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Intensive summer program helps physicians build clinical research careers

Graduates of the Program in Clinical Effectiveness (PCE), which has trained almost 1,900 physicians to be clinical investigators since 1986, have achieved significant success in receiving grant support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other funders, along with other accomplishments considered key to establishing a research career.

Study quantifies racial disparities in cancer mortality rates between blacks and whites

African Americans have a shorter life expectancy than whites, and cancer plays a major role in this disparity. African Americans are more prone to get cancer; they tend to present at a later, deadlier stage; and they have poorer survival rates after diagnosis.

Contrary to widely held beliefs, romance can last in long-term relationships, say researchers

WASHINGTON - Romance does not have to fizzle out in long-term relationships and progress into a companionship/friendship-type love, a new study has found. Romantic love can last a lifetime and lead to happier, healthier relationships.

Obese women play cancer roulette

Obese women may be putting themselves at greater risk of breast cancer by not undergoing regular screening. According to new research by Dr. Nisa Maruthur and her team from The John Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, USA, seriously obese women are significantly less likely to say they have undergone a recent mammography than normal weight women, especially if they are white.

Researchers find that single question can identify unhealthy alcohol use in patients

Researchers at Boston Medical Center (BMC) have found that a single-screening question recommended by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) accurately identifies unhealthy alcohol use in primary-care patients. This research supports the use of the brief screen in the primary-care setting. The BMC study appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Scripps research team identifies key molecules that inhibit viral production

The research, led by Professor Donny Strosberg of Scripps Florida, was published on March 4, 2009, in the Journal of General Virology's advance, online edition, Papers in Press.

Both Latino and non-Latino women likely to accept HPV vaccination for selves and children

Most women responding to a survey conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) clinics indicated they would be willing to be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV) and to have their daughters and even sons vaccinated in order to prevent cancer in their children.

Computer-aided system effectively detects and measures pneumothoraces in chest trauma patients

A new computer-aided method used with MDCT to detect and measure pneumothoraces in trauma patients helps physicians make quicker and more accurate decisions in busy emergency room settings, according to a study performed at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.

Mental illness by itself does not predict future violent behavior

People with mental illness alone are no more likely than anyone else to commit acts of violence.

Inactive docs keep licenses, return to practice without competency review

One in eight physicians have been inactive in the state where they are licensed for at least a year, and most states do not require them to undergo competency tests or retraining when they return to actively practicing medicine.

Healthy heart, healthy mind?

You know that watching your weight, quitting smoking, cutting back on fatty foods and exercising regularly will help your heart. But did you know that these steps might also help your brain, and protect your memory? In fact, doctors are beginning to realize just how connected the heart and brain really are. And that connection may help explain many of the severe memory and thinking problems that millions of people experience as they grow older.

Spleen may be source of versatile stem cells

A year ago, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers discovered that the spleen might be a source of adult stem cells that could regenerate the insulin-producing islets of the pancreas. In a follow-up to that unexpected finding, members of the same team now report that these potential adult stem cells produce a protein previously believed to be present only during the embryonic development of mammals.

Marijuana associated with same respiratory symptoms as tobacco

Smoking marijuana is associated with increased risk of many of the same symptoms as smoking cigarettes--chronic bronchitis, coughing on most days, phlegm production, shortness of breath, and wheezing, according to a Yale study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. In addition, marijuana smoking may increase risk of respiratory exposure by infectious organisms, such as fungi and molds, since cannabis plants are contaminated with a range of fungal spores, said Brent Moore, assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and lead author of the study.

Very shy children may process some facial expressions differently

Children who appear to have higher levels of shyness, or a particular gene, appear to have a different pattern of processing the signals of interpersonal hostility, according to a study in the January issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
According to background information in the article, "Neuroimaging studies are beginning to clarify the relationship between the brain's cortical and subcortical activity in regulating the emotional and cognitive functions of behavior." … "A temperamental disposition toward the avoidance of novel and uncertain situations together with a set of behaviors that indicate shyness and discomfort in social interactions are comprehensively named childhood shyness, or behavioral inhibition (BI). Children with high indexes of shyness-BI are at a heightened risk of developing anxiety disorders, in particular social phobia."

Young Men Are Least Likely to Use Seat Belts

Men between the ages of 19 and 29 are the group least likely to wear a seat belt while driving or riding in a car and are three times as likely not to use their seat belt as women of the same age, according to a new data analysis from HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The data, from AHRQ's 2002 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, show that 88 percent of people between 16 and 64 years of age were reported to always or nearly always use seat belts. This number is close to the goal set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to increase national seat belt use to 90 percent by the year 2005. Healthy People 2010 set a goal of 92 percent use of seat belts by 2010. However, a little more than 5 percent of people ages 16 to 64 never or seldom use their seat belt, and another 7 percent use their seat belts only sometimes.



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