Culture

The alcohol industry, including the major supermarkets ignored, misrepresented and undermined international evidence on effective alcohol control policies in an attempt to influence public health policy in Scotland to its advantage, according to UK experts writing in this week's PLOS Medicine.

In a study that included nearly 3,000 adults from Denmark, a diagnosis of meningococcal, pneumococcal, or Haemophilus influenzae meningitis in childhood was associated with lower educational achievement and economic self-sufficiency in adult life, according to a study in the April 24 issue of JAMA.

Patients at elevated cardiac risk who were treated with beta-blockers on the day of or following noncardiac, nonvascular surgery had significantly lower rates of 30-day mortality and cardiac illness, according to a study in the April 24 issue of JAMA.

In a JAMA Research Letter, a group of authors investigated the trends from 2000 to 2008 of both fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries in children and adolescents 4 to 17 years of age of two Colorado urban trauma centers (in Denver and Aurora).

AURORA, Colo. (April 23, 2013) – While gun control issues usually surface after major incidents like the fatal shooting of 20 elementary school students in Newtown, CT, a new study shows that children are routinely killed or injured by firearms.

Coastal communities and beachfront property owners often respond to erosion byadding sand to restore local beaches. But beach nourishment alters shorelinedynamics, not only at the replenishment site but also in adjacent coastal regions,as natural coastal processes shift sand from one location to another. The result isthat "sucker" communities pay to build up their beaches, but that replenishmentalso helps protect the coastlines of "free rider" communities. The sucker-free ridersituation is an example of a classic problem studied in economics and gametheory frameworks.

Boston, MA—More restaurants are displaying calorie information on their menus than ever before. It's not a coincidence; by law, retail food establishments that are part of a chain with twenty or more locations nationwide must disclose the calorie content of each menu item. The goal is to encourage consumers to make healthier, informed food choices. The majority of studies, however, show that providing information on calorie content does not lead to fewer calories ordered or consumed.

Scientists at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of California at Davis, led by Dr. John Imig and Dr. Bruce Hammock have determined the synergistic actions of inhibiting soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) with tAUCB (trans-4-(4-[3-adamantan-1-yl-ureid]-cyclohexyloxy)-benzoic acid) and activating peroxisome proliferator-activator receptorγ (PPARγ) with the thiazolidinedione rosiglitazone on the pathological progression of cardiometabolic syndrome.

In 2009, the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission (CRC), a body that controls and regulates coastal development in North Carolina, asked 13 members of its advisory Science Panel to prepare a report on the state of sea-level rise in North Carolina.

After the report was published, there was a subsequent maelstrom regarding its utility and validity.

Medical interns spend just 12 percent of their time examining and talking with patients, and more than 40 percent of their time behind a computer, according to a new Johns Hopkins study that closely followed first-year residents at Baltimore's two large academic medical centers. Indeed, the study found, interns spent nearly as much time walking (7 percent) as they did caring for patients at the bedside.

Researchers at Georgia Tech and the University of Minnesota have released a new study that uses statistical data to help understand the motivations behind Pinterest activity, the roles gender plays among users and the factors that distinguish Pinterest from other popular social networking sites.

In the face of unprecedented deforestation and biodiversity loss, policy makers are increasingly using financial incentives to encourage conservation.

However, a research team led by the National University of Singapore (NUS) revealed that in the long run, conservation incentives may struggle to compete with future agricultural yields.

Their findings were first published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 15 April 2013.

Financial incentives for conservation

A study published today [Tuesday, April 23] in Annals of Emergency Medicine reports lengthy waits for severely ill psychiatric patients in need of immediate hospitalization in the Boston area, due in part to time-consuming prior authorizations required by insurance companies.

Psychiatrists spent, on average, 38 minutes on the telephone getting authorization. In 10 percent of cases it took more than one hour to obtain insurance authorization; in one case authorization took five hours of psychiatrist time.

In reviewing 25 years of U.S. malpractice claim payouts, Johns Hopkins researchers found that diagnostic errors — not surgical mistakes or medication overdoses — accounted for the largest fraction of claims, the most severe patient harm, and the highest total of penalty payouts. Diagnosis-related payments amounted to $38.8 billion between 1986 and 2010, they found.

TAMPA, Fla. (April 22, 2013) – The current special issue of Technology and Innovation – Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors® (https://www.cognizantcommunication.com/component/content/article/636), devoted to studies on medical technology and health care delivery, focuses on a wide range of topics, from new technologies to reduce the cost of health care to understanding the human microbiome.