Culture | Page 1879 | Science Codex

Cell phones distract parents watching kids on playgrounds

There was a time seeing a parent pushing their kid on a playground swingset looked cute, leading people to wistfully want their childhood back. Since now, that parent is likely to be on a mobile device while doing it, we are more likely to want modern children to have their childhoods back.

On the other side of that are helicopter parents who monitor every moment of their child's existence - and they are going to want to change their ways, according to a paper presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in San Diego.

Mental disorders don't predict future violence - with one exception

Most psychiatric disorders - including depression -- do not predict future violent behavior, according to new Northwestern Medicine longitudinal study of delinquent youth. Some delinquent youth with current psychiatric illness may also be violent. For example, males with mania were more than twice as likely to report current violence than those without. But these relationships are not necessarily causal.

Cheaters and the cheated: Biased reports on international students don't help

Monday’s Four Corners episode shed some much-needed light on longstanding problems in our higher education sector. Most importantly, it highlighted the role of some dodgy overseas education agents and the apparent collusion of some universities in fraudulent recruitment schemes for international students.

Alarming rise in cost of MS drugs over past 2 decades

A new study shows an "alarming rise" over the last 20 years in the costs of drugs used to slow the progression of multiple sclerosis or reduce the frequency of attacks, according to a study led by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and Oregon State University (OSU).

The STEM diversity problem is because of the university diversity problem

The U.S. will make little progress toward changing the predominately white-male face of its science and technology workforce until higher education addresses the attitudes, behaviors and structural practices that undermine minority students' access and success at college, a new study suggests.

Before building houses, aid workers should read through archaeologists' notebooks

Aid workers who provide shelter following natural disasters, such as hurricanes or earthquakes, should consider long-term archaeological information about how locals constructed their homes in the past, and what they do when they repair and rebuild. Archaeologists and international humanitarian organizations are both involved in recovery, with the former doing this for the past, and the latter for the present. So says Alice Samson of the University of Cambridge in the UK, leader of an archaeological overview of building practices used in the Caribbean 1,400 to 450 years ago.

Recessions lead to depression

The recent Great Recession was accompanied by a significant and sustained increase in major depression in U.S. adults, according to a Loyola study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Prevalence of major depression increased from 2.33 percent during the years 2005-2006 to 3.49 percent in 2009-2010 to 3.79 percent in 2011-2012, according to the study by Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine researchers.

Orphaned boys and girls equally vulnerable to abuse

Orphaned children in low- and middle-income countries face a high risk of trauma, with physical and sexual abuse being by far the most prevalent traumatic events - and orphaned boys in these settings are just as likely to experience abuse as girls. As a result, the study authors suggest targeting more support services and prevention programs toward protecting under-served vulnerable boys.

Increasing diversity does not lead to better quality, says analysis of NHS

A new study published today by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine has found that alternative providers of primary care in the NHS, including private sector companies, do not perform as well as traditional GP practices.

New Approaches to Identify and Treat Suicidal Adolescents

Suicide remains the second leading cause of death for adolescents in the United States. This year nearly 5,000 adolescents will be the victims of suicide and over 500,000 will make a suicide attempt that will require an emergency room visit. New and better tools to evaluate, identify, and treat adolescents at risk of self-injury or suicidal attempts are crucial for the development and implementation of effective preventive strategies.

Experience may lead to misperception

We may teach our children to trust the police but the experience of police has taught them not to trust us. A new study has found that misperception due to experience starts at an early age and comes about in a variety of circumstances.

When is a child too sick for daycare?

It's a common dilemma faced by many working parents: your child has a cough or a cold, do you send them to nursery?

Researchers from the University of Bristol have, for the first time, investigated the process of decision-making that parents go through when faced with this situation. The research reports that parents viewed coughs and colds as less serious and not as contagious as sickness and diarrhea symptoms.

Children with ADD and ADHD at higher risk for binge eating

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, are significantly more likely to have an eating disorder -- a loss of control eating syndrome (LOC-ES) -- akin to binge eating, a condition more generally diagnosed only in adults, according to results of a new Johns Hopkins Children's Center study. The findings, reported ahead of print April 9 in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, suggest a common biological mechanism linking the two disorders, and the potential for developing treatment that works for both.

Mental health stigma in California

Most California residents facing psychological distress do not perceive the public as being supportive, with a large proportion reporting discrimination both in personal relationships and in public realms such as the workplace, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Just 41 percent of those surveyed believe that people are caring and sympathetic to those with mental illnesses, and 81 percent believe that people with mental illness experience high levels of prejudice and discrimination.

People with hepatitis B and C suffer from discrimination

If you have hepatitis B or C and get treated like you are a sex worker or a drug addict, you are not alone. As many as half of people infected with viral hepatitis have suffered discrimination and one-quarter admit that family members have avoided physical contact with them after finding out they had the infection.