A review in The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist (TOG) finds that reducing the risk of stillbirth calls for better monitoring of women during their pregnancy to help find those whose babies' lives could be saved by early delivery. In the UK the absolute risk of stillbirth is low, affecting approximately 4 in 1000 babies (MBRRACE). Although for most cases the exact cause of death is unclear, stillbirth is associated with complications during childbirth, maternal infections during pregnancy, maternal health conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes, foetal growth restriction ...

Several recent U.S. health policies, including the Affordable Care Act, provide incentives for transforming the delivery of health care to improve its value for dollar. Michael K. Gusmano, a Hastings Center scholar, and Frank J. Thompson, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University, critically examine efforts to shape the delivery of Medicaid through demonstration projects called Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Initiatives (DSRIP). Despite political enthusiasm for DSRIP, they conclude in an article in Health Affairs that the evidence supporting its effectiveness ...

Experiments by Carnegie Mellon University showed that significantly fewer women than men were shown online ads promising them help getting jobs paying more than $200,000, raising questions about the fairness of targeting ads online. The study of Google ads, using a CMU-developed tool called AdFisher that runs experiments with simulated user profiles, established that the gender discrimination was real, said Anupam Datta, associate professor of computer science and of electrical and computer engineering. Still unknown, he emphasized, is who or what is responsible. Was ...

Office work will become much less of a pain in the neck if Julie Côté has her way. That`s because this kinesiology researcher who teaches at McGill University is interested in finding ways to reduce or even prevent the kinds of muscular and skeletal stresses and pains that will affect one in ten office workers at some point in their careers. "Even though office workers may not naturally see it that way, their body is basically their work instrument, just as it is for an athlete," says Côté. "It can get injured in similar ways and for similar reasons: ...

PORTLAND, Ore. - Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University, Stanford University, University of Valencia and IGENOMIX have discovered that chromosomal abnormalities in human embryos created for in vitro fertilization, or IVF, can be predicted within the first 30 hours of development at the cell-1 stage which results from the union of a female egg and male sperm. This discovery, published online today in the journal Nature Communications, could improve IVF success rates, which has hovered around 30 to 35 percent for numerous years worldwide. It is estimated that ...

We ask a lot of the land: feed the world with crops, power the world with bioenergy, retain nutrients so they don't pollute our water and air. To help landscapes answer these high demands, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory are designing ways to improve--and hopefully optimize--land use. In collaboration with the farming community of the Indian Creek Watershed in central Illinois, these researchers are finding ways to simultaneously meet three objectives: maximize a farmer's production, grow feedstock for bioenergy and protect ...

How much a child's pupil dilates in response to seeing an emotional image can predict his or her risk of depression over the next two years, according to new research from Binghamton University. VIDEO: https://youtu.be/Wxn6WevWJdk According to Brandon Gibb, professor of psychology at Binghamton University and director of the Mood Disorders Institute and Center for Affective Science, the new findings suggest that physiological reactivity to sad stimuli, assessed using pupillometry, serves as one potential biomarker of depression risk among children of depressed mothers. ...

Fairfax, Va., July 7, 2015--A study of women with cervical or endometrial cancer who require treatment to the para-aortic (PA) lymph nodes can safely receive extended-field intensity modulated radiation therapy (EF-IMRT) without increased risk of duodenal toxicity, according to a study published in the July-August 2015 issue of Practical Radiation Oncology (PRO), the American Society for Radiation Oncology's (ASTRO's) journal focused on the clinical practice of radiation oncology. IMRT is one of the radiation therapy (RT) treatment options for cervical and endometrial ...

Everyone's muscles have different limits. While professional athletes can train for hours before feeling fatigued, others struggle to mow the lawn or climb stairs. No panacea exists to create an equal playing field, nor will one likely be discovered, but a new study from Duke University questions whether this limit can be nutritionally extended. The research appears July 7 in Cell Metabolism as part of a special issue on "Physical Activity and Metabolic Health." The researchers began by identifying an enzyme in skeletal muscle that helps to enhance how much moderate or ...

DURHAM, N.C. - The benefits of exercise are well known, but physical fitness becomes increasingly difficult as people age or develop ailments, creating a downward spiral into poor health. Now researchers at Duke Medicine report there may be a way to improve exercise tolerance and, by extension, its positive effects. Reporting in the July 7 issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, the research team describes a small molecule and its metabolic pathway that work together to optimize energy use in exercising muscles. In mouse studies, animals that received a nutrient supplement ...

CLEVELAND - T cells from patients with melanoma can trigger a protective immune response against the disease according to a new study out of University Hospitals Case Medical Center Seidman Cancer Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Published in the July/August issue of Journal of Immunotherapy, these new findings demonstrate that T cells derived from lymph nodes of patients with melanoma can be expanded in number and activated in the laboratory for intravenous administration in the treatment of patients. Led by Julian Kim, MD, Chief Medical ...

If you're seeing more goat meat in grocery stores and on restaurant menus these days, you can probably chalk it up to a particular expression of ethnic identity--an expression that has important implications for immigrants, marketers, and policymakers, according to a recent study in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. "Goat meat is becoming more popular in America, and in large part it's been due to the desire of immigrants to retain the tastes and preferences of their country of origin," write the authors of the study, Denver D'Rozario and Guang Yang (both at Howard ...

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Typhoon Nangka on July 6 and took an infrared look at the large storm as it strengthened from a tropical storm into a typhoon. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite gathered infrared temperature data on Nangka on July 6 at 15:11 UTC (1:11 p.m. EDT). The infrared data showed a large storm with the bulk of thunderstorms east of the low-level center. The 20 nautical-mile-wide (23 miles/37 km) eye of the storm is also visible on the image. Fragmented bands of powerful thunderstorms surrounded ...

Bringing reusable bags to the grocery store often means you are an environmentally friendly shopper. But it also influences the very things you buy. According to a new study in the Journal of Marketing, bringing your own bags makes you more likely to purchase organic food--and junk food as well. "Grocery store shoppers who bring their own bags are more likely to purchase organic produce and other healthy food. But those same shoppers often feel virtuous, because they are acting in an environmentally responsible way. That feeling easily persuades them that, because they ...

The competition for customers in the service sector is fierce, and new customers are entering the market all the time. So when a company such as Time Warner, Travelocity, or AT&T loses a customer, is it worth it to try to win that customer back? Yes, says a new study in the Journal of Marketing. "Our results show that lost customers, if won back, can be profitable to a company and that so-called win-back initiatives are worth the time and effort," write V. Kumar (Georgia State University), Yashoda Bhagwat , and Xi (Alan) Zhang (both Georgia State University). "In particular, ...

If you feel particularly annoyed when Michelin raises the prices of their tires, blame the Michelin Man. According to a new study in the Journal of Marketing, companies whose brands are represented by or associated with human or humanlike figures (think the Michelin Man or Colonel Sanders or Mrs. Paul) are often perceived to be taking advantage of consumers when they raise their prices. "When brands are humanized, consumers attribute human motives to those brands. Consumers are more likely to see price increases in those brands as the result of a manager trying to see ...

Inside Gramercy maximum security prison, the market for nearly any kind of good or service is extremely limited, to say the least. But according to a new study in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, the severely restricted consumption choices faced by the 3,000 or so inmates at Gramercy create opportunities to pursue innovative and entrepreneurial business ventures. "The men at Gramercy quickly come to understand that the formal system of exchange, from public provision of goods and services to the commissary, is primarily responsive to needs of third parties such ...

In the most inclusive study to date on friendship, Chapman University research looks at gender, age, and sexual orientation differences in the number of friends people rely on for support, to what extent they choose friends of the same gender, and overall life satisfaction. In a survey of more than 25,000 participants from all walks of life, this study examines at how U.S. adults rely on friends for expressive, instrumental and companionate support. Specifically, how many same-gender and cross-gender friends people have who they can talk to about their sex life, who they ...

Over a billion entrepreneurs in the world operate in subsistence economies, often living hand to mouth. Is there a relationship between such poverty and entrepreneurial activity? A new study in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing says yes and sheds light on the way in which two kinds of constrained consumption spur--or in some cases impede--entrepreneurial activity. "There is a complex interplay when it comes to entrepreneurship between what we define as 'chronic' constrained consumption and 'periodic' constrained consumption," write the authors of the study, Srinivas ...

In a study that included nearly 24,000 participants, those who experienced a stroke had an acute decline in cognitive function and also accelerated and persistent cognitive decline over 6 years, according to an article in the July 7 issue of JAMA. Each year, approximately 795,000 U.S. residents experience a stroke. In 2010, almost 7 million adults were stroke survivors. Cognitive decline is a major cause of disability in stroke survivors. The magnitude of survivors' cognitive changes after stroke has been uncertain, according to background information in the article. Deborah ...

In an analysis that included nearly 1.2 million participants and more than 135,000 deaths, mortality associated with a history of diabetes, stroke, or heart attack was similar for each condition, and the risk of death increased substantially with each additional condition a patient had, according to a study in the July 7 issue of JAMA. The prevalence of cardiometabolic multimorbidity (defined in this study as a history of 2 or more of the following: diabetes mellitus, stroke, myocardial infarction [MI; heart attack]) is increasing rapidly. Considerable evidence exists ...

Among patients with a first episode of pulmonary embolism (the obstruction of the pulmonary artery or a branch of it leading to the lungs by a blood clot) who received 6 months of anticoagulant treatment, an additional 18 months of treatment with warfarin reduced the risk of additional blood clots and major bleeding, however, the benefit was not maintained after discontinuation of anticoagulation therapy, according to a study in the July 7 issue of JAMA. When anticoagulant therapy is stopped after 3 to 6 months of treatment, patients with a first episode of unprovoked ...

After years of overtreatment for patients with low-risk prostate cancer, rates of active surveillance/ watchful waiting increased sharply in 2010 through 2013, and high-risk disease was more often treated appropriately with potentially curative local treatment rather than androgen deprivation alone, according to a study in the July 7 issue of JAMA. Matthew R. Cooperberg, M.D., M.P.H., and Peter R. Carroll, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of California, San Francisco, conducted a study to examine recent trends in community-based practice patterns of the management of localized ...

For women with Lynch syndrome, an association was found between the risk of endometrial cancer and the age of first menstrual cycle, having given birth, and hormonal contraceptive use, according to a study in the July 7 issue of JAMA. Lynch syndrome is a genetic condition that increases the risk for various cancers. Endometrial cancer is the most common type of gynecologic cancer in developed countries. Between 2 percent and 5 percent of all endometrial cancer cases are associated with a hereditary susceptibility to cancer, mainly Lynch syndrome, which is caused by a ...

Life expectancy for people with a history of both cardiovascular disease and diabetes is substantially lower than for people with just one condition or no disease, a new study harnessing the power of 'big data' has concluded. Researchers at the University of Cambridge analysed more than 135,000 deaths which occurred during prolonged follow-up of almost 1.2 million participants in population cohorts. They used this to provide estimates of reductions in life expectancy associated with a history of different combinations of diabetes, stroke, and/or myocardial infarction ...