Tag Archives: emily caldwell

OSU Grad Student’s Study on Salamander Fitness Selected for Scifund Challenge

COLUMBUS, Ohio – An Ohio State University graduate student’s study of the unprecedented reproductive practices among unisexual salamanders has earned the support of the national research crowd-funding initiative known as the SciFund Challenge.

Robert Denton, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, is the only Ohio-based researcher among the 75 scientists selected for this year’s fundraising campaign, the second annual round of the SciFund Challenge. Participating scientists are spending the month of May soliciting financial support from anyone and everyone who is interested in their research.

Denton already has surpassed his initial goal of $1,600. With the additional support, he will be able to expand the scope of the research on whether these salamanders’ strange reproductive habits and resulting messy genetics actually give them a leg up on their competition in the wild. (more…)

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Scientists Find Possible Cause of Movement Defects in Spinal Muscular Atrophy

COLUMBUS, Ohio – An abnormally low level of a protein in certain nerve cells is linked to movement problems that characterize the deadly childhood disorder spinal muscular atrophy, new research in animals suggests.

Spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, is caused when a child’s motor neurons – nerve cells that send signals from the spinal cord to muscles – produce insufficient amounts of what is called survival motor neuron protein, or SMN. This causes motor neurons to die, leading to muscle weakness and the inability to move. (more…)

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New Labor-Tracking Tool Proposed To Reduce C-Sections in First-Time Moms

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers have designed a new version of a labor-tracking tool for pregnant women that they predict could reduce the use of hormonal intervention during labor and lower the number of cesarean sections performed on low-risk, first-time mothers.

The tool, called a partograph, takes into account the most recent research findings that suggest labor is not a linear process, but is instead slower during earlier labor and accelerates gradually as labor advances. A diagnosis of abnormally slow labor is the No. 1 reason that C-sections are performed in low-risk births by first-time moms. (more…)

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Study: Off-Campus College Party Hosts Drink More Than Attendees

COLUMBUS, Ohio – On any given weekend, at least 10 percent of students at a single college could be hosting a party, and on average, party hosts who live off campus are drinking more and engaging in more alcohol-related problem behaviors than are the students attending their bashes, research suggests.

In contrast, hosts of parties held on campus tend to drink less than do the students attending their gatherings, according to the study. (more…)

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