*Researchers find that being at the top may come at a high cost*
Ecologists at Princeton University recently discovered top-ranking male baboons exhibit higher levels of stress hormones than second-ranking males, suggesting that being at the top of a social hierarchy may be more costly than previously thought. (more…)
COLUMBIA, Mo. — While some members of Congress and others are trying to repeal the healthcare reform law that was passed in 2010, known as the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” medical providers have begun to implement requirements as the law slowly phases in over the next several years. For reform to be successful, one University of Missouri public health expert has determined that professional associations for psychologists and other medical providers need to be at the forefront of the planning stages, and that everyone, including providers and patients, will need to be educated on rights and responsibilities.
“We looked at psychology departments here in the United States and in other countries to determine what worked best when implementing the policies outlined in healthcare reform,” said Nancy Cheak-Zamora, assistant professor of health science in the MU School of Health Professions. “Many providers, especially psychologists, work independently, but the new healthcare law is encouraging providers to develop a medical team approach, one that can tackle many different aspects of a disease.” (more…)
*Kinect’s controller-free gaming is helping children with disabilities play video games for the first time.*
REDMOND, Wash. — July 20, 2011 — Kinect, launched last fall, has been dubbed a gaming game-changer. And for some youngsters who’ve never been able to play games before, it’s been a life-changer.
By eliminating the controller, Kinect has removed a barrier for some people with mobility and coordination difficulties. Among them is Avri Davis. Although the 14-year-old is the oldest of six children, she’s never been able to keep up with her siblings. Avri was born with hydrocephalus, a situation where excess fluid puts pressure on her brain. (more…)
*A University of Exeter academic, who is an expert on Islam, has contributed to the new television series ‘The Life of Muhammad’ currently being broadcast on BBC Two. The three-part documentary, presented by journalist Rageh Omaar, charts the story of the Prophet who, in little more than 20 years, changed the world forever.*
Professor Sajjad Rizvi, University of Exeter’s Associate Professor of Islamic Intellectual History at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, provided expert advice to the BBC team. He also appears in the series. (more…)
Taking another major step in sleuthing the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a research team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has determined what chemicals were contained in a deep, hydrocarbon-containing plume at least 22 miles long that WHOI scientists mapped and sampled last summer in the Gulf of Mexico, a residue of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Moreover, they have taken a big step in explaining why some chemicals, but not others, made their way into the plume.
The findings, published this week in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “help explain and shed light on the plume formation and verify much of what we thought about the plume’s composition,” said WHOI chemist Christopher Reddy, lead author of the study. The data “provide compelling evidence” that the oil component of the plume sampled in June 2010 essentially comprised benzene, toluene, ethybenzene, and total xylenes—together, called BTEX—at concentrations of about 70 micrograms per liter, the researchers reported. (more…)
On April 26, Dr. Ketan Bulsara, using state-of-the-art technology, threaded a catheter less than one centimeter in width from the femoral artery in Norbert Tibeau’s thigh into an aneurysm in his brain. The aneurysm had grown to a diameter of two centimeters and bordered on such critical structures as the optic nerve and pituitary gland. If left untreated chances were high that within five years it would either kill Tibeau or devastate him neurologically. (more…)
comScore to Host Complimentary Webinar “The State of the Internet Chile” on July 21 (more…)
*Growth of cropland, loss of natural habitat to blame*
The continued growth of cropland and loss of natural habitat have increasingly simplified agricultural landscapes in the Midwest.
In a study supported in part by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Kellogg Biological Station Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in Michigan–one of 26 such NSF LTER sites around the world–scientists concluded that this simplification is associated with increased crop pest abundance and insecticide use. (more…)
