SMALL D SES Research
Study Breaks Intriguing findings from Michigan universities BY STEVE FRIESS
What might make your kid become a hacker? An analysis of self-reported information from more than 66,000 kids in middle school and high school around the world shows that the most serious underage computer criminals have suffered trauma, bullying, or isolation, according to a paper published in the journal Criminal Justice and Behavior and co-written by Thomas Holt, chair of the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. Other qualities common among adolescents looking to commit online crime include impulsivity and susceptibility to peer pressure. Holt and co-author Bryanna Fox of the University of South Florida say recognizing these triggers could help parents and school officials intervene and identify what kind of psychotherapy could help rehabilitate the offenders.
The limits of caffeine
Syndrome predicts COVID outcome WE’VE KNOWN SINCE the pandemic’s early days that people with “underlying conditions” were at greater risk of severe cases and death, but the term was so broad as to be useless. At Wayne State University researchers zeroed in on one cluster of ailments known as metabolic syndrome that can predict coronavirus outcomes, according to a paper published in the Journal of Diabetes. Studying 1,871 patients beset by COVID-19 in Detroit-area hospitals at the outset of the crisis, WSU School of Medicine professor Prateek Lohia, an internist, found that patients who had a combination of diabetes, obesity, hypertension, high triglycerides, and high cholesterol suffered “significantly higher mortality, increased ICU admissions, and need for mechanical ventilation” than COVID-19 patients with any of those conditions alone.
Cheaper, faster COVID diagnoses
Link between COVID and diabetes
MSU graduate student Zach Morehouse was part of a team that developed a new test for SARS-CoV-2 that takes half the time, costs less, and requires fewer materials. The process, published in the journal PLOS One, could be a boon for providing inexpensive and accurate tests in far-flung and less affluent corners of the globe, such as Malawi, where it was field tested. “Having the ability to bring this technology into resource-challenged areas that maybe can’t afford to set up a fully-automated testing lab really helps,” says Morehouse.
Dr. W. James Melvin, a Michigan Medicine researcher, says he and his team have identified an enzyme that makes people with Type 2 diabetes significantly more susceptible to severe illness if they are infected with COVID-19. What’s more, identification of the enzyme has opened up new avenues for more effective treatments that involve administering interferon beta, which helps the body produce certain enzymes that COVID-19 suppresses. The study appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Those cups of coffee or cans of Red Bull only go so far in helping sleep-deprived people function properly, according to a Michigan State University study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. MSU researchers say caffeine does help people stay awake by increasing energy, but it didn’t help similarly tired people to efficiently or successfully complete a series of tasks in a study of 276 participants at the school’s Sleep and Learning Lab. Psychology professor Kimberly Fenn, the lead researcher, says caffeine may help you not fall back asleep, but it doesn’t “prevent the sort of procedural errors that can cause things like medical mistakes and car accidents.”
Patients predict their own dementia Older people who complain about cognitive declines, despite exhibiting no clinically detected impairments, frequently are presaging their future brain disorders, according to a Wayne State University study published in the journal Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy. WSU gerontologists Jessica Damoiseaux and Raymond Viviano followed 69 women ages 50 to 85 who reported cognitive issues by conducting a series of MRIs over a three-year timespan. They found significant changes in two areas of the brain that, in their earlier forms, may have been noticeable by the patients, though not visible on scans.
COVID ISTOCK
3/22/22 3:55 PM
