Ohio State University
Better detection and treatment are helping to reduce death from breast cancer in America, but poor, rural and minority women -- especially Native Americans -- face barriers that keep them from taking advantage of cancer screenings that could potentially save their lives, researchers say. In trying to identify a way to increase use of mammography among poor, rural women over age 40, researchers surveyed 897 women (33 percent African American, 41 percent Native American, 25 percent white) about their knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding breast and cervical cancer screening. The women -- selected from patient records at a major area health care provider -- were all identified as needing a mammogram.
Students, keep this in mind before that next major exam: Pre-test jitters make it easier to recall memorized facts, but that stress also makes it tough to solve more complex problems. Researchers at Ohio State University gave a battery of simple cognitive tests to 19 first-year medical students one to two days before a regular classroom exam -- a period when they would be highly stressed. Students were also given a similar battery of tests a week after the exam, when things were less hectic.
Inebriated bees could give researchers better insight into alcohol's effects on human behavior, a new study suggests. ''Alcohol affects bees and humans in similar ways -- it impairs motor functioning along with learning and memory processing,'' said Julie Mustard, a study co-author and a postdoctoral researcher in entomology at Ohio State University. ''On the molecular level, the brains of honey bees and humans work the same. Knowing how chronic alcohol use affects genes and proteins in the honey bee brain may help us eventually understand how alcoholism affects memory and behavior in humans, as well as the molecular basis of addiction.''
People are more likely to misidentify tools as guns when they are first linked to African Americans, at least under extreme time pressure, new research suggests. While researchers say the experiment was much less complex than real-life encounters, they hope it begins to shed light on how subtle racial biases may help lead to situations in which police accidentally shoot unarmed minorities.
Television viewers don't develop their views about the president and national politics just by watching the news. New research suggests that crime dramas like NYPD Blue and Third Watch may have an influence on political attitudes as well. In three related studies, researchers found that viewers of crime dramas were more likely than others to view crime as one of the top issues -- and often the top issue -- facing our country.
You've seen it in horror movies, or even in real-life at the local museum: a painting in which the eyes of the person portrayed seem to follow you around the room, no matter where you go. People have described the effect as creepy or eerie, and some have thought it supernatural. But now researchers have demonstrated the very natural cause for this visual effect. All it takes for the effect to work is to have the person in the painting, or photograph, look straight ahead, said James Todd, co-author of the study and a professor of psychology at Ohio State University. Our visual perception takes care of the rest.
Researchers are developing a sensor that can help control emissions from cars, power plants, and other combustion processes. The matchtip-sized device is a prototype for even smaller sensors that could one day enable new ways of controlling combustion. The newly-patented sensor detects the total amount of a pollutant commonly referred to as NOx, which is primarily a combination of nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide. It also removes the interference from carbon monoxide that can cause sensors to produce inaccurate readings.
Within just 10 minutes of meeting, people decide what kind of relationship they want with a new acquaintance, a recent study suggests. The research, conducted with college freshmen who met on the first day of class, found that these snap judgments influenced what kind of relationships actually did develop. While the power of first impressions has been well known, this research shows that the course of a relationship may be influenced much more quickly than was once believed.
Scientists have found that a special type of glass that is finding use in the electronics industry softens when exposed to very low-level laser light, and hardens back into its original condition when the light is switched off. The discovery -- made by accident as physicists were trying to study properties of the material -- may one day enable new uses for the glass. The researchers said thought they were working with a bad batch of germanium-selenium glass when they were testing the material's hardness in the laboratory and couldn't reproduce his results.
The bands of ancient Neanderthals that struggled throughout Europe during the last Ice Age faced challenges no tougher than those confronted by the modern Inuit, or Eskimos. That's the conclusion of a new study intended to test a long-standing belief among anthropologists that the life of the Neanderthals was too tough for their line to coexist with Homo sapiens. And the evidence discounting that theory lies with tiny grooves that mar the teeth of these ancient people.
Northern European men living during the early Middle Ages were nearly as tall as their modern-day American descendants, a finding that defies conventional wisdom about progress in living standards during the last millennium. ''Men living during the early Middle Ages (the ninth to 11th centuries) were several centimeters taller than men who lived hundreds of years later, on the eve of the Industrial Revolution,'' said Richard Steckel, a professor of economics at Ohio State University and the author of a new study that looks at changes in average heights during the last millennium.
Investigation into how the common organism Escherichia coli regulates gene expression has given scientists new ideas for designing antibiotics that might drastically reduce a bacterium's ability to resist drugs. The findings, reported in the current issue of the journal Cell, suggest that bacteria rely on a key protein in order to properly regulate gene expression -- a process fundamental to cell survival.
New research in hamsters now suggests that without companionship, wounds on the animals don't heal as fast. Researchers looked at the effect social contact had on wound healing in stressed hamsters. Results showed that skin wounds healed nearly twice as fast in the hamsters paired with a sibling. These animals also produced less of the stress hormone cortisol than unpaired hamsters.
Many couples who move in together don't do it with marriage in mind, a small study of New York City residents suggests. Nearly all of the people interviewed who lived with a boyfriend or girlfriend said the major impetus was finances, convenience or housing needs. ''The common wisdom seems to be that people live together because they're testing the water before marriage. But we didn't have a single person in this study who said that was the reason they moved in together,'' said Sharon Sassler, author of the study and assistant professor of sociology at Ohio State University.
Children who grow up with one or more siblings get along better with their classmates in kindergarten than do only children, new research shows. In a national study of more than 20,000 children, teachers rated students who had at least one sibling as better able to form and maintain friendships, get along with people who are different, comfort and help other children, express feelings in a positive way, and show sensitivity to the feelings of others.
