Culture

Montreal, 21 August 2009 - Malaria kills anywhere from one to three million people around the world annually and affects the lives of up to 500 million more. Yet until now, scientists did not fully understand exactly how the process that caused the disease's severe hallmark fevers began.

A new study from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, in collaboration with UCLA, has found a striking correlation between teenage viewership and the frequency of alcohol advertising on cable television. The findings show that ads for beer, spirits and "alcopop" aired much more frequently when more teens were watching.

Live in an expensive city? Think you pay too much in federal taxes? If so, a study in the current issue of the Journal of Political Economy finds that youd o.

According to David Albouy, a University of Michigan economist, workers in expensive cities in the Northeast, Great Lakes and Pacific regions bear a disproportionate share of the federal tax burden, effectively paying 27 percent more in federal income taxes than workers with similar skills in a small city or rural area.

The Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has investigated the reliability of diagnosing bronchial asthma in children aged between 2 and 5 years, and the benefit that the test results can have for these patients. IQWiG published its final report in August 2009. According to the report, the available studies do not reveal any diagnostic procedure to be particularly suitable. It also remains unclear whether the treatment given based on the test results can benefit the patients.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A business is more likely to "over-comply" with environmental regulations if its senior management believes in protecting the environment and that it makes financial sense in the long term, according to a new study by an economist at Oregon State University.

The study, published online in the Journal of Environmental Management and accepted for publication in its print version, examined why some firms violate environmental regulatory standards while others exceed them. It used data from a survey that 689 businesses in Oregon answered.

Scientists today reported use of a new X-ray imaging technique to reveal for the first time in a century unprecedented details of a painting hidden beneath another painting by famed American illustrator N.C. (Newell Convers) Wyeth. The non-destructive look-beneath-the-surface method could reveal hidden images in hundreds of Old Master paintings and other prized works of art, the researchers say. The scientists reported the research at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Once upon a trash heap dreary, while he wandered, weak and weary, University of Illinois English professor and birding enthusiast Spencer Schaffner raised his binoculars, focused and had a eureka moment.

In his sights, not a raven, nor even the Tamaulipas crow, a once-common inhabitant of the Brownsville, Texas, city dump. Rather, Schaffner identified the rarely spotted fowl irony.

A major new statistical review of 82 individual research studies has revealed that nonprofit nursing homes deliver, on average, higher quality care than for-profit nursing homes. The findings could have a bearing on the present debate about the role of for-profit firms in U.S. health reform.

The percentage of American adolescents who are obese has tripled in just 35 years. Local governments play a crucial role by shaping environments that make it either easy or hard for families to find fresh fruits and vegetables, play outdoors, walk, and otherwise eat healthy and be physically active. Local Government Actions To Prevent Childhood Obesity, a new report from the Institute of Medicine, offers action steps that officials at the regional and community levels can use to help reduce childhood obesity, one of the most serious and expensive health problems facing the nation.

Stacy L. Wood, Associate Professor of Marketing at the Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina says in a study to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research, that when people are in a state of upheaval, they're more likely to choose an unfamiliar food such as "camembert-and-plum crisps" from Britain rather than good old Lay's potato chips. Wood's study, in fact, went beyond comfort foods and looked at "familiar anything." When individuals in her study were in more upheaval, they were more likely to download an unfamiliar song or jog in a new park.

Back in the day, planes, trains and automobiles all sported one brand name. If you bought a Boeing, you got, nose to tail, a Boeing. These days, however, complex industrial equipment is starting to look like NASCAR vehicles festooned with logos. Why does it matter? "When component brands become powerful it changes the industry," says George John, Marketing Department Chair at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. "What becomes more important, the product brand or the component? The Dodge truck or its Cummins engine?"

Targeted investments in climate science could lead to major benefits in reducing the costs of adapting to a changing climate, according to new research published by scientists from the UK's National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS). Published in the scientific journal, the Bulletin for the American Meteorological Society, the study shows that investments made now, can lead to as much as 10-20% improvement in climate predictions for the UK and Europe in the coming decades, and up to 20% across the rest of the globe.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2009 — They say there's no place like home. But scientists are reporting some unsettling news about homes in the residential areas of California. The typical house there — and probably elsewhere in the country — is an alarming and probably underestimated source of water pollution, according to a new study reported today at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

A study by researchers at the University of Leicester has revealed new ways to spot whether medical research has hidden biases. Writing in the prestigious British Medical Journal, Santiago Moreno and his colleagues demonstrate how to spot 'publication bias' in the reporting of clinical trials which potentially form the basis of Government and NHS health policies. They also show what mathematical adjustments can be made to remove such unintended distortion of data.

Boston, Mass. – Research indicates that the social stigma that surrounds lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) teens leads to a variety of health risks such as substance use, risky sexual behaviors, eating disorders, suicidal ideation, and victimization. An editorial in the September issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health calls on clinicians and health researchers to lead the charge in improving the health and well-being of U.S. LGBT teens. Clinicians can start by providing LGBT teens with high-quality, preventive care in a regular, private, and confidential environment.