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Decade of benefits for the Great Barrier Reef

With this week marking the tenth anniversary of the rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, prominent marine scientists from around the world have gathered in Canberra to discuss its successes - both expected and unexpected.

"At the time, the rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park was the largest marine conservation measure in the world," says Professor Garry Russ from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE). "The Reef went from being five percent protected to about 30 percent. So now, a third of it is green, or no-take, zones."

Welfare reforms are increasing GP workload and harming patients, finds BMJ investigation

The majority of GPs in a survey carried out by The BMJ say their workload has soared in the past year because of their patients' financial hardship under new government rules for receiving benefits.

Two thirds believe patients' health is being harmed by benefit cuts, while many feel their professional opinion is regularly disregarded by those assessing people's ability to work.

The investigation also reveals how employment advisers and welfare rights officers are an increasingly vital part of general practice during the austerity period.

The BMJ calls for Assisted Dying Bill to become law

The BMJ today calls for Lord Falconer's Assisted Dying Bill, which is expected to receive its second reading in the House of Lords this month, to eventually become law.

In an editorial, Dr Fiona Godlee, editor in chief, Dr Tony Delamothe, UK editor and Rosamund Snow, patient editor, say "recognition of an individual's right to determine his or her best interests lies at the heart of this journal's strategy to advance the patient revolution in healthcare. It would be perverse to suspend our advocacy at the moment a person's days were numbered."

The Lancet: Largest study to date finds insulin pumps result in better blood sugar control than multiple daily injections in peo

Insulin pumps are significantly more effective at controlling blood glucose (sugar) in people with type 2 diabetes who have failed to respond to the usual standard of care, multiple daily insulin injections, according to the largest international study to examine the safety and effectiveness of the pumps to treat type 2 diabetes, published in The Lancet.

Malnutrition screening of hospital patients common but hospitals failing on nutrition care

A new study gives hospitals overall good marks for conducting nutrition screenings within 24 hours of a patient's admission, but finds that many need to improve other practices to be more effective.

Little benefit seen when corticosteroids added to injections for spinal stenosis

Epidural injections with a glucocorticoid in combination with the local anesthetic lidocaine appear to be no better in reducing pain and physical limitations in patients with spinal stenosis, a common spine disorder, than injections of lidocaine alone, a new study has found.

Glucocorticoids, also known as corticosteroids, are commonly used to treat inflammation.

Acute kidney injury, chronic kidney disease each a risk of the other

Acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are closely intertwined, with each disease a risk factor for developing the other and sharing other risk factors in common, as well as sharing causes for the diseases to get worse, and outcomes, suggests a comprehensive analysis by scientists at the National Institutes of Health and George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, D.C. Findings were published July 3 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Polyphenols could yield small benefit for people with PAD

In a small study, people with artery problems in their legs walked a little longer and farther when they ate dark chocolate – a food rich in polyphenols, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a narrowing of the peripheral arteries to the legs, stomach, arms, and head – most commonly in the arteries of the legs. Reduced blood flow can cause pain, cramping or fatigue in the legs or hips while walking.

Trial examines treatment for psychogenic nonepileptic seizures

Bottom Line: A clinical trial found a reduction in seizures and improvement in related symptoms, including depression and anxiety, in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) who were treated with cognitive behavioral therapy informed psychotherapy (CBT-ip) with and without the medication sertraline.

Authors: W. Curt LaFrance, Jr., M.D., M.P.H., of Brown University, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, R.I., and colleagues.

Computer-automated, time-lapse embryo photography may increase success of IVF

PHILADELPHIA - Using computer-automated, time‐lapse photography of embryos in the laboratory during in-vitro fertilization may improve embryo selection, potentially increasing the chances of pregnancy among women undergoing the procedure, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and five other fertility centers. Results of the study were presented this week at the 30th annual European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) meeting in Munich, Germany.

The dark side of Twitter -- Not just hate speech, also infidelity and divorce

With more than 554 million active users, Twitter is one of the most popular social networking sites. Most people associate it with ridicule and vitriol punctuated by moments of kindness. Romance takes its bitter culture to a whole new weird level.

Active users of social networking who are in a romantic relationship may find that Twitter-related conflicts cause relationship problems that can become serious enough to result in infidelity or divorce, as described in a study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

Harnessing a personal rivalry can boost an individual's athletic performance

July 2, 2014 - We can all think of great sports rivals: tennis players Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, or basketball players Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. These fierce, personal rivalries seem worlds apart from a hometown 5K race. Yet even local races often produce rivals who push each other to higher levels of performance, according to new research that surveyed runners and used data from 184 races.

Becoming an expert takes more than practice

Deliberate practice may not have nearly as much influence in building expertise as we thought, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Scientists have been studying and debating whether experts are "born" or "made" since the mid-1800s. In recent years, deliberate practice has received considerable attention in these debates, while innate ability has been pushed to the side, due in part to the famous "10,000-hour rule" coined by Malcolm Gladwell in his 2008 book Outliers.

UTMB study shows testosterone therapy does not increase heart attack risk

Testosterone prescriptions for older men in the United States have increased more than three-fold over the past decade. Recent studies linking testosterone use with increased risk of heart attack and stroke have caused widespread concern among patients and their families. A new U.S.-based study of more than 25,000 older men shows that testosterone therapy does not increase men's risk for heart attack.

Comedy, the refuge of gays in Franco-era cinema

This research studies the presence and visibility of the gay world in Spanish cinema between 1940 and 1975. The report, published in the journal Zer by Alejandro Melero, professor in the UC3M Department of Journalism and Audiovisual Communication, shows that there were genres that homosexuality appeared in more frequently. One such genre is comedy, in which it was very usual to portray gays as funny characters.