San Diego, CA, May 5, 2011 – A study published in the June 2011 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine examined the association between patient–physician gender concordance and weight-related counseling in obese individuals. Investigators from the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University found that obese male patients seeing male physicians had higher odds of receiving weight-related counseling than obese women seeing a female physician.
Culture
In the first-of-its-kind analysis of Groupon's impact on a startup company, a new Rice University study found that the daily deal promotion was beneficial even though it had no material impact on the company's profits when unredeemed Groupons were not accounted for. When those unredeemed Groupons were factored in, the company had a substantial 30 percent increase in profits.
Philadelphia, PA, May 6, 2011 – According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Americans are spending about half their food budget in restaurants. As it is widely known, food prepared away from home, as compared to food prepared at home, is often higher in calories, saturated fat, and sodium. With children's dietary quality at risk, a study in the May/June 2011 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior explores the influence of parental styles and work schedules on children's use of and time spent in fast-food and full-service restaurants.
Many patients on dialysis may not understand medical information critical to their wellbeing, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The results suggest that clinicians must understand and address the limited health literacy of patients with kidney disease.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – When a new tobacco-free policy was instituted at an Ohio women's substance abuse treatment center, both smokers and non-smokers were more likely to leave treatment early in the first few months after the policy change, a new study found.
The results don't mean treatment centers shouldn't try smoking bans, according to the researchers, but they do highlight the challenges involved with implementing a new policy that goes against years of conventional thinking.
TEMPE, Ariz. – Obesity is socially contagious, according to research published in the past few years. How it is "caught" from others remains a murky area. But findings from Arizona State University researchers published online May 5 in the American Journal of Public Health shed light on the transmission of obesity among friends and family.
Shared ideas about acceptable weight or body size play only a minor role in spreading obesity among friends, according to the findings published in the article "Shared Norms and Their Explanation for the Social Clustering of Obesity."
EAST LANSING, Mich. — In order to provide abundant and affordable food, feed, fiber and fuel, U.S. agriculture needs to change its approach, according to research appearing in the current issue of Science magazine.
Reston, Va. (May 5, 2011) – Two articles in the June issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine make a case for maintaining current U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations on the release of patients who undergo radioactive iodine treatments for thyroid cancer, known as I-131. Currently, the NRC recommends outpatient treatment for patients receiving radioactive iodine after total or near-total thyroidectomy; however, several groups have been urging NRC to mandate overnight hospital stays to protect others from a perceived risk of radiation exposure.
More than 20 percent of atheist scientists are spiritual, according to new research from Rice University. Though the general public marries spirituality and religion, the study found that spirituality is a separate idea – one that more closely aligns with scientific discovery – for "spiritual atheist" scientists.
The research will be published in the June issue of Sociology of Religion.
Most African-Americans say they'd call 9-1-1 if stroke symptoms occurred — but few do, according to research reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
In a survey of 253 African-Americans in Washington, D.C., 89 percent said they'd call 9-1-1 at the first sign of a stroke. Yet, only 12 percent of 100 stroke patients surveyed in the predominantly black District of Columbia called 9-1-1 right away when faced with symptoms.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Despite evidence that feeding tubes do not improve survival rates or quality of life for elderly patients with advanced dementia, their frequency of use varies widely across the states. A new survey of family members finds that discussions surrounding the decision to place feeding tubes surgically are often inadequate.
Deadly human fungal infections caused by certain strains of Aspergillus fungi appear to be developing resistance to current drug treatments at an alarming rate, say scientists.
University of Manchester researchers, working with colleagues in Newark, USA, have developed a new test that can not only better diagnose Aspergillus infection, but can also spot signs of antifungal resistance to azoles – the class of drugs used to treat patients with aspergillosis.
It's officially the "Year of the Rabbit" on the Chinese calendar. But 2011 might be better known as the "Year of the Tiger Mother."
HUNTSVILLE, TX -- Researchers at Sam Houston State University and the University of Texas at Austin will team up with representatives from the criminal justice system in Houston to establish protocols to determine when sexual assault kits need to be tested by crime labs.
A new study reveals an improved algorithm that can dramatically improve how radiologists capture and interpret full-body MRIs, particularly in the abdominal region.