November 17, 2014, PORTLAND, Ore. -- People who received automated reminders were more likely to refill their blood pressure and cholesterol medications, according to a study published today in a special issue of the American Journal of Managed Care. The study, which included more than 21,000 Kaiser Permanente members, found that the average improvement in medication adherence was only about 2 percentage points, but the authors say that in a large population, even small changes can make a big difference. "This small jump might not mean a lot to an individual patient, ...

This news release is available in Spanish. Although maize was originally domesticated in Mexico, the country's average yield per hectare is 38% below the world's average. In fact, Mexico imports 30% of its maize from foreign sources to keep up with internal demand. To combat insect pests, Mexican farmers rely primarily on chemical insecticides. Approximately 3,000 tons of active ingredient are used each year just to manage the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), in addition to even more chemicals used to control other pests such as the corn earworm (Helicoverpa ...

In the aquatic environment, suction feeding is far more common than biting as a way to capture prey. A new study shows that the evolution of biting behavior in eels led to a remarkable diversification of skull shapes, indicating that the skull shapes of most fish are limited by the structural requirements for suction feeding. "When you look at the skulls of biters, the diversity is astounding compared to suction feeders," said Rita Mehta, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz. With more than 800 species, including both suction feeders ...

For the first time, scientists have vividly mapped the shapes and textures of high-order modes of Brownian motions--in this case, the collective macroscopic movement of molecules in microdisk resonators--researchers at Case Western Reserve University report. To do this, they used a record-setting scanning optical interferometry technique, described in a study published today in the journal Nature Communications. The new technology holds promise for multimodal sensing and signal processing, and to develop optical coding for computing and other information-processing ...

Chronic myeloid leukemia develops when a gene mutates and causes an enzyme to become hyperactive, causing blood-forming stem cells in the bone marrow to grow rapidly into abnormal cells. The enzyme, Abl-kinase, is a member of the "kinase" family of enzymes, which serve as an "on" or "off" switch for many functions in our cells. In chronic myeloid leukemia, the hyperactive Abl-kinase is targeted with drugs that bind to a specific part of the enzyme and block it, aiming to ultimately kill the fast-growing cancer cell. However, treatments are often limited by the fact that ...

One of the key reasons the Ebola outbreak got out of control in West Africa in the early days of the crisis was a lack of trust among community members, frontline health workers and the broader health system, suggests new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research. Had the citizens and their health care community developed a trusting relationship prior to the outbreak, important messages about the disease and how to stop its spread would likely have gotten through to people much sooner and slowed the march of Ebola, says Timothy Roberton, MPH, MA, a DrPH ...

People who frequently cook meals at home eat healthier and consume fewer calories than those who cook less, according to new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research. "When people cook most of their meals at home, they consume fewer carbohydrates, less sugar and less fat than those who cook less or not at all - even if they are not trying to lose weight," says Julia A. Wolfson, MPP, a CLF-Lerner Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and lead author of the study. The findings also suggest that those who frequently cooked at home - six-to-seven ...

You can offer young children healthier food choices in the elementary school cafeteria, but will they actually put it on their trays and eat it? Probably not, suggests a new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study. Researchers observed 274 children in kindergarten through second grade in 10 New York City public schools as they selected from the offerings during one lunch period when a chicken-and-vegetable entrée was on the menu. They watched to see whether each of the six-through-eight-year-olds chose a fruit, vegetable, whole grain, low-fat milk ...

Black children are less likely to be diagnosed with and less likely to receive broad-spectrum antibiotics for ear infections than white children are, a new study has found. But the discrepancy in prescribing fewer broad-spectrum antibiotics means black children actually are more likely to receive care that aligns with the recommended guidelines for treating ear infections. Two explanations for the observed disparities in care are overtreatment and overdiagnosis in white children, and undertreatment and underdiagnosis in black children. Addressing behaviors that contribute ...

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 17, 2014 - Commercially available datasets containing a wealth of information about food and alcohol establishments differ significantly, raising concerns about their reliability as sources of information that could be used to set public policy or conduct scientific research, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health investigation. The analysis, funded by the Aetna Foundation, will be presented Monday at the American Public Health Association's (APHA) annual meeting in New Orleans. It examined systematic differences in two ...

Organs can become significantly damaged during transplantation, but a new article published in the BJS (British Journal of Surgery) offers a protective strategy that could keep them safe and allow them to function optimally after the procedure. When an organ is transplanted from a donor to a recipient, there is a period of time when the organ is deprived of normal blood flow. While this in itself can cause tissue damage, additional damage may also occur when blood flow is restored to the organ due to a high risk of blood clotting. Investigators led by Thierry Hauet, ...

Researchers working on artificial intelligence at Queen Mary University of London have taught a computer to create magic tricks. The researchers gave a computer program the outline of how a magic jigsaw puzzle and a mind reading card trick work, as well the results of experiments into how humans understand magic tricks, and the system created completely new variants on those tricks which can be delivered by a magician. The magic tricks created were of the type that use mathematical techniques rather than sleight of hand or other theatrics, and are a core part of many ...

As many as 80 million bacteria are transferred during a 10 second kiss, according to research published in the open access journal Microbiome. The study also found that partners who kiss each other at least nine times a day share similar communities of oral bacteria. The ecosystem of more than 100 trillion microorganisms that live in our bodies - the microbiome - is essential for the digestion of food, synthesizing nutrients, and preventing disease. It is shaped by genetics, diet, and age, but also the individuals with whom we interact. With the mouth playing host to ...

For the first time in history, the complications of preterm birth outrank all other causes as the world's number one killer of young children. Of the estimated 6.3 million deaths of children under the age of five in 2013, complications from preterm births accounted for nearly 1.1 million deaths, according to new findings published in The Lancet by a research team coordinated by Robert Black, M.D., of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, together with World Health Organization and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Specifically, direct complications ...

Long-term overtreatment with the anti-clotting drug warfarin, combined with antiplatelet therapy with aspirin or clopidigrel to prevent stroke, may raise the risk of dementia in people with atrial fibrillation, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014. Atrial fibrillation is a common heart rhythm abnormality that raises the risk of stroke and all common forms of dementia. The mechanisms behind the association of atrial fibrillation and dementia are unknown. "The dual drug regimen is often used to prevent strokes in ...

Emergency room visits for atrial fibrillation have increased significantly in the United States -- causing a major healthcare burden, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014. Atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common kind of arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat, can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications. Researchers analyzed patients from the Nationwide Emergency Department Data who visited the emergency department with AF listed as the first diagnosis in 2006-11. They found: ...

Using an electronic monitoring device may help heart failure patients and their families stick to a low-salt diet, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014. The Family Sodium Watcher Program (Family SWAP) focuses on a partnership between the heart failure patient and a caregiver/member of the family to adapt to the taste of a low-salt diet and includes using an electronic monitoring device to detect salt content in food and avoid high-salt food during the adaptation period. In the three-month trial of 15 patient-caregiver ...

Hospital admissions for acute aortic dissection were highest during peak flu season November-March, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014. Acute aortic dissection (AAD) is a life-threatening condition in which blood leaks from the aorta, the major artery that carries blood from the heart to the body. The leak is often caused by a tear in the inside wall of the aorta. The most common symptom of aortic dissection is sudden and severe chest or upper back pain. Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center ...

Maintaining a healthy heart while young may help prevent future disease and disability, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014. In this study spanning more than three decades, participants who were at low risk for heart and blood vessel disease when young adults were 60 percent less likely to report disability as older adults. To determine risk level, researchers used blood pressure, cholesterol and body mass index measurements, as well as diabetes and smoking status. "People should adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle ...

High blood pressure control continues to improve in the United States, with more than half of those with the condition now achieving readings below 140/90 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), according to new research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014 and simultaneously published in the American Heart Association's journal Hypertension. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2003 and 2012, researchers found: The percentage of patients with hypertension achieving optimal blood pressure ...

WASHINGTON -- Menthol acts in combination with nicotine to desensitize receptors in lungs' airways that are responsible for nicotine's irritation, say neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC). "We know that a menthol cough drop soothes a scratchy, sore throat. The question we looked at is if and how it works when the irritant is nicotine," says a study author, Kenneth Kellar, PhD, a professor of pharmacology at GUMC. The findings, which represent work by Georgetown University investigators in GUMC's Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, will ...

In 2013, University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers published a study with a surprising finding: Patients who suffered an ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) heart attack while in the hospital for something else are more likely to die than patients who had the same type of heart attack outside the hospital. Today the UNC researchers published a new study, based on data from more than 62,000 patients treated at hundreds of hospitals in California, which confirms their earlier finding. "This study is the largest ever performed on patients who ...

Prashant Kaul, M.D., of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and colleagues conducted a study to define the incidence and treatment and outcomes of patients who experience a certain type of heart attack during hospitalization for conditions other than acute coronary syndromes. The study appears in the November 19 issue of JAMA, a cardiovascular disease theme issue. Early restoration of blood flow with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI; a procedure such as stent placement used to open narrowed coronary arteries) or administration of medication to dissolve ...

Matthew D. Ritchey, D.P.T., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, and colleagues examined the contributions of heart disease subtypes to overall heart disease mortality trends during 2000-2010. The study appears in the November 19 issue of JAMA, a cardiovascular disease theme issue. Despite considerable information on overall heart disease (HD) and coronary HD (CHD) mortality trends, less is known about trends for other HD subtypes. The researchers analyzed mortality data from the CDC WONDER database, which contains death certificate information ...

Vivek Y. Reddy, M.D., of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and colleagues examined the long-term efficacy and safety, compared to warfarin, of a device to achieve left atrial appendage closure in patients with atrial fibrillation. The study appears in the November 19 issue of JAMA, a cardiovascular disease theme issue. The left atrial appendage (LAA) is a pouch-like appendix located in the upper left chamber of the heart. Studies have suggested that the LAA is the major source of clots that block blood vessels in patients with atrial fibrillation ...