents can ward off problems at both ends of the weight spectrum by avoiding focusing teens' attention on weight or dieting, and instead encouraging a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
PHILADELPHIA--(August 22, 2016)-- Cancer is often driven by various genetic mutations that are acquired through changes to a person's DNA over time. These alterations can occur at the chromosome level if the proteins are not properly organized and segregated as our cells divide and multiply.
In doses equivalent to those used regularly in human children, antibiotics changed the mix of gut microbes in young mice to dramatically increase their risk for type 1 diabetes. That is the finding of a study led by researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center, supported by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), and published Aug. 22 in Nature Microbiology.
When most people hear the word "pollinator," they think of bees and butterflies. However, certain beetles are known to pollinate plants as well, and new fossil evidence indicates that they were doing so 20 million years ago.
A new study in American Entomologist by George Poinar, Jr. (Oregon State University) describes beetles found in fossilized amber with orchid pollen in their mouthparts.
A study from Oxford and Basel universities may point the way to maintaining our immune systems as we get older.
In a paper in the journal Nature Immunology, scientists explain how they uncovered the effects of a protein called Foxn1, which is a critical factor in the development of an effective immune system.
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute scientists have shown that unexpectedly, oesophageal cancer cells do not divide faster than their normal neighbours. But unlike normal cells, the tumour cells produce slightly more dividing daughter cells than non-dividing ones, forming a tumour.
The study, published in Nature Cell Biology today, could lead to the development of new treatments for cancers that do not respond to current therapies which target fast-growing cells.
The first global-scale genetic study of Salmonella Enteritidis bacteria, which is a major cause of blood poisoning and death in Africa and food poisoning in the Western World, has discovered that there are in fact three separate types. Scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and University of Liverpool found two novel African types, which looked the same, but were genetically different from the Western type.
Religious expression has a central role in societies around the world, but exactly what role it plays isn't always clear. Santa Fe Institute Omidyar Postdoctoral Fellow Eleanor Power has an answer: whether it's walking across hot coals or simply going to church on Sunday, people who participate in religious acts send a potent signal to others that they're ready and willing to contribute to their communities.
Large-scale groundwater pumping is opening doors for dangerously high levels of arsenic to enter some of Southeast Asia's aquifers, with water now seeping in through riverbeds with arsenic concentrations more than 100 times the limits of safety, according to a new study from scientists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, MIT, and Hanoi University of Science.
Kyoto, Japan -- The precision of DNA testing portrayed on mystery television shows could soon become reality. With a new technique developed at Kyoto University, a simple swab sample can accurately confirm relatedness between two individuals as distant as second cousins. With more DNA datasets at hand, the method could be utilized to identify disaster victims in mass floods and tornadoes that destroy entire communities.
Genoscoper Ltd. has published in cooperation with the researchers of University of Helsinki and Pennsylvania (USA) so far the most comprehensive study on canine hereditary disorders. The research brings new information about genetic disorders causing diseases in different dog breeds. The results can be utilized both in dog breeding and veterinary diagnostics. The study was published on PLOS ONE on Aug. 15, 2016.
When animals get sick, they may change their behaviour, becoming less active, for example. The study's lead author, Patricia Lopes from the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Zurich, says that previous research in wild animals has generally ignored how this change in behaviour may affect social contacts in a group and how, in turn, these changes can impact the transmission of a disease.
Sick mice are not avoided, but remove themselves from the group
Researchers at the universities of Basel and Oxford have for the first time identified all genes regulated by the protein Foxn1. The results show that Foxn1 not only plays a crucial role in development of the thymus in the embryo, but it also regulates vital functions in the developed, postnatal organ. The decryption of the protein's functions is important in the understanding and treatment of autoimmune diseases, vaccination responses in old age and defense against tumor cells. The study was published in the journal Nature Immunology.