Other highlights of the March 17 issue of JNCI
...tigators use another test--one that determines the probability of no true association between a genetic variant and a disease, given a statistically significant association--to evaluate whether a finding is noteworthy. The authors conclude that this alternative approach, the false positive report probability, he...Educational program increases some safety behaviors for older drivers
...need the participants to know that there is a high probability that the program will have limited or no effect on crash risk," said Dr. Owsley. "There's no evidence that these programs make participants safer drivers." "I would not recommend stopping driving just because an older adult has a chronic disease ...Faulty DNA replication linked to neurological diseases
...lly, even if you are more or less okay, there is a probability that your kids will be sick and a still higher probability that your grandkids will be even sicker." To study how and why the inherited sequence expands so rap...Can we keep the cap on transgene escape?
...od, Ives, and Andow mathematically analyze how the probability of escape within any given period of time depends ...e escape time is fairly long, there is substantial probability of escape much sooner. Even with a leakage parameter as small as one in a thousand, the probability...Despite confinement, crop genes can spread fast to wild
...in the March issue of Ecology Letters, show a high probability that leakage can occur much sooner than expected. ...tors, the researchers not only could calculate the probability of genes spreading to wild populations, but also the probability that they will be passed on to futu...Exposure to low-level magnetic fields causes DNA damage in rat brain cells, researchers find
...des of the helix are broken, and, as a result, the probability of a mutation is substantially higher. Lai and Singh found both single and double strand breaks in the exposed brain cells. Lai said people shouldn't be overly alarmed by his research results. But they do need to be aware of the possibility tha...Scientists, lawyers discuss decision-making amid uncertainty
...good for you" viewpoints that represent the lowest probability cases. In these situations, "the media and political debates are a shrill sideshow" that steal attention from the scientific consensus, he says. But Schneider doesn't just point his finger at the media. "Scientists invite such trouble unwittingly," h...Bighorn sheep threatened by climate change
...t, there is no significant increase in the average probability of extinction. However, in scenarios that predict ...it and a 12 percent decrease in precipitation, the probability of extinction increases significantly from a baseline of 20 percent to 30 percent in the next 60 yea...New species of desert shrew found in southern Arizona
...r. Cockrum," Baker added. "I'm really pleased. The probability of finding an undescribed species of mammal that lives in Arizona is very low. When I think about this, I grin. I grin a lot."...Human migration tracked in Stanford computer simulation
...eviously unoccupied, the mutated person had a high probability of reproducing and passing along the mutation. The mutation itself remained most common in the migratory wave front, a situation Cavalli-Sforza refers to as "surfing" the migratory wave. Over the course of 64,000 simulations, the group came up with a...Hopkins researchers identify transplantation antigens among Sioux Indians
...g. The findings show that there is a much higher probability of finding a really good organ match among other Native Americans than among other racial/ethnic groups. Certain Asian populations share some of the same HLA proteins as the Sioux and also could be good donor choices." For the study, the resear...Peregrine falcons may face new environmental threat
... that are much more bioavailable." There is a high probability that peregrine falcons in North America could face a similar risk from deca exposure, de Wit notes. "According to statistics from 1999, 24,300 tons of deca were used in the Americas, compared to only 7,500 tons in Europe," de Wit says. The Swedish So...Novel therapies show promise against myeloid leukemia
...e effect of increasing the dose of imatinib on the probability of attaining a major or complete response is being analyzed," said Brian Druker, M.D., of the Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and lead author of the study. "We hope to confirm the reliability...Whites, African-Americans better rate medical care experiences when seeing same-race physicians
...ents seeing same-race physicians also had a higher probability of saying they were satisfied with the visit and that they would recommend the physician to a friend. Members of other ethnic groups were not included in this study because their representation in the clinical sites visited was too small, Cooper said...A human hormone, combined with a full stomach, offers clues for understanding our food intake
...ogether. In all analyses of intake and duration, a probability of 0.05 was deemed statistically significant. The Bonferroni procedure was used for the questionnaires to adjust the significance level of the questionnaire data. Results Highlights of the results included the following observations: The combi...Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, November 2003
...with high beam current to compensate for the lower probability for tunneling. Shapira and Liang's work, which was published in the Oct. 15 (Volume 91, No. 15) issue of Physical Review Letters, represents another step in the quest for synthesizing super heavy elements. This knowledge is critical to understanding ...It's feast or famine: Predators may drive lemming cycles, Science researchers say
...mplex systems. But that certainly doesn't decrease probability that in some other complex system predators would also be very important," Hanski said. In a related "Perspective" article that accompanies the study, Peter Hudson and Ottar Bjrnstad of Pennsylvania State University write that the new findings repres...Scientists estimate risk of raven predation on desert tortoises
...aven abundance at the sampling points. Mapping the probability of attack using geographic information systems, they were able to map what areas were at most risk and what areas were at least risk of raven predation across the study area. They found that the riskiest areas for young tortoises a 100 percent pred...Telltale prostate cancer protein key to breast cancer, too
...fter surgery, lower overall survival, and a higher probability of death due to breast cancer." At the end of 10 years, about 25 percent of the patients with high EZH2 levels were alive, while 59 percent of those with low levels were still living. In addition to the studies of human breast cancer tissue, the res...Study at TSRI links dozens of proteins to several rare muscle and nerve degeneration diseases
...d that 23 of these proteins are linked with strong probability to 14 rare muscle-wasting diseases such as congenital muscular dystrophy, Limb-Girdle muscular dystrophy, and spinal muscular atrophy, and several forms of the neurodegenerative Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Knowing the proteins that may cause or co...