Culture

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL, Minn. (Nov. 2, 2010) – The vaccine that protects against the potentially cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV) enjoys wide support in the medical and public health communities. Yet state laws to require young girls to be vaccinated as a requirement for middle school attendance have aroused controversy with parents, politicians, and even medical and public health experts disagreeing about whether such laws are appropriate.

Scientists, in collaboration with researchers at the universities of Southampton and Calgary, used finger ratios from fossilised skeletal remains of early apes and extinct hominins, as indicators of the levels of exposure species had to prenatal androgens – a group of hormones that is important in the development of masculine characteristics such as aggression and promiscuity.

Doctors have known for some time that children born after fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) are at increased risk of cerebral palsy. However, it was not known whether this risk was due to the treatment itself, the higher frequency of preterm or multiple births, or a mechanism associated with couples' underlying infertility.

While the risk remains low the authors are surprised at the results and say "a critical evaluation of the obstetrical care system in the Netherlands is urgently required."

Despite the high level of medical care in the Netherlands, the perinatal mortality rate (death of fetus or new born baby) is one of the highest in Europe, says the study.

In the UK, medical students are 4.5 to 7.2 times more likely to come from the wealthier socio-economic groups 1-3 than 4-7, write Professor Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and Lucy Stephenson, a medical student.

Selection to a medical course should not depend on the applicants' financial status. However, with "grade inflation" at A level, choosing between applicants can involve other criteria that may depend on ability to pay, they say.

A new study by researchers at the University of Leicester and University of Leeds has concluded that parents' efforts towards their child's educational achievement is crucial – playing a more significant role than that of the school or child.

This research by Professor Gianni De Fraja and Tania Oliveira, both in the Economics Department at the University of Leicester and Luisa Zanchi, at the Leeds University Business School, has been published in the latest issue of Review of Economics and Statistics.

Women now dominate the field of veterinary medicine — the result of a nearly 40-year trend that is likely to repeat itself in the fields of medicine and law.

This year's Salary Survey saw drops in salaries in many fields, some with dips as large as $20,000 (ecology) and $28,000 (virology) but bioinformatics, biophysics, biotechnology, and neuroscienc posted salary increases.

Canadians who work night and rotating shifts are almost twice as likely to be injured on the job than those working regular day shifts, according to a study by researchers at the University of British Columbia.

Strengthening routine influenza vaccination and health programs may help states improve their vaccination coverage against future pandemics or other health emergencies, a new study suggests.

THE HAGUE (2 November 2010)—A unique acacia known as a "fertilizer tree" has typically led to a doubling or tripling of maize yields in smallholder agriculture in Zambia and Malawi, according to evidence presented at a conference in the Hague today.

In a study examining the factors that play a role in an older adult's transition to disability, intervening illnesses and injuries that led to hospitalization or activity restriction were associated with worsening functional ability, especially among those who were physically frail, according to a study in the November 3 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on aging.

Thomas M. Gill, M.D., of the Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn., presented the findings of the study at a JAMA media briefing at the National Press Club.

Use of a fall prevention tool kit, which included a fall risk assessment, patient-specific prevention plan, an educational handout and a poster for over the patient's hospital bed reduced the number of older patients with falls in hospitals, according to a study in the November 3 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on aging.

Patricia C. Dykes, R.N., D.N.Sc., of Partners HealthCare System, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, presented the findings of the study at a JAMA media briefing at the National Press Club.

SuperAgers.com website features aging research and video portraits of centenarians.

(Photo Credit: Albert Einstein College of Medicine)

Source: Albert Einstein College of Medicine