Scholars say that, overall, gun violence can be reduced by instituting a risk-based approach to firearms possession and purchases
Recent mass killings in Isla Vista, California, and elsewhere have again raised concern among lawmakers and the media about the possible connection between mental illness and gun violence. A new study sets the record straight and recommends an evidence-based approach to limiting firearms fatalities. (more…)
Could a common sexually transmitted infection boost a man’s risk for prostate cancer?
In a new study, Patricia Johnson, a professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, explored the connection between prostate cancer and the parasite that causes trichomoniasis, the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infection in men and women. (more…)
It should be just as easy to use a robotic arm as it is to use your own hand. That’s the thinking behind University of Washington startup BluHaptics, which is taking telerobotics — controlling robots from a distance — to a new level: underwater.
Using technology developed by Howard Chizeck’s lab in the Department of Electrical Engineering, a team of UW scientists and engineers working at the Applied Physics Laboratory is creating a control system for underwater remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs. (more…)
Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed an ultrasound device that could help identify arterial plaque that is at high risk of breaking off and causing heart attack or stroke.
At issue is the plaque that builds up in arteries as we age. Some types of plaque are deemed “vulnerable,” meaning that they are more likely to detach from the artery wall and cause heart attack or stroke. (more…)
Climate change is unlikely to reduce the UK’s excess winter death rate as previously thought. A new study, published in Nature Climate Change, debunks the widely held view that warmer winters will cut the number of deaths normally seen at the coldest time of year.
Analysing data from the past 60 years, researchers at UCL and the University of Exeter looked at how the winter death rate has changed over time, and what factors influenced it. (more…)
Medications used by many older people to control their blood pressure also increase the risk of serious fall injuries by 30% to 40% — injuries that have a similar effect on mortality and functional loss as the strokes and heart attacks the blood pressure drugs are meant to prevent — according to a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers in the Feb. 24 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.
Clinicians have long assumed that blood pressure medications are safe and effective in all older adults. That is probably true in healthy older adults, but the same might not be true in a more typical population of older adults, who commonly have several other chronic conditions, note the researchers. (more…)
Buying property is a major undertaking, especially for a business. If you are considering buying or leasing a property in the near future, it is of the utmost importance that you do the environmental due diligence in a timely manner, preferably early if possible. This is because it is common that sites are contaminated, and you want to be sure of what you are getting with your potential property. It is likely that if the property you are looking into has been developed in the past, then there is a risk of contamination. Contamination is even more common is downtown or industrial areas.
There are three common risks associated with buying or leasing contaminated property. These three risks are cleanup risk, damages risk, and business risk. This article will discuss these risks in further detail, as well as how to manage the contaminated property. This article is important to you if you are considering purchasing or developing a piece of property in the near future. (more…)
Studies have shown that certain pesticides can increase people’s risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. Now, UCLA researchers have found that the strength of that risk depends on an individual’s genetic makeup, which, in the most pesticide-exposed populations, could increase a person’s chance of developing the debilitating disease two- to six-fold.
In an earlier study, published January 2013 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the UCLA team discovered a link between Parkinson’s and the pesticide benomyl, a fungicide that has been banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That study found that benomyl prevents the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) from converting aldehydes — organic compounds that are highly toxic to dopamine cells in the brain — into less toxic agents, thereby contributing to the risk of Parkinson’s. (more…)
