The Bureau of Labor Statistics just released its most recent data on the deadliest jobs in America. As usual, the "farming, fishing, and forestry" occupation group was the worst. But what's alarming is that the top three occupation groups with the highest suicide rates are also ranked within the top four deadliest occupation groups.
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Antiretroviral drugs have had a profound effect on AIDS, however, long-term toxicity of the drugs can be a problem. Fortunately, efforts to discover different classes of AIDS drugs have been successful. The different classes are possible because of knowledge about the life cycle of HIV. Here is a simplified explanation of how this works.
What's responsible for the sharp decline in smoking prevalence? The 13 percent smoking rate among 18-to-24-year olds last year is almost half as it was a decade ago. And the inescapable fact is that e-cigarettes, used by, among others, 2.5 million former smokers, are not impeding the dramatic, welcome decline in cigarette smoking.
Bottled water and other drinks typically come in plastic bottles made from PET. If not recycled, PET bottles stick around forever. But, some really clever microbiologists found a bug that evolved solely to eat the bottles. Will this be useful?
New York City has launched a three-year Zika awareness campaign called "Fight Back NYC" for which Mayor de Blasio has slotted $21 million. The posters have a singular focus on mosquitoes and have left out another image that should also be synonymous with Zika - that of a condom. With more and more sexually transmitted cases, why are we still talking only about mosquitoes? Our Zika public awareness campaigns should look more like they did for HIV/AIDS in the 90s.
A small pilot study detailed 10 cases of people with a particular gene. Patients who discontinued their personalized MEND protocol showed cognitive decline again, while those patients who remained had sustained improvement for up to four years later.
Now that a Vermont law requiring labeling of GMO foods is about to take effect on July 1, the Senate has decided to act to prevent a plethora of state laws to confuse the issue. But wait! We can't really say that the Senate's bill will necessarily clarify anything.
A recent paper in JAMA Internal Medicine was essentially little more than a hit piece on physicians. The authors claim that doctors will write prescriptions for more expensive drugs if they attend a seminar about that drug, and get a cheap meal. But the only thing cheap here is the standards of the authors. Their paper is a travesty.
It has become increasingly tricky for Medicare recipients to find doctors who will accept them as patient. The paperwork is crazy, and the reimbursement is also crazy, but in the other direction. Something's gotta break. How will this play out?
Image: Ozbolat Lab / Penn State
Engineers have demonstrated that strands of cow cartilage can substitute for ink in a 3-D bioprinting process, which opens a door to creating cartilage patches for worn-out joints.
The Breakthrough Dialogue is a gathering of ecomodernists, who represent everything that modern environmentalism should be: Optimistic, pro-technology, and pro-humanitarian. The upbeat mood of the meeting stands in stark contrast to both mainstream environmentalism, with its apocalyptic and misanthropic worldview, and the American public, who seems to believe that the world is bad and getting worse.
Now that Jason Day, the world's No. 1 golfer, will skip the Rio Olympics due to concerns over the Zika virus, given the overall exodus of golfers it seems like it's now an appropriate to ask this simple question: Why are pro golfers the predominant group of athletes bailing from the Games? One who withdrew gives us some insight.
If you get goose bumps every time you hear the sound of nails on a chalkboard, you aren't alone. But scientists say it's not the high-pitch tone that makes us cringe, as previously thought.
What happens when a family leads a "plastic-free" life for two months? You may be surprised.
Obesity is known to raise a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, and in some cases that cancer can recur even after successful treatment. An investigation will examine whether weight loss in obese women can decrease the rate of such recurrences.
There's a syringe shortage taking place in West Africa that's halted its much-needed yellow fever vaccination program. One big area of concern is the Democratic Republic of Congo, and its huge city of Kinshasa with a population of 12 million -- that's 3.5 million more citizens than New York City. At best, this is expected to become an epidemic, and at worst a global health crisis.
Zithromax was everywhere, then it fell out of favor. A new study shows the case against it was overblown. Which is correct?
Much of what we know about early man comes from Gary Larson, the genius behind The Far Side cartoon. For instance, because of him, we have anthropological insights on everything from caveman fashion to the invention of the wheel. He also depicted how, in his mind, caveman researchers discovered fire. But how and when did early man really discover fire?
Unwanted microorganisms are a fact of life. Bugs grow everywhere we don't want them, from our showers and sinks to our toilets and toothbrushes. The scummy layers they form, called biofilms, are ugly and disgusting but mostly harmless in these settings. However, when they form on medical devices, such as catheters and implants, they can be life-threatening. A clever new material may prevent that.
Did you toss the dental floss after recent news that it may not be so beneficial? Dentists aren't happy with you.
A blood test for dementia would be great but there are limitations as to what they can tell us about our brains.
Despite the common notion among Americans that Europe is a progressive, technologically advanced utopia, the reality is that the continent -- when it comes to matters of science -- is rather backward. Now, a very harsh report in the most recent issue of Trends in Biotechnology underscores the infuriating extent of the problem.
Medical practitioners and patients live in “a sea of uncertainty, where the stressful unknown drives us “to seek more information through testing” to increase our certainty. But more data is not necessarily helpful, according to an online report in JAMA Oncology examining the impact of evidence-based recommendations on physician behavior.
As antibiotic resistance marches on, the possibility of untreatable gonorrhea is becoming more and more realistic. Recent data show that this is, indeed, happening.
FDA has issued new warnings about mercury in illegally imported "anti-aging" products.
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