Culture

This news release is available in Spanish.

Nyon, Switzerland - December 2, 2015

Despite an up to six-fold increased risk of broken bones in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), the relationship between diabetes and osteoporosis has, until recently, suffered from a general lack of attention and research. As a result, health professionals who treat diabetic patients often do not recognize that fragility fractures are a major complication of the disease.

A growing number of health consumers are consulting online physician-rating sites when choosing doctors even if the value of those sites--whether they're reliable sources for information, or capable of driving improvements in health care--is in dispute.

Some studies have shown how letting patients grade their doctors can lead to over-testing and over-treatment as doctors, hoping to improve their scores, bend to unreasonable patient demands.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, in a 1932 opinion, wrote that a state could be a 'laboratory' for policy, and 'try novel social and economic experiments' on its own. We have since turned those words into today's common political phrase that the 50 U.S. states are 'laboratories of democracy.'

The levels of virus in the blood (viremia) for patients with Ebola virus disease (EVD) are strong predictors of fatality, according to a study published in PLOS Medicine this week. The study, conducted by the teams of Amadou Alpha Sall (Institut Pasteur, Dakar, Senegal) and of Simon Cauchemez (Institut Pasteur, Paris, France) and scientists from Guinea and Canada, found that in the week following symptom onset, viremia remained stable, and that the case fatality ratio (CFR, the proportion of deaths from the disease to total cases) increased with level of viremia.

Alcohol-related conditions are an important contributing factor to the socioeconomic inequality in total mortality in many European countries, according to a study published this week in PLOS Medicine. The database analysis, conducted by Johan Mackenbach at Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and colleagues indicates that in some countries, alcohol-related causes account for 10% or more of the socioeconomic inequality in total mortality among men.

The promotion of healthy eating habits is an important issue across the United States, but research into it has largely been confined to urban areas. But one Drexel professor believes that interventions in the country can reach a significant swath of people.

Drexel University's Ana Martinez-Donate, PhD, and her fellow researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison developed a strategy for healthy eating intervention that showed great promise for rural communities by utilizing local supermarkets and restaurants.

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- A new scientific model that incorporates the myriad drivers of depression could lead to more precise treatment for an illness that affects 350 million worldwide.

Developed by scientists at Michigan State University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the model provides a better understanding of depression and the foundation for creating a pioneering tool to attack the complex disorder.

With the aim of producing high-quality X-rays with minimal radiation exposure, particularly in children, researchers have developed a new approach to imaging patients. Surprisingly, the new technology isn't a high-tech, high-dollar piece of machinery. Rather, it's based on the Xbox gaming system.

Using proprietary software developed for the Microsoft Kinect system, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have adapted hands-free technology used for the popular Xbox system to aid radiographers when taking X-rays.

Between 1999 and 2013 in the United States, between 279 (in 2000) to 507 (in 2012) people were killed each year by legal intervention or law enforcement, other than by legal execution. In 2013, an estimated 11.3 million arrests in the U.S. resulted in approximately 480 deaths from legal intervention. Between 1999 and 2013, there were 5,511 deaths by legal intervention.

Folsom, Calif., (Dec. 1, 2015) - A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that one serving of walnuts (1oz) may provide 146 calories, which is 39 calories less, or 21 percent fewer, than the 185 calories listed in the USDA Nutrient Database. (1) The study takes into account the digestibility of walnut pieces and halves, and further research is needed to better understand the results of the study and how this technique for calculating calories could potentially affect the calorie count of other foods. The research was led by Dr. David J.

URBANA, Ill. - A new University of Illinois study reveals that distracted dining may be as dangerous to your health as distracted driving is to your safety on the highway.

"Being distracted during meals puts kids at added risk for obesity and increased consumption of unhealthy foods. In this study, we found that noisy and distracting environments affected parents' actions, and we know that parents set the tone for the quality of family mealtimes," said Barbara H. Fiese, director of the U of I's Family Resiliency Center (FRC).

CHICAGO - An interventional radiology technique shows promise for helping morbidly obese patients lose weight, according to the preliminary results of a study being presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Gastric artery embolization has been done for decades by interventional radiologists as a way to stop bleeding in emergency situations, but the idea of performing the procedure as a means of treating obesity is new.

CHICAGO - Researchers have developed software for the Microsoft Kinect gaming console that measures body part thickness and checks for motion, positioning and beam adjustment immediately before X-ray imaging, according to a feasibility study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Despite decades of efforts to banish the idea of "jobs for men" -- construction worker, firefighter, mechanic -- and "jobs for women" -- teacher, flight attendant, registered nurse -- almost 69 percent of workers are in occupations that are dominated by one gender or the other, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Why does gender segregation in jobs persist?

INDIANAPOLIS -- The latest technological innovation to affect the doctor-patient relationship is the examination room computer with its promise of supporting safer, more efficient and more effective patient care. But exam room computing is challenging and there is growing evidence that it can be a threat to patient safety and detrimental to good relationships and health outcomes.