Culture

ORLANDO, Fla.--The vast majority of advanced colon cancer patients in a clinical trial were not concerned about the cost of prescription drugs for managing chemotherapy side effects, such as infection, pain and nausea and few adopted strategies to reduce drug cost burdens after joining the clinical trial, according to a study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

The popular belief that healthy eating starts at home and that parents' dietary choices help children establish their nutritional beliefs and behaviors may need rethinking, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. An examination of dietary intakes and patterns among U.S. families found that the resemblance between children's and their parents' eating habits is weak. The results are published in the May 25, 2009, issue of Social Science and Medicine.

ORLANDO, Fla.--The vast majority of advanced colon cancer patients in a clinical trial were not concerned about the cost of prescription drugs for managing chemotherapy side effects, such as infection, pain and nausea and few adopted strategies to reduce drug cost burdens after joining the clinical trial, according to a study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Author and democracy activist Frances Moore Lappé says we already know how to solve the pressing issues of our time, such as climate change and world hunger.

But she says our own pre-conceived ideas about how things should work – our mental map of the world – is actually preventing us from taking action.

As long as there have been babies, adults have crooned lullabies to soothe them. But research suggests music might also help premature infants learn to suckle better and reduce their pain.

If confirmed, this would be a simple, low-cost way to help these tiny babies feed on their own faster and move them out of neonatal units sooner, says Dr. Manoj Kumar, an assistant clinical professor in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry's Department of Pediatrics. "If you can get them to feed earlier then you can save health-care resources," Kumar says.

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have recently demonstrated a breakthrough in the quantum control of photons, the energy quanta of light. This is a significant result in quantum computation, and could eventually have implications in banking, drug design, and other applications.

It's a long-standing and crucial question that, as yet, remains unanswered: just how common is scientific misconduct? In PLoS ONE, Daniele Fanelli of the University of Edinburgh reports the first meta-analysis of surveys questioning scientists about their misbehaviours. The results suggest that altering or making up data is more frequent than previously estimated and might be particularly high in medical research.

(ORLANDO) – Though the growing shift toward oral chemotherapy agents offers cancer patients greater freedom and independence during their treatment, physicians say use of the new medications also poses more chances for patients to skip doses, miss prescription refills, and take their drugs in a dangerous way. An increasing number of cancer patients who receive chemotherapy now do so at home, with the click of a pill bottle each day rather than the drip of an IV medicine that must be delivered in a doctor's office or hospital.

Intestinal permeability and an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine are both associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). These findings are revealed in a new study in the June issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). The article is also available online at Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com).

A team of physicists and engineers have demonstrated all-fibre quantum logic, where single photons are generated and used to perform the contolled-NOT quantum logic gate in optical fibres with high fidelity.

The only quantum technology in practical use today is quantum cryptography and is currently limited in the distance over which secure communication may occur.

The Centre for Epidemiological Studies into Sexually-Transmitted Diseases and AIDS in Catalonia (CEEISCAT) started a pioneering study in Spain in 2005 to look into the prevalence of sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) among female sex workers (SWs). The objective was to monitor the rates of infection with both HIV and other diseases over time, as well as the prevalence of risky behaviour.

BOULDER--Melting of the Greenland ice sheet this century may drive more water than previously thought toward the already threatened coastlines of New York, Boston, Halifax, and other cities in the northeastern United States and in Canada, according to new research led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

Drs. Timothy Halliday and Sally Kwak, economics professors at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, recently published a paper in Economics and Human Biology titled, "Weight Gain in Adolescents and Their Peers." The article examines trends in adolescent body mass index (BMI) in a nationally representative dataset.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study provides some of the strongest evidence to date that Americans prefer to read political articles that agree with the opinions they already hold.

Researchers found that people spent 36 percent more time reading articles that agreed with their point of view than they did reading text that challenged their opinions.

Even when they did read articles that countered their views, participants almost always balanced that with reading others that confirmed their opinions.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – White students generally increased their number of interracial friendships during their first year of college, while black students showed a slight decrease, according to a study at one highly selective private university.

Results showed that students were particularly likely to develop more interracial friendships if they were paired with a residence-hall roommate of a different race.

But white students who joined fraternities or sororities didn't increase their number of friends of other races during their first college year.