Culture

Researchers from the University of Oxford, the University of Limerick, and the Harvard School of Public Health have developed a mathematical model to examine online social networks, in particular the trade-off between copying our friends and relying on 'best-seller' lists.

Pregnant women are using the Internet to seek answers to their medical questions more often than they would like, say Penn State researchers.

"We found that first-time moms were upset that their first prenatal visit did not occur until eight weeks into pregnancy," said Jennifer L. Kraschnewski, assistant professor of medicine and public health sciences, Penn State College of Medicine. "These women reported using Google and other search engines because they had a lot of questions at the beginning of pregnancy, before their first doctor's appointment."

Allowing patients to choose which hospital they attend when suffering illness during a pandemic rather than assigning them to a specific healthcare facility is appealing to patients during such a crisis. However, such a patient-centric hospital capacity management is conventionally viewed as inefficient system-wide.

WASHINGTON —Of emergency patients who reported any drug other than marijuana as their primary drug of use, 90.7 percent met the criteria for problematic drug use.

Researchers working in Sierra Leone today [Saturday 5 July] suggest priority actions needed to tackle the ongoing Ebola crisis in West Africa. In a letter to The Lancet, the researchers call for improvements in access to diagnostic technologies and health-care resources, as well as improved disease surveillance and health communication.

A new study published in The Lancet compares outcomes for two drugs used to prevent blood clot formation during emergency heart attack treatment. The study suggests that use of one of the drugs, heparin, could result in improved outcomes (such as a reduced rate of repeat heart attacks), compared to the other drug tested, bivalirudin, which is in widespread use in high-income countries, and is around 400 times more expensive than heparin.

Barcelona, 4 July 2014: The first evidence for a shockless treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF) will be presented today at Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology (FCVB) 2014 in Barcelona, Spain. The meeting is organised by the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Science of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in collaboration with 13 European cardiovascular science societies. http://spo.escardio.org/SessionDetails.aspx?eevtid=65&sessId=13104

Unhealthy food and drinks are common in kids' TV programmes broadcast in England and Ireland, and frequently portrayed in a positive light, reveals research published online in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Statutory legislation to curb children's exposure to high sugar and fat in food/drink in TV adverts was introduced in the UK in 2007, and similar regulations have recently come on stream in Ireland. But these aren't applied to programme content, say the researchers.

(Boston)--Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant health issue faced by women veterans, but little has been known up until now about their preferences for IPV-related care. A new study has found that most of these women support routine screening for IPV and want options, follow-up support, transparent documentation and Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and community resources. These findings appear in the journal Research in Nursing and Health.

In Switzerland, between 7000 and 8000 persons fall ill with a campylobacter infection annually. This makes it the most frequent bacterial disease transmitted through food. Contamination of chicken meat with campylobacter bacteria during the slaughtering process is one of the known causes of the infection. An increase of campylobacteriosis case numbers is being observed throughout Europe. Human cases of campylobacteriosis must be reported to the relevant authorities in Switzerland.

WASHINGTON (July 3, 2014) — For more than 40 years, physicians have treated diminished kidney function as two distinct syndromes: acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, recent epidemiologic and mechanistic studies suggest the two syndromes are not distinct entities, but interconnected. Published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, George Washington University (GW) researchers call for greater follow-up care of patients with AKI, who often present with CKD later in life, and vice versa.

With this week marking the tenth anniversary of the rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, prominent marine scientists from around the world have gathered in Canberra to discuss its successes - both expected and unexpected.

"At the time, the rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park was the largest marine conservation measure in the world," says Professor Garry Russ from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE). "The Reef went from being five percent protected to about 30 percent. So now, a third of it is green, or no-take, zones."

The majority of GPs in a survey carried out by The BMJ say their workload has soared in the past year because of their patients' financial hardship under new government rules for receiving benefits.

Two thirds believe patients' health is being harmed by benefit cuts, while many feel their professional opinion is regularly disregarded by those assessing people's ability to work.

The investigation also reveals how employment advisers and welfare rights officers are an increasingly vital part of general practice during the austerity period.

The BMJ today calls for Lord Falconer's Assisted Dying Bill, which is expected to receive its second reading in the House of Lords this month, to eventually become law.

In an editorial, Dr Fiona Godlee, editor in chief, Dr Tony Delamothe, UK editor and Rosamund Snow, patient editor, say "recognition of an individual's right to determine his or her best interests lies at the heart of this journal's strategy to advance the patient revolution in healthcare. It would be perverse to suspend our advocacy at the moment a person's days were numbered."

Insulin pumps are significantly more effective at controlling blood glucose (sugar) in people with type 2 diabetes who have failed to respond to the usual standard of care, multiple daily insulin injections, according to the largest international study to examine the safety and effectiveness of the pumps to treat type 2 diabetes, published in The Lancet.