Culture | Science Codex

Charges for emergency room visits often based on incorrect assumptions

Visits to the ER are not always for true medical emergencies – and some policymakers have been fighting the problem by denying or limiting payments if the patient's diagnosis upon discharge is for "nonemergency" conditions.

Now a new UC San Francisco study challenges that framework by showing that criteria used as a basis to determine the appropriateness of an emergency room visit and to deny payment is inherently flawed. The study analyzed nearly 35,000 visits to hospital emergency departments around the country.

New hope to beat malaria once and for all

"The 4(1H)-quinolone-3- diarylethers are selective potent inhibitors of the parasite mitochondrial cytochrome bc1 complex," Professor Avery said.

"These compounds are highly active against the types of malaria parasites which infect humans, Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax," she said.

"What is really exciting about this study is that a new class of drugs based on the 4(1H)-quinolone-3- diarylethers would target the malaria parasite at different stages of its lifecycle."

Greening the blues -- what business can learn from Avatar

Norm Borin of California Polytechnic State University and Arline Savage of the School of Business at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, argue that the fictitious mining company in the 2009 James Cameron movie, Avatar, makes a perfect case study for how not to be a sustainable company and offers lesson to more down to earth corporations hoping to gain green credentials as opposed to the blues.

Restoration and recommendations for flood-damaged bottomlands

URBANA - Although the 2012 drought in the Midwest may have dimmed the memories for some of the 2011 Ohio and Mississippi River flood, engineers, landowners, conservationists, crop scientists and soil scientists haven't forgotten. They are working hard to repair levees and restore the flood damaged Birds Point-New Madrid floodway in preparation for the next big flood which will eventually happen.

Metal stents are effective treatment for blocked bile ducts

NEW YORK (March 20, 2013) -- A multi-center analysis, led by Weill Cornell Medical College and published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, shows the use of temporary "fully covered self-expanding metal stents" (FCSEMS) can effectively fix a painful and potentially life-threatening benign biliary stricture -- a severely blocked or narrowed bile duct.

FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program needs an updated approach to analyzing flood risk

WASHINGTON -- In administering the National Flood Insurance Program, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) needs a more modern approach to analyzing and managing flood risk behind levees -- one that would give public officials and individual property owners a clearer idea of the risks they face and how they should address them, says a new report from the National Research Council.

America's lower-wage workforce: Employer and worker perspectives

Chicago, March 20, 2013—The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research announces the publication and availability of a major two-part study designed to better understand how lower-wage workers and those who employ them view such jobs and the opportunities for advancing the careers of lower wage workers. Funding for the surveys was provided to the AP-NORC Center by the Joyce Foundation, the Hitachi Foundation, and NORC at the University of Chicago.

'End of men'? Not even close

It's March 2013 – 50 years after Betty Friedan's explosive book launched feminism's "second wave," 41 after Title IX, the equal-opportunity amendment banning sex discrimination in education, was signed into law – and some exceptionally successful women are making a lot of news. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is riding high in public opinion, winning straw polls for the 2016 presidency. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, after shrugging off maternity leave, has sparked the "Great Telecommuting Debate" with a company-wide ban on working from home.

Study looks at longevity of total knee replacements in younger patients with juvenile arthritis

When you think of knee replacement surgery, you generally envision an older adult with painful arthritis. But the procedure is also used for younger patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) whose joints have been severely damaged by the disease. Because the surgery in younger patients is relatively rare, little data exist on the longevity of knee replacements in JIA patients.

Researchers develop new anatomically based classification for diagnosing cervical spinal stenosis

(CHICAGO) –Physician-researchers at the Rothman Institute at Jefferson have developed a new, clinically meaningful scale of severity for diagnosing patients with cervical spinal stenosis. Their goal was to create a more accurate scale than the current "mild, moderate or severe" designations used for patients with this condition, a narrowing of the spinal canal in the neck. Researchers sought to create a reproducible, clinically validated classification of central cervical stenosis.

Segregation of Hispanics on the decline -- except for Mexicans

Even as the Hispanic population continues to grow rapidly, the residential separation of most Hispanic groups has declined sharply in the last two decades, according to a new analysis of census data released by the US2010 Project at Brown University. The important exception – Mexicans, who are more than half ofthe nation's Hispanics.

Caffeine 'can significantly protect against crash risk' for long distance heavy vehicle drivers

Research: Use of caffeinated substances and risk of crashes in long distance drivers of commercial vehicles: case-control study

Long distance commercial drivers who consume caffeinated substances such as coffee or energy drinks, to stay awake while driving, are significantly less likely to crash than those who do not, even though they drive longer distances and sleep less, finds a study published today on bmj.com.

Studies for approval of new drugs have insufficient patients to evaluate safety

For medicines intended for chronic use, the number of patients studied before regulatory approval is insufficient to properly evaluate safety and long-term efficacy, requiring the need for new legislation, according to a study by European researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine.

Discharge diagnosis from emergency department may not accurately identify nonemergency visits

Among patients with emergency department (ED) visits with the same presenting complaint as those with visits ultimately given a primary care-treatable diagnosis based on the ED discharge diagnosis, a substantial proportion required immediate emergency care or hospital admission, findings that do not support use of discharge diagnosis as the basis for policies discouraging ED use, according to a study in the March 20 issue of JAMA.

Adults who experience stroke before age 50 have higher risk of death over long-term

In an examination of long-term mortality after stroke, adults 50 years of age and younger who experienced a stroke had a significantly higher risk of death in the following 20 years compared with the general population, according to a study in the March 20 issue of JAMA.