Culture

December 2, 2010, New York, New York—Premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance increased an average of 41 percent across states from 2003 to 2009, more than three times faster than median incomes, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report. Yet, insurance is buying less. The report found that deductibles per person rose 77 percent, on average. Higher premiums plus higher out-of-pocket costs are putting working families' budgets under stress across the country.

If you're trying to end racism, it's not enough to get people to understand that racism is still a problem. You also have to make them feel like they can do something about it, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Brussels, 2 December 2010 – Europe needs an Institute of Industrial Mathematics to tighten the link between maths and industry as an enabler of innovation – putting maths at the heart of Europe's innovation, according to the European Science Foundation in a report launched today in Brussels at the "Maths and Industry" Conference.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The problem of toxic lead in used consumer products is extremely widespread and present at levels that are far beyond safe limits, researchers conclude in a new study.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---A new University of Michigan study finds that Americans are much more likely to exaggerate their attendance at religious services than are people in many other countries.

"Americans have long been viewed as exceptionally religious compared to other nations in the developed world," said Philip Brenner, a research fellow at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) and the author of the study. "But this study suggests that American religiosity may be exceptional not in terms of actual behavior, but rather in terms of identity.

In this report Anna Gavanas, social anthropologist and associate professor at the Institute for Futures Studies, explores the dynamics of migration, social exclusion and labour market informalization through the lens of the domestic service sector in Stockholm. Based on a recent interview study, Gavanas identifies crucial aspects of a range of large scale social and economic shifts in Sweden. Especially in focus are the conditions of migrant domestic workers in a globalized economy.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) -- A recently released report co-written by a University of California, Riverside professor argues that more attention needs to placed on finances to increase the number of Latino students graduating in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

Plans by the coalition government for new social enterprises and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to help build the 'big society' have been given short shrift in online surveys of businesses and business advisers run by The University of Nottingham.

Respondents quizzed in the UK Business Barometer and UK Business Adviser Barometer surveys showed a general lack of enthusiasm over the Con-Dem plans to move away from services provided by the public sector towards more social enterprises — firms run for social or environmental gain rather than profit.

If you think life's too short, then you're not alone. A team of scientists from Texas set out to find what it would take to live a very long life and they made important discoveries that bring longer life spans much closer to reality. A new research report featured on the cover of The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), describes how scientists "activated" life extension in the worm, C. elegans, and in the process discovered a new metabolic state correlating with long life.

DARIEN, IL - A study in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal SLEEP found thatdeployment to Iraq and Afghanistan significantly influenced sleepquality and quantity in a population of 41,225 military servicepersonnel. The study suggests that the promotion of healthier sleeppatterns may be beneficial for military service members.

In a study that compared initial treatment strategies for low-risk prostate cancer among men 65 years old, active surveillance showed higher measures on quality of life compared to an initial treatment such as radical prostatectomy, although the optimal strategy was highly dependent on individual patient preferences for surveillance or treatment, according to a study in the December 1 issue of JAMA.

An examination of 200 of the top-selling cough/cold, allergy, analgesic and gastrointestinal over-the-counter liquid medications for children finds that there have been high levels of variability and inconsistencies regarding medication labeling and measuring devices, according to a study that will appear in the December 15 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early online because of its public health importance.

Instructions on boxes and bottles of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines for children in the United States are confusing and hard for parents to understand and follow, according to a study in the December 1 issue of JAMA.

Most Americans receive health insurance coverage through their employer, or through an employed family member's dependent coverage. Yet having a job is no guarantee of coverage, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

Using data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), the brief's authors found that one-fifth of Californians under age 65 who lived in households with at least one employed family member — or 5.7 million – had no access to job-based health insurance in 2007.