USA Universities Result

Tuesday 22 March 2016

Blood Test Might One Day Help Spot Migraines

Researchers report that measuring levels of certain fats in the bloodstream might one day help spot women at high risk for migraines.

“While more research is needed to confirm these initial findings, the possibility of discovering a new biomarker for migraine is exciting,” wrote study author Dr. B. Lee Peterlin, associate professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

In the study, the researchers assessed 52 women with episodic migraine (average of nearly six migraines a month) and 36 women who did not have the debilitating headaches. Blood samples from the women were checked for fats called ceramides, which help regulate energy and brain inflammation.

Women with episodic migraines had lower levels of ceramides than those who did not have headaches. Every standard deviation increase in ceramide levels was associated with about a 92 percent lower risk of migraine.

Conversely, the researchers found that two other types of fats were associated with a 2.5 times greater risk of migraine with every standard deviation increase in their levels.

The researchers also tested the blood of a random sample of 14 of the participants and, based on these blood fat levels, correctly identified which women had migraines and which women did not.

The findings were published online Sept. 9 in the journal Neurology.

In an editorial accompanying the study, Dr. Karl Ekbom, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, wrote, “This study is a very important contribution to our understanding of the underpinnings of migraine and may have wide-ranging effects in diagnosing and treating migraine if the results are replicated in further studies.”

Do Genes Link Headaches, Irritable Bowel Syndrome?

TUESDAY, Feb. 23, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Genetic links may exist between irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and migraine and tension-type headaches, researchers report.

“Since headache and irritable bowel syndrome are such common conditions, and causes for both are unknown, discovering a possible link that could shed light on shared genetics of the conditions is encouraging,” study author Dr. Derya Uluduz said in a news release from the American Academy of Neurology.

The findings might help point to new treatments for all of the disorders, suggested Uluduz, of Istanbul University in Turkey, and colleagues.

The study included 107 people with migraine, 53 with tension-type headache, 107 with IBS and 53 without any of the conditions.

People with migraine were about twice as likely as those with tension headache to also have IBS — 54 percent versus 28 percent, respectively. Of the people with IBS, 38 also had migraine and 24 also had tension headache, the investigators found.

The researchers then focused on genetics, in particular, the serotonin transporter gene and the serotonin receptor 2A gene. The study authors found that people with IBS, migraine or tension headache had at least one gene that differed from those of people without any of the disorders.

The findings were released online Feb. 23, and are scheduled for presentation in April at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting, in Vancouver, Canada. The data and conclusions should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

“Further studies are needed to explore this possible link,” Uluduz said in the news release. “Discovering shared genes may lead to more future treatment strategies for these chronic conditions.”

IBS — which causes symptoms such as abdominal pain, cramping, a bloated feeling, gas, diarrhea or constipation — is the most common gastrointestinal disorder worldwide, the researchers said. It affects as many as 45 million Americans. The exact cause of the chronic condition is unknown and many people go undiagnosed.

Severe Migraines May Hint at Higher Risk of Pregnancy, Childbirth Problems

FRIDAY, March 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Severe migraines are associated with an increased risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth, especially among older women, new research suggests.

“The results of this study were of particular interest because more than half of the pregnant women with migraine experienced some type of adverse birth outcome, suggesting that these pregnancies should be considered high risk,” study author Dr. Matthew Robbins, said in a Montefiore Medical Center news release.

Robbins is director of inpatient services at Montefiore Headache Center. He’s also chief of neurology at the Jack D. Weiler Hospital of Montefiore in New York City.

It’s important to note that the study only found a link between women with severe migraines and pregnancy and delivery complications. The study wasn’t designed to prove that having or treating migraines caused these problems.

The study included 90 women. All of the women sought emergency medical care for severe migraines while pregnant.

About 20 percent of the women had the pregnancy complication preeclampsia, the study found. Women with preeclampsia have dangerously high blood pressure. About 8 percent of women in the general population have this complication, the researchers said.

Nearly 30 percent of the women in the study had preterm delivery. About 10 percent of women in the general population normally have a preterm delivery, according to the study. Nineteen percent of the women with migraines had low-birth weight babies, the study showed. That compares to a rate of 8 percent among women without migraines.

Women aged 35 and older with severe migraines were seven times more likely to have these complications than women in the general population.

Sixty-two percent of the women in the study received a combination of pills and intravenous drugs to treat their migraines. The researchers said it’s not clear if these medications played a role in the pregnancy and birth complications.

“These findings need to be replicated with a larger number of women, including those who have migraine that does not manifest with severe attacks during pregnancy,” Robbins added.

The study is to be presented in April at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting, in Washington, D.C. Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until they’ve been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Johns Hopkins University

Introduction
The Johns Hopkins University (commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, the university was named after its first benefactor, the American entrepreneur, abolitionist, and philanthropist Johns Hopkins. His $7 million bequest—of which half financed the establishment of The Johns Hopkins Hospital—was the largest philanthropic gift in the history of the United States at the time. Daniel Coit Gilman, who was inaugurated as the institution's first president on February 22, 1876, led the university to revolutionize higher education in the U.S. by integrating teaching and research. Adopting the concept of a graduate school from Germany's ancient Heidelberg University, Johns Hopkins University is considered the first research university in the United States.

Johns Hopkins is organized into ten divisions on campuses in Maryland and Washington, D.C. with international centers in Italy, China, and Singapore. The two undergraduate divisions, the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering, are located on the Homewood campus in Baltimore's Charles Village neighborhood. The medical school, the nursing school, and the Bloomberg School of Public Health are located on the Medical Institutions campus in East Baltimore. The university also consists of the Peabody Institute, the Applied Physics Laboratory, the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, the education school, the Carey Business School, and various other facilities.

A founding member of the American Association of Universities, Johns Hopkins has been considered one of the world’s top universities throughout its history. The University stands among the top 10 in US News' Best National Universities Rankings and top 20 on a number of international league tables. Over the course of almost 140 years, thirty-six Nobel laureates have been affiliated with Johns Hopkins. Founded in 1883, the Blue Jays men’s lacrosse team has captured 44 national titles and joined the Big Ten Conference as an affiliate member in 2014.

The first name of philanthropist Johns Hopkins is the surname of his great-grandmother, Margaret Johns, who married Gerard Hopkins. They named their son Johns Hopkins, who named his own son Samuel Hopkins. Samuel named one of his sons after his father and that son would be the university's benefactor. Milton Eisenhower, a former university president, once spoke at a convention in Pittsburgh where the Master of Ceremonies introduced him as "President of John Hopkins." Eisenhower retorted that he was "glad to be here in Pittburgh."

The original board opted for an entirely novel university model dedicated to the discovery of knowledge at an advanced level, extending that of contemporary Germany. Building on the German education model of Alexander von Humboldt, it became dedicated to research. Johns Hopkins thereby became the model of the modern research university in the United States. Its success eventually shifted higher education in the United States from a focus on teaching revealed and/or applied knowledge to the scientific discovery of new knowledge.
Campus
The first campus was located on Howard Street. Eventually, they relocated to Homewood, in northern Baltimore, the estate of Charles Carroll, son of the oldest surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. Carroll's Homewood House is considered one of the finest examples of Federal residential architecture. The estate then came to the Wyman family, which participated in making it the park-like main campus of the schools of arts and sciences and engineering at the start of the 20th century. Most of its architecture was modeled after the Federal style of Homewood House. Homewood House is preserved as a museum. Most undergraduate programs are on this campus.

Collectively known as Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions (JHMI) campus, the East Baltimore facility occupies several city blocks spreading from the Johns Hopkins Hospital trademark dome.

School of Medicine: The School of Medicine is widely regarded as one of the best medical schools and biomedical research institutes in the world.
Bloomberg School of Public Health: The Bloomberg School was founded in 1916, the world's first and largest public health school. It has consistently been ranked first in its field.
School of Nursing: The School of Nursing is one of America's oldest and pre-eminent schools for nursing education. It has consistently ranked first in the nation.
Carey Business School: The Carey Business School was established in 2007, incorporating divisions of the former School of Professional Studies in Business and Education. It was originally located on Charles Street, but relocated to the Legg Mason building in Harbor East in 2011.
Peabody Institute: founded in 1857, is the oldest continuously active music conservatory in the United States; it became a division of Johns Hopkins in 1977. The Conservatory retains its own student body and grants degrees in musicology and performance, though both Hopkins and Peabody students may take courses at both institutions. It is located on East Mount Vernon Place.
Admission
The full-time, four-year undergraduate program is "most selective" with low transfer-in and a high graduate co-existence. The cost of attendance per year is $60,820; however, the average need met is 99%. The university is one of fourteen founding members of the Association of American Universities (AAU); it is also a member of the Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE) and the Universities Research Association (URA).

In 2014, 88% of admitted students graduated in the top tenth of their high school class and the inter-quartile range on the SAT composite score was 2120-2310. In 2013, 96.8% of freshmen returned after the first year and 88% of students graduated in 4 years. The average GPA of enrolled freshmen in the class of 2018 is 3.88. Over time, applications to Johns Hopkins University have risen steadily. As a result, the selectivity of Johns Hopkins University has also increased. Early Decision is an option at Johns Hopkins University for students who wish to demonstrate that the university is their first choice. These students, if admitted, are required to enroll. This application is due November 2. Most students, however, apply Regular Decision, which is a traditional non-binding round. These applications are due January 1 and students are notified April 1.

University of Toronto

Introduction
The University of Toronto (U of T, UToronto, or Toronto) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in the colony of Upper Canada. Originally controlled by the Church of England, the university assumed the present name in 1850 upon becoming a secular institution. As a collegiate university, it comprises twelve colleges, which differ in character and history, each retaining substantial autonomy on financial and institutional affairs. It has two satellite campuses located in Scarborough and Mississauga.

Academically, the University of Toronto is noted for influential movements and curricula in literary criticism and communication theory, known collectively as the Toronto School. The university was the birthplace of insulin and stem cell research, and was the site of the first practical electron microscope, the development of multi-touch technology, the identification of Cygnus X-1 as a black hole, and the theory of NP-completeness. By a significant margin, it receives the most annual scientific research funding of any Canadian university. It is one of two members of the Association of American Universities located outside the United States.

The Varsity Blues are the athletic teams representing the university in intercollegiate league matches, with particularly long and storied ties to gridiron football and ice hockey. The university's Hart House is an early example of the North American student centre, simultaneously serving cultural, intellectual and recreational interests within its large Gothic-revival complex.

The University of Toronto has educated two Governors General of Canada and four Prime Ministers of Canada, four foreign leaders, fourteen Justices of the Supreme Court, and has been affiliated with ten Nobel laureates.

The First and Second World Wars curtailed some university activities as undergraduate and graduate men eagerly enlisted. Intercollegiate athletic competitions and the Hart House Debates were suspended, although exhibition and inter faculty games were still held. The David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill opened in 1935, followed by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies in 1949. The university opened satellite campuses in Scarborough in 1964 and in Mississauga in 1967. The university's former affiliated schools at the Ontario Agricultural College and Glendon Hall became fully independent of the University of Toronto and became part of University of Guelph in 1964 and York University in 1965, respectively. Beginning in the 1980s, reductions in government funding prompted more rigorous fundraising efforts. The University of Toronto was the first Canadian university to amass a financial endowment greater than C$1 billion.
Campus
The university grounds lie about 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) north of the Financial District in Downtown Toronto, and immediately south of the neighborhoods of Yorkville and The Annex. The site encompasses 71 hectares (180 acres) bounded mostly by Bay Street, Bloor Street, Spadina Avenue and College Street. An enclave surrounded by university grounds, Queen's Park contains the Ontario Legislative Building and several historic monuments. With its green spaces and many interlocking courtyards, the university forms a distinct region of urban parkland in the city's downtown core.[27] The namesake University Avenue is a ceremonial boulevard and arterial thoroughfare that runs through downtown between Queen's Park and Front Street. The Spadina, St. George, Museum, and Queen's Park stations of the Toronto rapid transit system are located in the vicinity.

The architecture is epitomized by a combination of Romanesque and Gothic Revival buildings spread across the eastern and central portions of campus, most of them dating between 1858 and 1929. The traditional heart of the university, known as Front Campus, is located near the centre of the campus in an oval lawn enclosed by King's College Circle. The centerpiece is the main building of University College, built in 1857 with an eclectic blend of Richardsonian Romanesque and Norman architectural elements. The dramatic effect of this blended design by architect Frederick William Cumberland drew praise from European visitors of the time: "Until I reached Toronto," remarked Lord Dufferin during his visit in 1872, "I confess I was not aware that so magnificent a specimen of architecture existed upon the American continent." The building was declared a National Historic Site of Canada in 1968.[30] Built in 1907, Convocation Hall is recognizable for its domed roof and Ionic-pillared rotunda. Although its foremost function is hosting the annual convocation ceremonies, the building serves as a venue for academic and social events throughout the year. The sandstone buildings of Knox College epitomizes the North American collegiate Gothic design, with its characteristic cloisters surrounding a secluded courtyard.

Developed after the Second World War, the western section of the campus consists mainly of modernist and internationalist structures that contain laboratories and faculty offices. The most significant example of Brutalist architecture is the massive Robarts Library complex, built in 1972 and opened a year later in 1973. It features raised podia, extensive use of triangular geometric designs and a towering fourteen-storey concrete structure that cantilevers above a field of open space and mature trees.[40] Sidney Smith Hall is the home to the Faculty of Arts and Science, as well as a few departments within that faculty. The Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building, completed in 2006, exhibits the high-tech architectural style of glass and steel by British architect Norman Foster.
Admission
The Faculty of Arts and Science is the university's main undergraduate faculty, and administers most of the courses in the college system. While the colleges are not entirely responsible for teaching duties, most of them house specialized academic programs and lecture series. Among other subjects, Trinity College is associated with programs in international relations, as are University College with Canadian studies, Victoria College with Renaissance studies, Innis College with film studies and urban studies, New College with gender studies, Woodsworth College with industrial relations and St. Michael's College with Medievalism. The faculty teaches undergraduate commerce in collaboration with the Rotman School of Management. The Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering is the other major direct-entry undergraduate faculty.

The University of Toronto is the birthplace of an influential school of thought on communication theory and literary criticism, known as the Toronto School. Described as "the theory of the primacy of communication in the structuring of human cultures and the structuring of the human mind", the school is rooted in the works of Eric A. Havelock and Harold Innis and the subsequent contributions of Edmund Snow Carpenter, Northrop Frye and Marshall McLuhan. Since 1963, the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology of the Faculty of Information has carried the mandate for teaching and advancing the Toronto School.

Several notable works in arts and humanities are based at the university, including the Dictionary of Canadian Biography since 1959 and the Collected Works of Erasmus since 1969. The Records of Early English Drama collects and edits the surviving documentary evidence of dramatic arts in pre-Puritan England, while the Dictionary of Old English compiles the early vocabulary of the English language from the Anglo-Saxon period.

U.S. says it may not need Apple to open San Bernardino iPhone

U.S. prosecutors said Monday that a "third party" had presented a possible method for opening an encrypted iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, a development that could bring an abrupt end to the high-stakes legal showdown between the government and Apple Inc.

A federal judge in Riverside, California, late Monday agreed to the government's request to postpone a hearing scheduled for Tuesday so that the FBI could try the newly discovered technique. The Justice Department said it would update the court on April 5.

The government had insisted until Monday that it had no way to access the phone used by Rizwan Farook, one of the two killers in the December massacre in San Bernardino, California, except to force Apple to write new software that would disable the password protection.

The Justice Department last month obtained a court order directing Apple to create that software, but Apple has fought back, arguing that the order is an overreach by the government and would undermine computer security for everyone.

The announcement on Monday that an unnamed third party had presented a way of breaking into the phone on Sunday - just two days before the hearing and after weeks of heated back-and-forth in court filings - drew skepticism from many in the tech community who have insisted that there were other ways to get into the phone.

“From a purely technical perspective, one of the most fragile parts of the government's case is the claim that Apple's help is required to unlock the phone," said Matt Blaze, a professor and computer security expert at the University of Pennsylvania. "Many in the technical community have been skeptical that this is true, especially given the government's considerable resources.”

Former prosecutors and lawyers supporting Apple said the move suggested that the Justice Department feared it would lose the legal battle, or at minimum would be forced to admit that it had not tried every other way to get into the phone.

In a statement, the Justice Department said its only interest has always been gaining access to the information on the phone and that it had continued to explore alternatives even as litigation began. It offered no details on the new technique except that it came from a non-governmental third party, but said it was "cautiously optimistic" it would work.

"That is why we asked the court to give us some time to explore this option," a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, Melanie R. Newman, said. "If this solution works, it will allow us to search the phone and continue our investigation into the terrorist attack that killed 14 people and wounded 22 people."

It would also likely end the case without a legal showdown that many had expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

An Apple executive told reporters on a press call that the company knew nothing about the Justice Department's possible method for getting into the phone, and that the government never gave any indication that it was continuing to search for such solutions.

The executive characterized the Justice Department’s admission Monday that it never stopped pursuing ways to open the phone as a sharp contrast with its insistence in court filings that only Apple possessed the means to do so.

Nate Cardozo, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group backing Apple, said the San Bernardino case was the "hand-chosen test case" for the government to establish its authority to access electronic information by whatever means necessary.

In that context, he said, the last-minute discovery of a possible solution and the cancellation of the hearing is "suspicious," and suggests the government might be worried about losing and setting a bad precedent.

But George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr, a former Justice Department computer crime prosecutor, said the government was likely only postponing the fight.

"The problem is not going away, it's just been delayed for a year or two," he said.

Apple said that if the government was successful in getting into the phone, which might involve taking advantage of previously undiscovered vulnerabilities, it hoped officials would share information on how they did so. But if the government drops the case it would be under no obligation to provide information to Apple.

In opposing the court order, Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, and his allies have argued that it would be unprecedented to force a company to develop a new product to assist a government investigation, and that other law enforcement agencies around the world would rapidly demand similar services.

Law enforcement officials, led by Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, have countered that access to phones and other devices is crucial for intelligence work and criminal investigations.

The government and the tech industry have clashed for years over similar issues, and Congress has been unable to pass legislation to address the impasse.

(Reporting by Joseph Menn, additional reporting by Mari Saito; Editing by Leslie Adler and Andrew Hay)

NCAA tournament gives employers tool to boost creativity

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The NCAA basketball tournament could actually benefit workplace productivity, according to a Purdue University expert in work-life issues.

"Employers who encourage employees to take time at work to participate in the NCAA tournament frequently see benefits," said Ellen Ernst Kossek, the Basil S. Turner Professor of Management and research director of the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence.

Kossek said bringing the activity into office culture could provide a meaningful long-term productivity boost. She offers the following ideas for management to consider as they plan workflow around the annual sports tournament.

* Innovation is more likely to occur when employees collaborate. "Having some levity in the workplace can help people decompress from stress. Food and social events can be shared in the conference room and not the local bar, which may be appealing to many workers," Kossek said.

* Basketball provides examples of teamwork in action. Sometimes the game hero isn't the top scorer but the one with the most assists and rebounds. "As in business, employees learn you can't win the game trying to score all the baskets yourself," Kossek said.

* Games also provide lessons in leadership, from those who inspire the team on a roll to those who help overcome a dry spell in scoring.

* Watching the shifts in tempos and leads can show how quickly fortunes can turn. "How a team handles adversity tells a lot about mental and physical toughness, resilience and how not to let setbacks mushroom into major problems," she said.

* Observing sportsmanship and fair play on the court also can be a lesson in ethics. "This is something nearly every business needs," Kossek said. Flagrant fouls and disrespectful fans demonstrate more clearly than any lecture the value of taking the higher ground when competing.

"While not every employee will relish basketball being brought into the office, an employer who uses the tournament as a way to discuss teamwork lessons or simply have a good time may find that there's a big payoff for the business," she said.

News Service contact: John Hughey, 765-494-2432, hugheyj@purdue.edu