Culture

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A team of Oregon State University researchers has successfully implemented a classroom-based intervention that reduces the amount of violent TV that children watch.

According to the researchers, whose findings will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, the result was an 18 percent reduction in violent TV viewing among first- through fourth-grade children. That reduction was maintained eight months after concluding the intervention.

HOUSTON - Brief stress management sessions prior to and immediately after surgery may have both short- and long-term benefit for men undergoing a radical prostatectomy for early-stage prostate cancer, according to research from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

STANFORD, Calif. - The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the ambitious U.S. government program begun in 2003, has cut the death toll from HIV/AIDS through 2007 by more than 10 percent in targeted countries in Africa, though it has had no appreciable effect on prevalence of the disease in those nations, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine that is the first to evaluate these outcomes.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Obesity is twice as common in young American Indian/Native Alaskan children as it is in white and Asian children, according to new research offering the first nationally representative analysis of obesity prevalence among preschool-aged kids in five major racial/ethnic groups.

The analysis also shows that obesity prevalence is higher in Hispanic and black children than it is in whites and Asians.

Young children who do not display an ability to regulate their behavior or to delay gratification in exchange for a larger reward appear predisposed to gain extra weight by their pre-teen years, according to two reports published in the April issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Factors identified early in childhood could predict obesity in the teen years and beyond, and researchers continue to assess methods to prevent and treat excess weight gain and its consequences in children and teens, according to several reports published in the April issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

April 6, 2009-- Replacing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) with water could eliminate an average of 235 excess calories per day among children and adolescents, according to a study published in the April 2009 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The study's authors conclude that such a replacement would be a simple and effective way to reduce excess intake of calories causing childhood overweight and obesity, as well as address dental cavities and other health problems associated with added sugar. And they predict no detrimental effects on nutrition.

Toronto – Be careful of that raunchy joke that gets all the laughs. As funny as folks at work may find it, it's probably hurting morale.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Performance pay programs designed by teachers, for teachers, tend to offer small incentives to a large number of teachers, new research indicates.

"We found that when teachers design performance pay programs they tend to be egalitarian, offering everyone a little bit of money," Matthew Springer, director of the National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt University and a co-author of the new research, said.

The legend is that the great rulers of Canaan, the ancient land of Israel, were all men. But a recent dig by Tel Aviv University archaeologists at Tel Beth-Shemesh uncovered possible evidence of a mysterious female ruler.

Heart failure is by far the most prevalent chronic cardiac condition. Around 30 million people in Europe have heart failure and its incidence is still increasing: more cases are being identified, more people are living to an old age, and more are surviving a heart attack but with damage to the heart muscle.

"The 'foot' structures that we found in the Jordan valley are the first sites that the People of Israel built upon entering Canaan and they testify to the biblical concept of ownership of the land with the foot," said archaeologist Prof. Adam Zertal of the University of Haifa, who headed the excavating team that exposed five compounds in the shape of an enormous "foot", that it were likely to have been used at that time to mark ownership of territory.

The 2008 presidential campaign season had the earliest statewide primaries and caucuses in memory, starting with the Iowa Caucus on Jan. 3. Now research from North Carolina State University shows that states may have good reason to push for an early contest. States that hold early presidential primaries or caucuses get a larger share of per capita federal procurement spending compared to other states, the new study says. But being early is not enough, study author Dr. Andrew Taylor says – states must also pick the winner.

Mothers with many negative thoughts and feelings are more likely to give their children unhealthy food. This is shown in a study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) in collaboration with the University of Oslo.

(Boston) -- A study of a Big Brothers Big Sisters of America formal mentoring program, which matched adolescent girls with women mentors, revealed that strong emotional support and improvement in girls psychosocial functioning from these relationships was a dominant theme coupled with the development of new skills and confidence through collaborations.