Culture

A small study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers found that online virtual communities may be an effective way to train patients in meditation and other mind/body techniques. The ability to learn and practice approaches that elicit the relaxation response – a state of deep rest that has been shown to alleviate stress-related symptoms – in a virtual environment could help surmount several barriers that can restrict participation.

Amsterdam, NL -- Investigators from the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, have shown that in most elderly patients invasive and expensive techniques, i.e. lumbar puncture and PET scan, are not useful to establish the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. They arrived at this conclusion after analysis of data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), a large collaborative research project of medical centers in the USA and Canada.

Asian Canadian teenagers who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are 30 times more likely to face harassment than their heterosexual peers – a factor that is linked to higher rates of alcohol or drug use, according to University of British Columbia research.

Recently published in the Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, this is the first study in North America to investigate the links between Asian teens dealing with "dual minority discrimination," problem substance use and supports that can help reduce those risks.

Depression is more prevalent among stroke and transient ischemic attack survivors than in the general population, researchers reported in the American Heart Association's journal Stroke.

While most patients with stroke in the study had only mild disability, and only a fraction of those with TIAs had severe disability, depression rates were similar.

Creating a radioactive antibody fragment may allow scientists to identify fat and debris deposits in artery walls that are most likely to rupture and cause heart attacks, according to a new study in Circulation: Research, an American Heart Association journal.

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other gastrointestinal (GI) disorders may be exposed to significant doses of diagnostic radiation, according to a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association.

INDIANAPOLIS — A study by Regenstrief Institute and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs investigators provides the first in-depth look at how health care providers react to medication alerts generated by electronic medical record systems. The researchers plan to use this information to improve the design of medication alerts and diminish the phenomenon known as alert fatigue, where providers can become desensitized and may start unintentionally ignoring some important warnings.

WASHINGTON, DC -- A new analysis showing how the radical policies advocated by western economists helped to bankrupt Russia and other former Soviet countries after the Cold War has been released by researchers.

Authored by sociologists at the University of Cambridge and Harvard University, the study, which appears in the April issue of the American Sociological Review, is the first to trace a direct link between the mass privatization programs adopted by several former Soviet states, and the economic failure and corruption that followed.

Patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have a significantly greater prevalence of early adverse life events , including general trauma as well as physical, emotional and sexual abuse, according to a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association.

In recent years, with the growing concerns over environmental protection and human health, environment-friendly materials have received increasing attention, and for decades researchers have been fiercely studying lead-free piezoelectric materials with high piezoelectric properties.

New York, N.Y. – Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, today announced preliminary results of new research that estimates autism costs society a staggering $126 billion per year (U.S.) – a number that has more than tripled since 2006, and annually in the U.K. has reached more than £34 billion (equivalent to $54 billion U.S.). The costs of providing care for each person with autism affected by intellectual disability through his or her lifespan are $2.3 million in the U.S. and £1.5 million ($2.4 million) in the U.K.

Chevy Chase, MD—Elderly patients who undergo thyroid surgery are at a much higher risk than their younger counterparts for serious cardiac, pulmonary and infectious complications, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). The study findings challenge long-held beliefs that thyroidectomy carries the same risk level of postoperative complications for both older and younger patients.

WASHINGTON, DC, March 26, 2012 — While trust in science remained stable among people who self-identified as moderates and liberals in the United States between 1974 and 2010, trust in science fell among self-identified conservatives by more than 25 percent during the same period, according to new research from Gordon Gauchat, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

Boston, MA – Paying hospitals to improve their quality of care, known as pay-for-performance, has gained wide acceptance in the U.S. and Medicare has spent tens of millions of dollars on bonuses and rewards for hospitals to improve. However, little is known about whether pay-for-performance actually improves patient outcomes over the long term. A new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) finds no evidence that the largest hospital-based P4P program in the U.S. improved 30-day mortality rates, a measure of whether patients survive their hospitalization.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rhode Island Hospital physicians identified six cases of accidental ingestion of wire grill brush bristles that required endoscopic or surgical removal. The paper calls attention to the need for the public and physicians to be aware of this potential danger. It is published in the American Journal of Roentgenology and is now available online in advance of print.