Culture | Page 2519 | Science Codex

New study suggests potent antiplatelet drug effective with low-dose aspirin

When taken with higher doses of aspirin (more than 300 milligrams), the experimental antiplatelet drug ticagrelor was associated with worse outcomes than the standard drug, clopidogrel, but the opposite was true with lower doses of aspirin.

The study is a secondary analysis of a clinical trial that compared the two drugs and found ticagrelor to be less effective in North America than in other countries.Researchers suggest the aspirin dose in combination with anti-clotting medicine may alter ticagrelor's effectiveness.

City dwellers produce as much CO2 as countryside people do

Most previous studies have indicated that people in cities have a smaller carbon footprint than people who live in the country. By using more complex methods of analysis than in the past, scientists at Aalto University in Finland have discovered that people's carbon emissions are practically the same in the city and in the rural areas. More than anything else, CO2 emissions that cause climate change are dependent upon how much goods and services people consume, not where they live.

The 'value' of weather may total $485 billion in US - 3.4 percent of GDP

Everything has its price, even the weather. So why would even routine weather events such as rain and cooler-than-average days add up to an annual economic impact of as much as $485 billion in the United States?

A new study found that finance, manufacturing, agriculture and every other sector of the economy is sensitive to even minor changes in the weather. The impacts can be felt in every state.

The results appear in this month's issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

Prize-based incentives to generate climate innovation

Could a multi-million dollar prize spur the next big innovation in sustainable climate technology? One thing is certain, the Big Science model of grants haven't provided any solution to a climate change concern now in its fourth decade but the future may belong to the past - prizes, which were the default before the last half of the 20th century, instead of government funding.

Jonathan H. Adler, professor and director of the Center for Business Law and Regulation at Case Western Reserve University's School of Law, says that prize-based incentives could work again.

Recommendations proposed for increasing arboreta membership, sustaining programs

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA—Public gardens and arboreta rely on members as stable sources of funding and to fill critical volunteer needs. Maturing membership demographics coupled with flat enrollment numbers presents multiple challenges for arboreta directors and boards in attracting new members and competing for limited consumer discretionary entertainment and activity dollars.

Innovative duct tape strategy saves hospitals time, money; improves infection prevention

Baltimore, Maryland, June 27, 2011 – A simple roll of duct tape has proven to be an inexpensive solution to the costly and time-consuming problem of communicating with hospital patients who are isolated with dangerous infections.

Massachusetts General Hospital, Iacocca Foundation announce promising results of Phase I diabetes trial

Promising results of the Phase I clinical trial of the generic drug BCG (bacillus Calmette-Guerin) to treat advanced type I diabetes were announced today at the American Diabetes Association scientific sessions in San Diego. A research team led by Denise Faustman, MD, PhD, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Immunobiology Laboratory is presenting two abstracts (No. 2240-PO and No.

Atrial fibrillation: New management approaches for the 'new epidemic' in cardiovascular disease

Despite recent advances in the treatment of heart rhythm disturbances, mortality and morbidity rates associated withy atrial fibrillation (AF) remain "unacceptably high", according to a new report. The report, prepared jointly by the German Competence Network on Atrial Fibrillation (AFNET) and the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), will be published at the EHRA EUROPACE 2011 congress in Madrid from 26-29 June. AF, says the report, is emerging as "the new epidemic" in cardiovascular disease.

In a new post-hoc analysis, significantly more patients achieved blood sugar goals with JANUMET

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J., June 25, 2011 – In a new post-hoc analysis based on the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE/ACE) diabetes algorithm presented at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 71st Annual Scientific Sessions, significantly more patients with type 2 diabetes treated with JANUMET® (sitagliptin/metformin HCl) tablets achieved blood sugar goals after 18 weeks compared to metformin as initial therapy.

Young people with type 1 diabetes at risk for heart disease

AURORA, Colo. (June 25, 2011) New research shows that adolescents and young adults with type 1 (juvenile) diabetes have thicker and stiffer carotid arteries, also known as atherosclerosis, a risk factor for heart attack and stroke in adults. This research is believed to be the first to examine whether type 1 diabetes has a measurable effect on carotid arteries in this age group.

200,000 patients treated for cardiac arrest annually in US hospitals, Penn study shows

(PHILADELPHIA) -- More than 200,000 people are treated for cardiac arrest in United States hospitals each year, a rate that may be on the rise. The findings are reported online this week in Critical Care Medicine in a University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine-led study.

Though cardiac arrest is known to be a chief contributor to in-hospital deaths, no uniform reporting requirements exist across the nation, leaving experts previously unable to calculate its true incidence and study trends in cardiac arrest mortality and best practices in resuscitation care.

Heart valve replacement without opening the chest gives new option for non-operable patients

(CHICAGO) – An innovative approach for implanting a new aortic heart valve without open-heart surgery is being offered at Rush University Medical Center to patients with severe aortic stenosis who are at high-risk or not suitable candidates for open heart valve replacement surgery.

"This breakthrough technology could save the lives of thousands of patients with heart valve disease who have no other therapeutic options," says Dr. Ziyad Hijazi, director of the Rush Center for Congenital and Structural Heart Disease and interventional cardiologist of the Rush Valve Clinic.

Drug shows improved kidney function for type 2 diabetics, UT Southwestern researchers report

DALLAS – June 24, 2011 – A new anti-inflammatory drug used by patients with type 2 diabetes improved their kidney function during a year-long study involving researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Reform can prevent errors due to medical resident fatigue, lack of supervision

(Boston MA) – A group of 26 of the nation's leaders in medicine, health care, patient safety, and research today called for sweeping changes in the design, supervision and financing of U.S. hospital residency care programs to protect patients from serious, preventable medical errors, and end dangerously long work hours for physicians in training.

To fix diabetic nerve damage, blood vessels and support cells may be the real targets of treatment

Blood vessels and supporting cells appear to be pivotal partners in repairing nerves ravaged by diabetic neuropathy, and nurturing their partnership with nerve cells might make the difference between success and failure in experimental efforts to regrow damaged nerves, Johns Hopkins researchers report in a new study.