It's a well-known fact that spending on health care has consistently grown faster than the rest of the U.S. economy. What's behind this trend is less certain. Economists point to two causes: the prevalence of diseases and conditions afflicting the U.S. population, or the rising costs of treating diseases. New research from American University Associate Professor Martha Starr and Virginia Tech Research Professor Ana Aizcorbe shows it is the latter, with higher prices for treatment accounting for 70 percent of growth in health care spending. "Rising costs of treatment ...

Maintaining or boosting your physical activity after age 65 can improve your heart's electrical well-being and lower your risk of heart attack, according to a study in the American Heart Association journal Circulation. In heart monitor recordings taken over five years, researchers found that people who walked more and faster and had more physically active leisure time had fewer irregular heart rhythms and greater heart rate variability than those who were less active. Heart rate variability is differences in the time between one heartbeat and the next during everyday ...

DETROIT – Factors like the level of poverty in a neighborhood, living alone, and age affect a patient's chances of being readmitted to a hospital after discharge, even after possible variations in quality of care in the hospital have been taken into account. Those are the conclusions of a new study by Henry Ford Health System researchers who found links between readmission rates and social factors such as patients' marital status and neighborhood poverty, suggesting that readmissions are not just an issue of hospital quality. The study appears in the May issue of Health ...

Hispanic seniors are 35 percent less likely to have prescription drug coverage despite the existence of the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan – also known as Part D – and the availability of assistance to help pay insurance premiums. That is the finding of a study released today in the journal Health Affairs. "These results indicate that disparities in prescription drug coverage exist between Hispanic and white Medicare beneficiaries, despite the existence of a potentially universal entitlement program," said Brian McGarry, a graduate student in the Department of Public ...

Age and testing of hip bone mineral density (BDM) when postmenopausal women discontinue bisphosphonate therapy can help predict the likelihood of fractures over the next five years. Bisphosphonates can reduce the risk of hip and spine fractures. But recent concerns about safety issues, including osteonecrosis of the jaw, atypical femoral fractures and esophageal cancer, have increased interest in interrupting or stopping bisphosphonate therapy after several years of treatment. This study tested methods for predicting fracture risk by measuring BMD using hip and spine ...

Karen Smith-McCune, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, writes: "The updated guidelines leave physicians and other clinicians with a question: is cotesting with Pap-plus-HPV testing truly preferred over Pap testing alone (the American Cancer Society/the American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology/the American Society of Clinical Pathology recommendation), or are the options equivalent (the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation)?" "Once a straightforward process, screening for cervical cancer is now increasingly complex. ...

Research demonstrates that lowering copayments for cardiovascular medications results in better adherence and outcomes among all patients, but until now, little was known about whether lowering copayments could improve known disparities in cardiovascular care. New research finds that lowering copayments for medications following a heart attack could have a significant impact on reducing the racial and ethnic disparities that exist in cardiovascular disease. These findings are published in the May issue of Health Affairs. "African Americans and Hispanics with cardiovascular ...

College Park, Md. -- Mothers in the United States who have unintended pregnancies return to work sooner after childbirth than mothers whose pregnancy was intended, according to a study led by Dr. Rada K. Dagher, assistant professor of health services administration in the University of Maryland School of Public Health. This is the first study to examine pregnancy intention and return to work after childbirth. "We know that it's better for women to take time off after childbirth to take care of their physical and mental health," says Dr. Dagher, whose previous research ...

Populations of predators and their prey usually follow predictable cycles. When the number of prey increases – perhaps as their food supply becomes more abundant – predator populations also grow. When the predator population becomes too large, however, the prey population often plummets, leaving too little food for the predators, whose population also then crashes. This canonical view of predator-prey relationships was first identified by mathematical biologists Alfred Lotka and Vito Volterra in the 1920s and 1930s. But all bets are off if both the predator and prey ...

STANFORD, Calif. — Recent research has shown that tiny fragments of DNA circulating in a person's blood can allow scientists to monitor cancer growth and even get a sneak peek into a developing fetus' gene sequences. But isolating and sequencing these bits of genetic material renders little insight into how that DNA is used to generate the dizzying array of cells, tissues and biological processes that define our bodies and our lives. Now researchers at Stanford University have moved beyond relying on the static information delivered by DNA sequences in the blood. Instead, ...

Scientists at the University of East Anglia have made an important step in understanding how hearts are formed in developing embryos. The heart is the first functioning organ to develop in humans, and correct formation is crucial for embryo survival and growth. New research published today reveals how cells that form the heart, known as 'cardiac progenitors', are guided to move into the right place for the heart to begin to form. It is hoped that the findings will help researchers better understand how congenital heart defects happen during the early stages of pregnancy. ...

A new study led by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine has painted a clearer picture of the delicate arms race between the human immune system and a pathogen that seeks to infect and kill human cells. The research explores the strategies by which the bacterial pathogen Yersinia, responsible for causing plague and gastrointestinal infections, tries to outsmart immune cell responses and looks at the tactics used by the immune system to fight back. The senior author of the paper, which appears online this week in Proceedings of the ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Along with our big brains and upright posture, thick tooth enamel is one of the features that distinguishes our genus, Homo, from our primate relatives and forebears. A new study, published May 5 in the Journal of Human Evolution, offers insight into how evolution shaped our teeth, one gene at a time. By comparing the human genome with those of five other primate species, a team of geneticists and evolutionary anthropologists at Duke University has identified two segments of DNA where natural selection may have acted to give modern humans their thick enamel. Teeth ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Each time a human cell divides, it must first make a copy of its 46 chromosomes to serve as an instruction manual for the new cell. Normally, this process goes off without a hitch. But from time to time, the information isn't copied and collated properly, leaving gaps or breaks that the cell has to carefully combine back together. Researchers have long recognized that some regions of the chromosome,called "fragile sites," are more prone to breakage and can be a breeding ground for human cancers. But they have struggled to understand why these weak spots ...

NEW YORK, May 5, 2014 – Neuronetics, Inc. announced today results from a new, dual-arm randomized pilot study that showed a trend toward symptomatic improvements with once-monthly TMS maintenance therapy in medication-free patients treated with NeuroStar TMS Therapy® for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Six weeks of acute NeuroStar TMS Therapy induced remission in 61.2 percent of all enrolled patients. At three months, 62.5 percent of medication-free patients randomized to once-monthly treatment with NeuroStar TMS Therapy maintained response as compared to 43.8 percent ...

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (April 29, 2014) — Symbiosis is the process that occurs when two different organisms live together to form a mutually beneficial partnership. In many symbiotic relationships, host animals and their microbial symbionts are partners that make up a whole – neither one can function without the other but together they grow and reproduce. A study by University of Miami (UM) researchers reveals how, at the cellular level, an animal and its symbiotic bacteria work together to make up a single organismal system. The study titled "Aphid amino acid ...

Patients freshly discharged from acute care hospitals with low scores on a standard test that measures how well they perform such everyday activities as moving from a bed to a chair are far more likely to need readmission to a hospital within 30 days than those who score better, according to new Johns Hopkins research. "The Functional Independence Measure score is a direct reflection of a patient's ability to heal," says Erik Hoyer, M.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine ...

Tel Aviv — Despite a 20% decline in the number of violent incidents against Jews, last year saw a sharp rise in abusive language and behavior, threats, and harassment of Jewish people on an individual basis around the world, according to the annual report presented on April 27, 2014, by Tel Aviv University's Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Moshe Kantor Database for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism, in cooperation with the European Jewish Congress. At a press conference accompanying the release of the report, Prof. Dina ...

DAVIE, Fla.-- The diverse patterns on the diamondback terrapins' intricately grooved shell may be their claim to fame, but a newly published U.S. Geological Survey study of the genetic variation underneath their shell holds one key to rescuing these coastal turtles. Listed as an endangered species in Rhode Island and deemed threatened in Massachusetts, the terrapin is the only turtle in North America that spends its entire life in coastal marshes and mangroves. Seven different subspecies of terrapins are currently recognized by scientists based on external traits, such ...

(PHILADELPHIA)—When cancer progresses and spreads to the bone, patients often suffer debilitating pain. Now, a new phase III clinical trial shows that non-invasive magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound treatment that heats the cancer within the bone, relieves pain and improves function for most patients when other treatment options are limited. The results were published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI). Magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound surgery (MRgFUS) is a technique that's been safely used to treat thousands of women with uterine ...

PULLMAN, Wash. – Testing conventional wisdom with science, recently published research from Washington State University reveals how different flavors "finish," or linger, on the palate following a sip of wine. "A longer finish is associated with a higher quality wine, but what the finish is, of course, makes a huge difference," said sensory scientist Carolyn Ross. The study is one of the first to look at how different flavor components finish when standing alone or interacting with other compounds in white wines. The idea for the work began with a question from one of ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — A recent Mayo Clinic Proceedings article links some nerve damage after hip surgery to inflammatory neuropathy. Historically, nerve damage from hip surgery has been attributed to mechanical factors caused by anesthesiologists or surgeons, such as positioning of the patient during surgery or direct surgical injury of the nerves. In this study, researchers examined patients who developed inflammatory neuropathies, where the immune system attacks the nerves, leading to weakness and pain. Inflammatory neuropathies may be treated with immunotherapy. "Neuropathy ...

Ineffective social and political institutions make people more likely to favour their family and own local social group, while good institutions make them more likely to follow impersonal rules that are fair to everyone, suggests a forthcoming study in the journal Human Nature. A series of experiments found that people in societies with supportive government services, food security and institutions that meet their basic needs were very likely to follow impartial rules about how to give out money. By contrast, those without effective, reliable institutions showed favouritism ...

WASHINGTON, DC, May 5, 2014 — Work-family conflict is increasingly common among U.S. workers, with about 70 percent reporting struggles balancing work and non-work obligations. A new study by University of Minnesota sociologists Erin L. Kelly, Phyllis Moen, Wen Fan, and interdisciplinary collaborators from across the country, shows that workplaces can change to increase flexibility, provide more support from supervisors, and reduce work-family conflict. The study, titled, "Changing Work and Work-Family Conflict: Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Network," was ...

SALT LAKE CITY, May 5, 2014 – When University of Utah biologists set out cotton balls treated with a mild pesticide, wild finches in the Galapagos Islands used the cotton to help build their nests, killing parasitic fly maggots to protect baby birds. The researchers say the self-fumigation method may help endangered birds and even some mammals. "We are trying to help birds help themselves," says biology professor Dale Clayton, senior author of a study outlining the new technique. The findings were published online May 5, 2014, in the journal Current Biology. "Self-fumigation ...