Culture | Page 1825 | Science Codex

Being at 'high risk' of ill health has become a disease in its own right

Classifying an individual as being at "high risk" of developing a particular condition/disease has become a disease in its own right, and is turning the healthy into the sick, argues an expert in an editorial published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

And doctors are as bad as patients at understanding what is meant by high risk and the anticipated benefit of any preventive treatment, says Professor Teppo Järvinen, of the Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma, Helsinki University Hospital, in Finland.

Bipartisan US report advocates fighting global disease to advance range of American interests

A new US bipartisan study (available at http://bit.ly/1NxehhC) advocates promoting global health to both "do the right thing" and advance wide-ranging foreign policy interests.

Written by former Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle (Democrat) and Bill Frist, (Republican), the report urges US policy-makers to expand "Strategic Health Diplomacy," pointing to malaria and hepatitis C among the most promising targets for a broader US role in global health.

Lowering body temperature increases survival, brain function in cardiac arrest patients with non-shockable heart rhythms

DALLAS, Texas, Nov. 16, 2015 -- Lowering the body's temperature of cardiac arrest patients with "non-shockable" heart rhythms increases survival rates and brain function, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.

Therapeutic hypothermia is a medical treatment that intentionally lowers the body's temperature to protect the body following a period of insufficient blood flow due to such events as a cardiac arrest, blood clot or stroke.

Moderate coffee drinking may lower risk of premature death

Boston, MA - People who drink about three to five cups of coffee a day may be less likely to die prematurely from some illnesses than those who don't drink or drink less coffee, according to a new study by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers and colleagues. Drinkers of both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee saw benefits, including a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, neurological diseases, type 2 diabetes, and suicide.

Study: How students of different backgrounds use strategies to strengthen college applications

Over the past 25 years, the higher education system in the United States has grown more competitive, with students trying to gain admissions to the most desirable institutions and institutions vying for the most desirable students. During this time period, high school students across the country -- particularly those from families of higher socioeconomic status -- have increasingly used multiple strategies to enhance their college applications, finds research led by NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.

Alzheimer's patients' health care costs higher already before diagnosis

The health care costs of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD) start to increase already one year before the diagnosis, shows a new study from the University of Eastern Finland. The differences in the health care costs between AD patients and non-AD patients were the greatest during six months following the diagnosis, with AD patients having 5,088 euros higher health care costs per person-year. After the first six months, the differences evened out.

Fit older adults are more active

"We found that fitness level had the strongest association with physical activity, followed by gender and season. This means that fit older adults were more active than the unfit, females were more active than males and physical activity was higher in the warmer months of the year. In addition we found that higher education was associated with higher physical activity for males, but not for females.

Gene therapy: A promising candidate for cystic fibrosis treatment

An improved gene therapy treatment can cure mice with cystic fibrosis (CF). Cell cultures from CF patients, too, respond well to the treatment. Those are the encouraging results of a study presented by the Laboratory for Molecular Virology and Gene Therapy at KU Leuven, Belgium.

Cystic fibrosis or mucoviscidosis is a genetic disorder that makes the mucus in the body thick and sticky, which in turn causes clogging in, for instance, the airways and the gastrointestinal tract. The symptoms can be treated, but there is no cure for the disorder.

Study finds honesty varies significantly between countries

Research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) has found that people's honesty varies significantly between countries.

It also suggests that honesty is less important to a country's current economic growth than during earlier periods in history.

The study examined whether people from different countries were more or less honest and how this related to a country's economic development. More than 1500 participants from 15 countries took part in an online survey involving two incentivised experiments, designed to measure honest behaviour.

Falls and brawls top list of causes for eye injuries in United States

LAS VEGAS - Nov. 14, 2015 - Falling and fighting top the list of major causes of eye injuries resulting in hospitalization over a 10-year period, according to research presented today at AAO 2015, the 119th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Falling was the No. 1 cause of eye injuries overall and accounted for more than 8,425 hospitalizations. Researchers also found that the cost to treat eye injuries at hospitals rose by 62 percent during that period and now exceeds $20,000 per injury.

Diabetes dilemma: Most Europeans unsure how to reduce type 2 diabetes risk, research finds

Despite greater access to health information than ever before, new research illustrates many people remain confused about diet and lifestyle messages related to increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The research also revealed health awareness in relation to type 2 diabetes varies considerably across Europe and identified a significant gap between what Europeans know they should do to reduce their risk, and what they actually manage to achieve.

EARTH: Travertine buildup reflects Ancient Rome's water usage

For years historians and scientists have tried to understand the ancient marvel of the Roman aqueducts to better understand Rome itself. Now archaeologists are using a new method - the buildup of travertine within the Anio Novus aqueduct - to determine how much water flowed into Rome.

Simultaneous pregnancy and leukaemia offer a treatment challenge

The latest case report published in ecancermedicalscience describes the case of a woman who had the double burdens of chronic leukaemia and an unplanned pregnancy - and her happy outcome.

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is a very common haematological disease, but it usually affects elderly people. Cases of this disease appearing alongside pregnancy are vanishingly rare.

Sea ice plays a pivotal role in the Arctic methane cycle

The ice-covered Arctic Ocean is a more important factor concerning the concentration of the greenhouse gas methane in the atmosphere than previously assumed. Experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) report on the newly discovered interactions between the atmosphere, sea ice and the ocean in a recent online study in the journal Nature's Scientific Reports.

FDA approves Adjuvant Yervoy in melanoma based on results of EORTC trial 18071

Based on the results of EORTC trial 18071, the FDA expanded the approval of Yervoy (ipilimumab) in melanoma to include adjuvant treatment of patients with stage 3 melanoma at high risk of recurrence following complete resection.

EORTC Headquarters handled project management, data management, and analysis for this successful registration trial.