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Children's access to health care suffers when they spend any time—even a few months—without health care coverage, according to a new study appearing in the February 2009 issue of Medical Care Research and Review.

For children who are uninsured for as few as four months, there is a 2.8 percentage point decrease in the likelihood of having a health care visit, according to the study, Partial-Year Insurance Coverage and the Health Care Utilization of Children.

A new study finds swimming, having a private well or septic system, and other factors not involving food consumption were major risk factors for bacterial intestinal infections not occurring in outbreaks.

BOSTON -- Researchers have reported the first clinical evidence that gene therapy reduces symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, an important milestone for this promising treatment which has endured a sometimes turbulent past. Described in the February issue of the journal Human Gene Therapy the findings stem from a study of two patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis conducted in Germany and led by an investigator at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).

STANFORD, Calif. — The older the kidney, the worse it works — though exactly how much worse isn't known. But with a mean wait time of over three years for a kidney transplant, even old kidneys are in demand. The challenge for doctors is to determine a kidney's prospects prior to the operation.

Research in this month's issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology begins to establish a method for projecting future kidney function, which could be a boon to the more than 82,000 people in the United States awaiting kidney transplants.

SALT LAKE CITY – A genomewide scan of millions of genetic mutations has revealed four new DNA "hotspots" that affect the risk for psoriasis, a national group of researchers led by the University of Michigan and including several from the University of Utah School of Medicine has shown in a just-published study.

Montreal, January 26, 2009 – A study conducted by Université de Montréal researchers on downstream and upstream water from the Montreal wastewater treatment plant has revealed the presence of chemotherapy products and certain hypertension and cholesterol medications.

Sleep Apnea Linked to Insulin Resistance, Independent of Obesity

In a study that addressed the issue of insulin sensitivity with respect to sleep disordered breathing (SDB), Naresh Punjabi, M.D., Ph.D. sought to examine the relationship between SDB and insulin resistance using the best tools at his disposal to do so.

Irvine, Calif., Jan. 26, 2009 — Astronauts spending months in space lose significant bone strength, making them increasingly at risk for fractures later in life.

UC Irvine and UC San Francisco led a study evaluating 13 astronauts who spent four to six months on the International Space Station and found that, on average, astronauts' hipbone strength decreased 14 percent. Three astronauts experienced losses of 20 percent to 30 percent, rates comparable to those seen in older women with osteoporosis.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Children who talk on cell phones while crossing streets are at a higher risk for injuries or death in a pedestrian accident, said psychologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in a new study that will appear in the February issue of Pediatrics.

Why is it acceptable for someone who would never purchase "expired" milk at the store to pour "expired" milk into a cup of coffee at breakfast? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research explores the reasons consumers are more likely to consume products that are past their expiration dates if they are in their refrigerators than if they are in a store.

Someone who has momentarily lost confidence in her intelligence is more likely to purchase a pen than a candy bar, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. The pen helps restore her belief in herself as an intelligent person.

Two international teams of researchers have made significant gains in understanding the genetic basis of psoriasis, a chronic skin condition that can be debilitating in some patients. Their research, involving thousands of patients, is reported in two studies published this week in the advance online Nature Genetics.

Montreal, January 26, 2009 – A study conducted by Université de Montréal researchers on downstream and upstream water from the Montreal wastewater treatment plant has revealed the presence of chemotherapy products and certain hypertension and cholesterol medications.

Why did the first PDAs released to the market fail while subsequent brands took off? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research says it might be because of the way consumers categorize new products.

Authors Joseph Lajos (INSEAD, Europe Campus), Zsolt Katona (University of California, Berkeley), Amitava Chattopadhyay (INSEAD, Asia Campus), and Miklos Sarvary (INSEAD, Europe Campus) developed a model that explains how consumers categorize new hybrid products.

Is luck contagious? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research sheds light on why, at a casino, people seem to gather around machines and people on a winning streak.

"It is common to find that people consider luck to be contagious—they are likely to believe that being near a person on a winning streak somehow enhances their own chances of winning," writes author Arul Mishra (University of Utah, Salt Lake City). His research focused on testing whether consumers would make product choices based on the same contagion principle.