Study shows that pilots who drink and drive are at higher risk to crash planes background ’DWI’ checks effective: Study shows that pilots who drink and drive are at higher risk to crash planes

General aviation pilots with a previous conviction for driving while intoxicated (DWI) are 43 percent more likely to crash their plane than pilots with no history of DWI, according to a new study of more than 300,000 pilot records by researchers at Johns Hopkins. The Hopkins findings,

The assumption that women avoid mammograms for fear of pain is challenged in a study published in the February 2005 issue of The American Journal of Roentgenology, which finds that women undergoing screening mammography report minimal levels of distress.

“I think it’s an old wives tale that mammograms hurt,” says the study’s lead author Alice Domar, PhD, Director of the Mind/Body Center for Women’s Health at Boston IVF and senior psychologist in the Department of

A new study adds potentially fatal blood infections to the list of health risks from diabetes, a condition that is on the rise in the United States as obesity rates climb, according to the Feb. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

Researchers have known for years that obesity and diabetes are linked. Most diabetics have type 2 diabetes–and most people with type 2 diabetes are obese. Diabetes can cause a host of health troubles, including kidney probl

New Boston College/UMass study analyzes student computer use and test performance

Regular use of computers can have an effect on student performance on standardized tests, according to a new study by researchers at Boston College and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

Analyzing test performance and computer uses of 986 fourth grade students from 55 classrooms in nine Massachusetts school districts, the study found that the more regularly students use computers t

The recently formed Social Contexts and Responses to Risk network (SCARR) will be launched at a conference in Canterbury 28 – 29 January.

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and co-ordinated by Professor Peter Taylor-Gooby and Dr Jens Zinn from the University of Kent, the SCARR network brings together social scientists from a wide range of backgrounds, including sociologists, psychologists, and media, law and social policy experts. Risks are at the centre

In an age when neither jobs nor marriages are for life, how do people perceive and weigh-up their options for partnering, reproduction and employment?

Precisely what those starting out on adult life today are prepared to ‘take a chance on’, and what kind of security they seek, are to be investigated in new ESRC-funded research led by Professor Jane Lewis of the London School of Economics. Rebellious students in the late 1960s were contemptuous of what may be termed ‘the standard

Stories in their own words from men and women directly caught up in debates and controversies over threats from technologies to themselves and their environment are to be recorded and analysed in new research sponsored by the ESRC.

This new approach, which pays much more attention to how ordinary people understand risks in the context of their everyday lives, could give them a greater say with planners and policy-makers, according to Professor Nick Pidgeon, who is leading a pro

Social science is regarded as a relatively inexpensive area of research, but human decision processes are as complex and elusive as anything in biology, physics or chemistry, and the resources needed to study them effectively are considerable.

That is the view of the man leading a ground-breaking ESRC-funded investigation of new ways to design survey questions which come as close as possible to how we actually weigh the pros and cons of issues affecting our lives.

Profess

Understanding molecular double action of tzds to reduce side effects

In an attempt to find a new generation of diabetic drugs that will minimize side effects, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine report a new understanding of how thiazolidinediones (TZDs), widely used diabetic medications, work in fat cells. With yearly sales exceeding billions of dollars, TZDs – such as rosiglitazone maleate (Avandia) and pioglitazone hydrochloride (Actos) – help to mai

In a recent animal study, researchers from the Division of Cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in collaboration with the University of California, Los Angeles, have found that over time, the absorption of nicotine after myocardial infarction (MI) significantly increases the incidence of cardiac fibrosis in canine hearts. This reaction promotes a kind of rapid heart rhythm that has many similarities to typical human atrial flutter, a potentially life-threatening condition that affects appr

Two studies to be published tomorrow (Thursday 27 January) in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal, Human Reproduction[1],[2] provide a generally optimistic picture about attitudes towards the increasing trend in society to be more open about the use of sperm donors. However, they indicate that not all parents are comfortable with the new openness, there are still many unknowns about attitudes and further research and public education will be needed.

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A study by New York University researchers reveals a new function for the nerve cells that regulate circadian rhythms of behavior in fruit flies.

The nerve cells, called pacemaker neurons, contain a molecular clock that controls a 24-hour circadian rhythm in activity similar to the rhythms in sleep/wake cycles found in humans and many other organisms. It was previously known that pacemaker neurons receive visual signals to reset their molecular clocks, but scientists did not have

Parts of the human brain think about the same word differently, at least when it comes to prepositions, according to new language research in stroke patients conducted by scientists at Purdue University and the University of Iowa.

People who speak English often use the same prepositions, words such as “on,” “in,” “around” and “through,” to indicate time as well as location. For example, compare “I will meet you ’at’ the store,” to “I will meet you ’at’ 3 p.m.

Findings highlight need for improved doctor/ patient communication about important preventive therapy

Preliminary survey results released today by the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM) found that 43% of U.S. adults aged 40 and older who are at increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) events – and therefore potential candidates for doctor-recommended aspirin therapy based on current American Heart Association guidelines – are not utilizing aspirin therapy to reduce their ri

Social phobia or social anxiety disorder is a common and distressing problem that can cause sufferers immense difficulties in all areas of their lives, affecting their performance at work and personal relationships.

Now, a team of researchers at the University of Southampton is about to embark on a study which aims to develop a better understanding of how emotions such as social phobia affect sufferers’ thinking and attention. Their findings could help to develop strategies in th

For the first time, sociologists have mapped the romantic and sexual relationships of an entire high school over 18 months, providing evidence that these adolescent networks may be structured differently than researchers previously thought.

The results showed that, unlike many adult networks, there was no core group of very sexually active people at the high school. There were not many students who had many partners and who provided links to the rest of the community.

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