Tag: statistics

  • Glucose Regulation Shown to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes Onset

    Researchers at University of Colorado in Aurora and four other institutions in the U.S. have found people with pre-diabetes who regulate their blood glucose levels are less likely to develop diabetes. The findings of the team led by Leigh Perreault (pictured left) are published online in the journal The Lancet; paid subscription required. According to…

  • Math Model Helps Predict Future Medical Problems

    A University of Washington statistician, with colleagues from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University, have devised a mathematical model that predicts a patient’s possible medical conditions in the future based on the patient’s current and past medical history. The work of Washington’s Tyler McCormick (pictured right), with MIT’s Cynthia Rudin and Columbia’s David Madigan,…

  • U.S. STEM Grad Student Growth Rate Matches Foreign Students

    A National Science Foundation report says the number of U.S. science and engineering graduate students at American universities increased 35 percent from 2000 to 2010, the same rate as students from overseas. The numbers of women, African-American, Hispanic, and Native American grad students in science and engineering — which includes technology and mathematics, to make…

  • Alcohol Consumption Indicated as Atrial Fibrillation Cause

    Researchers at University of California in San Francisco have found evidence showing a causal link between alcohol consumption and atrial fibrillation, the most common form of arrhythmia or rapid heart beat. The results of the team led by medical professor Gregory Marcus were published online and will appear in the 1 August 2012 issue of…

  • Genetic Tests Not Triggering More Health Care Use

    Researchers at Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, National Institutes of Health, Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, and Abt Associates in Bethesda, Maryland found patients who receive genetic tests for susceptibility to disease were no more likely to use medical services after receiving the results than before the tests. The study results appear online today…

  • Quarter of Grandparents Keep Meds Where Kids Can Find Them

    A survey by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor shows nearly one quarter of grandparents in the U.S. of children age 1 to 5 say they keep their prescription medicines in easily accessible containers or locations. The findings were part of the hospital’s National Poll on Children’s Health conducted in…

  • PhRMA Company R&D Investment Flat in 2011

    The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) released its annual industry profile today showing its 28 member companies spent $49.5 billion on research and development in 2011, down slightly from the $50.7 billion expended in 2010. The $49.5 billion spent on R&D is about 17 percent of total sales. The organization cites the latest…

  • European Patent Office Filings, Awards Gain in 2011

    The European Patent Office, based in Munich, says the number of patent applications and awards increased in 2011, with applications from Asia now making up about a third of the total. The largest single technical field among applications was medical technology, which had almost as many filings in 2011 as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology combined. EPO…

  • Genetic Testing Users, Costs Expected to Increase

    A working paper released today by UnitedHealthcare, a health care insurance and services company in Minneapolis, says few patients currently use genetic testing, but a large majority of physicians believes their patients could benefit from these tests. The report also estimates some $5 billion is now spent annually on genetic testing, with those costs expected…

  • Traumatic Brain Injury Cases Likely Under-Reported

    A study by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota suggests that the number of cases of traumatic brain injury (TBI) is greater than current estimates offered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The team’s findings appeared late last year in the journal Epidemiology (paid subscription required). The investigators used a new,…