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Child soldier trauma in Uganda shares similarities with Northern Ireland

Psychology students at Queen's University have discovered similarities between child soldier trauma in Uganda and those children caught up in Northern Ireland's Troubles.

Post-graduate students from the Doctoral Programme in Educational, Child and Adolescent Psychology at Queen's recently travelled to Uganda to a school for ex-child soldiers. Their study analysed the levels of post-traumatic stress among ex-soldiers, explained the symptoms of trauma to the children and offered psychological therapy to the most traumatised children.

Is it time for all skiers to wear helmets?

In a bid to decrease brain injuries from skiing and snowboarding accidents, experts in an editorial published on bmj.com today are calling for more public awareness to promote ski helmets.

Dr Gerhard Ruedl and colleagues from the Department of Sport Science at the University of Innsbruck in Austria say there is convincing evidence that ski helmets protect against head injury. They argue that one way to increase helmet use is to ensure that they can be easily hired or included in skiing packages.

WSU researcher designs multilingual instruction materials for world's largest mall

Housing 1,200 stores, an underwater zoo, a SEGA indoor theme park, an Olympic-size ice rink, a 22-screen Cineplex and the world's largest gold market, the Dubai Mall is a retail marvel that attracts tourists from around the world. Thanks to one Wayne State researcher, its multilingual, multicultural employees are using an efficient, cost-effective instructional process to learn their job duties.

JPEG for the mind: How the brain compresses visual information

Most of us are familiar with the idea of image compression in computers. File extensions like ".jpg" or ".png" signify that millions of pixel values have been compressed into a more efficient format, reducing file size by a factor of 10 or more with little or no apparent change in image quality. The full set of original pixel values would occupy too much space in computer memory and take too long to transmit across networks.

Wayne State study: Enhance romance by going out with other couples

DETROIT— Romantic relationships often start out as enjoyable or even exciting, but sometimes may become routine and boring. A Wayne State University study reveals that dating couples that integrate other couples into their social lives are more likely to have happy and satisfying romantic relationships.

UTHealth, Athersys preclinical research on stem cell therapy for stroke presented at AHA conference

HOUSTON and LOS ANGELES – February 10th, 2011 – Medical researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) presented new research results at the American Heart Association International Stroke Conference that demonstrated how MultiStem®, a novel stem cell therapy being developed by Athersys, Inc. provided multiple benefits when administered in preclinical models of ischemic stroke.

Restructuring natural resource majors

Madison, WI FEBRUARY 3, 2011 – A troublesome trend is occurring at colleges and universities around the country: fewer students are graduating with degrees in natural resource related degree programs. As a result, the number of qualified professionals to manage fish and wildlife programs is dwindling. What is even more troubling is that nationally, the percentage of students enrolling in the major has increased. For reasons unknown, students have been leaving the natural resource degree path after enrollment to pursue other degrees.

Chinks in the brain circuitry make some more vulnerable to anxiety

Why do some people fret over the most trivial matters while others remain calm in the face of calamity? Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have identified two different chinks in our brain circuitry that explain why some of us are more prone to anxiety.

SLU research implicates natural toxin as triggering Parkinson's disease

ST. LOUIS – In new research from Saint Louis University, investigators have found evidence that a toxin produced by the brain is responsible for the series of cellular events that lead to Parkinson's disease. The study, published in PLoS One, found that the brain toxin DOPAL plays a key role in killing the dopamine neurons which trigger the illness.

Non-dopaminergic drug preladenant reduces motor fluctuations in patients with Parkinson's disease

Tampa, FL (Feb. 10, 2011) -- Preladenant, a non-dopaminergic medication, reduces off time in patients with Parkinson's disease receiving standard dopamine therapy, an international study led by the University of South Florida found.

Results of the double-blind, randomized clinical trial are reported online today in the journal Lancet Neurology. The findings suggest that preladenant may offer a new supplemental treatment for Parkinson's disease without some of the complications of levodopa and other standard dopamine treatments.

MRI can help decide therapy in patients with unclear-onset stroke

Among patients who have had strokes but aren't sure when symptoms began, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can help distinguish who might benefit from clot-busting drugs while facing acceptable risk, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2011.

Exercise helps overweight children think better, do better in math

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Regular exercise improves the ability of overweight, previously inactive children to think, plan and even do math, Georgia Health Sciences University researchers report.

They hope the findings in 171 overweight 7- to 11-year-olds – all sedentary when the study started - gives educators the evidence they need to ensure that regular, vigorous physical activity is a part of every school day, said Dr. Catherine Davis, clinical health psychologist at GHSU's Georgia Prevention Institute and corresponding author on the study in Health Psychology

New mode of dementia care improves health, lowers hospitalization rates

INDIANAPOLIS – An innovative model of dementia care developed by researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute significantly reduces emergency department visits and hospitalizations, and encourages use of medications that are not harmful to older brains. The result is improved health for older adults and their family caregivers and lower healthcare costs, according to a paper evaluating the model in real world use.

The paper appears in Volume 15, Issue 1, 2011 of the peer-reviewed journal Aging & Mental Health.

Looking at a tough hill to climb? Depends on your point of view

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- People tend to overestimate the steepness of slopes – and psychologists studying the phenomenon have made a discovery that refutes common ideas about how we perceive inclines in general.

Look at your body to reduce pain

Simply looking at your body reduces pain, according to new research by scientists from UCL (University College London) and the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy.

Published in the journal Psychological Science, the research shows that viewing your hand reduces the pain experienced when a hot object touches the skin. Furthermore, the level of pain depends on how large the hand looked – the larger the hand the greater the effect of pain reduction.