A new study by Oregon State University researchers finds that Head Start can make a positive impact in the lives of some of its highest risk children, both academically and behaviorally.
New research at Oregon State University suggests the health benefits of small amounts of activity – even as small as one- and two-minute increments that add up to 30 minutes per day – can be just as beneficial as longer bouts of physical exercise achieved by a trip to the gym.
The study, recently published online in Health Education Research, is the first to look at the role of Hmong patriarchal and family influences on women’s breast and cervical cancer screening. It is also one of the only studies conducted with Oregon’s Hmong population.
Even as policy makers and health experts point to an increased need for exercise, more than half of four-year colleges and universities in the United States have dropped physical education requirements compared to historic levels.
A study has found that young, less-experienced surgeons made major surgical mistakes almost half the time during a “simulated” gall bladder removal when they were distracted by noises, questions, conversation or other commotion in the operating room.
A new analysis of conflicting findings from hundreds of studies on the use of omega-3 fatty acids for cardiovascular disease finds that they do work, for this and other health concerns, and helps to explain some of the differing research results.
Electrical engineers at Oregon State University have developed new technology to monitor medical vital signs, with sophisticated sensors so small and cheap they could fit onto a bandage, be manufactured in high volumes and cost less than a quarter.
Eight researchers in a new report say that climate change is causing additional stress to many western rangelands, and as a result land managers should consider a significant reduction, or in some places elimination of livestock and other large animals from public lands.
Many baby boomers want to improve the way people view aging, but an Oregon State University researcher has found they often reinforce negative stereotypes of old age when interacting with their own parents, coloring the way those seniors experience their twilight years.
Based on a new discovery, the world’s multi-billion dollar foundry industry may soon develop a sweet tooth. Scientists have identified a compound that can replace some of the toxic chemicals now used to produce the molds this industry depends upon. The compound is called sugar.
A national study of older Americans shows those who have limited mobility and low physical activity – scientifically categorized as “frail” – are five times more likely to report that they often don’t have enough to eat, defined as “food insufficiency,” than older adults who were not frail.
The nationally representative study of more than 4,700 adults older than age 60 in the United States uses data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The results are online today in the British Journal of Nutrition.
Researchers have made important advances in the rapidly-expanding field of “regenerative medicine,” outlining for the first time connections in genetic regulation that normally prevent birth defects in heart and facial muscles. This basic research will provide a road map to ultimately allow scientists to grow the cell types needed to repair such defects, from stem cells that can be generated from a person’s own body.
A comprehensive new review on how to treat high cholesterol and other blood lipid problems suggests that intensive treatment with high doses of statin drugs is usually the best approach. But some statins work much better for this than others, the review concluded, and additional lipid-lowering medications added to a statin have far less value.
As a result of concerns about antibiotic resistance, doctors in the United States are increasingly prescribing newer, more costly and more powerful antibiotics to treat urinary tract infections, one of the most common illnesses in women. Often they are not necessary.
Researchers have found what they say is the only fossil ever discovered of a spider attack on prey caught in its web – a 100 million-year-old snapshot of an engagement frozen in time. It's an extraordinarily rare specimen.
More than 40 percent of older breast cancer survivors are insufficiently active after leaving a supervised program. But new research shows that those women who developed behavioral skills such as self-confidence and motivation during their program were far more likely to continue exercising on their own.
As flu season approaches, people who get sick may not realize they can pass the flu not only to other humans, but possibly to other animals, including pets such as cats, dogs and ferrets. This concept, called “reverse zoonosis,” is still poorly understood but has raised concern among some scientists and veterinarians.
A new study has outlined for the first time a biological mechanism by which zinc deficiency can develop with age, leading to a decline of the immune system and increased inflammation associated with many health problems, including cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disease and diabetes.
The same “green revolution” concepts that have revolutionized crop agriculture and helped to feed billions of people around the world may now offer similar potential in forestry, scientists say, with benefits for wood, biomass production, drought stress and even greenhouse gas mitigation.
A new study suggests that nicotinamide, more commonly known as vitamin B3, may be able to combat some of the antibiotic-resistance staph infections and "superbugs" that are increasingly common around the world, have killed thousands and can pose a significant threat to public health.
The same type of microwave oven technology that most people use to heat up leftover food has found an important application in the solar energy industry, providing a new way to make thin-film photovoltaic products with less energy, expense and environmental concerns.
One of the first public wave energy testing systems in the United States began operation this week off the Oregon coast near Newport, and will allow private industry or academic researchers to test new technology that may help advance this promising form of sustainable energy.
An international group of more than 30 researchers today gave a score to every coastal nation on their contribution to the health of the world’s oceans, which showed the United States as being slightly above average, and identified food provision, tourism and recreation as leading concerns. The analysis was published in Nature.
Engineers at Oregon State University have made a breakthrough in the performance of microbial fuel cells that can produce electricity directly from wastewater, opening the door to a future in which waste treatment plants not only will power themselves, but will sell excess electricity.
Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered, for the first time in any animal species, a type of “selfish” mitochondrial DNA that is actually hurting the organism and lessening its chance to survive – and bears a strong similarity to some damage done to human cells as they age. It could provide an important new model to study human aging.
Young children who are able to pay attention and persist on a task have a 50 percent greater chance of completing college, according to a new study at Oregon State University. Tracking a group of 430 preschool-age children, the study gives compelling evidence that social and behavioral skills, such as paying attention, following directions and completing a task may be even more crucial than academic abilities.
A new study found that 25 percent of teachers surveyed in the United States and Canada release classroom animals back into the wild, but few use planned release programs.
Researchers have taken a new look at an old, but seldom-used technique developed by the petroleum industry to recover oil, and learned more about why it works, how it could be improved, and how it might be able to make a comeback not only in oil recovery but also environmental cleanup.
A comprehensive analysis of the Cascadia Subduction Zone off the Pacific Northwest coast confirms that the region has had numerous earthquakes over the past 10,000 years, and suggests that the southern Oregon coast may be most vulnerable based on recurrence frequency.
A dramatic increase in childhood obesity in recent decades may have impacts that go beyond the usual health concerns – it could be disrupting the timing of puberty and ultimately lead to a diminished ability to reproduce, especially in females.
The chronic drought that hit western North America from 2000 to 2004 left dying forests and depleted river basins in its wake and was the strongest in 800 years, but those conditions will become the “new normal” for most of the coming century. Such climatic extremes have increased as a result of global warming.
A record number of American kids are being expelled from preschool, limiting their chances of success when they enter a full-day classroom.
According to Oregon State University's Megan McClelland, a leading researcher in the field of early childhood development and an associate professor of human development and family sciences, parents can prepare their kids now by playing games that help their children develop better self-regulation skills.
A new study concludes that among older adults – especially those who are frail – low levels of vitamin D can mean a much greater risk of death. The randomized, nationally representative study found that older adults with low vitamin D levels had a 30 percent greater risk of death than people who had higher levels.
The northern spotted owl, a threatened species in the Pacific Northwest, would actually benefit in the long run from active management of the forest lands that form its primary habitat and are increasingly vulnerable to stand-replacing fire.
Climate change, habitat destruction, pollution and invasive species are all involved in the global crisis of amphibian declines and extinctions, researchers suggest in a new analysis, but increasingly these forces are causing actual mortality in the form of infectious disease.
People who experience a physical health problem, from diabetes and back pain to cancer or heart disease, are three times more likely to seek mental health care than patients who report having no physical ailment, according to a new study by Oregon State University researchers. The study, which is now online in the journal Health Services Research, indicates there is a need for better-coordinated care between physical and mental health providers. It is the first nationally representative study that statistically shows a major link between physical health and mental health.
The recommended dietary allowance, or RDA, of vitamin C is less than half what it should be, scientists argue in a recent report, because medical experts insist on evaluating this natural, but critical nutrient in the same way they do pharmaceutical drugs and reach faulty conclusions as a result. At higher levels, it could help prevent serious diseases.
Scientists have discovered two viruses that appear to infect the single-celled microalgae that reside in corals and are important for coral growth and health, and they say the viruses could play a role in the serious decline of coral ecosystems around the world.
Drinking a moderate amount of alcohol as part of a healthy lifestyle may benefit women’s bone health, lowering their risk of developing osteoporosis.
A new study assessed the effects of alcohol withdrawal on bone turnover in postmenopausal women who drank one or two drinks per day several times a week. Researchers at Oregon State University measured a significant increase in blood markers of bone turnover in women after they stopped drinking for just two weeks.
Drug traffickers who want to leave the “game” behind often struggle to do so because they fear loss of power and status, a new study shows.
Those who do leave the illegal drug trade often do so because of a complex mixture of issues including fatherhood, drug use and abuse, and threat of punishment by authorities or fear of retaliation. Researchers concluded that traffickers need ways that allow them to leave the drug business without surrendering their entire identity.
New research concludes that a one-two punch of drought and mountain pine beetle attacks are the primary forces that have killed more than 2.5 million acres of pinyon pine and juniper trees in the American Southwest during the past 15 years, setting the stage for more ecological disruption - including major soil erosion and further loss of water in the Colorado River basin.
Where will the next mega-earthquake strike in the world? It could be in Kabul, or Caracas, or Tehran. A new book by Robert Yeats of Oregon State University, who warned of a major quake in Haiti one week before it happened, looks at hot spots around the world.
A new study has linked a major epidemic of abortion in Kentucky Thoroughbred mares to infection with vesivirus, the first time the virus has been suggested to cause this type of problem in horses. The findings add another concern to the health issues associated with this virus, which can infect and cause health problems in many animal species, as well as humans.