Nearly nine out of ten seniors switch their primary care physicians because they are forced to – not by choice. That’s the finding of research published in the November edition of The Journal of the American Board of Family Practice.
Analyzing survey data from nearly 800 patients 65 and older, researchers found that 14 percent of seniors changed physicians in a single year. Of those, almost nine out of 10 changed their physicians involuntarily. Insurance-related reasons acc
Not all congestion-producing, ear-popping, runny-nosed, headachy chronic rhinosinusitis infections are the same, researchers have found.
Rather, this problem that afflicts some 30 million Americans annually has four severity classifications that could help guide treatment today and help find better treatments in the future, says the lead author on the study published in the November issue of The Laryngoscope. “The way we have been reporting on chronic sinusitis is we lump it all t
Understanding how the air and sea interact and affect each other during hurricane conditions is crucial in predicting the storm track, its intensity, storm surges, and ocean wave fields. When scientists create computer models to help them assess the parameters of a hurricane, they must take into account not only the atmospheric conditions of the storm, but also the conditions in the ocean, including the age and the frequency of waves.
In the current issue of the Journal of the
Possible links to DiGeorge syndrome, schizophrenia also seen
Tiny bits of short-lived genetic material called microRNAs, or miRNAs, have attracted enormous interest from scientists since their discovery in humans only a few years ago. Viewed most broadly, they appear to play significant roles in controlling gene expression and development in many different settings.
Now, a new study from researchers at The Wistar Institute identifies for the first time a molecular comple
In one of the world’s fastest growing industrial regions, a study finding that a class of pollutants exist at levels four times that of U.S. air quality standards has prompted a Hong Kong public policy group to call for government standards on fine particulate matter. The finding was released by Civic Exchange, a non-profit public policy think tank comprised of scientists as well as representatives from the power and oil industries, government and civic organizations.
The study
Two new Penn State studies show that people who pursue a healthy, low-fat, low-energy-density diet that includes more water-rich foods, such as fruits and vegetables, consume more food but weigh less than people who eat a more energy-dense diet.
Dr. Barbara Rolls, who holds the Guthrie Chair of Nutrition in Penn State’s College of Health and Human Development, directed the studies. She says, “In one of the studies, we looked at the eating patterns of 7,500 men and women who c
In a study to be published Nov. 18 in The New England Journal of Medicine, Stroke Team doctors at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston say they may have discovered a new tool to use in the treatment of strokes.
Physicians in Houston and three other centers used a hand-held extracranial ultrasound device to target stroke-causing blood clots during the pilot study. The sound waves are believed to seek out the clot and deliver a heavy dose of the clot-busting drug tPA t
Opens the door for new therapeutic targets
Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) and the University of Toronto (U of T) have confirmed that childhood and adult brain tumours originate from cancer stem cells and that these stem cells fuel and maintain tumour growth. This discovery has led to development of a mouse model for human brain tumours and opens the door for new therapeutic targets for the treatment of brain tumours. This research is reported in the Nov
Some 100 species of birds are what scientists call “obligate brood parasites”–instead of building nests and raising their own young, they lay their eggs in the nests of other species and let those birds do the hard work of parenting for them. The black-headed duck of South America is one of these, but it stands out from all the others in a striking way. Black-headed ducks don’t need any parental care other than incubation for their eggs–the ducklings leave the nest one day after hatchin
Technology could aid explosive detection, cancer screening, more
Electrical engineers at Rice University in Houston have demonstrated the world’s first endoscope for terahertz imaging, a discovery that could extend the reach of terahertz-based sensors for applications as wide-ranging as explosives detection, cancer screening and industrial and post-production quality control.
The research appears in the Nov. 18 issue of the journal Nature. It presents the emerging te
Humans evolved from ape-like ancestors because they needed to run long distances – perhaps to hunt animals or scavenge carcasses on Africa’s vast savannah – and the ability to run shaped our anatomy, making us look like we do today.
That is the conclusion of a study published in the Nov. 18 issue of the journal Nature by University of Utah biologist Dennis Bramble and Harvard University anthropologist Daniel Lieberman. The study is featured on Nature’s cover.
B
Researchers find no role for RET-independent GFR-alpha in development or regeneration
Neurons depend on external molecular signals for their very survival. These molecules, collectively referred to as neurotrophic factors, include a family of four GDNF Family Ligands (GFLs) that bind to specific receptor sites on the surfaces of neural cells. These sites allow GFLs to signal through a receptor complex composed of the RET tyrosine kinase and a GFRá-family receptor. Tyrosine kinases,
LRRK2 gene may play a central role in the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative disorders
A team of researchers at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., and colleagues in Canada and Germany have discovered a gene and six mutations of it that cause symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. Their discovery will be reported in the Nov. 18 issue of the journal, Neuron. The team found a mutation of the gene, named LRRK2, in members of six
New research suggests that higher levels of abdominal fat put people at just as much risk for future disability as overall body fat. The results were reported today by Denise Houston, Ph.D., from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, at the annual meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity in Las Vegas, Nev.
Houston and colleagues found that middle-age adults who had the highest levels of abdominal fat reported having the most difficulty perfor
An international team of scientists is currently evaluating sediment cores collected during the Arctic Coring Expedition, ACEX, conducted under the auspices of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). ACEX, conducted in August and September this year, is an exploration success story. At a press conference in the University of Bremen, Germany, today (16 November 2004) the co-chief scientists of the expedition described the first results from this expedition.
Scientists from
These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, show the detailed structure of Coprates Catena, a southern part of the Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars.
The images were taken during orbit 438 with a ground resolution of approximately 43 metres per pixel. The displayed region covers an area centred at about latitude 14° South and longitude 301° East.
Coprates Catena is a chain of collapsed structures, which run
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