Culture

The protection of the savings of the elderly, one of the primary goals of Medicare, is under threat from a combination of the Affordable Care Act, which will lead to spiraling health care costs and the increased longevity of seniors, ironically due to better health care.

BEER-SHEVA, ISRAEL, September 4, 2012 -- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers have determined that preeclampsia is a significant risk factor for long-term health issues, such as chronic hypertension and hospitalizations later in life. The findings from the retrospective cohort study were just published in the Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine.

Is there a "gender gap" in the views of professional economists? A new national study finds that while most economists agree on core economic concepts, values and methods, they differ along gender lines in their views on policy.

Disease-free survival for invasive ductal breast cancer (IDC) patients may be easier to predict with the help of F-18-fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) scans, according to research published in the September issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. New data show that high maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax) of F-18-FDG in the lymph nodes prior to treatment could be an independent indicator of disease recurrence.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) limits payment for key "preventable" complicating conditions acquired during hospital stay. The claims data is used to deny payment, and the data is reported publicly so that hospitals can be compared by complication rate. Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) was the first condition targeted for such nonpayment.

Organic food is like anything else on a grocery store shelves promoted by heavy marketing; buy it if you want but don't bug people how you are smarter than they are for doing so.

There is generally no difference in nutritional value or risk for bacterial contamination between organic and conventional foods, according to a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. While the consumption of organic fruits and vegetables reduced exposure to any detectable pesticide residues by 30 percent, pesticide levels were generally within the allowable limits for safety.

A centralized prescription network providing real-time information to pharmacists in British Columbia, Canada, resulted in dramatic reductions in inappropriate prescriptions for opioid analgesics and benzodiazepines, widely used and potentially addictive drugs. The findings are reported in a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Inexperienced psychiatrists are less likely than their veteran peers to accurately predict violence by their patients, but a simple assessment checklist might help bridge that accuracy gap, according to new research from the University of Michigan.

Led by psychiatrist Alan Teo, M.D., a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar of the University of Michigan, researchers examined how accurate psychiatrists were at predicting assaults by acutely ill patients admitted to psychiatric units.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Witch hunts are common and sometimes deadly in the tea plantations of Jalpaiguri, India. But a surprising source – small groups of women who meet through a government loan program – has achieved some success in preventing the longstanding practice, a Michigan State University sociologist found.

Soma Chaudhuri spent seven months studying witch hunts in her native India and discovered that the economic self-help groups have made it part of their agenda to defend their fellow plantation workers against the hunts.

Young women have it tough. When they are adults, they want to be paid the same and respected as much as men, but they first have to endure patronizing portrayals by psychologists during their younger years.

Oddly, 70% of psychologists are women so the desire to tell young women how easily manipulated they are, and how psychology can fix the problem it creates, is odd.

Vienna, Austria: Parental problems and a chaotic home environment could be preventing children from taking their prescribed asthma medication.

A new study, which will be presented today (3 September 2012) at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Vienna, has shown that children's asthma symptoms could be worse due to issues in their home.

Vienna, Austria: Identifying an individual's the smoking history could help doctors to predict survival time in people with COPD.

A new study, which will be presented today (4 September 2012) at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Vienna, has identified that the measurement, pack–years, is a strong predictor for mortality in COPD.

Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2012 – Cavers from the cave research unit of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have just returned from exploring the deepest cave in the world. The cave, known as Krubera-Voronya, is considered the "Everest of the caves" and is in Abkhazia in the south of Russia near the Black Sea.

Vienna, Austria: Sleep apnoea in women has been linked to overactive bladder syndrome in a new study.

The research, presented today (3 September 2012) at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Vienna, has provided new evidence suggesting a connection between the two conditions.

Rochester, MN, September 4, 2012 – In a recent survey of palliative care medicine practitioners, nearly three quarters of the sample reported having been "humorously" accused of promoting death; for example, being called "Dr. Death." Most of the remarks came from fellow physicians and other health care professionals. At the same time, the survey found that a third of investigations into accusations of murder or euthanasia against physicians are instigated by fellow members of the health care team.