Culture | Page 2789 | Science Codex

Ankle replacements - when insurance has to cover everything, it is no longer insurance

MAYWOOD, Il. -- It's been a decade since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first total ankle-replacement system for patients with severe ankle arthritis but several insurance companies still deny coverage, Loyola University Health System orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Michael Pinzur writes in a FootForum commentary in Foot & Ankle International, the official journal of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society.

And that's bad, he contends, apparently not realizing that insurance is supposed to cover the important stuff.

Queen's international research tests language tests

Unique Queen's University research will shed light on how motivation and anxiety affects language test scores, and on the relationship between the test scores and the social and educational contexts of the tests.

Education professor Liying Cheng, underscores the importance of understanding the power awarded to language tests in certain decision making processes around the world.

'Bullying', though ill defined, affected 14 percent of workers over past 6 months

Although it is a relatively widespread phenomenon, the experts have still not been able to come up with an all-encompassing and precise definition of workplace abuse or bullying. Basing their work on previous literature, David González, of the High Court of Justice of Madrid and José Luís Graña, of the Faculty of Psychology at the Complutense University, have defined it in their study as a "process of systematic and repeated aggression by a person or group towards a workmate, subordinate or superior". Their research has been published in the latest issue of Psicothema.

Illness, medical bills linked to nearly two-thirds of bankruptcies

Medical problems contributed to nearly two-thirds (62.1 percent) of all bankruptcies in 2007, according to a study in the August issue of the American Journal of Medicine that will be published online Thursday. The data were collected prior to the current economic downturn and hence likely understate the current burden of financial suffering. Between 2001 and 2007, the proportion of all bankruptcies attributable to medical problems rose by 49.6 percent. The authors' previous 2001 findings have been widely cited by policy leaders, including President Obama.

Health and life insurance companies hold billions in tobacco stocks

More than a decade after Harvard researchers first revealed that life and health insurance companies were major investors in tobacco stocks – prompting calls upon them to divest – the insurance industry has yet to kick the habit, they say.

A new article on insurance company holdings, published in today's New England Journal of Medicine, shows that U.S., Canadian and U.K.-based insurance firms hold at least $4.4 billion of investments in companies whose subsidiaries manufacture cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco and related products.

Cuckoo's Nest 2009 - new government regulations could lead to increased use of physical restraints in hospitals

BOSTON – Over the past 20 years, the health care system has made tremendous progress in reducing the use of physical restraints among hospitalized elderly patients, a positive change that has had numerous numerous ripple effects, improving outcomes, maintaining mobility and preserving dignity and independence for these individuals.

Data on investigational drug TMC207 for MDR-TB published in New England Journal of Medicine

[Mechelen Belgium, June 3, 2009] –Interim results from an ongoing phase 2, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of the investigational drug TMC207 for the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) were published in the New England Journal of Medicine today. TMC207 is being developed by Tibotec BVBA.

Anonymous customer satisfaction surveys are the problem, not bad customer service, says study

Researchers have helped solve the mystery of why white men continue to earn 25 percent more than equally well-performing women and minorities. Managers and business owners must pay a premium for white male employees because customers prefer them, says David Hekman, assistant professor in the Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UWM).

Innovative method to teach tots about personal cleanliness

Swine flu reminded us how important washing our hands can be. Studies show that simple handwashing can decrease communicable gastrointestinal diseases by 50% and communicable respiratory diseases by 20%.

Now, with schools at special risk for swine flu, a Tel Aviv University researcher is bringing that message to educators and researchers.

MDCT angiography leads to successful treatment of severely blocked arteries in the legs

MDCT angiography leads to accurate recommendations for successful treatment of patients with critical limb ischemia, sometimes allowing the patients to avoid more complicated surgery, according to a study performed at the Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

Youth gang members feel safer, even though they aren't

Children who join gangs feel safer despite a greater risk of being assaulted or killed, according to federally funded research led by a Michigan State University criminologist.

The findings by MSU's Chris Melde, which appear in the current edition of the journal Criminology, may help explain why youth continue to join street gangs despite the well-established danger.

Single women look at men longer - and the attractiveness standard drops

In the study, published in the March issue of Human Nature, women both with and without sexual partners showed little difference in their subjective ratings of photos of men when considering such measures as masculinity and attractiveness. However, the women who did not have sexual partners spent more time evaluating photos of men, demonstrating a greater interest in the photos. No such difference was found between men who had sexual partners and those who did not.

Whole-grain claims and school lunches - good luck if you can figure out which foods are really meeting the claim

While most nutrition experts agree that school lunches should include more whole-grain products, a new study from the University of Minnesota finds that food-service workers lack understanding and the resources to meet that goal.

The study, which involved school food-service directors from across Minnesota, appears in the current issue of the Journal of Child Nutrition and Management. Because they serve so many meals to children each day, school food-service directors have a major influence on students' food choices and in turn their overall health, the authors note.

Study: Men not buying into HPV vaccine marketing claims

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Informing men that a new vaccine to prevent human papillomavirus (HPV) would also help protect their female partners against developing cervical cancer from the sexually transmitted infection did not increase their interest in getting the vaccine, according to a new Florida State University study.

African-Americans are more vulnerable to welfare penalties

WASHINGTON, DC — African Americans are significantly more likely to be sanctioned by the United States welfare system than whites, according to research published in the June issue of the American Sociological Review, the flagship journal of the American Sociological Association.