Precision motion tracking -- thousands of cells at once: Technique could open new windows into protozoan behavior, microbial diseases and fertility

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — Researchers have developed a new way to observe and track large numbers of rapidly moving objects under a microscope, capturing precise motion paths in three dimensions.

Over the course of the study -- reported online Sept. 17, 2012, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences -- researchers followed an unprecedented 24,000 rapidly moving cells over wide fields of view and through large sample volumes, recording each cell's path for as long as 20 seconds.

"We can very precisely track the motion of small things, more than a thousand of them at the same time, in parallel," says research lead and National Science Foundation CAREER awardee Aydogan Ozcan, an electrical engineering and bioengineering professor at UCLA. "We were able to achieve sub-micron accuracy over a large volume, allowing us to understand, statistically, how thousands of objects move in different ways."

The latest study is an extension of several years of NSF-supported work by Ozcan and his colleagues to develop lens-free, holographic microscopy techniques with applications for field-based detection of blood-borne diseases and other areas of tele-medicine.

For the recent work, Ozcan and his colleagues--Ting-Wei Su, also of UCLA, and Liang Xue, of both UCLA and Nanjing University of Science and Technology in China--used offset beams of red and blue light to create holographic information that, when processed using sophisticated software, accurately reveal the paths of objects moving under a microscope. The researchers tracked several cohorts of more than 1,500 human male gamete cells over a relatively wide field of view (more than 17 square millimeters) and large sample volume (up to 17 cubic millimeters) over several seconds.

The technique, along with a novel software algorithm that the team developed to process observational data, revealed previously unknown statistical pathways for the cells. The researchers found that human male gamete cells travel in a series of twists and turns along a constantly changing path that occasionally follows a tight helix--a spiral that, 90 percent of the time, is in a clockwise (right-handed) direction.

Because only four to five percent of the cells in a given sample traveled in a helical path at any given time, researchers would not have been able to observe the rare behavior without the new high-throughput microscopy technique.

"This latest study is an extension of truly novel and creative work," says Leon Esterowitz, the NSF biophotonics program officer who has supported Ozcan's efforts. "The holographic technique could accelerate drug discovery and prove valuable for monitoring pharmaceutical treatments of dangerous microbial diseases."

The PNAS paper reports observations of 24,000 cells over the duration of the experiments. Such a large number of observations provide a statistically significant dataset and a useful methodology for potentially studying a range of subjects, from the impact of pharmaceuticals and other substances on large numbers of cells--in real time--to fertility treatments and drug development.

The same approach may also enable scientists to study quick-moving, single-celled microorganisms. Many of the dangerous protozoa found in unsanitary drinking water and rural bodies of water have only been observed in small samples moving through an area that is roughly two dimensional. The new lens-free holographic imaging technique could potentially reveal unknown elements of protozoan behavior and allow real-time testing of novel drug treatments to combat some of the most deadly forms of those microbes.

Ozcan's research receives support from an NIH Director's New Innovator Award, Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award and an Army Research Office Young Investigator Award from the Department of Defense.

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1. Ting-Wei Su, Liang Xue, and Aydogan Ozcan. High-throughput lensfree 3D tracking of human sperms reveals rare statistics of helical trajectories. PNAS, September 17, 2012 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1212506109

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18 Sep, 2012

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Study links breast cancer risk to early-life diet and metabolic syndrome

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — Striking new evidence suggesting that diet and related factors early in life can boost the risk for breast cancer -- totally independent of the body's production of the hormone estrogen -- has been uncovered by a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis.

The findings provide new insights into the processes that regulate normal breast development, which can impact the risk of developing breast cancer later in life. The study will be published Sept. 17 in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"It's long been assumed that circulating estrogens from the ovaries, which underlie normal female reproductive development, were crucial for the onset of breast growth and development," said Russ Hovey, a UC Davis associate professor of animal science and senior author on the study.

"Our findings, however, suggest that diet and shifts in body metabolism that parallel changes seen during obesity and Type 2 diabetes can also stimulate breast growth entirely independent of estrogen's effects," he said.

The studies with mice used a diet supplemented with a form of the fatty acid known as 10, 12 conjugated linoleic acid or 10, 12 CLA, which mimics specific aspects of a broader metabolic syndrome.

In humans, this syndrome is linked to a broad array of changes associated with obesity that can increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The 10, 12 CLA was added to the diet of the test group of mice because it is known to disrupt normal metabolic processes. In this study, the supplement stimulated the mammary ducts to grow, despite the fact that the mice lacked estrogen.

The researchers demonstrated that the diet-induced breast development also increased the formation of mammary tumors in some of the mice.

They ruled out a role for estrogen as the possible cause for how diet increased growth of the breast tissues by giving the supplement to male mice and to female mice in which the function of estrogen was blocked.

The research team also discovered that various mouse strains responded differently to the dietary supplement despite similar metabolic changes, suggesting that there may be a genetic component for how diet and related metabolic changes affect breast cancer risk in different populations, Hovey said.

He noted that results from the study would likely have significant implications for better understanding human breast development before puberty and after menopause, when estrogens are less present.

"The findings of this study are particularly important when we superimpose them on data showing that girls are experiencing breast development at earlier ages, coincident with a growing epidemic of childhood obesity," Hovey said.

Adam Lock, an assistant professor of dairy cattle nutrition at Michigan State University, was co-principal investigator with Hovey on the original Dairy Management Inc. grant that supported studies leading to the PNAS publication.

"The biology of conjugated linoleic acid fatty acids has stimulated much scientific and public interest over the last two decades," said Lock. "These recent findings will further our understanding of the biology of this specific CLA isomer and also further advance our understanding of the role of bioactive fatty acids in health maintenance and disease prevention."

Other members of the research team are graduate students Grace Berryhill and Julia Gloviczki, Project Scientist Josephine Trott, postdoctoral researchers Lucila Aimo and Whitney Petrie, undergraduate student Carly Paul, and Professor Robert Cardiff, all of UC Davis; and Research Assistant Professor Jana Kraft of the University of Vermont.

The study was supported in part by Dairy Management Inc., the UC Davis Cancer Center and the Department of Defense.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Davis.

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Journal Reference:

1. Grace E. Berryhill, Julia M. Gloviczki, Josephine F. Trott, Lucila Aimo, Jana Kraft, Robert D. Cardiff, Carly T. Paul, Whitney K. Petrie, Adam L. Lock, and Russell C. Hovey. Diet-induced metabolic change induces estrogen-independent allometric mammary growth. PNAS, September 17, 2012 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1210527109

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18 Sep, 2012

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New gene could lead to better bug-resistant plants

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — The discovery of a new gene could lead to better bug-resistant plants.

Research led by Michigan State University and appearing on the cover of this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrates that domestic tomatoes could re-learn a thing or two from their wild cousins.

Long-term cultivation has led to tomato crops losing beneficial traits common to wild tomatoes. Anthony Schilmiller, MSU research assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, was able to identify a gene that is involved in one of these beneficial traits.

Many tomato secrets are found in its hair. Trichomes, or hair-like protrusions, produce a mixture of specialized chemicals that shape the interactions between the plant and its environment. The location of the chemicals allows some of them to act as the first line of defense against pests.

One class of compounds, acyl sugars, is a frontline defender. Trichomes secrete acyl sugars to fend off pests. Schilmiller teamed with Robert Last, MSU professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Amanda Charbonneau, MSU doctoral researcher, to try to understand how these chemicals are made. Little was known about how acyl sugars were produced until now, and this research identifies and describes the first gene that participates in the production of the protective sugars in cultivated tomatoes, Schilmiller said.

"Acyl sugars play a critical role in allowing wild tomatoes to fend off bugs," he said. "Because cultivated tomatoes were not bred for their acyl sugar amounts and quality, they have reduced levels compared to wild ones we do not eat. Understanding how they are made is the first step toward breeding cultivated tomatoes, and other plants in this family, to make them more resistant to herbivores."

Other Solanaceous crops that could benefit from this research include potatoes, peppers, eggplants and petunias.

In addition, this work shows that the newly discovered gene is active only in one specific cell of one trichome type.

"Not only will we be able to potentially engineer heartier tomatoes, but understanding how to specifically target trichome gene expression without affecting the fruit, we'll also be able to add other important chemicals for insect resistance and possibly other beneficial traits to the surface of the plants," Schilmiller said.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.

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18 Sep, 2012

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Hope on the horizon for asthma sufferers

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — A new study that identifies ways to reduce the factors that lead to an asthma attack gives hope to asthma sufferers. A UCSF researcher and his colleagues believe they have found a way to help asthma sufferers by impeding the two most significant biological responses that lead to an asthma attack.

Asthma, a respiratory disorder that causes shortness of breath, coughing and chest discomfort, results from changes in the airways that lead to the lungs. It affects 18.7 million adults and 7.0 million children in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a paper published September 17 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers from UCSF, Johns Hopkins University and Duke University demonstrate that a specific calcium-activated chloride channel holds valuable clues to reducing two biological processes that contribute to the severity of asthma. These channels regulate airway secretions and smooth muscle contraction, the two major factors that lead to an asthma attack.

"Maybe if we could inhibit both of these processes by blocking this one channel, then we could affect the two symptoms of asthma," said senior author Jason Rock, PhD, assistant professor at the UCSF Department of Anatomy.

Normally humans have few mucus-producing cells but asthma sufferers have an elevated number of these cells in the lining of the tubes that lead to the lungs. Asthmatics also have an abnormal amount of smooth muscle surrounding the airway tubes. Even the slightest stimulus can cause these to contract.

"The overabundance of mucus plugging the airways combined with hyper-contractility of the smooth muscle -- when the tubes get really small -- make it difficult to move air in or out," Rock said. "A lot of people equate that with breathing through a straw."

Rock and his colleagues focused on a calcium-activated chloride channel called TMEM16A. This channel secretes chloride ions in response to rises in intracellular calcium. It regulates a significant number of biological processes such as neuron firing, gastrointestinal activity and the secretion of sweat and tears.

The researchers wanted to prove that the channel was present in asthma. They studied human lung samples and looked for the mRNA (messenger RNA which carries information from the DNA to the sites of protein synthesis), and compared protein levels in asthmatic and non-asthmatic patients.

"We found that the level of this channel was increased in the mucus producing cells of asthmatics compared to non-asthmatics," Rock said. "And we also validated this in several models of asthma, including mouse models. That was step one."

Step two consisted of a screen to identify chemicals that inhibit the activity of TMEM16A. The authors identified three chemicals that inhibit the channel.

"We tested the ability of these chemicals to inhibit TMEM16A and other channels, and we found that they specifically block TMEM16A," Rock said. "It is great that we came across these molecules that were unknown previously since we can now try to get into clinical trials to benefit patients."

Then, the authors simulated asthma in a dish and blocked the channel to observe whether it affected mucus production. "Mucus produced by these cells wasn't secreted as efficiently," Rock said. "We also studied airway smooth muscles of human patients who had given their organs to science, and we could see that blocking TMEM16A inhibited their contraction response as well."

Rock is in the pre-clinical phase to test the safety and effectiveness of the blockers in animal studies. If that goes well, Phase One of clinical trials can begin.

"At present, I am optimistic," Rock said. "This could be a major advance to help asthma sufferers."

Rock is the senior author of the paper; co-authors include Fen Huang, Huanghe Yang, Makoto Kudo, Christian Peters, Prescott Woodruff, Owen Solberg, Matthew Donne, Xiaozhu Huang, Dean Sheppard, John Fahy, Paul Wolters, Walter Finkbeiner Yuh-Nung Jan, and Lily Jan of UCSF; Brigid Hogan of Duke University; and Hongkang Zhang, Meng Wu, and Min Li of Johns Hopkins University.

This study was supported by the Strategic Program for Asthma Research, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The original article was written by Leland Kim.

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Journal Reference:

1. Fen Huang, Hongkang Zhang, Meng Wu, Huanghe Yang, Makoto Kudo, Christian J. Peters, Prescott G. Woodruff, Owen D. Solberg, Matthew L. Donne, Xiaozhu Huang, Dean Sheppard, John V. Fahy, Paul J. Wolters, Brigid L. M. Hogan, Walter E. Finkbeiner, Min Li, Yuh-Nung Jan, Lily Yeh Jan, and Jason R. Rock. Calcium-activated chloride channel TMEM16A modulates mucin secretion and airway smooth muscle contraction. PNAS, September 17, 2012 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1214596109

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

18 Sep, 2012

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Antibiotic-resistant pathogens persist in antibiotic-free pigs

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — Researchers from North Carolina State University have found identical strains of antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter Coli (C. coli) in both antibiotic-free (ABF) and conventionally raised pigs. This finding may indicate that these antibiotic-resistant pathogens can persist and thrive in the environment, regardless of antimicrobial usage by pork producers.

Dr. Siddhartha Thakur, assistant professor of population health and pathobiology, had previously found that antibiotic-resistant C. coli, a leading cause of foodborne illness in the U.S., was present in both ABF-certified and conventionally raised pigs. The pathogen was present in both groups in all facilities from breeding to processing. Thakur wanted to determine whether the C. coli that he found in each group was genetically the same, in order to see if the presence or absence of antimicrobial usage had an effect on the pathogen's genetic makeup.

The rise of antibiotic-resistant pathogens like C. coli is a concern for the food animal industry. Some pig farms have switched to raising ABF pigs in an attempt to get away from the conditions that facilitated antibiotic resistance in the first place. The hope is that once the selection pressure -- in the form of antimicrobial use -- on C. coli to retain antibiotic resistance decreases, the pathogen will lose its resistance.

Over several years, Thakur and Ph.D. student Macarena Quintana-Hayashi collected thousands of samples from pigs and their surrounding environments, and performed a genetic analysis on 200 representative isolates of C. coli, to see if these strains were similar. They found that the Campylobacter populations in the two swine production systems (conventional and ABF) were in fact the same. Since the different pig populations never came into contact, the researchers concluded that the environment must be playing a large role in the continuing survival of antibiotic-resistant C. coli.

Thakur's findings appear online in PLoS One.

"In the case of ABF pigs, the environment plays an important role in their exposure to these resistant strains," Thakur says. "If the environment itself, and not the pig, is serving as a reservoir for C. coli, then we will most probably continue to find resistant bacterial populations, regardless of a producer's antimicrobial use."

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1. Macarena P. Quintana-Hayashi, Siddhartha Thakur. Phylogenetic Analysis Reveals Common Antimicrobial Resistant Campylobacter coli Population in Antimicrobial-Free (ABF) and Commercial Swine Systems. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (9): e44662 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044662

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18 Sep, 2012

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MetOp-B launches with NASA Goddard-developed instruments

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — A new European meteorological satellite soared into space today, Sept. 17, with five environmental instruments aboard that were developed by the Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. These instruments were developed under a reimbursable agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

"This launch is exciting not only because of the engineering accomplishment of building and launching complex instruments and satellites, but equally rewarding for the multinational cooperation and teamwork that got us there," remarked Karen Halterman, POES Project manager at Goddard.

The European Meteorological Operational (MetOp)-B spacecraft was aboard a Soyuz launch vehicle that launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. MetOp-B is the second of three European Space Agency (ESA) and European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) weather satellites.

The five NASA-developed, NOAA-provided instruments, include: the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU)-A1 and AMSU-A2; the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR); the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS); and the Space Environment Monitor (SEM).

The Goddard-developed instruments will gather data that includes remotely sensed vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature and moisture, and visible and infrared imagery of cloud cover and surface conditions such as vegetation, snow and ice. These are input into short-, medium- and long-range weather forecast models by the National Weather Service. The data are also used for climate models and to improve understanding of Earth's atmospheric and ocean processes. Measurements of charged particles in situ are used to determine levels of aurora activity and to monitor the intensities of energetic particles in Earth's radiation belts and during solar storms. NOAA provides the data from these instruments to users around the world.

Goddard's POES Project developed the same instruments for the previous NOAA environmental satellites, NOAA-15 through NOAA-19, and for MetOp-A, which was launched in 2006. These instruments have provided reliable global environmental measurements of Earth continuously since 1998.

The AMSU-A1 and AMSU-A2 instruments are cross-track scanning total power radiometers that measure scene radiance (temperature) in the microwave spectrum. The data from these instruments is used in conjunction with the HIRS to calculate the global atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles from Earth's surface to the upper stratosphere. The data are used to provide precipitation and surface measurements including snow cover, sea ice concentration, and soil moisture. AMSU data is even used to characterize the internal structure of hurricanes. The AMSU-A1 and AMSU-A2 were designed and manufactured by Aerojet (now Northrop Grumman Electronics Systems) in Azusa, Calif.

The AVHRR is a six-channel imaging radiometer that detects energy in the visible, near infrared and infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The instrument measures reflected solar (visible and near-IR) energy and radiated thermal energy from land, sea, clouds and the intervening atmosphere. Data from the AVHRR are used to produce numerous science products including imagery, cloud cover, snow and ice cover, sea surface temperatures, vegetation, smoke plumes, volcanic ash, aerosols and absorbed incoming solar radiation to Earth and outgoing radiation from Earth. It was developed and manufactured by ITT (now Exelis) in Ft. Wayne, Ind.

The HIRS was also developed and manufactured by ITT (now Exelis). The HIRS measures the atmosphere in 20 spectral regions and its data are used together with data from the AMSU-A1 and AMSU-A2 to produce global atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles. The HIRS data are also used to determine ocean surface temperatures, total atmospheric ozone levels, precipitable water, cloud height and coverage, surface radiance and outgoing long-wave radiation.

The Space Environment Monitor was developed and manufactured by Panametrics in Waltham, Mass., and is now maintained by ATC in Chelmsford, Mass. It measures the charged particle environment at satellite altitude including the intensities of energetic particles in Earth's radiation belts and the solar wind. The SEM contributes to space weather forecasting by providing warnings of solar wind occurrences that may impair long-range communications, cause damage to satellite circuits and solar panels, or cause changes in drag and magnetic torque on satellites.

"These crucial instruments will be used for weather forecasting and to help us all gain a better understanding of the Earth's systems," stated Gene Martin, POES Project instrument manager. "We have received outstanding support and dedication from our staff and the instrument contractors Northrop Grumman Electronics Systems, Exelis and Assurance Technology Corporation."

NOAA and EUMETSAT are partners in the European Initial Joint Polar System (IJPS) with the agreement to fly their partner's sensors on their own polar satellites and to exchange data from the POES and MetOp satellites. The MetOp satellites carry the sensors in the morning orbit, and NOAA's polar-orbiting environmental satellites, which are the U.S. contribution to the IJPS agreement, circle Earth in the afternoon orbit. NASA's POES project manages the development, testing and integration of the five U.S. instruments for the MetOp satellites under a reimbursable agreement with NOAA.

Goddard worked closely with NOAA and a sizeable international team throughout the multiyear effort to prepare for the MetOp-B launch. The Goddard instrument team delivered the instruments to Astrium in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and supported their integration into the MetOp-B Payload Module. Thermal vacuum testing of the Payload Module was conducted at ESA's Technical Center in Noordwijk, Holland. The Payload Module was integrated with the spacecraft bus in Toulouse, France. The spacecraft arrived in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, in March 2012 and was readied for launch.

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18 Sep, 2012

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Your body doesn't lie: People ignore political ads of candidates they oppose

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — A recent study examined people's bodily responses while watching presidential campaign ads -- and discovered another way that people avoid political information that challenges their beliefs.

In the last days of the 2008 campaign, researchers had people watch a variety of actual ads for Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his Democratic rival Barack Obama while the viewers' heart rates, skin conductance and activation of facial muscles were monitored.

The results showed that partisan participants reacted strongly to ads featuring their favored candidate, but barely responded to ads featuring the rival candidate.

In comparison, people who didn't favor one candidate over the other showed similar physiological response patterns and intensity to ads for both Obama and McCain.

This suggests that partisan participants weren't really paying attention to the ads featuring the candidate they opposed even as they watched them, said Zheng Wang, lead author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University.

"If people are exposed to information in ads regarding a candidate they oppose, they respond by basically tuning out," Wang said.

"A lot of research has shown that, behaviorally, we tend to selectively expose ourselves to information that reinforces our existing opinions. But this study further suggests that even when exposed to information, our attention to what is presented is highly selective, as well," she said.

Wang co-authored the study with Alyssa Morey, a graduate student in communication at Ohio State, and Jatin Srivastava, an assistant professor at Ohio University. Their results appear in a recent issue of the journal Communication Research.

The study involved 15 college students who came to Wang's laboratory in October 2008. They were hooked up with electrodes that measured four physiological responses: heart rate, skin conductance (a way to measure sweating, which is related to how stimulated and alert the person is), and muscle movements around the cheekbone and around the eyebrows.

Research has shown that these physiological responses, taken together, indicate emotional responses and attention levels, Wang said.

While hooked up to the electrodes, each participant watched 12 campaign ads -- six for Obama and six for McCain -- while their physiological reactions were recorded.

After watching the ads, the students filled out measures of how positively and negatively they regarded Obama and McCain in general.

The physiological measures used in the study revealed how much the viewers were paying attention and how they were reacting emotionally to ad content that was positive, negative, more emotionally arousing and less emotionally arousing.

For example, a lower heart rate suggests that the viewer is taking in information and paying more attention to the ad, while a higher heart rate suggests the viewer is not focused on the ads. The muscles in the face also indicate how much attentional effort a person is making.

In one key analysis of the study, the researchers used what they called a dynamical feedback model to see how the different ad factors interacted with the viewers' partisan leanings to influence their physiological reactions over time.

"At any one time, ad viewers' reactions are affected not just by what they are seeing at that exact moment, but also by what came before in the ad," Wang said. "The dynamical feedback model puts it all together to see how people react in a real-time, real-world way."

For supporters of a particular candidate, the feedback model suggests that the positive feelings that viewers have are amplified as they watch an ad for their candidate, Wang said. But for opponents, the feedback effects actually seem to decrease their response over time as they watch the ad -- in essence, they tune out, she said.

"When we integrate all of the ad message inputs into this dynamical system of the viewer's mind, we find the response of supporters is intensified, while the opponents become nonresponsive," she said.

The results also suggest that it isn't easy to predict how simple ad categories -- such as positive ads versus negative ones -- will affect viewers.

"The ad message is only part of the story because it interacts with how individuals process the ad," she said.

"In addition, one negative ad is very different from another negative ad, in terms of their content dynamics and how people react over time. And a 60-second version of an ad can have quite different effects from a 30-second version of the same ad. How people react to ads is a very complex and dynamic process."

The study was partially supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ohio State University. The original article was written by Jeff Grabmeier.

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Journal Reference:

1. Z. Wang, A. C. Morey, J. Srivastava. Motivated Selective Attention During Political Ad Processing: The Dynamic Interplay Between Emotional Ad Content and Candidate Evaluation. Communication Research, 2012; DOI: 10.1177/0093650212441793

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18 Sep, 2012

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About half of adults say schools should take action when kids bully with social isolation

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — U.S. adults repeatedly rate bullying as a major health problem for U.S. children. But a new poll from the University of Michigan shows adults have different views about what bullying behaviors should prompt schools to take action.

The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health recently asked a nationwide sample of adults what behaviors should be considered bullying and what behaviors should spur school officials to intervene.

The vast majority of adults (95 percent) say schools should take action if a student makes another student afraid for his/her physical safety. Eighty-one percent said schools should intervene when someone humiliates or embarrasses another student and 76 percent call for intervention when someone spreads rumors.

But only 56 percent said isolating a student socially should prompt school intervention.

"The key finding from this poll is that adults don't see behaviors across the bullying spectrum as equivalent," says Matthew M. Davis M.D., M.A.P.P., director of the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

"This is concerning because isolating a student socially is considered to be a form of bullying, and a dangerous one," says Davis, associate professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at the U-M Medical School and associate professor of public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

"Isolating a student socially may be linked to episodes of school violence and also teen suicide."

Since year 2000, 46 states have passed laws related to bullying and 45 of them require schools to have bullying policies. But not all states have the same definition of what constitutes bullying, and the poll indicates that adults don't agree on this either.

In the poll, nearly all adults (90 percent) say threatening another student's physical safety is bullying and 62 percent also say embarrassing or humiliating a student is definitely bullying.

But just 59 percent say spreading rumors about a student is bullying and only 48 percent say isolating a student socially should be considered bullying.

Since the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, and with subsequent school shootings and teen suicides linked to bullying, public concern about bullying has grown considerably in the U.S. In the last several years of the Poll's 'Top 10' list of greatest child health concerns, bullying has been rated by the public as a major problem for kids. The latest national data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 2011, reported by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, indicate that 20% of high school students report that they have been the victims of bullying.

"As school starts, this is the perfect time of year to have conversations about how each school can find solutions to the problems of bullying and address this important childhood health problem," says Davis.

Full report: http://mottnpch.org/reports-surveys/bullying-when-should-schools-take-action

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18 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/L3u4mFa1aRc/120917132343.htm
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'Occupy' movement's tumultuous year yields rich research data

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement marks its one year anniversary on Sept. 17 -- or, as Occupiers call it, S-17. OWS brought its 99 percent slogan to Wall Street in an effort to show the public's frustration with the elite one percent making up the financial nucleus of the country. Soon, clashes with police and local governments erupted as tolerance and respect for the law eroded and both police and Occupiers made missteps. Ultimately, Occupiers were evicted from their camps sometimes with excessive force.

American University's Ed Maguire, professor and chair in the Department of Justice, Law & Society (JLS) in the School of Public Affairs, is a criminologist interested in how the police and legal authorities handle protestors. OWS and Occupy D.C. provided a real opportunity to observe protestors and police in action.

"Our class discussions kept returning to the Occupy movement where we were examining issues related to procedural justice, legitimacy, and fairness of authority," recalls Maguire explaining, "The Occupy Movement provided a nice laboratory to look at interactions between the police and protestors. It occurred to us that we were observing phenomena that are making history so we designed a study examining the way protestors perceive police and legal authority."

What encourages people to obey the law? JLS researchers survey Occupiers

American University JLS doctoral students surveyed more than 300 OWS participants during the six month anniversary in Manhattan's Zucotti Park. Additionally, they surveyed Occupiers in Washington, D.C., where they found there is a strong statistical relationship between people's willingness to use violence against the police and the extent to which participants view the police as having behaved in fair ways towards Occupiers.

With Maguire's network of academic colleagues across the country, additional Occupy sites were surveyed through research partnerships. Sam Houston State University carried out surveys in Houston. San Francisco State University in conjunction with University of California Berkeley carried out surveys in Oakland. The survey data were processed by Arizona State University's Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety. The research results are expected to be published in 2013.

Under what conditions are people willing to defer to authority and obey the law?

The aim of the study is to identify the best practices law enforcement can use to handle protestors where liberties are respected and security can be maintained. In the post 9/11 world, American police have geared up to face threats. But Maguire cautions, "There is a steady stream of police research that concludes police are becoming significantly more paramilitary in nature."

As the research reveals most Occupiers tend to be non-violent. However, Maguire points out, "There is a non-trivial subset of people who seem very willing to break the law and use violence to achieve social change. In some places a third of Occupiers say they are willing to use violence against the police."

When Zucotti Park was cleared, the JLS research team observed police using force that was "disturbing" highlighting the tension between liberty and security. "When authority figures are seen by subordinates to break the law or behave in procedurally unjust or unfair ways, it is thought those behaviors will undermine people's deference to the law and willingness to obey legal authorities," says Maguire. The police enter these highly charged and emotional protests with the aim to maintain security but in some cases abuses occur which amount to the trampling of peaceful protestors' civil rights and Constitutional rights. "While relationships between police and protesters in some sites were routinely negative, some agencies relied on community policing practices to ensure community safety while preserving protesters' civil liberties," Maguire points out.

Department of Justice $400,000 grant awarded to continue research

Maguire stresses he did not only want to study the Occupy movement from the perspective of the Occupiers. As an academic researcher, he is neither an activist for the Occupiers nor an advocate for the police. Part one of his research focused on the Occupiers perspective. For Part two, Maguire received a $400,000 grant from the Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to examine how U.S. police agencies have responded to the Occupy movement.

The research grant will include interviewing police, prosecutors, and Occupiers in eight cities throughout the country. The methodology will rely on one week site visits and interviews to gather information. Site visits will be followed up by focus groups in Washington with representatives from the eight agencies visited. The final product of the research will be a guidebook for U.S. agencies with best practices for policing social and protest movements. Along the way, a series of academic articles will also be produced.

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18 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/JcyuuAqk17k/120917124353.htm
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Protecting ecosystems brings benefits to society

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — Ecosystems are essential to our well-being and prosperity as they provide us with food, clean air and fresh water. Ecosystems also represent an exceptional source of outdoor recreation opportunities. The functions performed by ecosystems that increase our well-being are called ecosystem services. The PEER Research on EcoSystem Services (PRESS) initiative describes how different EU policies can help to increase the services and benefits provided by ecosystems, and calls for the inclusion of the ecosystem services approach into European policy measures affecting the use or state of natural resources.

The results of this research initiative were presented in Brussels on 13 September to an international panel of experts which helps DG Environment of the European Commission with the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020. The report prepared to describe these results outlines a strategy which aims to promote a better understanding of how ecosystems and biodiversity provide essential benefits to our society. Launched in 2010, the PRESS initiative demonstrated how European researchers, including social scientists, economists, and ecologists, can combine their expertise to map and assess the natural, social and economic values of ecosystems services.

The first phase of the study, which was concluded in September 2011 with the publication of a first PRESS report, demonstrated methodologies to map the role of ecosystems as providers of clean water and recreation and investigated how ecosystem services can be mainstreamed into agriculture, fisheries or forestry policies. The second and final phase of the study consisted of case studies carried out on pollination, recreation and water purification to explore how assessment methods to measure and map ecosystem services might be developed at multiple spatial scales.

A spatial assessment of ecosystem services in Europe: Methods, case studies and policy analysis -- phase 2. Synthesis report is intended to convey four main policy messages:

• The capacity of wetlands, rivers, streams and lakes to remove or immobilize pollutants is essential to the provision of clean water for multiple uses and decreases costs of wastewater treatment based on technological solutions only. New proposals of the European Commission to green the Common Agricultural Policy and to restore wetland ecosystems are predicted to have positive effects on water purification services, thereby improving water quality and increasing the economic benefits to society.

• Outdoor recreation services are one of the most immediate perceived benefits of ecosystems to people. The PRESS study presents evidence of high visitation rates to natural areas, in particular forests. Surveys show that citizens are willing to pay for continued access to forest ecosystems for recreation purposes. On a national scale, the value of forests for recreation may be in a range of billions of Euros. This value increases when we consider the avoided cost for health care due to the restorative and stress reduction capacity of recreational activities. Green urban areas such as city parks also have high recreational potential. The PRESS study report describes spatial methods to identify where investments in green urban areas reach their highest potential.

• Insects such as bees and bumblebees are key actors in providing pollination services to maintain Europe's crop production, in particular of fruit and vegetables. High resolution data of forests and riparian areas were used to map the ecosystems in which bees and bumblebees build nests and find nectar-carrying flowers. Such information is important to convince farmers to help manage and protect these habitats as they increase their agricultural output.

• The mapping, assessment and valuation of ecosystem services are necessary but not sufficient steps in achieving the ecosystem services targets of the EU Biodiversity Strategy. We need to develop a thorough understanding of how we determine the levels of the various ecosystem services and the impacts of current policies on ecosystems.

Sound and cost-effective management of ecosystems should also take into account those EU policies that directly and indirectly influence ecosystems and the services they provide, e.g. policies designed to bring about social and economic changes, such as those on international trade, agriculture, land use, and nature conservation.

Including the ecosystem services concept in all social and economic policies would allow for a systematic review of their impacts on services, beyond conventional environmental assessments. The PRESS initiative recommends that new policies should be flexible in design and continuously monitored in order to be able to react and adapt to new circumstances, and that baseline levels and goals should be quantified in order to be able to measure progress. It calls for the broad collaboration of stakeholders at all levels, including researchers, policy makers, and citizens.

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18 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/DQ1P3Z743ZY/120917132148.htm
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