Culture

Mild cognitive impairment is associated with disability and neuropsychiatric symptoms

In low- and middle-income countries, mild cognitive impairment—an intermediate state between normal signs of cognitive aging, such as becoming increasingly forgetful, and dementia, which may or may not progress—is consistently associated with higher disability and with neuropsychiatric symptoms but not with most socio-demographic factors, according to a large study published in this week's PLoS Medicine.

Economic factors impact orthopaedic trauma volume

SAN FRANCISCO – Previous studies have found that human behavior during a recession is remarkably different than that during a bullish economy. For example, people tend to spend more time focused on working and less time engaging in leisure and recreation activities, resulting in fewer motor vehicle and other accidents.

According to a 10-year study at a Level 1 regional trauma center, presented today at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), economic trends do impact orthopedic trauma volume.

44 percent of postmenopausal women with distal radius fracture have low levels of vitamin D

Rothman at Jefferson researchers find epidural steroid injections do not benefit spine patients

(PHILADELPHIA) – Researchers at the Rothman Institute at Jefferson examined data on patients being treated for lumbar stenosis and the degenerative spine condition spondylolisthesis and found that patients who received epidural steroid injections (ESI) had a higher rate of crossover to surgery and fared worse in physical health and bodily pain versus those who did not receive ESI, dispelling their pre-study hypothesis.

Justifying insurance coverage for orphan drugs

Post surgical phone support improves outcome following knee replacement

Fall of Communism changed mathematics in US: New study

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992 brought an influx of Soviet mathematicians to U.S. institutions, and those scholars' differing areas of specialization have changed the way math is studied and taught in this country, according to new research by University of Notre Dame Economist Kirk Doran and a colleague from Harvard.

Titled "The Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Productivity of American Mathematicians," the study will appear in an upcoming edition of the Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Cirrhosis patients losing muscle mass have a higher death rate

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta reviewed the medical records of more than 100 patients who had a liver scarring condition and discovered those who were losing muscle were more apt to die while waiting for a liver transplant. These cirrhosis patients were placed at a lower spot on the transplant list because they had a higher functioning liver and were seemingly less sick than others with the same condition, based on scoring systems physicians commonly use today.

Teenage pregnancy is not a racial issue

Los Angeles, CA (February 6, 2012) While researchers have long set to determine if there is a tie between race and teenage pregnancy, according to a new study, equating black teenagers with the problem of teenage pregnancy is a misrepresentation of today's real­ity. This new study is detailed in the article, "Black Teenage Pregnancy: A Dynamic Social Problem," published in SAGE Open.

Carsey Institute: Americans' knowledge of polar regions up, but not their concern

DURHAM, N.H. – Americans' knowledge of facts about the polar regions of the globe has increased since 2006, but this increase in knowledge has not translated into more concern about changing polar environments, according to new research from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.