Studies and Analyses

Children on school buses collectively inhale as much or more exhaust emitted from those buses as does the rest of the city’s population, according to a new analysis by researchers at the University of California.

The results highlight the problem of “self-pollution,” or exhaust from the vehicle leaking into the cabin, particularly among older buses. This also is the first study to specifically look at how much exhaust is breathed in on school buses. “Although environmental regu

A new brain imaging study of recently diagnosed schizophrenia patients has found, for the first time, that the loss of gray matter typically experienced by patients can be prevented by one of the new atypical antipsychotic drugs, olanzapine, but not by haloperidol, an older, conventional drug. The study, published in today’s Archives of General Psychiatry, also confirmed previous studies that show patients who experience less brain loss do better clinically.

“This is a really

At the request of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), a series of surveys on the labour market and the informal sector were performed in 2001 – 2003, in seven countries of this region. They were conducted by the national statistical institutes under the joint guidance of experts from AFRISTAT and IRD economists (1 ). The first results provide accurate, original and homogeneous figures on the employment market and the informal sector in the capital city of each country. While

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the major killers in Western societies. Recently, mutations in a gene called MEF2A on chromosome 15 were reported to be causative of premature CAD. The authors of the report failed to find the mutation in a large number of control individuals and thus concluded that the MEF2A mutation was the cause of the CAD. Only a single family was observed to carry the putative mutation, however.

A new study appearing in the April 1 print issue of The Journal o

In a study believed to have implications for children and adults suffering from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, rat pups given alcohol during a period of rapid brain development demonstrated significant changes in circadian or 24-hour rhythms as adults. The alcohol dosage was the equivalent of several nights of binge drinking on the part of a pregnant woman, and it was given at a time during rat brain development (shortly after birth) equivalent to the third trimester of human fetal development.

A new study in mice suggests that, in certain cases, stress may enhance the body’s ability to fight the flu.

Short bouts of intense social stress improved the ability in the mice to recover from the flu. The stress apparently did so by substantially boosting the production of specialized immune cells that fought the virus.

“Stressed mice had a stronger immune response and were able to fight off the infection faster,” said Jacqueline Wiesehan, a study co-author and a