February 12, 2007, 9:05 PM CT

American Culture in Conflict with Hispanic Male Immigrants

Traditional family values may be strongest among immigrant men in one of the fastest growing populations of American society. A recent study by researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia is one of the first to intently interview Hispanic immigrant men in focus groups about their opinions and concerns toward family planning in the United States. The study found that family values are central to the culture of Hispanic male immigrants and recommends that this concept be used by family planning services to foster communication and safe-sex between a husband and wife.

"Family planning is a sensitive topic," said Marjorie Sable, associate dean of the MU School of Social Work in the College of Human Environmental Sciences. "One of the things that we found with the men that we interviewed was their focus on building on their cultural value of 'familismo' and their desire to protect their families".

Sable said this would translate into encouraging condom use and husbands speaking openly with wives on the future expectations of the family. Several respondents in the study said they understood family planning was important and that couples should agree on how many children they can support.

Whereas men reported struggling with their cultural definition of masculinity and its association with large families, they understood that having fewer children meant they could provide better education and livelihood to each. Some respondents were defensive toward the perceived stereotype of a lack of equality in the family. One participant said "We aren't a herd of machismos [male chauvinists] anymore"......... Posted by: Ethen      Read more         Source

February 9, 2007, 4:31 AM CT

Restless Legs Syndrome And Compulsive Gambling

A new Mayo Clinic study is the first to describe this compulsive gambling in RLS patients who are being treated with medications that stimulate dopamine receptors in the brain. The Mayo Clinic report appeared in the Jan. 23 issue of Neurology http://www.neurology.org.

The extent of this problem is unknown. Apparently, it occurs only in a small number of RLS patients treated with drugs called dopamine agonists. Considering this potential side effect of dopamine agonists, the Mayo Clinic authors suggest that physicians screen all RLS patients for compulsive behaviors while taking a thorough medical history prior to prescribing dopamine agonists. Patients should be monitored closely for signs of compulsive behaviors once dopamine agonist treatment has begun. The report suggests that the compulsion to gamble worsened with increasing doses of the dopamine agonists.

Current Report Builds on Earlier Findings

Pathological gambling is an impulse control disorder. In 2005, Mayo Clinic physicians reported this disorder as a side effect of dopamine agonist therapy in 11 Parkinson disease patients. "Although pathologic gambling has already been recognized in patients with Parkinson disease who often took high doses of dopamine agonists, the current report suggests that pathological gambling is not restricted to patients with Parkinson disease -- and also can occur at low dosages" explains Maja Tippmann-Peikert, M.D., the lead author of the Mayo Clinic report on restless legs syndrome. "Physicians should not only monitor Parkinson disease patients for this behavior but also screen their RLS patients who may be on much lower doses of dopamine agonists." This includes encouraging the patient, family members and friends to report negative behaviors to the patient's physician.........

Posted by: Ethen      Read more         Source

February 8, 2007, 9:05 PM CT

Calm Your Car's Rattling

Researchers at Purdue University are getting close to eliminating those rattling and squeaking noises in your car's headrest and other components, major sources of consumer dissatisfaction that automakers would like to eliminate.

The headrest and its seemingly simple adjusting mechanism have proved surprisingly complex, said Douglas Adams, an associate professor of mechanical engineering. He and doctoral student Janette Jaques have applied mathematical models that simulate rattling headrests for analyses aimed at reducing vibration and enabling designs that eliminate the annoyance.

Noise and vibration are important factors in customer satisfaction, Adams said.

"If you are driving down the street and something is rattling or squeaking, the perception is that the vehicle is of poor quality," he said. "So, quality and noise and vibration sort of go hand-in-hand. Virtually every car has headrests, so this problem is particularly interesting".

The same modeling and experimental techniques developed for the research could be used to reduce squeaking and rattling in other components, such as instrument panels, seats, transmission gears, suspension components and seatbelt mechanisms.

"A car has thousands of parts," Adams said. "Any time you have one component sitting next to another and they're not welded together, you've got the potential for them to hit one another, causing rattling. It's an industrywide problem".........

Posted by: Ethen      Read more         Source

February 7, 2007, 5:01 AM CT

Children who sleep less more likely to be overweight

Research indicates that getting inadequate sleep has negative effects on children's social and emotional well-being and school performance. Now a Northwestern University study finds it also increases their risk of being overweight.

The study -- conducted in two waves of data collection approximately five years apart -- is the first nationally representative, longitudinal investigation of the relationship between sleep, Body Mass Index (BMI) and overweight status in children aged 3 to 18.

"Our study suggests that earlier bedtimes, later wake times and later school start times could be an important and relatively low-cost strategy to help reduce childhood weight problems," says Emily Snell. Snell is co-author of "Sleep and the Body Mass Index and Overweight Status of Children and Adolescents" in the Jan./Feb. issue of Child Development.

"We found even an hour of sleep makes a big difference in weight status," said Snell, a Northwestern doctoral student in human development and social policy. "Sleeping an additional hour reduced young children's chance of being overweight from 36 percent to 30 percent, while it reduced older children's risk from 34 percent to 30 percent".

The Northwestern study not only differs from most other investigations of the effects of sleep on children's weight in its five-year approach. It also helps disentangle the issue of whether sleep actually affects weight or whether children who already are overweight are simply poor sleepers. In addition, it takes into account the possible effects of other variables including race, ethnicity and income.........

Posted by: Ethen      Read more         Source

February 5, 2007, 6:51 PM CT

US develop 'portfolio of fuels

President Bush called on fuel makers to produce 35 billion gallons of alternative fuels a year by 2017. That's not going to happen using corn as the basis for ethanol, said Ernest J. Moniz, director of the MIT Energy Initiative.

Moniz, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics, spoke Wednesday, Jan. 24, at an IAP event on "Energy, Security and Environment".

As part of the broad energy picture facing the United States and the world today, Moniz described the potential consequences of the predicted doubling of energy use in the next half-century. This doubling will take place, he said, even as we continue to improve efficiency.

A lot of the growth will occur in countries with emerging economies, where currently more than a billion people have no access to electricity.

The increased demand for energy will lead to even more concerns about security. "In every projection, dependence on Middle East oil will increase going forward," Moniz said. And oil itself will not go away as a fuel source, eventhough fossil fuels will make up an increasingly small percentage of the overall energy picture.

We need to address energy sources, energy security and climate change to accomplish a "major transformation of the energy system," he said. Behavioral changes, new technologies and government policies will be crucial for a workable solution, he said.........

Posted by: Ethen      Read more         Source

February 1, 2007, 8:08 PM CT

For all the stationery that's fit to store

If you, like me, have always liked to stash your pens and pencils in a mug so that they're an easy grab away, you'll like the Mug Boss - a wrap-around utility belt that gives you added storage space for all the other desk essentials that might get lost in the bowels of a mug, like erasers, staples, paper clips and scissors. No more having to upend the mug just to get at something that's fallen to the bottom, or scrabbling around in side drawers for odds and ends. With 12 pockets, there's plenty of space here for all the miscellaneous stationery items that you'll need throughout the day.

Admittedly, it's a little chunky, but they don't call it a utility belt for nothing. It's made from the same hard-wearing material that goes into construction-grade belts. Mere scissors won't poke a hole through this one.

The Mug Boss fits 10-12 oz. mugs and comes with an adjustable Velcro strap. Now all it needs is some kind of built-in alarm to keep people from wandering off with your stationery.........

Posted by: Ethen      Read more         Source

February 1, 2007, 7:52 PM CT

Battery-free Warmth to Hands

In winters when your hands get cold, you blow your air into them to warm them. It is believed that blowing warm air is better than gloves because at times even your gloves cannot keep you warm. Imagine if these two techniques mingle to up and provides you with gloves in which you can blow your warm air. That will be the best gloves you have ever had to keep you warm in coldest weather.

Keeping this concept in mind Gorgonz developed 'Exhale line of Gloves.' They will give your hands battery-free warmth with a blow of air by simply lifting a flap. The bladders of gloves are filled with warm air, which will give your hands extra warmth. Price: $ 34.99.........

Posted by: Ethen      Read more         Source

January 31, 2007, 9:05 PM CT

Continuing Tomato Sequence Project

An international project led by Cornell and the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI) at Cornell has received $1.8 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue sequencing the tomato genome and to create a database of genomic sequences and information on the tomato and related plants.

The grant for the International Tomato Sequencing Project, a collaboration of researchers from nine other countries, will enable U.S. researchers to continue their work. In 2004 the NSF provided $4 million for the U.S. part of the research.

Sequencing the tomato genome is the first step in creating the comprehensive International Solanaceae Genomics Project (SOL) Genomics Network database. This will tie together maps and genomes of all plants in the Solanaceae family, also called nightshades, which includes the potato, eggplant, pepper and petunia and is closely related to coffee from the Rubiaceae family.

The public database will help researchers ask fundamental questions: Have changes from a common ancestor brought about the attributes of crop species? What are the functions of specific genes? How has domestication changed genes? Which plants might be good candidates for genetically engineered improvements for growing crops?

Cornell researchers are close to completing a toolkit of resources about tomato and solanaceae species (some currently available in the database) to make the sequencing possible. These resources include genetic maps, DNA libraries, individual gene sequences, DNA markers and associated information, comparative mapping data to go from one species to another as sequences are added, and tools to query and search this information.........

Posted by: Ethen      Read more         Source

January 30, 2007, 7:39 PM CT

Sources of the World's Tiny Pollutants

Pinpointing pollutant sources is an important part of the ongoing battle to improve air quality and to understand its impact on climate. Scientists using NASA data recently tracked the path and distribution of aerosols -- tiny particles suspended in the air -- to link their region of origin and source type with their tendencies to warm or cool the atmosphere.

By altering the amount of solar energy that reaches the Earth's surface, aerosols influence both regional and global climate, but their impact is difficult to quantify because most only stay airborne for about a week, while greenhouse gases can persist in the atmosphere for decades. According to a research findings published Jan. 24 in the American Geophysical Union's Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, researchers investigated the sources of aerosols and how different types of aerosols influence climate.

"This study offers details on the aerosol source regions and emission source types that policy makers could target to most effectively combat climate change," said Dorothy Koch, lead author and atmospheric scientist at Columbia University and NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), New York.

Using a GISS computer model that includes a variety of data gathered by NASA and other U.S. satellites, the researchers simulated realistic aerosol concentrations of important aerosol types in the atmosphere and studied the amount of light and heat they absorb and reflect over several regions around the globe.........

Posted by: Ethen      Read more         Source

January 30, 2007, 6:59 PM CT

Romantic Films Not Just For Women

"Chick flicks" aren't just for women. According to research by Richard Harris, professor of psychology at Kansas State University, guys like romantic movies, too.

Harris said his survey results are surprising and go against common stereotypes.

"Everyone thinks that women like romantic movies and that they drag guys along to them," he said. "What was significant was that the guys also liked the movies, and that the choice to view a romantic movie was usually made together as a couple, not just by the girl".

Using a 7-point scale, Harris asked men and women to rate how much they liked a romantic movie they had just watched. He also asked them to rate how much they believed their date enjoyed the movie and how much they think men and women in general like romantic movies.

Although in the study both men and women generalized that men as a group wouldn't like a romantic movie, when men rated the romantic flick they had just seen, they gave it a 4.8 on Harris' scale. When women were asked to rate how much their dates liked the movie, they gave the same 4.8 rating.

"We found that women really do enjoy romantic movies," Harris said. "They rated how much they liked the movie at about 6 on the 7-point scale. However, we also found that men liked the movies as well. They rated how much they liked the movie at about 4.8, which is higher than most people would have guessed".........

Posted by: Ethen      Read more         Source