Culture

INDIANAPOLIS – A study of the 5.3 million men and women seen in Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinics in a one-year period found that use of cocaine is predictive of open-angle glaucoma, the most common type of glaucoma.

The study revealed that after adjustments for race and age, current and former cocaine users had a 45 percent increased risk of glaucoma. Men with open-angle glaucoma also had significant exposures to amphetamines and marijuana, although less than cocaine.

LONDON, ON - Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. Although it can be treated, new research shows Canadians may not be doing enough to protect themselves. According to a new study by Lawson Health Research Institute's Dr. Cindy Hutnik, many Canadian glaucoma patients are not screened until the disease has reached moderate or advanced stages.

Tobacco companies knew that cigarette smoke contained radioactive alpha particles for more than four decades and developed "deep and intimate" knowledge of these particles' cancer-causing potential, but they deliberately kept their findings from the public, claim UCLA researchers.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Newly discovered subtle markers of heart damage hidden in plain sight among hours of EKG recordings could help doctors identify which heart attack patients are at high risk of dying soon.

That's according to a new study involving researchers from the University of Michigan, MIT, Harvard Medical School, and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. It is published in the Sept. 28 edition of Science Translational Medicine.

America rules the world in biomedical research because it is not reliant on taxpayer funding. Despite claims that basic science is only done at universities, the private sector in the US goes out of its way to avoid government involvement of its pure research. In Europe, the research system is heavily weighted toward taxpayer-financing and biomedical research does well compared to the relatively small funds available - but to do better would require a more American approach.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified the first genetic variant associated with severity of coronary artery disease in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Though this variant is not likely the cause of more severe coronary disease, the researchers say, it implicates a gene that could be. Such a gene has promise as a future target for treating coronary artery disease in diabetic patients.

Brussels, 28 September 2011 – The EU Joint Research Centre (JRC) has developed a statistical modelling tool which allows the risk of conflict occurrence in developing countries to be analysed. Combining online news reports with geographical satellite data, the tool establishes a link between natural resources and the risk of conflict. A key advance is the very detailed scale of the data (most being gathered to the square kilometre) and the fact that the modelling is based on the seriousness of the conflicts.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Pediatricians in Appalachia are less likely than doctors in other areas to encourage parents to have their children receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, according to a new study.

The results are alarming because HPV infection is the most important risk factor for cervical cancer – and studies show that Appalachian women are more likely to get cervical cancer and to die from it than women living elsewhere.

Ancient kings certainly did not feel this way, but a new study suggests when you start a new job, your boss may be more likely to trust you than you are to trust him or her and the reason has to with the role that social status plays in relationships.

In three separate experiments, researchers found that high-status people tended to trust people more in initial encounters than did people with lower status. One experiment showed why: high-status people rated others as more benevolent, which led them to trust more.

Does the criminal justice system favor rehabilitating the bad guys instead of stopping crime or punishing it?

A new study into victim's satisfaction with the criminal justice system has found many victims feel their involvement in the justice system adds to their feelings of loss and trauma.

Generosity is typically regarded as a virtue. But among leaders, it can be seen as a sign of weakness, according to a new study. The research finds that generosity — in the sense of contributing to the public good — influences a person's status on two critical dimensions: prestige and dominance.

The researchers define dominance as an imposed "alpha status," whereas prestige is freely-conferred admiration from others. Al Capone, for example, can be viewed as a high-dominance individual, whereas Mother Theresa exudes high prestige.

WASHINGTON, DC, September 22, 2011 — The drinking habits of a romantic partner's friends are more likely to impact an adolescent's future drinking than are the behaviors of an adolescent's own friends or significant other, according to a new study in the October issue of the American Sociological Review.

Discussing and documenting patients' preferences for care at the end of life does not cause them any harm, contrary to recent claims. A new study published today in the Journal of Hospital Medicine found that patients who talk with their physicians about end-of-life care and have an advance directive in their medical record have similar survival rates as patients who do not have these discussions and documents.

San Diego, CA, September 28, 2011 – If future physicians are to best serve the changing health needs of patients and their communities, medical education must put greater emphasis on public health and prevention, experts say in a supplement to October's American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM).

There is a great deal of interest in the unequal health care caused by postcode lotteries because the area you live in can impact the treatment you receive for cancer treatment, surgery or GP care. Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Public Health shows that there are also geographic differences in the implementation of public health programs.