Research presented today at the European Congress on Osteoporosis & Osteoarthritis by investigators from the UK and Sweden estimates that the economic burden of fragility fractures in five major European countries totals 31 billion Euro, with Germany bearing the highest costs. A majority of the economic burden is shown to be related to the costs incurred during the 1st year after the fracture, while pharmacological prevention and treatment management constitutes only a marginal share of the total economic cost. Hip fractures contributed 56% to the overall costs, vertebral ...

Set to launch in January as part of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) may soon become a predominant option for integrating healthcare services for Medicare recipients, and Essential Healthcare Management (EHM), a healthcare business development firm, is leading the way in offering expertise, guidance and strategies for healthcare suppliers wanting to align their business with this new system. An ACO is a network of medical caregivers - hospitals, doctors, nurses, suppliers, home healthcare specialists, health educators, nutritionists, ...

EU farmers hold their own well in competition with the rest of the world, despite the comparatively high demands the EU places on agricultural production. "We have investigated the connection between animal welfare regulation in the EU and competitiveness. We have seen that the impact on competitiveness and on trade is very minor, if it exists at all", says Anna Andersson, researcher at the AgriFood Economics Centre. The aim of the report is to investigate whether trade barriers for certain products can be economically justified in order to protect a society's values. ...

A study presented today at the European Congress on Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis currently taking place in Valencia, Spain has found that the initial quality of life loss following an osteoporotic fracture is substantial, especially with regard to hip and vertebral fractures. The study found differences in quality of life loss between countries after correcting for other explanatory variables. The quality of life (QoL) of patients who sustained a hip, wrist or vertebral fracture was examined for the four months following the fracture. The study is part of the International ...

After reviewing existing research regarding the common practices of health care providers who see adolescent patients across the country, Rebecca Allen, MD, MPH, a clinician and researcher at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, and her colleague, Michelle Forcier, MD, MPH, an adolescent medicine specialist at Hasbro Children's Hospital, asserted that the nation needs to offer more confidential care for teenagers who are sexually active. This includes access to effective contraception, noted the doctors in the paper "Adolescent Sexuality and the Use of Contraception," ...

The Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines are ramping up their efforts to go after military personnel using substances often called 'designer drugs.' In particular, the military Services are seeking to punish the use and trafficking in a chemical compound commonly referred to as Spice. Marketed and sold as incense, Spice produces effects similar to marijuana when smoked. Until recently, the sale of Spice has been legal in all states. However, for those in the military, they must know that just because something is legally available for sale to civilians does not mean that ...

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Temperature increases resulting from climate change in the Southwest will likely eliminate Joshua trees from 90 percent of their current range in 60 to 90 years, according to a new study led by U.S. Geological Survey ecologist Ken Cole. The research team used models of future climate, an analysis of the climatic tolerances of the species in its current range, and the fossil record to project the future distribution of Joshua trees. The study concludes that the species could be restricted to the northernmost portion of its current range as early as the ...

Researchers from the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit in Southampton, UK, have presented a new study that shows how the inclusion of falls history, in addition to clinical risk factors (CRFs) and bone mineral density (BMD) values, would greatly improve the accuracy of fracture prediction models. The research findings were presented today at the European Congress on Osteoporosis & Osteoarthritis in Valencia, Spain. Using results from the Hertfordshire Cohort Study, the investigators examined the relative contributions of CRFs, BMD and falls history to fracture prediction. ...

Japan needs maps. Not just any kind—detailed informational maps georegistered with latitude and longitude and annotated with simple, self-evident details: this bridge is out, this port is damaged, this farm field is scoured; this one is verdant. Researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology are processing satellite imagery of regions in Japan affected by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that devastated sections of the country's east coast on March 11. The U.S. Geological Survey, a member of the International Charter "Space and Major Disasters," organized the ...

When French president Nicolas Sarkozy recently declared that France's efforts at "multiculturalism" were a failure, it reminded those of us in the United States that we're not the only country in the world grappling with issues related to foreign immigration. But while European countries have tended to focus on the cultural side of the immigration debate, Americans are often focused on the perceived economic problems of immigration. As it turns out, Americans have less to worry about on both fronts than the current rhetoric might lead one to believe. Economically, immigrants ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A gap in reading and math scores still exists in lower grades, with boys continuing to outpace girls in math, and girls ahead of boys in reading, two University of Illinois education professors say. Using national longitudinal data to perform their analysis, Joseph P. Robinson and Sarah Lubienski investigated male and female achievement in math and reading, looking for when gender gaps first appeared and where in the distribution the gaps were most prevalent. Except for kindergarteners in the 99th percentile, boys and girls generally start out on equal ...

A recent death of a 12 year old in Florida highlights the danger inherent in the operation of All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs). Since their introduction in the early 1980s, ATVs have resulted in thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of emergency room visits. While the designs have changed from the original 3-wheel, tricycle layout of the first Honda ATV, what hasn't changed is the danger posed by using these recreational vehicles. Since 1982, Florida has reported 447 deaths in connection with ATVs. Nationwide, in the same period, at least 10,000 people have died ...

Most school text books contain messages about health, but 24.6% of these are not based on any scientific evidence, according to a study by the Knowledge Management Unit at Baza Hospital (Granada), published in the journal BMC Public Health. "We analysed a total of 844 health messages in primary and secondary school text books in order to identify the level of scientific evidence underpinning these texts, and we classified them into three categories – messages with a high, medium or low level of evidence, messages with an unknown level of evidence, and messages with no ...

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently issued a press release putting mandatory motorcycle helmet use on its Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements. It reported that from 1997 through 2008, the number of motorcycle fatalities more than doubled during a period when overall highway fatalities declined The NTSB has recommended that everyone riding a motorcycle be required to wear a helmet. Currently, only 20 states, the District of Columbia and four territories have universal helmet laws that apply to all riders. Twenty-seven states ...

The Hampton Inn & Suites Atlanta Airport Hotel (North I-85) offers nearby accommodations to travelers planning to visit the Fernbank Museum of Natural History near midtown Atlanta. The Museum recently launched a new permanent exhibition, Fernbank NatureQuest. Guests can climb trees and cross rope bridges to a working clubhouse, which sits atop giant trees. Tickets for Fernbank NatureQuest are included with Museum admission and free for all members. Fernbank's other permanent exhibitions include: - Dinosaur Entrance Plaza - Giants of the Mesozoic - A Walk through Time ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Demonstrating an important milestone for the longevity and utility of implanted brain-computer interfaces, a woman with tetraplegia using the investigational BrainGate* system continued to control a computer cursor accurately through neural activity alone more than 1,000 days after receiving the BrainGate implant, according to a team of physicians, scientists, and engineers developing and testing the technology at Brown University, the Providence VA Medical Center, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Results from five consecutive ...

Conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the American Museum of Natural History, and other conservation and research groups have discovered that groups of dolphins in the western Indian Ocean do not mix freely with one another. In fact, dolphin populations are kept separate by currents and other unseen factors. Specifically, the researchers have found that genetically distinct populations of the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin may be formed in part by currents, surface temperature differences, and other environmental barriers, a finding made possible by ...

Debenhams has launched its latest app for the professional shopper on Android and Nokia phones, making the retailer the first on the high street to offer apps for the three key smartphones. The free-to-download, fully transactional apps follow the highly successful launch of the Debenhams iPhone app in October 2010. Designed to target the on-the-move shopper and enrich the in-store experience, the Debenhams iPhone app achieved 360,000 downloads and sales of nearly GBP1 million within five months of launch. With the success of the iPhone app and sales on the Debenhams ...

SEATTLE – A study of Yup'ik Eskimos in Alaska, who on average consume 20 times more omega-3 fats from fish than people in the lower 48 states, suggests that a high intake of these fats helps prevent obesity-related chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. The study, led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and conducted in collaboration with the Center for Alaska Native Health Research at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, was published online March 23 in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. "Because Yup'ik Eskimos have a traditional ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A prototype scanner aboard the international space station has been taking new images of Earth's coastal regions during the 16 months since it was launched, providing scientists with a new set of imaging tools that will help them monitor events from oil spills to plankton blooms. The images and other data are now available to scientists from around the world through an online clearinghouse coordinated by Oregon State University. Additional details of the project will be announced in a forthcoming issue of the American Geophysical Union journal, EOS, ...

Travelzest has announced the launch of its Hotel & Villa Collection brochure for 2011. The 250-page brochure brings together four of Travelzest's biggest brands for the first time, in recognition of the fact that some of its customers are interested in more than one company in Travelzest's wide-ranging portfolio of luxury hotels and luxury villas. The included brands are Best of Morocco, Tapestry Collection, VFB Holidays and the Wow House Company. Travelzest's Hotel & Villa Collection 2011 brochure includes over 30 different destinations in regions as diverse as Canada, ...

Menlo Park, Calif. — Scientists have found the strongest evidence yet that a puzzling gap in the electronic structures of some high-temperature superconductors could indicate a new phase of matter. Understanding this "pseudogap" has been a 20-year quest for researchers who are trying to control and improve these breakthrough materials, with the ultimate goal of finding superconductors that operate at room temperature. "Our findings point to management and control of this other phase as the correct path toward optimizing these novel superconductors for energy applications, ...

Access Legal, the law firm from Shoosmiths, has been named best provider of home purchase and sale conveyancing services by the Conveyancing Alliance. The national law firm came top in a survey conducted by the Conveyancing Alliance which was voted for by estate agents. Users of the Conveyancing Alliance portal ranked law firms on several service standards including communication levels, speed of delivery and client feedback. Client feedback was a key area for Access Legal, as it is very customer focused and aims to treat people as individuals rather than just another ...

New Orleans, LA – Research led by Daitoku Sakamuro, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans and the LSUHSC Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, has identified a protein that enables the activation of a DNA-repair enzyme that protects cancer cells from catastrophic damage caused by chemo and radiation therapy. This protein, called c-MYC oncoprotein, can initiate and promote almost all human cancers and discovering the role it plays in cancer treatment resistance may lead to advances that save lives. The work is published in the March 29, ...

University of British Columbia chemists have developed a new model to predict the optical properties of non-conducting ultra-fine particles. The finding could help inform the design of tailored nano-structures, and be of utility in a wide range of fields, including the remote sensing of atmospheric pollutants and the study of cosmic dust formation. Aerosols and nano-particles play a key role in atmospheric processes as industrial pollutants, in interstellar chemistry and in drug delivery systems, and have become an increasingly important area of research. They are ...