A person's gender in a leadership role is associated with the mental and physical health of subordinates, according to new research out of the University of Toronto.

The study conducted by Scott Schieman, a professor of sociology at the University of Toronto and Taralyn McMullen, a PhD candidate, involved data from a 2005 sample of 1,800 working adults in the United States. The participants were assessed on levels of psychological distress, physical symptoms, occupation, job sector, and numerous work conditions including authority, pressures, the quality of interpersonal relations, and satisfaction. The study examined workers who were managed by two supervisors (one male, one female), one same-sex supervisor or one supervisor of a different sex.

The study found that:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say up to one in four teens in the United States will contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD), and experts believe a major contributing factor is the failure of many teens to use condoms consistently and routinely. A new study provides some insight into some of the factors that influence condom use among teenagers.

Researchers from the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center and three other institutions surveyed more than 1,400 adolescents and young adults between the ages of 15 and 21 who had unprotected sex in the previous 90 days. They found that teens who did not use condoms were significantly more likely to believe that condoms reduce sexual pleasure and were also more concerned that their partner would not approve of condom use. The findings appear in the September/October issue of Public Health Reports.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -Without a way to measure religious beliefs, anthropologists have had difficulty studying religion. Now, two anthropologists from the University of Missouri and Arizona State University have developed a new approach to study religion by focusing on verbal communication, an identifiable behavior, instead of speculating about alleged beliefs in the supernatural that cannot actually be identified. 

23andMe, Inc., the industry leader in personal genetics, today announced a substantial reduction in price for its Personal Genome Service(TM), democratizing personal genetics and expanding the opportunity for more people to benefit from the genetic revolution.

BASKING RIDGE, New Jersey, September 9 /PRNewswire/ --

- New Managed Wireless LAN Service Now Available to Large-Business and Government Customers Around the World

Ensuring that today's employees can collaborate effectively, either in the office or around the world, is critically important to the success of large businesses - and a key challenge for information technology (IT) executives. To help meet that challenge, Verizon Business has launched a new, managed wireless local area network (MWLAN) service that enables businesses and government entities take full advantage of wireless technology.

Children who are bilingual before the age of 5 are significantly more likely to stutter and to find it harder to lose their impediment compared to children who speak only one language before that age, according to research in Archives of Disease in Childhood.The researchers base their findings on 317 children who were referred for stuttering between the ages of 8 and 10.

MANCHESTER, England, September 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Vaginal rings, similar to those used for contraception and hormone replacement therapy, could protect women from sexually-transmitted HIV, according to research presented at the British Pharmaceutical Conference (BPC) in Manchester.

Researchers from the School of Pharmacy at Queen's University in Belfast, in conjunction with the International Partnership for Microbicides in the USA, found that a 'matrix' vaginal ring provided long-term release of the HIV microbicide dapivirine, both under laboratory conditions and in patients.

MANCHESTER, England, September 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) experience 55% fewer hospital admissions and 50% less visits to accident and emergency departments when clinical pharmacists intervene in their care, research launched at the British Pharmaceutical Conference (BPC) in Manchester has shown.

Six months into a year-long study on a pharmacy-led disease and medicine management programme in patients with COPD (an umbrella term for serious respiratory diseases like emphysema), pharmacy researchers in Belfast have shown that the involvement of a clinical pharmacist improves patients' health-related quality of life and results in greater cost-effectiveness for the NHS.

MANCHESTER, England, September 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The fight against fake medicines could soon be aided by a small, portable device that quickly measures the hardness of a tablet, revealing whether it is counterfeit, according to research presented at the British Pharmaceutical Conference (BPC) in Manchester.

The study tested a series of dummy paracetamol tablets made with varying degrees of real medicine, versus lactose (an ingredient used by counterfeiters to replace the active drug). Tests showed that the fake tablets were harder than the tablet with the correct amount of paracetamol, and were more difficult to crush.

MANCHESTER, England, September 9 /PRNewswire/ -- A new coating for urinary catheters could reduce the risk of infection, according to research presented at the British Pharmaceutical Conference (BPC) in Manchester.

The use of medical devices inserted into a patient's body is now routine in healthcare management within hospitals and nursing homes. Although there are substantial benefits associated with the use of such devices, there are very worryingly a number of potentially dangerous complications that may lead to an increase in the time patients remain in hospital and, more importantly, an increase in patient deaths.