Culture

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Nearly everybody thinks that presidential candidates routinely dodge hard-hitting questions, providing evasive answers to simple questions.

But a new study that analyzed the full transcripts of 14 U.S. presidential debates from 1996 to 2012 provides some surprising insights that might temper that belief -- and help explain why people believe politicians are evasive.

The research found that presidential candidates accused their rivals of evasion quite often -- 54 times in the 14 debates analyzed.

Studies that use UK hospital coding data to examine "weekend effects" for acute conditions, such as stroke, may be undermined by inaccurate coding, suggests research published by The BMJ today.

The research, by Dr Linxin Li and Professor Peter Rothwell at Oxford University, was the subject of media reporting last week, before the full findings had been published.

The full study is now available on thebmj.com.

HOUSTON - (May 16, 2016) - After months of near silence regarding Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's "increasingly hostile" comments about Mexico, the country, through its foreign ministry, is now trying to protect its image and respond more vigorously to anti-Mexican rhetoric, according to a new issue brief from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Philadelphia, PA, May 17, 2016 - Hospitalized patients can deteriorate quickly, requiring prompt identification and treatment, especially since each hour of treatment delay can increase the risk of mortality. In a new study published in the American Journal of Medicine, researchers have implemented an automated process that continuously samples electronic medical record (EMR) data in real time and triggers an alert to the physician at the patient's bedside to warn of potential clinical decline.

Paris, France May 17, 2016: Patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) who are at high risk for bleeding have significantly lower rates of target lesion revascularisation and fewer adverse events after undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with a polymer-free biolimus-A (BA9) drug-coated stent than with those receiving a bare metal stent (BMS) in results from a sub-study of the LEADERS FREE trial reported for the first time in a late-breaker session at EuroPCR 2016.

Paris, France - 17 May 2016: Using optimal frequency domain imaging (OFDI) to guide percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with second-generation drug eluting stents (DES) achieves equivalent clinical and angiographic outcomes to intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided PCI at 12 months, show results from the OPINION study reported in a late-breaker session at EuroPCR 2016.

Paris, France - 17 May 2016: Half of transcatheter heart valves may undergo degeneration within 10 years, according to estimates from the first study investigating the long-term durability of these valves in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) reported at EuroPCR 2016.

AURORA, Colo. (May 17, 2015) - A new study from researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus appears to disprove the increasingly popular notion that doctors die differently than everyone else, using fewer interventions that often have little value.

In fact, the researchers said, their national study found that physicians use more hospice care, spend more time in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and just as much time in hospitals when compared to the rest of the population.

TORONTO, May 13, 2016--Researchers found a 7.8 times higher risk of ambulance calls for patients with trauma in areas with the highest density of bars and restaurants licensed to serve alcohol, compared to a low density of such establishments.

The risk for trauma was especially pronounced among young males and in areas with a high density of establishments specifically focused on the sale of alcohol, such as sports bars, night clubs, pool halls and gaming facilities.

Glenview, Illinois (May 13, 2016)-- China's air pollution problem has made headlines for more than a decade, and young people wearing face masks on high pollution days crowd the homepages of news outlets on a regular basis. Much focus has been centered on regulation and prevention measures aimed at combating air quality issues, but little attention has been paid to the impact these issues have had on the health of the 1.357 billion people living in China or the planning and infrastructure requirements needed to provide that care.

Melanomas in patients from New Zealand's South Island are significantly more likely than those of North Islanders to carry a gene mutation that has implications for mutation-targeted drug therapies and for patient outcomes, new University of Otago-led research suggests.

The study, which is the first comprehensive genetic analysis of melanoma in New Zealand, sought to analyse mutation frequencies of 20 recurrently mutated genes in samples from 529 patients with metastatic melanoma.

An archaeologist studying musical horns from iron-age Ireland has found musical traditions, thought to be long dead, are alive and well in south India.

The realisation that modern Indian horns are almost identical to many iron-age European artefacts reveals a rich cultural link between the two regions 2,000 years ago, said PhD student Billy Ó Foghlú, from The Australian National University (ANU).

"Archaeology is usually silent. I was astonished to find what I thought to be dead soundscapes alive and living in Kerala today," said the ANU College of Asia-Pacific student.

Research co-authored by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) has found that the 'maths gender gap' - the relative underperformance of girls at maths - is much wider in societies with poor rates of gender equality. Published today in the American Economic Review, the research shows that the performance gap between girls and boys is far less pronounced in societies that hold progressive and egalitarian views about the role of women.

Researchers have found that patients with coeliac disease are at high risk of acquiring pneumonia if they haven't received the pneumococcal vaccine.

WASHINGTON, DC -- Though some studies have suggested intrauterine devices (IUDs) have a tendency to be expelled when inserted immediately following vaginal childbirth, a new study shows that at least 85 percent of these devices placed after delivery are still in place six weeks later. According to the research team at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, providing IUDs in the hospital immediately following delivery is an effective way to reduce unintended pregnancy and adverse maternal and infant outcomes associated with close pregnancy-spacing.