Culture

Gland, Switzerland, 14 November 2013 (IUCN) – A new scientific study has identified the protected areas most critical to preventing extinctions of the world's mammals, birds and amphibians. Resulting from an international collaboration, this analysis provides practical advice for improving the effectiveness of protected areas in conserving global biodiversity.

Child restraint laws across many states have gaps that leave unprotected passengers highly vulnerable to vehicle-crash injuries, a study by New York University has found.

The findings, which appear in the journal Social Science and Medicine, show that many child restraint laws lag behind existing research on vehicular safety and fail to follow guidelines adopted by medical experts.

The study is available online through ScienceDirect: http://bit.ly/17VlipX.

AUSTIN, Texas — When it comes to the growth of graphene — an ultrathin, ultrastrong, all-carbon material — it is survival of the fittest, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

The team used surface oxygen to grow centimeter-size single graphene crystals on copper. The crystals were about 10,000 times as large as the largest crystals from only four years ago. Very large single crystals have exceptional electrical properties.

When patients in the emergency department (ED) are diagnosed with influenza by means of a rapid test, they get fewer unnecessary antibiotics, are prescribed antiviral medications more frequently, and have fewer additional lab tests compared to patients diagnosed with influenza without testing, according to a new study. Published online in the Journal of the Pediatrics Infectious Diseases Society, the findings suggest that diagnosing influenza with a rapid diagnostic test leads to more appropriate, specific, and efficient care.

14 November, 2013 – Regular, moderate coffee consumption may decrease an individual's risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to research highlighted in a report published by the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC).

More than 370 million people worldwide have diabetes making it one of the most significant health problems(1). To mark World Diabetes Day, ISIC has published an updated report outlining the latest research on coffee and type 2 diabetes.

Key research findings include:

BOSTON – Amid a growing climate of concern regarding the overuse of opioid pain medications, a comprehensive analysis of more than 1 million hospital admissions has found that over 50 percent of all nonsurgical patients were prescribed opioids during their hospitalizations -- often at very high doses -- and that more than half of those exposed were still receiving these medications on the day they were discharged from the hospital.

Researchers at the Cardiovascular Research Center at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have successfully tested a powerful gene therapy, delivered directly into the heart, to reverse heart failure in large animal models.

The new research study findings, published in November 13 issue of Science Translational Medicine, is the final study phase before human clinical trials can begin testing SUMO-1 gene therapy. SUMO-1 is a gene that is "missing in action" in heart failure patients.

(Boston) – A recent study from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) shows a significant decrease in severe sepsis mortality rates over the past 20 years. Looking at data from patients with severe sepsis enrolled in clinical trials, researchers found that in-hospital mortality rates decreased from 47 percent between 1991 and 1995 to 29 percent between 2006 and 2009, a time period when no new pharmacological treatments were developed for severe sepsis.

HUNTSVILLE, TX (11/13/13) -- The Crime Victims' Institute (CVI) at Sam Houston State University initiated a new series of reports to help victim advocates translate the latest research in the field into practical services and resources for victims, beginning with a study on firearms and intimate partner violence.

The report provides a summary of laws and policies that can be used to better protect victims of domestic violence.

Arlington, Va. — A novel hand-held, noninvasive monitoring device that uses multilayer nanotechnology to detect acetone has been shown to correlate with blood-glucose levels in the breath of diabetics. This research is being presented at the 2013 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition, the world's largest pharmaceutical sciences meeting, in San Antonio, Nov. 10-14.

Many of us have mixed feelings when remembering painful lessons in German or Latin grammar in school. Languages feature a large number of complex rules and patterns: using them correctly makes the difference between something which "sounds good", and something which does not. However, cognitive biologists at the University of Vienna have shown that sensitivity to very simple structural and melodic patterns does not require much learning, or even being human: South American squirrel monkeys can do it, too.

(Boston)--Despite current guidelines that recommend newly diagnosed high-cholesterol patients have a TSH blood test done to make sure they do not have hypothyroidism, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have found that only about half of these patients were screened for thyroid dysfunction. The findings, which appear online in JAMA Internal Medicine, show the current guidelines may be underutilized.

NEW YORK, NY (November 13, 2013) – Scientists from the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute and Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have used stem cells created from the skin of patients with a rare form of diabetes—Wolfram syndrome—to elucidate an important biochemical pathway for beta-cell failure in diabetes. The findings by Linshan Shang and colleagues were published today in Diabetes.

The true potential of Peruvian anchovy lies not in fishmeal but as food for people and as part of the ocean food web, according to Canadian and Peruvian researchers.

The Peruvian anchovy is the world's biggest fishery resource, with annual landings of five to 10-million metric tons. It generates up to one-third of the world's fishmeal supply. But a new study reveals the bulk of the revenue and employment comes from producing the seafood for human consumption.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- The list of complications from type 2 diabetes is long: vascular and heart disease, eye problems, nerve damage, kidney disease, hearing problems and Alzheimer's disease. Physicians have long thought of osteoporosis as another outcome. Based on a Mayo Clinic study published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, that's confirmed: You can definitely add skeletal problems to that list.