Culture

Sex education at school is young people's preferred source of information about sex, according to a new report from Queen's University and the University of Ulster, but it doesn't cause teens to have less sex or lead to fewer STDs. Forty-two per cent of 16-year-olds from across Northern Ireland who completed the 2011 Young Life and Times Survey identified sex education at school as the source of the most helpful information about sex. It is seen as the most reliable and trustworthy source of information, with many respondents saying that they would have liked more lessons.

Philadelphia – June 11, 2012 – A pilot study shows that a protein-rich meal replacement made from soy, yogurt, and honey (Almased®) helps patients with type 2 diabetes lose weight, gain better control of their blood sugar, and decrease their daily insulin dose. Patients in the study also lowered their body mass index (BMI), waist and hip circumference, and fasting glucose levels, while improving their HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides. The results were reported at the American Diabetes Association's 72nd Scientific Sessions®.

A University of Alberta team has made an important breakthrough in the race to find a viable replacement for supply of technetium-99m, an important isotope produced by Canada's Chalk River reactor.

Their research has proven that this important medical isotope, used in nuclear medicine imaging for about 250,000 Alberta patients each year, can be created in a device known as a cyclotron—and is as safe to use and provides as reliable an image as reactor-based isotopes. Their results are a promising first step in responding to an impending global need for an alternative supply.

DARIEN, IL – Habitually sleeping less than six hours a night significantly increases the risk of stroke symptoms among middle-age to older adults who are of normal weight and at low risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to a study of 5,666 people followed for up to three years.

DARIEN, IL – A small study of Toronto college students is shedding light on a contributing factor of insomnia that might be hard to admit – an adult fear of the dark.

Nearly half of the students who reported having poor sleep also reported a fear of the dark. Researchers confirmed this objectively by measuring blink responses to sudden noise bursts in light and dark surroundings. Good sleepers became accustomed to the noise bursts but the poor sleepers grew more anticipatory when the lights were down.

Paris, France: French researchers have found a way to identify quickly the 5-10% of patients in whom the commonly used painkiller, tramadol, does not work effectively. A simple blood test can produce a result within a few hours, enabling doctors to switch a non-responding patient on to another painkiller, such as morphine, which will be able to work in these patients.

Dr Laurent Varin, an anaesthesiologist at the Caen Teaching Hospital (Caen, France), presented the findings to the European Anaesthesiology Congress in Paris today (Sunday).

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J., June 9, 2012 – Merck (NYSE: MRK) (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada) today announced results of a post-hoc pooled analysis in which patients with type 2 diabetes age 65 or older treated with JANUVIA® (sitagliptin) 100 mg/day achieved similar blood sugar reductions as those treated with a sulfonylurea, with significantly less hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

DETROIT — A Wayne State University School of Medicine study has found that an overwhelming majority of African-American patients with hypertension also suffered hidden heart disease caused by high blood pressure even though they displayed no symptoms.

The study – "Subclinical Hypertensive Heart Disease in African-American Patients with Elevated Blood Pressure in an Inner-City Emergency Department" – was conducted by Phillip Levy, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of Emergency Medicine, and was recently published online in Annals of Emergency Medicine.

AMHERST, Mass. – Smooth wrinkles and sharply crumpled regions are familiar motifs in biological and synthetic sheets, such as plant leaves and crushed foils, say physicists Benny Davidovitch, Narayanan Menon and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, but how a featureless sheet develops a complex shape has long remained elusive.

Now, in a cover story of the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the physicists report that they have identified a fundamental mechanism by which such complex patterns emerge spontaneously.

Imagine a world without man-made climate change, energy crunches or reliance on foreign oil. It may sound like a dream world, but University of Tennessee, Knoxville, engineers have made a giant step toward making this scenario a reality.

UT researchers have successfully developed a key technology in developing an experimental reactor that can demonstrate the feasibility of fusion energy for the power grid. Nuclear fusion promises to supply more energy than the nuclear fission used today but with far fewer risks.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Scanning smartphones, tablets and laptops is as much a part of vacations as slathering on sunscreen, according to a Michigan State University study.

The results, which will appear in the forthcoming issue of Annals of Tourism Research, show that easy online access and ubiquitous personal devices have made the digital divide disappear, even for folks on holiday.

TORONTO, June 8, 2012—People who are seriously injured in a car accident are more than 30 per cent more likely to survive at least 48 hours if they are taken directly to a trauma centre than those who are taken first to a non-trauma centre, new research has found.

However, fewer than half of people seriously injured in car accidents in Ontario are taken directly from the scene to a trauma centre. In addition, only half of those taken to the nearest hospital are later transferred to a trauma centre after being assessed and stabilized.

American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Chairman Leonard Gunderson, MD, MS, FASTRO, will testify before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health today on provisions of the Consistency, Accuracy, Responsibility, and Excellence in Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Act of 2011 (CARE Act) related to training and credentialing for medical imaging and radiation therapy technologists.

Berlin, Germany, June 8 2012: Data from a Phase IIb study presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, show that 76% of patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving either 4mg or 8mg of baricitinib, an oral JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor, plus stable methotrexate (MTX) achieved ACR20* response compared with 41% of placebo-treated patients (p≤0.001) at 12 weeks. The 4mg and 8mg doses of baricitinib demonstrated statistical superiority to placebo in all clinical outcomes measured, including ACR20/50/70*, DAS28**-CRP and DAS28-CRP <2.6.

Berlin, Germany, June 8 2012: According to a study presented today at EULAR 2012, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) who are starting anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) treatment and adhere to a hypocaloric diet have a significantly greater chance of achieving minimal disease activity (MDA, an important measure of disease activity) at six months compared to those on a standard diet.