- American states got tough on impaired driving in the 1980s and 1990s, but restrictions have flat lined.
- A new study looks at associations between levels and types of law-enforcement efforts and prevalence of drinking and driving.
- The number of traffic stops and DUI arrests per capita had the most consistent and significant associations.
Culture
Alcohol outlets tend to be concentrated in lower-income areas. Given that alcohol-related problems such as trauma, chronic disease, and suicide occur more frequently in areas with a greater density of alcohol outlets, lower-income populations are exposed to increased risk. This study examines the distribution of rural outlets in the state of Victoria, Australia, finding towns had more outlets of all types where the average income was lower and where the average income in adjacent towns was higher, and that this was consistent with retail market dynamics.
Among patients with lymphoma undergoing a certain type of chemotherapy, receiving the antiviral drug entecavir resulted in a lower incidence of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatitis and HBV reactivation, compared with the antiviral drug lamivudine, according to a study in the December 17 issue of JAMA.
ANN ARBOR--A national survey of students in U.S. middle schools and high schools shows some important improvements in levels of substance use.
Both alcohol and cigarette use in 2014 are at their lowest points since the study began in 1975. Use of a number of illicit drugs also show declines this year.
For people with asthma or severe allergies, medical devices like inhalers and epinephrine autoinjectors, such as EpiPen, can be lifesaving.
However, a new study by the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston indicates that a majority of patients often do not use these devices correctly, resulting in less effective delivery of these medications and potentially disastrous outcomes.
Analysts at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have used statistical analyses to better understand why solar market policies in certain states are more successful. Their findings indicate that while no standard formula for solar implementation exists, a combination of foundational policies and localized strategies can increase solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in any state.
Eliminating health disparities between races is a goal of many groups and organizations, but a team of sociologists suggests that finding the reasons for the differences in the timing of black and white deaths may be trickier than once thought.
Unauthorized immigrants who previously have been removed from the United States are more than 2.5 times more likely to be rearrested after leaving jail, and are likely to be rearrested much more frequently than those who have never been removed, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
The findings generally support strategies adopted by federal immigration authorities and some law enforcement agencies to focus their immigration enforcement efforts on immigrants who previously have been removed, who are viewed as posing a bigger criminal threat.
INDIANAPOLIS -- In the first real-world trial of the impact of patient-controlled access to electronic medical records, almost half of the patients who participated withheld clinically sensitive information in their medical record from some or all of their health care providers.
Now that Christmas is over, tinsel is a lot less charming. Yet few people think about why and how it was created in the first place. It's been a holiday decoration staple for decades, and it turns out that silver stuff hanging from your tree has quite a storied past. Tinsel has been made out of everything from real silver, to lead to dangerously flammable materials.
This week's Speaking of Chemistry decks your halls with the history of tinsel.
The use of cigarettes, alcohol, and abuse of prescription pain relievers among teens has declined since 2013 while marijuana use rates were stable, according to the 2014 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, released today by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
Trans-gender people have great risk of suicide, as do military veterans in modern times. It is therefore no surprise that veterans of the U.S. armed forces who have received a psychological diagnosis consistent with transgender status are more likely to have serious suicidal thoughts and plans and to attempt suicide.
A new study shows that this group has a higher risk of suicide death than the general population of veterans, as described in an article in LGBT Health.
PHILADELPHIA - As the main component of connective tissue in the body, fibroblasts are the most common type of cell. Taking advantage of that ready availability, scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the Wistar Institute, Boston University School of Medicine, and New Jersey Institute of Technology have discovered a way to repurpose fibroblasts into functional melanocytes, the body's pigment-producing cells.
Two studies published in the January issue of Anesthesiology, the official medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists® (ASA®), shed new light on the prevalence of transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) and transfusion-associated circulatory overload (TACO), the number one and two leading causes of blood transfusion-related deaths in the United States. According to researchers, postoperative TRALI is significantly underreported and more common than previously thought, with an overall rate of 1.4 percent.
Most patients don't receive counseling about resuming sexual activity after having a heart attack, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.
Researchers interviewed 3,501 heart attack patients in 127 hospitals and one month later by telephone in August 2008-January 2012 in the United States and Spain. The patients' median age was 48 years and two-thirds were female.