Culture

WASHINGTON—April 9, 2012— New York voters recognize the importance of global health research and are concerned about the United States' ability to compete globally, according to a new poll commissioned by Research!America, yet an overwhelming majority (93%) of those polled don't know where global health research is conducted in their own state.

A North Carolina State University researcher has developed a more efficient, less expensive way of cooling electronic devices – particularly devices that generate a lot of heat, such as lasers and power devices.

Do Democrats who hate Republicans secretly want to be Republicans? Maybe, if they had authoritarian parents who hated Republicans.

The same may also be said for homophobic people.

STANFORD, Calif. — An invasive heart test used routinely to measure heart function is being dramatically overused, especially among patients who recently underwent similar, more effective tests, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine.

"This adds both risk to the patient and significant extra cost," said first author of the study Ronald Witteles, MD, assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine and program director of Stanford's internal medicine residency training program, who called the rates of unnecessary use "shockingly high."

GALVESTON, April 6, 2012 – Stroke patients receiving in-patient rehabilitation are more likely to land back in the hospital within three months if they are functioning poorly, show signs of depression and lack social support according to researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston. Hospital readmission for older adults within 30 days of discharge costs Medicare roughly $18 billion annually.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Researchers studying human origins should develop standards for determining whether markings on fossil bones were made by stone tools or by biting animals, Indiana University faculty member Jackson Njau writes in an article this week in the journal Science.

In a letter published today on bmj.com, authors from Imperial College London NHS Healthcare Trust stress the importance of accurately capturing and coding patient episodes.

The authors reviewed available data from HESonline, the national statistic warehouse of England of the care provided by the NHS.

Cognitive therapy reduces the severity of psychotic experiences in adults who are at risk of developing conditions such as schizophrenia, a randomised controlled trial published on bmj.com claims.

Highlights

Highlights

• In the largest observational study of its kind, 84% of all women and 55% of sexually active women on hemodialysis experienced sexual problems.
• Sexual dysfunction was reported more often by women who were older, were less educated, had signs of depression, had reached menopause, had diabetes, and took diuretic therapy, or 'water pills.'

Other studies indicate that sexual dysfunction is also common in men on hemodialysis. More than 350,000 people in the United States receive this type of therapy.

Differences in factors such as income, education and marital status could contribute overwhelmingly to the gap in life expectancy between blacks and whites in the United States, according to one of the first studies to put a number on how much of the divide can be attributed to disparities in socioeconomic characteristics.

Post-doctoral researcher David Fluri and Professor Peter Zandstra at the University of Toronto's Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) have developed a unique new technique for growing stem cells that may make possible cost-effective, large-scale stem cell manufacturing and research.

Airport security screening has increased substantially during the past decade, while joint replacement procedures also continue to rise. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), in 2009, nearly 300,000 total hip replacements (THR) were performed in the United States. A new study, "Detection of Total Hip Prostheses at Airport Security Checkpoints: How Has Heightened Security Affected Patients," appearing in the April 4, 2012 issue of the JBJS, provides an analysis of current security measures on patients who have had a THR.

Researchers have generated a new type of human stem cell that can develop into numerous types of specialized cells, including functioning pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin. Called endodermal progenitor (EP) cells, the new cells show two important advantages over embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells: they do not form tumors when transplanted into animals, and they can form functional pancreatic beta cells in the laboratory.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.--- African-Americans and Hispanics with major depressive disorder are less likely to get antidepressants than Caucasian patients, and Medicare and Medicaid patients are less likely to get the newest generation of antidepressants.

Researchers from the University of Michigan School of Public Health examined data from 1993 to 2007 to try to understand the antidepressant prescribing patterns of physicians. They looked at two things: who received antidepressants, and what type of antidepressant was prescribed.