news 2012

A new research report sheds fresh light on the processes in the brain that can lead to suicide. In tests on patients who have previously tried to take their own lives, researchers have measured high levels of quinolinic acid, a substance that strengthens glutamate signalling in the brain. Quinolinic acid is formed in the brain as a by-product of inflammation.

Adults whose parents struggled with addiction, unemployment and divorce are 10 times more likely to have been victims of childhood physical abuse, says a new study from the University of Toronto. More than one-third of adults who grew up in homes where all three risk factors were present reported they had been physically abused by someone close to them while under the age of 18 and still living at home, said researchers at U of T's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work.

Teenagers in physically or psychologically aggressive dating relationships are more than twice as likely to repeat such damaging relationships as adults and report increased substance use and suicidal feelings years later, compared with teens with healthy dating experiences, reports a new Cornell study.

ANN ARBOR-The debate about immigration policies is shaped primarily by how one group feels about another-not solely based on economic concerns, according to a new University of Michigan study. White Americans' feelings about Latinos, but not other groups, powerfully drive their support or opposition to immigration policies.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) - deliberately harming one's body through such acts as cutting, burning or biting - is a primary risk factor for future suicide in teens and young adults, finds a new longitudinal study of college students led by a Cornell mental health researcher. The paper, published online Dec.

Improving water supplies in rural African villages may have negative knock-on effects and contribute to increased poverty, new research published today [14 November] has found. Rural development initiatives across the developing world are designed to improve community wellbeing and livelihoods but a study of Ethiopian villages by researchers at the Universities of Bristol and Addis Ababa in Africa has shown that this can lead to unforeseen consequences caused by an increase in the birth rate in the absence of family planning.

Stanford Report, November 2, 2012 Anti-tax advocates argue that millionaires will flee from states that raise taxes on their highest earners. But a study by Stanford and Princeton researchers shows no evidence of millionaire migration in response to recent tax rate changes. Other factors, such as personal and business, seem to weigh more heavily in deciding where to live.

Researchers investigating the long-term consequences of child abuse have identified some protective factors that can improve the health of victims during their adulthood. Men and women in their 30s who had been abused or neglected as children reported worse mental and physical health than their non-abused peers.

Posted under: News Releases , Politics and Government , Research , Social Science An online study of eligible voters around the country revealed that the preference for whites over blacks is the strongest in the least politically-partisan voters. Among these voters, race biases against Barack Obama could produce as much as a 20 percent gap in the popular vote in a contest that would otherwise be equal.

Grandparents, an increasingly important source of child care in the United States, vary greatly in the kind of care they provide, depending on their age, resources, and the needs of their children, research at the University of Chicago shows. A new UChicago study, based on a National Institute on Aging survey, shows that 60 percent of grandparents provided some care for their grandchildren during a 10-year period, and 70 percent of those who did provided care for two years or more.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.-Children exposed to ethnic and political violence in the Middle East are more aggressive than other children, a new study shows. And the younger children are, the more strongly they are affected, in a "chain of violence" that goes from political and ethnic strife, to violence in communities, schools, and families, and ends with their own aggressive behavior.

Since 2004, nearly 1.9 million East Europeans have come to the UK1 . New research, led by academics at the University of Bristol, has examined how current East European migration to the UK has been racialised in immigration policy and tabloid journalism, providing the first insights into how racism is affecting migrants' experiences of work and life in the UK.

Research at the University of Liverpool has found that more than 1,000 people committed suicide due to the 2008-2010 economic recession in the UK. Suicides began to rise in the UK in 2008 following 20 years of decline - figures rose 8% among men and 9% among women in 2008, compared to 2007. And even though suicides did begin to fall in 2010 figures were still above the 2007 averages.

Standard tools used to predict how likely an offender is to commit further offences are not sufficiently accurate to inform sentencing and release decisions on their own, an Oxford-led study suggests. Risk assessment tools are widely used in psychiatric hospitals and criminal justice systems around the world to help predict violent behaviour.

Similar women's and men's Olympic sports might look alike on television but how those competitions - and their competitors - are portrayed during broadcasts often differs significantly, according to a study by researchers at Penn State and Elizabethtown College. Researchers found women were often discussed positively as role models during the Olympics.

Women whose claims for asylum includes allegations that they have been raped need greater assurance their cases are being taken seriously, a study states. Researchers found that several of the problems that can hamper the fair treatment of women's rape allegations within the criminal justice system may also be present, and sometimes amplified, when made as part of women's asylum claims.

New research examining how armed groups formed in Libya to topple Colonel Muammar Gaddafi says the revolutionary brigades are still a cohesive military force. The study highlights the emergence of the National Shield, which it calls an 'army-in-waiting'. The research suggests there is a power struggle over the rebuilding of the Libyan National Army as revolutionary commanders still distrust much of the leadership of the Libyan National Army and the Ministry of Defence who ran the war against them.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.-Patients' mental and physical challenges, as well as family conflict, heighten caregivers' stress when they assist their ailing parents, a new University of Michigan study found. In addition, sons experience greater family conflict when taking care of the elder parent than daughters, U-M researchers said.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Children who are exposed to community violence continue to exhibit a physical stress response up to a year after the exposure, suggesting that exposure to violence may have long-term negative health consequences, according researchers at Penn State and University College London.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Behavioral problems in preschoolers may mirror the intensity and frequency of their parents' marital conflict and signal possible child maltreatment, suggests a new study co-written by Jun Sung Hong, a doctoral candidate in the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois, and researchers at Ewha Womans University and Duksung Women's University, both in Seoul, South Korea.