Tag Archives: missouri

Change in Chinese Culture and Values Could Open Chinese Sports Market for U.S., says MU Researcher

By Guest PostNovember 2, 2012Economyamerican sports, Beijing, billion people, China, chinese broadcasting, chinese commentary, chinese public, chinese sport, culture shift, economic boost, economic market, fifth summit, globe, marketplace, missouri, nicholas watanabe, olympic games, population, products, sport market, sport university, tie nie, university, us consumers

Large, untapped market could benefit U.S. economy.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Currently, China has a population of more than 1.3 billion people, and based on a new study from the University of Missouri, it appears that interest in American sports is growing in the country, which could open a large, untapped economic market for the U.S.

“While we are still in uncertain economic times, it’s important to draw on strengths as the marketplace is expanded around the globe,” said Nicholas Watanabe, assistant professor of the sport management emphasis in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism at MU. “American sports have a large following in many countries, and we could experience a similar effect in China with the right business and marketing plans.” (more…)

Female Pulitzer Prize Winners Require Higher Qualifications, MU Study Finds

By Guest PostOctober 29, 2012Culture, General, Mediachinese university, compensational equality period, exclusionary period, female, formal equality period, francis lee, gender disparities, hong kong, ivy league, journalism, journalistic industry, male, metropolitan city, missouri, new york times, prestigious awards, pulitzer prize, society, statistical difference, stratification, university, US, winner, yong volz

Gender disparity in journalism still exists, but is improving

COLUMBIA, Mo. —The Pulitzer Prize in Journalism is one of the world’s most prestigious awards. Despite progress in the last few decades, gender disparities in the field of journalism have existed as long as the profession has. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that female Pulitzer Prize winners are more likely to have greater qualifications than their male counterparts in order to win the coveted award.

In a study to be published in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Yong Volz, an assistant professor of journalism studies in the MU School of Journalism, along with Francis Lee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, studied biographical data from all 814 historical winners of the Pulitzer Prize from 1917 to 2010. They found that the majority of the 113 female Pulitzer Prize winners enjoyed access to greater resources than the average male winner. (more…)

Medication Beliefs Strongly Affect Individuals’ Management of Chronic Diseases, MU Expert Says

By Guest PostOctober 21, 2012Healthalternative, basel, belgium, blood pressure, bottle cap, chronic condition, chronic disease, electronic, fabienne dobbels, heart disease, high, leuven, life, medication, medication regimen, missouri, objective feedback, patient, pill, pilot study, quality, risk, sabina de geest, salt consumption, shortened lifespan, side effect, stroke, switzerland, todd ruppar, treatment, university

Health practitioners should use behavior-change tactics so patients take medications as prescribed

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Nearly half of patients taking medications for chronic conditions do not strictly follow their prescribed medication regimens. Failure to use medications as directed increases patients’ risk for side effects, hospitalizations, reduced quality of life and shortened lifespans. Now, a University of Missouri gerontological nursing expert says patients’ poor adherence to prescribed medication regimens is connected to their beliefs about the necessity of prescriptions and concerns about long-term effects and dependency.

MU Assistant Professor Todd Ruppar found that patients’ beliefs about the causes of high blood pressure and the effectiveness of treatment alternatives significantly affected their likelihood of faithfully following prescribed medication regimens. In his pilot study, Ruppar focused on older patients’ adherence to medication treatments that control high blood pressure, a condition that affects nearly 70 million adults in the U.S. and can lead to heart disease and stroke. (more…)

Gold Nanoparticle Prostate Cancer Treatment Found Safe in Dogs, MU Study Shows

By Guest PostOctober 16, 2012Healthancer death, bodily function, cancer, cancer patient, cause, chemotherapy, clinical trial, dose, efficient way, gold nanoparticle, human patient, kattesh katti, missouri, mizzou advantage, one health, one medicine area, prostate cancer, prostate tumor, radioactive, reduction, sandra axiak bechtel, side effect, toxic, travel, treatment, tumor, tumor volume, university, us men, vital organ

New treatment may have fewer side effects than traditional cancer therapy

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Currently, large doses of chemotherapy are required when treating certain forms of cancer, resulting in toxic side effects. The chemicals enter the body and work to destroy or shrink the tumor, but also harm vital organs and drastically affect bodily functions. Now, scientists at the University of Missouri have proven that a new form of prostate cancer treatment that uses radioactive gold nanoparticles, and was developed at MU, is safe to use in dogs. Sandra Axiak-Bechtel, an assistant professor in oncology at the MU College of Veterinary Medicine, says that this is a big step for gold nanoparticle research.

“Proving that gold nanoparticles are safe to use in the treatment of prostate cancer in dogs is a big step toward gaining approval for clinical trials in men,” Axiak-Bechtel said. “Dogs develop prostate cancer naturally in a very similar way as humans, so the gold nanoparticle treatment has a great chance to translate well to human patients.” (more…)

Amazonian Tribal Warfare Sheds Light on Modern Violence, Says MU Anthropologist

By Guest PostOctober 10, 2012Culture, Scienceafghanistan, altercation, Amazon, amazon forest, amazonian, amazonian warfare, anthropologist, cause, christianity, civilization, clash, cultural factor, cultural identity, culture influence, deadly attack, death, drew bailey, european contact, europeans, evolutionary history, external raid, frequency, global goal, humans, instinctual motivation, intensity, internal raid, intertribal warfare, libya, missouri, modern gang, mortality, primate ancestor, rival group, river basin, robert walker, south america, tribal life, tribal society, university, us embassy, violence, violent conflict, war, was treachery

Developing a shared sense of global community could help reduce major episodes of violence

In the tribal societies of the Amazon forest, violent conflict accounted for 30 percent of all deaths before contact with Europeans, according to a recent study by University of Missouri anthropologist Robert Walker. Understanding the reasons behind those altercations in the Amazon sheds light on the instinctual motivations that continue to drive human groups to violence, as well as the ways culture influences the intensity and frequency of violence.

“The same reasons – revenge, honor, territory and jealousy over women – that fueled deadly conflicts in the Amazon continue to drive violence in today’s world,” said Walker, lead author and assistant professor of anthropology in MU’s College of Arts and Science. “Humans’ evolutionary history of violent conflict among rival groups goes back to our primate ancestors. It takes a great deal of social training and institutional control to resist our instincts and solve disputes with words instead of weapons. Fortunately, people have developed ways to channel those instincts away from actual deadly conflict. For example, sports and video games often involve the same impulses to defeat a rival group.” (more…)

MU Students Gain Experience with Advanced Weather Tracking Technology

By Guest PostSeptember 29, 2012Education, Environment, Scienceadvance, atmospheric sciences, brett williams, bridge creek, columbia, data, doppler, dow, dow system, eric brewster, hinkson creek, jason hubbard, job market, kansas city, kayla flamm, map, measure, meteorology technology, missouri, mobile, neil fox, nicole hoban, North America, on, predicting storms, rainfall, raw data, sediment transport, severe, soil erosion, st. louis, stationary, storm research, student, tracking device, university, weather, weather radar, wheels

Students use tornado-chasing technology to research rain’s impact on stream

COLUMBIA, Mo. – With advances in meteorology technology, predicting storms is becoming easier than in the past. While most meteorology students learn about these new technologies in the classroom and don’t get a chance to use sophisticated equipment until they are on the job, a group of University of Missouri students were able to test a mobile weather tracking device, Doppler on Wheels (DOW), made famous by shows such as Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers.

The DOW visiting MU is one of a fleet of radar trucks maintained by the Center for Severe Storm Research. Each radar truck is mounted with a Doppler weather radar dish. The fleet also consists of a support vehicle and three trucks that deploy instruments to track weather patterns in tornadoes and hurricanes. One of the radar trucks was brought to MU so that students could learn about the technology first-hand. (more…)

Mutation Breaks HIV’s Resistance to Drugs, Says MU Researcher

By Guest PostSeptember 22, 2012Health172k, 172k mutation, aids, atsuko hachiya, cellular machinery, drug, hiv, hiv strain, hiv-infected, human, immunodeficiency, inhibitors, missouri, mutation, nnrtis, non nucleoside, nrtis, nucleoside, patient, polymorphism, resistant, reverse, stefan sarafianos, transcriptase, university, virus

Doctors can improve treatment programs using this knowledge

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can contain dozens of different mutations, called polymorphisms. In a recent study an international team of researchers, including University of Missouri scientists, found that one of those mutations, called 172K, made certain forms of the virus more susceptible to treatment. Soon, doctors will be able to use this knowledge to improve the drug regimen they prescribe to HIV-infected individuals.

“The 172K polymorphism makes certain forms of HIV less resistant to drugs,” said Stefan Sarafianos, corresponding author of the study and a researcher at MU’s Bond Life Sciences Center. “172K doesn’t affect the virus’ normal activities. In some varieties of HIV that have developed resistance to drugs, when the 172K mutation is present, resistance to two classes of anti-HIV drugs is suppressed. We estimate up to 3 percent of HIV strains carry the 172K polymorphism.” (more…)

Teens Tell Different Tales about Themselves Depending on Gender, Says MU Researcher

By Guest PostSeptember 6, 2012Culture, General, Healthadolescence, autobiographical narrative, brown university, emory university, emotional state, gender, jennifer bohanek, missouri, negative stories, parent, personal identity, reflect, robyn fivush, sally grapin, self, sense, transition, university, widaad zaman, young people

Parents can use knowledge to help steer teens through life changes

COLUMBIA, Mo. — During adolescence, the stories young people tell about themselves reflects their development of a personal identity and sense of self, and those autobiographical narratives vary depending on the teens’ gender, according to a University of Missouri psychologist and her colleagues. Parents can use this knowledge of how teens talk about themselves to help understand the tumultuous transitions of their children into adults.

“Autobiographical stories tell us details about adolescent psychology that questionnaires and observations of behavior cannot,” said Jennifer Bohanek, assistant professor of psychological sciences in the College of Arts and Science. “Narratives provide information about how adolescents interpret memories as well as how they come to know themselves. Other people then come to know the teens by the stories they tell about themselves. The differences between study participants’ stories suggest there may be differences in the way male and female teens understand themselves and present themselves to the world.” (more…)