Culture

Supreme Court rulings can dramatically shape American policies, but the Court's decisions may actually be quite predictable, according to a new study published in the Nov. 9 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE.

Eugenics – the science of improving the human population via selective breeding or reproduction – is not a concept confined to past centuries and decades, nor to locales outside the United States.

SAN FRANCISCO (Nov. 9, 2011; 12:50 p.m.) – Late breaking clinical trial results from testing of cangrelor, an investigational intravenous antiplatelet, showed patients can be "bridged" from the time that their physicians stop their oral antiplatelet drugs until they undergo cardiac surgery. Study results demonstrated cangrelor maintained target levels of platelet inhibition known to be associated with a low risk of thrombotic events, such as stent thrombosis, vs. placebo.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – NOVEMBER 9, 2011 – The risk of late stent thrombosis (ST) in the first generation of drug-eluting stents continues for up to seven years after implantation, and certain types of patients, including smokers and those who are younger, are at higher risk, according to results of the DESERT registry. Results of the trial were presented today at the 23rd annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011 – Non-adherence to antiplatelet therapy – which prevents blood clots following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) – was associated with higher rates of both ischemic and bleeding events at 30 days. Results of the PARIS registry were presented today at the 23rd annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – NOVEMBER 9, 2011 – A clinical trial comparing prasugrel to clopidogrel for patients with high on-clopidogrel platelet reactivity (HCPR) following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was ended early due to relatively few occurrences of cardiac death or myocardial infarction – the primary endpoint – at six month follow up.

Audio engineers have developed a novel artificial intelligence system for understanding and indexing sound, a unique tool for both finding and matching previously un-labeled audio files.

Having concluded beta testing with one of the world's largest Hollywood sound studios and leading media streaming and hosting services, Imagine Research of San Francisco, Calif., is now releasing MediaMinedTM for applications ranging from music composition to healthcare.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – NOVEMBER 9, 2011 – The relationship of platelet responsiveness to antiplatelet medications; and, the correlation of poor response, and overall platelet aggregation while on dual antiplatelet therapy to the risk of drug-eluting stent thrombosis after 30 days was examined in ADAPT-DES, the largest registry to date to fully examine these relationships.

"Long, dark nights are with us now that the clocks have gone back, but they may be held at bay in future years after new research led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine suggests that moving the clock forward all year round could be good for health.".

With concerns about jobs in the headlines around the world, this week's edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) presents a 3-part cover story on the jobs situation for chemists -- whose work directly touches more than 96% of all manufactured goods, with the chemical industry in the United States alone a $674 billion enterprise. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

Scientists are reporting development and successful laboratory testing of an electrochemical sensor device that has the potential to measure blood sugar levels from tears instead of blood — an advance that could save the world's 350 million diabetes patients the discomfort of pricking their fingers for droplets of blood used in traditional blood sugar tests. Their report appears in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry.

DUBLIN, Ireland, Nov. 9, 2011 – Alkermes plc (NASDAQ: ALKS) today presented positive results from a long-term study of VIVITROL® (naltrexone for extended-release injectable suspension) at the 24th Annual U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress in Las Vegas, NV. Results from the one-year, open-label extension of the six-month pivotal study showed sustained efficacy of VIVITROL, as measured by the number of opioid-free urine screens, in patients who received VIVITROL, in combination with psychosocial treatment, for a total of 18 months of treatment.

New York, NY, November 9, 2011—Chronically and seriously ill adults who received care from a medical home—an accessible primary care practice that helps coordinate care—were less likely to report medical errors, test duplication, and other care coordination failures, according to a new Commonwealth Fund international survey of patients' experiences in the U.S. and 10 other high-income countries.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Financial reimbursement and ownership of cardiac imaging equipment appears to influence physicians' use of cardiac stress testing, according to a new study from Duke University Medical Center.

The study finds that doctors who are reimbursed for both performing the test using their equipment and then interpreting the results were 50 to 100 percent more likely to order cardiac imaging tests on their patients than those who don't bill the fees.

The study appears today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

CHICAGO -- Patients treated by physicians who billed for both technical (practice/equipment) and professional (supervision/ interpretation) components of nuclear and echocardiographic stress imaging tests were more likely to undergo such tests after coronary revascularization compared with patients of physicians who did not bill for these services, according to a study in the Nov. 9 issue of JAMA.