Matthew Palumbo/UF Ecologist: “What people perhaps have growing in their backyard is not only something that is producing caffeine, but it’s also a form of a medicine, at least a preventative medicine, in that it’s producing these antioxidants.”

This particular holly is the only native U.S. plant that produces significant amounts of caffeine and researchers say the tea-like beverage it produces is the first of its kind in this country.

Matthew Palumbo/UF Ecologist: “Yaupon holly has antioxidants that are comparable to green tea, Asian green tea, which are among the highest concentration of antioxidants that you find in anything people are consuming.”

So, holly’s not just for decorating your Christmas tree; this caffeine-filled drink and its antioxidants can help protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer. At the University of Florida, I’m Merissa Richmond.

Aaron Kotranza/UF Research Assistant: “Students have anxieties related to the intimate nature of the exam, as well as low confidence in correctly performing an exam because they don’t get a lot of practice performing the exam on a human patient.”

Medical educators write scripts to create the virtual patient and she communicates via speech and gestures. Each script focuses on a different medical history or fear. And with the mannequin, students can also perform a physical exam on the virtual patient; good practice for the future.

Aaron Kotranza/UF Research Assistant: “Students will treat will treat the virtual patient with a similar amount of empathy as they treat a human patient. They’ll actually touch the mannequin that we use in order to comfort the virtual patient which is similar to how touch is used to comfort a human patient who may have fears related to the breast exam.”

Experts who have reviewed the project say they expect this will improve students’ understanding and confidence in conducting a real exam. At the University of Florida, I’m Merissa Richmond.

Lisa Merlo/UF psychiatry researcher: “They were doing things that you would expect a parent or another loved one to do for a child to try and calm their fears, help them make it through the day, not fall behind in school, get along better with their friends… things like that. But, actually what they were doing is encouraging the OCD symptoms.”

If parents constantly tend to the fear, it reminds a child it’s okay to have some sort of unrealistic fear, like one of germs.

Lisa Merlo/UF psychiatry researcher: “What happens then is the fear actually begins to grow, and the pattern becomes more of a routine and becomes stronger for the child where they then continue the behavior because it seems to make sense not only to them, but now their parents and other family members are giving the message that it gives sense to them, too.”

Researchers say parents of OCD children should focus on fighting against the fear, rather than helping them allay it. This gives those children confidence to overcome it and motivation to stop the excessive behavior. At the University of Florida, I’m Merissa Richmond.

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA RESEARCHERS HAVE FOUND THAT WHEN PEOPLE CONSUME PROCESSED FOODS WITH LOTS OF CALORIES, LIKE DESSERTS AND SODA, IT CAN LEAD TO A “REFINED FOOD ADDICTION.”

Dr. William S. Jacobs/UF Associate Professor of Medicine: “They overeat. They simply cannot control their use. They have craving, they have intense desire. When they do eat, they have loss of control over their ability to eat or not eat.”

IN FACT THEIR BEHAVIOR MEETS EXISTING CRITERIA FOR A SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER. AND IT OFTEN TAKES TREATMENT TO OVERCOME A FOOD ADDICTION. EXPERTS SAY SOME HAVE RAISED LEGAL ISSUES ABOUT HOW RESTAURANTS USE INGREDIENTS IN THEIR FOOD.

Dr. William S. Jacobs/UF Associate Professor of Medicine: “Certainly, we know fine restaurants and top chefs manipulate the content and presentation of their foods to make particularly their desserts better and get us to come back to their restaurants.”

LEFT UNTREATED, REFINED FOOD ADDICTION CAN AT TIMES LEAD TO OBESITY. AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, I’M MERISSA RICHMOND.

Dr. Richard Melker/UF anesthesiology researcher: “By reminding health care workers to wash their hands, and by having a record of each time that they wash their hands before they enter the proximity of the patient, the hospital will be better able to track who is washing their hands and who isn’t. And, also to be able to track infections better.”

The World Health Organization says 250 people die each day from hospital-acquired infections, which are easily transmitted by not washing your hands.

Dr. Richard Melker/UF anesthesiology researcher: “MRSA is frequently acquired while the patient is in the hospital, and if we don’t have antibiotics to treat it, then many of those patients could die. So, it’s extremely important that health care workers do everything to reduce the incidence of hospital acquired infections.”

Past studies show clean hands could cut hospital-acquired infections in half. And experts say this new technology could also save billions of dollars in the treatment of those infections.

A NEW UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDY SHOWS THAT MOCKINGBIRDS SEEM TO BE ABLE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL HUMANS. SCIENTISTS SENT TEST SUBJECTS TO APPROACH A MOCKINGBIRD NEST FOR THIRTY SECONDS AT A TIME OVER SEVERAL DAYS. THE BIRDS TREATED THEM AS A THREAT.

Doug Levey/UF zoologist: “What we found is that over successive days, the birds reacted more and more to that individual. And then on a fifth day we had somebody the birds had never seen before do exactly the same thing. And the birds responded to that individual very, very differently.”

THE BIRDS DID NOT ATTACK THE STRANGERS WHO CAME BY JUST ONCE…

Doug Levey/UF zoologist: “We don’t know whether it’s unique to mockingbirds, but it does suggest these birds are a heck of a lot more intelligent than people have ever given them credit for. People have known for a long time that crows and parrots for ex have a lot of intelligence. But these birds are fairly small. And to the extent that they can learn so quickly to identify individual humans that’s quite surprising. It’ll change the way people view the intelligence of birds like this.”

EXPERTS SAY THE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT MOCKINGBIRDS ADAPT WELL TO URBAN ENVIRONMENTS AND KEEP A CLOSE WATCH ON THEIR NEIGHBORS. AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA I’M QUINTEN EYMAN.

A NEW UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDY SUGGESTS THAT VIRTUAL SCHOOLING IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE 12 COULD SAVE SCHOOLS MONEY. STUDENTS LEARNING VIA COMPUTER DON’T NEED A BUS OR A CLASSROOM. RESULTS SUGGEST VIRTUAL LEARNING WILL BECOME MORE A PART OF CONTEMPORARY EDUCATION OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS… IN SOME CASES COMBINING WITH TRADITIONAL SCHOOLS.

Catherine Cavanaugh/UF Associate Professor of Educational Technology: “All of the time students spend in school is actually working on the work of their classes. So, they can maximize the learning that they get out of the time they spend. And, they’re able to work with a teacher at specifically the times and on the tasks and questions they have the most difficulty.”

MOREOVER, RESEARCHERS SAY VIRTUAL SCHOOLING CAN PROVIDE AN EDUCATION SPECIFICALLY GEARED TO STUDENTS’ LEARNING ABILITIES.

Catherine Cavanaugh/UF Associate Professor of Educational Technology: “The student can work independently and have an individualized experience. In particular for the growing numbers of students who may not have achieved in a regular classroom, we’re talking a lot now about closing the achievement gap through the use of virtual courses.”

RESEARCHERS SAY THAT COULD MEAN HIGHER HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATES… AND IT CERTAINLY MEANS IMPROVED COMPUTER SKILLS FOR ALL THOSE STUDENTS. AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, I’M MERISSA RICHMOND.

A UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA SURVEY SAYS EXPERTS THINK THEY’VE HIT ROCK BOTTOM, AND ARE OPTIMISTIC THINGS WILL GET BETTER FROM HERE ON OUT. AND… IT’S A SURPRISE TO SOME… UNTIL NOW, THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY HAD LITTLE TO LOOK FORWARD TO… SINCE THE DOWNTURN OF THE ECONOMY BEGAN IN 2006.

Tim Becker, UF real estate researcher: “In their own business outlook, where they see business going in future quarters and the availability of money to invest in the market, and that reached an all-time high during this quarter. So, there’s thought on the respondents’ case that maybe we’re at the bottom and possibly starting to head toward recovery in our market.”

BUT, JUST BECAUSE THINGS SEEM TO BE GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION IN THE INDUSTRY… DOESN’T MEAN IT’S ALL OVER YET.

Tim Becker, UF real estate researcher: “Things are still pretty bad in the real estate industry. It’s just that we kind of see that light at the end of the tunnel. We think that things are going to get better, I think previously we thought ‘Hey, we don’t know where the end is, we can’t see that light.’ But, right now we see the light at the end of the tunnel, but that tunnel is still pretty long. We still have a long way to go to kind of get out of this.”

EXPERTS DO BELIEVE THIS OPTIMISM IS HERE TO STAY… AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, I’M MERISSA RICHMOND.

OVER THE COURSE OF A YEAR, RESEARCHERS STUDIED NEARLY 200 INDIVIDUALS AND FOUND THAT WHILE INTELLIGENCE IS STILL TWICE AS IMPORTANT AS WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE… YOUR OUTER BEAUTY STILL PLAYS A BIG ROLE IN THE REAL WORLD. BUT, EXPERTS SAY LOOKS MAY ALSO ONLY GET YOU SO FAR.

Lauren Simon/UF Marketing Graduate Student: “People who are intelligent and attractive obtain more education and are more confident. People who are intelligent perform also tend to perform better on the job, and we can’t say the necessarily say the same for those who are physically attractive.”

THE FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT SOME EMPLOYERS DO HAVE BIASES TOWARD THOSE WHO ARE PHYSICALLY ATTRACTIVE. AND RESEARCHERS SAY THERE’S NOT MUCH WE CAN DO ABOUT IT.

Lauren Simon/UF Marketing Graduate Student: “Even if we were to recommend to employers to stop or to be careful when they’re selecting employees… Because to the extent that they are biased toward the attractive… It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to get the most qualified candidate from picking the more attractive candidate.”

PAST RESEARCH ALSO SUGGESTS THAT PARENTS AND TEACHERS FAVOR BETTER LOOKING CHILDREN.

SO, WHETHER OR NOT WE LIKE IT… WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE WILL PLAY A ROLE ON INTERVIEW DAY, AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS REALLY DO MATTER. AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, I’M MERISSA RICHMOND.

The latest University of Florida surveys says consumer confidence went up six points, to 71, in April. Experts say, despite the high unemployment rate, more and more people are willing to buy big-ticket items like cars and appliances. They also say the economy will only get better in the future.

Chris McCarty/UF Survey Researcher: “If you look at the sort of information that’s available to consumers right now, in balance, the stock market’s kind of up, housing prices look like they’re flattening out a bit, you don’t hear about a lot more bailouts, you don’t hear quite the dire news anymore. And so, on balance, I think it looks a bit better for consumers.”

But, with more budget cuts on the way, experts do anticipate that this optimism will only be short-lived.

Chris McCarty/UF Survey Researcher: “The Florida budget affects lots and lots of people around the state; when the legislators are debating cuts to the salaries of all state employees, when they’re talking about cuts to teachers, cuts to schools, raising impact fees that are going to affect lots and lots of people. The Florida budget affects a lot more than people who directly receive money from it.”

Good deals and historically low interest rates may have sparked consumer spending. But, by June, experts predict consumer confidence will drop again.

A NEW UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDY FINDS THAT GIRLS ARE MORE
LIKELY THAN BOYS TO DEFEND BULLYING VICTIMS… HELP THEM AFTER
WARDS OR TRY TO BREAK UP AN INCIDENT ALTOGETHER. IN FACT RESEARCHERS SAY IN DEFENDING VICTIMS… GIRLS MAY BE RESPONDING TO EXPECTATIONS PLACED ON THEM BY FRIENDS AND LOVED ONED TO SHOW EMPATHY AND SUPPORT.

Jim Porter/UF education researcher: “Friends were more likely to expect girls to defend than they were to expect boys to defend and that correlated to more defending out of girls.”

THAT SEEMS TO FIT WITH ‘FEMALE’ STEREOTYPES OF EMPATHY AND
FRIENDLINESS. RESULTS SHOW THE EXPECTATIONS OF PEERS SEEM
TO MATTER MORE THAN THOSE OF PARENTS OR TEACHERS.

Jim Porter/UF education researcher: “This tells us to practically get in there and look at whose friends are whose. I know parents at home worry about whom their child is going to be a friend with. And maybe we need to give teachers and educators the power to start looking at that too and saying who are these children’s friends and how are their friendships affecting their behavior?”

SO PEER PRESSURE HAS A BENEFIT. GIRLS WHO DO DEFEND OR HELP BULLYING VICTIMS OFTEN GET A BOOST OF SELF ESTEEM.

(See related post: The best protectors from bullies? Girls)

RESEARCHERS FOLLOWED TEENAGERS AS THEY WENT THROUGH VARIOUS CHANGES OVER A TWO-YEAR PERIOD. THE RESULTS SUGGEST MALES INVOLVED IN A FAMILY TRANSITION, SUCH AS DIVORCE, WILL ACT OUT MORE THAN FEMALES.

Marv Krohn/UF Researcher: “Females are closer traditionally to their mothers. The mother is the person who typically stays with the child when there is a family transition and hence the impact on the female will be less than the impact on the male.”

EXPERTS SAY SCHOOLS CAN HELP BY NOTIFYING PARENTS IF THEY SEE CHANGES IN BEHAVIOR AS KIDS COPE WITH FAMILY ISSUES.

Marv Krohn/UF Researcher: “I think the schools have to take a more proactive approach in terms of actually counseling kids through the transition that’s taking place in the family.”

RESEARCHERS SAY THAT COUNSELING COULD HELP KIDS COPE WITH CHANGE BEFORE DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR CAN EVER BEGIN.

THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA’S LATEST POPULATION STUDY PROJECTS POPULATION GROWTH IN THE SUNSHINE STATE WILL FALL TO ITS LOWEST LEVEL SINCE WORLD WAR TWO. FLORIDA’S AVERAGED 300 TO 400 THOUSAND NEW RESIDENTS EACH YEAR OVER THE LAST DECADE. NOW THAT NUMBER’S EXPECTED TO FALL TO 37 THOUSAND, A NINETY PERCENT DROP.

Stanley Smithy/UF population researcher: “During most of the 80s and 90s we averaged about 300 thousand a year, there was some variation from year to year. Some years we were as high as 400 thousand. But in 60 years, we haven’t seen anything lower than 125 thousand a year. So this will be really unusual in Florida.”

IN FACT RESEARCHERS EXPECT SOME COUNTIES IN FLORIDA WILL ACTUALLY LOSE POPULATION.

Stanley Smithy/UF population researcher: “Typically every country in Florida with perhaps the exception of one or two in a decade will be growing in population. But we’re expecting 14 or 15 to be losing population over the next two years.”

JOB CREATION AND HOUSING HAVE SPURRED FLORIDA’S GROWTH IN THE PAST AND THE RECESSION HAS PLAYED HAVOC WITH BOTH ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.

(See related post: Recession discouraging people from moving to Florida)

Warren Dixon/UF mechanical engineer: “It’s like the six-pack, ‘As Seen On TV’ six-pack abs where you can put the electrodes on your stomach and wake up with this amazing cut stomach, so it’s the same kind of principle as that where you just apply a voltage to a muscle.”

AS THE CURRENT FORCES THE LEG’S MUSCLE TO MOVE, A COMPUTER RECORDS THE VOLTAGE USED TO CAUSE THE MOVEMENT. RESULTS SHOW THE CURRENT METHOD CAN IMPROVE MOBILITY, BUT SOMETIMES THE MUSCLES RECEIVE TOO MUCH VOLTAGE AND BECOME QUICKLY WORN-OUT.

Warren Dixon/UF mechanical engineer: “Techniques that they use now, maybe it fatigues the muscle very quickly, so maybe they can only take 10 steps or 20 steps, but with more precisely controlled stimulation, maybe they will be able to take 50 or 100 steps and prolong the rehabilitation session.”

AND EACH STEP GETS PATIENTS CLOSER TO A MORE ACTIVE LIFE.

(See related post: Engineer: Computer learning, electrical stimulation offer hope for paralyzed)

Carole Kimberlin/UF pharmacy professor: “Some of the quality of that information has not improved. The text is very dense, it’s difficult to read, it’s at a reading level that’s beyond what many consumers would be able to comprehend.”

Experts say the FDA is not necessarily trying to provide more information since overloading the patient can also pose a risk as well.

Carole Kimberlin/UF pharmacy professor: “When side effects are identified, there’s just a long list. Many of which may not be clinically significant. So it’s hard for the patient to know what’s important and what’s not.”

Congress sets goals for the pharmacies to reach in creating these inserts, but experts say that’s not the same as having a regulatory authority.

(See related post: Consumer medication information falls short, UF researchers say)