Culture

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Nearly one-third of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) who underwent a novel behavior treatment developed by a University at Buffalo behavioral scientist achieved significant relief within four weeks of beginning treatment.

These patients, called "rapid responders" maintained their improvement at a three-month follow-up, despite reporting more severe IBS symptoms when they started the treatment.

Rostock, Germany (May, 12th 2010). Marriage is more beneficial for men than for women - at least for those who want a long life. Previous studies have shown that men with younger wives live longer. While it had long been assumed that women with younger husbands also live longer, in a new study Sven Drefahl from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock, Germany, has shown that this is not the case. Instead, the greater the age difference from the husband, the lower the wife's life expectancy.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., May 11, 2010 – For the first time in three decades, the nation – and most states – saw a two-year decline in preterm birth rates, indicating that strategies implemented over the past seven years have begun to pay off, according to the March of Dimes.

British Indian children have substantially better mental health than British Whites, new research from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine shows.

Anna Goodman, the report's lead author from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine says: "Most research into ethnic differences focuses on issues where minority ethnic groups are doing worse than average. We believe it is also important to investigate areas where minority groups have an advantage, and use this understanding as a way to improve the health of the whole population".

It's a good day for obese people. One study linked minimum wage to weight gain and a University of Alberta study correlates weight gain to increased automobile traffic.

PITTSBURGH—Computer analysis of sentiments expressed in a billion Twitter messages during 2008-2009 yielded measures of consumer confidence and of presidential job approval similar to those of well-established public opinion polls, Carnegie Mellon University researchers report.

How can the United States foster long-term economic growth? A new report suggests that one of the best ways is through investment in the basic research that leads to innovation and job creation. "Sparking Economic Growth: How federally funded university research creates innovation, new companies and jobs" released today by The Science Coalition identifies 100 "success stories" – examples of companies that are the result of federal investments in basic research. Collectively, these 100 companies employ well over 100,000 people and have annual revenues approaching $100 billion.

Among African Americans, colorectal cancer is the third most common cause of cancer-related death. With the proper screening, it has a 90 percent cure rate, yet screening rates are much lower among this group than other ethnic groups.

Many researchers have tried to figure out why, but most have only looked at African Americans as one group, and therefore haven't explored the differences in what keeps African American men and women from getting this potentially life-saving test.

ATLANTA – With obesity becoming an epidemic among school-aged children in this country, a Georgia State University professor has found a link between overweight children and federal school nutrition programs.

Treating clinical depression on the telephone is nearly as effective as face-to-face consultations, a new Brigham Young University study finds.

The trial run included 30 people newly diagnosed with major depression. Instead of eight scheduled visits to the clinic, the participants covered the same material during a series of phone calls with the therapist. Calls varied in length, ranging from 21 to 52 minutes. The patients did not receive antidepressant medication.

LAWRENCE, Kan. — It has been a hard winter for Monarch butterflies, according to Chip Taylor, director of Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas. Taylor said that low temperatures, storms and habitat destruction have all threatened the butterflies' overwintering population in Mexico.

"I spend a lot of time fretting over the status of the monarch population and I'm always searching for factors or data that will help me understand the past as a way of predicting the future trends in monarch numbers," Taylor said.

WASHINGTON – The Produce Safety Project today issued a report that examines the steps taken by select European Union (EU) countries to reform their food safety data collection and analysis systems since the 1990s. Authored by Michael Batz, head of Food Safety Programs, Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida, and J.

Montreal, May 10, 2010 – As fewer people smoke cigarettes, a new trend is gaining popularity among North American youth, says a study published in the journal Pediatrics, which found that almost one-quarter of young adults in Montreal had used waterpipes (also called shishas or hookahs) in the past year.

EVANSTON, Ill. --- How do children reason about the natural world? How do they understand the relation between human and non-human animals?

For decades, the consensus was that as young children begin reasoning about the biological world, they adopt an "anthropocentric" stance, favoring humans over non-human animals when it comes to learning about properties of animals.

But Northwestern University researchers have taken another look at the way children reason about biology.