Culture

If people see news coverage of alcohol's role in violent crime and fatal injuries, they may give more support to alcohol-control laws, according to a study in the March issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

It's estimated that drinking is involved in almost one third of deaths from accidents and violent crime. But the news reports on those deaths often make no mention of alcohol.

In this week's PLoS Medicine, Dejan Zurovac and colleagues from the Kenya Medical Research Institute/Wellcome Trust Research Program, Nairobi, Kenya discuss six areas where text messaging could improve the delivery of health services and health outcomes in malaria in Africa, including three areas transmitting information from the periphery of the health system to malaria control managers and three areas transmitting information to support management of malaria patients.

WORCESTER, Mass. — Clinical researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) are combining an innovative constellation of technologies such as artificial intelligence, smartphone programming, biosensors and wireless connectivity to develop a device designed to detect physiological stressors associated with drug cravings and respond with user-tailored behavioral interventions that prevent substance use. Preliminary data about the multi-media device, called iHeal, was published online first in the Journal of Medical Toxicology.

NEW ORLEANS – New research finds foreign-born Hispanics now living in the United States appear to be less likely to have a stroke compared to non-Hispanic white people. The research was released today and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 64th Annual Meeting in New Orleans April 21 to April 28, 2012. The research is also being simultaneously published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

The American Heart Association has launched the online-only open-access Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease (JAHA) — packed with free peer-reviewed research on heart disease and stroke.

"We envision JAHA as a forum for high quality original articles that cover the full range of cardiovascular science, including basic science, translational science, clinical trials and epidemiological and outcomes research," said Joseph A. Vita, M.D., JAHA editor in chief.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The recent U.S. economic recession was the longest and most severe since World War II. During this period, personal spending on health care grew at the slowest rate in over 50 years, suggesting that Americans used less health care.

(WASHINGTON, February 21, 2012) – The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is encouraged by the steps FDA is taking to alleviate drug shortages that have significantly affected so many patients with hematologic malignancies under our members' care. The measures announced today are consistent with the Society's recommendations to FDA, Congress, and the Obama Administration to expand the agency's authority to prevent drug shortages by requiring manufacturers to provide early notification of impending shortages and importing drugs in critical supply.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Medical records are an invaluable tool in treating patients. When a caregiver has ample information regarding a person's medical history, treatments are more effective and efficient. Unfortunately, few people have complete medical records -- due, in large part, to a lack of any universal repository tools for keeping those records. Mayo Clinic, along with its partners in a program called the Southeast Minnesota Beacon Community, is working on solutions to this problem.

Meticulous mapping and excavations at an ancient cave in the Yucatan Peninsula are revealing the vitality of the site to the ancient Maya – for both religious ritual and human survival. The University of Cincinnati research will be a key topic of discussion on Feb. 24, at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in New York.

WASHINGTON, DC, February 21, 2012 — Why do some people behave morally while others do not? Sociologists at the University of California, Riverside and California State University, Northridge have developed a theory of the moral self that may help explain the ethical lapses in the banking, investment, and mortgage-lending industries that nearly ruined the U.S. economy.

The carnage evident in disasters like car wrecks or wartime battles is oftentimes mirrored within the bodies of the people involved. A severe wound can leave blood vessels and nerves severed, bones broken, and cellular wreckage strewn throughout the body – a debris field within the body itself.

University of Cincinnati geography faculty members and graduate students will present research at the Feb. 24-28 national meeting of the Association of American Geographers.

The UC research presentations will focus on water management and climate change at an ancient Maya city, changes to the globe's glaciers, U.S. manufacturing location decisions in China, research related to airline hub locations, "food deserts" or urban communities without easy access to grocery stores and more.

Below is a round up on the UC research to be presented.

Day labor halls are privately run temp agencies that provide a form of daily employment where potential workers show up at pre-dawn hours in the hope of landing a day's work.

Day labor halls can be grim, rule-bound, low-paid sources of work for homeless, unemployed, underemployed, ex-convicts and others on the lowest rungs of America's socioeconomic ladder. What's even worse than the undesirability of these jobs is their decreasing availability in many cities.

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have found that overweight dogs that lose weight have an improved quality of life compared to those that don't.

It is estimated that approximately a third of the UK dog population is obese. Obesity is a serious disease and can lead to many other health disorders including diabetes, heart disease and arthritis.

A study of 50 overweight dogs, comprising a mix of breeds and genders was undertaken by scientists at the University in collaboration with the University of Glasgow, Royal Canin and the WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition.

Medication errors are common in primary care but the number of mistakes could be reduced significantly if GPs introduced an in-house pharmacist-led intervention scheme.

These are the findings of a comprehensive study into sustainable ways of preventing patients from being harmed as a result of prescribing errors.