Culture

When patients suffer, doctors tend to want to fix things and if they cannot many doctors then withdraw emotionally. But by turning toward the suffering, physicians can better help their patients and find more meaning in their work, wrote University of Rochester Professor Ronald M. Epstein, M.D., in the Journal of the American Medical Association's weekly essay, "A Piece of My Mind."

There have been nearly 60 cases identified in California from 2012 - 2015 of acute flaccid myelitis, a rare syndrome described as polio-like, with most patients being children and young adults, according to a study in the December 22/29 issue of JAMA. The cause of the condition in these cases remains unknown.

Using mobile phones for research is not new. However, interpreting the data collected from volunteers' own smart phones--which has the potential to emulate randomised trials--can advance research into human behaviour. In a new study published in EPJ Data Science, scientists have just demonstrated the potential of using smart phones for conducting large-scale behavioural studies.The results stem from the work of Fani Tsapeli from the University of Birmingham, UK, and her colleague and Mirco Musolesi from University College London, UK.

When meals at Disney World restaurants came with a fruit or vegetables instead of fries, about half of diners opted to keep the healthier option! A new study published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research shows that nutritionally improved kid's meals at the 145 restaurants located at Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida were embraced by diners.

1. Sudden cardiac arrest may not be so sudden

Warning signs are common, but are often ignored, in the weeks preceding a heart attack

Abstract: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/M14-2342

URL live when embargo lifts

LOS ANGELES (Dec. 21, 2015) - More than half of patients who have a sudden cardiac arrest ignore symptoms occurring up to a month prior to the usually fatal heart rhythm malfunction even though medical intervention potentially could save their lives, according to new research published by the Annals of Internal Medicine.

HANOVER, N.H. - Dec. 21, 2015 - We're all familiar with the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert L. May (a class of 1926 Dartmouth alumnus) but scientifically speaking, what are the optical benefits of a shiny red nose on a foggy Christmas Eve?

Group prenatal care can substantially improve health outcomes for both mothers and their infants, a new study led by the Yale School of Public Health has found.

The paper was published online Dec. 21 in The American Journal of Public Health.

A new study led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators has found evidence that economic opportunity - the prospect that individuals may be able to improve their economic status - may have important effects on the health of a community. In an American Journal of Public Health report that has been published online, the researchers found that mortality rates were higher and that risk factors like obesity and smoking and the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes were greater in areas with the lowest levels of economic opportunity, based on a nationwide database.

The first national study to map U.S. wild bees suggests they're disappearing in many of the country's most important farmlands--including California's Central Valley, the Midwest's corn belt, and the Mississippi River valley.

If losses of these crucial pollinators continue, the new nationwide assessment indicates that farmers will face increasing costs--and that the problem may even destabilize the nation's crop production.

The findings were published December 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

WASHINGTON (Dec. 21, 2015) -Although using the radial artery as the access point for angioplasty has been linked to reduced bleeding compared to use of the femoral artery, only a small number of high-risk heart attack patients who undergo rescue angioplasty--emergency procedures following failed therapy with clot-busting drugs--are treated by radial access, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Interventions.

PHILADELPHIA - More than 375,000 American each year experience a heart attack, during which blood flow to a part of the heart is impeded by blocked arteries. Physicians often treat patients with stents, which prop open the arteries to allow blood to flow again. They use two approaches to place stents: transradial, or entry of the catheter which delivers the stent through the wrist, or transfemoral, in which the catheter is placed through the groin.

Humans haven't learned much in more than 2,000 years when it comes to religion and politics.

Religion has led to social tension and conflict, not just in today's society, but dating back to 700 B.C. according to a new study published today in Current Anthropology .

The WATCHMAN™ Left Atrial Appendage Closure Device is more cost-effective than warfarin and non-warfarin oral anticoagulants (NOACs) for stroke reduction in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation, according to a study led by Vivek Reddy, MD, Director of Cardiac Arrhythmia Services for The Mount Sinai Hospital and the Mount Sinai Health System, and published online and in the December 22 issue of the Journal of American College of Cardiology (JACC), the world's leading peer-reviewed journal on cardiovascular disease.

Delays in restoring blood flow after a stroke were associated with decreased benefits of intra-arterial clot-busting treatment and reduced chances for a good outcome, according to an article published online by JAMA Neurology.

Time is an important predictor of clinical outcome and the effect of treatment for patients after a stroke.