Culture

In light of recent recommendations for widespread hepatitis C screening, researchers are calling for clinical trials to determine if that screening would result in greater benefit or harm.

Though the recommendations have vocal support from some experts and advocates, no studies have yet established whether such screening would result in greater benefit than harm to patients, three physicians and an investigative medical journalist explain in the Jan. 17 issue of the British Medical Journal.

Bisexual women are more likely to experience poor mental health and mental distress than lesbians, according to new research published in the Journal of Public Health.

Bisexual women were 64% more likely to report an eating problem and 37% more likely to have deliberately self-harmed than lesbians.[1] They were also 26% more likely to have felt depressed and 20% more likely to have suffered from anxiety in the previous year than lesbians.[2]

With "fresh" and "healthy" emerging as food industry buzz words, it's easy to wonder if frozen foods—which almost inherently fail conjure connotations associated with either fresh or healthy products—still appeal to the majority of American consumers.

From 2004 to 2012, the rate of investment in medical research in the U.S. declined, while there has been an increase in research investment globally, particularly in Asia, according to a study in JAMA (doi:10.1001/jama.2014.15939).

Just looking at somebody shivering is enough to make us feel cold, according to a new paper.

Volunteers who watched videos of people putting their hands in cold water found their own body temperature drop significantly.

The research by scientists in the Brighton and Sussex Medical School shows that humans are susceptible to 'temperature contagion'.

The Ebola epidemic in Liberia could likely be eliminated by June 2015 if the current high rate of hospitalization and vigilance can be maintained, according to a new model developed by ecologists at the University of Georgia and Pennsylvania State University.

Because of a federal rule, kids throw away millions of dollars of fruits and vegetables every single day at school.

But a new study shows a simple, no-cost trick that should leave federal policy makers saying, "Why didn't I think of that?"

When recess takes place before kids sit down to eat - instead of after - fruit and vegetable consumption increases by 54%.

Medical co-morbidities, when women have one or more medical conditions, are found to be an important factor associated with direct maternal deaths, suggests a new study.

The research, led by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford and funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), used data from the recent MBRRACE Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths and data on women who survived severe complications during pregnancy and childbirth from the UK Obstetric Surveillance System (UKOSS).

For Jewish people in America, going to synagogue makes a difference for health, according to a study of five large Jewish urban communities by Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion.

"Adults who affiliate with a Jewish religious denomination and attend synagogue report significantly better health than secular or non-practicing Jews," says Jeff Levin, Ph.D., University Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health, professor of medical humanities and director of the Program on Religion and Population Health at the institute (ISR).

Most young children are essentialists: They believe that human and animal characteristics are innate. That kind of reasoning can lead them to think that traits like native language and clothing preference are intrinsic rather than acquired.

But a new study from Concordia University suggests that certain bilingual kids are more likely to understand that it's what one learns, rather than what one is born with, that makes up a person's psychological attributes.

Women who are told that men desire larger-body women who aren't model-thin are happier with their weight, according to a series of three independent surveys which suggest a woman's body image is strongly linked to her perception of what she thinks men prefer, said lead author and social psychologist Andrea Meltzer of Southern Methodist University.

An estimated 100 million Americans live with chronic pain. A new report by an independent panel convened by the National Institutes of Health has found a need for evidence-based, multidisciplinary approaches to pain treatment that incorporate patients' perspectives and desired outcomes while also avoiding potential harms.

Half of young drivers who died in car crashes in U. S. states such as California, Hawaii and West Virginia were under the influence of either alcohol or marijuana, or both. This is according to the statistics for fatal road accidents involving 16- to 25-year olds in nine U.S. states. Researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health analyzed the data to gauge how possible policy changes could influence substance use among adolescents and young adults. The study, led by Katherine M.

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life," wrote Samuel Johnson. And that was in the 18th century. Since they have Arsenal, it is a much better place now.

Disillusioned young people are being conned into fighting for a global army. EPA

By Akil N Awan, Lecturer in Political Violence & Terrorism at Royal Holloway