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Eight-month-old infants are much more likely to reach towards distant toys when an adult is present than when they are by themselves, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings suggest that 8-month-olds understand when they need another person's help to accomplish a task and act accordingly.

BUFFALO, N.Y. - A new study by researchers at the University at Buffalo suggests that Child Protective Services (CPS) caseworkers may need to use a more all-encompassing approach to improve how they respond to cases of chronic neglect.

Neglect accounts for more than 70 percent of cases reported nationally to CPS, according to Annette Semanchin Jones, an assistant professor in the UB School of Social Work.

COLUMBIA, Mo. - For most of the 20th century, adoptions were largely "closed," meaning birth parents placed their child with an adoption agency and had no further contact unless the child sought them out later in life. However, statistics show that a shift occurred in the 1990s when adoption practitioners started to recognize the benefits of "open" adoptions, or adoptions in which adoptive families have ongoing interactions with the birth family. Now, University of Missouri communication researchers are studying the benefits and challenges of open adoptions.

Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental illness in the United States. And while much is understood about the biochemistry of anxiety, little is known about the genetic variation associated with it.

Recently published in BMC Genetics, a study led by researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital reports that genetic predisposition to aggression toward an owner or a familiar dog is distinct from that for fear and aggression directed at unfamiliar humans and dogs. The researchers identified approximately 12 genes associated with these traits.

AMHERST, Mass. - Results of a new study led by Toni Lyn Morelli, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Northeast Climate Science Center based at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, offer a framework for conserving areas she and co-authors dub "climate change refugia," that is, areas naturally buffered from climate change that protect natural and cultural resources.

Since 1961 in Zambia there has been a notable decline in the availability of milk, meat, eggs, and beans, and an increase in cassava and vegetable oils.

Adding livestock to poor households in developing countries such as Zambia is shown to improve their financial status, but how the addition of milk and meat to their diet effects their nutrition has not been studied.

This research finds that adding a small amount of milk and meat to the diet dramatically improves the supply of nutrients--specifically protein, calcium, zinc, iron, vitamin A, B2, B12, and D.

AMHERST, Mass. - Natural and cultural areas that will remain similar to what they are today -- despite climate change -- need to be identified, managed and conserved as "refugia" for at-risk species, according to a study published today in PLOS ONE.

CINCINNATI--It may come as little surprise that alcohol use is widespread among young adults. In the U.S., 70 percent of adults aged 18 to 24 drink alcohol, with 40 percent of women imbibing over the recommended daily limit of 3 drinks per day. Add that to preconceived notions that alcohol-related behavior results in sexual risk-taking, and it may point to why young women are experiencing an increased prevalence of sexually-transmitted infections.

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was enacted by Congress in 1973 to protect species threatened with extinction. To receive protection, a species must first be listed as endangered or threatened in a process that is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A two-year timeline for the multi-stage process, which starts with submission of a petition and ends with a final rule in the Federal Register, was established in 1982 by a Congressional amendment to the ESA.

A group of experts on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), organized by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), has produced proposed clinical guidelines for diagnosing FASD, which can result when a mother drinks during pregnancy. The new guidelines clarify and expand upon widely used guidelines issued in 2005, which were the first to help clinicians distinguish among the four distinct subtypes of FASD described by the Institute of Medicine.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Researchers at Mayo Clinic have reported a causal link between senescent cells -- cells that accumulate with age and contribute to frailty and disease -- and osteoarthritis in mice. Their findings appear online in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences.

Plant species that have evolved to withstand elevated levels of carbon dioxide grow poorly when moved to a plant community with a different make up, according to a new study in Nature Communications.

"In an effort to save certain species, there has been an interest in the movement of plants or animals to more climatically suitable habitats," said University of British Columbia ecologist Elizabeth Kleynhans, lead author of the study. "Our research indicates how one species adapts in one community may not transfer to other communities."

Government-funded school meals are putting financially vulnerable children at risk of being overweight, a Virginia Tech researcher has found.

As millions of kids who eat government-funded breakfasts or lunches head back to school this fall, most of them will participate in meal programs that may be part of the cause of the nation-wide obesity epidemic.

Students from low-income families and those who live in the Northeast, South, and rural America are most susceptible to the problem.

(PHILADELPHIA) - Cold plasma looks like the glow from the "Star Wars" blue light saber but this beam of energy, made of electrons that change polarity at micro-second or nanosecond speeds, could help bones heal faster, according to a study published August 11th in the Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine.

Targeted radiation-based therapies for treating cancerous tumours such as 'boron neutron capture therapy' (BNCT), rely on the efficient and effective delivery of the capture agent (in this case, boron) to the tumour. The agent must collect in the tumour in high enough concentrations to trigger an effective reaction during thermal neutron irradiation.