Culture | Page 1870 | Science Codex

Illegal immigration due to globalization desperation

Many undocumented workers from Latin America risk migrating to the United States to take jobs in which they will be exploited because they are fleeing from desperate situations and see opportunities to help their families.

That scenario, says Gerardo F. Sandoval of the University of Oregon, emerged from a long-running case study in which under-the-radar networks driven by economic and political pressures were documented. These shadow networks tie workers to low-paying, labor-intensive jobs in new communities and to the towns they left.

Cold weather kills far more people than hot weather

Cold weather kills 20 times as many people as hot weather, according to an international study analyzng over 74 million deaths in 384 locations across 13 countries. The findings in The Lancet also reveal that deaths due to moderately hot or cold weather substantially exceed those resulting from extreme heat waves or cold spells.

The countries involved were Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, and USA.

Chamomile tea decreases risk of death in older Mexican-American women

Researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have found that drinking chamomile tea was associated with a decreased risk of death from all causes in Mexican-American American women over 65. The findings were recently published online in The Gerontologist.

Chamomile is one of the oldest, most-widely used and well-documented medicinal plants in the world and has been recommended for a variety of healing applications. It is currently widely used as an herbal remedy in Mexico and among Mexican-Americans.

Discovery of world's oldest stone tools

Scientists working in the desert badlands of northwestern Kenya have found stone tools dating back 3.3 million years, long before the advent of modern humans, and by far the oldest such artifacts yet discovered. The tools, whose makers may or may not have been some sort of human ancestor, push the known date of such tools back by 700,000 years; they also may challenge the notion that our own most direct ancestors were the first to bang two rocks together to create a new technology.

Occupational sun-safety policies for government workers examined

ew local government organizations in Colorado had policies on environmental controls, such as the provision of outdoor shade, or administrative procedures, including training and resource allocation, to improve sun protection for their workers and most policies addressed employees' use of personal protection practices, according to a new analysis.

Include men in osteoporosis screening guidelines

Most people associate osteoporosis with women. But the truth is, one in four men over the age of 50 will break a bone as a result of this condition. That's more men than will have prostate cancer, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

Now a leading researcher at National Jewish Health is calling for men to be included in the screening guidelines for osteoporosis. Elizabeth Regan, MD, PhD, a researcher at National Jewish Health, studied more than 3,000 smokers and former smokers ages 45 to 80 and tested their bone density. What she found was surprising.

What 19th century medical negligence can teach us about welfare today

How the Victorians and how they sought to define and deal with negligent medical care in the wake of the poor law is the subject of a new book.

Medical Negligence in Victorian Britain is written by Dr Kim Price from the Centre for Medical Humanities and explores the hundreds of charges of neglect against doctors who were contracted to the 'new' poor law after the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. As well as its historical perspective, the book provides some insights into the welfare system today.

'Natural' sounds improve mood and productivity

Playing natural sounds such as flowing water in offices could boosts worker moods and improve cognitive abilities in addition to providing speech privacy, according to a new study from researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. They will present the results of their experiment at the 169th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, held May 18-22, 2015 in Pittsburgh.

UK becoming overweight and obese at younger ages

Children born since the 1980s are two to three times more likely than older generations to be overweight or obese by the age of 10, according to new research published in PLOS Medicine. The study, conducted by researchers from CLOSER, a consortium of UK longitudinal studies, characterized population shifts in body mass index (BMI) using data from more than 56,000 people born in Britain from 1946 to 2001.

Osteoporosis screening: Too common for younger low-risk women, not common enough for higher-risk women

Many of those who should get it, don't. And many of those who shouldn't, do. That's the story of a common screening test for osteoporosis, according to new research.

Health and social inequities don't give young gay men HIV, but they make it worse

HIV infections continue to rise in young gay and bisexual men despite three decades of outreach and HIV prevention as well as recent availability of biomedical technologies to prevent infection.

Tobacco users have become marginalized - they don't even bother to vote now

A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research shows a new dimension to the marginalization of smokers: people who smoke are less likely to vote than their non-smoking peers.

Toward successful uterus transplantation to restore fertility

Swedish clinicians recently reported the first live birth after uterus transplantation, which was followed by two more uneventful births and another pregnancy that is near term.

Significant differences in achieving risk factor targets between women and men

There is a striking and statistically significant difference in how women and men are treated following a heart attack. These gender differences are reflected in the rate of risk factor control, which was lower in women, and in the rate of hospital readmission for a further heart attack, which was higher in women than in men.

The life story of a Bronze Age female

A detailed analysis of the remains of a high-status Danish Bronze Age female, known as the Egtved Girl, reveals information about her movements, what she ate, and where her clothes came from. It seems that the Egtved Girl originated from a place outside present-day Denmark and travelled back and forth over large distances during last two years of her life. The findings, published in Scientific Reports this week, offer insights into the movements of high-status European Bronze Age individuals.