FOR GEOINFORMATICS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Some people experience intense aversion and anxiety when they see clusters of roughly circular shapes, such as the bubbles in a cup of coffee or the holes in a sponge. Now psychologists have found that the condition -- known as trypophobia -- may be an exaggerated response linked to deep-seated anxiety about parasites and infectious disease.
Economic issues play a significant role in determining whether first-time students enrolling in a four-year college will complete their degree and graduate within six years.
The direct medical costs of falls in adults with a transfemoral amputation are described in a new article.
As the Missouri River flows across the Great Plains to where it meets the Mississippi River at St. Louis, it accumulates such a large sediment load that it has earned the nickname 'Big Muddy.' A recent study looks at the history of the river, damages and changes from the 2011 flood, and its current post-flood condition. The study concludes that the river needs a comprehensive plan with multi-state cooperation.
Among patients unresponsive to an antidepressant medication, adding the antipsychotic aripiprazole modestly increased the likelihood of remission from depression compared to switching to the antidepressant bupropion, according to a study.
Among older patients using medium to high doses of the anti-inflammatory steroid prednisolone, treatment with the osteoporosis drug alendronate was associated with a significantly lower risk of hip fracture, according to a study.
The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends that primary care professionals individualize the decision to offer or refer adults without obesity who do not have high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol or blood sugar levels or diabetes to behavioral counseling to promote a healthful diet and physical activity. Existing evidence indicates a positive but small benefit of behavioral counseling for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in this population.
Physicians report success in a small study of a modified skin biopsy that hastens the earlier diagnosis of an inherited and progressively fatal nerve disease and seems to offer a clearer view of the disorder's severity and progression. With a quicker and less invasive way to visualize the hallmark protein clumps of the rare but lethal disease -- familial transthyretin amyloidosis -- the researchers say they hope to more rapidly advance clinical trials of treatments that may slow the disease and extend patients' lives.
Generosity makes people happier, even if they are only a little generous. People who act solely out of self-interest are less happy. Merely promising to be more generous is enough to trigger a change in our brains that makes us happier, neuroeconomists found in a recent study.