Culture

Philadelphia, PA, January 31, 2011 – Back problems are a highly prevalent health issue, and people with the condition have a significantly greater chance of retiring early from the workforce, much more so than for any other health condition. A group of Australian researchers reports that not only does early retirement limit the immediate income available to these individuals, but it also reduces their long-term financial capacity, by reducing their ability to accumulate wealth to a significant degree. Their study is published in the January issue of Pain®.

The pain suffered by older adults is the shared focus of the two newest entries in The Gerontological Society of America's (GSA) From Publication to Practice series. Together they address both pain management and new labeling changes for one of the most popular pain medications, acetaminophen.

Internet users are increasingly asked to register with a user name and password before being able to access the content of many sites. In their upcoming Ergonomics in Design article, "A Passport to UX – Design of Password Practices," human factors/ergonomics researchers Soolmaz Moshfeghian and Young Sam Ryu identify impediments to efficient password creation and provide design strategies for enhancing the user experience.

School administrators are facing a growing dilemma resulting from social networking that goes beyond preventing cyber-bullying among students. They're also faced with balancing the rights of privacy and free speech of educators with what should be the appropriate behavior of teachers as role models.

ITHACA, N.Y. — For those with few social advantages, college is a prime pathway to financial stability, but it also unexpectedly lowers their odds of ever marrying, according to a study by Cornell University sociologist Kelly Musick being published in the February issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family (available online: http://bit.ly/yt9uwJ).

Levels of burnout in UK general practice are high, suggests a study of general practitioners (GPs) in one area of South East England, published in BMJ Open.

Male doctors, those who work in group practices, and those who repeatedly see the same patients seem to be at significantly greater risk, the research shows, prompting the authors to declare that "a significant group of doctors is in trouble."

Sophia Antipolis -- The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) welcomes an "intriguing" study, published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, featuring a completely novel approach for improving endothelial function in heart failure¹. In the "hypothesis generating" study, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) delivered significant improvements in peak post ischemic blood flow in the arm, a trend for improvement in peak post ischemic blood flow in the leg, but failed to show benefits in exercise capacity and several inflammatory markers.

WASHINGTON, DC (January 30, 2012) – Updated appropriate use criteria released today offer detailed guidance on when to use an invasive procedure to improve blood flow to the heart and how to choose the best procedure for each patient. The clinical scenarios, written by a group of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, affirm the role of revascularization for patients with acute coronary syndromes and significant symptoms.

More research and programs are needed to address the elevated rate of motor vehicle-related deaths among American Indian and Alaska Native populations, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy. To better understand this racial and ethnic disparity, the authors conducted a systematic review of literature published over the past twenty years and found just seven studies describing the problem, and only seven that tested interventions.

A national study of Medicaid data shows most young people who present to emergency departments with deliberate self-harm are discharged to the community, without receiving an emergency mental health assessment. Even more, a roughly comparable proportion of these patients receive no outpatient mental health care in the following month. These are the findings from a study conducted by researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital that appears in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

San Diego -- Republicans and Democrats are less divided in their attitudes than popularly believed, according to new research. It is exactly those perceptions of polarization, however, that help drive political engagement, researchers say.

Whenever we fall ill, there are many different factors that come together to influence the course of our illness. Additional medical conditions, stress levels, and social support all have an impact on our health and well-being, especially when we are ill. But a new report suggests that what you think about your illness matters just as much, if not more, in determining your health outcomes.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Jan. 27, 2012 – An itch is just an itch. Or is it?

New research from Gil Yosipovitch, M.D., Ph.D., professor of dermatology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and a world-renowned itch expert, shows that how good scratching an itch feels is related to the itch's location.

While previous studies by Yosipovitch have shown the pleasurability of itching, analysis of itch relief at different body sites and related pleasurability had not been performed until now. The study was published online this month by the British Journal of Dermatology.

Jena (Germany) Girls are not as good at playing football as boys, and they do not have a clue about cars. Instead they know better how to dance and do not get into mischief as often as boys. Prejudices like these are cultivated from early childhood onwards by everyone. "Approximately at the age of three to four years children start to prefer children of the same sex, and later the same ethnic group or nationality," Prof. Dr. Andreas Beelmann of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany) states.

Exacerbation severity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can be reliably assessed with the COPD Assessment Test™ (CAT), according to a new study from the UK.