Amid concerns over the potential health effects of existing flame retardants for home furniture, fabrics and other material, scientists are reporting development of an "exceptionally" effective new retardant that appears safer and more environmentally friendly. Their report on the first-of-its-kind coating, ideal for the polyurethane foam in couches and bedding that causes many fire deaths, appears in ACS Macro Letters.
Culture
Economists from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Oxford seem surprised that people do not increase consumption as property values rise, but no one else is.
Property value is an unrealized gain, whereas both mortgage payments and income are real. Someone who is barely making enough money to pay their mortgage in the ongoing moribund economy is not going to somehow spend more just because a house down the street sold at a higher value than a year ago.
With concerns often expressed about youth crime and violence in the UK, researchers have been investigating what young people really think about living in an inner-city neighbourhood that has high levels of deprivation, crime and gang activity.
PORTLAND, Ore., May 15, 2013 – Regularly taking prescription painkillers, also known as opioids, is associated with a higher risk of erectile dysfunction (ED) in men, according to a study published online today in the journal Spine.
The researchers included more than 11,000 men with back pain in the study and examined their health records to find out if men taking prescription painkillers were more likely to also receive prescriptions for testosterone replacement or ED medications.
UC Irvine Health urologists and health policy experts report in a new study that two written assessments that identify existing comorbidities – the patient-reported Total Illness Burden Index for Prostate Cancer (TIBI-Cap) and the physician-reported Charlson Comorbidity Index – can successfully target prostate patients who would not benefit from biopsy to discover possible cancer.
Philadelphia, PA, May 15, 2013 – Regular marijuana use is associated with favorable indices related to diabetic control, say investigators. They found that current marijuana users had significantly lower fasting insulin and were less likely to be insulin resistant, even after excluding patients with a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. Their findings are reported in the current issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
Contribution of helmet legislation “minimal” in context of existing safety campaigns, say researchers(BMJ 2013;346:f2674).
The benefit of helmet legislation to reduce admissions to hospital for head injuries is “substantially uncertain,” concludes a study published on bmj.com today.
The authors say that, while helmets reduce head injuries and their use should be encouraged, in the context of existing safety campaigns, the impact of legislation seems to be minimal.
A combination of two FDA-approved osteoporosis drugs with different mechanisms of action was found to increase bone density better than treatment with either drug alone in a small clinical trial. As reported in paper receiving Online First publication in The Lancet, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators found that treatment combining denosumab (Prolia) and teriparatide (Forteo) was superior to single-agent treatment in a 12-month trial in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis.
WASHINGTON, DC—A study released today by George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) researchers offers an in-depth look at hospitals nationwide and admissions to intensive care units (ICU). The study, published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine, finds a sharp increase—nearly 50 percent—in ICU admissions coming from U.S. emergency departments.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (http://www.ucr.edu)— The atom-sized world of carbon nanotubes holds great promise for a future demanding smaller and faster electronic components. Nanotubes are stronger than steel and smaller than any element of silicon-based electronics—the ubiquitous component of today's electrical devices—and have better conductivity, which means they can potentially process information faster while using less energy.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – African-Americans know the signs of stroke, but concerns about medical cost, ambulance response time and unfamiliarity with the need for prompt hospital care impacted whether they called 9-1-1 immediately.
A study that included 77 African-Americans in Flint, Mich., revealed barriers among adults and youth in getting help for stroke which is significantly higher among African-Americans and leads to more deaths and disability.
Boston, MA – In new research published online May 13, 2013 in Advanced Materials, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) are the first to report that synthetic silicate nanoplatelets (also known as layered clay) can induce stem cells to become bone cells without the need of additional bone-inducing factors. Synthetic silicates are made up of simple or complex salts of silicic acids, and have been used extensively for various commercial and industrial applications, such as food additives, glass and ceramic filler materials, and anti-caking agents.
Boston, MA, May 14, 2013—A new report assessing the economic viability of services provided by practicing midlevel dental providers in the U.S. shows that they are expanding preventive dental care to people who need it most: children and those who can't afford care. At the same time, they are providing that care at a reduced cost to the dental practice.
Breastfeeding has a positive impact on the physical and mental development of infants. A new study in Breastfeeding Medicine suggests that breastfeeding may protect against the development of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) later in childhood.
Nurses will use extreme measures to save their patients and parents; but if they were dying, they prefer less aggressive ones for themselves, according to results from an international survey on nurses' end-of-life preferences.
The April issue of the International Nursing Review reported the findings about the end-of-life preferences of 1,089 nurses in the first multinational and cross-cultural view of nurses' end-of-life care choices.