Connecting Research and Experts with Journalists

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Dietary glycemic index may be an independent and modifiable risk factor for age-related macular degeneration, according to researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and colleagues. The type and quality of carbohydate may be more significant than quantity, and researchers examined dietary glycemic index as it related to age-related macular degeneration.

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Sarah Booth, Friedman School at Tufts, and colleagues assessed vitamin K content of more than 500 commonly-consumed foods and reported on two major types of vitamin K not commonly studied, including one that is formed during hydrogenation. Research suggests that vitamin K has possible links to osteoarthritis and coronary heart disease.

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Bioengineers at Tufts University have used a novel genetic engineering strategy to design and develop a new protein that combines for the first time the toughness of spider silk with the intricate structure of silica. The resulting nanocomposites could be used in bone repair and regeneration or other medical and industrial applications.

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While a great deal of research has been conducted on child and adult malnutrition in developing countries, there are only a handful of studies on adolescent malnutrition. Researchers address the problems of adolescent malnutrition in developing countries and evaluate seminal efforts undertaken by Bangladesh and Tanzania to improve the health of adolescents.

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Increasing international trade of livestock is a potentially useful poverty reduction strategy in developing nations. Africa-based researchers analyze, propose and implement strategies for improving livestock health, trade, and human livelihoods.

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The means by which tobacco promotes the development of oral cancer is unknown. Researchers investigated whether nutritional factors are involved and identified complex relationships among oral cancer, smoking, and two groups of nutrients: folates and select antioxidants.

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Hormonal changes occurring in female rats after they give birth to and nurse their offspring may cause long-term endocrine and neuroendocrine changes that help produce better mothering skills with each pregnancy and reduce the mother's anxiety levels as she matures, according to scientists at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and the University of Otago Medical School.

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In an epidemiological study, researchers analyzed dietary questionnaires and bone mineral density measurements of more than 2,500 people in the Framingham Osteoporosis Study and found that cola consumption was associated with lower bone mineral density at three different hip sites of older women.

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Research shows that a variant of the APOA5 gene was associated with higher triglyceride levels in people whose omega-6 fatty acid consumption was 6% or more. In a second study, variants of the gene were also associated with a surrogate measure of atherosclerosis, but only in people who were obese.

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New research shows that whites often avoid using race to describe other people, particularly in interactions with blacks. However further research reveals that such efforts to appear colorblind and unprejudiced are associated with less-friendly nonverbal behaviors. "By their nonverbal behavior alone, the whites who are trying to appear colorblind to impress their black partners ironically come across as distant and unfriendly," said Samuel R. Sommers, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Tufts University.