University of Cincinnati analysis of hospital supply chains – how hospitals stock nursing stations with the hundreds of medicines, materials and even office supplies needed – holds promise in helping to make supply and re-supply efforts leaner and more cost effective. The research, to be presented June 22 at the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science Healthcare Conference in Montreal, has implications for affecting the significant costs associated with hospital supplies. On average, supplies and inventory account for 30 to 40 percent of an average hospital's ...

Magnetic storage media such as hard drives have revolutionized the handling of information: We are used to dealing with huge quantities of magnetically stored data while relying on highly sensitive electronic components. And hope to further increase data capacities through ever smaller components. Together with experts from Grenoble and Strasbourg, researchers of KIT's Institute of Nanotechnology (INT) have developed a nano-component based on a mechanism observed in nature. What if the very tininess of a component prevented one from designing the necessary tools for its ...

Our changing climate usually appears to be a very modern problem, yet new research from Greenland published in Boreas, suggests that the AD 1350 collapse of a centuries old colony established by Viking settlers may have been caused by declining temperatures and a rise in sea-ice. The authors suggest the collapse of the Greenland Norse presents a historical example of a society which failed to adapt to climate change. The research, led by Dr Sofia Ribeiro from the University of Copenhagen, currently at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, focused on Disko Bay ...

Dr. Kevin Sands, DDS, a Los Angeles dentist, knows exactly how patients can struggle with the appearance of their smile. The evolving world of cosmetic dentistry is giving patients with discolored, damaged and structurally imperfect teeth a new lease on their smile. Dr. Sands is now improving patient smiles by porcelain veneers to correct years of staining and abuse and to provide an attractive and confident smile. Every person is born with white teeth, but that is where the similarities cease. Elements such a heredity, infrequent dental care and oral hygiene can quickly ...

In the United States, the blood-alcohol limit may be 0.08 percent, but no amount of alcohol seems to be safe for driving, according to a University of California, San Diego sociologist. A study led by David Phillips and published in the journal Addiction finds that blood-alcohol levels well below the U.S. legal limit are associated with incapacitating injury and death. Phillips, with coauthor Kimberly M. Brewer, also of UC San Diego, examined official data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). This dataset includes information on all persons in the U.S. ...

This release is available in Spanish. In spite of the fact that the railway industry has two centuries of experience behind it, in order to continue improving the research being done on the safety, profitability and efficiency of railroads, it will be necessary to develop and strengthen the relationship between universities and companies in the sector. This is one of the main conclusions that have come out of an international forum on the subject that was recently held at Carlos III University of Madrid. The forum, the First European Forum on Railway Running Gears, ...

A new microspectrometer architecture that uses compact disc-shaped resonators could address the challenges of integrated lab-on-chip sensing systems that now require a large off-chip spectrometer to achieve high resolution. Spectrometers have conventionally been expensive and bulky bench-top instruments used to detect and identify the molecules inside a sample by shining light on it and measuring different wavelengths of the emitted or absorbed light. Previous efforts toward miniaturizing spectrometers have reduced their size and cost, but these reductions have typically ...

Technetium, an Orlando-based advertising and branding agency, today announces the launch of its redesigned website, www.technetium.com. The new design allows for easier navigation, provides enhanced functionality, and encourages site visitors to explore the services offered by the firm through informative content, client work samples, news feeds and more. "Today, a large part of the agency search process is conducted online prior to or even in lieu of an official request for proposal," said Joe Forget, president and CEO. He continued, "Technetium's Internet ...

A recent find by a University of Cincinnati archeologist suggests an ancient Mycenaean city was well protected from outside threats. That research, by UC's Gisela Walberg, professor of classics, will be presented at the annual workshop of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Center in Nicosia, Cyprus, on June 25, 2011. Since 2001, Walberg has worked in modern Cyprus to uncover the ancient city of Bamboula, a Bronze Age city that was an important trading center for the Middle East, Egypt and Greece. Bamboula, a harbor town that flourished between the 13th through ...

Patients who received poorly co-ordinated care or were unable to afford basic medical costs were much more likely to report medication, treatment or care errors, according to an international study published in the July issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice. Researchers from the USA and Australia used data from the Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey to identify the key risk factors behind the errors reported by patients from Canada, USA, the Netherlands, UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. Eleven per cent of the 11,910 people ...

New research from the University of Leicester demonstrates that general practitioners (GPs) are struggling to correctly identify people in the early stages of dementia resulting in both missed cases (false negatives) and misidentifications (false positives). Researchers from the University of Leicester in the UK and National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, London, UK and the Department of General Practice, Dusseldorf, Germany examined 30 previous studies involving 15,277 people seen in primary care for cognitive disorders, including 7109 assessed for dementia. ...

(Boston) – Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found that among HIV-infected adults with alcohol problems, measuring their carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) biomarker was a poor and inaccurate method for detecting unhealthy drinking. These findings currently appear on-line in AIDS Care. Unhealthy alcohol use is common in HIV-infected persons. It can interfere with HIV medication adherence, may lower CD4 cell count and can cause hepatic injury. Furthermore, HIV co-infection with viral hepatitis is common and both HIV and viral hepatitis ...

PINC Yard Hound is now the first and only real-time yard management system (YMS) that has successfully integrated to SAP Extended Warehouse Management. For SAP customers, the integration of these two award winning applications gives them new and unprecedented supply chain visibility allowing them to see actual and up to the minute locations and status of shipments, inventory and trailer assets. - Delivering proven results to customers, Yard Hound integration with SAP Enterprise allows users to chart, view, analyze and model supply chain data retrieved directly from ...

A new study from Cambridge University has for the first time found that autism diagnoses are more common in an IT-rich region. The Medical Research Council (MRC) funded study, published today in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, has important implications for service provision in different regions and for the 'hyper-systemizing' theory of autism. Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre (ARC) at the University of Cambridge, led the study (which was conducted in the Netherlands) with Dr Rosa Hoekstra, a Dutch autism researcher ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Black patients having a heart attack wait longer at hospitals than white patients to get advanced procedures that will restore blood flow to their hearts, according to a University of Michigan Health System study. The differences in care may be explained by hospital quality, rather than the race of individual patients. Black patients were much more likely to go to slow hospitals than were whites, and as a result waited six hours longer to get life-saving procedures. Most elderly black patients received care in a small number of hospitals that take ...

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have identified abnormal brain structures in the frontal lobe of cocaine users' brains which are linked to their compulsive cocaine-using behaviour. Their findings were published today, 21 June, in the journal Brain. Led by Dr Karen Ersche, the Cambridge researchers scanned the brains of 120 people, half of whom had a dependence on cocaine. They found that the cocaine users had widespread loss of grey matter that was directly related to the duration of their cocaine abuse (i.e. the longer they had been using cocaine, the greater ...

An international research team led by Queen's University have developed a ground breaking treatment for Cystic Fibrosis sufferers. The new drug will benefit sufferers who have the 'Celtic Gene', a genetic mutation which is particularly common in Ireland. The study, which was carried out by scientists at Queen's University Belfast, the University of Ulster, the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and teams of researchers in Europe, USA and Australia found significant improvement in lung function, quality of life and a reduction in disease flare ups for those receiving ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Scientists have shown a molecular chaperone is working like a waste management company to collect and detoxify high levels of toxic amyloid beta peptide found in Alzheimer's disease. It was known that the molecular chaperone, HspB1, was present in the hallmark plaque of Alzheimer's patients but its role remained a mystery. "What we have found is HspB1 is a protective mechanism that tries to get rid of the toxic oligomers or aggregates of amyloid beta that occur in Alzheimer's," said Dr. Anil G. Cashikar, Biochemist at Georgia Health Sciences University's ...

Hamilton, ON (June 20, 20122) - Women with urinary incontinence after giving birth are almost twice as likely to develop postpartum depression as those without incontinence, according to a new study led by Wendy Sword, a professor in McMaster University's School of Nursing. Postpartum depression negatively affects the mother, child, partner, and other children in the family. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, up to 20 per cent of new mothers experience postpartum depression and an estimated 10 to 35 per cent of women will experience a recurrence of postpartum ...

(Baltimore, MD) – A report released today by the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health asks why products like Coca-Cola can reach remote villages in developing nations while essential medicines like antibiotics cannot always be found. The report, entitled Improving Access to Essential Medicines Through Public-Private Partnerships documents the poor availability of essential health products (EHPs) in Sub-Saharan Africa and explores how to improve EHP distribution via collaborations with the private sector. Focusing ...

When governments use comprehensive, well-funded tobacco control programs to reduce adult smoking, they also reduce smoking among adolescents. This bonus effect is an important factor to consider as policymakers face pressure to reduce spending on anti-smoking programs. The most effective elements of a tobacco control program include taxes on tobacco, well-funded adult-focused tobacco control programs, well-funded anti-smoking mass media campaigns, and strong indoor smoking restrictions. Comprehensive programs like this generally take a long time to implement and are ...

The Wilds and Hocking Hills Canopy Tours today announced their partnership, creating a totally new and thrilling zipline adventure: "Wild Zipline Safari." Wild Zipline Safari opens June 27. Reservations and complete visitor information available at www.thewilds.org or www.zipthewilds.com, or by calling 740.638.5030 ext. 2947. This tour takes visitors on a unique 2.5-hour aerial tour of The Wilds, led by two professionally trained guides and features 10 breathtaking ziplines and a rappel built on a series of observation platforms. This professionally guided ...

AMES, Iowa -- Although parents appreciate having media ratings systems to help protect their kids from questionable content in movies, video games and television, the current age-based system doesn't meet their needs, according to a new study led by Iowa State University's Douglas Gentile. The study found that parents would prefer media ratings that focus on detailed content information. A national sample of 2,392 parents were surveyed by independent research firms -- Harris Polls and Research Now -- in the study "Parents' Evaluation of Media Ratings a Decade After Television ...

The July 2011 issue of Care Management, the bimonthly journal of the Academy of Certified Case Managers, features an article that profiles UroMed founder Bert Burns and his recovery after a car accident caused him to become a quadriplegic. The article, "Managing the Care Complexity of Spinal Cord Injury," is approved for 4 hours of CEUs by the Commission for Case Manager Certification and the Certification of Disability Management Specialists Commission. Read the article at: http://www.uromed.com/Clinicians/ContinuingEducation "We are humbled that the ...

Chemists from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet in Munich led by Professor Dirk Trauner have developed a concise and efficient method for the synthesis of the alkaloid loline and related compounds. Loline alkaloids are a biologically interesting group of natural products, which have unusual physicochemical and pharmacological characteristics, but are as of yet poorly understood. They are produced by fungal symbionts that infect weeds and forage grasses, and act as deterrents of insects and other herbivores. Some of the agents synthesized by endophytic fungi are toxic to grazing ...