Social Sciences

Black patients suffering from lung cancer are less likely to receive recommended chemotherapy and surgery than white lung cancer patients, a disparity that shows no signs of lessening. That is the conclusion of a new study published in the May 15, 2009 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The study's findings indicate that efforts are needed to provide appropriate treatments for black patients and to educate them about the value of those treatments. Researchers led by Dale Hardy, Ph.D., of the University of Texas School of Public Health analyzed data from…

While cities have shown considerable racial disparities in cancer survival, those racial disparities virtually disappear among smaller populations, such as neighborhoods within that city. The finding comes from a new analysis published in the May 15, 2009 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The study examined breast and prostate cancer survival rates at different geographic levels, and the results suggest that there are significant societal factors at the root of cancer-related racial disparities. Previous research has shown that considerable health…

In parallel studies in human and mouse, two groups of researchers have come to the same conclusion: that a new kind of gene is associated with progressive hearing loss. The new gene - called a microRNA - is a tiny fragment of RNA that affects the production of hundreds of other molecules within sensory hair cells of the inner ear. The research provides important new genetic understanding of a condition that is common in humans but remains poorly understood. One team, led by researchers from the Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain, followed families who showed hearing loss. The second team…

A University of Minnesota cancer surgeon and researcher has found a dramatic increase in the number of women diagnosed with the earliest stage of breast cancer choosing to have both breasts surgically removed. The rate of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) surgery among U.S. women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) increased by 188 percent between 1998 and 2005, according to Todd Tuttle, M.D., lead researcher on this study. Tuttle is associate professor of oncologic surgery with the University of Minnesota Medical School and a researcher with the University's Masonic Cancer Center…

New research from Vanderbilt University has found students benefit more from being taught the concepts behind math problems rather than the exact procedures to solve the problems. The findings offer teachers new insights on how best to shape math instruction to have the greatest impact on student learning. The research by Bethany Rittle-Johnson, assistant professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College and Percival Mathews, a Peabody doctoral candidate, is in press at the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. "Teaching children the basic concept…

New research from Trinity College Dublin published in this month's Annals of Surgery points to a potentially significant advance in the treatment of patients undergoing major cancer surgery. The study was carried out by the oesophageal research group at Trinity College Dublin and St James's Hospital. A randomised controlled trial showed omega-3 fatty acids given as part of an oral nutritional supplement resulted in the preservation of muscle mass in patients undergoing surgery for oesopahageal cancer, a procedure normally associated with significant weight loss and quality of life issues. The…

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Nursing homes serving primarily Hispanic residents provided poorer quality care compared to facilities whose patients were mostly white, according to Brown University research. Details were published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. Researchers reached their conclusions after looking at the rate of bed sores at nursing homes with high concentrations of Hispanic patients, compared to others with low concentrations. Hispanics at nursing homes with a high rate of Hispanic residents were more likely to have bed sores,…

Psychiatrists and critical care specialists at Johns Hopkins have begun to tease out what there is about a stay in an intensive care unit (ICU) that leads so many patients to report depression after they go home. In a study reported online April 10 in Critical Care Medicine, the Hopkins researchers say several factors predicted symptoms of depression six months after hospitalization among very sick ICU patients, including a high level of organ failure and being given relatively high doses of a benzodiazepine sedative. "The hope is that as we learn more about the effect of variations in ICU…

A recent study by Mount Sinai faculty suggests that a gene associated with onset of type-2 diabetes also decreases in Alzheimer's disease dementia cases. The research, led by Dr. Giulio Maria Pasinetti, MD, Ph.D., The Aidekman Family Professor in Neurology, and Professor of Psychiatry and Geriatrics and Adult Development at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, was published this week in the scientific journal, Archives of Neurology. "This new evidence is of extreme interest," Dr. Pasinetti tells us, "especially because of the evidence that approximately 60% of Alzheimer's disease dementia cases…

Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin Biotechnology and Bioengineering Center in Milwaukee have just made the very expensive and promising area of protein research more accessible to scientists worldwide. They have developed a set of free tools called ViPDAC (virtual proteomics data analysis cluster), to be used in combination with Amazon's inexpensive "cloud computing" service, which provides the option to rent processing time on its powerful servers; and free open-source software from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the University of Manitoba. Their research…