MAYWOOD, IL - Ninety million American adults read below high school levels, so the National Institutes of Health recommends that patient-education materials be written at the fourth-through-six grade level. But a Loyola University Medical Center study has found that only 4.8 percent of web sites describing prostate cancer were written below a high school reading level. The median reading level was 12th grade. "This is probablematic for one-third of Americans who seek to further educate themselves using online resources," senior author Gopal Gupta, MD and colleagues ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Community colleges in the United States have made huge strides since 2008 in cultivating a global workforce, according to a first-of-its-kind study co-led by a Michigan State University researcher. In 2008, about 51 percent of community colleges offered a basic course in international business. Four years later that number has jumped to 85 percent, said Tomas Hult, director of MSU's International Business Center, who led the study with Lansing Community College professor William Motz. "The most important takeaway is that we as a nation appear ...

As crackdowns get tougher on alcohol, tobacco sales, and illicit drugs, there's a growing trend among youth to turn to another source to get high: their parent's medicine cabinet. A new University of Cincinnati study suggests adolescent males are at a higher risk of reporting longtime use of over-the-counter drugs, compared with their female peers. Early results of the study by Rebecca Vidourek, a UC assistant professor of health promotion, and Keith King, a University of Cincinnati professor of health promotion, will be presented on October 29, at the 140th Annual Meeting ...

A new study out of the University of Cincinnati finds that both school bullies and their victims are likely to abuse alcohol after a bullying episode. Keith King, a University of Cincinnati professor of health promotion, along with Rebecca Vidourek, a UC assistant professor of health promotion, will present early findings of a new study on Oct. 29, at the 140th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association in San Francisco. The study examined bullying, recent alcohol use and heavy drinking episodes among more than 54,000 7th-through-12th grade students in ...

Your chances of having a sudden cardiac arrest can depend on where you live, warned Dr. Paul Dorian today at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2012 in Toronto, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. His study of Greater Toronto Area (GTA) neighborhoods with high and low rates of cardiac arrests found that the factors causing increased risk are complex. "The reasons are more multifaceted than traditional explanations of income, social economic status and education levels," says Dr. Dorian, who is a researcher and cardiologist ...

Biking, running and walking are all good for you. But the strain can be tough if you're overweight, have arthritis or suffer from other joint problems or injuries. What to do? Just add water. A study presented today at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress found that people who used an immersible ergocycle – basically an exercise bike in a pool – had just about the equivalent workout to using a typical stationary bike. "If you can't train on land, you can train in the water and have the same benefits in terms of improving aerobic fitness," says Dr. Martin Juneau, director ...

The Canadian Cardiovascular Society is the first in Canada to issue guidelines aimed at helping primary care and emergency physicians, as well as specialists, recognize and manage heart failure in children. The guidelines were released today at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress. Pediatric heart failure is often fatal and occurs in about 3,000 children annually in North America. Worldwide, the problem is far greater and the causes are diverse. To date there has been little guidance to assist practitioners who deal with children with heart failure. "The previous guidelines, ...

The development of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is much like that of children without ASD at 6 months of age, but differs afterwards. That's the main finding of the largest prospective, longitudinal study to date comparing children with early and later diagnosis of ASD with children without ASD. The study appears in the journal Child Development and has implications for clinical work, public health, and policy. The study was conducted by researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg ...

Children who are homeless or move frequently have chronically lower math and reading skills than other low-income students who don't move as much. That's the finding of a new longitudinal study on children's risk and resilience conducted through a university-community partnership by researchers at the University of Minnesota, the Minneapolis Public Schools, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Iowa, and Hong Kong Sue Yan University. The study appears in the journal Child Development. About one million American school children are homeless each year, and ...

Bacteria in the guts of honeybees are highly resistant to the antibiotic tetracycline, probably as a result of decades of preventive antibiotic use in domesticated hives. Researchers from Yale University identified eight different tetracycline resistance genes among U.S. honeybees that were exposed to the antibiotic, but the genes were largely absent in bees from countries where such antibiotic use is banned. The study appears on October 30 in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. "It [resistance] seems to be everywhere in the ...

An Indiana University study has found that women undergoing in-vitro fertilization report that the process of infertility treatment has many negative impacts on their sexual relationship with their partner. Little attention has been given to the sexual dynamics of couples as they navigate infertility and treatments such as IVF, despite the important role that sex plays in a couple's attempt to conceive a child. "Sex is for pleasure and for reproduction, but attention to pleasure often goes by the wayside for people struggling to conceive," said Nicole Smith, a doctoral ...

Soda consumption, TV and video/computer games, and the frequency of meals heavily influenced students' weight in an Indiana University study that examined the impact of a school-based obesity intervention program over an 18-month period. More soda consumption and screen time meant students were more likely to be overweight or to gain weight. The more frequently students ate meals each day, the less likely they were to stay overweight or gain weight during the study, which examined the Healthy, Energetic, Ready, Outstanding, Enthusiastic Schools program. Dong-Chul ...

Public health researchers examining data from an Indiana Adult Tobacco Survey found nearly 75 percent of Hoosiers support a statewide or community indoor workplace smoking ban. The results of this study could be important in increasing focused public awareness strategies aimed at reducing exposure to secondhand smoke, said Terrell Zollinger, professor of epidemiology and associate director of the Center for Health Policy in the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, who led the study. Indiana is 49th on the ...

Facebook can be hazardous to marriages in Arizona -- and to divorces as well. The most obvious link with divorce is that spouses may be led to stray when reconnecting with old loves via social media. Even without going to that extreme, though, people may behave unwisely online, forgetting that they have a wide audience. Increasingly, people's postings on social media accounts are being used as evidence in divorce cases, even if their account is set up as private. Sharing relationship problems with Facebook friends has potentially farther-reaching consequences than sitting ...

Chapter 7 bankruptcy is also called "liquidation bankruptcy" because the trustee in the case liquidates all of the filer's non-exempt assets to pay off the creditors in the case. In many cases, the filer has few -- or no -- non-exempt assets, so very little money ends up going to creditors. Without the protections that filing bankruptcyoffers, particularly the debt discharge, many would not be able to make it and get out of debt. Bankruptcy can give people the opportunity to make a fresh start, which they otherwise would not have. People considering bankruptcy ...

A recent lawsuit stemming from the collapse of a soccer goal could change more than 150 years of Maryland personal injury law and give plaintiffs a greater chance of being awarded damages in personal injury lawsuits. Background of Lawsuit In 2008, Kyle Coleman was attending late-summer soccer practice at a middle school in Fulton, Maryland. While taking some warm-up shots at an empty goal, Coleman grabbed the goal's crossbar as he was retrieving a ball, causing the unanchored goal to fall. The crossbar crashed into his face and crushed the bones around his eye. As ...

The price of higher education has skyrocketed in recent years, rising at a rate that far outpaces inflation. Today's graduates of four-year universities carry more debt than any previous generation: according to a recent report from the Project on Student Debt, 2011 college graduates with loans had a record average debt load of $26,000. The combination of a slow economy and massive student debt can be a financial catastrophe for recent grads. Normally, filing for bankruptcy is a lifeline that can help those overwhelmed by debt get a fresh start. But, if student loans ...

Following a fatal drunk driving crash that occurred recently in North Brunswick, New Jersey, a 30-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter in the death of a 41-year-old woman. Both the driver and the victim were residents of North Brunswick. According to a police statement, the man was "grossly intoxicated and driving recklessly" when he ran a red light and broadsided the victim's car with his sports utility vehicle. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash shortly after 9 p.m. on May 15, 2012. For reasons that have not yet been ascertained, ...

In a highly anticipated decision, a New Jersey judge ruled recently that a young woman who sent text messages to her boyfriend while he was driving could not be held liable for injuries that occurred when he collided with a couple on a motorcycle. The case centers on a 2009 crash that occurred in Mine Hill, New Jersey, when a teenage driver became distracted by his cellphone and struck a motorcycle, causing both riders to lose their left legs. The injured couple filed a personal injury lawsuit against the texting driver as well as his girlfriend, claiming that she acted ...

Patricia L. Gerbarg, MD, an integrative mental health expert based in New York state who assists 9/11 responders and others to recover from mass disasters, will discuss how to use your breath to heal trauma with host Michele Rosenthal on Your Life After Trauma radio Wednesday, October 31, 2012 at 11:00 am PST, 2:00 pm EST, on the Internet or by phone. Instructions for listening are at yourlifeaftertrauma.com/radio/how-to-listen/. The show can be accessed after it airs at the web site archives. Dr. Gerbarg will discuss how to promote optimal wellness for anyone living ...

NKSJ Holdings, Inc. (hereafter gNKSJHDh) would like to announce that it has been selected for inclusion in the DJSI World index of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (hereafter gDJSIh), the worldfs first and most widely used family of global sustainability benchmarks, on September 13, 2012. NKSJHD has now been selected as a member of the indexes for 3 consecutive years since the company was founded and 13 consecutive years since the subsidiary company Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. has been included. 1. About the DJSI The DJSI is a stock index developed in 1999 ...

Horizon Forest Products and Long Floor are proud to announce their recent merger. The two companies, which have been working logistically as one company for five years, will now operate under one name, Horizon Forest Products. The merger will legally seam together the five branches of Horizon Forest Products and the four branches of Long Floor. The company's nine branches serve customers from Maryland to South Carolina. Horizon Forest Products recently opened its newest branch in Sterling, Virginia. The facility is, located at 113 Executive Drive, Suite 129, occupies ...

Boutique vintner Damian Rae Winery today announced that its 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon is now available to the public. "There's no question that 2009 was a great year for reds, and this handcrafted Cabernet, made exclusively from Napa Valley fruit - will excite even the most discriminating palates," said John Tarabini, president of the award-winning winery. Barrel-aged in 50% new oak, the Damian Rae 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon is a sumptuous hand-crafted, balanced vintage made from fruit from four of Napa Valley's finest vineyards: Coombsville (Coombsville), Godspeed ...

Romane Simon Film Productions has announced that the company's highly anticipated film, "Tragedy of a Mother and Son," will soon hit theatres with a DVD release to follow in early 2013.  According to Romane Simon, a multi-talented individual who is now living his dream to be part of show business, "Tragedy" deals with what has here-to-fore been a subject rarely approached in films, that of incest, although it occurs unintentionally by the film characters.  However, Romane quickly adds, "While incest is explored in 'Tragedy,' the film really centers ...

On Saturday, November 3, 2012, the Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia will debut what is arguably the two rarest Pez candy dispensers in the world. Created in 1961 as a gift to a current U.S. President, Pez Candy Inc. produced both a Democratic Donkey dispenser and a Republican Elephant dispenser. These two dispensers have an estimated value of $20,000 - $25,000. As recently as September of this year, Pez Candy claimed only two Democratic Donkey dispensers existed, and both are currently in the hands of Pez Candy Inc. Our announcement confirms that a third ...