CENTENNIAL, CO — October 18, 2010 — A survey released today by National Stroke Association shows that 53 percent of stroke survivor respondents suffer from symptoms of another neurologic condition called pseudobulbar affect (PBA), a condition th…
Scientific research published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) reports on a study of genetic variants that influence human susceptibility to peripheral arterial disease (PAD), made possible…
Assessing a community’s cancer risk could be as simple as counting the number of trucks and cars that pass through the neighborhood. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have identified a significant association between vehicle traffic and curbside concentrations of carcinogens benzene, 1,3-butadiene and particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). The findings may be especially relevant for urban communities where people live in close proximity to high volume roadways. The study is published in the June 2003 issue of the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.
Evoking a set of laws originally adopted to fight organized crime, the ADA May 19 filed a class-action federal suit, alleging that some of the nation’s largest insurers have conspired to “deny, reduce and delay” payments to dentists under contract to the plans. This latest civil complaint, filed in South Florida’s U.S. District Court, Miami Division, is the third ADA lawsuit aimed at defending the dentist-patient relationship and halting what the Association sees as unlawful insurance industry practices.
Poorly controlled diabetes seems to cause cognitive problems in the elderly, a new study reports. The researchers determined that the main reason why diabetic people age 60 and older scored low on a cognitive function test was because of improper management of their disease. ?We knew that there was an association between diabetes and dementia in older people,? said Yousef Mohammad, a study co-author and an assistant professor of neurology at Ohio State University. ?But we found out that there is a difference in cognitive capability between diabetics whose disease is under control and those whose disease isn?t adequately controlled.?
Songs with violent lyrics increase aggression related thoughts and emotions and this effect is directly related to the violence in the lyrics, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association (APA). The findings, appearing in the May issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, contradicts popular notions of positive catharsis or venting effects of listening to angry, violent music on violent thoughts and feelings.
In a large longitudinal study that sheds new light on the association between marital status and happiness, researchers have found that people get a boost in life satisfaction from marriage. But the increase in happiness is very small — approximately one tenth of one point on an 11-point scale — and is likely due to initial reactions to marriage and then a return to prior levels of happiness. Data from the 15-year study of over 24,000 individuals living in Germany also indicates that most people who get married and stayed married are more satisfied with their lives than their non-married peers long before the marriage occurred.
Eating fast food and watching TV add up to a high risk for obesity and diabetes, according to a study reported today at the American Heart Association’s 43rd Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention. “Fast food consumption in this country has increased dramatically,” says Mark Pereira, Ph.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital in Boston. “The association between eating fast food and the incidence of obesity and abnormal glucose control has not been thoroughly examined before.”
Sitting down as a family at the dinner table appears to play an important role in promoting healthful eating among adolescents, according to a study published in the February 2003 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota found that children ages 11 to 18 who ate meals with their family consumed higher amounts of fruits, vegetables, grains and nutrient-dense foods than those who ate separately. Additionally, adolescents who consumed at least seven family meals per week had lower intakes of snack foods than those who ate fewer family meals.
A small study showed that a ginseng compound improved memory scores of people suffering from stroke-induced dementia, Chinese researchers reported today at the American Stroke Association’s 28th International Stroke Conference. The American Stroke Association is a division of the American Heart Association. Researchers caution that larger clinical trials are needed to establish the efficacy and safety of the compound. Memory loss, or dementia, may occur after stroke and is a growing problem in China, says lead researcher Jinzhou Tian, M.D., a professor in the Department of Care of the Elderly at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Dongzhimen Hospital in Beijing, China.
A person age 40 or older has a one-in-five chance of developing congestive heart failure, according to a study in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. The study authors also reported that lifetime risk of developing heart failure doubles for people who have high blood pressure.