Culture | Page 2628 | Science Codex

Americans don't want to lose weight

A painful fact about calories: it will take as long to lose weight undereating as it took to gain it overeating. But overeating is at least fun, and so only about one in every six Americans who have ever been overweight or obese loses weight and maintains that loss, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.

Identifying those who lose weight and successfully maintain that loss may aid health professionals in developing approaches to help others maintain weight loss, the researchers say.

Publication of World Health Report 2000 'an act of remarkable courage,' says school expert

Ten years on, Martin McKee reflects on report placed health system performance rankings firmly on political agenda.

Martin McKee, Professor of European Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has contributed one of three commentaries appearing today in the journal Health Policy and Planning, each of which take a different perspective on the World Health Report 2000 on health systems (WHR2000).

Race, lack of health insurance status cited in uneven death rates among pedestrians hit by cars?

Uninsured minority pedestrians hit by cars are at a significantly higher risk of death than their insured white counterparts, even if the injuries sustained are similar, claims a new study from Johns Hopkins.

Minority pedestrians are also far more likely than white pedestrians to be struck by motor vehicles, according to a study published in the August issue of the journal Surgery.

Yes, you read that right. Nationalized health care can apparently prevent people from getting hit by cars and save them if they do.

Report: Discovery networks hostage-taking a rare terror event

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – A new report by terrorism researchers at the University of Maryland concludes that the deadly hostage-taking incident at the Discovery Communications headquarters in suburban Washington, D.C. meets the criteria of a terrorist act – a rare one for media organizations and the nation's capital region. Hostage-taking, though, is a familiar pattern in capital-region terror, the researchers add.

Sight-saving research halted by stem cell ruling

The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), a professional organization of member scientists, opposes the Federal District Court injunction that froze federal funding for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research. ARVO is troubled by this barrier to research that has the potential to restore sight and mitigate eye damage.

Biology is for science students who don't do math?

BETHESDA, MD, SEPT 2, 2010 - The old joke is a joke no more. In the CBE—Life Sciences Education (CBE-LSE), the adage that biology is for science students who don't do math gets challenged. "Bio-math" or "math-bio" is in the future for students of both disciplines, say the contributors of seven essays and 17 research articles on new ways to integrate mathematical thinking into biology education and introduce biological problems into math learning.

'Basal-like' breast cancer does not originate from basal stem cells

New research uncovers a case of mistaken identity that may have a significant impact on future breast cancer prevention and treatment strategies. The study, published by Cell Press in the September 3rd issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, suggests that despite their "stem cell-like" characteristics, most aggressive breast tumors are not derived from normal mammary gland stem cells.

Biomedical research policy needed for therapies, economic growth, education and security

Washington, DC -- Bold and coordinated leadership at the federal level is essential to create secure, long-term, sustainable biomedical research funding policies based on strategic priorities, say the authors of a commentary about America's fledgling biomedical research framework published in this week's The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Risk of marijuana's 'gateway effect' overblown, new UNH research shows

DURHAM, N.H. – New research from the University of New Hampshire shows that the "gateway effect" of marijuana – that teenagers who use marijuana are more likely to move on to harder illicit drugs as young adults – is overblown.

Whether teenagers who smoked pot will use other illicit drugs as young adults has more to do with life factors such as employment status and stress, according to the new research. In fact, the strongest predictor of whether someone will use other illicit drugs is their race/ethnicity, not whether they ever used marijuana.

16.6 million small business employees could benefit from ACA provisions starting this year

New York, NY, September 2, 2010—16.6 million small business employees work in firms that will be eligible for tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to a new Commonwealth Fund report. The credits, designed to offset health insurance premium costs and help small businesses afford and maintain health insurance, are available in taxable years beginning in 2010. Researchers estimate that by 2013, 3.4 million workers may work in firms that take advantage of the tax credit.

Microsoft Excel-based algorithm predicts cancer prognosis

Using readily available computer programs, researchers have developed a system to identify genes that will be useful in the classification of breast cancer. The algorithm, described in BioMed Central's open access Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research will enable researchers to quickly generate valuable gene signatures without specialized software or extensive bioinformatics training.

Stopping smoking cessation treatments too soon may reduce odds of success for 45 percent of smokers

PORTLAND, Ore. — A study led by researchers in the Oregon Health & Science University Smoking Cessation Center may change the way clinicians make treatment decisions for their patients who smoke.

Targeted strategies needed to find, prevent and treat breast cancer among Mexican-origin women

HOUSTON - Specific prevention and education strategies are needed to address breast cancer in Mexican-origin women in this country, according to a study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, which was published online in the journal Cancer.

Cranberry juice shows promise blocking Staph infections

Cranberry juice shows promise blocking Staph infections

WORCESTER, Mass. – Expanding their scope of study on the mechanisms of bacterial infection, researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) have reported the surprise finding from a small clinical study that cranberry juice cocktail blocked a strain of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) from beginning the process of infection.

ADA position: Action needed to eliminate food insecurity in the US

CHICAGO – The American Dietetic Association has published an updated position paper on food insecurity in the United States, calling for funding for food and nutrition assistance programs, increased nutrition education and efforts to promote economic self-sufficiency for all households and individuals.

The paper calls access to food "a basic human need and fundamental right," defining food insecurity as "limited or intermittent access to nutritionally adequate, safe and acceptable foods accessed in socially acceptable ways."