Culture | Science Codex

Erie County home to plant never before recorded in Pa.

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) scientists have discovered a plant in Erie County that has never been recorded in Pennsylvania.

The plant, dwarf scouring rush, was identified with the aid of a Mercyhurst College professor on the college's Mercyhurst West property in Girard.

Dwarf scouring rush is known to exist in northern U.S. states and in Canada, but the plant had not been identified in Pennsylvania until this discovery. WPC scientists found a small population of this low, wiry plant within a fen, a rare type of wetland, on the college property.

Public must be involved in nanotech policy debate demands groundbreaking

Decision-making on science – especially emerging technologies such as nanotechnology – must become more democratic, a new report on science policy released today argues. The group of leading European academics behind the 'Reconfiguring Responsibility' report argue forcefully that current governance activities are limiting public debate and may repeat mistakes made in managing GM.

Research needed to learn which DCIS patients may be candidates for less invasive therapy

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), the most common non-invasive lesion of the breast, presents unique challenges for patients and providers largely because the natural course of the untreated disease is not well understood. Because most women diagnosed with DCIS are treated, it is difficult to determine the comparative benefits of different treatment strategies versus active surveillance, meaning systematic followup.

Researchers find group therapy benefits homeless veterans prone to violence

A new study finds that group therapy can benefit homeless veterans who have admitted taking physical or emotional abuse against their partners. The research – a collaboration between Gary Dick, associate professor of Social Work at the University of Cincinnati, and Brad Schaffer, corrections counselor for the Veterans Administration Cincinnati Medical Center – was presented this month at the 14th International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma in San Diego.

Swine flu impacts could further damage US economy, says UAB economist

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – H1N1 influenza could slow growth in key industries and stall already-weak GDP growth in the third and fourth quarters of 2009, says a health economist in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Business.

"Tourism and travel are vitally important sectors in the economy of many U.S. cities and communities," Bryce Sutton, Ph.D. "Depending upon the severity of the spread of the virus, consumers and businesses may respond by restricting travel and vacation plans, which would dampen an already weak recovery in these areas."

Social background weighs heavily on teenage diet

Teenagers' attitudes to diet and weight are shaped by their social class, according to new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Policymakers have long insisted on the importance of understanding young people's health and eating habits but this is the first study to show how everyday practices and perceptions of different social classes contribute to variation in the diet, weight and health of teenagers.

Children who are spanked have lower IQs, new research finds

DURHAM, NH. – Children who are spanked have lower IQs worldwide, including in the United States, according to new groundbreaking research by University of New Hampshire professor Murray Straus. The research results will be presented Friday, Sept. 25, 2009, at the 14th International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma, in San Diego, Calif.

Diabetes, southern fried chicken, most prevalent in southern US

Diabetes prevalence is highest in the Southern and Appalachian states and lowest in the Midwest and the Northeast of America. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Population Health Metrics have used two public data sources to investigate the prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes mellitus at the State level.

University lab demonstrates 3-D printing in glass

A team of engineers and artists working at the University of Washington's Solheim Rapid Manufacturing Laboratory has developed a way to create glass objects using a conventional 3-D printer. The technique allows a new material to be used in such devices.

The team's method, which it named the Vitraglyphic process, is a follow-up to the Solheim Lab's success last spring printing with ceramics.

Modern Scandinavians descended from Stone Age, not Ice Age, immigrants

Today's Scandinavians are not descended from the people who came to Scandinavia at the conclusion of the last ice age but, apparently, from a population that arrived later, concurrently with the introduction of agriculture. This is one conclusion of a new study straddling the borderline between genetics and archaeology, which involved Swedish researchers and which has now been published in the journal Current Biology.

Cholesterol ghetto-ization: Statins favor the wealthy, say professors

PHILADELPHIA -- Since the introduction of statins to treat high cholesterol, the decline in lipid levels experienced by the wealthy has been double that experienced by the poor. While statins are highly effective in reducing cholesterol and improving heart health, their use may have contributed to expanding social disparities in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, according to research by Virginia W. Chang, MD, PhD, of the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Pennsylvania, and Diane S.

Soft skills: Students and teachers need to be 'transculturally literate', says education professor

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The current generation of college students and teachers need to be as culturally fluent with people from different cultures as they are with their own, a soft skill that has become an essential part of life in the 21st century, a University of Illinois expert on teacher education says.

According to Mark Dressman, a professor in the department of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education at Illinois, the current group of college students will inherit a workplace where they will need to be prepared for "significant contact with the rest of the world."

Paper calls for even broader FDA role

WASHINGTON – A new policy paper that calls for broader authority and increased funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was released today by the American College of Physicians (ACP). Improving FDA Regulation of Prescription Drugs offers a half-dozen recommendations about how to improve the agency's ability to approve and monitor new drugs.

Vaccination and testing for the human papilloma virus could eradicate cervical cancer

Berlin, Germany: Cervical cancer could be eradicated within the next 50 years if countries implement national screening programmes based on detection of the human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes the disease, together with vaccination programmes against the virus, according to a cervical cancer screening expert.

Study uncovers 'de-urbanization' of America

LAWRENCE — More than any other populace on Earth, Americans are on the move. Because of factors such as employment, climate or retirement, 14 percent of the U.S. population bounces from place to place every year.

Now, one researcher at the University of Kansas has made a vital study of how a population in perpetual motion impacts local tax bases and economies around the nation.