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Multiple factors influence family physicians' practice scope

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
Although new family medicine graduates intend to provide a broader scope of practice than their senior counterparts, individual family physicians' scope of practice has been decreasing, with fewer family physicians providing basic primary care services, such pediatric and prenatal care. Russell et al conducted a study to explore family medicine graduates' attitudes and perspectives on modifiable and non-modifiable factors that influenced their scope of practice and career choices.
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Improving smoking cessation counseling and blood pressure quality metrics in primary care

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
In order to make meaningful gains in cardiovascular disease care, primary care medical practices should adopt a set of care improvements specific to their practice size and type, according to a new study from the national primary care quality improvement initiative EvidenceNOW. High blood pressure and smoking are among the biggest risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease. Primary care physicians help patients manage high blood pressure and provide smoking cessation interventions.
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Understanding SARS-COV-2 proteins is key to improve therapeutic options for COVID-19

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
Recently, the Oxford University and Pfizer and BioNTech made SARS-CoV-2 vaccines through targeting the spike protein gene. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the health authorities of the United Kingdom approved and started vaccination using the Pfizer and BioNTech mRNA vaccine. Also, The FDA of USA approved the treatment of COVID-19 using two monoclonal antibodies produced by Regeneron pharmaceuticals to target the spike protein.
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Phenomenon explains why patients who survive sepsis die sooner after hospital discharge

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
A review article by Brazilian researchers shows that alterations in the defense cell metabolism may explain why many patients who survive sepsis die within a year or suffer from long-term complications.
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Discovery of new geologic process calls for changes to plate tectonic cycle

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
Geoscientists at the University of Toronto (U of T) and Istanbul Technical University have discovered a new process in plate tectonics which shows that tremendous damage occurs to areas of Earth's crust long before it should be geologically altered by known plate-boundary processes, highlighting the need to amend current understandings of the planet's tectonic cycle.
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World's fastest information-fuelled engine designed by SFU researchers

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
Simon Fraser University researchers have designed a remarkably fast engine that taps into a new kind of fuel -- information.The development of this engine, which converts the random jiggling of a microscopic particle into stored energy, is outlined in research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and could lead to significant advances in the speed and cost of computers and bio-nanotechnologies.
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This stinks: New research finds sense of smell and pneumonia linked

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
EAST LANSING, Mich. - An acute loss of smell is one of the most common symptoms of COVID-19, but for two decades it has been linked to other maladies among them Parkinson's disease and dementia. Now, a poor sense of smell may signify a higher risk of pneumonia in older adults, says a team of Michigan State University researchers.
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Low-temperature crystallization of phase-pure α-formamidinium lead iodide enabled by study

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
Perovskite solar cells are among the most promising and cheapest photovoltaic technologies, but widespread application has been hampered by issues linked to long-term stability and processability. In a new paper, researchers including Prof. Michele Parrinello of Università della Svizzera italiana and ETHZ, and Paramvir Ahlawat, a PhD student of EPFL's Ursula Reothlisberger, address this problem with a combined experimental and simulation study that could improve the design of industrial-scale processing techniques for two leading perovskites.
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Study examines connection between oral and general health in patients with diabetes

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
Individuals with diabetes are at greater risk of developing oral health issues, like gum disease, yet care for these linked health issues are usually disconnected, split between primary care and dental care. A research team from the University of Amsterdam developed an intervention that provided primary care-based oral health information and dental referrals for patients with diabetes.
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Artificial Intelligence and drones will help pin down Sosnovsky's hogweed

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
Skoltech scientists have created a new monitoring system for agricultural applications that performs real-time image segmentation on board the drone to identify hogweed. The new approach holds great promise for farming: it could be used to monitor other crops, identify various vegetative indicators, assess plant health, and detect plant detect plant diseases by applying multispectral imagery.
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Patient expectations, doctors' prescribing habits, and antimicrobial resistance

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for upper respiratory tract infections contributes to antibiotic resistance, making some bacterial infections difficult to treat. This often leads to higher medical costs, prolonged hospital stays and increased mortality. Still, many physicians report prescribing antibiotics at their patients' request. To address patients' expectations for antibiotic prescribing for URTIs, researchers conducted an experiment in which study participants were assigned brief educational videos to watch on a tablet immediately prior to their appointment.
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Rules of the road: the navigational 'strategies' of bacteria in motion

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
In a recent paper published in PNAS, a team of researchers led by McGill University, has described a number of factors affecting how five, very different, species of bacteria search and navigate through varied microfluidic environments which pose various decisional challenges. This increased understanding of the bacterial space searching and navigational 'strategies' has wide ranging implications for everything from health to the environment.
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Interdisciplinary consults can help primary care docs treat patients with chronic pain

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
Between 11% to 40% of adults in the United States experience chronic pain, and primary care physicians may feel ill-equipped to effectively and safely care for patients with chronic pain, addiction or both. Researchers from Tufts University conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary consultation service that supports primary care physicians who care for patients experiencing chronic pain and addiction. The goal was to identify new and effective strategies that clinics can use to support PCPs.
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Shared medical appointments help patients with prediabetes

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of shared medical appointments for people with pre-diabetes compared with a group of patients receiving usual care.
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Focus on outliers creates flawed snap judgments

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
You enter a room and quickly scan the crowd to gain a sense of who's there - how many men versus women. How reliable is your estimate?Not very, according to new research from Duke University. In an experimental study, researchers found that participants consistently erred in estimating the proportion of men and women in a group. And participants erred in a particular way: They overestimated whichever group was in the minority.
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Newer class of fluoroquinolone antibiotics may present reduced risk of tendon ruptures

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
It's widely understood that people taking a common class of antibiotics, like ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin, run the risk of tendonitis and tendon ruptures. However, a new analysis sheds light on newer, third-generation fluoroquinolones and suggests they may have a lower risk of Achilles tendon rupture.
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Combination of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy more effective in treating depression

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
Most patients with depression are treated in primary care, however, relatively few clinical trials for treating depression have focused on primary care. Researchers at the Vrije University Amsterdam examined the effects of the two major approaches to treating depression: psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy, as well as combined treatment and care-as-usual.
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Novel circuitry solves a myriad of computationally intensive problems with minimum energy

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
Instead of relying on software to tackle computationally intensive puzzles, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) took an unconventional approach. They created a design for an electronic hardware system that directly replicates the architecture of many types of networks.
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Greater presence of family docs, midwives may decrease rates of cesarean birth

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
Surgical cesarean births can expose new mothers to a range of health complications, including infection, blood clots and hemorrhage. As part of Healthy People 2020 and other maternal health objectives, the state of California exerted pressure to reduce cesarean deliveries, and statewide organizations established quality initiatives in partnership with those goals.
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People living with HIV more likely to get sick with, die from COVID-19

Eurekalert - May 11 2021 - 00:05
New research shows that individuals living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) -- an estimated 38 million worldwide, according to the World Health Organization -- have an increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and fatal outcomes from COVID-19.
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