Culture

Physicists who have studied the mixing between two incompatible fluids have found that it is possible to control the undercurrents of one circulating fluid to optimise its exposure to the other. This work, which is about to be published in EPJ E¹, was performed by Jorge Peixinho from CNRS at Le Havre University, France, and his colleagues from the Benjamin Levich Institute, City University of New York, USA.

(Boston) - Researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) have conducted a study on a modified version of the Short Inventory of Problems (SIP) to help promote early intervention and treatment for patients with drug use in primary care. The findings, which validate this modified version of the SIP in a primary care setting, will appear online in the American Journal on Addictions in the March issue.

CINCINNATI—Health care practitioners have long understood the importance of "door to balloon" time for heart attack patients—the faster they can get the patient from the door of the hospital to a catheterization lab to open a clogged artery, the better the patient will do.

But a University of Cincinnati (UC) emergency medicine researcher says it's also important to study the "medical contact to balloon" time, acknowledging the role that emergency medical services (EMS) responders play in speeding patient care.

In workplaces with a high percentage of women in a management position more individualized employee feedback is carried out, more democratic decisions are adopted and more interpersonal channels of communications are established, according to a study by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

Researchers at the Public University of Navarre (UPNA) are working on a project to design and manufacture composite PVC materials based on nanofillings and intended for multi-sectoral applications. The ultimate aim of the Vinilclay project is to control and optimize the properties of the plastic material; specifically, its photostability, thermal resistance and gas permeation.

(March 21, 2012 - Chicago, IL) Large-scale microfinance programs are widely used as a tool to fight poverty in developing countries, but a recent study from the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty suggests that they can have varying results for participants and may be the most cost-effective use of funds only in limited situations.

In one of the largest studies of its kind, a consortium of investigators from 13 countries led the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in the U.S. and the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium in Europe, found that nurses who reported better working conditions in hospitals and less likelihood of leaving also had patients who were more satisfied with their hospital stay and rated their hospitals more highly. The study was released today in the current issue of the prestigious British Medical Journal.

Use of anesthesia providers to monitor sedation during screening colonoscopies and other outpatient gastroenterology procedures more than doubled from 2003 to 2009 in the United States, with most of the increase among low-risk patients who may not need this service, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

The findings suggest that as much as $1.1 billion spent annually on anesthesia services for GI-related procedures may not be medically necessary, according to the study published in the March 21 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

CHICAGO – The results of two randomized trials indicate that among intensive care unit (ICU) patients receiving prolonged mechanical ventilation, use of the sedative dexmedetomidine was not inferior (outcome not worse than treatment compared to) to the standard sedatives midazolam and propofol in maintaining light to moderate sedation; also, dexmedetomidine reduced the duration of mechanical ventilation compared with midazolam, and improved patients' ability to communicate pain compared with the other drugs, according to a study in the March 21 issue of JAMA.

CHICAGO – Between 2003 and 2009, the use of anesthesia services to provide sedation during endoscopies and colonoscopies increased substantially, according to a study in the March 21 issue of JAMA. The authors also found that most of the gastroenterology anesthesia use was for low-risk patients, and that there was considerable regional variation in use.

Researchers from Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and the University of Melbourne have identified a new way to accurately test for peanut allergy.

It is hoped the test would be more cost effective and convenient than standard approaches and minimise over-diagnosis of peanut allergy in the community.

Currently, an oral food challenge is the standard for diagnosing peanut allergy, and while an oral food challenge is definitive in diagnosing patients, it is time-consuming, costly and patients risk severe reactions such as anaphylaxis.

Sexting – sending sexually explicit, nude, or semi-nude photos by cell phone – has become a national concern, especially when it involves children and teens. A new poll shows that the vast majority of adults do not support legal consequences for teens who sext.

Seventeen states have already enacted laws to address youth sexting and another 13 states have pending legislation in 2012 that focuses on sexting.

Management of fisheries at the community level can help curb overfishing and the 'tragedy of the commons' which is driving humans to decimate the planet's dwindling fish stocks, an international scientific team says.

The positive finding comes from the world's largest field investigation of 42 co-managed coral reef fisheries in five countries spread across the Indian and Pacific oceans.

Physical violence, sexual abuse and other forms of childhood and adult trauma are major factors fueling the epidemic of HIV/AIDS among American women. Scientists have known for years that traumatized women are at greater risk of becoming infected.

Now, two new studies from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Harvard Medical School demonstrate that a high rate of trauma among women already infected with HIV also plays a role in the epidemic.

(Philadelphia) – Intervention by peer mentors has a statistically significant effect on improving glucose control in African American veterans with diabetes, according to a study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP). Full results of the study were published in the March 20th issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.