Eurekalert


The premier online source for science news since 1996. A service of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Updated: 3 years 8 months ago
Parents more lenient about alcohol with teens who experience puberty early
Parents of teens who went through puberty early may be more lenient when it comes to letting them consume alcohol, according to a new Penn State study. But the researchers said that even if adolescents appear more mature, drinking alcohol is still not safe for them.
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GeneSight Mental Health Monitor shows misunderstanding of depression and treatment
A new GeneSight Mental Health Monitor national survey finds 83 percent of those diagnosed with depression say life would be easier if others could understand what they're going through. Yet, most reported they were more likely to hear statements that demonstrate a lack of understanding and support for what they are experiencing.
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Policies designed to protect public health from fracking may be ineffective in practice
A new study shows growing evidence that Pennsylvania's 500 ft. unconventional natural gas (UNG) well setback distance may not be protective against routine exposures to toxic substances such as benzene, hydrogen sulfide, carbon disulfide and PM2.5. This is the first study to assess the effectiveness of setback regulations for UNG development, and the findings suggest that protectiveness of setback policies also depends upon opportunities for exemptions from these siting restrictions.
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Study shows both parents and peers play a role in greater alcohol use among adolescents who experience early puberty
A new study examined why early developing 14-year-old adolescents are more likely to drink alcohol compared to those whose pubertal development is on-time or late. The findings show these adolescents are more likely to have peers who drink alcohol and are also given greater permission to drink by their parents.
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New algorithm makes it easier for computers to solve decision making problems
Decision making problems involving multiple agents are often solved using policy iteration, in which a given policy generates a better one. However, the required amount of computation is often prohibitively large. In a new study, a computer scientist takes things to the next level with an approach where decisions are made sequentially and the computations grow only linearly with agents, drastically reducing its complexity and opening doors to a revolution in studying multiagent systems.
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Lactic acid bacteria can extend the shelf life of foods
Researchers at the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, have generated a lactic acid bacterium that efficiently secretes a food-grade preservative when grown on dairy waste.
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The growing promise of community-based monitoring and citizen science
Over recent decades, volunteer environmental monitoring (often called "citizen science") has exploded in popularity, aided both by smartphones and rapid gains in computing power that make the analysis of large data sets far easier.
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Drones provide bird's eye view of how turbulent tidal flows affect seabird foraging habits
In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists from the UK and Germany used drones to provide a synchronised bird's eye view of what seabirds see and how their behaviour changes depending on the movement of tidal flows beneath them.
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Young people who experience bullying are more likely to fantasize about committing acts of violence - study
First longitudinal study to track violent rumination in over 1,000 teenagers suggests that experiencing different types of victimisation increases likelihood of thinking about hurting or killing people.
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Nearly 25% of children and adolescents invountarily admitted to psychiatric hospitals
For the first time, researchers have systematically analysed social and clinical factors associated with psychiatric hospital admission of children and adolescents, finding nearly one-quarter (23.6%) were admitted involuntarily. The study was published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal.
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Only one in four people experience mild systemic side effects from COVID-19 vaccines
One in four people experience mild, short lived systemic side effects after receiving either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine, with headache, fatigue and tenderness the most common symptoms. Most side effects peaked within the first 24 hours following vaccination and usually lasted 1-2 days.
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U-M RNA scientists identify many genes involved in neuron development
A team of the University of Michigan (U-M), spearheaded by Nigel Michki, a graduate student, and Assistant Professor Dawen Cai in the departments of Biophysics (LS&A) and Cell and Developmental Biology at the Medical School, identified many genes that are important in fruit flies' neuron development, and that had never been described before in that context.
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Lack of educational opportunities influence drug use for rural youth
Having grown up poor in a rural village in Zimbabwe, Wilson Majee saw firsthand as a child the lack of educational opportunities that were easily accessible and how that impacted the youth in his village.
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Droperidol most effective sedation medication for agitation with less sides effects
In a randomized, double-blind trial of patients with acute undifferentiated agitation in the emergency department, droperidol was more effective for sedation and was associated with fewer episodes of respiratory depression than lorazepam or either dose of ziprasidone.
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New AI tool calculates materials' stress and strain based on photos
MIT researchers developed a machine-learning technique that uses an image to estimate the stresses and strains acting on a material. The advance could accelerate engineers' design process by eliminating the need to solve complex equations.
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Researchers identify protein produced after stroke that triggers neurodegeneration
Researchers with the Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute at UT Southwestern have identified a new protein implicated in cell death that provides a potential therapeutic target that could prevent or delay the progress of neurodegenerative diseases following a stroke.
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An atlas of HIV's favorite targets in the blood of infected individuals
Researchers at Gladstone Institutes established a detailed atlas of the CD4+ T cells in individuals with HIV not on antiretroviral treatment, using a technology called CyTOF/PP-SLIDE, which they have honed over the years. The atlas is now published in the scientific journal Cell Reports.
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Physical activity reduces cardiovascular risk in rheumatic patients
People with diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus are more likely to have heart attacks, angina, and strokes. A review of the scientific literature on the subject shows that regular exercise improves vascular function in these patients
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Fishing in African waters
Industrial fleets from countries around the world have been increasingly fishing in African waters, but with climate change and increasing pollution threatening Africa's fish stocks, there is a growing concern of the sustainability of these marine fisheries if they continue to be exploited by foreign countries.
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Metabolite fumarate can reveal cell damage: New method to generate fumarate for MRI
A promising new concept presented by an interdisciplinary research team paves the way for major advances in the field of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Their new technique could significantly simplify hyperpolarized MRI. The proposal involves the hyperpolarization of the metabolic product fumarate using parahydrogen and the subsequent purification of the metabolite.
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