Culture

KANSAS CITY, MO — September 1, 2009 — New research on treating Gulf War Illness (GWI) is being presented this week at the Military Health Research Forum (MHRF), a scientific meeting hosted by the Department of Defense (DoD) Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP). GWI is a condition that affects approximately 25 percent of service men and women who served in the 1990-1991 Gulf War.

University of Alberta researcher David Coltman wrestles with bighorn mountain sheep to gauge their personalities. Coltman, a U of A biology professor, is part of a team that traps the animals in a plywood enclosure on a mountaintop in the Rockies. He and the research team are trying to figure out if personality type has anything to do with how long a mountain sheep lives or how many offspring it produces.

Previous studies in the field have indicated that East Asia is where the wolf was tamed and became the dog. It was not possible to be more precise than that. But now researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm have managed to zero in on man's best friend.

"For the first time in world history it is possible to provide a detailed picture of the dog, with its birthplace, point in time, and how many wolves were tamed," says Peter Savolainen, a biology researcher at KTH.

PHILADELPHIA – Regardless of risk factors linked to pancreatic cancer, such as smoking and body mass index (BMI), blacks experienced higher rates of pancreatic cancer death than whites.

"Reducing overweight/obesity and smoking will help reduce pancreatic cancer overall, as well as prevent other diseases," said Lauren D. Arnold, Ph.D., M.P.H., postdoctoral research associate in the department of surgery at Washington University in St. Louis.

"We still have a long way to go towards understanding pancreatic cancer disparities."

Living without a car in close proximity to fast food restaurants is associated with excess body mass index and weight gain, according to a University of Pittsburgh study in the Journal of Urban Health. Indeed, adults in areas with high fast food concentration who didn't have a car were as much as 12 pounds heavier than those who lived in neighborhoods that lacked such restaurants.

WASHINGTON – Every March, most Americans welcome the switch to daylight saving time because of the longer days, but also dread losing an hour of sleep after they move their clocks forward. Now a new study shows that losing just an hour of sleep could pose some dangerous consequences for those in hazardous work environments.

The findings are reported in the September issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, which is published by the American Psychological Association.

Some of the strategies local government officials are using to combat childhood obesity include: zoning restrictions on fast-food restaurants near schools and playgrounds, community policing to improve safety around public recreational sites, requirements that publicly run after-school programs limit video game and TV time, taxes on high-calorie, and low-nutrient foods and drinks, this is according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council.

The same special interest groups that line up on two sides in elections come together afterward to advance the same bills, said Matt Grossmann, assistant professor of political science.

Grossmann cited the current debate over national health care as an example. "Pharmaceutical companies, unions and doctors have all come out in support of President Obama's plan," he said. "It is the public and legislators that are closely divided, not interest groups."

A new iPhone application, created by researchers at Children's Hospital Boston in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab, enables users to track and report outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as H1N1 (swine flu), on the ground in real time.

Increasing population and employment density in metropolitan areas could reduce vehicle travel, energy use, and CO2 emissions from less than 1 percent up to 11 percent by 2050. This is compared to a base case for household vehicle usage, says a new congressionally-mandated report from the National Research Council, although committee members disagreed about the plausibility of achieving the higher estimate.

Patients with advanced illnesses more than doubled their use of hospice care when a major national health plan made hospice care more readily accessible, according to the results of a comparative study published in Journal of Palliative Medicine.(www.liebertpub.com). Journal of Palliative Medicine is the official journal of the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) and an official journal of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA).

A University of Illinois study suggests that classroom disruptions and psychologically hostile school environments can contribute to a climate in which good students have difficulty learning and students who are behind have trouble catching up.

"We need to get away from the idea that bullying is always physical. Bullying can also include verbal harassment, which can be just as damaging and detrimental to student learning," said Christy Lleras, a U of I assistant professor of human and community development.

When reporting medical errors, patients' perceptions of their physicians' disclosure may be key to gaining their trust, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. However, a positive perception of the disclosure has little effect on the lawsuit risk a physician faces.

Patients who ask their doctor about information they have read on the Internet, or webs that better inform them of their diagnosis, are no longer a rarity. A study undertaken by Spanish researchers reveals the advantages and disadvantages of online medical inquiries. Some 31% of doctors believe that the Internet complicates their relationship with patients and undermines their credibility.

Westchester, Ill. —A study in the Sept.1 issue of the journal SLEEP shows that current or past exposure to workplace bullying is associated with increased sleep disturbances. Associations also were found between observed bullying and sleep disruption, indicating that bullying has detrimental effects even when it is experienced indirectly.