Culture

More than half of emergency department patients age 65 and older who were seen at UNC Hospitals during an 8-week period were either malnourished or at risk for malnutrition.

In addition, more than half of the malnourished patients had not previously been diagnosed, according to a new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The study was published online August 13 by the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine.

Declines in ocean productivity, increases in ocean acidification, and the cumulative effects of multiple stressors on ocean health are among the most pressing issues facing coastal and maritime countries, according to a survey of scientists by a University of York researcher.

All three issues were ranked in the top five ocean research priorities by oceanographers and marine ecologists from around the globe, in a survey led by Dr Murray Rudd, from York's Environment Department, and reported in Frontiers in Marine Science.

Community pharmacies could play a vital role in tackling major public health concerns such as obesity and smoking because the vast majority of people in England live within easy walking distance, say researchers.

The Durham University study, published in BMJ Open, is the first to show that most people can get to a community pharmacy easily with the greatest access in deprived areas.

The findings show that the often-quoted inverse care law, where good medical care is most available to those who need it least, does not apply to pharmacies.

Close to half (40%) of the adult population of the USA is expected to develop type 2 diabetes at some point during their lifetime, suggests a major study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. The future looks even worse for some ethnic minority groups, with one in two (> 50%) Hispanic men and women and non-Hispanic black women predicted to develop the disease.

WASHINGTON – More than half of older adults who visit emergency departments are either malnourished or at risk for malnutrition, but not because of lack of access to health care, critical illness or dementia. Despite clear signs of malnutrition or risk of malnutrition, more than three-quarters had never previously been diagnosed with malnutrition, according to the results of a study to be published online tomorrow in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Malnutrition Among Cognitively Intact, Non-Critically Ill Older Adults in the Emergency Department").

A delay of 12 hours or longer to correct an abnormal cardiac rhythm from atrial fibrillation was associated with a greater risk of thromboembolic complications such as stroke, according to a study in the August 13 issue of JAMA.

Treatments that involve neck manipulation may be associated with strokes, although this association is not proven, according to an American Heart Association Scientific Statement written by lead author Dr. Jose Biller of Loyola University Medical Center and other stroke experts.

The statement, published in the heart association's journal Stroke, said it cannot be stated with certainty that neck manipulation causes strokes.

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have identified predictors of early rehospitalization among patients hospitalized for complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This study was recently published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

Heart failure is a major public health burden in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with substantial variation in the presentation, causes, management, and outcomes of heart failure across different LMICs, according to a study published in this week's PLOS Medicine. The study, led by Kazem Rahimi and colleagues from the George Institute for Global Health, also finds that a large proportion of patients are not receiving pharmacological treatments for heart failure.

Rochester, MN, August 12, 2014 – There is strong epidemiological evidence of the importance of regular physical activity, such as brisk walking and jogging, in the management and rehabilitation of cardiovascular disease and in lowering the risk of death from other diseases such as hypertension, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends about 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity exercise or about 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise.

A federal program that provides billions in drug discounts to safety net hospitals and other health care providers is expanding under health care reform, but divergent views on the purpose and future scope of the program creates uncertainty for safety net providers and drug manufacturers, according to new report from the RAND Corporation.

The majority of children in Quebec's youth protection system who are placed in out-of-home care (family foster care, or in a group or rehabilitation centre) are reunited with their "natural" families within 6 months, according to a study led by Professor Tonino Esposito of University of Montreal's School of Social Work. However, younger children, specifically those aged 2 to 5 years old at initial placement, have the lowest likelihood of returning to live with their natural families over time.

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- In the past half-century, fear of crime in the United States has fueled "white flight" from big cities, become known as a quality of life issue and prompted scholars and law enforcement experts to address ways of reducing this fear.

But a study by a Michigan State University criminologist challenges this longstanding theory by arguing that a healthy fear of crime is, in fact, a good thing.

TEMPE, Ariz. – A team of researchers from Arizona State University and Mayo Clinic is showing how a staple of Earth science research can be used in biomedical settings to predict the course of disease.

The researchers tested a new approach to detecting bone loss in cancer patients by using calcium isotope analysis to predict whether myeloma patients are at risk for developing bone lesions, a hallmark of the disease.

With effective rehabilitation, stroke patients can partially regain their motor control and continue their activities of daily living. Motor function changes in the unaffected hand of stroke patients with hemiplegia. However, these changes are often ignored by clinicians owing to the extent of motor disability of the affected hand. Research group at Shanghai University of Sport, China led by Prof.