Culture

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new way to transfer thin semiconductor films, which are only one atom thick, onto arbitrary substrates, paving the way for flexible computing or photonic devices. The technique is much faster than existing methods and can perfectly transfer the atomic scale thin films from one substrate to others, without causing any cracks.

For several years the Danish health service has been moving towards increased centralisation and specialisation in large hospital departments based on the thesis that this provides better results for patients. A new study involving more than 12,000 Danish patients with hip fractures presents a different picture, however:

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- In its first clinical application in pediatric patients, an investigational medication developed and manufactured at UC Davis has been found to effectively treat children with life-threatening and difficult-to-control epileptic seizures without side effects, according to a research report by scientists at UC Davis and Northwestern University.

A study that looked at predicting suicides in U.S. Army soldiers after they are hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder suggests that nearly 53 percent of posthospitalization suicides occurred following the 5 percent of hospitalizations with the highest predicted suicide risk, according to a report in JAMA Psychiatry.

Action movies may drive box office revenues, but dramas and deeper, more serious movies earn audience acclaim and appreciation, according to a team of researchers.

Nanomedicine is offering patients a growing arsenal of therapeutic drugs for a variety of diseases but often at a cost of thousands of dollars a month. Generics could substantially reduce the price tag for patients -- if only there were a well-defined way to make and regulate them. An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, details the challenges on the road to generic nanodrugs.

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) researchers have found the habit of Googling for an online diagnosis before visiting the doctor can be a powerful predictor of infectious diseases outbreaks.

Now studies by the same Brisbane-based researchers show combining information from monitoring internet search metrics such as Baidu (China's equivalent of Google), with a web-based infectious disease alert system from reported cases and environmental factors hold the key to improving early warning systems and reducing the deadly effects of dengue fever in China.

• Depression causes an average of 10 lost working days per episode
• Managers report need for better legislation, training and counseling to tackle the problem
• Right Direction Initiative developed to increase awareness of depression, reduce stigma associated with the disease in the workplace, and encourage employees to increase help-seeking behaviors

A new study published today in The British Journal of Developmental Psychology has found that conversations mothers have with their daughters tend to contain more emotional words and content, than the conversations they have with their sons.

The researchers from the University of Surrey also found that as mothers use more emotional words than fathers, they are also reinforcing gender stereotypes to their children - which is sexism.

They suggest that these findings could explain why women are generally more emotionally intelligent than men.

A large-scale study has revealed that the system of aggregating practice scores on GPs' communication skills may mask variation between individual doctors in lower-scoring centres.

The research, led by the University of Exeter Medical School, in collaboration with Cambridge University, has discovered that higher scoring GP practices tend to include predominantly higher-scoring GPs, while lower scoring practices have a wider variation in individual scores.

Patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection and advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis who attained sustained virological response (SVR) had survival comparable with that of the general population, whereas patients who did not attain SVR had reduced survival, according to a study in the November 12 issue of JAMA.

Acute rejection after kidney transplantation occurs in about 15%-20% of patients despite immunosuppressive therapy. Rejection is usually heralded by an increase in the patient's serum creatinine (a marker of kidney function), and a kidney biopsy is then performed to confirm whether rejection is taking place. However, elevated creatinine is not sufficiently sensitive to identify all early rejection or specific enough to prevent some unnecessary kidney biopsies, so a noninvasive means of identifying acute rejection is needed.

November 11, 2014--In recent years, many lakes in the upper Midwest have been experiencing unprecedented algae blooms. These blooms threaten fish and affect recreational activities. A key culprit implicated in overgrowth of algae in lakes is phosphorus (P). Lake Pepin, located on the Minnesota/Wisconsin border, has seen increasing phosphorus concentrations over time. Researchers are now trying to identify upstream factors that could explain this increase.

Salivary mucins, key components of mucus, actively protect the teeth from the cariogenic bacterium, Streptococcus mutans, according to research published ahead of print in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The research suggests that bolstering native defenses might be a better way to fight dental caries than relying on exogenous materials, such as sealants and fluoride treatment, says first author Erica Shapiro Frenkel, of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

If you're a native of rural Mozambique who contracts HIV and becomes symptomatic, before seeking clinical testing and treatment, you'll likely consult a traditional healer.

Your healer may well conclude that your complaints are caused by a curse, perhaps placed upon you by a neighbor or by the spirit of an ancestor. To help you battle your predicament, the healer will likely cut your skin with a razor blade and rub medicinal herbs into the cut.