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Researchers identify potential risk factors for severe altitude sickness

Measuring specific, exercise-related responses can help physicians determine who may be more at risk for severe high altitude illness (SHAI), according to a study conducted by researchers in France. The researchers also found that taking acetazolamide (ACZ), a drug frequently prescribed to prevent altitude illness, can reduce some of the risk factors associated with SHAI.

The findings were published online ahead of the print edition of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Anthropogenic climate change major factor in more frequent Mediterranean droughts

Wintertime droughts have become increasingly common in the Mediterranean region, and human-caused climate change is partly responsible, according to a new analysis by NOAA scientists and colleagues at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). In the last 20 years, 10 of the driest 12 winters have taken place in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.

Caution advised when considering patient and colleague feedback on doctors

Official assessments of a doctor's professionalism should be considered carefully before being accepted due to the tendency for some doctors to receive lower scores than others, and the tendency of some groups of patient or colleague assessors to provide lower scores, claims new research published on bmj.com today.

Researchers from the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry in Exeter investigated whether there were any potential patient, colleague and doctor-related sources of bias evident in the assessment of doctors' professionalism.

Lupus classification system too complicated

The current classification system for the kidney disorder called lupus nephritis is too detailed
Physicians would benefit from a simpler classification system when they treat kidney problems in patients with lupus
Lupus nephritis affects approximately 3 out of every 10,000 people, and it can be serious and lead to kidney failure

Why some kidney disease patients can't repair blood vessels

Patients with an autoimmune disease called anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis produce antibodies that damage blood vessels in the kidneys.
Patients with the disease harbor elevated blood levels of the protein Flt1, which hinders blood vessel repair.
Inhibiting Flt1 may help prevent kidney failure in the 1:50,000 patients around the world who have anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis, plus those with other more frequent diseases involving blood vessels in the kidneys.

Vitamin B derivative helps diabetics with mild kidney disease

Pyridorin, a vitamin B6 derivative, may help slow or prevent the progression of mild kidney disease in some patients with diabetes.
The drug does not appear to help diabetics with more advanced kidney disease.
The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is expected to double by 2030. Kidney disease cases are sure to rise in parallel.

Curiosity is a big part of academic performance

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it's good for the student, according to a new study published in Perspectives in Psychological Science. The authors show that curiosity is a big part of academic performance. In fact, personality traits like curiosity seem to be as important as intelligence in determining how well students do in school.

Belief in God reduces temptation but sometimes decreases motivation

WASHINGTON – Being reminded of the concept of God can decrease people's motivation to pursue personal goals but can help them resist temptation, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

Free health care: People love the idea but there are concerns

ANTWERP – Over the last years, many low and middle-income countries have removed user fees in their health care sector and researchers from Africa, Asia, North America and Europe have studied these policies and gathered their thoughts in a supplement of Health Policy & Planning. Experiences from Afghanistan, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nepal , Rwanda and Uganda, among others, are documented in this supplement. Conclusion: it is possible, but should not be done ill-advised.

The main lessons from their analyses are:

7 billion people is no huge thing - human development remains the important issue

As the global media speculate on the number of people likely to inhabit the planet on Oct. 31 an international team of population and development experts argue that it is not simply the number of people that matters but more so their distribution by age, education, health status and location that is most relevant to local and global sustainability.

Young children's aggressive behavior linked to hostile mothers

Children who are persistently aggressive, defiant, and explosive by the time they're in kindergarten very often have tumultuous relationships with their parents from early on. A new longitudinal study suggests that a cycle involving parenting styles and hostility between mothers and toddlers is at play.

The study was done by researchers at the University of Minnesota and appears in the journal Child Development.

Viewing television coverage of terrorism has more negative effects on women

Viewing TV coverage of terrorism has more negative effect on women. This has been shown in a new study from the University of Haifa. "It is possible that the differences between men and women are founded in gender socialization: 'teaching' women to respond to terrorism with more anxiety than men," said Prof. Moshe Zeidner, one of the authors of the study.

Hospital team significantly reduced risk of further vascular events after 'mini strokes'

Patients who had a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), sometimes referred to as a "mini stroke", were much less likely to experience further vascular events in the first year if their care was co-ordinated by a special hospital team. That is the key finding from a study published in the November issue of the European Journal of Neurology.

Policymakers should prepare for major uncertainties with Medicaid expansion

Boston, MA – The number of low-income, uninsured Americans enrolling in Medicaid under the expanded coverage made possible by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 could vary considerably from the levels currently projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), according to a new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers. They report that it's probably more realistic to say somewhere between 8 million and 22 million may enroll in Medicaid by 2014 instead of the 16 million predicted by the CBO.

Annual chest x-ray does not reduce rate of lung cancer deaths

CHICAGO - In a trial that included more than 150,000 participants, those who underwent annual chest radiographic screening for up to 4 years did not have a significantly lower rate of death from lung cancer compared to participants who were not screened, according to a study in the November 2 issue of JAMA. The study is being published early online to coincide with its presentation at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST 2011).