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Friday, November 22, 2013

ScienceDaily: Living Well News

ScienceDaily: Living Well News


Minority parents fear for kids online

Posted: 21 Nov 2013 12:50 PM PST

Nearly all parents agree -- when their children go online, stranger danger is their biggest safety concern, followed closely by exposure to pornography, violent content and bullying, according to a new study. But, a parent's level of concern for these and other online safety issues varies depending on their racial and ethnic background, researchers said.

Improve learning by taming instructional complexity

Posted: 21 Nov 2013 11:23 AM PST

From using concrete or abstract materials to giving immediate or delayed feedback, there are rampant debates over the best teaching strategies to use. But, in reality, improving education is not as simple as choosing one technique over another. Carnegie Mellon University and Temple University researchers scoured the educational research landscape and found that because improved learning depends on many different factors, there are actually more than 205 trillion instructional options available.

Genomic variant associated with sun sensitivity, freckles identified

Posted: 21 Nov 2013 10:00 AM PST

Researchers have identified a genomic variant strongly associated with sensitivity to the sun, brown hair, blue eyes -- and freckles.

Newborn babies have built-in body awareness ability

Posted: 21 Nov 2013 09:58 AM PST

The ability to differentiate your own body from others is a fundamental skill, critical for humans' ability to interact with their environments and the people in them. Now, researchers provide some of the first evidence that newborn babies enter the world with the essential mechanisms for this kind of body awareness already in place.

Who learns from the carrot, and who from the stick?

Posted: 21 Nov 2013 09:58 AM PST

To flexibly deal with our ever-changing world, it is thought that we need to learn from both the negative and positive consequences of our behavior. In other words, from punishment and reward. Scientists have now demonstrated that serotonin and dopamine related genes influence how we base our choices on past punishments or rewards. This influence depends on which gene variant you inherited from your parents.

Additive may make wine fine for longer

Posted: 21 Nov 2013 07:51 AM PST

An additive may help curb a chemical reaction that causes wine to look, smell and taste funky, according to food scientists.

Nut consumption linked to reduced death rate, study suggests

Posted: 20 Nov 2013 04:21 PM PST

In the largest study of its kind, people who ate a daily handful of nuts were 20 percent less likely to die from any cause over a 30-year period than were those who didn't consume nuts, say scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Harvard School of Public Health

Reducing salt in bread without losing saltiness, thanks to a texture trick

Posted: 20 Nov 2013 08:20 AM PST

Want to make bread taste pleasantly salty without adding more salt? Change the bread's texture so it is less dense, say scientists. They report that simply making the pores, or holes, larger can make people perceive bread as having saltier taste. The process could become a new strategy for reducing salt intake, which is a risk factor for high blood pressure and heart disease.

Smokers who quit cut heart disease risk faster than previous estimates

Posted: 20 Nov 2013 08:19 AM PST

Certain smokers who quit can reduce their risk of heart disease to the level of never-smokers sooner than previously thought. Some former smokers may reduce their risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death in less than 15 years.

Introducing solid foods while continuing to breast feed could prevent child allergies

Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:35 AM PST

Introducing solid food with breast milk after the 17th week of birth could reduce food allergies in babies, according to research. The research suggests that giving the baby solid food beside breast feeding helps it develop a better, stronger immune system to fight food allergies.

Older people recovering from hip fracture experience barriers for mobility at home

Posted: 20 Nov 2013 05:13 AM PST

About half of hip fracture patients reported barriers for mobility when entering the home or in the outdoor home environment. One year after the fracture, many people still experienced barriers, especially in the outdoor environment.

Who are you looking at? Why women recognise more faces than men

Posted: 20 Nov 2013 05:13 AM PST

Numerous studies have reported that women outperform men when it comes to face recognition faces, but most have focused on assessing innate biases in favor of race, gender, and age. Now a major literature review concludes that, in the majority of tests, women are better at face recognition than men, irrespective of all other factors.

Why we need more male primary school teachers

Posted: 20 Nov 2013 05:12 AM PST

Some argue that boys have become the 'new disadvantaged' as the result of efforts to eradicate female disadvantage in a historically male biased education system. A widely accepted solution is more male teachers /role models in schools for boys. 

When bye bye becomes buy buy: How homophones affect consumer behavior

Posted: 20 Nov 2013 05:11 AM PST

It is possible to affect how someone will think or act simply by priming that person with just a single word, according to a new study that examines the use of homophones in written advertising.

Semantics behind sale price: When does 'original' price matter?

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 04:39 PM PST

Consumers love a sale. In fact, when asked what makes a sale appealing, most simply say, "The price was good." But this answer fails to acknowledge that subjective factors also contribute to the perceived value of a deal. According to new research, it's possible to increase the perception of a good deal.

DIY for the holidays: Why do consumers enjoy gifts that require work?

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 04:39 PM PST

From gourmet cooking to assembling a flower bouquet, consumers thrive in a creative environment. A new study suggests a greater sense of appreciation and overall value is given to products that are customized during the design process.

See a Honda, buy a Mountain Dew? What happens when consumers fast-forward through commercials?

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 04:39 PM PST

Consumers are bombarded with advertising throughout the course of any given day, often to the point where they rarely devote any conscious attention to processing the brand information. According to a new study, this is not necessarily bad news for companies.

Older sedentary adults reduced injury to heart through moderate physical activity

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 04:36 PM PST

Moderate physical activity in sedentary older adults reduced the progression of injury to the heart, according to research.

Recessionary woes lead to adverse alcohol outcomes for men and middle-aged Americans

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 04:36 PM PST

Economic downturns can have adverse health-related consequences, including poorer mental health and higher rates of suicide. New research looks at different types of economic loss and associated alcohol consumption/problems. The most adverse effects of severe economic loss on drunkenness and alcohol problems were concentrated among men and the middle-aged.

Casual employment is linked to women being childless at 35

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 04:35 PM PST

Women who have worked in temporary jobs are less likely to have had their first child by the age of 35, according to research published online today (Wednesday) in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction [1]. The study shows that the longer women spent in casual employment, the more likely they were to be childless when they were 35.

Teens from military families suffer from deployments

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 04:34 PM PST

Teens that have had a parent or sibling on military deployment were more likely to have suicidal thoughts or be depressed than teens without military connections, finds a new study.

Media coverage of HPV vaccine boosts reports of adverse effects

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 04:34 PM PST

The number of adverse events reported for the HPV vaccine Gardasil® correlated with an increase in the number of media stories about the vaccine, finds a study.

Aid programs helped U.S. survive the great recession

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 04:33 PM PST

The "social safety net" expanded to catch many Americans during the economic downturn and welfare programs "did their job and made a difference," an economist has found.

Obesity, nutrition keys to avoiding metabolic syndrome

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 01:02 PM PST

Data reinforce the positive influence of lifestyle factors in mitigating risks that potentially increase the likelihood of heart disease and other health problems. Findings based on 1,059 people underscore the importance of obesity prevention and nutrition, specifically eating more fruits and vegetables, in addressing metabolic syndrome, a common precursor to cardiovascular disease.

Higher emotional intelligence leads to better decision-making

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 12:30 PM PST

The anxiety people feel making investment decisions may have more to do with the traffic they dealt with earlier than the potential consequences they face with the investment, but not if the decision-maker has high emotional intelligence a recent study suggests.

Smoking increases risk of death for nasopharyngeal carcinoma survivors

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 11:19 AM PST

Survivors of nasopharyngeal carcinoma who are former or current smokers are more likely to have their disease progress, relapse, or spread, and are more likely to die of their disease, compared with survivors of nasopharyngeal carcinoma who have never smoked, according to a study published.

Blacks have less access to cancer specialists, treatment

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 11:19 AM PST

Researchers say metastatic colorectal cancer patients of African-American descent are less likely to be seen by cancer specialists or receive cancer treatments. This difference in treatment explains a large part of the 15 percent higher mortality experienced by African-American patients than non-Hispanic white patients.

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