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Study suggests practices that lower childhood obesity

February 17, 2010

By Emily Caldwell, Research Communications

A new national study suggests that preschool-aged children are likely to have a lower risk for obesity if they regularly engage in one or more of three specific household routines: Eating dinner as a family, getting adequate sleep and limiting their weekday television viewing time.

In a large sample of the US population, the study showed that 4-year-olds living in homes with all three routines had an almost 40 percent lower prevalence of obesity than did children living in homes that practiced none of these routines. Continue reading ‘Study suggests practices that lower childhood obesity’

Environment plays key role in reading development

February 3, 2010

While genetics play a key role in children’s initial reading skills, a new study of twins is the first to demonstrate that environment plays an important role in reading growth over time.

The results give further evidence that children can make gains in reading during their early school years, above and beyond the important genetic factors that influence differences in reading, said Stephen Petrill, lead author of the study and professor of human development and family science at Ohio State.

“We certainly have to take more seriously genetic influences on learning, but children who come into school with poor reading skills can make strides with proper instruction,” Petrill said.

“The findings support the need for sustained efforts to promote reading development in children that take both genetic and environmental influences into account.”

While other studies have shown that both genetics and environment influence reading skills, this is the first to show their relative roles in how quickly or slowly children’s reading skills improve over time. The study appears online in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

The study participants were 314 Ohio twins participating in the Western Reserve Reading Project. This study included 135 identical twins and 179 same-sex fraternal twins.

The twins began the study in kindergarten or first grade. They were assessed in their homes when they enrolled and annually for the next two years.

At each home visit, the twins were given a 90-minute battery of reading-based measures. Among other things, the tests measured word and letter identification, the ability to sound out words and the speed at which children could name a series of letters.

The researchers compared how twins scored on the tests and then used a statistical analysis to determine how much growth in their performance could be explained by genetics and how much by environmental factors.

Environmental factors include everything the children experience — how they are cared for by their parents, how much they are read to, the neighborhood they live in, nutrition and their instruction in schools, among other factors.

The findings showed that when children start out reading, both genetics and environment play a role in reading skills, depending on the skills assessed. For word and letter identification, genetics explained about one-third of the test results, while environment explained two-thirds. For vocabulary and sound awareness, it was equally split between genetics and environment. For the speed tests, it was three-quarters genetic.

But when the researchers measured growth in reading skills, environment became much more important, Petrill said.

For reading skills that are taught, such as words and letters, the environment is almost completely responsible for growth. For awareness of sounds in reading, about 80 percent of growth was explained by the environment. Speed measures were the only ones where genetics still played a large role.

“Regardless of where children start as far as reading skills, and the impact that genetics and environment had on their initial skills, we found that their environment had an impact in how fast or how slowly those reading skills developed,” Petrill said.

Petrill emphasized that a child’s environment is much more than just the instruction he or she receives in school, but instruction is likely a key part of how reading skills grow over time. He said much more research needs to be done examining the roles of genetics and the environment in shaping how children learn to read.

“We believe that both factors play a role in reading, which is very similar to what researchers find in health issues such as heart disease and obesity,” Petrill said.

“But we know a lot more about the relative impacts of genetics and environment on the biological systems that influence heart disease than we do in reading.”

For example, people can change their environment to help lower their risk of heart disease, no matter their genetic susceptibility to the disease, he said.

Petrill said he hopes we can do the same to help children improve their reading.

“Understanding the causes of why kids differ in reading skills, and the roles of genetics and environment, could help us understand how to teach them better,” he said.

Study reveals how nutrient protects brain after stroke

January 19, 2010

By Emily Caldwell, Research Communications

Blocking the function of an enzyme in the brain with a specific kind of vitamin E can prevent nerve cells from dying after a stroke, new research suggests.

In a study using mouse brain cells, scientists found that the tocotrienol form of vitamin E, an alternative to the popular drugstore supplement, stopped the enzyme from releasing fatty acids that eventually kill neurons. Continue reading ‘Study reveals how nutrient protects brain after stroke’

Smoking bans don’t cause job losses in bars, restaurants

June 3, 2009

by Emily Caldwell

New research suggests that exempting bars from community smoking bans makes no economic difference in terms of preserving bar employment, and that even the most comprehensive clean indoor air policies do not lead to a reduction in hospitality jobs.

Continue reading ‘Smoking bans don’t cause job losses in bars, restaurants’

18 OSU faculty earn AAAS fellowships

January 8, 2009

An astronomer who’s leading the pack in finding planets outside our solar system, a dental researcher who’s interviewed the Dalai Lama and an anthropologist who’s fought to keep science in Ohio’s public school classrooms are among the 18 Ohio State faculty who have been named as new Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the largest science organization in the world.

“The work that these researchers have done in their respective fields of study is an outstanding reminder of their exceptional contributions to science in general, and to this university,” said Caroline Whitacre, vice president for research.

Only one other institution in the country surpassed Ohio State this year in the number of new Fellows. In fact, Ohio State has either been first or second annually since 2002 in the number of faculty named and is believed to have the largest contingent of current Fellows of any university in the country.

This year’s election brings the total number of AAAS Fellows at OSU to 159.

“Ohio State’s large contingent of AAAS fellows from many disciplines underscores the excellence of our faculty,” said President Gordon Gee. “They are among this nation’s finest scholars, and their expertise in the classroom and the laboratory directly benefits our students and our state.”

The University of California, Irvine had the most honored faculty with 21 named as Fellows. 

A total of 486 AAAS members nationally were named Fellows because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. New Fellows will be recognized Feb. 14 during the 2009 AAAS annual meeting in Chicago.

Ohio State’s faculty newly named as Fellows include:

• Hojjat Adeli, Civil, Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science: For distinguished contributions to computational infrastructure engineering and worldwide leadership in computational science and engineering as a prolific author, keynote speaker and editor-in-chief of journals.
• Steven Clinton, Hematology/Oncology and Human Nutrition: For distinguished contributions to cancer research, particularly studies of diet, nutrition and pharmaceutical agents on etiology, prevention and therapy of genitourinary cancers.
• Robert Coleman, Chemistry: For distinguished contributions to chemistry and medicinal chemistry, particularly on synthetic, organic and bioorganic chemistry, and studies of naturally occurring antitumor agents.
• Peter Curtis, Evolutionary, Ecological and Organismal Biology: For distinguished contributions to global change biology and restoration ecology, and for outstanding service as an academic department chair and research administrator.
• Andrew Gould, Astronomy: For pioneering contributions to the theory and practice of gravitational microlensing, particularly as a tool for detection of planets around stars outside our own solar system.
• Tsonwin Hai, Center for Molecular Neurobiology and Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry: For distinguished contributions to molecular biology, particularly studies of ATF/CREB family of transcription factors on stress responses in cancer and diabetes.
• Randall Harris, Emergency Medicine and Pathology and Public Health – Epidemiology: For distinguished contributions to cancer epidemiology and chemoprevention, particularly for studies of cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor anti-inflammatory drugs in the prevention of cancer.
• Anita Hopper, Molecular Genetics: For distinguished contributions to molecular genetics and cell biology, particularly for the elucidation of mechanisms that control the distribution of transfer RNA.
• Rebecca Jackson, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation: For distinguished contributions to endocrinology, particularly for women’s health and postmenopausal osteoporosis, and as vice chair of the Women’s Health Initiative.
• Chris Kochanek, Astronomy: For pioneering contributions to the theory of strong gravitational lensing and its application to the study of dark matter, cosmological parameters and galaxy evolution.
• Jeffrey McKee, Anthropology and Evolutionary, Ecological and Organismal Biology: For distinguished contributions to paleoanthropology, evolutionary biology and science education.
• Chia-Hsiang Menq, Mechanical Engineering: For distinguished contributions to mechanical engineering, particularly on coordinate metrology, ultra-precision motion control and instrumentation for imaging and manipulation of microstructures.
• Nitin Padture, Materials Science Engineering: For outstanding contributions to advanced ceramics and nanomaterials, particularly for understanding of processing and mechanical behavior of ceramic composites and coatings.
• Thomas Santner, Statistics and Public Health – Biostatistics: For distinguished contributions to statistics, major developments in the design, analysis and application of computer experiments and outstanding service to the profession.
• Larry Schlesinger, Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics: For distinguished contributions and leadership to the fields of microbiology and infectious diseases, particularly in pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and lung innate immunity.
• John Sheridan, Oral Biology and Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics: For distinguished contributions to immunology and virology, particularly in the area of neuroendocrine regulation of the immune response, anti-viral immunity and viral pathogenesis.
• Gary Wenk, Psychology and Neuroscience and Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics: For distinguished contributions in neuropharmacology, neurodegenerative diseases,and neuroinflammatory processes.
• William Yuh, Radiology: For distinguished contributions to medical science, including dynamic contrast enhanced and high dose MR and individualized management for cancer and acute stroke.