Culture | Page 2629 | Science Codex

ADA position: Action needed to eliminate food insecurity in the US

CHICAGO – The American Dietetic Association has published an updated position paper on food insecurity in the United States, calling for funding for food and nutrition assistance programs, increased nutrition education and efforts to promote economic self-sufficiency for all households and individuals.

The paper calls access to food "a basic human need and fundamental right," defining food insecurity as "limited or intermittent access to nutritionally adequate, safe and acceptable foods accessed in socially acceptable ways."

Text messages reveal the emotional timeline of September 11, 2001

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 have been called the defining moment of our time. Thousands of people died and the attacks had huge individual and collective consequences, including two wars. But less is known about the immediate emotional reactions to the attacks. For a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, researchers analyzed text messages sent on September 11, 2001 for emotional words. They found spiking anxiety and steadily increasing anger through that fateful day.

Keeping faith -- schools must balance ethos with equality

London, UK (September 1, 2010) – Faith based schools are on the rise in the UK, apparently boosting educational standards. But are religious values at odds with legislation on equality? Research that appears today in the journal Education Management Administration and Leadership published by SAGE shows what happens when school values and those of the state diverge, with unfortunate consequences for gay students and staff.

Helping corn-based plastics take more heat

Your favorite catsup or fruit juice might be "hot-filled" at the food-processing plant—that is, poured into its waiting container while the catsup or juice is still hot from pasteurization. Current containers made from corn-based plastics literally can't take the heat of hot-filling, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) chemist William J. Orts.

Violence in inner city neighborhoods contributes to trouble with asthma

(PHILADELPHIA) – Patients with asthma who are exposed to violence in their community are at an increased risk for an asthma-related hospitalization and emergency room visits for asthma or any cause, according to new research from the University Of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Exposure to community violence has been linked to more symptoms in pediatric asthma patients; however the new research adds to this finding with a longitudinal study showing a connection in an adult population and more than symptoms - actual emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations.

25 to 15 emergency response: 10 minutes could prevent one-third of road deaths

10 minutes could prevent one-third of road deaths

Spanish researchers have calculated the probability of dying in road accidents on the basis of the time taken for the emergency services to arrive. Their conclusions are clear – reducing the time between an accident taking place and the arrival of the emergency services from 25 to 15 minutes would cut the risk of death by one-third.

Antibacterial peptide could aid in treating soldiers' burn wound infections

An antibacterial peptide developed by Laszlo Otvos, a research professor of biology in Temple's College of Science and Technology, looks to be a highly-effective therapy against infections in burn or blast wounds suffered by soldiers.

Study links shorter sleep durations with greater risks of mental distress in young adults

DARIEN, IL – Young adults who get fewer than eight hours of sleep per night have greater risks of psychological distress, a combination of high levels of depressive and anxious symptoms, according to a study in the Sept. 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

Home-based intervention may provide some benefit to patients with dementia

An intervention that targeted modifiable stressors in the home of patients with dementia resulted in better outcomes for the patients and their caregivers at 4 months, but not at 9 months, although the caregivers perceived greater benefits, according to a study in the September 1 issue of JAMA.

Hourly workforce carries burden during recession

The United States workforce, battered by an economic slowdown, now includes a record number of workers who are involuntarily working part-time due to reduced hours or the inability to find a full-time job.

Hourly workers — the majority of the wage and salary workforce — are especially susceptible to reduced, irregular and fluctuating hours, and the myriad of challenges associated with them, according to researchers at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago.

No diamonds means Younger Dryas impact hypothesis loses its sparkle?

About 12,900 years ago, a sudden cold snap interrupted the gradual warming that had followed the last Ice Age. The cold lasted for the 1,300-year interval known as the Younger Dryas (YD) before the climate began to warm again.

In North America, large animals known as megafauna, such as mammoths, mastodons, saber-tooth tigers and giant short-faced bears, became extinct. The Paleo-Indian culture known as the Clovis culture for distinctively shaped fluted stone spear points abruptly vanished, eventually replaced by more localized regional cultures.

What had happened?

Feasting at major cultural events dated back 12,000 years

Feasting at major cultural events dated back 12,000 years

Workers rate safety most important workplace issue in new Labor Day study

More than eight of ten workers — 85 percent — rate workplace safety first in importance among labor standards, even ahead of family and maternity leave, minimum wage, paid sick days, overtime pay and the right to join a union, according to a new study from the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

Epidemiologists call for mandatory flu vaccine for all health-care personnel

(Arlington, VA)— Influenza vaccination of healthcare personnel is a professional and ethical responsibility and non-compliance with healthcare facility policies regarding vaccination should not be tolerated, according to a position paper released today by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).

Goodbye to cold nights

Given the impact of climatic extremes on agriculture and health in Spain, researchers at the University of Salamanca (USAL) have analysed the two factors most representative of these thermal extremes between 1950 and 2006 – warm days and cold nights. The results for mainland Spain show an increase in the number of warm days greater than that for the rest of the planet and a reduction in the number of cold nights.