Futurity.org » University of California at Davis

To protect jockeys, protect horses first

Andy Fell-UC Davis — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:19:16 +0000

UC DAVIS (US) — Steps to prevent injuries to racehorses could also reduce the number of jockeys injured or killed in the United States.

For a new study, researchers analyzed data on falls and injuries to jockeys that occurred at race meetings from January 2007 to December 2011.

Limit CT scans to prevent cancer in kids

Phyllis Brown-UC Davis — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 15:53:46 +0000

UC DAVIS (US) — Reducing unnecessary CT scans and lowering doses could reduce the overall lifetime risk of related cancers in children by 62 percent, research suggests.

“There are potential harms from CT, meaning that there is a cancer risk, albeit very small in individual children, so it’s important to reduce this risk in two ways,” says Diana Miglioretti, professor of biostatistics at University of California, Davis. “The first is to only do a CT when it’s medically necessary, and use alternative imaging when possible. The second is to dose CT appropriately for children.”

Computed tomography, a procedure used to generate cross-sectional images of the body in diagnostic and therapeutic settings, is frequently used in young children who may have experienced trauma, for example.

Poor vision may lead to loss of balance

Carole Gan-UC Davis — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:47:17 +0000

UC DAVIS (US) — Compared to those with normal vision, people who should wear glasses but don’t have a significantly greater risk of failing a balance test with their eyes closed.

The research, published in JAMA Ophthalmology, suggests that vision may play an important role in calibrating the vestibular system, which includes the bones and soft tissue of the inner ear, to help optimize physical balance.

How dead orcas can keep others alive

Kat Kerlin-UC Davis — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:45:44 +0000

UC DAVIS (US) — A standardized killer-whale necropsy system, developed in 2004, has boosted the collection of complete data from stranded orcas from 2 percent to about 33 percent.

“Because killer whales are apex predators and flagship conservation species, strandings are sad events,” says Joe Gaydos, director of the SeaDoc Society—a program of the Wildlife Health Center at University of California, Davis. “But this study confirms that if we make every effort to understand why the strandings occurred, we will ultimately improve the fate of the species.”

In-school vaccinations could cut flu

Karen Finney-UC Davis — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 16:06:41 +0000

UC DAVIS / U. ROCHESTER (US) — Offering flu vaccines at elementary schools could expand vaccination rates and reduce costs, a new study suggests.

The best protection against flu for children at least 6 months of age is the seasonal vaccine, yet vaccination rates among children are low, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only about 40 percent of children received a 2012-2013 flu vaccine, which is typically provided in a primary-care setting.

Curiosity finds ancient streambed on Mars

Kat Kerlin-UC Davis — Fri, 31 May 2013 19:10:17 +0000

UC DAVIS (US) — Rounded pebbles on the surface of Mars indicate that a stream once flowed on the red planet, according to a new study.

Rounded pebbles of this size are known to form only when transported through water over long distances. They were discovered between the north rim of the planet’s Gale Crater and the base of Mount Sharp, a mountain inside the crater.

The finding, published in Science, represents the first on-site evidence of sustained water flows on the Mars landscape, and supports prospects that the planet could once have been able to host life.

California’s native fish face extinction

Kat Kerlin-UC Davis — Fri, 31 May 2013 13:57:28 +0000

UC DAVIS (US) — Salmon and other native freshwater fish in California will likely go extinct within the next century due to climate change if current trends continue.

The study, published online in May in the journal PLOS ONE, assessed how vulnerable each freshwater species in California is to climate change and estimated the likelihood that those species would become extinct in 100 years.

Health gaps may explain varying Medicare costs

Karen Finney-UC Davis — Wed, 29 May 2013 15:05:46 +0000

UC DAVIS (US) — Geographic variation in Medicare costs is largely explained by health differences across communities rather than inefficient medical care, research shows.

Previous research found that Medicare could reduce spending by as much as 30 percent without harming health if all providers adopted treatment patterns found in low-cost areas, but a study published in Medical Care Research and Review, calls into question how well these analyses accounted for differences in Medicare beneficiaries’ health status.

James Reschovsky of the Center for Studying Health System Change, together with Jack Hadley of George Mason University and Patrick Romano of the University of California, Davis Center for Healthcare Policy and Research, examined multiple ways of adjusting for patient health.

Like purebreds, mutts can inherit medical trouble

Pat Bailey-UC Davis — Wed, 29 May 2013 13:39:16 +0000

UC DAVIS (US) — Purebred and mixed-breed dogs are equally likely to have 13 out of 24 highly prevalent genetic disorders, according to a new study.

Ten of the disorders were found more frequently among purebred dogs, and one such disorder was more common in mixed-breeds.

Biology can’t run on genes alone

Pat Bailey-UC Davis — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:57:00 +0000

UC DAVIS (US) — Don’t lose the organism in the excitement over its genes, say biologists, who caution against straying too far from the actual plants, animals, and microorganisms.

The team suggests that decades of focus on genes have led the scientific community away from a balanced exploration of the organisms that those genes define.