Culture | Page 1871 | Science Codex

New Alzheimer’s drug to enter clinical trials

A new drug developed at Lancaster University in the UK that may help to prevent the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease is to enter clinical trials.

The number of people with dementia is steadily increasing. Currently there are about 850,000 cases in the UK, with numbers expected to reach over a million by 2021. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. It begins when a protein called beta-amyloid forms senile plaques that start to clump together in the brain, damaging nerve cells and leading to memory loss and confusion.

Overall suicide rate among young children obscures racial differences

The overall suicide rate among children ages 5 to 11 was stable during the 20 years from 1993 to 2012 but that obscures racial differences that show an increase in suicide among black children and a decrease among white children, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics.

Youth suicide is a major public health concern. However not much is known about childhood suicide because prior studies have typically excluded children younger than 10 years old and only investigated trends among older children, according to the study background.

Better guidelines for testosterone testing could more accurately diagnose deficiency

A new study presented at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Dublin suggests that some men suffering from testosterone deficiency may be missed under current clinical guidelines while others are misdiagnosed with testosterone deficiency.

The researchers call for a revision of the clinical guidelines to ensure that men are receiving the best possible care.

Adaptive behavior through meditation

Certain meditation techniques can promote behavior to vary adaptively from moment to moment depending on current goals, rather than remaining rigid and inflexible, according to a study by Lorenza Colzato and Iliana Samara from the Leiden Institute of Brain and Cognition at Leiden University.

Who's right on Trade Promotion Authority, Senator Warren or President Obama?

Earlier this month Senator Elizabeth Warren suggested that the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill currently before Congress could make it easier, in the future, to roll back Dodd-Frank financial reforms. The reaction from the Obama administration was an immediate rebuttal, including from the president himself.

Evidence that electronic cigarettes are effective for smoking cessation long-term is lacking

There is little reliable evidence that electronic cigarettes are effective for long-term smoking cessation, according to a new analysis of the currently available research which was presented at the 2015 American Thoracic Society International Conference.

Hepatitis C is expensive to treat, so curing it could yield huge economic benefit

While a new generation of safer, more effective oral medications to treat hepatitis C patients may cost tens of thousands of dollars for a 12-week regiment, investing in these new therapies could generate savings estimated at more than $3.2 billion annually in the U.S. and five European countries, according to a new study.

New guidelines may help resolve ethical conflicts in treating critically ill patients

Who should decide what life-prolonging medical treatments the intensive care patient should receive: the clinician or the patient's family?

The answer in almost all circumstances should be "both," according to the authors of a new policy statement from the American Thoracic Society aimed at providing guidance for crucial decision-making for the care of patients with advanced critical illness while preventing conflicts between medical staff and family caregivers.

Social sciences call for interdisciplinary look at sexual violence on college campuses

National thought leaders convened at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health yesterday for a symposium identifying gaps in understanding the prevention of sexual violence on college campuses, calling for a broad interdisciplinary agenda for the next generation of research on a significant problem that became front-page news around the country this year.

CEO greed and company performance

That gut feeling many workers, laborers and other underlings have about their CEOs is spot on, according to three recent studies in the Journal of Management, the Journal of Management Studies and the Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies that say CEO greed is bad for business.

But how do you define greed? Are compassionate CEOs better for business? How do you know if the leader is doing more harm than good? And can anybody rein in the I-Me-Mine type leader anyway?

Which is most valuable: Gold, cocaine or rhino horn?

Many of the world's largest herbivores -- including several species of elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses and gorillas -- are in danger of becoming extinct. And if current trends continue, the loss of these animals would have drastic implications not only for the species themselves, but also for other animals and the environments and ecosystems in which they live, according to a new report by an international team of scientists.

It's best to make friends of friends

Bonding with a friend of a friend is something most humans gravitate toward naturally, or at least Facebook likes to think so every time it suggests friends for you to "friend."

But a certain four-legged predator, the spotted hyena, seems to know the benefits of this type of social bonding instinctively, according to a new study from the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) that considers the structural factors affecting the social network of these animals.

Single motherhood linked to poor health in later life

Single motherhood between the ages of 16 and 49 is linked to poorer health in later life in several different countries, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

The risks seem to be greatest for lone mothers in England, the US, Denmark and Sweden, the findings indicate.

Why modern hunter-gatherers live with so few relatives

Allowing both males and females in hunter-gatherer groups to choose their living companions reduces the number of family members in individual hunter-gatherer camps, a new study shows.

Additional benefits of measles vaccination revealed

Vaccination against measles doesn't just protect people from the measles virus -- it also prevents other infectious diseases from taking advantage of peoples' immune systems after they have been damaged by measles, according to a new study.