Culture | Science Codex

Diabetic retinopathy research could reduce screening costs

Research carried out at the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (PCMD), University of Exeter, has concluded that it would be a safe and cost-effective strategy to screen people with type 2 diabetes who have not yet developed diabetic retinopathy, for the disease once every two years instead of annually.

The research is supported by funding from the National Institute for Health Research Peninsula Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (NIHR PenCLAHRC). It is published today (00:01hrs BST Monday 7th May 2012) on-line in Diabetes Care.

First oral agent to quell invasive macular degeneration, restore lost vision

Ft. Lauderdale, FL (May 6, 2012) – There may be new found hope for patients whose vision is threatened when medicine injected directly into the eyes fails to cause abnormal blood vessels to recede. While injectable drugs called angiogenesis (an-gee-oh-jen-esis) inhibitors are considered a modern miracle and have become the standard of care for patients with the fast-progressive form of macular degeneration, they are not foolproof.

Higher risk of birth defects from assisted reproduction

A University of Adelaide study has identified the risk of major birth defects associated with different types of assisted reproductive technology.

Girls, parents not buying into HPV vaccine

GALVESTON, Texas – April 30, 2012 – The proportion of insured girls and young women completing the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among those who initiated the series has dropped significantly – as much as 63 percent – since the vaccine was approved in 2006, according to new research from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston.

Teachers show 'positive bias' for minority students - and that's bad

Remember that teacher you grumbled about back in your school days, the really tough one who made you work so hard, insisted you could do better, and made you sweat for your A's? The one you didn't appreciate until after you graduated and realized how much you had learned?

Minority students in the U.S. might have fewer of those teachers, at least compared to white students, and as a result they might be at a significant learning disadvantage.

'Game-powered machine learning' opens door to Google for music

Can a computer be taught to automatically label every song on the Internet using sets of examples provided by unpaid music fans? University of California, San Diego engineers have found that the answer is yes, and the results are as accurate as using paid music experts to provide the examples, saving considerable time and money.

New Vermont law: Researchers to measure 'genuine progress'

"What you measure is what you get," said Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. Soon Vermont may measure its economic well-being somewhat differently.

This week, the Vermont legislature sent a bill to Governor Peter Shumlin that charges the University of Vermont's Gund Institute for Ecological Economics with developing a new way of measuring the health of the state economy: it's called the Vermont Genuine Progress Indicator.

The law would be the first of its kind in the U.S. and builds on a growing network of state GPI initiatives, most notably Maryland's.

Economics study homes in on factors influencing value of great art

PULLMAN, Wash.—Arzu Aysin Tekindor has never seen "Antiques Roadshow," the PBS television program that routinely subjects artworks and other collectibles to the burning question: What is it worth?

But she has devised an economic model that gets at the underpinnings of the question, breaking down how some paintings sell for astronomical prices, like the record auction price of $120 million fetched by Edward Munch's "The Scream" earlier this week.

Sloppy shipping of human retina leads IU researchers to discover new treatment path for eye disease

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Sloppy shipping of a donated human retina to an Indiana University researcher studying a leading cause of vision loss has inadvertently helped uncover a previously undetected mechanism causing the disease. The discovery has led researchers to urge review of how millions of dollars are spent investigating the cause of a type of age-related macular degeneration called choroidal neovascularization.

Study examines necessity of additional imaging in PET/CT oncologic reports

Radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians recommended additional imaging about 30% of the time in oncologic PET/CT reports, with about half of those recommendations being unnecessary, a new study shows.

6 month follow-up of patients with benign MRI-guided breast biopsies may not be necessary

Short term follow-up of patients who have had a negative (benign) MRI-guided vacuum assisted breast biopsy may not be necessary, a new study indicates.

Preop MRI valuable in detecting additional malignancies in dense & not dense breasts

Newly diagnosed breast cancer patients should undergo a preoperative MRI exam even if their breasts are not dense, a new study indicates. The study found no difference between the usefulness of 3T breast MRI in detecting additional malignancies and high risk lesions in dense versus non-dense breasts.

Radiologists study necessity of additional imaging recommendations in PET/CT oncologic reports

Advanced imaging has been identified as one factor that contributes to the overall rising cost of healthcare in the US. Unnecessary or inappropriate imaging utilization magnifies the cost burden associated with advanced imaging studies like MRIs and PET/CT scans. Though these studies often provide the best clinical information for making a diagnosis or planning treatment, experts suspect that a significant number of unnecessary studies are performed.

How to get a good night's sleep: Earplugs in the intensive care unit ward off confusion

Patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) often become confused or delirious soon after, or within a few days of, admittance to the ICU. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care shows that use of earplugs can result in better sleep (as reported by the patients), lower the incidence of confusion, and delay the onset of cognitive disturbances.

Fabrication method can affect the use of block copolymer thin films

A new study by a team including scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) indicates that thin polymer films can have different properties depending on the method by which they are made. The results* suggest that deeper work is necessary to explore the best way of creating these films, which are used in applications ranging from high-tech mirrors to computer memory devices.