Culture

Recently, uncertainty has been getting a bad rap. Hundreds of articles have been printed over the last few years about how uncertainty brings negative effects to the markets and creates a drag on the economy at large. But a new study appearing in the February 2015 edition of the Journal of Consumer Research finds that uncertainty can be motivating.

Dental anxiety can be so extreme for some patients that a simple cotton swab on the gums makes them flinch. And others, fearful of pain, simply avoid seeing the dentist, according to a new study by Case Western Reserve University dental researchers on when and how to use sedatives during dental procedures.

As a result, dentistry is responding with sedation techniques to make fearful and anxious patients more comfortable.

In the context of an aging population, the number of cases of people with multimorbidity, or multiple health conditions, is increasing, creating significant healthcare challenges. Now, the first comprehensive systematic review in this field has found higher levels of multimorbidity in women. Equally as importantly, it has revealed the poor quality of evidence on this increasingly critical area of healthcare.

University of Leicester archaeologists have made a "once-in-a-career" discovery of the decorated bronze remains of an Iron Age chariot.

A team from the University's School of Archaeology and Ancient History has unearthed a hoard of rare bronze fittings from a 2nd or 3rd century BC chariot which appears to have been buried as a religious offering.

The archaeologists found the remains during their ongoing excavation of the Burrough Hill Iron Age hillfort, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.

Scientists from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and UCL (University College London) have identified what they believe could be a cause of pre-term premature rupture of the fetal membrane (PPROM), which accounts for 40 per cent of pre-term births, and is the main reason for infant death world-wide.

The researchers, whose work was funded by the charity Wellbeing of Women, used bioengineering techniques to test the effect of repetitive stretch on tissues of the amniotic membrane which surrounds and protects the baby prior to birth.

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Young baseball pitchers who throw more than 100 pitches per week are at risk for a newly identified overuse injury that can impede normal shoulder development and lead to additional problems, including rotator cuff tears, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.

Using stents to keep neck arteries open is just as effective as invasive neck surgery for long-term prevention of fatal and disabling strokes, reports an international trial led by UCL (University College London) funded by the Medical Research Council and Stroke Association.

The research paper, published today in the Lancet, was authored by researchers from UCL, Basel University, Switzerland, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the University Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Newcastle University.

Living close to a major road may increase women's risk of dying from sudden cardiac death, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

Bottom Line: In patients with Alzheimer disease (AD), increased cerebrospinal fluid levels of orexin, which helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle, may be associated with sleep deterioration, which appears to be associated with cognitive decline.

Authors: Claudio Liguori, M.D., of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy, and colleagues.

Conventional estimates for the collapse of the Aegean civilization may be incorrect by up to a century, according to new radiocarbon analyses. Historical chronologies traditionally place the end of the Greek Bronze Age at around 1025 B.C., but research suggests a date 70 to 100 years earlier.

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa appears to be spiralling out of control. More than ever, local and global health authorities want to know how the epidemic will develop and, above all, how to prevent it from spreading further. Certain parameters help them to determine this, such as the reproductive number, which is the average number of infections caused by a single infected individual. The incubation and infectious periods are also highly relevant; i.e. the time from infection to the onset of symptoms and the time from onset of symptoms to the clearance of the pathogen.

Researchers from the University of Melbourne have established how two diseases that present in similar ways are in fact quite different.

Progressive Supranuclear palsy and Parkinson's Disease have overlapping symptoms but remain difficult to distinguish.

However, a first ever paper on the topic published in the Journal of Neuropsychology (British Psychological Society publication) now suggests that people with PSP experience more severe and extensive cognitive impairments than those with PD early on.

SAN DIEGO – When a child goes to the emergency room with a possible broken bone, a splint often is used to stabilize the injured limb and reduce pain until the patient is seen by an orthopedic specialist. However, many splints are put on incorrectly, leading to swelling, skin irritation and poor healing, according to a study to be presented Saturday, Oct. 11 at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference & Exhibition in San Diego.

PHILADELPHIA – Old-school face-to-face social networking is a more effective way to identify people with HIV than the traditional referral method, suggests research being presented at IDWeek 2014™. The study shows that social networking strategies (SNS) – enlisting people in high-risk groups to recruit their peers to get tested – is more efficient and targeted than traditional testing and referral programs, resulting in 2-1/2 times more positive test results.

The ideal cost per dose for a new meningitis vaccine ranges from £3 up to a possible £22 only if several vaccine favourable factors all coincide, according to research which has analysed how to maximise the reduction in cases while making a new vaccination programme cost-effective.

Bexsero is the first vaccine to broadly protect against meningitis B disease, but research now suggests the Government would need to negotiate a considerable reduction in the £75 list price in order to provide the same value for money as other programmes in the NHS.