Culture

Chevy Chase, MD ––Even after successful treatment, patients with Cushing's disease who were older when diagnosed or had prolonged exposure to excess cortisol face a greater risk of dying or developing cardiovascular disease, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

Cushing's disease is a rare condition where the body is exposed to excess cortisol – a stress hormone produced in the adrenal gland – for long periods of time.

HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS (2/12/13) -- Victims of cyberstalking take more self-protective measures, pay higher out-of-pocket costs to combat the problem and experience greater fear over time than traditional stalking victims, said Matt Nobles of Sam Houston State University.

Recent violent events have driven gun policy to the top of the President's second-term agenda and an article published in Annals of Internal Medicineby public health experts at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research says gun violence is not a mental health issue, it is a public health one and requires...physician involvement in the gun policy dialogue?

A new commentary in the Annals of Internal Medicine from researchers with The Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research and University of California, Davis, calls for more physician engagement in the current gun policy dialogue.

Boston, Mass.—Hypoglycemia may be a much larger problem among patients with diabetes than is currently realized, according to a study of members of a diabetes-focused social network conducted by researchers in Boston Children's Hospital's Informatics Program (CHIP). The study shows how engaging patients in research through social networking may help augment traditional surveillance methods for public health research, while simultaneously offering opportunities to promote healthy behaviors among participants.

MADISON – For decades, archaeologists have debated how farming spread to Stone Age Europe, setting the stage for the rise of Western civilization.

Now, new data gleaned from the teeth of prehistoric farmers and the hunter-gatherers with whom they briefly overlapped shows that agriculture was introduced to Central Europe from the Near East by colonizers who brought farming technology with them.

Geoscience Currents explores how female geoscience enrollments and degrees changed in the 2011-2012 academic year.

New data collected shows that female geoscience enrollments and degrees in the U.S. dropped sharply at both the Bachelor's and Master's levels, but increased slightly at the Doctoral level.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When a person living in the U.S. without legal permission or suspected of doing so is involved in a work-related lawsuit, most courts disregard their immigration status when determining remedies, says a study from a University of Illinois expert in labor relations.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Bytesize Science released a new video today featuring five chemistry facts that highlight why chocolate, in moderation, may be good for you. The video is available at www.BytesizeScience.com

The video explains how a bar of chocolate contains hundreds of compounds, many with beneficial properties. Among the video's "sweet" facts:

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Like turning coal to diamond, adding pressure to an electrical material enhances its properties. Now, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers have devised a method of making ferroelectric thin films with twice the strain, resulting in exceptional performance.

Led by Lane Martin, a professor of materials science and engineering, the group published its results in the journal Advanced Materials.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Newly published results from a randomized controlled clinical trial in the Pacific U.S. territory of American Samoa add clear evidence for the emerging idea that community health workers can meaningfully improve type 2 diabetes care in medically underserved communities.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Children who are bullied online or by mobile phone are just as likely to skip school or consider suicide as kids who are physically bullied, according to a study led by a Michigan State University criminologist.

The findings, published in the International Criminal Justice Review, suggest parents, school officials and policymakers should consider bullying experiences both on and offline when creating anti-bullying policies and procedures.

Using a selective screening strategy for prostate cancer may reduce the harms associated with testing while preserving the number of lives saved.

Measuring blood levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) can help doctors determine which patients may be at risk for prostate cancer. Patients with an elevated PSA level may require a biopsy to determine if cancer is present. However, biopsies are associated with many troublesome side effects and still cannot tell a doctor with certainty which cases of prostate cancer are life-threatening and require treatment.

We all know certain time-honored clichés: "It was love at first sight," "It's inner beauty that truly matters," "Opposites attract" and that some time before February 14th each year sociologists will produce a bunch of 'studies' on kissing and romance and why people like people - and it will be just surveys, mostly of college students.

Orlando, Fla., February 8, 2013 – Monitoring the hepatic function of unresectable liver cancer patients, measured by 99mTc-labeled iminodiacetic acid (HIDA) via single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) prior to and during radiation therapy, provides vital information that could guide more customized treatment plans and reduce risks of liver injury, according to research being presented at the 2013 Cancer Imaging and Radiation Therapy Symposium. This Symposium is sponsored by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and the Radiological Society of North American (RSNA).