Tag: economics
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Store Checkout Data Generate Neighborhood Food Profiles
11 March 2014. An epidemiologist at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada devised a method for tracking food choices, with data from food stores, that helps gauge family nutrition in city neighborhoods. The team led by McGill’s David Buckeridge published its findings online in a recent issue of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences…
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AAAS Pres: Science Drives Innovation, Economic Growth
13 February 2014. Phillip Sharp, professor of molecular biology at MIT and president of American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), underscored the tight connection between scientific advancement, entrepreneurship, and economic growth, in the opening plenary session of the AAAS annual conference in Chicago. Sharp described the way scientific discovery feeds the economic engines of…
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Challenge Seeks Better Metal Removal Method from Mine Water
7 February 2014. A new challenge on InnoCentive asks for new, less expensive techniques to remove metals from water that drains from mines, both current and inactive. The competition has a total purse of $12,000 and a deadline of 8 March 2014 (free registration required). InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts conducts open-innovation, crowd-sourcing competitions for corporate…
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Report: PCORI Needs More Focus on Effectiveness Research
24 January 2014. A report released today by Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank in Washington, D.C., calls for the organization formed to study comparative effectiveness of treatment options to focus more on the research for which it was created. The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) was established in a provision of the…
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Cancer Surgery Complications Generate High Costs
Economists and medical researchers at Rice University and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston found complications experienced by cancer surgery patients, while infrequent, can result in very high financial costs. Health economist Vivian Ho, at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, with Baker Institute research analyst Marah Short and MD Anderson cancer surgeon Thomas Aloia, published…
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Tighter Home Weatherizing Standards Can Save $33 Billion
Weatherizing U.S. homes to tighter international standards can save up to $33 billion in energy bills each year, according to calculations by engineers at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California, part of the U.S. Department of Energy. The team led by environmental engineer Jennifer Logue published its findings in this month’s issue of the journal…
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Health Reform To Cut Out-of-Pocket Costs for Newly Insured
A new study from the Rand Corporation shows health care costs will decline for most people, particularly those newly insured or changing their plans under the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. health reform law. The impact of the law is expected to vary, however, with newly insured consumers having higher incomes and thus ineligible for…
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Biotech Financing Up, Licensing Down in First Half of 2013
The biotechnology industry experienced healthy growth in venture financing and valuations in the first half of 2013, but licensing deals — a prime source of biotech revenue — were flat during the period, pointing to limits on the industry’s growth potential. This accounting of biotech industry financial activity is described in a report from Evaluate…
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Engineered Castor Beans Growth-Tested as Biofuel Feedstock
The plant genomics company Evogene Ltd. in Rehovot, Israel says growing trials of its engineered castor bean show it is ready for commercial development as an alternative feedstock for biodiesel fuels and other industrial products. The three-year trials were conducted in Brazil with SLC Agrícola S.A., a grower of soybeans, corn, and cotton. Evogene’s biofuel…
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Quality Incentives Found Effective for Health Care Outcomes
A test of financial incentives for delivering high quality health care shows patients of medical providers receiving those pay-for-performance incentives have better outcomes for a number of common conditions than patients receiving care through the traditional fee-for-service model. The research team from University of California in San Francisco and New York City Department of Health…