Did the "metrosexual" male come into being and die out with the last decade, or has he become the new normal? Erynn Masi de Casanova, a UC assistant professor of sociology, presented truly irrelevant research about the label at the 111th annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in San Francisco.
Culture
Big fish that have grown up in marine reserves don't seem to know enough to avoid fishers armed with spear guns waiting outside the reserve.
The latest research by an Australian team working in the Philippines into the effects of marine reserves has found there is an unexpected windfall awaiting fishers who obey the rules and respect reserve boundaries – in the form of big, innocent fish wandering out of the reserve.
On December 22, 1887, Srinivasa Ramanujan was born to a poor family inthe state of Tamil Nadu in South India. From humble and obscurebeginnings, he blossomed into one of the greatest mathematicalgeniuses of all time. Largely self-taught and cut off from much ofthe current mathematical work of his time, he nevertheless producedobservations and results that continue to dazzle.
Researchers propose a model for the electronic support of practice-based translational research, including the information architecture, processes, and software requirements needed to support practice-based research networks.
The model, which identifies seven independent applications that interact over the Internet using standard Web services, scales to a size large enough to support every PBRN and primary care practice in the United States and supports local customization and enhancement.
Evaluating the feasibility and efficacy of adding a "contraceptive vital sign" to help spur preconception counseling and safe prescribing of teratogenic medications (drugs known to cause congenital malformations) in primary care, researchers found a contraceptive vital sign improves documentation of pregnancy intentions and contraception in a manner that is acceptable to patients, but had little effect on the rate of family planning counseling and prescribing of potentially teratogenic medications.
With influenza and pneumococcal immunization rates below national targets, researchers review the evidence for the effectiveness of different quality improvement interventions aimed at increasing vaccination rates.
The analysis of 106 studies involving more than 470,000 patients revealed the best chance for improving vaccination rates may be achieved by
1) shifting vaccine administration from physicians to members of the primary care team with clear responsibilities for chronic and preventive care and
2) activating patients through personal contact.
In light of U.S. policymakers' efforts to lower the rapidly increasing primary cesarean delivery rate and recent national guidelines encouraging trial of labor after cesarean, researchers find encouraging outcomes at a Wisconsin Amish birthing center.
Many patients appear willing to undergo preventive care on the basis of overly optimistic expectations of the benefits of preventive interventions and screening.
Analyzing data from 354 patient questionnaires on the perceived benefit of screening for breast and bowel cancer, and medication to prevent hip fracture and cardiovascular disease, researchers in New Zealand found participants overestimated the degree of benefit conferred by all interventions.
Steven H. Woolf at Virginia Commonwealth University contends a major contributor to the alarming rise in health care costs is patients' unrealistic expectations about the benefits of health services.
Confronting these beliefs, he asserts, is a potentially more effective way to bend the cost curve than many current reforms. He writes, "If patients and clinicians widely hold that a procedure is life-saving and harmless, any reform is unlikely to curb demand until those misconceptions are addressed."
Using the example of prostate cancer screening, researchers tackle the question of whether overextended primary care clinicians should adopt guidelines developed primarily by specialists when there is limited direct evidence of benefit.
Researchers project the United States will need 52,000 additional primary care physicians by 2025 — a 25 percent increase in the current workforce — to address the expected increases in demand due to population growth, aging, and insurance expansion following passage of the Affordable Care Act.
Many baby boomers want to improve the way people view aging, but an Oregon State University researcher has found they often reinforce negative stereotypes of old age when interacting with their own parents, coloring the way those seniors experience their twilight years.
ANN ARBOR—At hospital shift changes, doctors and nurses exchange crucial information about the patients they're handing over—or at least they strive to. In reality, they might not spend enough time talking about the toughest cases, according to a study led by the University of Michigan.
ANN ARBOR—Reports indicate that Michigan faces a physician shortage much larger than the national average, and it will grow as millions of Americans qualify for insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
Yet Michigan law prevents the medical professionals who could best mitigate this shortage from doing so, because it prohibits advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) from using the full scope of their training and education to treat patients.
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Nov. 12, 2012 – Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have reported progress in fabricating advanced materials at the nanoscale. The spontaneous self-assembly of nanostructures composed of multiple elements paves the way toward materials that could improve a range of energy efficient technologies and data storage devices.