Culture | Page 1742 | Science Codex

Hunting wolves near Denali, Yellowstone cuts wolf sightings in half

Visitors to national parks are half as likely to see wolves in their natural habitat when wolf hunting is permitted just outside park boundaries.

That's the main finding of a paper co-authored by the University of Washington appearing April 28, 2016 in the journal PLOS ONE. Its authors examined wolf harvest and sightings data from two national parks -- Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska and Yellowstone National Park that straddles Wyoming, Montana and Idaho -- and found visitors were twice as likely to see a wolf when hunting wasn't permitted adjacent to the parks.

WSU researcher improves mental health evaluations

SPOKANE, Wash. - Washington State University researchers have developed a new assessment tool to gauge the risk that someone with a mental illness will commit a crime. It could also speed up long-delayed competency evaluations for people awaiting trial.

The assessment provides a small but notable improvement over the current evaluation system, said Alex Kigerl, an assistant research professor in the WSU Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology.

Texas A&M study shows risk factors associated with injurious falls

Falls are one of the leading causes of injury-related death among elderly people. So finding the risk factors that endanger them is becoming increasingly important, particularly with the projected increase in the elderly population with the baby boomers.

Growing number of patients who might benefit from liver transplant removed from wait list

CHICAGO (April 28, 2016): The sickest liver transplant candidates should be first in line when a donor liver becomes available, but transplant centers are increasingly removing these individuals from the waiting list, considering them "too sick to transplant," an analysis of nationwide transplant data finds. The study appears online as an "article in press" on the Journal of the American College of Surgeons website in advance of print publication.

Junk-food junkies go healthy when rewarded

ITHACA, N.Y. - Healthy eating habits are more important than ever, with advocates calling for fast-food restaurants, schools and food providers to promote the sale of salads and vegetables as alternatives to burgers and fries. According to new Cornell University research, the most effective strategy for influencing such healthy food choices is not calorie counts and reduced prices, but rather more subtle incentives that reward healthy eating behavior.

Fiber optic biosensor-integrated microfluidic chip to detect glucose levels

WASHINGTON - Insulin deficiency and hyperglycemia are two well-known culprits behind diabetes, both of which are reflected in blood glucose concentrations. Now, researchers are working to create ultrasensitive lab-on-a-chip devices to quickly measure glucose concentrations with the goal of developing device for early diagnosis and prevent of diabetes

Rosacea linked to a slightly increased risk of dementia

A new study has uncovered an increased risk of dementia--in particular Alzheimer's disease--in patients with rosacea. Importantly, the risk was highest in older patients and in patients where rosacea was diagnosed by a hospital dermatologist. The findings are published in the Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society.

Poorer patients in UK less likely to get hip replacements

A study conducted by the universities of Liverpool and Oxford has found that "Inconsistent and inequitable" hip fracture treatment in the UK means deprived patients and those admitted at weekends are least likely to receive the recommended operation.

Poorer patients and those who require surgery at the weekend are less likely to receive a total hip replacement (THR), despite clear national guidelines setting out who should get one.

The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology: Living in a high-deprivation neighborhood has long term health effects, according to unique

Living in a high-deprivation neighbourhood may lead to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, according to a unique study looking at the health of refugee immigrants in Sweden, published today in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Working longer may lead to a longer life, new OSU research shows

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Working past age 65 could lead to longer life, while retiring early may be a risk factor for dying earlier, a new study from Oregon State University indicates.

The researchers found that healthy adults who retired one year past age 65 had an 11 percent lower risk of death from all causes, even when taking into account demographic, lifestyle and health issues. Adults who described themselves as unhealthy were also likely to live longer if they kept working, the findings showed, which indicates that factors beyond health may affect post-retirement mortality.

All hairstyles are not created equal

In a review of 19 studies, researchers at Johns Hopkins say they can confirm a "strong association" between certain scalp-pulling hairstyles -- many common among African-Americans -- and the development of traction alopecia, gradual hair loss caused by damage to the hair follicle from prolonged or repeated tension on the hair root. An estimated one-third of African-American women suffer from traction alopecia, making it the most common form of hair loss among that group.

When pornography uses condoms, those watching have safer sex

April 27, 2016 -- Men who view more sexually explicit pornography where condoms were used were less likely to have anal sex without a condom themselves. A study by Eric Schrimshaw, PhD, at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, and Martin J. Downing, Jr., PhD, of the Public Health Solutions shows evidence that suggests pornography can have an important protective function by encouraging men to use condoms. Findings are published online in the journal PLOS One.

Hot melt extruded and injection moulded dosage forms

Hot Melt Extrusion (HME) and Injection Moulding (IM) are becoming more prevalent in the drug delivery field due to their advantages over current pharmaceutical manufacturing techniques. HME is a continuous process that can be used in the pharmaceutical industry to increase the solubility of poorly water soluble drugs, through the generation of solid dispersions, and to manufacture dosage final dosage forms.

'Walk-DMC' aims to improve surgery outcomes for children with cerebral palsy

Children with cerebral palsy frequently undergo invasive surgeries -- lengthening tendons, rotating bones, transferring muscles to new locations -- in hopes of improving their physical ability to walk or move.

While the surgeries work beautifully for some patients, other children see little to no improvement after those operations.

Dexamethasone for asthma in the ER: Better compliance, nearly equal effectiveness

WASHINGTON --Adults with asthma who were treated with one-dose dexamethasone in the emergency department had only slightly higher relapse than patients who were treated with a 5-day course of prednisone. "Enhanced compliance and convenience may support the use of dexamethasone" is the conclusion of a study that was published online Friday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("A Randomized Controlled Noninferiority Trial of Single Dose vs. Five Days of Oral Dexamethasone in Acute Adult Asthma").