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Economic burden of job-related injuries and illnesses in the U.S.

In the first comprehensive review of its kind since 1992, a UC Davis researcher has estimated the national annual price tag of occupational injuries and illnesses at $250 billion, much higher than generally assumed.

19 Jan 2012

Cognitive training increases openness to new experiences in older adults

A program designed to boost cognition in older adults also increased their openness to new experiences, researchers report, demonstrating for the first time that a non-drug intervention in older adults can change a personality trait once thought to be fixed throughout the lifespan.

19 Jan 2012

First study to look at nonverbal communication and race in older patients

When communicating with white patients, black physicians may face greater challenges than their white counterparts, according to a University of South Carolina study.

19 Jan 2012

New hypothesis seeks to explain how stress can cause obesity

Stress can make you fat - and being obese can create stress. A new hypothesis seeks to explain how. Diet and lack of exercise are not sufficient to explain the worldwide rise in obesity. Stress is one of many other factors which could contribute, according to human biologist Brynjar Foss from the University of Stavanger.

19 Jan 2012

First study to examine years of life lost in Brisbane climate change

Queensland University of Technology (QUT), in collaboration with CSIRO, has conducted a world-first study into the potential impact climate change will have on 'years of life lost' in Brisbane.

19 Jan 2012

Live interactive consultations can improve clinical outcomes for patients

UC Davis Health System dermatologists, using videoconferencing technology known as teledemedicine, have determined that live interactive consultations can improve clinical outcomes for patients because they usually involve beneficial changes in medical diagnosis and disease management that otherwise might not occur.

19 Jan 2012

Nearly 1 out of 7 Texas college students participate in Choking Game

Nearly one out of seven college students surveyed at a Texas university has participated in the Choking Game, a dangerous behavior where blood flow is deliberately cut off to the brain in order to achieve a high, according to a study by The Crime Victims' Institute at Sam Houston State University.

19 Jan 2012

Sport can be effective in reducing reconviction rate of offenders

A new research project into the role of sport in rehabilitating young prisoners has found that sport can be effective in reducing the reconviction rate of offenders.

18 Jan 2012

Pediatric research project to expand data collection linked to newborn screening results

Within the first days of life, screening tests are performed on all newborns born in the U.S. to identify rare and often life-threatening medical conditions that are not apparent at birth. These newborn screening programs have been operating for decades, permitting doctors to intervene early and improve outcomes in potentially devastating conditions.

18 Jan 2012

Reverse integration and wheelchair athletes playing basketball

Wheelchair basketball: It's a fast, skillful game, dazzling to watch, gruelling to play. It's also a sport that in Canada has become one of the most inclusive, welcoming athletes with disability and able-bodied athletes alike to its leagues and teams. And athletes like it that way.

18 Jan 2012

New pathways in battle against obesity and other lifestyle diseases

The world is encountering an epidemic of obesity, heart disease and diabetes. In the west it is already widespread and it is now exploding in the developing world with the rapid change in the lifestyles of recent generations.

18 Jan 2012

Ethanol, nonalcoholic compounds in red wine may reduce risk of vascular disease

Observational epidemiologic studies relating wine and alcohol to health all suffer from the fact that they, of necessity, compare people who prefer certain beverages, but not the beverages themselves. While there have been many intervention trials in animals, randomized trials in humans are less common. Randomized crossover trials, in which each subject receives all interventions in sequence, can be especially important as they tend to avoid baseline differences among subjects and can detect effects of different interventions with smaller numbers of subjects.

18 Jan 2012

Insights into rates and impact of mTBI among military personnel in Iraq/Afghanistan

As the last U.S. troops return home from Iraq, new research lends timely insights into the rates and impact of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) among military personnel serving in Iraq/Afghanistan, according to a topical issue of The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation (JHTR), the official journal of the Brain Injury Association of America.

18 Jan 2012

No significant change in prevalence of obesity in the U.S.

There has not been significant change in the prevalence of obesity in the U.S., with data from 2009-2010 indicating that about one in three adults and one in six children and teens are obese; however, there have been increases in certain demographics, according to two studies being published by JAMA. The studies are being released online first because of their public health importance.

18 Jan 2012

SERI researchers receive NEI grant to understand origins of eye allergies

The National Eye Institute has awarded researchers at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, a subsidiary of Mass. Eye and Ear, a five year-grant totaling more than $2.4 million to understand the origins of eye allergies.

18 Jan 2012

Inmates with severe mental illnesses alone have lower rates of recidivism

People with mental illness have gotten a bad rap in past research studies, being labeled the group of people with the highest return rates to prison. But a researcher from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University counters those findings in a new study-demonstrating that inmates with severe mental illnesses alone actually have lower rates of recidivism than those with substance abuse issues or no mental or substance abuse issues.

18 Jan 2012

Innovative computer algorithm identifies clinically prognostic marker for cancer

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have used an innovative mathematical technique to find markers that effectively predict how deadly a cancer will be. The discovery, which in this case concerned bladder cancer, could lead to faster, less expensive and more accurate analysis of cancer risk and better treatment of the disease.

18 Jan 2012

Sleep strongly 'protects' negative emotional response

A recent study by sleep researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is the first to suggest that a person's emotional response after witnessing an unsettling picture or traumatic event is greatly reduced if the person stays awake afterward, and that sleep strongly "protects" the negative emotional response.

18 Jan 2012

Alnylam sues Tekmira over LNP-formulated siRNA molecules

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation in the U.S. District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

18 Jan 2012

Rumor-mongering can prevent exploitation and lower stress

For centuries, gossip has been dismissed as salacious, idle chatter that can damage reputations and erode trust. But a new study from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests rumor-mongering can have positive outcomes such as helping us police bad behavior, prevent exploitation and lower stress.

17 Jan 2012