TEMPE, Ariz. — A new analysis of complex interactions between humans and the environment preceding the 9th century collapse and abandonment of the Central Maya Lowlands in the Yucatán Peninsula points to a series of events — some natural, like climate change; some human-made, including large-scale landscape alterations and shifts in trade routes — that have lessons for contemporary decision-makers and sustainability scientists.
Culture
Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation welcomes Europace publication of Optim lead insulation paper
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – August 21, 2012 – The Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, an international leader in cardiovascular research, today announces the online publication of a study in EP Europace that raises serious concerns about St. Jude Medical defibrillator leads. The study found that a new copolymer of silicone and polyurethane (Optim™) might not prevent insulation abrasions that can result in electronic malfunction.
The UK government has failed to apply laws that protect working women in the wake of the economic crisis, suggests a new study from Queen Mary, University of London.
The article analyses The Fawcett Case, a high-profile legal challenge to the 2010 emergency budget on the grounds that it would have a disproportionately negative impact on women.
The paper also charts how equality legislation has created opportunities for women's rights groups to influence industrial relations; traditionally, trade union territory.
Many Brits who move to Turkey are failing to grasp local and international laws, leaving them financially at risk when making legal transactions, such as buying property, a study from Queen Mary, University of London has found.
Being unable to speak or read Turkish has made navigating such issues a "legal minefield" for many Brits who emigrate in a quest for the affordable "good life" on the Aegean coast.
The research relates to a family of molecules firstly discovered in Melbourne that applied to blood cell development. One of these, granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor or GM-CSF, acts as a messenger between cells acting at a site of inflammation.
Life in the world's oceans faces far greater change and risk of large-scale extinctions than at any previous time in human history, a team of the world's leading marine scientists has warned.
The researchers from Australia, the US, Canada, Germany, Panama, Norway and the UK have compared events which drove massive extinctions of sea life in the past with what is observed to be taking place in the seas and oceans globally today.
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 21, 2012 — Members of a panel today commemorating the 150th anniversary of federal legislation that transformed college education for people in the 19th and 20th centuries said that a 21st century counterpart to the Morrill Act of 1862 could ease the staggering load of student debt and help colleges and universities cope with state funding cutbacks.
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 21, 2012 — The focus of nutrition for good health is quietly shifting to include consumption of food ingredients specifically designed to nourish the non-human cells that comprise 80 percent of the cells in the typical person, an authority on the topic said here today.
Young children in lower-income families who live in high-cost areas don't do as well academically as their counterparts in low-cost areas, according to a new study.
The study, by researchers at Child Trends and the University of California (UCLA), appears in the journal Child Development.
The researchers, from the Guttmacher Institute in New York, base their findings on feedback data from almost 9,500 women who had an abortion in 2008 (Abortion Patient Survey), in the light of 11 "disruptive" events, and the links between these, poverty, and contraceptive use.
The disruptive events included job loss, separation, falling behind on rental/mortgage payments, death of a close friend, a serious health problem, a partner being sent to prison and becoming a victim of crime.
MINNEAPOLIS – People who are obese and also have high blood pressure and other risk factors called metabolic abnormalities may experience a faster decline in their cognitive skills over time than others, according to a study published in the August 21, 2012, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
CHICAGO – A national survey of 7,288 physicians (26.7 percent participation rate) finds that 45.8 percent of physicians reported at least one symptom of burnout, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.
Other studies have suggested burnout may influence the quality of care and increase the risk for medical errors, as well as have adverse effects on physicians, including broken relationships, problem drinking and suicidal thoughts, according to the study background.
CHICAGO – Use of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors for treatment of psoriasis is associated with a significantly reduced risk for heart attack (myocardial infarction) compared to other forms of treatment, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Dermatology, a JAMA Network publication.
BOSTON – Patients with Alzheimer's disease who suffered episodes of delirium while hospitalized had a sharply increased rate of mental decline for up to five years after being hospitalized compared to those who did not have any such episodes, according to a study by researchers at The Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Each year, hundreds of thousands of X-rays are performed across the country to help detect and treat common cardiovascular conditions such as coronary artery disease, valve disease and other heart problems. However, concern is growing within the medical community about the potential risks of radiation exposure from this imaging technology. Now, researchers at Mayo Clinic have been able to dramatically cut the amount of radiation that patients and medical personnel are exposed to during invasive cardiovascular procedures.