WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new study by a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) economist estimates the total economic impact of foodborne illness across the nation to be a combined $152 billion annually.
Culture
In this week's BMJ, senior eye doctors are warning people to keep liquid capsules for fabric detergents out of the reach of children after a wave of eye injuries in young children at their hospital.
Rashmi Mathew and Melanie Corbett from The Western Eye Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London report that last year chemical injuries associated with these capsules accounted for 40% of ocular chemical injuries in children under the age of five at their hospital.
Individuals who were identified as being at increased risk of cardiovascular or cerebrovascular events based on screening for low ankle brachial index, a type of pressure measurement used in the diagnosis of peripheral artery disease, did not significantly reduce their risk of these events with the use of aspirin, according to a study in the March 3 issue of JAMA.
An analysis of Medicare data indicates that elderly patients who are hospitalized in an intensive care unit (ICU) and survive to be discharged from the hospital have a high rate of death in the following three years, and that, in particular, patients who receive mechanical ventilation have a substantially increased rate of death compared with both hospital and general population controls in the first several months after hospital discharge, according to a study in the March 3 issue of JAMA.
The exploits of China's first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, are richly documented in 2,000-year-old records of his conquests across eastern China. His reign was indeed noteworthy – he is responsible for initiating construction of the Great Wall, and the discovery of life-size terracotta soldiers that guard his tomb in central China has generated worldwide attention.
Addressing one of the most urgent societal challenges of the Information Age – ensuring that valued digital information will be accessible not just today, but in the future – requires solutions that are at least as much economic and social as technical, according to a new report by a Blue Ribbon Task Force.
In newborn mice, at least, mother's milk appears to have some rather immediate and potentially far-reaching metabolic consequences. The milk intake kick-starts the liver to produce a molecule that then turns on heat-generating brown fat.
Undergraduate women who join a sorority are more likely to judge their own bodies from an outsider's perspective (known as self-objectification) and display higher levels of bulimic attitudes and behaviors than those who do not take part in the sorority's recruitment process.
Over time, those women who join the group also show higher levels of body shame. These findings, part of Ashley Marie Rolnik's senior honors thesis at Northwestern University in the US, are published online in Springer's journal Sex Roles.
Britain's ethnic minorities (both those born abroad and those born in the UK) are, on average, better educated than their white peers but have lower probabilities of being in employment according to a new study published in the journal Oxford Economic Papers.
San Diego, CA, March 2, 2010 – In 2005�, almost 30% of the U.S. adult population had prediabetes, but over 90% were unaware of their prediabetes status. Although it is known that diabetes can be prevented or delayed among adults at high risk through modest weight loss and increased physical activity, a study published in the April 2010 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine revealed that only about half of U.S. adults with prediabetes reported that in the past year they tried to lose weight or exercise more.
SAN FRANCISCO, March 2, 2010 – New policies that eliminate sugary beverages and junk foods from schools may help slow childhood obesity, according to a San Francisco State University study released today and published in the March issue of the journal Health Affairs.
Teens who spend more time watching television or using computers appear to have poorer relationships with their parents and peers, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
It is known that fluctuations in the treatment outcome of photodynamic therapy (PDT) between patients are related to the concentration of photosensitizer in target tissue. The purpose of a study, by Wang et al, published in the February 2010 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine was to establish a fluorescence method not only providing a semi-quantitative measurement of photosensitizer concentration but also predicting the efficacy of PDT for Port Wine Stains (PWS).
An article published in the March 2010 issue of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS) reveals that the majority of all shoulder dislocations occur during sports activities and young males are at a higher risk. The study also shows a high rate of shoulder dislocation in elderly women.
AMES, Iowa – Kerry Whisnant, Iowa State University physicist, studies the mysteries of the neutrino, the elementary particle that usually passes right through ordinary matter such as baseballs and home-run sluggers.
Kerry Whisnant, St. Louis Cardinals fan, studies the mathematical mysteries of baseball, including a long look at how the distribution of a team's runs can affect the team's winning percentage.