Culture | Science Codex

Notre Dame, MIT economists demonstrate wage impacts of large microfinance program

A major argument in favor of microfinance is that the poor who live in areas without banking services will gain higher returns on investments and increase their assets when provided with credit.

But a notable new study from the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty presents some of the first real evidence of microfinance impacts and indicates that the true returns of expanding access to credit are much more complex. Some of the greatest benefits to alleviating poverty, the study suggests, may be in the impact the programs have on driving up wages.

Anti-Semitic violence down 27 percent, but harassment is on the rise

Though 2011 saw a significant decline in major acts of violence against the Jewish population world-wide, anti-Semitic harassment and incitement, including verbal threats, insults, and abusive behavior, have escalated, according to this year's Antisemitism Worldwide General Analysis, a publication of Tel Aviv University's Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry. The yearly report is based on the Center's Moshe Kantor Database for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism.

Expert panel calls for new research approach to prevent youth violence

San Diego, CA, July 17, 2012 – Most research into youth violence has sought to understand the risk factors that increase the likelihood of violence. Now, a federal panel has called for a new research approach to identify the protective factors that would reduce the likelihood that violence will happen. Grounded in the tools and insights of public health, the approach calls for studies that can guide the development of prevention strategies to reduce or eliminate risk factors, and add or enhance protective factors.

Study suggests moderate drinking lowers risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis in women

A follow-up study of more than 34,000 women in Sweden has shown that moderate drinkers, in comparison with abstainers, were at significantly lower risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an often serious and disabling type of arthritis. RA is known to relate to inflammation, and it is thought that this inflammation is blocked to some degree by the consumption of alcohol.

Triggers study evaluates regular staff, ICU specialists

BOSTON – A system of care focused on the detection and systematic assessment of patients with clinical instability can yield similar outcomes as rapid response teams staffed with trained intensive care specialists, a Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center study has found.

eBay psychology: Get higher bids by using a red background

The color red influences consumers to become more aggressive in online auctions and affects how much they are willing to pay for products as varied as video game consoles and Florida vacation packages, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. But the color blue can influence consumers to make lower offers when negotiating directly with a seller.

Why does the week before your vacation seem longer when you're going far away?

Consumer decision-making is affected by the relationship between time and spatial distance, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

"We often think about time in various contexts. But we do not realize how susceptible our judgment of time is to seemingly irrelevant factors like spatial distance," write authors B. Kyu Kim (University of Southern California), Gal Zauberman (Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania), and James R. Bettman (Duke University).

Open access means business: Pay-to-publish approaching same impact factor as subscription journals

Open access journal BMC Medicine has added scientific rigor to the debate about open access research, by publishing an article which compares the scientific impact of open access with traditional subscription publishing and has found that both of these publishing business models produce high quality peer reviewed articles.

New research shows that coastal populations are healthier than those inland

A new study from the European Centre for Environment & Human Health, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Exeter, has revealed that people living near the coast tend to have better health than those living inland.

Researchers from the Centre used data from the UK's census to examine how health varied across the country, finding that people were more likely to have good health the closer they live to the sea. The analysis also showed that the link between living near the coast and good health was strongest in the most economically deprived communities.

Sharing isn't always caring: there's no community when it comes to rental cars

Consumers who access products in the short-term instead of owning them show greater indifference toward those products and identify less with the brand and other consumers, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Physicians don't adequately monitor patients' medication adherence

Patients' non-adherence to prescribed medication costs the U.S. health care system an estimated $290 billion annually and can lead to poor clinical outcomes, increased hospitalizations and higher mortality.

Study examines patient experience at safety-net hospitals

CHICAGO – A study suggests that safety-net hospitals (SNHs), which typically care for poor patients, performed more poorly than other hospitals on nearly every measure of patient experience and that could have financial consequences as hospital payments are connected to performance, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

Study suggests racial disparities may exist in larynx preservation therapy for cancer

CHICAGO – A study of laryngeal (voice box) cancers suggests that racial disparities may exist with black patients less likely to undergo larynx preservation than white patients, according to a report published by Archives of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, a JAMA Network publication.

Mayo Clinic begins to unravel rare heart condition that strikes young, healthy women

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), a tear of the layers of the artery wall that can block normal blood flow into and around the heart, is a relatively rare and poorly understood condition. It often strikes young, otherwise healthy people -- mostly women -- and can lead to significant heart damage, even sudden death.

Victory stance may be universal - psychologist

When Olympic athletes throw up their arms, clench their fists and grimace after a win, they are displaying triumph through a gesture that is the same across cultures, a new study suggests. New findings due to be published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior suggest this victory pose signals feelings of triumph, challenging previous research that labeled the expression pride.