THURSDAY, Dec. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Overcrowding in emergency rooms appears to keep children with broken arms and legs from getting pain relief in a timely manner, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine said their findings are significant since these injuries, known as long bone fractures, are common among children and very painful.
"Pain associated with long bone fractures can be pretty severe," study author Dr. Marion Sills said in a university news release. "But crowded emergency departments are impacting the delivery of care on many levels, including the delivery of pain medication."
In conducting the study, published in the December issue of the journal Academic Emergency Medicine, researchers examined 1,229 children treated in an ER over the course of one year. They found the children were 4 percent to 47 percent less likely to receive treatment in a timely fashion when the ER was very crowded (at the 90th percentile) than when it was less crowded (at the 10th percentile). The researchers also found the children were 3 percent to 17 percent less likely to receive effective care in these crowded conditions.
"The relationship between emergency department crowding and pain treatment is not unexpected," noted Sills. "When the emergency department gets busier, staff may be less responsive to the needs of individual patients and, as a result, patients have a higher likelihood of non-treatment and delays in treatment."
The authors said delays happen in some cases when only doctors are permitted to provide certain pain medications to patients.
"The expensive way to mitigate crowding is to hire more staff. Another way is to leverage the staff you have," Sills said. "Institutions can use techniques like protocols for pain management with standing orders for nurses, and computer- or phone-based alerts to call attention to under-treated pain."
Crowding is a serious issue, said Sills. "It is caused by a variety of things, from patients who too readily use emergency departments to federal policies that exacerbate the problem," she noted. "We as a nation need to get serious about this. Crowding needs to be a policy priority at every level."
More information
The U.S. National Institutes of Health provides more information on pain relievers.
Obama says he is the 4th best prez in the history of the USA.
Better than George Washington. Better than James Madison. Better than Theodore Roosevelt. Better than John F. Kennedy. Better than Ronald Reagan.
That's Barack Obama's opinion of his accomplishments during the first couple years of the eight years he plans to be president.
The revelation about Obama's opinion of his own presence in the Oval Office came during an interview for "60 Minutes," where the network reported Obama described himself as a "good captain" of the ship of state.
But the aired footage of the comments that his own accomplishments surpass those of every president ? with only a couple of exceptions ? did not reach the airwaves and were available on the online video.
That prompted several pundits, including P.J. Gladnick of NewsBusters to write:
"Such was the laughably absurd claim of President Obama on 60 Minutes last Sunday. What? You didn't see it? That was because 60 Minutes conveniently left it out of its broadcast. If you want to see Obama engage in this latest bit of over the top braggadocio you can only see it at the online 60 Minutes Overtime which has a video of the entire interview. You can catch Obama's excessive praise of himself at the tail end of the interview starting with Steve Kroft's question just before the 55 minute mark."
Yale scientist wins inaugural ASBMB award for her work on regulation of gene expressionPublic release date: 28-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Geoff Hunt ghunt@asbmb.org 240-283-6626 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Alice and C.C. Wang award carries $35,000 purse, award lecture at Experimental Biology 2012
ROCKVILLE, Md., Dec. 22, 2011 The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has named Elisabetta Ullu, professor of internal medicine and cell biology at the Yale University School of Medicine, the winner of the society's inaugural Alice and C.C. Wang award.
Ullu received the award, named after an internationally recognized researcher in parasitology, for her laboratory's work with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei, which causes African sleeping sickness, to uncover a novel mechanism of gene silencing known as RNA interference.
While working on RNA synthesis and processing pathways in T. brucei, Ullu hit upon the phenomenon of RNA interference (RNAi), in which small, noncoding RNA molecules, rather than proteins, regulate gene expression. Ullu's discovery of RNAi "made a revolution in the ability to investigate the function of genes in parasites," said Shulamit Michaeli from the Israel Science Foundation in supporting her nomination. The importance of RNAi as a biological phenomenon was cemented in 2006, when the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to Andrew Fire and Craig Mello for describing the process in roundworm nematodes.
Award namesake C.C. Wang praised Ullu's selection. "I think Elisabetta is a fantastic choice and an ideal recipient of the award from the eyes of my wife Alice and myself," he said.
The society's president, Suzanne Pfeffer, concurred. "Elisabetta Ullu is exactly the kind of recipient the society had in mind when this award was established by Alice and C. C. Wang. Her work has made, and will continue to make, extraordinary contributions to the fundamental principles of molecular parasitology."
A native of Italy, Ullu received her Ph.D. from the University of Rome in 1973. She continued worked at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, before taking a position at Yale University in 1984, where she has been ever since.
Ullu will receive her award during the Experimental Biology 2012 conference in San Diego, where she will deliver an award lecture. The presentation will take place at 3:45 p.m. April 22 in the San Diego Convention Center.
The Alice and C.C. Wang award aims to recognize established investigators who are making seminal contributions to the field of molecular parasitology, focusing in particular on novel and significant discoveries on the biology of parasitic organisms. The award's namesake, Ching Chung "C.C." Wang, is a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco. Professor Wang has made key contributions to the understanding of the biology of many pathogenic protozoa. The award consists of $35,000 for use by the recipient's research laboratory, a plaque and travel expenses for the recipient to attend and speak at the ASBMB annual meeting at EB2012.
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About the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
The ASBMB is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with more than 12,000 members worldwide. Most members teach and conduct research at colleges and universities. Others conduct research in various government laboratories, at nonprofit research institutions and in industry. The Society's student members attend undergraduate or graduate institutions. For more information about ASBMB, visit www.asbmb.org.
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Yale scientist wins inaugural ASBMB award for her work on regulation of gene expressionPublic release date: 28-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Geoff Hunt ghunt@asbmb.org 240-283-6626 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Alice and C.C. Wang award carries $35,000 purse, award lecture at Experimental Biology 2012
ROCKVILLE, Md., Dec. 22, 2011 The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has named Elisabetta Ullu, professor of internal medicine and cell biology at the Yale University School of Medicine, the winner of the society's inaugural Alice and C.C. Wang award.
Ullu received the award, named after an internationally recognized researcher in parasitology, for her laboratory's work with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei, which causes African sleeping sickness, to uncover a novel mechanism of gene silencing known as RNA interference.
While working on RNA synthesis and processing pathways in T. brucei, Ullu hit upon the phenomenon of RNA interference (RNAi), in which small, noncoding RNA molecules, rather than proteins, regulate gene expression. Ullu's discovery of RNAi "made a revolution in the ability to investigate the function of genes in parasites," said Shulamit Michaeli from the Israel Science Foundation in supporting her nomination. The importance of RNAi as a biological phenomenon was cemented in 2006, when the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to Andrew Fire and Craig Mello for describing the process in roundworm nematodes.
Award namesake C.C. Wang praised Ullu's selection. "I think Elisabetta is a fantastic choice and an ideal recipient of the award from the eyes of my wife Alice and myself," he said.
The society's president, Suzanne Pfeffer, concurred. "Elisabetta Ullu is exactly the kind of recipient the society had in mind when this award was established by Alice and C. C. Wang. Her work has made, and will continue to make, extraordinary contributions to the fundamental principles of molecular parasitology."
A native of Italy, Ullu received her Ph.D. from the University of Rome in 1973. She continued worked at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, before taking a position at Yale University in 1984, where she has been ever since.
Ullu will receive her award during the Experimental Biology 2012 conference in San Diego, where she will deliver an award lecture. The presentation will take place at 3:45 p.m. April 22 in the San Diego Convention Center.
The Alice and C.C. Wang award aims to recognize established investigators who are making seminal contributions to the field of molecular parasitology, focusing in particular on novel and significant discoveries on the biology of parasitic organisms. The award's namesake, Ching Chung "C.C." Wang, is a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco. Professor Wang has made key contributions to the understanding of the biology of many pathogenic protozoa. The award consists of $35,000 for use by the recipient's research laboratory, a plaque and travel expenses for the recipient to attend and speak at the ASBMB annual meeting at EB2012.
###
About the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
The ASBMB is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with more than 12,000 members worldwide. Most members teach and conduct research at colleges and universities. Others conduct research in various government laboratories, at nonprofit research institutions and in industry. The Society's student members attend undergraduate or graduate institutions. For more information about ASBMB, visit www.asbmb.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Kmart and Sears closing will effect 120 stores nationwide. But these Sears closings might not save the company, says one analyst.
Sears' decision to?close?up to 120 Sears and Kmart stores shows a retailer struggling to draw shoppers at a time of increasing competition, Credit Suisse retail analyst Gary Balter told CNBC.
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"I don't know how they're going to turn it around," he said Tuesday. "This was a company making $3.6 billion in?Ebitda?four years ago," compared to $400 million this year "at a time when others are turning things around."
Balter, with a $20 price target and "underperform" rating on the stock, said Sears?has been losing market share to?Home Depot?and?Lowe's?on sales of power tools, and?Wal-Mart?and?Target?on drawing shoppers seeking discounts.
Home Depot?and Lowe's?in particular stand to benefit from Sears closing stores because they've already been aggressively pricing appliances, which make up about 7 percent of Home Depot sales and 10 percent at Lowe's. Those who won't benefit are Sears suppliers, such as?Whirlpool, one of the companies that makes Sears' Kenmore appliance.
"They?ve done a very nice job online," Balter said of Sears' website, "but they can?t get people into the stores, and that?s where most of their asset base is."
He said Chairman Eddie Lampert has limited choices. Land's End, which Sears bought in 2002, is a well-managed subsidiary with $1.5 billion to $2 billion in sales that can "be easily separated from Sears," Balter said. After that, however, the problem is "how do you separate the other assets without destroying the franchise?"
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Additional Views: Cramer's Play on Retail and Housing
A eye-opening year for Illinois' 5 GOP freshmen in U.S. House
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?|?December 27, 2011
Group of conservative lawmakers learn that not all battles with Democrats will go their way, with some facing primary election contests for 2nd terms U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of five Republican freshmen from the state in the House, calls them "The Boys from Illinois." But after almost a year in...
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Google may have finally found a solution to the social networking problem that has eluded them for years ? Google Plus is populated by 62 million users and will hit 400 million by the end of 2012, according to self-proclaimed ?unofficial statistician? Paul Allen (no, not that Paul Allen).
The last official figure we got was 40 million users, but that was way back in October. Allen?s estimates put the growth rate of Google Plus at 625,000 new users per day. At this rate, Google Plus will hit the 100 million users mark before the end of February and 200 million in August.
By end of the 2012 that number grows to 293 million. But Paul Allen bets the number of newcomers per day will increase, so Google Plus will actually have 400 million users by the end of next year.
Now, Allen may have a tendency to overestimate the number of users ? for example, he reported 50 million users at the end of September, then in October Google came out with an official number of 40 million.
Still, if Google manages to attract even just 200 million users to its social network in less than two years, it will be an amazing feat. It took Facebook about 4 years to hit that mark in April 2009 (though they?ve grown to 800 million since then).
LESTER, AL (RNN) - For eight months, Patty Bullion has made it her full time job to reunite victims of the April Southeastern tornado outbreak with their memories.
Her Facebook page "Pictures and Documents found after the April 27, 2011 Tornadoes" became a gathering place for people to post pictures they found in the aftermath in the storm, as well as for victims to reclaim photos ripped from their homes, sometimes thrown hundreds of miles away.
Now that many of the victims have moved on from that day, she says it's time for her to move on, too.
Bullion will be shutting the page down in the next few weeks because she says pictures are no longer being claimed. She also says a lot of her emails have bounced back? and that she's no longer able to get in touch with many of the people who have posted pictures.
"Somebody asked 'Why not leave it up?' I don't feel like it should be left up forever. These people's lives don't need to be forever displayed as a tornado victim," she said.
"I just feel like, for privacy reasons and to let people move on, those pictures don't need to stay out there forever. I wouldn't want something of mine out there for forever."
The page returned more than 2,000 pictures to their owners or, sometimes, family members of people who died in the tornado outbreak.
Bullion found and re-united the family of Maxine Chism with a picture of her and her late husband that hung in a frame on the wall of her home. Chism was thrown from the home during the tornado that touched down in Smithville, MS. She died from her injuries on May 20.
While the page is coming down, her mission to get people's pictures back to them will continue for a little while. In the next few months, she plans to personally travel to Phil Campbell, AL and Hackleburg, AL, some of the hardest hit areas, to let locals look through what's left of the pictures.
"I want to do that one last push because I have a large box of pictures and I want to do everything I can to get them home," she said.
The stories that have emerged and the people she's "met" through the page have interwoven themselves in to the fabric of her heart. She says the page has been a "huge success" and that she's met some lifelong friends through the project that she's poured days, weeks, and months of her life into.
"It went so much further than I ever thought it would. It's been a blessing," she said.
"I have put a lot of hours into it but it's been a labor of love and I have loved every minute of it. I was very blessed to have been a part of this."
Copyright 2011 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.
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Public release date: 28-Dec-2011
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