Culture

Highlights

• Approximately 1 in 40 men and 1 in 60 women of middle age will develop kidney failure if they live into their 90s.
• People with reduced kidney function face an even higher risk.

Kidney failure is on the rise and currently afflicts 2 million people worldwide.

SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 16, 2012 – A University of Utah survey of judges in 19 states found that if a convicted criminal is a psychopath, judges consider it an aggravating factor in sentencing, but if judges also hear biological explanations for the disorder, they reduce the sentence by about a year on average.

The new study, published in the Aug. 17, 2012, issue of the journal Science, illustrates the "double-edged sword" faced by judges when they are given a "biomechanical" explanation for a criminal's mental disorder:

Fast-growing retail medical clinics are attracting more older patients and delivering more preventive care, particularly flu shots and other vaccinations, according to a new study from the RAND Corporation.

Researchers found that visits to retail medical clinics increased four-fold from 2007 to 2009, with the proportion of patients over age 65 growing from 8 percent to 19 percent of all visits during this period.

As November draws near, many Americans are thinking about which political candidates will be receiving their support. For die-hard Democrats and Republicans, the decision may be a no-brainer. As the country grows increasingly divided between liberals and conservatives, however, many voters have rejected traditional partisan identities, choosing to call themselves Independents.

But new research suggests that Independents may not be as independent as they think.

Lounging on a sofa while watching a 3D movie is an exquisite pleasure for many film fans. Be that as it may, those nettlesome 3D glasses might diminish the fun somewhat. That's why television manufacturers are working on displays that can recreate the spellbinding magic of three-dimensional television images – without the glasses. Though prototypes of these TV screens already exist, consumers will not have to wait much longer for the market introduction of these autostereoscopic displays.

Every year tribal gaming generates billions of dollars in revenue, creates tens of thousands of jobs, and boosts the economies of many Native American communities. In the state of California alone, tribal gaming has brought in $7.5 billion annually.

However, because of the aggressive movement to legalize Internet gambling, which effectively would give states the power to regulate and tax online gambling even on reservations, the financial success of these communities could change.

Specialised group yoga classes could provide a cost-effective way of treating patients with chronic or recurrent low back pain, according to the UK's largest ever study of the benefits of yoga.

Led by the University of York, and funded by Arthritis Research UK, the study provides an evaluation of a specially-developed 12-week group yoga intervention programme compared to conventional general practitioner (GP) care alone.

Eribulin (trade name: Halaven®) was approved in March 2011 for women with locally advanced or metastasizing breast cancer in whom the disease has progressed despite prior drug therapy.

In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the "Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products" (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether eribulin offers an added benefit compared with the present standard therapy.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Rhode Island Hospital researcher has found that the use of electronic prescription drug monitoring programs (PMPs) may have a significant impact on the demand for drug treatment programs and how prescribers detect and respond to abuse of painkillers. The study by Traci C. Green, Ph.D., MSc, research scientist in Rhode Island Hospital's department of general internal medicine, is published online in advance of print in the journal Pain Medicine.

TEMPE, Ariz. — Sustainability is a human decision — a responsibility that relies on good information and how we choose to use it — according to George Basile, a senior sustainability scientist at Arizona State University, who made that point in this month's cover story in Sustainability: The Journal of Record.

Reframing sustainability as a human decision challenge, rather than "some version of people, planet and profit coming together," was one of the subjects discussed by Basile in the "On the Record" feature with journal editor Jamie Devereaux.

"While information on the ingredients of food products has become increasingly available, recent reports have revealed that the use of some cosmetics, including products used on the lips and face, can result in unexpected exposure to gluten," said researchers Marie L. Borum, MD, EdD, MPH and Pia Prakash, MD, of George Washington University.

Top economists gathered at the Wharton School's Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania April 12-13, 2012 for the second annual Globalization TrendLab 2012 conference entitled, "Sustainability: New Perspectives and Opportunities."

The conference brought together economic and environmental experts from management, engineering, environmental policy, public policy, and the social sciences to learn from each other's perspectives on environmental sustainability.

Landslides kill ten times more people across the world than was previously thought, according to research by Durham University, UK.

A new database of hazards shows that 32,300 people died in landslides between 2004 and 2010. Previous estimates ranged from 3,000 to 7,000 fatalities.

The database, which provides the first detailed analysis of fatal landslides across the world, maps hotspots including China, Central and South America, and India.

An investigational drug currently under FDA review for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis has now shown positive results in patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis, according to researchers at the University of California San Diego, School of Medicine. The study will appear in the August 16, 2012 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

A research team from the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (PCMD), University of Exeter, and University of Cambridge has for the first time established a link between high levels of urinary Bisphenol-A (BPA) and severe coronary artery stenosis (narrowing of the arteries).

The study is published in PLoS ONE today, 15th August 2012.