Opponents of AB 1178 announced today that the coalition of public agencies and non-profit organizations lining up against the bill is expanding as momentum grows for its defeat. AB 1178 (Ma – San Francisco) would create a new statewide law to override local laws aimed at limiting waste imports into a community.
Culture
Hookah use among California youth ages 18 to 24 is rising rapidly according to a study conducted by researchers at the U.C. San Diego School of Medicine - and it's mostly rich, white kids.
Researchers speculate that the increased popularity of the hookah, a water pipe, could be due to the social nature of the behavior - few people smoke them alone - coupled with the misguided belief that it is less harmful than cigarettes.
Plus, smoking is cool when society tells you not to do it and California leads the nation in telling people what to think.
University of Alberta researchers looking at the effects of metformin and exercise in Type 2 diabetes patients found that a combination of these modalities didn't lower glucose control as much as hoped. Surprisingly, study participants showed better glucose control when sedentary. Researchers think that because metformin and exercise both act to lower glucose levels, the combination may have triggered a counter regulatory response by the body to prevent glucose levels dipping too much.
For many patients, cholesterol-lowering statin drugs can reduce the risk of strokes as well as heart attacks.But in a review article, Loyola University Health System neurologists caution that statins may not be appropriate for certain categories of patients who are at-risk for stroke.
English language ads have a greater impact in mobilizing Latino voters than Spanish language ads, according to a study recently published in American Political Research.
The study examined the effects of direct mail pieces on Latino voters. The direct mail piece, which was written in either English or Spanish, was sent to two separate groups while a third who received no mailing was used as a control group. The experiment was conducted in New York City Council District 21 prior to the February 2009 special election to fill a vacancy on the New York City Council.
Malawian villagers have found an unlikely platform to expose injustice and abuse of power and bring their leaders to task, according to research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Malawi's public radio station broadcasts are providing an alternative program of news stories, featuring contributions by ordinary Malawians, highlighting their everyday experiences of abuse and violation.
A new drug which offers a radically different approach to treating certain types of heart failure has been shown to improve cardiac function in heart failure patients in its first clinical trials.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) today announced the award of $74 million to create four new Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) that will advance interdisciplinary research and education in partnership with industry.
Newspaper accounts of black executions in the old South reveal a social history that intersects race with crime and punishment.
Generations of American women have turned to door-to-door sales when a male-dominated workforce and lack of education prevented them from entering the workforce. They were known as the Tupperware Lady or the Avon Lady as they showed off their newest products to the “Lady of the House.”
Black applicants from 2000-2006 were 10 percentage points less likely than white applicants to be awarded research project grants from the National Institutes of Health after controlling for factors that influence the likelihood of a grant award, according to an NIH-commissioned study in the journal Science. In an accompanying commentary, NIH Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., and Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak, D.D.S, Ph.D., call the findings unacceptable and commit to immediate action by the NIH.
As the U.S. military prepares for the repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (DADT), policymakers are looking to other military bodies around the world that have successfully integrated gay, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) soldiers into military service. Now a new study from Tel Aviv University suggests that an integrated support and education dimension is essential to the successful assimilation of these soldiers into the U.S. armed forces.
Of 192 pharmaceutical advertisements in biomedical journals,only 18 percent were compliant with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines, and over half failed to quantify serious risks including death, according to a new analysis.
People who set ambitious goals have a greater level of satisfaction compared to people who set conservative goals, according to a paper by the Cecile K. Cho, a University of California, Riverside assistant marketing professor.
Cho and co-author Gita Venkataramani Johar, a professor at Columbia University, set up two experiments to compare people who set ambitious goals to those who set conservative goals. They focused on situations in which goals were achieved, and measured the level of satisfaction with the achieved goals.
A new rehabilitation approach to treating children with cerebral palsy puts the focus on where a child lives and plays and not just improving the child's balance, posture and movement skills.