Culture | Page 2696 | Science Codex

Children with suspected development problems may not get needed referrals, study shows

Many pediatricians score high on screening their patients for developmental delays, but barely make a passing grade in referring children with suspected delays for further testing or treatment, according to a study from Johns Hopkins Children's Center and other institutions to appear in the February issue of Pediatrics.

Because screening is only effective if followed by referral and treatment, pediatricians need two separate formalized systems in their practices — one for screening and one for referral — the investigators write in their report available online Jan. 25.

Design vs. dyslexia: innovation promises new hope for children with dyslexia

In developing this toolkit to help educators more effectively assist children with dyslexia, Seward has developed an online tool that creatively employs sight, sound and physical movement to increase the reading and retention abilities of children aged 9 to 11 who have dyslexia. (A separate portion of the project employs physical tools and employs touch to aid educators and children.)

The project was inspired by the struggles of a friend's child to read.

HOW "READING BY DESIGN" WORKS

Haiti reconstruction will require local input

Montreal, January 26, 2010 – Destruction in Haiti, the result of a January 12 earthquake, is staggering. The majority of the capital city of Port-au-Prince will have to be rebuilt from scratch. Isabelle Thomas-Maret, a Université de Montréal urbanism professor who specializes in rebuilding after natural catastrophes, survived hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005 and was consulted in rebuilding that city.

Toronto's entertainment district 'hot-spot' for violence-related injuries

Toronto, Ontario—January 26, 2010 -- Each day people living in large urban centres are injured as the result of violent acts such as physical assault. While existing research tells us where such events are most likely to happen, a new study by Canadian scientists has gone one step further.

Medical students may soon need evolution knowledge also

Durham, NC – What does evolution – a field that often deals with changes over many generations – have to do with preventing and treating disease in our lifetime? A lot, some scientists say. If recent recommendations are implemented, future physicians may soon be tested on evolution in medical entrance and licensing exams, says an international group of doctors and researchers.

New studies highlight needs of boys in K-12, higher education

Fairbanks, Alaska—Boys face high rates of a variety of mental health issues, in addition to lagging behind girls in academic performance and college attendance, according to two new papers by University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher Judith Kleinfeld.

The studies, recently published in the journal Gender Issues, note that boys have higher rates of suicide, conduct disorders, emotional disturbance, premature death and juvenile delinquency than their female peers, as well as lower grades, test scores and college attendance rates.

New study finds 125 million pregnancies globally at risk from malaria every year

A new study by the Malaria in Pregnancy Consortium has estimated that more than 125 million pregnancies around the world are at risk from malaria every year. Until now, estimates have only been available for endemic areas in Africa.

The Malaria in Pregnancy Consortium was established in 2007 at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to improve the control of malaria in pregnancy. Burden assessment is an important first step in a country's malaria control plan in order to target limited resources and, as such, is one of the Consortium's four key work areas.

American Academy of Neurology evaluates treatments for kids with cerebral palsy

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A new guideline from the American Academy of Neurology and the Child Neurology Society finds botulinum toxin type A to be an effective treatment for spasticity, muscle tightness that interferes with movement, in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy, but poses some risk. The guideline is published in the January 26, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Everybody laughs, everybody cries: Researchers identify universal emotions

Here's a piece of research that might leave you tickled: laughter is a universal language, according to new research. The study, conducted with people from Britain and Namibia, suggests that basic emotions such as amusement, anger, fear and sadness are shared by all humans.

No evidence of a post-Olympics boom or bust for host city real estate prices: UBC study

Cities that win Olympic bids experience neither boom nor bust in their real estate prices, but gain construction jobs as they prepare for the Games, according to researchers at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.

The UBC study is the first to use real estate variables to test the Games' economic impact on host cities. Sauder School of Business researchers analyzed house prices and construction employment in the years leading up to and after the Olympics in Australian, Canadian and U.S. cities.

70 percent of Inuit preschoolers live in food insecure homes

Seventy percent of Inuit preschoolers in Nunavut, Canada's largest territory, live in households where there isn't enough food, a situation with implications for children's academic and psychosocial development, found an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

The study, conducted by researchers at McGill University and the Government of Nunavut, looked at 388 Inuit children aged 3-5 years in 16 communities from 2007-2008.

A pregnant woman does not look like an olive

CHICAGO – Replacing confusing language and icons on standard warnings labels for prescription medicine and listing only the most important warnings could make a big difference in how well patients understand the instructions that are critical to their health, according to a new study from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

The NHS and the cost-benefit dilemma

New research by health economists at the University of York has raised concerns over any move to broaden the range of costs and economic benefits considered in the analysis of new NHS treatments.

A study by the University's Centre for Health Economics suggests that widening the perspective used by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to assess the cost-effectiveness of new technologies may not benefit either the NHS or the wider economy.

The research examined a range of possible policies and a number of case studies from past NICE appraisals.

Kibbutz transformation continues

Over the course of 2009, five more kibbutzim converted to the "renewing kibbutz" model (paying its members differential wages) bringing the percentage of such kibbutzim up to 72% of all the kibbutzim in Israel. "It is highly probable that by the end of 2012 the number of kibbutzim shifting to alternative models will be higher than the number of the kibbutzim that did so over 2009," says Dr. Shlomo Getz, Head of the Institute for the Research of the Kibbutz and the Cooperative Idea at the University of Haifa who carried out the survey.

Acrocephalus orinus - world's least known bird rediscovered

A species of bird, which has only been observed alive on three previous occasions since it was first discovered in 1867, has been rediscovered in a remote land corridor in north-eastern Afghanistan. The discovery was made as part of an international collaboration, which included researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.