Culture

TORONTO, Ont., Oct. 11, 2011—A total of 606 Canadian physicians were disciplined by their provincial medical licensing authorities between 2000 and 2009, researchers at St. Michael's Hospital found.

The majority of disciplined physicians were men (92 per cent) who had been practicing medicine for a long time (an average of 28.9 years) and were independent practitioners (99 per cent), according to Dr. Chaim Bell.

Even after women have separated from an abusive partner, the violence still costs Canadians an estimated $6.9 billion a year, according to research at the University of British Columbia.

Led by UBC Nursing Prof. Colleen Varcoe, the study – published in a recent issue of Canadian Public Policy – is the first in Canada to comprehensively identify the spectrum of economic costs for services used by women who leave a violent partner.

The repeal of the U.S. military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy and the legalization of gay marriage in New York state represent great strides for the rights of homosexuals but a Tel Aviv University researcher says those actions are at the tail end of social progress that was already occurring.

Businesses looking for a sign on how to prosper in a down economy need look no further than their own indoor and outdoor signage.

That's because University of Cincinnati analysis of a market research survey of more than 100,000 North American households found that shoppers are drawn into stores and make important quality inferences on the basis of signs.

Car pool lanes should not exist. They never worked as intended and having 33% or 25% of highways blocked off for 7% of people has led to higher emissions and more accidents. Some governments, like California, issued a mandate and subsidy for automobile companies and certain owners by also letting hybrid cars use car pool lanes, which also did not help. Now, the end of the ridiculous law is going to slow down traffic even more, according to transportation engineers at the University of California, Berkeley.

Experts have written about health care disparities between Latinos and non-Latino whites, mostly from a policy standpoint. They've also looked at the same disparities from the perspective of the patient, in terms of access, use and the quality of health care.

But how do the physicians feel about the quality of care they provide? What challenges do doctors face in treating Latino patients, compared with physicians whose patients are primarily white and non-Latino?

The clean energy economy of the future hinges on a lot of things, chief among them the availability of the scores of rare earth elements and other elements used to make everything from photovoltaic panels and cellphone displays to the permanent magnets in cutting edge new wind generators. And right out of the gate trouble is brewing over projected growth in demand for these minerals and the security of their supplies.