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Positive effects of job corps participation

A statistical analysis of Job Corps data strongly suggests positive average effects on wages for individuals who participated in the federal job-training program.

Results of the analysis recently were included in an article in the Journal of Business & Economic Statistics . The study was conducted by Xuan Chen of Renmin University of China and Carlos A. Flores of California Polytechnic State University.

Job Corps is the country's largest and most comprehensive federally funded job-training program for disadvantaged youth.

America's best teachers get creative

While U.S. educational policy emphasizes high-stakes testing and scripted lessons, the best teachers in the business are taking creative risks -- often drawing from their own interests and hobbies -- to help students learn, new research finds.

Examining the classroom practices of National Teacher of the Year winners and finalists, the study, by Michigan State University scholars, suggests successful educators aren't afraid to push the boundaries by incorporating real world, cross-disciplinary themes into their lessons.

How our view of what makes us happy has changed in 80 years

Our view of what makes us happy has changed markedly since 1938.

That is the conclusion of the psychologist Sandie McHugh from the Univeristy of Bolton who has recreated a famous study of happiness conducted in Bolton in 1938. She will present her study today, Tuesday 5 May 2015, to the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society in Liverpool.

Changing attitudes about sex

Acceptance of premarital sex is at an all-time high along with an acceptance of homosexuality, find researchers led by Jean M. Twenge from San Diego State University.

Have a brain tumor? Your insurance might make a difference in your survival

We all know that having health insurance can make it easier for people to a see a doctor, and with access to care, people can stay healthier. But socioeconomic inequalities in the United States affect access to health care, and thus treatment and patient outcomes as well.

Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government has created more health insurance options, expanded the federal Medicaid health program for people with low incomes, and installed an individual mandate to help provide health insurance to all American citizens. But are all forms of health insurance equal?

Primary care visits available to uninsured but they are paying full price

Uninsured people don't have any more difficulty getting appointments with primary care doctors than those with insurance, but they get them at prices that are likely unaffordable to a typical uninsured person, according to new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health-led research.

And payment options are not very flexible, with only one in five people told they could be seen without paying the whole cost up front, suggests the new study published in the May issue of the journal Health Affairs.

Real stereotypes in virtual worlds

Stereotypes related to gender and appearance that burden women in the real world could follow them into virtual ones, according to researchers.

In a study of how people interacted with avatars in an online game, women received less help from fellow players than men when they operated an unattractive avatar and when they used a male avatar, said T. Franklin Waddell, a doctoral candidate in mass communications, Penn State.

Desire, arousal key in women's sexual health

In a 4-year study of 178 pre- and 329 postmenopausal women, investigators found that women's sexual functioning was moderately stable over time. The main predictors of changes in sexual functioning and satisfaction were desire and arousal, highlighting their role as the main "players" in women's sexual health.

The study also found that despite the potentially impairing effects of menopause and menopausal transition, sexual satisfaction and functioning in postmenopausal women can be improved and sexual problems can show spontaneous remission.

Youth just as likely to try e-cigarettes as smoking

Young people are just as likely to try electronic cigarettes as smoking, according to a new report from the Propel Centre for Population Health Impact at the University of Waterloo.

The findings, published today in Tobacco Use in Canada: Patterns and Trends, reveal that approximately 20 per cent of youth between the ages of 15 and 19 experiment with vaping, the same number who try cigarettes.

Mutations in 2 genes linked to familial pulmonary fibrosis and telomere shortening

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified mutations in two genes that cause a fatal lung scarring disease known as familial pulmonary fibrosis.

Researchers also determined that these mutations cause excessive shortening of the ends of chromosomes, known as telomeres. Telomeres are repetitive sequences of DNA that protect the ends of chromosomes from deteriorating. They are sometimes compared to the plastic ends of shoelaces, which protect shoelaces from fraying.

Heart attack: The untold danger firefighters face in the line of duty

What do you think is the biggest cause of death for firefighters on duty? Well if your first thought was burns or smoke inhalation you'd be wrong! According to research published in the June edition of Vascular Medicine "since 1977, sudden cardiac death has accounted for the largest share of on-duty deaths among firefighters - surpassing burns, trauma, asphyxiation and smoke inhalation."

Keeping marijuana out of the hands of kids

As the realities of legalized marijuana take hold in four states and the District of Columbia, legislators and regulators could learn a lot from the successes -- and failures -- of the tobacco and alcohol industries in keeping their harmful products out of the hands of children and adolescents.

So say three Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers in a commentary published in Pediatrics.

Someone else is more at risk of cyberbullying

oung people are aware of the risks of cyberbullying but perceive others as being more at risk than themselves. Young women are more vulnerable to this perception than young men.

This is the finding of a study by Dr Lucy Betts and Sondos Metwally from Nottingham Trent University (NTU) that will be presented as part of the poster presentation session at the British Psychological Society's Annual Conference next week (Thursday 7 May 2015) hosted in Liverpool.

Procrastination: Trick the thief of time by believing the future is now

Procrastination is the thief of time that derails New Year's resolutions and delays saving for college or retirement, but researchers have found a way to collar it.

The trick? Think of the future as now.

"The simplified message that we learned in these studies is if the future doesn't feel imminent, then, even if it's important, people won't start working on their goals," said Daphna Oyserman, lead researcher and co-director of the USC Dornsife Mind and Society Center.

Housing market cycles have become longer

A statistical analysis of data from 20 industrial countries covering the period 1970 to 2012 suggests housing market pricing cycles -- normal, boom and bust phases -- have become longer over the last four decades.