Culture

This news release is available in German.

Graphene may command the lion's share of attention but it is not the only material generating buzz in the electronics world. Vanadium dioxide is one of the few known materials that acts like an insulator at low temperatures but like a metal at warmer temperatures starting around 67 degrees Celsius. This temperature-driven metal-insulator transition, the origin of which is still intensely debated, in principle can be induced by the application of an external electric field. That could yield faster and much more energy efficient electronic devices.

Receiving an influenza vaccination was associated with a lower risk of major adverse cardiovascular events such as heart failure or hospitalization for heart attack, with the greatest treatment effect seen among patients with recent acute coronary syndrome (ACS; such as heart attack or unstable angina), according to a meta-analysis published in the October 23/30 issue of JAMA.

TORONTO, Oct. 22, 2013—Single women who are homeless visit a hospital Emergency Department an average of more than twice a year, 13 times more often than women in the general population, new research has found.

Single men who are homeless make an average of two visits a year to emergency, nine times more than men in the general population.

TORONTO, Oct. 22, 2013—Although homeless people account for a small proportion of Emergency Department visits, a small group of them are extremely high users and have multiple complex health care needs, new research has found.

TORONTO, ON, October 22, 2013 -- The flu vaccine may not only ward off serious complications from influenza, it may also reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke by more than 50 per cent among those who have had a heart attack, according to new research led by Dr. Jacob Udell, a cardiologist at Women's College Hospital and clinician-scientist at the University of Toronto. What's more, the vaccine's heart protective effects may be even greater among those who receive a more potent vaccine.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Two researchers at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business have teamed up with a researcher at American University to develop a framework to help prevent costly and deadly infections acquired by hospitalized patients. According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), these transmissions strike one out of every 20 inpatients, drain billions of dollars from the national health care system and cause tens of thousands of deaths annually.

TORONTO, ON, October 22, 2013 — The flu vaccine may not only ward off serious complications from influenza, it may also reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke by more than 50 per cent among those who have had a heart attack, according to new research led by Dr. Jacob Udell, a cardiologist at Women's College Hospital and clinician-scientist at the University of Toronto. What's more, the vaccine's heart protective effects may be even greater among those who receive a more potent vaccine.

Alexandria, VA – A persistent stalemate over ownership and resource allocation, of everything from beluga caviar to energy resources, has hung over the Caspian Sea ever since the breakup of the Soviet Union. That stalemate has put the countries surrounding the sea — Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan — at odds. The conflict is a unique multinational mash-up of economic, political, energy resource and environmental concerns that has attracted the attention of researchers outside the usual crowd of policy analysts and political scientists.

Green roofs (or living roofs) are becoming a growing trend in North America – and have been long established in Europe – for their value in conserving energy, improving air quality, managing storm water runoff, beautifying cities and even having a positive psychological impact on communities. A University of Cincinnati researcher and landscape architect is now proposing a better way of identifying green roofs by their characteristics as well as their benefits.

WASHINGTON (Oct. 22, 2013) – In recent years, many groups, including policy makers and health systems, have looked for ways to reduce the number of visits to the emergency department (ED) as a way to lower costs and improve the quality of care. Research conducted by Jesse Pines, M.D., director of the Office of Clinical Practice Innovation and professor of emergency medicine at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences, explored interventions that had been implemented outside of EDs that were designed to reduce ED use.

STORRS, Conn. – The circle of high-achieving American students is becoming a preserve for the white and well-off, with potentially severe consequences for the country's promise of equal opportunity, according to a new report by University of Connecticut Prof. Jonathan Plucker and colleagues at two other universities.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Although the popular press -- from entertainment news to the crime blotter -- has paid significant attention to the dangers of hydrocodone, oxycodone and other opioids, little is known about whether and how this issue comes up in discussions between chronic pain patients and their physicians.

Results of the randomized, phase III, EORTC/GIMEMA 06012 intergroup trial (AML-17) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology show that sequential combination of gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) and standard chemotherapy provides no benefit for older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and is too toxic for patients 70 years of age or more. GO is an antibody-drug conjugate comprised of an anti-CD33 monoclonal antibody linked to a cytotoxic agent.

When the pros and cons of prostate cancer treatment are spelled out using an online interactive program developed by Thomas Jefferson University researchers, more patients choose active surveillance over therapy, according to research being presented Wednesday (October 23rd) at the Society for Medical Decision Making annual meeting in Baltimore, Maryland.