Culture

BUFFALO, N.Y. - International students at American colleges and universities do not always find a welcoming environment. Research has shown that, as a group, internationals face prejudice from segments of the domestic student population, and a new study by a University at Buffalo psychologist suggests that stereotypes alone do not lead to that prejudice.

CHAPEL HILL -- The latest in a series of laboratory breakthroughs could lead to a more effective way to treat the most common brain cancer in children. Scientists from the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy reported results from early studies that demonstrate how cancer-hunting stem cells, developed from skin cells, can track down and deliver a drug to destroy medulloblastoma cells hiding after surgery.

ITHACA, N.Y. - The San Joaquin Valley in central California, like many other regions in the western United States, faces drought and ongoing groundwater extraction, happening faster than it can be replenished. And the land is sinking as a result -- by up to a half-meter annually according to a new Cornell University study in Science Advances.

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 29, 2018 -- The recurrence plot is a vital tool for analyzing nonlinear dynamic systems, especially systems involving empirically observed time series data. RPs show patterns in a phase space system and indicate where data visit the same coordinates. RPs can also mimic some types of inferential statistics and linear analyses, such as spectral analysis. A new paper in the journal Chaos, from AIP Publishing, provides a proof of concept for using RPs to mimic the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, which scientists use to determine if two data sets significantly differ.

For centuries, scientists have worked to understand the makeup of Jupiter. It's no wonder: this mysterious planet is the biggest one in our solar system by far, and chemically, the closest relative to the Sun. Understanding Jupiter is a key to learning more about how our solar system formed, and even about how other solar systems develop.

But one critical question has bedeviled astronomers for generations: Is there water deep in Jupiter's atmosphere, and if so, how much?

Food needs to be broken down in the mouth before it can be swallowed and digested further. How this is being done depends on many factors, such as the mechanical properties of the foods and the morphology of the masticatory apparatus. Palaeoanthropologists spend a great deal of their time reconstructing the diets of our ancestors, as diet holds the key to understanding our evolutionary history.

Rockville, Md. (August 29, 2018)--Routine oral care to treat gum disease (periodontitis) may play a role in reducing inflammation and toxins in the blood (endotoxemia) and improving cognitive function in people with liver cirrhosis. The study is published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology--Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology.

WASHINGTON, DC - A broad coalition of 126 patient and provider groups - led by leading national organizations including the American College of Rheumatology - today sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) urging the agency not to move forward with a proposal that would significantly reduce Medicare reimbursements for evaluation and management (E/M) services provided by specialists, citing concerns that these time-intensive services - which include examinations, disease diagnosis and risk assessments, and care coordination - are already grossly under-compensated

AURORA, Colo. (Aug. 28, 2018) - A research team lead by faculty of the University of Colorado School of Medicine have published a study that improves the understanding of the pain-sensing neurons that respond to tissue injury during surgery.

The team, led by Slobodan Todorovic, MD, PhD, Professor of Anesthesiology at the School of Medicine and the Neuroscience Graduate Program on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, reports its findings today in the journal Science Signaling.

Munich, Germany - UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 28 Aug 2018: The consumption of dairy products has long been thought to increase the risk of death, particularly from coronary heart disease (CHD), cerebrovascular disease, and cancer, because of dairy's relatively high levels of saturated fat. Yet evidence for any such link, especially among US adults, is inconsistent.

Munich, Germany - 28 Aug 2018: Taking vacations could prolong life. That's the finding of a 40-year study presented today at ESC Congress and accepted for publication in The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging.1,2

"Don't think having an otherwise healthy lifestyle will compensate for working too hard and not taking holidays," said Professor Timo Strandberg, of the University of Helsinki, Finland. "Vacations can be a good way to relieve stress."

DALLAS, Aug. 28, 2018 - Adults ages 45 or older who experience psychological distress such as depression and anxiety may have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to new research in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

In a study of 221,677 participants from Australia, researchers found that:

among women, high/very high psychological distress was associated with a 44 percent increased risk of stroke; and

Munich, Germany - 28 Aug 2018: A removable balloon is as good as a permanent stent implant for opening small blocked arteries, according to late breaking results from the BASKET-SMALL 2 trial presented in a Hot Line Session today at ESC Congress 20181 and simultaneously published in The Lancet.

Principal investigator Professor Raban Jeger, of the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, said: "The results of this trial move us a step closer towards treating small blocked arteries without having to insert a permanent implant."

Levels of some persistent organic pollutants (POPs) regulated by the Stockholm Convention are decreasing in the Arctic, according to an international team of researchers who have been actively monitoring the northern regions of the globe.

PULLMAN, Wash. - Nearly one-third of the world's farms have adopted more environmentally friendly practices while continuing to be productive, according to a global assessment by 17 scientists in five countries.

The researchers analyzed farms that use some form of "sustainable intensification," a term for various practices, including organic farming, that use land, water, biodiversity, labor, knowledge and technology to both grow crops and reduce environmental impacts like pesticide pollution, soil erosion, and greenhouse gas emissions.