As the United States puts ever-greater emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics education to keep competitive in the global economy, schools are trying to figure out how to improve student learning in science.
University of Washington researchers Katie Davis and Greg Crowther think music may be the answer for some kids. They studied the ability of music videos to enhance students' understanding of scientific concepts.
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have added yet another innovation—miniature valves—to their ever-growing collection of inexpensive, easy-to-manufacture and highly efficient microfluidic devices made from plastic films and double-sided tape.
ROSEMONT, Ill.—A new study appearing in the April issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS) showed that the economic downturns in the 2000s did not substantially influence the national growth trends for hip and knee arthroplasty in the United States. The new data support the authors' existing projections—made in 2007—that predicted a significant surge in demand for total joint replacement (TJR) through 2030.
Patients have substantial physical impairments even two years after being discharged from the hospital after a stay in an intensive care unit (ICU), new Johns Hopkins research suggests.
The scientists found that for every day of bed rest in the ICU, muscle strength was between 3 and 11 percent lower over the following months and years.
After looking at 1.1 million online reviews for 840,000 restaurants in more than 32,000 cities across the country, Georgia Tech and Yahoo Labs researchers have found that the weather outside can be just as significant a factor for reviews as what happens inside a restaurant. Their study shows evaluations written on rainy or snowy days, or very cold or hot days, are more negative than those written on nice days.
When planting seedlings of desert plants in the desert area under no irrigation condition, why the survival rate is so low and the growth is so poor? A recent research using desert plant Haloxylon ammodendron discovered that high desert surface temperature (≥50oC) is a major limiting factor under numerous desert habitats. It provides a novel idea for ecological control measures of desert. Professor MA Hao and his group from Nanjing Agricultural University and Xinjiang Agricultural University found this phenomenon and set out to tackle this problem.
The idea that a good diet means a healthy population with lower health costs only holds true when it comes to emergency care, a study shows.
Researchers from Monash University, the National Defense Medical Centre, Taiwan, and the National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan, found that although men and women aged over 65 years who ate healthily had shorter stays in hospital, they were strong users of other medical services. In fact, they tended to make greater use of outpatient services, preventive care and dental care than those who did not follow a healthy eating regime.
Sliding speed and ice temperature affect the surface friction of ice more than had previously been thought. The thermodynamic model developed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland research scientists shows that under certain conditions ice warms and melts when an item of material slides across its surface. The ice then becomes more slippery. Conversely, the friction coefficient can rise a hundredfold when sliding speed reduces and the temperature drops.
Researchers worldwide continue search for better luminescent materials for OLED manufacturing. Two new compounds with europium complexes developed at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw display in their class record high luminescence efficiencies in red, and their properties enable faster, low cost manufacturing of thin OLED films.
A survey of more than 500 researchers indicates that scientists have the desire to get more involved in public discussion and policy decisions regarding environmental issues, but have concerns about how their efforts might be perceived.
Charred grains of barley, millet and wheat deposited nearly 5,000 years ago at campsites in the high plains of Kazakhstan show that nomadic sheepherders played a surprisingly important role in the early spread of domesticated crops throughout a mountainous east-west corridor along the historic Silk Road, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.
Care of patients with heart failure in the UK is inadequate and has not changed in a decade, according to new research published in BMJ Open.
The findings by a team at Durham University and Darlington Memorial Hospital - and funded by national charity Heart Research UK - highlight inadequacies in heart failure care as well as an uncoordinated approach to diagnosis and management of the condition between primary and secondary care clinicians.
The government is putting pressure on commissioners, and in turn general practitioners, to make more diagnoses of dementia, but no analysis has been done to assess the harm that these targets could cause.
Dr Martin Brunet, a GP from Surrey, says that "medicine depends on a fundamental, unspoken agreement between patients and doctors […] the only factor influencing the decision to diagnose should be the best interests of patients". He adds that the idea of doctors being motivated by self interest is "abhorrent and undermines the basis of the relationship".
In a systematic review and meta-analysis of 47 studies with 15,158 patients, Amit Singal (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center) and colleagues found that patients with cirrhosis who underwent surveillance (via liver ultrasound with or without measurement of serum alpha fetoprotein) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) had cancers detected at an earlier stage, were more likely to receive curative instead of palliative treatment, and had longer survival.
A study released today of 36,210 adult tonsillectomy patients finds that 20 percent will have a complication, offering valuable new insights to a decades long discussion. The study, featured in the April 2014 issue of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, examines the prevalence of complications in adult tonsillectomies and the impact on health care expenditures.