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Students' diet and physical activity improve with parent communications

5/16/13

College students eat more fruits and vegetables and exercise more on days when they communicate more with their parents, according to researchers at Penn State.

"Only a third of college students consumes a diet that is consistent with national recommendations," said Meg Small, research associate in the Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development.

Chromatin and the PAD4 enzyme

Gene offers clues to new treatments for a harmful blood clotting disorder

5/7/13

A gene associated with both protection against bacterial infection and excessive blood clotting could offer new insights into treatment strategies for deep-vein thrombosis -- the formation of a harmful clot in a deep vein. The gene produces an enzyme that, if inhibited via a specific drug therapy, could offer hope to patients prone to deep-vein clots, such as those that sometimes form in the legs during lengthy airplane flights or during recuperation after major surgery. The research, which was led by Yanming Wang, a Penn State associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Denisa Wagner, senior author with decades of research on thrombosis at the Boston Children's Hospital and the Harvard University Medical School, will be published in the Online Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week ending May 10.

man and woman posing near big horn sheep

Scientists make strides toward restoring bighorn sheep in the American West

5/2/13

As pneumonia continues to limit recovery of the once nearly extinct bighorn sheep population in the western United States, a research team including scientists from Penn State’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences has made key discoveries that lead to a better understanding of the disease and how it might be more effectively controlled.

Closeup of a CT scan with human brain

New research center tackles concussions

4/25/13

Penn State's Center for Sport Concussion Research and Service, in Rec Hall, has two main goals: to advance research in sport-related concussions and to provide services to local collegiate and child athletes by performing baseline assessments, which can help diagnose a concussion. The center is the first in its field to use virtual-reality technology to allow researchers to document athletes' cognitive and motor abilities.

Better coordination necessary to reduce hospital re-admission rates

4/16/13

Achieving widespread reductions in preventable hospital readmissions among Medicare beneficiaries may take longer than many health care professionals originally anticipated, according to researchers at Penn State, the Weill Cornell Medical College and the University of Pennsylvania.

three Maasai with Isalella Cattadori

WHO grant will fund infectious disease research in Tanzania

4/11/13

A grant from the World Health Organization's Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases will help scientists from Penn State's Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology to investigate the impact of climate and land-use changes on infectious disease dynamics in Tanzania's Maasai Steppe.

A. Catharine Ross and Barbara Rolls

American Society for Nutrition honors two Penn State researchers

4/10/13

Two Penn State faculty members: A. Catharine Ross and Barbara Rolls; are the recipients of awards from the American Society for Nutrition. The faculty members will receive their awards in a ceremony during the ASN Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology 2013 on Sunday, April 21, in Boston.

Abstract blotch comprising thousands of lines connected by dots, in green and red

Anti-vaccination tweets spread more easily than positive tweets, study suggests

4/4/13

On Twitter, a popular microblogging and social-networking service, statements about vaccines may have unexpected effects -- positive messages may backfire, according to a team of Penn State researchers led by Marcel Salathé, an assistant professor of biology. The team tracked the pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine messages to which Twitter users were exposed and then observed how those users expressed their own sentiments about a new vaccine for combating influenza H1N1 -- a virus strain responsible for swine flu. The results, which may help health officials improve strategies for vaccination-awareness efforts, are published in the journal EPJ Data Science.

canola oil

Monounsaturated fats reduce metabolic syndrome risk

3/29/13

Canola oil and high-oleic canola oils can lower abdominal fat when used in place of other selected oil blends, according to a team of American and Canadian researchers. The researchers also found that consuming certain vegetable oils may be a simple way of reducing the risk of metabolic syndrome, which affects about one in three U.S. adults and one in five Canadian adults.

Human skull smoking cigarette on black background

Smoking immediately upon waking may increase risk of lung and oral cancer

3/29/13

The sooner a person smokes a cigarette upon waking in the morning, the more likely he or she is to acquire lung or oral cancer, according to Penn State researchers.

"We found that smokers who consume cigarettes immediately after waking have higher levels of NNAL -- a metabolite of the tobacco-specific carcinogen NNK -- in their blood than smokers who refrain from smoking a half hour or more after waking, regardless of how many cigarettes they smoke per day," said Steven Branstetter, assistant professor of biobehavioral health.

scans and graphs of rat motor cortex

Rats' brains are more like ours than scientists previously thought

3/26/13

Jared Smith and Kevin Alloway, researchers at the Penn State Center for Neural Engineering and affiliates of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, have discovered a parallel between the brains of rats and humans that signifies greater commonalities than scientists had previously known.

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Students' diet and physical activity improve with parent communications

5/16/13

College students eat more fruits and vegetables and exercise more on days when they communicate more with their parents, according to researchers at Penn State.

"Only a third of college students consumes a diet that is consistent with national recommendations," said Meg Small, research associate in the Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development.

Chromatin and the PAD4 enzyme

Gene offers clues to new treatments for a harmful blood clotting disorder

5/7/13

A gene associated with both protection against bacterial infection and excessive blood clotting could offer new insights into treatment strategies for deep-vein thrombosis -- the formation of a harmful clot in a deep vein. The gene produces an enzyme that, if inhibited via a specific drug therapy, could offer hope to patients prone to deep-vein clots, such as those that sometimes form in the legs during lengthy airplane flights or during recuperation after major surgery. The research, which was led by Yanming Wang, a Penn State associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Denisa Wagner, senior author with decades of research on thrombosis at the Boston Children's Hospital and the Harvard University Medical School, will be published in the Online Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week ending May 10.

man and woman posing near big horn sheep

Scientists make strides toward restoring bighorn sheep in the American West

5/2/13

As pneumonia continues to limit recovery of the once nearly extinct bighorn sheep population in the western United States, a research team including scientists from Penn State’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences has made key discoveries that lead to a better understanding of the disease and how it might be more effectively controlled.

Closeup of a CT scan with human brain

New research center tackles concussions

4/25/13

Penn State's Center for Sport Concussion Research and Service, in Rec Hall, has two main goals: to advance research in sport-related concussions and to provide services to local collegiate and child athletes by performing baseline assessments, which can help diagnose a concussion. The center is the first in its field to use virtual-reality technology to allow researchers to document athletes' cognitive and motor abilities.

Better coordination necessary to reduce hospital re-admission rates

4/16/13

Achieving widespread reductions in preventable hospital readmissions among Medicare beneficiaries may take longer than many health care professionals originally anticipated, according to researchers at Penn State, the Weill Cornell Medical College and the University of Pennsylvania.

three Maasai with Isalella Cattadori

WHO grant will fund infectious disease research in Tanzania

4/11/13

A grant from the World Health Organization's Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases will help scientists from Penn State's Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology to investigate the impact of climate and land-use changes on infectious disease dynamics in Tanzania's Maasai Steppe.

A. Catharine Ross and Barbara Rolls

American Society for Nutrition honors two Penn State researchers

4/10/13

Two Penn State faculty members: A. Catharine Ross and Barbara Rolls; are the recipients of awards from the American Society for Nutrition. The faculty members will receive their awards in a ceremony during the ASN Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology 2013 on Sunday, April 21, in Boston.

Abstract blotch comprising thousands of lines connected by dots, in green and red

Anti-vaccination tweets spread more easily than positive tweets, study suggests

4/4/13

On Twitter, a popular microblogging and social-networking service, statements about vaccines may have unexpected effects -- positive messages may backfire, according to a team of Penn State researchers led by Marcel Salathé, an assistant professor of biology. The team tracked the pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine messages to which Twitter users were exposed and then observed how those users expressed their own sentiments about a new vaccine for combating influenza H1N1 -- a virus strain responsible for swine flu. The results, which may help health officials improve strategies for vaccination-awareness efforts, are published in the journal EPJ Data Science.

canola oil

Monounsaturated fats reduce metabolic syndrome risk

3/29/13

Canola oil and high-oleic canola oils can lower abdominal fat when used in place of other selected oil blends, according to a team of American and Canadian researchers. The researchers also found that consuming certain vegetable oils may be a simple way of reducing the risk of metabolic syndrome, which affects about one in three U.S. adults and one in five Canadian adults.

Human skull smoking cigarette on black background

Smoking immediately upon waking may increase risk of lung and oral cancer

3/29/13

The sooner a person smokes a cigarette upon waking in the morning, the more likely he or she is to acquire lung or oral cancer, according to Penn State researchers.

"We found that smokers who consume cigarettes immediately after waking have higher levels of NNAL -- a metabolite of the tobacco-specific carcinogen NNK -- in their blood than smokers who refrain from smoking a half hour or more after waking, regardless of how many cigarettes they smoke per day," said Steven Branstetter, assistant professor of biobehavioral health.

scans and graphs of rat motor cortex

Rats' brains are more like ours than scientists previously thought

3/26/13

Jared Smith and Kevin Alloway, researchers at the Penn State Center for Neural Engineering and affiliates of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, have discovered a parallel between the brains of rats and humans that signifies greater commonalities than scientists had previously known.