Culture | Page 2494 | Science Codex

School support for ADHD children may be missing the mark

New research from the University of Montreal shows that inattention, rather than hyperactivity, is the most important indicator when it comes to finishing a high school education. "Children with attention problems need preventative intervention early in their development," explained lead author Dr. Jean-Baptiste Pingault, who is also affiliated with Sainte-Justine Mother and Child University Hospital. The researchers came to their conclusion after looking at data collected from the parents and teachers of 2000 children over a period of almost twenty years.

Science needs superheroes - maybe even a new titan or two

The premise behind a symposium occurring today at the National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society is the lack of charm, charisma, people skills and communication skills among the 20 million science and engineering people in the US alone.

Called "Empowering Tomorrow's Science Super Heroes", it opens a discussion on how to give scientists a touch of the panache of the stock comic book and Hollywood characters who worked for the public good.

Apixaban superior to warfarin for preventing stroke, reducing bleeding and saving lives

DURHAM, N.C.—A large-scale trial finds that apixaban, a new anticoagulant drug, is superior to the standard drug warfarin for preventing stroke and systemic embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation. Moreover, apixaban results in substantially less bleeding and also results in lower mortality.

The results were presented by Duke University Medical Center researchers at the European Society of Cardiology in Paris, France, today, and published simultaneously online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

You'll all be fat by 2030, says health policy professor - or at least 65 million of you

The rising prevalence of obesity around the globe places an increasing burden on the health of populations, on health care systems and on overall economies.

Using a simulation model to project the probable health and economic consequences from rising obesity rates in the United States and the United Kingdom, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and Oxford University forecast 65 million more obese adults in the U. S. and 11 million more in the U.K. by 2030, leading to millions of additional cases of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer.

Acorn woodpeckers and communal breeding - only when times are good

Acorn woodpeckers are cooperative breeders, meaning adult birds often join breeding groups and help raise young that are not their own.

Scientists have long thought that communal breeding may have evolved to help birds deal with food shortages and other difficult times, but a study by researchers from Cornell and Gonzaga shows that for acorn woodpeckers, the opposite seems to be true: Help contributed by other family members is beneficial only when the acorn crop is large.

Lower socioeconomic status linked with heart disease despite improvements in other risk factor

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — People with lower socioeconomic status are much more likely to develop heart disease than those who are wealthier or better educated, according to a recent UC Davis study. Published online in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders, the outcomes also show that this risk persists even with long-term progress in addressing traditional risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol.

Coronary heart disease due to genes, not family lifestyle

It has long been known that hereditary factors play a role in coronary heart disease. However, it has been unclear whether the increased risk is transferred through the genes or through an unhealthy lifestyle in the family. A new study from the Center for Primary Health Care Research in Sweden, published in the American Heart Journal, shows that genes appear to be most important.

The same number of fishermen, but less salmon in Spanish rivers

"It's not that the salmon are biting less, there are less of them," explained Eva García Vázquez, lead author and Functional Biology researcher at the University of Oviedo (Spain).

The study, published in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, shows a "very marked" decline in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) populations in the Narcea, Sella and Cares rivers (Asturias, northern Spain), especially during the last decade, almost simultaneously with the reduction in the amount caught by recreational fishermen.

Uninsured trauma patients are more likely to use the ED for follow-up care

Providing access to an outpatient clinic isn't enough to keep some trauma patients who have been discharged from the hospital from returning to the emergency department (ED) for follow-up care, even for such minor needs as pain medication refills and dressing changes, according to new Johns Hopkins research.

Shape of the CEO's face determines company's performance, claims psychologist

Believe it or not, one thing that predicts how well a CEO's company performs is the width of his face, according to Elaine M. Wong at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her colleagues.

Irrigation's impacts on global carbon uptake

MADISON - Globally, irrigation increases agricultural productivity by an amount roughly equivalent to the entire agricultural output of the U.S., according to a new University of Wisconsin-Madison study.

That adds up to a sizeable impact on carbon uptake from the atmosphere. It also means that water shortages - already forecasted to be a big problem as the world warms - could contribute to yet more warming through a positive feedback loop.

Temporary ER staff poses increased safety risk to patients

Temporary staff members working in a hospital's fast-paced emergency department are twice as likely as permanent employees to be involved in medication errors that harm patients, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

A lifetime of physical activity yields measurable benefits as we age

San Diego, CA, August 30, 2011 – The benefits of physical activity accumulate across a lifetime, according to a new study published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Researchers in England and Australia examined the associations of leisure time physical activity across adulthood with physical performance and strength in midlife in a group of British men and women followed since birth in March 1946.

President's Bioethics Commission to wrap up historical investigation

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At its public meeting on August 29 in Washington, the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues will publicly discuss several key findings as it refines the conclusions of its historical investigation into the U.S. Public Health Service (U.S. PHS) studies done in Guatemala in the 1940s. The U.S. PHS research involved intentionally exposing and infecting vulnerable populations to sexually transmitted diseases. The Commission's historical investigation is due to President Obama in September.

Workplace stress a growing health hazard

Montreal, August 25, 2011 — Job-related stress is catching up with the Canadians. A new study by Concordia University economists, published in BMC Public Health, has found that increased job stress causes workers to increasingly seek help from health professionals for physical, mental and emotional ailments linked to job stress. Indeed, the number of visits to healthcare professionals is up to 26 per cent for workers in high stress jobs.