Culture | Page 2431 | Science Codex

Impoverished schools, parent education key factors in student weight

Attending a financially poor school may have more of an effect on unhealthy adolescent weight than family poverty, according to Penn State sociologists.

Poor schools even influence how parental education protects kids from becoming overweight.

"It was once thought that family income was the main factor when we talk about the research on adolescent weight," said Molly Martin, assistant professor of sociology and demography. "That's not true. The environments the children live in play a key role in weight problems among adolescents."

You knew this: 25% of tweets not worth reading, even according to Twitter users

PITTSBURGH -- Twitter users choose the microblogs they follow, but that doesn't mean they always like what they get. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Georgia Institute of Technology found that users say only a little more than a third of the tweets they receive are worthwhile.

Other tweets are either so-so or, in one out of four cases, not worth reading at all.

New study shows correlation between summer Arctic sea ice cover and winter weather in Central Europe

Even if the current weather situation may seem to speak against it, the probability of cold winters with much snow in Central Europe rises when the Arctic is covered by less sea ice in summer. Scientists of the Research Unit Potsdam of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association have decrypted a mechanism in which a shrinking summertime sea ice cover changes the air pressure zones in the Arctic atmosphere and impacts our European winter weather.

Large hospital successfully implements CPOE system with clinical decision support for radiology

In an effort to reduce the inappropriate use of medical imaging and improve quality of care, a large, tertiary-care hospital has successfully implemented a computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system with clinical decision support for radiology, according to a study in the February issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

Mismatch between global burden of ill-health and published research

Comprehensive work studying the burden of ill-health and death resulting from specific conditions, injuries, and risk factors—the Global Burden of Disease project—has shown that the burden of ill-health around the world is highly inequitable. In this week's PLoS Medicine, the editors review progress towards the journal's goal of reflecting and addressing this inequity.

Study examines hospital compliance with proposed emergency department performance measures

CHICAGO – Compliance with proposed emergency department length of stay measures for admitted, discharged, transferred, and observed patients does not differ significantly between safety-net hospitals (which serve higher proportion of patients with poorer health care status) and non-safety-net hospitals, addressing the issue of whether safety-net hospitals may not be able to meet certain performance measures and could be at risk of reduced funding, according to a study in the February 1 issue of JAMA.

Emergency departments' quality evaluation requires hospital-wide effort

Time can be important in an emergency department especially in a busy Level 1 Trauma Center like MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, when getting patients appropriate care is essential. However, when the quality of an emergency department is judged by a patient's length of stay, time takes on a new meaning.

A study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that there is no significant difference between safety-net and non-safety-net hospitals when it comes to the length of stay for emergency patients.

People who retire early due to back problems face long-term financial disadvantage

Philadelphia, PA, January 31, 2011 – Back problems are a highly prevalent health issue, and people with the condition have a significantly greater chance of retiring early from the workforce, much more so than for any other health condition. A group of Australian researchers reports that not only does early retirement limit the immediate income available to these individuals, but it also reduces their long-term financial capacity, by reducing their ability to accumulate wealth to a significant degree. Their study is published in the January issue of Pain®.

New GSA resources lay foundation for relieving seniors' pain

The pain suffered by older adults is the shared focus of the two newest entries in The Gerontological Society of America's (GSA) From Publication to Practice series. Together they address both pain management and new labeling changes for one of the most popular pain medications, acetaminophen.

'Your password is invalid': Improving website password practices

Internet users are increasingly asked to register with a user name and password before being able to access the content of many sites. In their upcoming Ergonomics in Design article, "A Passport to UX – Design of Password Practices," human factors/ergonomics researchers Soolmaz Moshfeghian and Young Sam Ryu identify impediments to efficient password creation and provide design strategies for enhancing the user experience.

Facebook can get you fired: UC research reveals the perils of social networking for school employees

School administrators are facing a growing dilemma resulting from social networking that goes beyond preventing cyber-bullying among students. They're also faced with balancing the rights of privacy and free speech of educators with what should be the appropriate behavior of teachers as role models.

College reduces odds for marriage among disadvantaged

ITHACA, N.Y. — For those with few social advantages, college is a prime pathway to financial stability, but it also unexpectedly lowers their odds of ever marrying, according to a study by Cornell University sociologist Kelly Musick being published in the February issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family (available online: http://bit.ly/yt9uwJ).

High levels of burnout among UK family doctors, especially in group practice

Levels of burnout in UK general practice are high, suggests a study of general practitioners (GPs) in one area of South East England, published in BMJ Open.

Male doctors, those who work in group practices, and those who repeatedly see the same patients seem to be at significantly greater risk, the research shows, prompting the authors to declare that "a significant group of doctors is in trouble."

ESC cardiologists 'intrigued'by novel approach to heart failure

Sophia Antipolis -- The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) welcomes an "intriguing" study, published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, featuring a completely novel approach for improving endothelial function in heart failure¹. In the "hypothesis generating" study, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) delivered significant improvements in peak post ischemic blood flow in the arm, a trend for improvement in peak post ischemic blood flow in the leg, but failed to show benefits in exercise capacity and several inflammatory markers.

New appropriate use criteria reflect latest scientific data on restoring blood flow to heart

WASHINGTON, DC (January 30, 2012) – Updated appropriate use criteria released today offer detailed guidance on when to use an invasive procedure to improve blood flow to the heart and how to choose the best procedure for each patient. The clinical scenarios, written by a group of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, affirm the role of revascularization for patients with acute coronary syndromes and significant symptoms.