Culture | Science Codex

Tel Aviv University archaeologists find massive fortifications from the Iron Age

Researchers from Tel Aviv University have unearthed the remains of massive ancient fortifications built around an Iron-Age Assyrian harbor in present-day Israel.

At the heart of the well-preserved fortifications is a mud-brick wall up to more than 12 feet wide and 15 feet high. The wall is covered in layers of mud and sand that stretch for hundreds of feet on either side. When they were built in the eighth century B.C.E., the fortifications formed a daunting crescent-shaped defense for an inland area covering more than 17 acres.

Physician continuity after patients leave hospital for heart failure can help survival rates

Patients with heart failure who see a physician in the first month after leaving hospital are more likely to survive than those who do not see a doctor, reports a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). The effect is slightly more pronounced in patients who see their regular physician rather than an unfamiliar physician.

Longest and largest study of insulin pumps to treat type 1 diabetes in children shows they control blood sugar more effectively

The longest and largest study of the effectiveness of insulin pumps to treat type 1 diabetes in children has shown that the pumps are more effective at controlling blood sugar than insulin injections and cause fewer complications. The research is published in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, and is by Associate Professor Elizabeth Davis, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Perth, WA, Australia and colleagues.

New MR analysis technique reveals brain tumor response to anti-angiogenesis therapy

A new way of analyzing data acquired in MR imaging appears to be able to identify whether or not tumors are responding to anti-angiogenesis therapy, information that can help physicians determine the most appropriate treatments and discontinue ones that are ineffective.

Drug dosing for older heart patients should differ

DURHAM, N.C. – Older heart patients present unique challenges for determining the optimal dosages of medications, so a new study from researchers at Duke Medicine offers some rare clarity about the use of drugs that are used to treat patients with heart attacks.

For certain heart patients older than age 75, a half-dose of the anti-platelet drug prasugrel works about as well as the typical dosage of clopidogrel, according to a team led by the Duke Clinical Research Institute that looked at a sub-study of a large clinical trial.

More potent anti-clotting drugs with angiography may benefit patients with acute chest pain

Boston, MA – Current methods to treat acute coronary syndrome conditions, such as heart attack, include artery-clearing procedures (e.g., percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass grafting) with medications, or medications alone for those that do not undergo procedures.

ITN type 1 diabetes study identifies subset of patients with strong response to therapy

WA, Seattle (August 15, 2013) – Primary results from a new clinical trial show that patients with type 1 diabetes treated with the monoclonal antibody teplizumab (MacroGenics, Inc.) exhibit greater preservation of C-peptide, a biomarker of islet cell function, compared to controls. Further analyses identified a discrete subset of the treatment group that demonstrated especially robust responses ("responders"), suggesting that these patients could be identified prior to treatment.

Psychiatric patients given smoking-cessation treatment less likely to be rehospitalized

STANFORD, Calif. — Patients who participated in a smoking-cessation program during hospitalization for mental illness were able to quit smoking and were less likely to be hospitalized again for their psychiatric conditions, according to a new study led by a Stanford University School of Medicine scientist.

The findings counter a longstanding assumption, held by many mental-health experts, that smoking serves as a useful tool in treating some psychiatric patients.

Obesity kills more Americans than previously thought

Obesity is a lot more deadly than previously thought. Across recent decades, obesity accounted for 18 percent of deaths among Black and White Americans between the ages of 40 and 85, according to a study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This finding challenges the prevailing wisdom among scientists, which puts that portion at around 5%.

Evolution of hyperswarming bacteria could develop anti-biofilm therapies

In other words, the evolution that he and his team witnessed was repeatable, all the way down to the molecular level.

The researchers didn't set out with the goal to evolve hyperswarmers, but they did passage Pseudomonas aeruginosa on special plates over a period of days. On those plates, bacteria that could spread out had an advantage in harvesting nutrients from the surface, and within a matter of days, some of those bacteria started hyperswarming.

Study: Making medical decisions for a cognitively impaired family member is complicated

INDIANAPOLIS -- Decision-making by a surrogate for a family member who is unable to make medical decisions is more complicated than decision-making by patients themselves, according to a study from the Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University Center for Aging Research and the Charles Warren Fairbanks Center for Medical Ethics of Indiana University Health.

The researchers found that family decision-makers considered the cognitively impaired patient's wishes and interests. But they also took into account their own needs and preferences.

'Rothman Index' may help to lower repeat hospitalization risk

Philadelphia, Pa. (August 15, 2013) – A health risk score calculated automatically using routine data from hospital electronic medical records (EMR) systems can identify patients at high risk of unplanned hospital readmission, reports a study in the September issue of Medical Care, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

Characteristics of family killers revealed by first taxonomy study

Of all the dark forms that murder can take, the slaying of a family by the father is one of the most tragic and the least understood. This first ever study of British 'family annihilators', published in the Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, has analysed three decades of cases and reveals four new types of annihilator.

Study examines risk of severe blood sugar swings among diabetics taking fluoroquinolones

[EMARGOED UNTIL THURSDAY, AUG. 15] Diabetic patients taking oral fluoroquinolones, a frequently prescribed class of antibiotics, were found to have a higher risk of severe blood sugar-related problems than diabetic patients taking other kinds of antibiotics, according to a recent study from Taiwan published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Does chronic pain affect a spouse's sleep?

Philadelphia, August 15, 2013 – Research suggests that a patient's chronic pain affects a spouse's emotional well-being and marital satisfaction. In a novel study of behavioral health outcomes published in the journal PAIN®, researchers examined the effects of patients' daily knee osteoarthritis pain on their spouses' nightly sleep. They determined that couples who expressed a high degree of closeness in their marriage experienced a stronger association between pain levels and the spouse's ability to sleep restfully.