In a state where there are more pain management clinics than McDonald’s restaurants, Florida seems to be the epicenter of the prescription painkiller addiction epidemic. In response, the Sunshine State has been enacting laws, which have helped to more closely monitor drug distribution and combat the problem.
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The tobacco industry just got buzzed with a high-and-tight fastball, a knockdown pitch if you will. And if it chooses to stand up and go to court to fight the legal charges being hurled by the family of Tony Gwynn, the late Hall-of-Fame major leaguer, don't be surprised if one tobacco maker goes down swinging -- even if it has science on its side.
The Department of Defense has revealed that a woman in Pennsylvania was detected carrying a strain of E. coli with 15 different genes conferring antibiotic resistance.
Former New York Times columnist Mark Bittman enthusiastically endorses a tax on soda and other sweetened beverages that's now being considered in Philadelphia. While this may seem appealing to people who believe that sugar is a major contributor to America's health problems, when you really examine the logic of such a tax, there isn't much there.
Epigenetics is the all the rage in the scientific community, in that all that we know or don't know seems to be a result of this field of study. Researchers from Georgetown University published a study recently linking pre-conception influences in the father as a significant contributor to epigenetic changes in offspring.
The debate about endocrine disruption is intense, in large part because the research is inconclusive. In turn, there's a great deal of uncertainty on this topic. We highlight the documents that may shed light on a workable approach to the issue.
A recent study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, revealed that although expensive, the UNAIDS "90-90-90" program is well worth the price. The program's overall goal is to be able to achieve a 73 percent reduction in the viral load to undetectable levels worldwide by 2020.
Most people have been conditioned to fear chemicals, but the typical fear is not consistent with the actual risk. The vast majority of chemicals that are encountered in everyday life are quite safe. But, when your profession is chemistry, that changes fast. Here is one example.
Prostate cancer can be indolent, not posing a risk to life — or aggressive, leading to an increased risk of death. A new analysis from the large EPIC study suggests that increases in BMI and waist circumference are associated with an increased risk of the aggressive form, and thus to an increased mortality risk.
A recent paper published in the journal Pediatrics reveals how musician celebrities often endorse foods and beverages which are of poor nutritional quality, which only adds to the burden of the childhood obesity crisis.
Psychological research on morality shows that we hold an overly optimistic view of our capacity to adhere to ethical standards. We believe that we are intrinsically more moral than others, that we will behave more ethically than others in the future and that transgressions committed by others are morally worse than our own. But that's not necessarily the case.
Copper, that darling of gourmet chefs, is great for cookware but not so effective for arthritis sufferers. But eventually it may actually help promote fat breakdown in the body — if, that is, the results of a new study can be replicated.
As people tend to get older, decisions about topics such as health and retirement can be a bit more challenging. The difficult decisions we make later in life are often important and can impact our lives substantially, meaning there may be fewer opportunities to recover from any bad decisions we make.
There sure are a lot of toxicology "experts" out there on the web, and they really don't like anything that is sweet (except maybe when they sell it). We recently wrote about sucralose (Splenda), which is trashed by these "Internut" know-nothings despite the fact that its safety profile is about as good as you'll ever see. But, these I-nuts are even more verbal about aspartame -- and the more verbal they are, the more they get it wrong.
Last week, we sat down with some of our scientists to discuss terms that they wish the general public would stop using when discussing science — and none of them held back. Caution: Comedy ahead.
In what is just one more example of fear-based marketing, a company is selling "natural chemical" bracelets that supposedly protect kids from mosquitoes. Not only is this not going to work, but the natural chemical is just as toxic as DEET — the insect repellant that the company takes great pains to note, is absent. If this was on "Jeopardy" we'd call out this firm accordingly.
Palliative care services are misunderstood by clinicians and patients alike. However, research has shown that early discussions and referral palliative care soon after diagnosis yield significantly better results with respect to expectations, quality of life, less aggressive interventions and even survival.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer says it doesn't know if coffee causes cancer, which is a switch from 1991 when the agency, an arm of the World Health Organization, said it did. That's bad news for those who want to trust IARC's recommendations, because its reasons to reverse course on coffee are no more valid than its reason to have declared it possibly carcinogenic to humans in the first place.
It is with extreme skepticism toward modern art that I read a review on biological art, or "bioart," in the journal Trends in Biotechnology. The authors' goal was to discuss the history and relevance of this artistic sub-discipline to contemporary society. For me, this bioart ranges from awe-inspiring to mind-numbing stupidity.
We know what you're thinking: Another video of Ana Dolaskie chowing down a bag of potato chips— What's new? But she's doing it for the sake of science! And hearing the crunch of the chips could make you hungry too!
Perhaps the worst laboratory accident in recent memory occurred in 1996, when Karen Wetterhahn, a chemistry professor at Dartmouth, spilled a couple of drops of dimethylmercury on her glove. Thinking nothing of it, she simply changed gloves. Ten months later she died from mercury poisoning.
1. Hillary or Donald? Who will be best for science? Science is a $120 billion a year constituency and health is even bigger. Despite that, it doesn't get a lot of notice in elections. Still, we care about what the future might bring because America leads the world in science output, we practically run the table in Nobel prizes, and we lead the world in adult science literacy. The next President could have a huge impact on that, especially given the funding stagnation of the recent administration.
New sleeping recommendations have been released, and just in time to confirm what millions of Americans already knew: We are so sleep deprived. Yawn.
Researchers have genetically engineered human T cells to produce a CAR protein that recognizes a glycopeptide found on various cancer cells but not normal cells, and then demonstrated its effectiveness in mice with leukemia and pancreatic cancer.
For those with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, the unfamiliar can be paralyzing and they need more ritual and routine to offset the chaos of the outside world. A new study examined how endocannabinoids -- natural messengers in the body chemically similar to the active compound in marijuana, and known to generally reduce the activity of neurons -- play a role in how the brain controls this fundamental process.
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