80 percent of US adults would pay $3 to $6 more a month to have health plans cover newly recommended adult and child vaccines
How much is it worth to you and your family to have a health insurance plan that covers the latest innovations in adult and childhood vaccines for certain types of cancer or even influenza and pneumonia? A new national web-based study from the University of Michigan Health System found that about 80 percent of adults would be willing to pay an additional $
Adolescents who don’t get enough sleep might be jeopardizing their athletic performance, and high school sports teams on the west coast may be at a disadvantage if they play east coast rivals, says Mary Carskadon, PhD, of the Bradley Hasbro Children’s Research Center.
Carskadon, a leader in the field of sleep research, compared the results of studies that measured sleep patterns and circadian rhythms in children and adolescents in the May 24 issue of Clinics in Spor
Microbe in sea squirts key to process
In a project that could have far-reaching implications for natural-product drug development, scientists have shown how a microbe that lives inside sea squirts could be used to biosynthesize a chemical compound that may help fight cancer. The photosynthetic microbe, Prochloron didemni, lives as an endosymbiont inside the sea squirt Lissoclinum patella. So far, scientists have not been able to culture the microbe anywhere else.
Groun
Often considered a relic of the 1970’s culture, marijuana is no longer a baby boom generation issue. Today, nearly 50 percent of U.S. teenagers try marijuana before they graduate high school, and by 12th grade, about 21 percent are regular users.
Consequently, treatment for marijuana dependence is on the rise, but, researchers have discovered, there’s a catch – withdrawal symptoms, much like those experienced by people quitting cigarettes, cocaine or other drugs, may
Findings have implications for semiconductor industry
Chemists at New York University have elucidated a mechanism by which organic molecules attach to semiconductor surfaces, a finding that has implications for the semiconductor industry. The industry has sought ways to exploit the attachment process for a variety of purposes. The findings, along with a review of the methodology employed in the study, appear in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
The services sector in the United States–which includes everything from restaurants to telecommunications to banking–is a major driving force of the economy, generating about 80 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. As a result, tracking innovation in the services sector is an important indicator of future economic health.
But a new joint research project of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) found that it
According to a systematic review of existing studies, to appear in the May 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the surgical procedure known as an episiotomy, performed in up to 35 percent of U.S. vaginal births, usually provides no benefits.
Moreover, the researchers found that, in some cases, routine use of episiotomy causes more harm to mothers than avoiding its use. An episiotomy is an incision made at the vaginal opening during a birth. The intent, i
A new study suggests that, after surgery, all colon tumors should be tested to learn if the patient may have an inherited syndrome that carries an extremely high risk of cancer. It also suggests that this prescreening can be done using a relatively inexpensive microscopy test already used in hospital pathology laboratories.
The study showed that two to three percent(at least one in 45) of people with colon cancer probably have mutations for the inherited syndrome, known as
Sports announcers already know it, and now Elan Fuld has proven it: clutch hitters really do exist.
The 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania junior studied the phenomenon of clutch hitting in baseball, and his calculations provided statistical evidence that players such as Eddie Murray, Frank Duffy and Luis Gomez were clutch hitters.
A surprising finding in the study was that Bill Buckner, who has gone down in history as one of the game’s worst “choke artists”
A brain scan study suggests that a suspect gene may increase susceptibility to anxiety and depression* by weakening a circuit for processing negative emotion. People with the depression-linked gene variant showed less gray matter and weaker connections in the mood-regulating circuit. How well the circuit was connected accounted for nearly 30 percent of their anxious temperament, researchers at the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) found. Dr. Danie
Women often cite cost as one reason they don’t get regular mammography check-ups, but a new study finds they often misunderstand or simply aren’t aware of benefits in their insurance plans that might help offset any financial burden.
The study authors concluded that mammography screening campaigns may want to include information about insurance and health plan benefits to help reduce what appears to be a major barrier to the exams for some women. The findings appear onli
Exercise in cold water instead of warm water may increase people’s appetites, making it harder for them to lose extra pounds, a University of Florida study finds.
Results indicate people may consume more calories after exercising in cold water, according to Lesley White, a UF researcher who designed the study to better understand why aquatic exercise is often less successful than equal amounts of jogging or cycling for people who want to lose weight. “It’s possible that
Milk thistle, a widely used alternative medicine, is not proven effective in lowering mortality in alcoholic or hepatitis B or C liver disease, according to a systematic review of current evidence.
While some studies found that liver-related mortality may be significantly reduced in patients treated with milk thistle, these findings were not duplicated in the higher quality clinical trials.
However, milk thistle was found safe to us with no serious side effects and with
Pregnant women present during the September 11 World Trade Center collapse have passed on markers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to their unborn babies through transgenerational transmission. The findings strengthen the evidence for in utero or early life risk factors for the later development of adult mental or physical disorders. The study will be published online today in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, one of the four journals produced by The Endocrine Society.
More than one-half of adults surveyed nationwide had seen or heard celebrity endorsements of cancer screening tests, and more than one-fourth of those who had seen or heard an endorsement reported that it made them more likely to undergo the promoted screening test, according to a new study in the May 4 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Celebrity endorsements of cancer screening are becoming increasingly common. High-profile people, such as former New York City Mayor R
Patients with advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumor cells contain extra copies of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene may be more likely to respond to the drug gefitinib (Iressa), and this high gene copy number may be an effective predictor of gefitinib efficacy, according to a new study in the May 4 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
NSCLC is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. In patients with advanced disease, chemoth
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