Does altitude affect the way language is spoken?

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CORAL GABLES, FL (June 12, 2013) -- Language is formed by giving meaning to sounds and stringing together these meaningful expressions to communicate feelings and ideas. Until recently most linguists believed that the relationship between the structure of language and the natural world was mainly the influence of the environment on vocabulary. Now, a new study published in the June 12 edition of PLOS ONE shows that there is a link between geographical elevation and the way language is spoken.

Oysters could rebound more quickly with limited fishing and improved habitat

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SOLOMONS, MD (June 13, 2013)—A new study shows that combining improved oyster restoration methods with limits on fishing in the upper Chesapeake could bring the oyster population back to the Bay in a much shorter period of time. The study led by Michael Wilberg of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory assessed a range of management and restoration options to see which ones would have the most likelihood success.

World population could be nearly 11 billion by 2100, UW research shows

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A new statistical analysis shows the world population could reach nearly 11 billion by the end of the century, according to a United Nations report issued June 13. That's about 800 million, or about 8 percent, more than the previous projection of 10.1 billion, issued in 2011.

The projected rise is mostly due to fertility in Africa, where the U.N. had expected birth rates to decline more quickly than they have.

Literacy, not income, key to improving public health in India

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Pro-market policies for developing countries have long been based on the belief that increasing average income is key to improving public health and societal well-being.

But new research on India published in the journal Social Science and Medicine shows that literacy - a non-income good - has a greater impact on public health in India.

50 percent of rheumatoid arthritis patients discontinue medication within the first 2 years

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Madrid, Spain, 13 June 2013: Data presented at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, show that up to one-third of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients discontinue or change therapy within the first year of treatment.

Loss of efficacy was the most common reason given (35.8%), followed by safety (20.1%), physician or patient preference (27.8% and 17.9%, respectively) and access to treatment (9.0%). Rates and rationale for treatment discontinuation were similar for both tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) and non-TNFi biologics.

Childbirth increases risk of ACPA-negative rheumatoid arthritis

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Madrid, Spain, 13 June 2013: Epidemiological data presented today at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, demonstrate that pregnancy carried to childbirth (parity) increases the risk of ACPA-negative* rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

The increased risk was demonstrated in women aged 18-44 who have had a child (2.1, 95% CI 1.4-3.2), but not in older women, and was more pronounced among those women with delivery during the first year of symptoms.

Depression indicators predict work disabilty more than disease activity or response to therapy

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Madrid, Spain, 13 June 2013: Data presented today at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, demonstrate that indicators of depression are stronger predictors of work disability in early arthritis than disease activity or response to therapy.

More A&E visits where access to GPs is worse

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Patients with more timely access to GP appointments make fewer visits to accident and emergency departments, suggests a study published today.

In the largest analysis of its kind to date, researchers at Imperial College London related A&E attendance figures in England to responses from a national survey of patients' experience of GP practices in 2010-11. One question of this survey asked patients whether they had been able to see a GP within two weekdays when they had last tried.

4-fold rise in children treated for obesity-related conditions

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The number of children admitted to hospital for problems related to obesity in England and Wales quadrupled between 2000 and 2009, a study has found.

Nearly three quarters of these admissions were to deal with problems complicated by obesity such as asthma, breathing difficulties during sleep, and complications of pregnancy, rather than obesity itself being the primary reason.

Researchers at Imperial College London looked at NHS statistics for children and young people aged five to 19 where obesity was recorded in the diagnosis.

'Spiritual' young people more likely to commit crimes than 'religious' ones, Baylor study finds

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Young adults who deem themselves "spiritual but not religious" are more likely to commit property crimes — and to a lesser extent, violent ones — than those who identify themselves as either "religious and spiritual" or "religious but not spiritual," according to Baylor University researchers.