General
Adults with nicotine dependence and/or psychiatric disorders consume 70 percent of all cigarettes smoked in the United States, according to results of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study reported in the November issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry (Volume 61). Based on the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), the article provides the first national estimates among U.S. adults of the prevalence and co-occurrence of nicotine dependence and a broad array of other psychiatric disorders including alcohol and drug abuse and dependence, mood and anxiety disorders, and personality disorders as defined by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition (DSM-IV).
An international team of NASA and university researchers has found the first direct evidence the Earth is dragging space and time around itself as it rotates. The researchers believe they have measured the effect, first predicted in 1918 by using Einstein's theory of general relativity, by precisely observing shifts in the orbits of two Earth-orbiting laser-ranging satellites. The researchers observed the orbits of the Laser Geodynamics Satellite I (LAGEOS I), a NASA spacecraft, and LAGEOS II, a joint NASA/Italian Space Agency (ASI) spacecraft.
Obstructions due to chronically congested nasal passages or enlarged tonsils may affect the growth of the face. ''Long face syndrome'' is a term describing the longer, narrow face of children who suffer from uncontrolled allergies or, an obstruction of the upper airway which creates an inability to breathe through the nose. ''Narrow nostrils, shadows beneath the eyes and constantly open lips may also be associated with blockage of the upper airway or allergies.''
The officer in charge of America's intercontinental ballistic missile force said plans are well under way to sustain the life of the Minuteman III missile until the year 2020. ''The Minuteman III modernization programs will cost about $7 billion altogether,'' said Maj. Gen. Frank Klotz, 20th Air Force commander. ''We are changing out the three-stage solid rocket motors and guidance systems to make [them] more maintainable,'' General Klotz said. ''We plan to improve environmental control systems that provide heat, cooling air and power to the missile, and we're pursuing a service life extension for the missile command consoles at which the officer crews perform their duties.''
A study involving soldiers submitted to mock prisoner of war treatment has revealved some intriguing results. Higher levels of certain hormones may be associated with stress, and can influence a person's ability to cope with the negative effects of stress, according to an article in the August issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
A new study points to the important role fathers play in their children's emotional and behavioral health. The study shows that a father in good mental health can substantially reduce the negative influence of a mother's poor mental health on a child's behavioral and emotional well-being. ''If a mother and father are depressed, the odds that a child will have behavioral or emotional problems go up eight-fold,'' according to Robert S. Kahn, M.D., M.P.H., a physician/researcher in the Division of General and Community Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's and the study's lead author. ''The risk is less elevated if only the mother reported poorer mental health and not elevated at all if only the father reported poorer mental health.''
The U.S. General Accounting Office has issued a report saying more knowledge is needed before work can begin on a planned space-based radar (SBR) system to be jointly developed by U.S. military and intelligence agencies. "Although SBR is 2 years away from product development, the program already faces major challenges."
The U.S. General Accounting Office's analysis of reported obligations for the first seven months of fiscal year 2004 through April 2004 and the military services' forecasts as of June 2004 of their likely costs for the Global War on Terrorism for operation and maintenance and military personnel through the end of fiscal year 2004 suggests that anticipated costs will exceed the supplemental funding provided for the war by about $12.3 billion for the current fiscal year.
General human intelligence appears to be based on the volume of gray matter tissue in certain regions of the brain, California researchers have found in the most comprehensive structural brain-scan study of intelligence to date. The study also discovered that because these regions related to intelligence are located throughout the brain, a single ''intelligence center,'' such as the frontal lobe, is unlikely.
Increasing the body's production of growth hormone may be an effective treatment for HIV lipodystrophy, a syndrome involving the redistribution of fat and other metabolic changes in those receiving combination drug therapy for HIV infection. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) report that administration of growth-hormone-releasing hormone to a group of men with HIV lipodystrophy significantly improved fat distribution with no negative side effects.
Without the option to retake the high school exit exams, the ranks of students who obtain high school diplomas would be substantially different, according to a new study by researchers at Brown and Harvard universities.
Using 10 years of data on the General Educational Development (GED) test, researchers found the pass rate increased most dramatically for black test-takers who retook the exam. For black test-takers, the pass rate increased from 52 percent to 73; for white test-takers, the pass rate increased from 78 percent to 90 percent.
Blood-vessel-lining cells that are infected with the virus that causes the skin tumor Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) appear to transform into the type of cells that usually line lymphatic vessels. The report from researchers at the Cutaneous Biology Research Center (CBRC) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) will appear in an upcoming issue of Nature Genetics and is being released online today.
Women who have been treated for anorexia nervosa remain at significant risk for relapse up to two years after their weight has been restored and they have been discharged from hospital, says a study from the University of Toronto and Toronto General Hospital.
Dr. Jacqueline Carter, a psychiatry professor at U of T and a staff psychologist in the hospital's eating disorders program, led the follow-up study of 51 patients, published in the May issue of Psychological Medicine.
Plaque inflammation in the carotid arteries is a major risk factor for stroke. Currently, no method exists for quantifying plaque inflammation in living patients. Scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston set out to test whether non-invasive PET imaging could be used for early detection and characterization of plaque inflammation of the carotid artery.
Control breakdowns over centrally billed accounts resulted in the U.S. Department of Defense paying for up to $100 million in airline tickets that were not used and not processed for refund, the U.S. General Accounting Office has found. "DOD was not aware of this problem before our audit and did not maintain data on unused tickets. We determined, based on airline data, that DOD had purchased--primarily in fiscal years 2001 and 2002--about 58,000 tickets with a residual (unused) value of more than $21 million that remained unused and not refunded as of October 2003. We also identified more than 81,000 partially unused airline tickets with a purchase price of about $62 million that will require additional analysis to determine the residual value. Based on further analysis of the limited data, it is possible that DOD purchased at least $100 million in airline tickets that it did not use and for which it did not claim refunds from fiscal years 1997 through 2003."
