Futurity.org » Duke University

For motivation, live to learn, not to win

Brooke Donald-Stanford — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:49:13 +0000

STANFORD (US) — An environment that emphasizes learning for its own sake may help foster motivation, even once a person returns to a more competitive setting.

Think about the ideal student. He or she focuses on learning, not grades; improvement, not appearances; competency, not competition. This person wants to understand and grow, not just prove how smart he or she is.

Hospitals need to scan stroke patients faster

Mark Michaud-Rochester — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:40:58 +0000

U. ROCHESTER (US) — Only 41.7 percent of stroke patients undergo brain imaging within the recommended 25 minutes of their arrival at a hospital, according to a new study.

The mantra in stroke care is “time is brain.” With each passing minute more brain cells are irretrievably lost and, because of this, timely diagnosis and treatment is essential to increase the chances for recovery.

The study, published this month in the journal Stroke, also finds that certain individuals, including people with diabetes, those over 75 years of age, women, those that did not arrive by ambulance, non-whites, and those with certain cardiac conditions are less likely to receive a timely brain scan. These delays mean that treatment often comes either too late or not at all.

Friends’ parents impact teen drinking

A'ndrea Elyse Messer-Penn State — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:28:32 +0000

PENN STATE (US) — The parents of high school students’ friends can have as much effect on whether teens drink alcohol or use drugs as their own parents.

“Among friendship groups with ‘good parents’ there’s a synergistic effect—if your parents are consistent and aware of your whereabouts, and your friends’ parents are also consistent and aware of their (children’s) whereabouts, then you are less likely to use substances,” says Michael J. Cleveland, research assistant professor at the Prevention Research Center and the Methodology Center at Penn State.

Scar tissue gets new life as heart muscle

Sarah Avery-Duke — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:15:39 +0000

DUKE (US) — A new process that turns scar tissue that forms after a heart attack into heart muscle cells could eliminate the need for stem cell transplant.

As reported in the journal Circulation Research, scientists used molecules called microRNAs to trigger the cardiac tissue conversion in a lab dish and, for the first time, in a living mouse, demonstrating the potential of a simpler process for tissue regeneration.

Calcium may ease extra fluoride’s dental harm

Tim Lucas-Duke — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:47:10 +0000

DUKE (US) — Increased dietary calcium may be key to addressing widespread dental health problems faced by millions of people living in a remote region of Ethiopia.

As many as 8 million people living in Ethiopia’s Main Rift Valley are estimated to be at risk of dental and skeletal fluorosis as a result of their long-term exposure to high levels of naturally occurring fluoride in the region’s groundwater.

Fluoride is essential for healthy tooth enamel development, but consuming too much of it can damage enamel and bones, particularly in children between the ages of 3 months and 8 years.

Clone cells dominate to build heart muscle

Mary Jane Gore-Duke — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:23:05 +0000

DUKE (US) — Research with color-coding reveals that just a handful of cells from the embryo go on to create the pumping heart muscle of an adult zebrafish.

Researchers at Duke University carefully employed a new technique that allows for up to 90 color labels on different cells to track individual cells and cell lines as the heart forms.

The study appears online in Nature.

Signs of early DNA ‘aging’ in abused kids

Kendall Morgan-Duke — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:40:44 +0000

DUKE (US) — The DNA of 10-year-olds who experienced violence in their young lives has been found to show wear and tear normally associated with aging.

“This is the first time it has been shown that our telomeres can shorten at a faster rate even at a really young age, while kids are still experiencing stress,” says Idan Shalev, a post-doctoral researcher in psychology and neuroscience at Duke University.

Plant hormones plot for growth or defense

Tom Oswald-Michigan State — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:39:14 +0000

MICHIGAN STATE (US) — Plants can go into defense mode against harsh weather or disease, but at a cost—the plant turns off its growth mechanism.

Now, researchers at Michigan State University have figured out how plants can make the “decision” between growth and defense, a finding that could help them strike a balance—keep safe from harm while continuing to grow.

As reported in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Sheng Yang He, professor of plant biology, and his team find that the two hormones that control growth—called gibberellins—and defense—known as jasmonates—literally come together in a crisis and figure out what to do.

With all-white jury pools, verdict disparity

Steve Hartsoe-Duke — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:27:04 +0000

DUKE (US) — Juries formed from all-white jury pools in Florida convicted black defendants 16 percent more often than white defendants.

That gap was nearly eliminated when at least one member of the jury pool was black, according to a Duke University-led study.

Social drama can hurt health, monkeys show

Ashley Yeager-Duke — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:51:03 +0000

DUKE (US) — The social status of a female monkey affects how her immune system genes turn on and off—and the higher her rank, the better her health.

This holds true so long as the animal’s social status doesn’t decline, according to a study with rhesus macaques published in the April 9 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study is the first to use an experimental approach to observe how gene expression patterns across a range of genes correlate with an animal’s social dominance. It estimates that gene expression can predict the social status of an individual with 80 percent accuracy.