Culture

Nanoparticles are ubiquitous in industrial applications ranging from drug delivery and biomedical diagnostics to developing hydrophobic surfaces, lubricant additives and enhanced oil recovery solutions in petroleum fields. For such nanoparticles to be effective, they need to remain well dispersed into the fluid surrounding them. In a study published in EPJ B, Brazilian physicists identified the conditions that lead to instability of nanoparticles and producing aggregates.

Excessive alcohol use continues to be a drain on the American economy, according to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Excessive drinking cost the U.S. $249 billion in 2010, or $2.05 per drink, a significant increase from $223.5 billion, or $1.90 per drink, in 2006. Most of these costs were due to reduced workplace productivity, crime, and the cost of treating people for health problems caused by excessive drinking.

Climate variability is one of the major forces in the rise and fall of agrarian states in Mexico and Peru, according to a team of researchers looking at both climate and archaeological records.

"We are arguing that the climate information in both areas is good enough to establish that climate is playing some role in the rise and fall of these city states," said Douglas Kennett, professor of environmental archaeology. "Now we need to further refine the archaeological data."

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- In recent years, Florida State University College of Medicine researchers Angelina R. Sutin and Antonio Terracciano have found that people who experience weight discrimination are more likely to become or remain obese, to develop chronic health problems and to have a lower satisfaction with life.

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Young Latinos living in rural areas say they face discrimination when they obtain health care services - a factor that could contribute to disparities in their rates for obtaining medical care and in their health outcomes, a new study from Oregon State University has found.

Perceived discrimination is considered a barrier to obtaining health care services for underrepresented populations, including Latinos, according to lead researcher Daniel López-Cevallos, associate director of research for the Center for Latino/a Studies and Engagement at OSU.

PHILADELPHIA - Penn Medicine has performed more than 1,200 Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacements (TAVR) on patients with severe aortic stenosis. Today, at the Transcatheter Cardiac Therapeutics conference in San Francisco, Howard C.

Patients newly diagnosed with cancer were less likely to participate in clinical trials if their annual household income was below $50,000, according to an article published online by JAMA Oncology.

Joseph M. Unger, Ph.D., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, and coauthors used data from a survey of adult patients with new diagnoses of breast, lung or colorectal cancer. All patients were enrolled prior to making a treatment decision and then followed for six months to assess whether they participated in a clinical trial.

ATLANTA--State merit-based scholarships reduce the likelihood a student will earn a degree in a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) field, according to researchers at Georgia State University and Oklahoma State University.

Their study, published in the Journal of Labor Economics in October, examined the effect of state merit-based financial aid programs, such as Georgia's HOPE Scholarship, on students' choice of major.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - A new emergency department study from the University of Michigan Injury Center looks deeper at risk and protective factors among teenagers who report dating violence and alcohol use.

Patients ages 14 to 20 that came to the U-M emergency department seeking care were asked to complete a survey on alcohol use, peers, mental health and dating violence.

Among children with intermediate-risk rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) that is negative for a fusion gene, those who had a high score of a specific gene signature called MG5 had poorer survival outcomes compared with those who had a low score of MG5.

Philadelphia, PA, October 15, 2015 - Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) have an increased risk for stroke and are often prescribed oral anticoagulation (OAC) therapy. OAC therapy can prevent disastrous strokes, but at the expense of increased bleeding risks. There are now well-established guidelines to assess the risk of stroke and bleeding in AF patients to determine whether OAC is needed.

SAC 2015 is being held in Buenos Aires from 15 to 17 October 2015. Experts from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) will present a special programme.1

"Argentina has high rates of physical inactivity," said Dr Roberto Peidro, a leading member of the Argentine Society of Cardiology and vice-president of the Argentine Foundation of Cardiology. "Lack of free time is the most important excuse given by sedentary people. On the other hand, doctors give insufficient advice about exercise."

PHILADELPHIA - Although the public and private sectors are currently engaged in an unprecedented array of efforts to improve end-of-life care, too many of these programs are not evidence-based, according to a scholar from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Taxi-cab numbers, among the most beloved integers in math, trace their origins to 1918 and what seemed like a casual insight by the Indian genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. Now mathematicians at Emory University have discovered that Ramanujan did not just identify the first taxi-cab number - 1729 - and its quirky properties. He showed how the number relates to elliptic curves and K3 surfaces - objects important today in string theory and quantum physics.

DARIEN, IL - Oct. 14, 2015 - A new position paper published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine supports telemedicine as a means of advancing patient health by improving access to the expertise of board-certified sleep medicine specialists.