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Questions for Brandon Marshall: Predicting outcomes of HIV efforts in NYC

By Guest PostMarch 22, 2014Healthaffordable care act, brandon marshall, brown university, columbia university, david orenstein, drug user, high impact, hiv care, hiv efforts, hiv epidemic, hiv incidence, hiv treatment, hiv-positive, new york city, nyc, outcome, predictive computer model

New York City continues to battle an HIV epidemic, including among drug users. There are many possible interventions. Researchers have developed a sophisticated predictive computer model to help policymakers figure out which interventions, or combinations of interventions, would have the most meaningful impact.

Brandon Marshall, assistant professor of epidemiology at Brown University, has led the simulation effort ever since he was a postdoctoral scholar at Columbia University. In a new paper in the March edition of the journal Health Affairs a team from Brown and Columbia published the results of the simulation, which projects that New York can significantly reduce new infections among drug users by 2040 by implementing certain combinations of interventions. Marshall spoke with David Orenstein about what the predictive computer model shows. (more…)

Analysis: 32 years of U.S. filicide arrests

By Guest PostMarch 13, 2014Generalalpert medical school, analysis, biological children, brown university, child, data, david orenstein, depression, filicide, filicide arrests, heng choon chan, hypothesis, killing, lifetime risk, parents kill children, personal weapons, schizophrenia, serotonin related illness, sex hormone, shr, timothy mariano, united states, US, wade myers

Over the last three decades U.S. parents have committed filicide — the killing of one’s child — about 3,000 times every year. The horrifying instances are often poorly understood, but a recent study provides the first comprehensive statistical overview of the tragic phenomenon. The authors also suggest underlying hypotheses of motives with the hope of spurring research on filicide prevention.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Instances in which parents kill their children may seem so horrifying and tragic that they defy explanation. Published scientific and medical research, meanwhile, doesn’t offer much epidemiological context to help people understand patterns among such heinous crimes. A paper in the March edition of the journal Forensic Science International provides the first comprehensive statistical analysis of filicide in the United States, drawing on 32 years of data on more than 94,000 arrests. The study also explores possible underlying psychiatric and biological underpinnings of filicide. (more…)

Temperature and ecology: In Chile, rival barnacles keep competition cool

By Guest PostMarch 6, 2014Environmentbrown university, Chile, chilean barnacles, chthamalus fragilis, ecim, ecology, emily lamb, gray barnacle, heather leslie, jenna shinen, mediating factor, rival barnacles, rock barnacle, semibalanus balanoides, temperature

A lot of research shows that temperature can strongly influence species interactions and sometimes shape the appearance and functioning of biological communities. That’s why a newly published finding that changes in temperature did not alter the competitive balance of power between two rival species of Chilean barnacles is an ecological surprise.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Here are two facts that make the lowly barnacle important: They are popular models for ecology research, and they are very sensitive to temperature. Given that, the authors of a new study about a bellwether community of two barnacle species in Chile figured they might see clear effects on competition between these two species if they experimentally changed temperature. In the context of climate change, such an experiment could yield profound new insights into the biological future of a major coastline that is prized for its ecological, aesthetic, and economic values. (more…)

Study reveals workings of working memory

By Guest PostFebruary 25, 2014Health, Scienceanterior premotor cortex, bluetooth headset, brown university, christopher chatham, david badre, dorsal, journal neuron, michael frank, mri, output gating, output gating behavior, phenomenon, planning motion, snowflakes, stars, study, typographical symbols, working memory, workings

Brown University cognitive scientists have identified specific brain regions that work together to allow us to choose from among the options we store in working memory. Findings appear in the journal Neuron.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Keep this in mind: Scientists say they’ve learned how your brain plucks information out of working memory when you decide to act. (more…)

New boron nanomaterial may be possible

By Guest PostFebruary 8, 2014Science36 boron atoms, atom thick, binding energy spectrum, boron clusters, borophene, brown university, electron, electron racetrack, graphene, helium, lai sheng wang, nanomaterial partner, new boron nanomaterial, pnnl, sheet of carbon, symmetrical structure, wie li li, zachary piazza

Graphene, a sheet of carbon one atom thick, may soon have a new nanomaterial partner. In the lab and on supercomputers, chemists have determined that a unique arrangement of 36 boron atoms in a flat disc with a hexagonal hole in the middle may be the preferred building blocks for “borophene.” Findings are reported in Nature Communications.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Researchers from Brown University have shown experimentally that a boron-based competitor to graphene is a very real possibility. (more…)

Image or reality? Leaf study needs photos and lab analysis

By Guest PostJanuary 27, 2014Environmentautomated remote photography, brown university, canopy, carbon absorption, climate change, data from satellites, forest greenness, jianwu tang, leaf function, leaf study, levels of chlorophyll, light into energy, manuel correllus, martha, monitor forest change, photosynthesize, state forest, vineyard, xi yang

Automated remote photography is a convenient, labor-saving research tool for tracking leaf function and doing forest research. But does photography mirror what’s actually happening on the ground? A new study finds photography accurately tracks the timing of red pigments in the fall, but the timing of green in the spring and summer — not so much.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Every picture tells a story, but the story digital photos tell about how forests respond to climate change could be incomplete, according to new research. (more…)

Clever chemistry and a new class of antibiotics

By Guest PostJanuary 22, 2014Health, Scienceacyldepsipeptides, adeps, antibacterial drug, antibiotics, attack bacteria, bacterial infection, barrel shaped protein, brown university, cell membrane, clever chemistry, clpp, dangerous bacteria, e faecalis, intramolecular hydrogen bonds, jason sello, karl schmitz, mice, MIT, molecules, new class, potent, rat, resistance to antibiotics, robert sauer, strong bonds, stronger hydrogen bonds

A new class of molecules called acyldepsipeptides — ADEPs — may provide a new way to attack bacteria that have developed resistance to antibiotics. Researchers at Brown and MIT have discovered a way to increase the potency of ADEPs by up to 1,200 times. Their findings appear in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — As concerns about bacterial resistance to antibiotics grow, researchers are racing to find new kinds of drugs to replace ones that are no longer effective. One promising new class of molecules called acyldepsipeptides — ADEPs — kills bacteria in a way that no marketed antibacterial drug does — by altering the pathway through which cells rid themselves of harmful proteins. (more…)

Studies in perception: At arm’s length: Plasticity of depth judgment

By Guest PostJanuary 19, 2014Science3d, brown university, carlo fantoni, computer generated image, corrado caudek, depth judgment, depth perception, fulvio domini, iit, italy, john assad, journal of neuroscience, plasticity, robert volcic, smartphone, studies in perception, three rods, training exercise, triangle configuration, virtual 3d cylinder

People have a distance at which they are best able to judge depth. That distance, it turns out, is dictated by how long people understand their arms to be. Researchers showed this in the Journal of Neuroscience by tricking subjects with virtual reality into thinking their reach was longer than it really was. The result? Their accurate perception of depth via sight moved outward and touch became more sensitive.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — We need to reach for things, so a connection between arm length and our ability to judge depth accurately may make sense. Given that we grow throughout childhood, it may also seem reasonable that such an optimal depth perception distance should be flexible enough to change with a lengthening arm. Recent research in the Journal of Neuroscience provides evidence for these ideas with surprising findings: Scientists showed that they could manipulate the distance at which adult volunteers accurately perceived depth, both through sight and touch, by tricking them into thinking they had a longer reach than they really do. (more…)

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