Culture

China had an estimated 1.3 million new cases of tuberculosis (TB) in 2008, of which 112,000 were multi-drug resistant (MDR-TB). Over the period 2001, TB was the second largest cause of death among China's 39 notifiable communicable diseases. In a Policy Forum, published in this week's PLoS Medicine, Zhong-wei Jia (Peking University) and colleagues from Beijing, China, report on how a combination of increased domestic funding, supplemented by foreign loans and donations, led to a dramatic increase in TB case finding.

Effects of Adult Attachment and Emotional Distractors on Brain Mechanisms of Cognitive ControlStacie L. Warren, Kelly K. Bost, Glenn I. Roisman, Rebecca Levin Silton, Jeffrey M. Spielberg, Anna S. Engels, Eunsil Choi, Bradley P. Sutton, Gregory A. Miller, and Wendy Heller

Performing a combination of aerobic exercise and resistance training was associated with improved glycemic levels among patients with type 2 diabetes, compared to patients who did not exercise, according to a study in the November 24 issue of JAMA. The level of improvement was not seen among patients who performed either aerobic exercise or resistance training alone.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have developed a new type of software that enables people to use large visual displays and touch screens interactively over the Internet for business and homeland security applications.

BATON ROUGE – LSU Professor Edward Shihadeh and Ph.D. candidate Raymond Barranco recently published a study titled "Latino Immigration, Economic Deprivation and Violence: Regional Differences in the Effect of Linguistic Isolation" in the journal Homicide Studies.

While Africa is certainly no stranger to violence, the response to the Kenyan presidential elections of 2007 came as a surprise. Political unrest evolved into outright and unmitigated violence, marring the relatively peaceful history of Kenya's educated and mainly urban population. During allegations of voter manipulation and election fraud, two of Kenya's largest tribes, the Kalenjin and the Kikuyu, found themselves divided by anger, fueled by another tribe's promises of power and control.

(San Francisco, CA) – In a finding with the potential to fundamentally change strategies to slow the global HIV epidemic, a new study called iPrEx shows that individuals at high risk for HIV infection who took a single daily tablet containing two widely used HIV medications, emtricitabine and tenofovir (FTC/TDF), experienced an average of 43.8% fewer HIV infections than those who received a placebo pill (95% CI 15.4 to 62.6%; P=0.005).

The results of the iPrEx PrEP effectiveness trial of once-daily TDF/FTC (brand name Truvada) in gay men, transgender women and other men who have sex with men are a landmark in HIV prevention research. The results, released on November 23, showed that TDF/FTC reduced risk of HIV infection by an average of 43.8%. This was calculated by looking at rates of infections among participants who received TDF/FTC plus a standard prevention package compared to those in the placebo arm who received a look-alike pill with no active drug, along with the prevention package.

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 22, 2010 -- Five related species of tree-dwelling snakes found in Southeast and South Asia may just be the worst nightmares of ophidiophobes (people who have abnormal fears of snakes). Not only are they snakes, but they can "fly" -- flinging themselves off their perches, flattening their bodies, and gliding from tree to tree or to the ground.

A patient education program combining videos with one-on-one follow-up did not appear to reduce the risk of falls among all older hospital patients, but was associated with fewer falls among patients who were not cognitively impaired, according to a report posted online today that will be published in the March 28 print issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

BATON ROUGE – A new oyster farming initiative has launched in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The goal of this effort, a collaboration between researchers from LSU and Auburn University, is industry adoption of off-bottom oyster culture to supplement the traditional harvest. Historically, oysters are grown on and harvested from reefs on the water bottom. In this new process, oysters are grown suspended in the water column.

Diabetes appears to be associated with the risk of depression and vice versa, suggesting the relationship between the two works in both directions, according to a report in the November 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Introducing a music-based multitask exercise program for community-dwelling elderly people may lead to improved gait (manner or style of walking), balance and a reduction in the rate of falling, according to a report posted online today that will be published in the March 28 print issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Skin cells from humans can be revamped into pro-clotting cells called platelets, according to a study published on November 22 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (www.jem.org). Patients with diseases causing thrombocytopenia—platelet deficiency—often require repeated transfusions with platelets obtained from healthy donors.