Housing prices are slightly overheated and residential real estate markets are experiencing minimal downward pressure on the demand for home ownership, a new FAU study says.
One would assume that since humans and many animals tend to get stiffer and perhaps tougher as they reach adulthood, the same would be true for sharks. A new study finds the opposite in these swift-swimming marine predators. The youngest sharks were stiffer and tougher than older sharks. Another key finding is that while scientists have historically looked at alternating patterns of mineralization on sharks’ vertebrae to determine their age, these patterns are not related to time.
Florida is No. 1 in per capita cases of Alzheimer’s disease in the U.S. Research fellows in the FAU Brain Institute have received grants totaling more than $1.1 million from the Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program.
FAU's A.D. Henderson University School unveiled its National Blue Ribbon distinction awarded by the U.S. Department of Education at an announcement ceremony.
Many fish produce sounds for courtship and mating, navigation, and defending their territories. Scientists analyze these sounds to study their behavior such as reproduction. Since grouper spawning is brief and it takes them a long time to reach sexual maturity, they are vulnerable to overfishing. “Eavesdropping” on them is key to their survival. Researchers have developed a novel acoustic monitoring technique to classify grouper species by their sounds or “grouper calls,” with accuracy of about 90 percent.
Researchers have discovered what might be an effective strategy to prevent and combat cognitive dysfunction in obese individuals. They are the first to examine the modulatory role of an exercise-induced protein in the brain that promotes neuron survival using high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) in obese and normal-weight subjects. Obesity reduces the expression of this protein and lower levels are associated with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and obesity. HIIE upregulated this protein in the obese subjects compared to normal-weight subjects.
Laws to ban or curb drivers’ use of cell phones and other handheld devices have greatly reduced the rate of fatalities for motorcyclists, according to a new study by faculty at Florida Atlantic University and the University of Miami.
FAU is spearheading a sub-group on global quantum-safe communication standards in collaboration with leading academic institutions in Europe, Asia and throughout the world, to shape all future requirements from both a government and industry perspective.
A innovative agent that has been used for decades to treat alcohol-use disorder is showing real promise for the treatment of stroke and has resulted in a U.S. patent application for a neuroscientist at FAU. The researcher has also filed a patent application for a novel gene therapy for stroke and Alzheimer’s disease.
The Florida Atlantic University Max Planck Academy will serve as a pioneer model in STEM education and will be organized as a standalone extension of FAU High School – a nationally recognized, public “Blue Ribbon School.”
A study is the first to use qualitative research to gain deeper insight into law enforcement officers’ personal experiences and perspectives on the use of body-worn cameras in a post-Ferguson era. Based on a long and deep immersion in the field, researchers have generated insider knowledge on one of the most overt strategic changes to modern American policing.
Marine fishes rely on their sensory systems to survive. A study is the first to quantify the physiological effects of whole crude oil on the olfactory function of a marine vertebrate – the Atlantic stingray. Results confirm that exposure to crude oil, at concentrations mimicking those measured in coastal areas following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, significantly impaired olfactory function in the Atlantic stingray after just 48 hours of exposure.
Like humans, fruit flies are active during the day, sleep at night and have similar sleep characteristics. A study has discovered a new gene and uncovered a mechanism that modulates sleep by controlling the movement of taurine – a common ingredient found in many energy drinks like Red Bull™ – into neuron cells of the fly brain. Taurine also is abundant in the human brain and is consistently elevated in blood and urine of sleep-deprived people.
A new study shows that targeted spending on public health activities specifically related to infant health significantly reduces infant mortality. The study focused on public health expenditures in Florida, where the infant mortality rate is even higher than the national average.
A study shows that Americans without paid sick leave worry significantly about both short-term and long-term financial issues. The highest odds of reporting worry were associated with normal monthly bills like housing expenses. Concern about making the minimum payment on credit cards was statistically significant, too. Conversely, workers with paid sick leave were less likely to report worrying about common financial obligations. Only the U.S. and Japan do not mandate a national sick leave benefit.
Like a “needle in a haystack,” human auditors have the painstaking task of manually checking thousands of Medicare claims for specific patterns that could indicate foul play or fraudulent behaviors. Currently, fraud enforcement efforts rely heavily on health care professionals coming forward with information about Medicare fraud. Researchers are the first to use big data from Medicare Part B and employ advanced data analytics and machine learning to automate the fraud detection process.
Prior research has suggested that mussels are a robust indicator of plastic debris and particles in marine environments. A new study says that’s not the case because mussels are picky eaters and have an inherent ability to choose and sort their food. Instead, the researchers have discovered that marine aggregates also called “marine snow,” play a much bigger role in the fate of the oceans when it comes to plastic debris.
C-P.A.W.W. provides service to local and national veterans and is investigating protective factors for suicide in the military population and improving the understanding of palliative effects of animal-assisted interventions.
FAU I-SENSE and K-Rain, a third generation privately-held company, have entered into a three-phase partnership to work on intelligent irrigation components that will be sold throughout major distribution channels.
A study released today found that the vast majority of counties in the Florida Panhandle were less prepared for emergency evacuation compared to the rest of the state.
A groundbreaking study reveals how dolphins, whales and other cetaceans compete for survival in an evolutionary “arms race” with changing pathogenic threats like mercury and brevotoxin (e.g. Red Tide). Researchers show that cetaceans use several strategies for success in this race. They have developed tools to help wildlife managers and health professionals assess disease risk from the perspective of how individual animals are engineered to recognize the molecules of microorganisms in the environment and launch an immune response.
Sextortion, the threatened distribution of explicit, intimate and embarrassing sexual images without consent, is the fastest-growing cyberthreat to children. This study is the first to examine the prevalence and effects of sextortion among teens, using data from 5,568 middle and high school students in the U.S. Findings show that more males than females participated in sextortion both as a victim and as an offender. Overall, sextortion occurred within the context of an existing friendship (romantic or otherwise).
Scientists have uncovered a brain-signaling pathway that can be pharmacologically manipulated in genetically engineered mice to reverse an autism-related pathway. Using an experimental drug targeting this pathway, the researchers normalized the disrupted physiology and behavior of these mice. Moreover, effects were seen in adult mice, suggesting a possible route to medication development for adults with autism spectrum disorder.
An FAU professor and a high school senior from MSD have published a study on homicide rates in Baltimore and New York City. They note marked differences between these “peer” cities according to 19 population-based characteristics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The root causes for these differences are complex and multifactorial, and raise several major clinical and contemporary medical policy issues. The vast majority of these U.S. homicides are attributable to firearms.
An internationally renowned FAU shark researcher has received a $117,501 gift from the Leon H. Charney Foundation, Inc. for a joint program with the University of Haifa in Israel.
Firms that are planning to go public may want to consider a two-stage Initial Public Offering to reduce underpricing and volatility of the stock.
A study using EEG shows how the brain re-prioritizes information following changes in the environment. Past memory cues can have different effects on neural representations based on when they’re presented, suggesting that the brain has several different mechanisms to help boost memory performance following a sudden change in the priority or relevance of a given piece of information. Findings suggest that the brain can use several different methods to re-prioritize mental representations depending on how long they’ve been stored.
With threats of sea level rise, storm surge and other natural disasters, researchers are turning to nature to protect humans from nature. Using bioinspired materials that mimic mangrove trees, they are creating mangrove-like structures that can be used for erosion control, coastal protection, and habitat reconstruction. Structures like seawalls are expensive to build, raise environmental concerns, and obstruct the natural landscape. The prototype they have developed is scalable, smaller, simpler to use and cost effective.
Bilingual children from immigrant families are not two monolinguals in one. They develop each language at a slower pace because their learning is spread across two languages. A researcher shows strong evidence that the rate of language growth is influenced by the quantity of language input. She challenges the belief, held in and out of scientific circles that children are linguistic sponges who quickly absorb the language or languages they hear and become proficient speakers of both languages.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has updated its 2012 recommendations for cervical cancer screening with one important addition. This is the first time they are recommending a method of cervical cancer screening that does not include the Pap test – the gold-standard screening test for more than 75 years. A leading OB/GYN physician provides an important review of these new guidelines, which preserve the greatest range of choices for practitioners and patients.
A study examined anxiety, depression, social withdrawal, and submissiveness to predict the end of teen friendships. Do friendships end because of one child’s mental health problems or do they end because of differences between friends on the degree to which each friend suffers from these problems? A key finding shows that children’s personal struggles need not adversely impact their social relationships, and mental health issues do not necessarily ruin their chances of making and maintaining worthwhile friendships.
A leading scientist has been working to identify what contributes to the ability of tumor cells to move through the body and find other places to “set up shop.” He has identified a number of enzymes that he believes are responsible for this process and is working to develop novel compounds to slow down this spreading aspect of cancer.
FAU’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing placed in the No. 1 spot in Florida for the 71 graduates of its BSN program who achieved a 100 percent passage rate on the National Council Licensure Examination. They performed above the national average passage rate of 90.05 percent.
A research team at FAU is enhancing how health care providers capture, tap into, and integrate vital information streams for patient-centered care.
A neuroscientist from FAU has been conducting ground-breaking work on the basic mechanisms and the biochemical basis of chronic pain and drug addiction that have opened new avenues of research and identified novel drug targets to address both of these widespread disorders.
A team of scientists is the first to confirm the movement patterns and seasonal migrations of baby white sharks in the north Atlantic Ocean. They put the New York Bight shark nursery theory to test by deploying satellite and acoustic tags on 10 baby white sharks (less than 1 year old) off Long Island’s coast. Results provide novel insights into the distribution of this vulnerable early stage of life that complements recent work on larger white sharks.
Researchers are working on this collaborative project that utilizes genomic and transgenic technology in Mexican cavefish to identify genetic loci that contribute to sleep, feeding, and metabolism.
A first-of-its-kind study has found that “skinny fat” – the combination of low muscle mass and strength in the context of high fat mass – may be an important predictor of cognitive performance in older adults. Results show that sarcopenic obesity or “skinny fat” was associated with the lowest performance on global cognition.
Researchers have scrutinized more than 5 terabytes of Internet-scale data to produce a report that provides a unique 24-hour glimpse of cyberattacks and threats in Florida and the U.S. FloridaSOAR, a first-of-its-kind, large-scale analysis of the magnitude of compromised Internet of Things devices, pinpoints malicious attacks and infections in near real-time by targeted sectors and providers. It can detect exploitations as soon as they are encountered, and store and share that threat information with IoT operators worldwide.
FAU’s Harbor Branch houses more than 1,000 strains of actinobacteria, one of the most prolific microbial groups for the production of natural products. Derived from sea sponges and other macro-organisms, several strains were identified for their potent antifungal activity, for anti-MRSA activity, and for both antifungal and antibacterial activities. A key finding was the identification of a strain that produced metabolites that are more potent than the bacterial antibiotic, vancomycin, against C. difficile.
Almost anyone can relate to being afraid of needles and injections. A pilot study is the first to use a 3D virtual reality headset to test this tool as a distraction method in a pediatric setting. Children were given the choice of a roller coaster ride, helicopter ride or a hot-air balloon ride. Results show that anticipated versus actual pain and fear were reduced in 94.1 percent of the pediatric study subjects.
With this latest grant, FAU will establish a primary care workforce of students with a bachelor of science in nursing degree who are practice ready and willing to serve veterans and patients in rural and underserved communities.
A study is the first to use gold-standard methods to test the hypothesis that antipsychotic treatment in youths adversely increases body fat and decreases insulin sensitivity. All three antipsychotics tested – oral aripiprazole, olanzapine, and risperidone, which are common first line use medications for children with nonpsychotic behavior disorders – increased not only total body fat, but also visceral and subcutaneous abdominal fat, associated with long-term risk for cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
Approximately 47 million people worldwide are living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias. One of the most prominent neuroscientists in the country has developed eight myths and truths about AD to shed light on this form of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior.
A new study has quantified, for the first time, the relationship between lack of paid sick leave and poverty in the U.S. The data indicates that, even when controlling for education, race, sex, marital status and employment, working adults without paid sick leave are three times more likely to have incomes below the poverty line. People without paid sick leave benefits also are more likely to experience food insecurity and require welfare services.
Research for the five-year project will support autonomous unmanned marine vehicle platforms for coastal surveillance, coastal surveys, target tracking and protection of at-sea assets. The project will entail developing unmanned surface vehicles that serve as “motherships” for unmanned underwater vehicles and aerial drones, thereby enabling multi-vehicle, multi-domain capability that may serve as a mobile coastal monitoring system.
If the “eyes are the window to the soul,” then a series of studies suggests that they may also be a window into diagnosing and treating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other dopamine-linked neuropsychiatric disorders.
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