This week's Healthcare 411 podcasts from AHRQ: Spending on Outpatient Prescription Painkillers; New Research Project to Reduce Central Line-Association Bloodstream Infections; How To Speak Up About Your Health Care.
New results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have made a major advance in explaining how a special class of black holes may shut off the high-speed jets they produce. Â These results suggest that these black holes have a mechanism for regulating the rate at which they grow.
Research by Michigan State University scientists is helping shed light on neutron stars, city-sized globs of ultra-dense matter that occasionally collapse into black holes. A team led by Betty Tsang, a professor at MSU's National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, has had some success in measuring a key nuclear quality that may make it easier to describe the outer crusts of such stars.
Among zebrafish, the eyes have it. Inside them is a mosaic of light-sensitive cells whose structure and functions are nearly identical to those of humans. There, biologists at The Florida State University discovered a gene mutation that determines if the cells develop as rods (the photoreceptors responsible for dim-light vision) or as cones (the photoreceptors needed for color vision).
The fish species Astyanax fasciatus cannot see, but their unique technique for sensing their environment and the movement of water around them with gel-covered hairs that extend from their bodies may inspire a new generation of sensors that perform better than current active sonar.
Trouble paying health plan premiums and difficulty affording out-of-pocket expenses for medications aren't just problems of the uninsured anymore. They're also concerns for families with private insurance, according to the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.
Accumulating evidence indicates that an increase in particulate air pollution is associated with an increase in heart attacks and deaths. The relatively new field of environmental cardiology examines the relationship between air pollution and heart disease. A symposium in the Environmental Factors in Heart Disease will take place April 21 at the Experimental Biology conference in New Orleans.
How many genes play a role in the body's ability to adapt to exercise? Mark Olfert of the University of California and Claude Bouchard of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center will answer that question and provide insight into why some people adapt to exercise more easily than others at a symposium at the Experimental Biology Conference in New Orleans on April 20.
With the nation's economic crisis contributing to greater workplace stress, providing effective mental health care for employees may be more important than ever.
A herd of young birdlike dinosaurs met their death on the muddy margins of a lake some 90 million years ago, according to a team of Chinese and American paleontologists that excavated the site in the Gobi Desert in western Inner Mongolia.
Global warming is expected to cause the sea level along the northeastern U.S. coast to rise almost twice as fast as global sea levels during this century, putting New York City at greater risk for damage from hurricanes and winter storm surge, according to a new study led by a Florida State University researcher.
Tutors over 55 who help young students on a regular basis experience positive physical and mental health outcomes, according to studies released by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The tutors studied were members of Experience Corps, an award-winning organization that trains thousands of people over 55 to tutor children in urban public schools across the country. Video Available.
There is no question that the recent economic crisis has wreaked havoc on companies and on families across the country. Now, a recent study of 300 married, working couples conducted by Wayne Hochwarter, the Jim Moran Professor of Management at Florida State University's College of Business, is revealing just how deeply the crunch is being felt.
The Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a strong new line of evidence that galaxies are embedded in halos of dark matter. Peering into the tumultuous heart of the nearby Perseus galaxy cluster, Hubble's sharp view resolved a large population of small galaxies that have remained intact while larger galaxies around them are being ripped apart by the gravitational tug of other galaxies. The dwarf elliptical galaxies' "invisible shield" is a robust halo of dark matter that keeps them intact despite a several-billion-year-long bumper-car game inside the massive galaxy cluster.
Researchers have crafted a gene circuit that permits precise tuning of a gene's expression in a cell, an advance that should allow for more accurate analysis of the gene's role in normal and abnormal cellular function.
Most of us prefer not to talk about colon health and take those functions for granted. But many conditions can affect colon health, particularly as we age. A University of Michigan Gastroenterologist discusses diverticulosis and its symptoms and complications, and reminds us that regular colon cancer screening should start at age 50.
Most of us save things "“ memorabilia, collectibles, items from our childhood or from our children. But for more than an estimated million Americans, the saving may get out of hand and cross over to a psychiatric condition known as compulsive hoarding.
Patent and copyright law are stifling innovation and threatening the global economy according to two economists at Washington University in St. Louis in a new book, Against Intellectual Monopoly. Professors Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine call for abolishing the current patent and copyright system in order to unleash innovations necessary to reverse the current recession and rescue the economy. The professors discuss their stand against intellectual property protections in a video and news release linked here.
Over 700,000 patients annually are diagnosed with Vertebral Compression Fractures (VCF), or collapse of a vertebra due to trauma, osteoporosis, or benign and/or malignant lesions. According to an article that appeared in the peer-reviewed journal American Family Physician, VCF affects approximately 25% of all postmenopausal women in the U.S., with prevalence of the condition increasing with age and reaching 40% of women eighty or older.
The ongoing research conducted by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) physics professor Sergey Mirov, Ph.D., is a kind of fingerprinting program for the 21st century. But rather than using fingers and ink to identify one person from another, Mirov is using molecules and laser light to identify one substance or material from another.
Ancient Egyptians may be best known for building pyramids, but internationally renowned maritime archaeologist Cheryl Ward wants the world to know that they were pretty good sailors, too.
How important are male friendships? Geoffrey Greif, DSW, explores the importance of male friendships in his book The Buddy System, Understanding Male Friendships. In the wake of the forthcoming film, I LOVE YOU MAN, Greif can speak to the issues about male friendships or lack thereof.
Stabilizing or destabilizing? Good or bad? Many have debated the positives and negatives of sovereign wealth fund investments, which are pools of money that foreign governments, China in particular, have invested for profit in a number of U.S. investment banks. None, however, have shed light on the fundamental question: Do such investments help or hurt?
Though they are the largest and most widely scattered objects in the universe,
galaxies do go bump in the night. The Hubble Space Telescope has photographed
many pairs of galaxies colliding. Like snowflakes, no two examples look exactly alike. This is one of the most arresting galaxy smash-up images to date.
A study by UAB political scientist Holly Brasher, Ph.D., in the latest issue of Party Politics shows historically how public perceptions about political party strengths change over time.
Researchers from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a gene that is overexpressed in 90 percent of pancreatic cancers, the most deadly type of cancer.
It may only be one hour of lost time, but the "˜spring forward' of our clocks for daylight saving time can really pack a punch for some people. A U-M Sleep Specialist discusses the impact of the time change and offers tips to help adults and children adjust to the lost hour on March 8.
Spine surgeons at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and other U.S. centers are reporting that artificial disc replacement works as well and often better than spinal fusion surgery. The two procedures are performed on patients with damaged discs in the neck.
A study in the February 28 issue of The Lancet describes a risk scoring process that researchers believe could help prevent atrial fibrillation, the most common type of abnormal heart rhythm in the United States that affects about 2.2 million people. Dr. J. Michael Mangrum, director of the UVA Health System's Atrial Fibrillation Center, is available to discuss this study.
For two weeks in March, some of the greatest names in science and the humanities will come to Tallahassee to take part in public discussions on how fundamental discoveries in science, religion, philosophy, history and the arts have shaped our understanding of life and civilization -- and our grasp of what lies ahead.
The University of Maryland celebrates its 11th annual Maryland Day open house on Saturday, April 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is one of the largest annual events in the state - last year welcoming more than 70,000 visitors.
Workers with diabetes and obesity improved their absenteeism and disability rate by as much as 87 percent with the help of a lifestyle intervention program administered by researchers at the University of Virginia Health System. The results appear in the February edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation has pledged $1 million to The UCLA Foundation to fund an endowed chair in clinical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Clinical pharmacology bridges the gap between laboratory science and the practice of medicine. Its primary aims are to promote safe and effective pharmaceutical drug use in patients and to optimize the medical benefits and minimize the potential risks of prescription drugs in treating diseases that affect mankind. The clinical pharmacology program at UCLA studies issues related to drug interactions, the individual's response to drugs and how different ethnicities metabolize drugs.
Experts say distractions while driving are a major cause of traffic accidents, but a new driving simulator at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) could help to make the roads safer.
For the first time, researchers have documented a shift in breeding ranges for northerly species in North America. The study parallels findings in Europe.
High summer temperatures, pushed higher by global climate change, may bring with them a spike in hospitalizations for respiratory problems, according to an analysis of data from twelve European cities, from Dublin to Valencia. The data comes from the "Assessment and Prevention of Acute Health Effects of Weather Conditions in Europe" (PHEWE), a multi-center, three-year collaboration between epidemiologists, meteorologists and experts in public health collaboration that investigated the short-term effects of weather in Europe.
The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering has awarded a $2 million grant to the University of Chicago to provide stipends and tuition support for students in the innovative Biophysical Sciences program.
With the cutting of a ribbon, The Florida State University today ushered in a new era for the development of composite materials that promise a wide variety of commercial and industrial uses.
The Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation has established the "Fellowships in Focused Ultrasound" initiative to give clinicians and clinician scientists the opportunity to spend a year at an established MRgFUS center receiving training from an experienced mentor. Fellows will have the opportunity to learn about all aspects of MRgFUS, treatment protocols, and participate in clinical trials and scientific research. Fellowship mentoring is available at a number of MRgFUS centers.
"Nine in ten dual-income couples in New York State feel there is some risk that one or both of their jobs might not exist in the next couple of years," says Ithaca College sociologist Stephen Sweet, lead author of the study "Dual Earners in Double Jeopardy: Preparing for Job Loss in the New Risk Economy." Satellite Uplink available on campus.
During the next decade, a delicate measurement of primordial light could reveal convincing evidence for the popular cosmic inflation theory, which proposes that a random, microscopic density fluctuation in the fabric of space and time gave birth to the universe in a hot big bang.
Illuminating the molecular details of normal sperm development, demonstrating how chemotherapy or radiation can leave a man or boy sterile, and pursuing ways to restore fertility have earned a major honor for a scientist at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
President Obama spurred a dramatic change in the way whites think about African-Americans before he had even set foot in the Oval Office, according to a new study.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine's Eating Disorders Program is seeking adults with anorexia to participate in a 20-week comprehensive treatment course that includes couples therapy. Developed by the UNC School of Medicine Eating Disorders Program and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Uniting Couples (in the treatment of) Anorexia Nervosa, or UCAN, is the first and only NIH-funded trial of treatment for anorexia that emphasizes couple therapy.
Researchers from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a panel of small molecules, or metabolites, that appear to indicate aggressive prostate cancer. The finding could lead to a simple test that would help doctors determine which prostate cancers are slow-growing and which require immediate, aggressive treatment.
Fire experiments performed this winter by researchers from NIST and other organizations are part of a landmark study examining the effect of firefighter crew sizes and equipment arrival times on fire growth rates and an occupant's ability to survive a building fire.