Culture

Studies have shown that family history is a risk factor for COPD, but have not accounted for family history of smoking. Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital, the University of Colorado, and National Jewish Health compared 821 COPD cases with 776 control smokers from the COPD Gene Study, capturing parental smoking and COPD histories, along with environmental tobacco smoke exposure. Their findings noted a strong risk factor for COPD when a family COPD history exists, independent of other factors.

DURHAM, N.H. – Families are increasingly relying on public health insurance plans to provide coverage for their children, a growing trend that researchers say is tied to job losses, coverage changes to private health insurance plans, and expanded access to public plans, according to new research from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.

The trend is particularly pronounced within rural and inner-city areas, which traditionally have had lower coverage rates than suburban areas.

Nibbling by herbivores can have a greater impact on the width of tree rings than climate, new research has found. The study, published this week in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology, could help increase the accuracy of the tree ring record as a way of estimating past climatic conditions.

Many factors in addition to climate are known to affect the tree ring record, including attack from parasites and herbivores, but determining how important these other factors have been in the past is difficult.

Children born after unplanned pregnancies tend to have a more limited vocabulary and poorer non-verbal and spatial abilities; however this is almost entirely explained by their disadvantaged circumstances, according to a new study published on bmj.com today. The same study reported no adverse effects of infertility treatment on the children.

In the UK, as many as 30-40% of pregnancies that end in childbirth are unplanned, while the number of children born after assisted reproductive technologies is growing every year.

Doctors should be cautious about prescribing intensive glucose lowering treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes as a way of reducing heart complications, concludes a new study published on bmj.com today.

French researchers found that intensive glucose lowering treatment, which is widely used for people with type 2 diabetes to reduce their heightened risk of cardiovascular disease, showed no benefit on all-cause or cardiovascular mortality.

Around a sixth of fast food customers used calorie information and, on average, bought food with lower calories since the introduction of a labelling system in the US, says a new study published on bmj.com today.

US researchers found there has been a small but positive impact from a law introduced in 2008 in New York requiring chain restaurants with 15 or more branches nationally to provide calorie information on menus and menu boards in the city.

After a basic package of health services was introduced by Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health, the development and performance of Afghanistan's health care services improved dramatically in many areas between 2004 and 2008, particularly in health service capacity and delivery of care. However, the editors of PLoS Medicine warn of the dangers of security issues for health staff and patients, which is seriously hampering progress, and argue that the likelihood of Afghanistan emerging from its fragile status is far from certain.

Two research studies in this week's PLoS Medicine suggest that a new automated DNA test for tuberculosis (Xpert MTB/RIF), which can detect TB within 2 hours and has been endorsed by the World Health Organization, can significantly increase TB detection rate compared to other tests, particularly in HIV positive patients who have a high risk of being infected with TB, including multidrug resistant TB. An accompanying Essay and Perspective highlight the economic challenges and implications of such diagnostic tests.

"High-dose vitamin D seems to be really effective in reducing the musculoskeletal pain caused by aromatase inhibitors," Rastelli says. "Patients who get the vitamin D weekly feel better because their pain is reduced and sometimes goes away completely. This makes the drugs much more tolerable. Millions of women worldwide take aromatase inhibitor therapy, and we may have another 'tool' to help them remain on it longer."

Among elderly Medicare beneficiaries with limited prior drug coverage, implementation of Medicare Part D was associated with significant reductions in nondrug medical spending, such as for inpatient and skilled nursing facility care, according to a study in the July 27 issue of JAMA.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers have found a way to help growers minimize emissions of fumigants used as soil treatments.

Research leader Sharon Papiernik, with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory in Brookings, S.D., used specially designed chambers to test the permeability of dozens of films used to cover fumigated soil. ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency, and the research supports the USDA commitment to agricultural sustainability.

Amsterdam, 26 July 2011 - Several commentaries in Reproductive BioMedicine Online are on the subject of how many embryos it is safe and proper to place in a uterus, and how best to regulate this decision.

It is a dilemma faced by all patients anxiously caught between no pregnancies at all or facing the prospect of twins or triplets. In this difficult place it is often all too easy to think that the latter option must be the best. But is it?

Oxford, July 26, 2011 – Adrenaline has kept its place in cardiac arrest guidelines despite limited evidence for or against its use. The PACA (Placebo versus Adrenaline versus Cardiac Arrest) study by Jacobs and colleagues, soon to be published in Resuscitation, the official journal of the European Resuscitation Council, provides the best evidence to date supporting the use of adrenaline to treat cardiac arrest.

Parents who move to the United States without legal status generally seek better opportunities for their young children. Their kids grow up Americanized: speaking English, attending public school, going to the prom and dreaming about what they want to do when they grow up.

WASHINGTON, DC, July 21, 2011 — Parents who move to the United States without legal status generally seek better opportunities for their young children. Their kids grow up Americanized: speaking English, attending public school, going to the prom, and dreaming about what they want to do when they grow up.