Culture

Sleep apnea may increase the risk of developing gout, a new study shows.

Among 9865 patients with newly-diagnosed sleep apnea and 43,598 comparators of similar weight, investigators identified 270 new cases of gout over one year of follow-up, resulting in incidence rates of 8.4/1000 and 4.8/1000 person-years, respectively. The increased risk of gout was 60% higher among patients with sleep apnea.

In recent years hospitals have been rapidly acquiring physician practices, a trend that could potentially lower health care spending--for example, through better coordination of inpatient and outpatient care--or increase spending by increasing prices or use of profitable hospital-based services.

Health care providers must have detailed discussions with their older adult patients to better determine their true life expectancy, as older adults do not accurately predict their own prognosis, a key factor in making decisions about future health interventions, according to researchers at UC San Francisco and San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Their research letter appears online Oct. 19, 2015, in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Migration has transferred the practice of genital mutilation of girls and women to countries where it was not common or does not originate, and the World Health Organization is campaigning to eradicate the practice. A new article highlights how health professionals--including nurses and midwives--both help and hinder eradication and management of female genital mutilation.

What are the chances that a person will respond to your email in the next hour? And why is the reply so terse? New study by USC Viterbi School of Engineering researchers finds that email responses depend on a variety of factors including age, platform, volume and timing.

The number of college graduates willing to start new businesses -- the largest producer of private sector jobs over the past 25 years -- could depend heavily on the entrepreneurial focus and structure of the universities from which they graduate, according to a new study.

What foods are Americans really buying, where are they buying them, and how nutritious are these purchases? A new study conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has determined that consumers are increasingly making packaged food purchases (PFPs) at warehouse clubs, mass merchandisers, and convenience stores. These outlets offer a selection of foods that have poor nutrient profiles, with higher calories and more sugar, sodium, and saturated fat compared to grocery stores. This represents a potential U.S. public health concern.

If you read a report whose message was that people consume too much, would you then be likely to curb your own consumption? In some cases yes, says a new study in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. According to the study, people who place a high value on materialism are likely to reduce their consumption after reading such a report.

Social networking makes it easy to monitor the status and activities of a former romantic partner, an often unhealthy use of social media known as interpersonal electronic surveillance (IES) or, more commonly, "Facebook stalking." Psychological and relationship factors and how individuals cope with the termination of a romantic relationship can help predict their use of online surveillance, according to a study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.

WASHINGTON -- Continuing expansion of federal research regulations and requirements is diminishing the effectiveness of the U.S. scientific enterprise and lowering the return on the federal investment in research by directing investigators' time away from research and toward administrative matters, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The report identifies specific actions Congress, the White House, federal agencies, and research institutions should take to reduce the regulatory burden.

In a recent study by psychologists and surgeons concerning elective, open abdominal surgeries conducted in 167 patients, communication by the surgical team that was relevant to the procedure was linked with a reduced risk of the development of surgical site infections, whereas irrelevant communication during the closing phase of the procedure was linked with an increased risk of surgical site infections.

Biologists and psychologists are fascinated by the bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) of northeastern Brazil, which exhibit behavior that is extremely rare in the animal kingdom: they use stone tools to crack open the hard casings of palm nuts, to eat the meat inside.

Racial/ethnic minorities and unemployed individuals had a longer total time burden (time spent traveling to, waiting for and receiving ambulatory medical care) in a nationally representative study, although patients' face-to-face time with physicians tended not to vary, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Good news for the Leslie Knopes and Lisa Simpsons of the civic-minded world: New research from a University of Illinois expert in social network analysis indicates that people who participate in voluntary civic organizations such as school PTAs, religious or leisure groups strengthen their ties to high-status people and accrue significantly better social cachet than their less-outgoing peers.

Researchers have found that when surgical trainees train beyond competence using a simulator, they retain information longer and master surgical skills better than those who stop practicing when they achieve an initial level of proficiency. Their study findings were presented today at the 2015 Annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons during a Posters of Exceptional Merit presentation.