Culture

NEW ORLEANS─"Doctor shopping," the growing practice of obtaining narcotic prescriptions from multiple providers, has led to measurable increases in drug use among postoperative orthopaedic trauma patients, according to a new study presented today at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).

NEW ORLEANS─In a new study presented today at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), researchers found that total joint replacement patients with three or more metabolic syndrome risk factors were almost three times as likely to have complications within the first year after joint replacement.

Girls born unexpectedly small or underweight seem to be twice as likely to have fertility problems in adulthood as those of normal size at birth, suggests research published in the online only journal BMJ Open.

Medical advances mean that more underweight and very small babies will survive into adulthood, which might therefore increase the prevalence of fertility problems, say the authors.

But as this is the first research of its kind, further studies will be needed before definitive conclusions can be drawn, they caution.

Nearly one in 10 American adolescents use illegal drugs or prescription or over-the-counter drugs for nonmedical purposes, which can have serious health, educational, and social consequences. An estimated 150,000 emergency room visits in 2011 were attributed to illicit or nonmedical pharmaceutical drug use among adolescents.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – As energy costs rise, more Americans are turning to bioenergy to provide power to their homes and workplaces. Bioenergy is renewable energy made from organic sources, such as biomass. Technology has advanced enough that biomass power plants small enough to fit on a farm can be built at relatively low costs. Now, University of Missouri researchers have found that creating a bioenergy grid with these small plants could benefit people in rural areas of the country as well as provide relief to an overworked national power grid.

CORAL GABLES, FL (March 10, 2014) -- When it comes to romantic relationships, attributes such as health, kindness, and social status have been shown to be important qualities in choosing a partner. It may be surprising to learn, however, that certain personal traits predispose a person towards either getting married or forming a cohabitating relationship.

A survey of primary care physicians suggests they often face uncertainty in ordering and interpreting clinical laboratory tests, and would welcome better electronic clinical decision support tools.

The results of the survey, sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were published in the March-April issue of The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

In the study, which was conducted by researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska University Hospital and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, the participants completed a scientifically evaluated questionnaire about what they had been eating and drinking since becoming pregnant.

The researchers also had access to information about the women's general lifestyle e.g. level of education, living conditions, income, weight, physical activity, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, number of children and medical factors such as history of preterm delivery.

(March 10, 2014) Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) belongs to the most widespread diseases in Western countries, causing up to sixty per cent of the workload of gastrointestinal physicians. One of the most frequent symptoms of IBS is bloating, which reduces quality of life considerably as patients perceive it as particularly bothersome. For quite a long time, IBS was believed to be a primarily psychological condition.

ITHACA, N.Y. – To buy, or not to buy? That is the question for the more than 5 million annual visitors to New York's wineries. Cornell University researchers found that customer service is the most important factor in boosting tasting room sales, but sensory descriptions of what flavors consumers might detect were a turn-off.

The findings stem from two studies on how the tasting room experience affects customer purchases and what wineries can do to create satisfied sippers, published in the current issue of the International Journal of Wine Business Research.

Infection control practices for detecting and treating patients infected with emerging multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria (MDR-GNB) vary significantly between hospitals. A study from the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Research Network, a consortium of more than 200 hospitals collaborating on multi-center research projects, found this inconsistency could be contributing to the increase in multidrug-resistant bacteria. The study is published in the April issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Public health departments nationwide are already feeling the strain from budget cuts. But their case report volumes are forecasted to double when federal requirements for automated electronic laboratory reporting of notifiable diseases go into effect next year, according to a new study by researchers from the Regenstrief Institute Inc. and the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

STANFORD, Calif. — Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed two inexpensive adapters that enable a smartphone to capture high-quality images of the front and back of the eye. The adapters make it easy for anyone with minimal training to take a picture of the eye and share it securely with other health practitioners or store it in the patient's electronic record.

"Think Instagram for the eye," said one of the developers, assistant professor of ophthalmology Robert Chang, MD.

Allowing the federal terrorism risk insurance act to expire could have negative consequences for U.S. national security, according to a new study from the RAND Corporation.

Patients are more likely to raise a health problem with a doctor they've seen over time and have built-up a relationship with, new research has revealed. The insight comes as an increasing number of patients struggle to see the same GP.

Researchers from the University of Bristol will share their findings with health practitioners and researchers at the South West Society for Academic Primary Care (SW SAPC) meeting today [07 March].