The poor diet of shift workers should be considered a new occupational health hazard, according to an editorial published in this month's PLoS Medicine. The editorial draws on previous work published in the journal, which showed an association between an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and rotating patterns of shift work in US nurses. Shift work is now a very common pattern of work in both the developed and developing world, with around 15-20% of the working population in Europe and the US engaged in shift work. It is particularly prevalent in the health care industry. ...

Ibiza remains known as one of Europe's most popular best party destinations - the Balearic islands were one of the top 50 destinations in 2011 for UK travellers and there was more bookings for Ibiza that year than in any other. And for the 2012 season parties are already been booked. Ibiza's official opening weekend for 2012 will be Friday, 27 May, through Saturday, 28 May. The first party that's been confirmed for the 2012 season happens on Wednesday, 6 June 2012, at Ibiza Rocks Hotel. Ibiza Rocks is a music festival that's been happening each year in Ibiza since 2005 ...

Anna Nordström and Peter Nordström of Umeå University, Sweden report their analysis of a prospective nationwide cohort of 440,742 Swedish men in this week's PLoS Medicine, finding that reduced cognitive function in young adulthood was associated with increased risk of subdural hematoma later in life, whereas a higher level of education and physical fitness were associated with a decreased risk. These results need to be confirmed in other large studies. The authors say: "An exploration of the mechanistic basis for these associations might allow the construction of public ...

Despite the importance of site investigators to the success of multicentre clinical trials, inadequate public information is available about their recruitment performance. In this week's PLoS Medicine, Rafael Dal-Ré and colleagues argue that that sponsors should disclose the recruitment targets of all site investigators on ClinicalTrials.gov before a trial starts, as well as their final recruitment. Information on issues that could have affected recruitment should also be provided. This information will be of interest to different stakeholders such as patient organizations, ...

A clinical trial testing a candidate HIV vaccine known as the STEP study was halted in September 2007 after interim analysis indicated that the vaccine did not work. Moreover, subsequent analyses indicated that the vaccine made some individuals more susceptible to HIV, in particular individuals who had pre-existing immune effectors (antibodies) that recognized a component of the vaccine (adenovirus serotype 5 [Ad5]). A team of researchers led by Juliana McElrath, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, has now determined that individuals from the STEP study ...

Millions of people have undergone LASIK surgery throughout the world. As the most popular form of laser vision correction, it has been closely monitored by the FDA and several industry groups. In a recent analysis of over 60 studies worldwide, it was found that 95.4 percent of people who have received LASIK are very satisfied with their results. This same analysis found that LASIK was effective in providing vision of 20/20 or better in an overwhelming majority of instances. This is great news for people who long to live a life free of glasses, but it fails to address one ...

The number of people who suffer from one or more of the adverse complications of obesity, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease is rapidly increasing. Thus far, drugs designed to treat obesity have shown limited efficacy and have been associated with serious side effects. This is largely because we have limited understanding of the effects of obesity on our natural mechanisms of body weight control. For example, while great strides have been made in our understanding of how the brain controls our desire to feed, as well as the processes underlying the balancing of ...

Atherosclerosis is a disease of the major arterial blood vessels. It is one of the major causes of heart attack and stroke. The proinflammatory molecule IL-1 has been linked to atherosclerosis and a clinical trial has been launched in which an antibody specific for IL-1-beta is being studied for its effects on the severe clinical complications of atherosclerosis (i.e., heart attack and stroke). However, a team of researchers led by Gary Owens, at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, has now generated data in mice that raise potential concerns about this clinical ...

EDITOR'S PICK Another potential obstacle to developing an HIV vaccine A clinical trial testing a candidate HIV vaccine known as the STEP study was halted in September 2007 after interim analysis indicated that the vaccine did not work. Moreover, subsequent analyses indicated that the vaccine made some individuals more susceptible to HIV, in particular individuals who had pre-existing immune effectors (antibodies) that recognized a component of the vaccine (adenovirus serotype 5 [Ad5]). A team of researchers led by Juliana McElrath, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research ...

CHICAGO – For patients admitted to an emergency department with chest pain, use of a contemporary or highly sensitive test for levels of troponin I (a protein in muscle tissue) may help rule-out a diagnosis of heart attack, while changes in the measured levels of this biomarker at 3 hours after admission may be useful to confirm a diagnosis of heart attack, according to a study in the December 28 issue of JAMA. One of the most common reasons patients seek care in an emergency department is for acute chest pain. "Early identification of individuals at high and intermediate ...

CHICAGO – A survey of nurses and physicians in intensive care units (ICUs) in Europe and Israel indicated that the perception of inappropriate care, such as excess intensity of care for a patient, was common, and that these perceptions were associated with inadequate decision sharing, communication and job autonomy, according to a study in the December 28 issue of JAMA. "Clinicians perceive the care they provide as inappropriate when they feel that it clashes with their personal beliefs and/or professional knowledge. Intensive care unit workers who provide care perceived ...

CHICAGO – Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended that a certain type of genetic testing (for the genotype CYP2C19) be considered before prescribing the drug clopidogrel to identify individuals who may be less responsive to the medication, a review and analysis of previous studies did not find an overall significant association between the CYP2C19 genotype and cardiovascular events, according to a study in the December 28 issue of JAMA. Clopidogrel is an antiplatelet drug used by approximately 40 million patients worldwide to treat or prevent ...

You are sitting in your car, watching the red lights in your rearview mirror. The officer exits their vehicle and begins walking toward your car. The next thing you know, you have been charged with a DUI. What do you do now? You may think you have no chance, that even though you did not feel intoxicated or impaired, the blood alcohol content reading of the breathalyzer showed you were over the limit, and you are as good as convicted. Machines don't make mistakes, do they? Challenging A DWI Charge While it may seem an open and shut case, there may be multiple ...

Oxidative stress is the cause of many serious diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's, arteriosclerosis and diabetes. It occurs when the body is exposed to excessive amounts of electrically charged, aggressive oxygen compounds. These are normally produced during breathing and other metabolic processes, but also in the case of ongoing stress, exposure to UV light or X-rays. If the oxidative stress is too high, it overwhelms the body's natural defences. The aggressive oxygen compounds destroy genetic material, resulting in what are referred to as harmful 8-oxo-guanine base mutations ...

The recent discovery of a pendant at the Irikaitz archaeological site in Zestoa (in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa) has given rise to intense debate: it may be as old as 25,000 years, which would make it the oldest found to date at open-air excavations throughout the whole of the Iberian Peninsula. This stone is nine centimetres long and has a hole for hanging it from the neck although it would seem that, apart from being adornment, it was used to sharpen tools. The discovery has had great repercussion, but it is not by any means the only one uncovered here by the team ...

Recent decisions by the New Jersey Supreme Court and the Appellate Division clarify the definition of "adverse employment action" that triggers New Jersey's "whistleblower law," known as the Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA). Adverse Employment Action John Seddon had worked for Dupont 30 years when he filed a complaint with OSHA, the federal office for occupational safety and health. Seddon's complaint involved DuPont's practice of inspecting employee vehicles at the gate of the plant. Employees had to stand by the side of a busy ...

Ghent, Belgium 27 December 2011 - Researchers of VIB and UGent have discovered a new approach to preventing septic shock, an often fatal extreme inflammatory reaction of the body. It is the most frequent cause of death at intensive care departments in hospitals. In sepsis, acute inflammation is attended by low blood pressure and blood clots, causing the organs to stop working. Only recently, the Brazilian football legend Socrates, died of the consequences of this condition. In a new study in the top journal Immunity, Peter Vandenabeele and colleagues of VIB-UGent described ...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27, 2011 — Just in time for those New Year's Eve toasts, which might include a farewell to the International Year of Chemistry, the world's largest scientific society today posted online a video on the chemistry of champagne. The latest addition to the award-winning Bytesize Science series from the American Chemical Society (ACS) is available at www.BytesizeScience.com. It explains that champagne, unlike other wines, undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle to trap carbon dioxide gas, which dissolves into the wine and forms the fabled bubbles in ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Both children and the elderly have slower response times when they have to make quick decisions in some settings. But recent research suggests that much of that slower response is a conscious choice to emphasize accuracy over speed. In fact, healthy older people can be trained to respond faster in some decision-making tasks without hurting their accuracy – meaning their cognitive skills in this area aren't so different from younger adults. "Many people think that it is just natural for older people's brains to slow down as they age, but we're finding ...

According to a recent study in the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization reported more "households would benefit financially from bankruptcy than actually file." Although no one anticipates filing for bankruptcy, for some it is a viable option for future financial success. The Wisconsin State Bar outlines the following benefits associated with bankruptcy: - Keeping all or most property - Easing credit card debts - Avoiding certain liens and involuntary transfers The Bar also cautions consideration of the disadvantages prior to filing. Including that ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research challenges the conventional thinking that young children use language just as adults do to help classify and understand objects in the world around them. In a new study involving 4- to 5-year-old children, researchers found that the labels adults use to classify items – words like "dog" or "pencil" – don't have the same ability to influence the thinking of children. "As adults, we know that words are very predictive. If you use words to guide you, they won't often let you down," said Vladimir Sloutsky, co-author of the new study and professor ...

(SALT LAKE CITY)— Arrhythmia is a potentially life-threatening problem with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat, causing it to go too fast, too slow or to beat irregularly. Arrhythmia affects millions of people worldwide. The cardiac conduction system (CCS) regulates the rate and rhythm of the heart. It is a group of specialized cells in the walls of the heart. These cells control the heart rate by sending electrical signals from the sinoatrial node in the heart's right atrium (upper chamber) to the ventricles (lower chambers), causing them to contract and pump blood. The ...

In childhood, rituals like regular schedules for meal, bath, and bed times are a healthy part of behavioral development. But combined with oral and tactile sensitivities, such as discomfort at the dentist or irritation caused by specific fabrics, these rituals could be an early warning sign of adult Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). According to Prof. Reuven Dar of Tel Aviv University's Department of Psychology, hypersensitivity and excessive adherence to childhood rituals may foreshadow the onset of OCD as the child ages. He first suspected the link while working ...

Generally, under Missouri law, workers' compensation provides an "exclusive remedy" to employees who suffer work-related injuries. Thus, most workers must rely on workers' compensation benefits when they are injured on the job and generally are not able to bring a civil negligence lawsuit against their employers. However, a recent state Court of Appeals decision has changed this rule as it relates to Missouri asbestos exposure victims and workers suffering from other occupational diseases. These injured workers are no longer limited by the workers' compensation ...

Researchers at The Johns Hopkins University have discovered a way to make time stand still -- at least when it comes to the yearly calendar. Using computer programs and mathematical formulas, Richard Conn Henry, an astrophysicist in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, and Steve H. Hanke, an applied economist in the Whiting School of Engineering, have created a new calendar in which each new 12-month period is identical to the one which came before, and remains that way from one year to the next in perpetuity. Under the Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar, for instance, ...