The 2013 winners are being recognized for their research excellence. The prize includes US $5,000 and all-expenses paid attendance at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Boston in February 2013. The winners received their prizes during a special ceremony on Saturday, February 16th.

The winners are:

• Central & South Asia: Dr. Nasima Akhter, Center for Nuclear Medicine and Ultrasound, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Dhaka Medical College Hospital Campus
• East and South-East Asia & the Pacific: Dr. Namjil Erdenechimeg, Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences
• Latin America & the Caribbean: Dr. Dionicia Gamboa, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Department of Cellular and Molecular Sciences, Lima,
• Arab region: Dr. Huda Omer Basaleem, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Aden University, Yemen
• Sub-Saharan Africa: Dr. Adediwura Fred-Jaiyesimi, Department of Pharmacognosy, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria

The 2014 awards will be launched on April 2, 2013 and the theme will be Chemistry.

Amsterdam, December 11, 2012 – The Elsevier Foundation announced today the 2012 grant recipients for the Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries and New Scholars award programs. In total, $650,000 has been committed to eight institutions around the world in addition to five ongoing multiyear grants and the Nurse Faculty program. The Elsevier Foundation is funded by Elsevier, a global provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services.

“The Elsevier Foundation supports projects for their potential to serve as a model with lasting impact on our health and science communities,” said David Ruth, Executive Director of the Elsevier Foundation and Senior Vice President Global Communications, Elsevier.  “This year, we’ve chosen compelling proposals which address information literacy, research capacity building, women scientists’ professional development and stemming postdoc attrition.”

Innovative Libraries

The Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries program awards grants to libraries for innovation in improving access and use of scientific, technical and medical information. The 2012 library grant recipients address real developing world issues through the use of STM information resources and include:

• E-Library Training Initiative in Latin America & Asia, MLA/Librarians Without Borders
• Enhancing Access to Research in Central and West Africa, Information Training & Outreach Centre for Africa, ITOCA
• Strengthening evidenced based healthcare in Tanzania, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Tanzania
• Nepal Knowledge Nexus, Dhulikhel Hospital

“The Elsevier Foundation grant will enable us to address the critical need for capacity building and information literacy to boost Africa’s participation in the global research community,” said Gracian Chimwaza, Executive Director, Information Training & Outreach Centre for Africa (ITOCA), “Making research available is one step—another vital step is ensuring that we help build researchers’ information literacy skills. This will ensure that this critical knowledge-sharing process is ultimately sustainable. Our project will empower the research community from this region to also contribute and share their innovations and research with the rest of the world.”

New Scholars

The New Scholars Program supports projects to help early- to mid-career women scientists balance family responsibilities with demanding academic careers and addresses the attrition rate of talented women scientists. The 2012 grants include:

• The National Postdoc-Societies Collaboration to Boost Retention of Women Postdocs National Postdoctoral Association
• National Assessments in Gender and Science, Technology and Innovation, Women in Global Science and Technology (WISAT)
• The Appalachian Women Scientists program, Appalachian State University
• The Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World, TWAS and OWSD

“The postdoctoral position is a critical transition point when the numbers of women researchers decline significantly,” noted Cathee Johnson Phillips, Executive Director of the National Postdoctoral Association, “The National Postdoctoral Association has been working to provide resources that foster the academic career advancement of women postdocs, and with the generous support of the Elsevier Foundation, we will be able to build on that effort with professional societies and associations.

In 2012, the Elsevier Foundation’s Nurse Faculty Program continued to support a multiyear grant to Sigma Theta Tau International Foundation for Nursing to develop an 18 month leadership academy and alleviate the nursing faculty shortage through retaining and transitioning new nurse educators to the faculty role.

Despite efforts by many of these countries to give women greater access to science and technology education, research shows negative results, particularly in the areas of engineering, physics and computer science. Women remain severely under-represented in degree programs for these fields—less than 30% in most countries. In addition, the numbers of women actually working in these fields are declining across the board. Even in countries where the numbers of women studying science and technology have increased, it has not translated into more women in the workplace.

The data show that women’s parity in the science, technology and innovation fields is tied to multiple empowerment factors, with the most influential being higher economic status, larger roles in government and politics,  access to economic, productive and technological resources, quality healthcare and financial resources. Findings also show that women have greater parity in countries with government policies that support childcare, equal pay, and gender mainstreaming.  One of the main findings is that few countries collect consistent and reliable sex-disaggregated data in all of these areas, which inhibits their ability to implement effective enabling policies and programmes.

Spearheaded by Women in Global Science & Technology and the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World, the report was funded by The Elsevier Foundation, which provides grant programs targeting women scientists in the early stages of their careers. It was also supported by futureInnovate.net, a non-profit that supports initiatives that strengthen innovation systems in Canada and around the world.

London, April 17, 2012 - New research published in the Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery suggests that the failure rate of silicone breast implants manufactured by Poly Implant Prosthèse (PIP) could be as high as 33.8%.

Patients who received PIP implants either for primary or secondary breast augmentation, between January 2000 and August 2005, were studied to determine implant failure rate and other complications. Results found that 7 to 12 years after implantation the failure rate for PIP implants is in the region of 15.9–33.8%.

“Previous studies have typically reported failure rates of between 2% and 5% and these estimates have been based on secondary data. In this study, all participants were scanned by ultrasound, which provides conclusive indication of rupture, rather than clinical examination which is typically used. Most previous studies were based on multiple surgeon, multiple technique, with a relatively small number of patients and shorter follow up time span,” commented Mr. Jan Stanek, lead author of the study.

Concerns about the durability of PIP silicone breast implants have been expressed for several years prior to their formal withdrawal from the UK market in March 2010. Although precise details of what elements were at fault remain unclear, concerns have been raised about both the elastomer (the outer cover of the implant) and the filler gel.

In this study PIP implants were used by the plastic surgeon for both primary and secondary breast augmentation. A database of patients was constructed and each patient was offered a free consultation and referral for ultrasound scan. Chief outcome measures included secondary surgery, implant rupture rate and time to rupture.

453 patients with PIP devices were identified. Of this number, 30 had already undergone implant exchange for a variety of reasons. 180 (39.7%) could not be contacted and 19 had undergone implant removal elsewhere. Of those who could be contacted, 47 declined consultation as they had no concerns. 97 had neither clinical signs nor radiographic evidence of implant rupture and elected to remain under regular review. At the time of writing, 38 had undergone implant exchange after ultrasonographic indication of rupture.

Based on these results, if the group of non-responders had no ruptures, the overall rupture rate would be 15.9%. However, it the non-responders had the same rupture rate as those examined in the study, the overall rupture rate would be 33.8%.

Mr. Stanek indicates that all PIP implants, due to the high rupture rate and uncertainty about the nature of the silicone gel, may need to be removed. Those patients with ruptured implants will have to have them removed; those with no evidence of rupture will need to be monitored on a regular basis. Further research into the nature of the elastomer and gel filler will determine whether all PIP implants should be explanted in the future.

# # #

Notes for editors

This article is “The PIP mammary prosthesis: A product recall study” M.G. Berry and Jan J. Stanek (DOI: 10.1016/j.bjps.2012.02.019); in press, ahead of print in Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, published by Elsevier.

Full text of the article is freely available at www.jprasurg.com. Journalists wishing to interview the authors may contact Mr. Jan J. Stanek through Anika Keynes at +44 20 7018 1649 or anika@tohpr.com

About Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery

Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (JPRAS) is the official journal of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS) www.bapras.org.uk and is affiliated to the European Association of Plastic Surgeons (www.euraps.org).

It is one of the leading international journals in the field, covering all the reconstructive and aesthetic aspects of plastic surgery. The journal presents the latest surgical procedures with audit and outcome studies of new and established techniques in plastic surgery including: cleft lip and palate and other heads and neck surgery, hand surgery, lower limb trauma, burns, skin cancer, breast surgery and aesthetic surgery.

The journal has up-to-date papers, comprehensive review articles, letters to the editor and book reviews on all aspects of plastic surgery and related basic sciences.

About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier’s online solutions include SciVerse ScienceDirect, SciVerse Scopus, Reaxys, MD Consult and Mosby’s Nursing Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai’s Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, and the Scaliger Institute of Leiden University Libraries announced today the founding of a three year fellowship program to enable international rare books scholars to study 16^th -18^th century scientific scholarship and publishing.  The program will support two scholars to work with the extensive Leiden University Special Collections and the Elsevier Heritage Collection for a period of one to three months annually. They will be invited to share their research through public lectures and publications.

The fellowship program builds on Elsevier’s recent launch of the Elsevier Heritage Collection’s online catalogue comprising over 2,000 rare books with more than 1,000 distinct titles published by the original Elzevier publishing house from 1580 to 1712. Based in the Netherlands and closely tied to Leiden University, the original company published groundbreaking work from contemporary scholars including Descartes, Huygens and Galileo. The modern publisher Elsevier, founded in 1880, was named after the original firm when as a tribute to the publishing achievements of the Elzeviers.

The Scaliger Institute will also work closely with the Elsevier Heritage Collection team to provide training and expertise on preservation, exhibitions, display techniques, cataloguing, bindings, history and provenance study. The fellowships offer a scientific publishing complement to the longstanding Scaliger Institute Brill fellowships. These focus on rare books research in the fields of Middle East, Islamic and Asian Studies, medieval and early modern history as well as religious and classical studies.

Innovative Libraries

The Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries program awards grants to libraries for innovation in improving access and use of scientific, technical and medical information. Past projects include: expanding information resources through digitization and knowledge preservation; training and education for librarians and researchers, and developed-developing world partnerships providing longer term technical assistance and training.

The 2011 library grant recipients address real developing world issues through the use of STM information resources and include:

• A Solution in Sight: Eight Developing Country Resource Centers Improve Access to the World’s Ophthalmic Information, Seva Foundation, US
• Strengthening Agricultural Researchers and Extension Staff‘s Skills for Access to, Use and sharing of Agricultural Information Resources in Tanzania, Sokoine National Agricultural Library, Tanzania
• Collaboration for Evidence Based Healthcare, Library Training, Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Netherlands
• Nuclear Claims Tribunal Records Preservation, Nuclear Claims Tribunal, Republic of the Marshall Island
• Improving Library Resource Sharing Through the Union Catalogue Among Laos Libraries Central Library, National University of Laos, Laos

New Scholars

The New Scholars Program supports projects to help early- to mid-career women scientists balance family responsibilities with demanding academic careers and addresses the attrition rate of talented women scientists. Recent grants have promoted institutional research, advocacy, and policy development to retain, recruit and develop women in science and have enabled researchers to attend conferences critical to their careers by assisting with childcare, mentorship and networking.

The 2011 grants include

• Scenario Toolkit for Advancing Careers in Science, Portia Ltd (EU)
• STEM CIC Writing Retreat Board of Regents, University of Nebraska, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, US
• Get Ahead with Optics: Career Development for Women in Science, University of Carthage, Engineering School of Communications, Tunisia
• Rethinking the Future of the STEM Workforce:  Best Practices in Work-Life Effectiveness, Association of Women in Science, US

December 2011

Welcome to the 139th edition of FLASH, Elsevier’s monthly alert for science, health and medical journalists. Through FLASH science journalists are provided with courtesy access to SciVerse ScienceDirect, Elsevier’s online platform, providing full text access to some 2,000 scientific, technical and medical journals.

Please use your SciVerse ScienceDirect login and password to access each article’s full text. For a new password, forgotten passwords or if you have any feedback, please contact Sacha Boucherie: newsroom@elsevier.com or at +31 20 485 3564.

If you report a story, we kindly ask that you credit Elsevier’s journal as the source.

ARTICLES

1. TWIN RELATIONSHIPS: LIFELONG LOVE OR NIGHTMARE COMPLEXITY?

Society has long had a fascination with twins. After all, there is something special about two people entering the world at the same time from the same mum, and in some cases even looking identical. But, beyond sharing a birthday, what is the twin relationship like over a lifetime? Is the bond ultra-tight, or is it a drain?

In Elsevier’s Journal of Aging Studies, researchers examine 35 life stories of aging twins, focusing on their personal experiences and recollections of their relationships with their co-twin over the various life stages – childhood, adulthood and into old age. The participants included both identical and fraternal twins, male and female, and twins that were reared together and apart.

Childhood was the life stage that seemed to carry the richest source of memorable stories related to the twin relationship, while the adult period revealed tales of transition and going through a separation process from their parents and co-twin.

Based on the interviews with these twin groups, three twin relationship patterns emerged: the “nurturing” twin relationship, experienced as a source of joy, support and emotional sustenance; the “draining” relationship, experienced as emotionally strenuous and complicated; and the “superficial” relationship, characterized by politeness, but without deeper emotional involvement.

“Seen from an aging and life-course perspective, the twin relationships showed that relationship patterns based on the described qualitative aspects remained much the same throughout life, which once again points to the importance of the early years of human life,” reports author Sirpa Pietila. “We also saw that these relationships in later life not only continued to be important emotionally and socially, but also had a practical role in helping with matters related to daily living.”

In short, if the twin bonds are tight in those early years and they enjoy each other’s company, this is likely to continue throughout their lives. Likewise, if one twin is a drain on the other and challenging every life decision, that relationship will also stay.

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2. THE POWER OF PROBIOTICS – BENEFITS GO BEYOND THE GUT

Popping probiotics has long been a popular choice among the health-conscious to increase resistance to infectious diseases, alleviate tummy troubles and even reduce allergy and respiratory infections but their health benefits now go far beyond what was previously thought.

Still, while many know these live microorganisms are good for the gut, a new study in Elsevier’s Archives of Oral Biology wishes to explore if the oral administration of probiotics may also benefit oral health, specifically shutting down gingivitis, bad breath and cavity development. A total of 100 strains were selected from healthy children and were in turn subjected to a variety of in vitro tests in order to show their functionality. Forty-six of the 100 new isolates were assigned to lactic acid bacteria genera after a biochemical characterization..

“It is suggested that at least seven of the new isolated lactic acid bacteria strains show promising properties to be used as potential probiotics, alone or as part of a probiotic formula, for improving oral health,” concludes Jose Nart, lead researcher. “The strains showed high ability to adhere to oral tissues and they do not present any antibiotic resistance.”

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3. COULD TIME OF DAY OF AN UNSCHEDULED  CAESAREAN IMPACT BABY’S HEALTH?

The act of childbirth can be a stressful event for any mum, but add in the complication of an unplanned caesarean delivery and the anxiety level can skyrocket. Will the baby be ok? Will mum be ok?

The unscheduled caesarean can certainly throw everyone off, so a new study in Elsevier’s International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics aims to examine the association between timing of the unscheduled caesarean delivery and perinatal outcome. Specifically, they wanted to see if any issues or complications were more prominent between the day (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) compared to the night hours (12 a.m. to 8 a.m.). It is interesting to note that no regular anaesthesiologists were available during night hours at the maternity hospital where the study was conducted, so an obstetrician had to perform anaesthesia management of a patient undergoing an unscheduled caesarean delivery during this time period. All women included in the study underwent the unscheduled caesarean delivery at 37 or more weeks of pregnancy, resulting in a singleton fetus born between Jan. 1, 2002 and Dec. 31, 2009.

Findings revealed patients who underwent caesarean delivery at 37 or more weeks of pregnancy during the night had an increased risk of neonatal, but not maternal morbidity. The incidence of a low Apgar score (<7) at one minute for caesareans performed during the night was significantly higher than for caesareans performed during the day.

“The difference may be explained by the absence of anaesthesiologists during the night shift, which may contribute to a delay in starting the caesarean procedure,” writes author Shunji Suzuki.

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4. A NIBBLE HERE AND THERE WON’T KILL THE DIET … OR WILL IT?

We’ve all done it: a nibble on a stray piece of bread lying on the counter, a swipe of grapes from the fridge, a quick forkful of dessert. These small bites certainly don’t constitute as a meal, or even a snack. Rather, this type of eating is described as nibbling. But will a nibble here and there derail your weight and overall eating habits?

A research study in Elsevier’s Eating Behaviors recruited 58 young adult women to participate in a study that comprehensively assessed core eating disorder attitudes and behaviours over a preceding 28-day period. The women were asked about their nibbling patterns, as well as questioned about their weight, shape and eating concerns. Body Mass Index (BMI) was also captured. Nibbling was strictly defined as unplanned and repetitious eating between meals and snacks while feeling in control of your eating.

Results revealed over 90 percent of the participants reported nibbling at least some over the 28-day period, with 40 percent saying they nibbled somewhere between 14 to 28 days during the month. A higher frequency of nibbling was associated with less avoidance of food and lower sensitivity to weight gain. Nibbling did not have significant adverse consequences for BMI, dietary restraint, patterns of eating, shape or weight concerns, binge eating or compensatory behaviours.

Based on this study, the researchers conclude nibbling behavior falls outside the spectrum of pathological or disturbed eating behaviours for normal-weight women without an eating disorder. Most of us admit to some nibbling, and it seems that a few unplanned bites here and there won’t wreak havoc on your weight or overall eating habits, at least over the short-term!

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5. SCIENCE CATCHES UP TO THE NEW ROLE OF MEN – WHAT DO BABY CRIES DO TO YOUR HORMONES ?

Men are increasingly involved in childcare, yet society is ignorant to the fact that men can nurture too. Even though we all want children to be loved and well-cared for, the evolutionary roles for human men seem much broader than initially conceptualized, given that testosterone responds to infant stimuli in ways that are evolutionarily predicted.

Rather than guess and hypothesize, a new study in Elsevier’s Hormones and Behavior conducted a study to measure the testosterone levels of 55 men placed in various conditions in which they were asked to care for a baby doll that elicited cries recorded from real babies. In some circumstances, the men were asked to care for the baby and work to get it to stop crying. In other instances, the baby would cry but the men would not nurture the baby, or nurture the baby with no calming effect. Testosterone was measured using saliva samples provided after each condition.

Results suggest two key findings:

1. Baby cries alone significantly increased testosterone in men when no nurturing response was possible.
2. Baby cries comforted by a nurturing response significantly decreased testosterone levels in the men.

“These results demonstrate that the same cue – baby cries – can elicit differing changes in men’s testosterone depending on the men’s behaviours or situational outcome,” writes lead researcher Sari van Anders.

So what does this mean for men?

The authors conclude that the individuals who showed a decrease in testosterone also showed increases in Active Caring, an affective scale that included items related to concern, arousal and pleasure. So while men may see a dip in testosterone, they certainly show a gain in positive elements of caring.

“Studying how contextual or experiential factors like stress might influence hormonal responses to parent-child interactions, may provide critical insights into ameliorating the darker sides of parenting, such as anger and frustration, and enhancing the positive sides, such as intimacy, reward and nurturance,” states van Anders.

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6. STATE MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS AND MARIJUANA USE, ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE – IS THERE A LINK?

Marijuana is the most frequently used illicit substance in the United States. Most often used for recreation, marijuana is also used to reduce symptoms from medical conditions. Controversy over the use of marijuana for medical reasons has meant that U.S. states have taken different approaches to laws regarding medical marijuana use.

Several U.S. states have enacted laws permitting the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and many more continue to debate such laws, but little research is available to inform the debate. To fill this gap in knowledge, a new paper featured in Elsevier’s Drug and Alcohol Dependence examined whether there is a relationship between state laws allowing marijuana use for medical purposes, and state prevalence of non-medical marijuana use, abuse and dependence. The researchers tested this question by comparing rates of marijuana use and abuse/dependence in states with and without laws allowing marijuana use for medical purposes. The data came from a national survey of over 34,000 adults conducted in 2004-2005.

Overall, the study indicates that states allowing medical marijuana use had significantly higher rates of marijuana use, abuse and dependence. Lead author, Magdalena Cerdá, explains that this does not necessarily indicate a causal effect between legalization and use/abuse. Indeed, the association could be explained by one or more of the following:

1. State-level community norms more supportive of marijuana use may contribute to laws permitting medical marijuana use as well as higher rates of marijuana use.

2. Passing medical marijuana laws could lead to more positive community attitudes on both medical and recreational marijuana use, leading to increased use.

3. Medical endorsement of marijuana use for medical purposes could lead some to view the drug in a more positive light and be more willing to try it for recreational purposes.

4. Laws permitting medical marijuana use may lead to greater commercial promotion and therefore availability of the substance for recreational purposes.

Senior author Deborah Hasin notes that the results are consistent with a similar study by the same team examining state medical marijuana laws and marijuana use in adolescents (lead author Melanie Wall). Together, the results lend considerable strength to the finding that state medical marijuana laws are associated with greater marijuana use. Since marijuana dependence is linked to other psychiatric disorders, unemployment, and respiratory problems, the researchers conclude by emphasizing the importance of monitoring trends in marijuana use in relation to legal and policy changes and community norms about substance abuse.

1. doi:10.1016/j.jaging.2011.10.002
2. doi:10.1016/j.archoralbio.2011.10.006
3. doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2011.08.023
4. doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2011.10.005
5. doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2011.09.012
6. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.06.011

November 2011

Welcome to the 138th edition of FLASH, Elsevier’s monthly alert for science, health and medical journalists. FLASH is a courtesy service with access to SciVerse ScienceDirect, Elsevier’s online platform, providing full text access to some 2,000 scientific, technical and medical journals.

Please use your SciVerse ScienceDirect login and password to access each article’s full text. For a new password, forgotten passwords or if you have any feedback, please contact Sacha Boucherie: newsroom@elsevier.com or at +31 20 485 3564.

If you report a story, we ask that you credit Elsevier’s journal as the source.

ARTICLES

1. DOES THE PLATE OR THE FOOD INFLUENCE YOUR TASTE PERCEPTIONS?

Servings of strawberry mousse are dished out to individuals on plates of varying colours and shapes – and while the recipe was the same, participants ranked some servings sweeter and more intense than others. Guess which plate colour drives up the sweet factor?

With the holiday season upon us, you may start to think about the ideal menu to plan for your family feast. Do you have a special dish? Do you want your dessert to taste extra sweet? Or does your turkey dinner need to be especially savoury?

Turns out you may not need to adjust your recipe at all. A new paper in Elsevier’s Food Quality and Preference reveals influencing peoples’ perception of the food can be achieved with the colour of the plate you serve it on. Fifty-three participants consumed the exact same strawberry mousse on both white and black plates, and were then asked to rate each sample on the sweetness, flavour intensity and quality of the dessert.

Results revealed the colour of the plate did in fact exert a significant effect on consumers’ perception of the mousse – the sample on the white plate scored higher in all of the measured attributes.

A second similar experiment was conducted testing whether or not the shape of the plate had any influence on an individual’s perception of the intensity, sweetness, quality and general liking, but there were no significant findings.

“It is possible that the colour of the mousse was perceived as being more intense when presented against the lighter, white background than against the darker, black background, as a result of a visual illusion,” writes author Betina Piqueras-Fiszman. “In the future it would be particularly interesting to further investigate the effects of other colours and characteristics of the plates in order to discover possible ways in which to enhance the perception and experience of food, apart from modifying the ingredients of the food.”

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2. COULD FAMILY FIGHTS FORESHADOW YOUR POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT IN THE FUTURE?

Adolescents who see their parents frequently fight reported a higher likelihood to suffer from a depressive mood, which in turn resulted in lower levels of political efficacy in later adolescence.

Do mum and dad fight like crazy, or are they still in wedded bliss? Obviously parental discord in the household could lead to a host of issues for a young adolescent, but new research in Elsevier’s Journal of Adolescence suggests the conflict could event impact whether or not a child elects to engage in political and community issues.

Utilizing data from a broad European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood, researchers examined 444 participants at age 15 and 17 to assess their political efficacy (i.e. a person’s belief that they can influence the social system), perception of interparental conflicts, depressive mood, avoidant coping style and overall personality traits.

Findings revealed young people experiencing frequent interparental conflict reported an increase in depressive mood during late adolescence, which was in turn associated with lower levels of political efficacy. On the other hand, young people who perceive themselves as able to achieve something positive with arguing parents perceive they also have more influence in their communities.

“Existing research on the role of parents in political socialization usually focuses on parental political beliefs, values and political behaviour,” writes lead researcher Jan Serek. “We have broadened this perspective by focusing on adolescents’ family experiences that have no explicit political content but can be linked to politics indirectly.”

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3. ANGER AT WORK, ANGER AT HOME – HOW OFFICE LIFE IMPACTS YOUR FAMILY

Increased work-home balance can temper stress and worries from spilling over from work to home, but findings reveal individuals who experience anger on the job are likely to take that anger out on others at home.

With a global economy in the dumps and more workers stretched to the limit, it’s no surprise many are feeling stressed, worried and even angry on the job. But do these moods spill-over at home?

A new study featured in Elsevier’s The Social Science Journal investigates the associations of work-related worries, and anger about work, with worries about home and anger at others at home. Researchers conducted telephone interviews with a sample of 677 respondents who reported working at least 20 hours per week in the month prior to the interview.

During the discussion, participants answered questions regarding how often they feel worried and/or angry about home and work, how the two worlds impact one another, the basic demands of their schedule and how much control they have over their work and income.

The analyses revealed the following:

• The association between anger about work and anger at others at home is not reduced by controls for work-to-home interference, stress about work or stress about home
• Job control moderates the effect of work-to-home interference on anger at others at home

“Increased work-home balance that reduces cross-domain interference may reduce the spillover of stress and worries, but it is unlikely to reduce anger spillover or level of anger at others at home,” states William Magee.  He concludes that  the results of this study suggest that “’it might be necessary to further develop workplace programs and policies to specifically reduce anger about work in order to reduce anger at others at home.”

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4. SEAWEED: THE NEW SUPER FOOD

A new report reveals a compilation of findings on seaweed’s many health and therapeutic benefits – helping fight cancers, allergies, diseases and other ailments.

It comes in green, red and brown. It’s rich in dietary fibres, vitamins and antioxidants. And ladies, it’s low in calories. Yes, seaweed just might be the perfect food, but scientists and food developers are still discovering how we can boost awareness of this underutilized ocean wonder.

In Elsevier’s latest Trends in Food Science & Technology, researchers dig deep into the properties of seaweed, and how it is making strides on multiple fronts when it comes to prevention, therapy and healing. The paper explores findings on seaweed’s effect on various forms of cancer, diseases, allergies and diet.

“Whereas many synthetic medicinal compounds have detrimental effects on the liver or kidneys at high doses or prolonged use,” writes head researcher Suhaila Mohamed, “Seaweeds contain beneficial components that are a natural complimentary and alternative therapy to drugs to combat these ailing conditions.”

The article concludes by pointing out that pharmaceutical firms, biochemical and medical researchers will continue to look toward marine sources for new antiviral, antifouling, anticancer and anti-AIDS compounds.

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5. THE RACE BETWEEN MONOLINGUALS AND BILINGUALS – WHICH GROUP CAN ACCESS TO THE WORDS FASTER?

An experiment featuring 15 English speakers and 15 Welsh-English bilinguals shows it takes slightly longer for the bilingual participants to sort out English and pseudowords in a timed exercise.

In a world economy sporting few global boundaries, having the ability to speak multiple languages can certainly be a competitive advantage. These individuals can speak to a diverse group of people about their products and services, help translate and bridge communication gaps. Could there be a downside then to bilingualism?

In Elsevier’s new issue of Brain & Language, researchers investigate the consequences of the word processing speed on semantic access in bilinguals. In short, they wanted to see how quickly monolinguals and bilinguals could identify the difference between English words and pseudowords. The participants, which included 15 native English speakers and 15 native Welsh-English bilinguals, were tasked with an exercise that asked them to count the number of letters in the fake words and disregard the English words.

Results showed that both groups were equally good at letter counting and detection of the pseudoword, but monolinguals were faster than bilinguals. The measure of electrical activity of the brain during the task revealed that bilinguals accessed to the meaning of the disregarded English words (even if it was not required to do the task) while monolinguals did not.

“This suggests that bilinguals cannot discriminate between pseudowords and words without accessing semantic information,” writes lead researcher Clara Martin. “Monolinguals, on the other hand, can dismiss English words on the basis of subsemantic information.”

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6. URBAN DESIGNERS STRIVE TO COOL OFF HOT CITIES

Since the urban heat island effect reveals cities sport higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas, urban designers assess how they can mitigate climate change with building materials, vegetation, water and building form.

As the world population nears the staggering number of 7 billion people, the debate rages on about the impact we have on global warming. All signs point to increasingly warmer temperatures, with the International Panel on Climate Change predicting a global surface air warming of between 1.1 and 6.4°C for the 21st century. So how will future generations cope with an increase in hot extremes and heat waves?

Well, a new paper in Elsevier’s Resources, Conservation and Recycling aims to explore the effects of this climate change for the urban environment, suggesting urban design strategies could make cities more comfortable. The urban heat island effect (UHI effect) is a phenomenon in which the urban air temperature is higher than that of the surrounding rural environment, so researchers state there is a need to find solutions to make urban living more comfortable and safe.

The authors of this paper define four categories that could be used to bring temperatures down in the urban environment: vegetation, water, built form and material. For example, adding vegetation to city streets and roof tops, and creating more urban forests, could have an average cooling effect of 1 to 4.7°C.

Additionally, utilizing building materials that emit less heat could also benefit city temperatures. The study goes on to explore what could be done for two specific cities in the Netherlands – Ondiep and Transvaal – in order to diminish the accumulation of heat using some of these varying design categories.

“When a neighbourhood needs to be renovated anyway, measures against heat accumulation can be combined with other measures that are necessary to improve the social, physical or economical condition,” writes lead researcher Laura Kleerekoper.

She concludes in order for policymakers to embrace these urban climate strategies, designers must be able to quantify the heat accumulation of an area, identify an acceptable level of heat accumulation for the area and finally quantify the measures that are needed to reach the desirable climate state.

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