Culture | Page 2301 | Science Codex

Medication use higher among overweight, obese kids

(Edmonton) Overweight children are far more likely to take prescription medications than children of a normal weight—a trend that adds to already higher health-care costs for treating childhood obesity, according to new research from the University of Alberta.

Researchers from the School of Public Health analyzed the medication use of more than 2,000 Canadian children through the 2007 to 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. They found that overweight and obese kids aged 12 to 19 years were 59 per cent more likely than their normal-weight peers to take prescription medication.

Shoulder dislocation in older patients poses different challenges in diagnosis, treatment

ROSEMONT, Ill.—Although shoulder dislocation can occur at about the same rates in both younger and older patients, injuries in older patients are more likely to be overlooked or misdiagnosed, resulting in years of persistent pain and disability. A new study published in the October 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons examines the differences in dislocation injuries between older and younger patients and suggests an approach to evaluate older patients that could help improve diagnosis and management of interrelated injuries.

Toward an artificial pancreas: Math modeling and diabetes control

Philadelphia, PA – October 4, 2012—Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease in which individuals exhibit high levels of sugar in the blood, either due to insufficient production of insulin—the hormone that allows glucose to be absorbed by body cells—or the body's lack of response to insulin. Type 1 diabetes occurs due to loss or dysfunction of β-cells of the pancreas, the organ that produces insulin. Type 2 diabetes is caused by a defective glucose-insulin regulatory system. The most common control for diabetes is by subcutaneous injection of insulin analogues through insulin pumps.

Better battlefield triage, transport may raise severely wounded soldiers' survival rates

CHICAGO—Wounded soldiers who sustained chest injuries in Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq) had higher mortality rates than soldiersin Korea and Vietnam, according to a military trauma study presented at the 2012 American College of Surgeons Annual Clinical Congress.

Nonprescription medication abuse underestimated

Nonprescription medications are just as likely a cause of poisoning as prescription drugs, according to a new study by Timothy Wiegand, M.D. from the University of Rochester Medical Center in the US and colleagues. Their work, which analyzes the data from the second annual report of the Toxicology Investigators Consortium (ToxIC), is published online in Springer's Journal of Medical Toxicology.

Hi-fi single photons

Many quantum technologies—such as cryptography, quantum computing and quantum networks—hinge on the use of single photons. While she was at the Kastler Brossel Laboratory (affiliated with the Pierre and Marie Curie University, École Normale Supérieure and CNRS) in Paris, France, Virginia d'Auria and her colleagues identified the extent to which photon detector characteristics shape the preparation of a photon source designed to reliably generate single photons.

Artificial cornea gives the gift of vision

Our eyes are our window to the world. Thousands of people have lost their eyesight due to damages to the cornea, such as trauma, absent limbal stem cells or diseases. Transplantation of a donor cornea is the therapy of choice for a great number of those patients. Let alone the issue of scarce donor material, a sub-group of patients do not tolerate transplanted corneas, necessitating the employment of an alternative means of restoring eye sight. In Germany alone, around 7,000 patients are waiting to be treated. In close cooperation with the Aachen Centre of Technology Transfer, Dr.

New study links caffeinated coffee to vision loss

Rockville, MD – A new study suggests caffeinated coffee drinkers should limit their intake to reduce their chances of developing vision loss or blindness. According to a scientific paper in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, heavy caffeinated coffee consumption is associated with an increased risk of developing exfoliation glaucoma, the leading cause of secondary glaucoma worldwide.

Healthcare professionals as bad as patients at good respiratory inhaler technique

Healthcare professionals are as bad as patients when it comes to knowing how to use inhalers prescribed for asthma and other respiratory conditions correctly, says an editorial in Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB).

They therefore can't be relied on to teach patients how to use these devices correctly, says DTB.

Tomb of Maya queen K'abel discovered in Guatemala

Archaeologists in Guatemala have discovered the tomb of Lady K'abel, a seventh-century Maya Holy Snake Lord considered one of the great queens of Classic Maya civilization.

The tomb was discovered during excavations of the royal Maya city of El Perú-Waka' in northwestern Petén, Guatemala, by a team of archaeologists led by Washington University in St. Louis' David Freidel, co-director of the expedition.

Surgeons investigate whether rural colon cancer patients fare worse than urban patients

CHICAGO—Colon cancer patients living in rural areas are less likely to receive an early diagnosis, chemotherapy, or thorough surgical treatment when compared with patients living in urban areas. Rural residents are also more likely to die from their colon cancer than urban patients, according to new research findings from surgeons at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The study was presented earlier today at the American College of Surgeons 2012 Annual Clinical Congress.

People with schizophrenia more likely to die of heart attack, CAMH finds

For immediate release - Oct., 3 (Toronto) - The risk of death resulting from heart attack is higher in people with schizophrenia than in the general public, according to scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES).

Rare disease researchers notch a win

An older medication originally approved to treat heart problems eases the symptoms of a very rare muscle disease that often leaves its sufferers stiff and in a good deal of pain, physicians and researchers report in the Oct. 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Cardiac medication may reduce stiffness caused by certain muscle diseases

Mexiletine, a decades-old drug previously used to treat abnormal heart rhythms, has been used to alleviate the symptoms of patients with nondystrophic myotonias (NDMs), rare diseases that affect the skeletal muscle and cause functionally limiting stiffness and pain.

The preliminary research, published today in The Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that taking mexiletine can improve patient-reported stiffness.

Nursing outlook celebrates 60 years by publishing research on nurses in the media with UCLA

St. Louis, MO, October 3, 2012 -- Historical impact and modern media stereotypes of nurses offer a fascinating contrast in the September/October issue of Nursing Outlook, published by Elsevier, the leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Nursing Outlook celebrates 60 years of leading the nursing field in 2012 with two special issues.

"Supplement Issue: Nursing and the Media"