Tag Archives: united states

Smokers with Mental Disorders, Drug and Alcohol Problems Need Doctors’ Help to Quit

By Guest PostAugust 31, 2011Healthalcohol, alcohol use, cigarette smoking, drug, habit, health burden of tobacco, hiv, human immunodeficiency virus, illegal drug use, mental disorders, michael ong, motor vehicle injuries, nicotine, patients, smokers, suicides and murders, tobacco related health care costs, toolbox, united states

Smokers who also have alcohol, drug and mental disorders would benefit greatly from smoking-cessation counseling from their primary care physicians and would be five times more successful at kicking the habit, a study by researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has found.

Smokers with these co-morbid conditions make up about 40 percent of the smoking population, have a more difficult time quitting and represent a significant burden on the health care system. If their primary care physicians could help them to quit smoking, it would not only improve their health of patients but would reduce tobacco-related health care costs, said Dr. Michael Ong, an assistant professor of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a researcher with UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. (more…)

USGS Releases New Assessment of Gas Resources in the Marcellus Shale, Appalachian Basin

By Guest PostAugust 24, 2011Economy, Environmentappalachian basin, geologic information, kentucky, lake erie, marcellus shale, maryland, middle devonian marcellus shale, natural gas, natural gas liquids, new york, ohio, ohio geological survey, oil and gas, onshore and offshore areas, Pennsylvania, pennsylvania geological survey, tennessee, united states, usgs, virginia, west virginia, west virginia geological and economic survey

The Marcellus Shale contains about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas and 3.4 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids according to a new assessment by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS).

These gas estimates are significantly more than the last USGS assessment of the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin in 2002, which estimated a mean of about 2 trillion cubic feet of gas (TCF) and 0.01 billion barrels of natural gas liquids. (more…)

Marcus Garvey Movement Owes Large Debt to Caribbean Expats, UCLA Historian Finds

By Guest PostAugust 20, 2011Culture, Politicsafrica for the africans, african americans, american race, back to africa movement, belize newspaper, black star line, british guiana, caribbean identity, caribbean movement, caribbean nationals, caribbean role, charismatic jamaica native, conventional wisdom, costa rica, duke university press, garvey movement and the caribbean, jamaica, marcus garvey, negroes, new york, political and cultural environment of the harlem renaissance, racial self help, robert a hill, the caribbean diaspora, united states, unity of the african diaspora, universal negro improvement association

Conventional wisdom has long held that Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, which advocated racial self-help and the unity of the African diaspora, grew out of the heady political and cultural environment of the Harlem Renaissance and benefited African Americans above all other black people. Any Caribbean role, according to this view, was separate and incidental to the primary legacy bequeathed to American race relations by the charismatic Jamaica native.

Now a UCLA historian argues the reverse in the first book of a multi-volume series on the Garvey movement and the Caribbean. From the UNIA’s organizational structure to its most valuable foot soldiers during its first half-decade, Garvey’s Caribbean links were indispensable to the movement’s success, and the region ultimately proved to be its most important theater, contends Robert A. Hill in “The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers: The Caribbean Diaspora 1910–1920.” (more…)

Microbial life on Mars: Could Saltwater Make it Possible?

By Guest PostAugust 19, 2011Scienceair pressure, antarctic lakes, atmospheres, bruce block, carbon dioxide, daily and seasonal cycles, earth, forms of microbial life, gregory dick, gulf of mexico, mars, Mars Phoenix Lander, mars today, microbe, microbial life, NASA, nilton renno, organisms, perchlorate salts, salt loving extremophile microorganisms, saltwater on mars, sea level, temperatures, the centro de astrobiologia in madrid, the university of georgia, united states, university of michigan, university of texas at dallas, water vapor

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— How common are droplets of saltwater on Mars? Could microbial life survive and reproduce in them? A new million-dollar NASA project led by the University of Michigan aims to answer those questions.

This project begins three years after beads of liquid brine were first photographed on one of the Mars Phoenix lander’s legs.

“On Earth, everywhere there’s liquid water, there is microbial life,” said Nilton Renno, a professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences who is the principal investigator. Researchers from NASA, the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Georgia and the Centro de Astrobiologia in Madrid are also involved. (more…)

First Data from Daya Bay: Closing in on a Neutrino Mystery

By Guest PostAugust 16, 2011Scienceantineutrinos, basic physics, berkeley lab, big bang, China, china guangdong nuclear power group, cosmic rays, daya bay reactor neutrino experiment, dubbed θ13, electron, evolution of basic kinds of matter, flavors of neutrinos, hong kong, kam biu luk, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, liquid scintillator, mixing angles, muon, neutrinos, nuclear reactors, photomultiplier tubes, russia, southern china, taiwan, tau neutrinos, the czech republic, theta one three, united states, william edwards

*Berkeley Lab researchers are leaders in an international effort to close in on neutrino mass*

Some of the most intriguing questions in basic physics focus on neutrinos. How much do the different kinds weigh and which is the heaviest? The answers lie in how the three “flavors” of neutrinos – electron, muon, and tau neutrinos – oscillate or mix, changing from one to another as they race virtually without interruption through unbounded reaches of matter and space.

Three mathematical terms known as “mixing angles” described the process, and the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment has just begun taking data to establish the last, least-known mixing angle to unprecedented precision. China and the United States lead the international Daya Bay Collaboration, including participants from Russia, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. U.S. participation is led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). (more…)

Poultry Farms that Go Organic Have Fewer Drug-Resistant Bacteria

By Guest PostAugust 14, 2011Health, Scienceamy r sapkota, antibiotic resistant enterococci, antibiotics, bacteria, bacterium and antibiotic, drug resistant enterococci bacteria, enterococci bacteria in poultry litter, enterococcus faecalis, erinna kinney, guangyu zhang, kellogg j schwab, organic poultry farms, organic practices, poultry farms, poultry houses in the mid atlantic region, r michael hulet, sam joseph, united states, us poultry farms

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Poultry farms that have adopted organic practices and ceased using antibiotics have significantly lower levels of drug-resistant enterococci bacteria that can potentially spread to humans, according to a groundbreaking new study led by a researcher in the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health.

The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives (online August 10, 2011), is the first to demonstrate lower levels of drug-resistant bacteria on newly organic farms in the United States and suggests that removing antibiotic use from large-scale U.S. poultry farms can result in immediate and significant reductions in antibiotic resistance for some bacteria. (more…)

‘Chinese Households Save More than American Households’

By Guest PostAugust 12, 2011Economy2008 survey of chinese consumer finance and investor education, american 2007 survey of consumer finances, american households, China, chinese and american households, chinese culture, chinese households, global economy, global households, households, recent chinese economic reforms, rui yao, saving money, savings habits of households, two countries, united states, university of missouri, world most powerful economies

*Saving motives a major factor in increased household savings*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – With the global economy in a state of unrest, saving money seems to be an obvious strategy for households to protect themselves. But are global households saving enough? Researchers at the University of Missouri have compared savings habits of households from two of the world’s most powerful economies: China and the United States. Rui Yao, an assistant professor in the personal financial planning department in the College of Human Environmental Sciences at the University of Missouri, found that urban Chinese households, on average, save much more than American households. She says the difference stems from saving motives.

“Saving is one of the critical tools that households utilize to achieve financial goals and to improve financial well-being,” Yao said. “By looking at saving motives for households in each country, we hope to explain the difference in saving rates across these two countries.” (more…)

Researchers Look for New Ways to Get Teens to Take Their Medicine

By Guest PostAugust 11, 2011Healthbeth foster, canada, chronic conditions, chronic diseases, doses of medicine, health systems, high tech pillbox, kidney transplant, kidney transplant patients, medminder, non adherence, organ rejection in patients, period, teenagers, united states, vikas dharnidharka

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Skipping doses of medicine or taking it at the wrong times can worsen a patient’s condition and lead to costly complications — even organ rejection in patients who have undergone a kidney transplant.

A consortium of researchers in the United States and Canada, including at the University of Florida, has received a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to test techniques that may increase medication adherence in perhaps the most challenging population of patients:teenagers. (more…)