Culture

Humor is an intrinsic part of human experience. It plays a role in every aspect of human existence, from day-to-day conversation to television shows. Yet little research has been conducted to date on the psychological function of humor. In human psychology, awareness of the impermanence of life is just as prevalent as humor.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Some may assume that low-income residents of run-down, crime-ridden neighborhoods do not care about their communities. However, research from the University of Missouri suggests otherwise.

The antibiotic fidaxomicin (trade name: Dificlir) has been approved in Germany since December 2011 for the treatment of adults who have diarrhoea caused by Clostridium difficile. 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 the added benefit of fidaxomicin in comparison with current standard therapy. According to this, there is currently no proof of an added benefit. The manufacturer did not submit any studies on non-severe cases.

OAK BROOK, Ill. – H7N9 pneumonia is characterized by imaging findings that differentiate it from other types of pneumonia, including rapidly progressive changes in the lungs and pulmonary connective tissues, according to the first study to describe radiologic findings in the disease. The results are published online in the journal Radiology.

In many ways, the evolution of Chinese agriculture over the past 40 years is a remarkable success story. Spurred by investments in research and government subsidies for fertilizers and other farm technologies, China now feeds 22% of the world's population on just 9% of its total arable land.

People with tuberculosis (TB) in China often delay going to see a doctor for more than two weeks, finds research in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine. Reasons for this include a poor understanding of TB, increasing costs of treatment not covered by health insurance, and using traditional approaches first. Even after going to a clinic there were still delays in treatment, especially in rural areas, due to a lack of qualified medical staff.

The British like to brag that they got rid of slavery 30 years before the USA but they leave out two important details - that they introduced slavery to America and they never needed slaves on their island, because they basically had the residents of Manchester and every other working town stuck in serf tradition.

Today, European countries seek immigrants to do jobs they don't want to do and pay taxes for social services they cannot get - and those people have no hope of ever being able to vote.

One in five UK NHS staff report bullying by colleagues, with almost half saying they have witnessed bullying, in the past six months, indicates research published in the online journal BMJ Open.

Managers are the most common source of bullying, with workload pressures and organisational culture contributory factors, the study reveals.

There really is such a thing as tick spit – that is, the saliva of a tick. And there's something about it that might help fight heart disease and stroke.

The link comes from a protein found in the spit of ixodes (ik-SO-deez) ticks, which are also known as blacklegged ticks, or deer ticks.

These kinds of ticks tear their way into skin and feed on their host's blood for several days. They damage small blood vessels, which would normally trigger the body to start a process called coagulation – or blood clotting.

An analysis of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) who attained low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goals with no treatment intensification suggests that about one-third of them underwent repeat testing, according to a report published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

Treatment with a biological agent was not superior to conventional treatment in terms of the effect on work loss over 21 months in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who responded insufficiently to methotrexate, according to a report published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

The introduction of biological tumor necrosis factor inhibitors has improved the treatment of RA but at a substantial cost, according to the study background.

Nighttime frequency of vital signs monitoring for low-risk medical inpatients might be reduced, according to a research letter by Jordan C. Yoder, B.A. and colleagues at the University of Chicago.

Overnight vital signs are collected frequently among hospitalized patients regardless of their risk of clinical deterioration and these vital checks may have negative effects on low-risk patients such as patient distress and sleep deprivation, according to the study.

Implementing an out-of hospital stroke policy in some Chicago hospitals was associated with significant improvements in emergency medical services use and increased intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) use at primary stroke centers, according to a study published by JAMA Neurology.

Vitamins, minerals, herbs and other dietary supplements are widely available in supermarkets and drug stores across the nation without a prescription, so it's no surprise that nearly half of all Americans take them.

Physicians with the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine released a paper today that provides significant insight into future health conditions that women are likely to experience, and that can be detected early based on information relating to the course of pregnancy.