Culture

HOUSTON – (Nov. 8, 2011) - Patients who are not candidates for traditional surgery for severe carotid artery disease lesions could be treated with carotid artery stenting, according to results of a small feasibility study by cardiologists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

The results were presented today by lead investigator Colin M. Barker, M.D., at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation's annual scientific symposium, Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2011 in San Francisco.

Almost three-quarters of Standard & Poor's top 500 US companies mentioned one or more sustainability programs on their websites. A new study shows that the largest companies are doing so in order to attract and maintain a profitable customer base rather than to actually incorporate and promote sustainability. Nevertheless, the side effect of their promotional efforts may be to boost such efforts within their company and have an impact on increasing adoption across various industries and services.

People addicted to prescription painkillers reduce their opioid abuse when given sustained treatment with the medication buprenorphine plus naloxone (Suboxone), according to research published in yesterday's Archives of General Psychiatry and conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study, which was the first randomized large scale clinical trial using a medication for the treatment of prescription opioid abuse, also showed that the addition of intensive opioid dependence counseling provided no added benefit.

According to scientists, carbon monoxide (CO), a tasteless, colorless and odorless gas, is not only a danger to the environment but also highly toxic to human beings. Found in the exhaust of vehicles and generators, CO has been dubbed the "silent killer" because excessive inhalation is lethal, poisoning the nervous system and heart.

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Community health centers (CHCs) and primary care providers working in other settings will increasingly become America's obesity "first responders," needed to provide weight-related health services as the nation continues to implement the Affordable Care Act. In a paper released today, the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance identified a wide gap between the anticipated increase of people with weight-related conditions entering the health care system and a corresponding limited number of health professionals who are trained to help them.

Bisexual women are more likely than their male counterparts to suffer from depression and stress and to binge-drink, according to a new national study led by George Mason University researcher Lisa Lindley.

Bisexual women also are at greater risk to smoke and be victimized, the research finds.

"Why?" Lindley wonders. "That's what we keep asking."

MADISON -- If you are a male human, nothing puts a damper on romantic success like having your mother in tow. If you are a male northern muriqui monkey, however, mom's presence may be your best bet to find and successfully mate with just the right girl at the right time.

Satellite imagery has uncovered new evidence of a lost civilization of the Sahara in Libya's south-western desert wastes that will help re-write the history of the country.

Using satellites and air-photographs to identify the remains in one of the most inhospitable parts of the desert, a British team has discovered more than 100 fortified farms and villages with castle-like structures and several towns, most dating between AD 1-500.

HOUSTON - The survival rates for older women with breast cancer lag behind younger women diagnosed with the disease, indicating that the elder population may be missing out on improvements in treatment and detection, according to new research from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, is one of the first to identify whether the improvements made in breast cancer outcomes over the past three decades have been experienced by women of all ages, or only by certain age subsets.

PHILADELPHIA (November 7, 2011)— A safe working environment for nurses is also a safe environment for the patients in their care, according to a new study led by public health researchers at Drexel University. Researchers, led by Dr. Jennifer Taylor, an assistant professor in Drexel's School of Public Health, found that safety climate was associated with both patient and nurse injuries, suggesting that patient and nurse safety may be linked outcomes. The study was published online in BMJ Quality and Safety in October.

San Francisco — A human monoclonal antibody developed by MassBiologics of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) given to patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection undergoing liver transplantation significantly suppressed the virus for at least a week after transplant and delayed the time to viral rebound. Results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 study were presented this week at The Liver Meeting®, the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, in San Francisco.

A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy finds fire and life safety programs in Delaware offer a strategic, comprehensive and coordinated approach to fire prevention. The study, which involved in-depth interviews with members of the state's fire service, highlights the diversity of prevention initiatives underway in the state and documents how tradition, dedication, and a sense of community are keys to success for the program.

CHESTNUT HILL, MA (11/7/2011) – Credit card customers are likely to pay less toward their credit card debt because their monthly bills display information about the minimum required payment amount, American and British researchers report in the Journal of Marketing Research.

When bookmakers set the over/under line for NFL games they tend to give weight to the number of points a team scored in its immediate previous game. But that statistic is a poor predictor of the number of points to be scored in the next game.

That's what three researchers found when they analyzed over/under lines and the results of more than 190 National Football League games played in 2010 and the impacts of several variables used to set the betting line.

Health care costs for hepatitis C patients with end-stage liver disease are nearly 2.5 times higher than those in the early stages, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study.

Although infection with the hepatitis C virus increases health care costs overall, the specific impact of the disease's progressive severity on health care costs has previously not been well studied.