Culture

A new survey shows that diabetic individuals who live in a hot climate have important gaps in their "heat awareness," or knowledge about proper diabetes self-care in hot weather, even though diabetes raises their risk of heat illness. The results of "Diabetes in the Desert: What Do Patients Know About the Heat?" will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego.

Multiple sclerosis patients who directly confronted the stress of the Second Lebanon War suffered fewer attacks than those who chose to cope with the situation by focusing on feelings. This has been shown in a new study carried out by researchers of the University of Haifa, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Carmel Medical Center. "Because there is no cure for multiple sclerosis to date, it is important to uncover all the factors that impact the recurrence of attacks," said Prof. Eli Somer of the University of Haifa, one of the authors of the study.

Active surveillance or watchful waiting might be sufficient treatment for patients with prostate cancer that has a low risk of progression, according to a new study published online June 18 in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Treatment of localized prostate cancer is controversial because, for some, this disease will not progress during their life time, and treatment may incur serious and long-lasting side effects. An increasingly popular option is active surveillance, or deferring treatment until evidence of disease progression.

If you're having trouble getting a date, French researchers suggest that picking the right soundtrack could improve the odds. Women were more prepared to give their number to an 'average' young man after listening to romantic background music, according to research that appears today in the journal Psychology of Music, published by SAGE.

Rome, Italy, Friday 18 June 2010: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) patients from Brazil and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients from France report that their rheumatic conditions negatively affect their emotional relationships and sex lives, according to research presented today at EULAR 2010, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Rome, Italy. Furthermore, findings of the French study specifically revealed a strong correlation between RA disease severity and impact on sex life.

Rome, Italy, Friday 18 June 2010: Two separate studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency is common in patients with a range of rheumatic diseases, with over half of all patients having below the 'normal' healthy levels of vitamin D (48-145 nmol/L) in their bodies. A further study assessing response to vitamin D supplementation found that taking the recommended daily dose did not normalise vitamin D levels in rheumatic disease patients. The results of these three studies were presented today at EULAR 2010, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Rome, Italy.

Rome, Italy, Friday 18 June 2010: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) patients from Brazil and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients from France report that their rheumatic conditions negatively affect their emotional relationships and sex lives, according to research presented today at EULAR 2010, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Rome, Italy. Furthermore, findings of the French study specifically revealed a strong correlation between RA disease severity and impact on sex life.

Rome, Italy, Friday 18 June 2010: The effects of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) may differ based on the individual patient's genealogical heritage, according to results of a new study presented today at EULAR 2010, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Rome, Italy. In particular, the study reinforced differences in SLE phenotype found between Northern and Southern European subpopulations.

St. Louis, MO, June 18, 2010 – The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act, 2004, requires that all school districts have a Wellness Policy if they participate in federal school meal programs. As part of the Wellness Policy, schools are mandated to include nutrition education activities which promote student wellness. A study in the July/August issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior evaluates elementary teachers' overall acceptance and implementation of nutrition competencies in the classroom as part of their School Wellness Policy.

For several thousands of years, ancient Egypt dominated the Mediterranean world—and scholars across the globe have spent more than a century trying to document the reigns of the various rulers of Egypt's Old, Middle and New Kingdoms. Now, a detailed radiocarbon analysis of short-lived plant remains from the region is providing scientists with a long and accurate chronology of ancient Egyptian dynasties that agrees with most previous estimates but also imposes some historic revisions.

Following stem cell therapy, an adult patient experienced a new and previously unrecognized complication, which required removal of one of the kidneys, according to a case report appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The report suggests that stem cell therapy may cause patients to develop blood vessel and bone marrow masses, the long term effects of which are unknown.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 17, 2010 -- Russian cities and regions whose Jewish populations bore the brunt of the Holocaust have seen lower economic growth and wages ever since, according to a detailed new analysis of seven decades of Soviet and Russian data. These same areas have also tended to resist political reform, exhibiting greater popular support for Communist candidates since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has examined the content and messages presented by websites that appear to support or encourage eating disorders, using images, text and interactive applications to further knowledge, attitudes and behaviors to achieve (dangerously) low body weights.

The study is the largest (yes, there has been more than one) analysis of pro-eating disorder websites and will be published in the American Journal of Public Health.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – States in which defense spending is high are better equipped to withstand the effects of an economic downturn than others, according to a new study led by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Assistant Professor of Sociology Casey Borch, Ph.D.