Culture

In a study appearing in the March 8 issue of JAMA, Sarah R. Blenner, J.D., M.P.H., of the Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, and colleagues examined the privacy policies of Android diabetes apps and the sharing of health information.

Language is one of the defining characteristics of human beings: It enables us to generate unlimited meanings from a finite number of phonetic elements. Using syntactic rules, humans are able to combine words to form phrases and sentences, and thus ascribe meaning to various things and activities. Research on communication systems suggests that non-human primates and birds, too, have evolved the ability to assign meaning to arbitrary vocal elements. But until now, the evolution of syntax has been considered unique to human language.

Patients risk experiencing anxiety and fear when health care does not meet individual patients' needs. New approaches to reduce anxiety for instance over radiotherapy are needed and design research is well-suited to meet these challenges. This is according to a dissertation at Umeå University in Sweden.

Patient experiences are complex and shaped by many factors: the care staff, the medical technology patients are subjected to, the information about the treatment process given beforehand and the institutional structures that health care builds upon.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Less than one-quarter of patients who met the criteria for prediabetes received drug or lifestyle modification treatment from their primary care physician, according to University of Florida researchers, who say the findings indicate physicians are missing opportunities for diabetes prevention.

The study appears today (Tuesday, March 8, 2016) in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

More people live close to sea coast than earlier estimated, assess researchers in a new study. These people are the most vulnerable to the rise of the sea level as well as to the increased number of floods and intensified storms. By using recent increased resolution datasets, Aalto University researchers estimate that 1.9 billion inhabitants, or 28% of the world's total population, live closer than 100 km from the coast in areas less than 100 meters above the present sea level.

Arteriovenous malformations, the most common cause of strokes in children and young adults, are sometimes left untreated, but a sweeping new study strongly suggests that is generally a mistake.

The challenge that doctors have faced in treating patients with arteriovenous malformations - tangles of blood vessels prone to leaking and causing strokes - is that the treatment options are not without risk. So one approach commonly advocated has been to leave the condition unaddressed.

Last April, Kraft Heinz announced it would remove artificial flavors, preservatives and dyes from its iconic Blue Box, and did exactly that in December.Kraft Mac & Cheese replaced artificial dyes (yellow 5 and 6) with paprika, annatto and turmeric to maintain its signature color. This change has been listed in the ingredient line for the past few months. There are also no artificial flavors or preservatives in the new recipe.

Avoidable harm to patients is still too high in healthcare in the UK and across the globe -- making safety a top healthcare priority for providers and policy makers alike.

(CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts) - A team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Harvard John A. Paulson School for Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has invented a method for 3D bioprinting thick vascularized tissue constructs composed of human stem cells, extracellular matrix, and circulatory channels lined with endothelial blood vessel cells. The resulting network of vasculature contained within these deep tissues enables fluids, nutrients and cell growth factors to be controllably perfused uniformly throughout the tissue.

Advances in understanding the molecular genetics of hepatocellular neoplasia have been made, and developing targeted therapeutics in combination with molecular tumor profiling may help accomplish the goal of precision treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

In a recently published article, Dr. Nelson Yee and Dr. Eric Marks provide an updated review of the genetic abnormalities and mechanisms that drive carcinogenesis of HCC, and discuss the targeted therapeutics clinically investigated in patients with this disease.

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The phrase "public corruption" invokes images of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich or disgraced Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell. Often shaped by sensational media coverage of high officials, the public's general perception of corruption in the U.S. is that it is on the rise. Jeffrey Milyo, a professor of economics at the University of Missouri, examined thousands of corruption cases from 1986 to 2014 and found that corruption convictions are not increasing as fast as the public may think and mostly involve low-ranking officials.

Cutting-edge simulations run at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) over a two-year period are helping physicists better understand what influences the behavior of the plasma turbulence that is driven by the intense heating necessary to create fusion energy. This research has yielded exciting answers to long-standing questions about plasma heat loss that have previously stymied efforts to predict the performance of fusion reactors and could help pave the way for this alternative energy source.

As candidates running for national office look beyond Super Tuesday, Americans across the political spectrum want to know their detailed plans to advance medical progress. While a majority of Americans (73%) agree that their health has been improved thanks to research over the course of their lifetime, and 77% say they receive value for federal dollars spent on medical research, many are not content with the status quo. More than a third (36%) say the health care they receive does not seem to be based on the best and most recent research available.

PHILADELPHIA - Refugees seeking asylum in the United States are twice as likely to be granted protection if their application is supported by medical documentation of torture, writes Jules Lipoff, MD, an assistant professor of Clinical Dermatology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and two colleagues in the March 7, 2016 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.

Chestnut Hill, Mass. (3/7/16) - The slow pace of change in Catholic schools as they adjust to an increasingly Hispanic Church poses significant barriers to Hispanic families when considering enrolling their children in parochial schools, according to a new Boston College study that reveals complex challenges for school leaders and clergy trying to serve the fastest-growing population of U.S. Catholics.