A new study, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Political Economy, calculates the prospective gains that could be obtained from further progress against major diseases. Kevin M. Murphy and Robert H. Topel, two University of Chicago researchers, estimate that even modest advancements against major diseases would have a significant impact – a 1 percent reduction in mortality from cancer has a value to Americans of nearly $500 billion. A cure for cancer would be worth about $50 t
A new study recently published in Journal of Vision, an online, free access publication of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), shows that an individual’s navigation skills can be measured by using an immersive virtual “forest” in which peripheral visual field losses are simulated.
The study, conducted by researchers from the Lions Vision Center, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., involved varying the study participants’ visual
Researchers at the University of Manchester are testing a secret herb in a bid to stop the severe hot flushes that besiege breast cancer patients on hormone treatment.
Professor Alex Molassiotis, of the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, says the herb – one of the mint family, found in any kitchen – is thought to stop the hot flushes and night sweats which can be so bad that some women have to change their clothes three or four times a night.
It is tradition
New research shows how radical activists have triggered innovations that are helping move the UK in a more sustainable direction. Long seen as the bane of rational economic progress, these devotees to a greener lifestyle turn out to have been a key source of ideas that have seeded new industries in areas such as food, housing and energy. Rather than dismissing activists as hopelessly idealistic, mainstream business and policy should recognise how they create a diversity of options for sustainabil
Nanotechnology may one day help physicians detect the very earliest stages of serious diseases like cancer, a new study suggests.
It would do so by improving the quality of images produced by one of the most common diagnostic tools used in doctors’ offices – the ultrasound machine.
In laboratory experiments on mice, scientists found that nano-sized particles injected into the animals improved the resulting images. This study is one of the first reports showing that ultr
The disadvantages of locking the front doors of psychiatric units outnumber the advantages by more than two to one according to a study published in the latest Journal of Clinical Nursing.
Researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden interviewed 40 mental health nurses and nursing assistants working on seven Swedish psychiatric inpatient wards with locked entrance doors.
The majority of patients in their care (45 per cent) had been diagnosed with mood disorders, 33 per
chronic illness, mental health problems go unchecked
Already displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, thousands of families in FEMA-subsidized temporary housing in Louisiana are facing a second crisis, according to a new study issued today by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and The Children’s Health Fund. The study found this displaced group is suffering from a host of serious medical and mental health problems, but receiving little or no treatment
Findings may also shed light on ’choice defecit’ disorders, such as eating disorders, compulsive gambling, & drug abuse
Researchers at Harvard Medical School (HMS) report in the April 23 issue of Nature that they have identified neurons that encode the values that subjects assign to different items. The activity of these neurons might facilitate the process of decision-making that occurs when someone chooses between different goods.
“We have long known that d
The Académie des sciences has just submitted its 21st science and technology report to the French government. The report looks at science in developing countries, particularly in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa. It was coordinated by François Gros, and involved more than 35 contributors. CIRAD participated in the working group (P. Debré, M. Griffon, C. Freud) and in several chapters on Franco-African agricultural research (F. Maraux), food and nutrition (N. Bricas), animal resources and heal
Primary care physicians (PCP) care for basic health problems of the population and facilitate the referral to specialists, the second level of health care. That is to say, PCPs identify pathologies and help establishing a connection with the health system network. Dermatology is one of the public health areas where the ability of PCPs could contribute with more benefits. A study promoted by researchers of the Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), in collabor
Duke-led team ran some 1,000 computer simulations, covering 1,000 years, to get a longer-range assessment
Duke-led team ran some 1,000 computer simulations, covering 1,000 years, to get a longer-range assessmentDURHAM, N.C. — Instrumental readings made during the past century offer ample evidence that carbon dioxide and other “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere are warming Earth’s climate, a team led by Duke University scientists has reported. But by analyzing indirect ev
Playground taunts may seem like harmless child’s play, but bullying may keep overweight children on the sidelines, making it more difficult for them to shed pounds, University of Florida researchers say.
Most kids are bullied at some point in their lives, but overweight children are more often the targets of bullies’ slings and arrows. Now a new UF study reveals this frequently leads them to avoid situations where they have been picked on before, such as gym class and
Concerns about the use of letrozole, an easy-to-use and inexpensive drug for the treatment of infertility, appear to be unfounded, according to a major study co-authored by Dr. Togas Tulandi, Director of Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Jewish General Hospital, and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at McGill University. Their findings, which are currently available in an early online edi
A new study from the Netherlands on preventive treatment of unruptured intracranial aneurysms shows higher costs for endovascular coiling than for treatment by surgical clipping, mostly because of the more expensive coils. The study is being published in the journal “Cerebrovascular Diseases”.
To determine in detail the costs of the two treatments, the University Medical Centre Utrecht assessed patients who were treated for an unruptured aneurysm between 1997 and 2003. Patients tre
Study generates genes, some previously considered, for further study
The findings of a meta-analysis of microarray data of several mouse models that differ in voluntary alcohol consumption highlight new neurobiological targets for further study and provide researchers a novel statistical approach for use in future microarray meta-analyses. Insight into the genetic differences in gene expression associated with different levels of drinking may lead to a better understanding
A new study from Columbia University Medical Center researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia, who are members of the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG), suggests that certain changes in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels may serve as surrogate endpoints for prostate cancer survival. Researchers looking to speed up the process of clinical trials have suggested that these biomarkers could be used to measure treatment efficacy.
Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a
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