New Zealand scraps science reform plan, prompting fears of budget cuts
Scientists in New Zealand are criticizing the new government’s decision to cancel a multiyear reform plan to overhaul research funding and improve career opportunities. Researchers fear the move signals that the center-right coalition that came to power late last year will cut science funding as part of a broader push to reduce taxes and rein in government spending.
“We are looking at losing whole tranches of funding due to government austerity,” says physicist Nicola Gaston of the University of Auckland. Those cuts, she adds, would come “on top of an already struggling research system.”
New Zealand...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - February 16, 2024 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research
Thyroid hormone concentrations in female baboons: Metabolic consequences of living in a highly seasonal environment
Horm Behav. 2024 Feb 15;161:105505. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2024.105505. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTHow female mammals adapt metabolically in response to environmental variation remains understudied in the wild, because direct measures of metabolic activity are difficult to obtain in wild populations. However, recent advances in the non-invasive measurement of fecal thyroid hormones, triiodothyronine (T3), an important regulator of metabolism, provide an opportunity to understand how female baboons living in the harsh Amboseli ecosystem in southern Kenya adapt to environmental variability and escape strict reproductive sea...
Source: Hormones and Behavior - February 16, 2024 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Laurence R Gesquiere Christine Adjangba Tim L Wango Vivian K Oudu Raphael S Mututua J Kinyua Warutere I Long'ida Siodi Fernando A Campos Elizabeth A Archie A Catherine Markham Susan C Alberts Source Type: research
Thyroid hormone concentrations in female baboons: Metabolic consequences of living in a highly seasonal environment
Horm Behav. 2024 Feb 15;161:105505. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2024.105505. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTHow female mammals adapt metabolically in response to environmental variation remains understudied in the wild, because direct measures of metabolic activity are difficult to obtain in wild populations. However, recent advances in the non-invasive measurement of fecal thyroid hormones, triiodothyronine (T3), an important regulator of metabolism, provide an opportunity to understand how female baboons living in the harsh Amboseli ecosystem in southern Kenya adapt to environmental variability and escape strict reproductive sea...
Source: Hormones and Behavior - February 16, 2024 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Laurence R Gesquiere Christine Adjangba Tim L Wango Vivian K Oudu Raphael S Mututua J Kinyua Warutere I Long'ida Siodi Fernando A Campos Elizabeth A Archie A Catherine Markham Susan C Alberts Source Type: research
News at a glance: Layoffs at JPL, fossils of ancient innards, and Darwin ’s library
PLANETARY SCIENCE
NASA cuts jobs at storied lab
NASA’s premier center for space science, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, announced last week it would lay off 530 employees, about 8% of its workforce, along with 40 contractors, because of uncertainty over this year’s budget and lawmakers’ qualms about skyrocketing costs for the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. After arrival at Mars as early as 2030, the $10 billion effort would pick up rock samples collected by the Perseverance rover, load them in a rocket, and ferry them back to Earth. A Senate appropriations bill for this year would provide...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - February 15, 2024 Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research
An mHealth Application in German Health Care System: Importance of User Participation in the Development Process
AbstractThis paper addresses the challenges and solutions in developing a holistic prevention mobile health application (mHealth app) for Germany ’s healthcare sector. Despite Germany’s lag in healthcare digitalization, the app aims to enhance primary prevention in physical activity, nutrition, and stress management. A significant focus is on user participation and usability to counter the prevalent issue of user attrition in mHealth appl ications, as described by Eysenbach’s ‘law of attrition’. The development process, conducted in a scientific and university context, faces constraints like limited budgets and e...
Source: Journal of Medical Systems - February 14, 2024 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research
Enhancing Insights for Implementing Virtual Research Collaboration Program
We were genuinely interested in the study conducted by Elhakim et al [1], which examined the effectiveness of virtual research collaboration and its impact on participants’ satisfaction and research productivity. In their research, the authors highlighted positive outcomes achieved by involving students, residents, and faculty from various institutions, in res earch, through the Massachusetts General Hospital Radiology Research Training collaborative. Notably, this virtual collaboration led to a substantial amount of scholarly activity within a reasonable time frame while operating on a minimal budget. (Source: Journal...
Source: Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR - February 13, 2024 Category: Radiology Authors: Amir Hassankhani, Melika Amoukhteh, Ali Gholamrezanezhad Tags: Letters to the Editor Source Type: research
Rationing in an Era of Multiple Tight Constraints: Is Cost-Utility Analysis Still Fit for Purpose?
AbstractCost-utility analysis may not be sufficient to support reimbursement decisions when the assessed health intervention requires a large proportion of the healthcare budget or when the monetary healthcare budget is not the only resource constraint. Such cases include joint replacement, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) interventions and settings where all resources are constrained (e.g. post-COVID-19 or in low/middle-income countries). Using literature on health technology assessment, rationing and reimbursement in healthcare, we identified seven alternative frameworks for simultaneous decisions about (dis)investmen...
Source: Applied Health Economics and Health Policy - February 8, 2024 Category: Health Management Source Type: research
Improving the management of patients with chronic cardiac and respiratory diseases by extending pulse-oximeter uses: the dynamic pulse-oximetry
Multidiscip Respir Med. 2023 Dec 20;18(1):922. doi: 10.4081/mrm.2023.922. eCollection 2023 Jan 17.ABSTRACTRespiratory and cardio-vascular chronic diseases are among the most common noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) worldwide, accounting for a large portion of health-care costs in terms of mortality and disability. Their prevalence is expected to rise further in the coming years as the population ages. The current model of care for diagnosing and monitoring NCDs is out of date because it results in late medical interventions and/or an unfavourable cost-effectiveness balance based on reported symptoms and subsequent inpatient ...
Source: Respiratory Care - February 7, 2024 Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Stefano Nardini Ulisse Corbanese Alberto Visconti Jacopo Dalle Mule Claudio M Sanguinetti Fernando De Benedetto Source Type: research
Global pediatric anesthesia-Anglophone West Africa perspective
This article gives the pediatric anesthesia perspective from Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, and Gambia, five out of six countries in Anglophone West Africa. Over 40% of the population of most of these countries are younger than 14 years and there is an increasing need for paediatric anesthesia services.FINDINGS: Workforce density ranges from 0.08 to 0.58 physician anesthesia providers per 100,000 population. There are only 13 trained pediatric anesthetists; ratios range from 0 to 0.4 per 100,000 children, thus pediatric anesthesia services are provided by various cadres of physician and non-physician anesthesia provide...
Source: Pain Physician - February 7, 2024 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: Ibironke Desalu Pokua Sarpong Maryrose O Osazuwa Raymond Ndikontar Kwinji Aramide Folayemi Faponle Musa Kallamu Suleiman Junette Metogo Mbengono Epse Njoki Iniabasi Ilori Olayinka R Eyelade Anastasia Abena Ohene Audrey Anno William Addison Source Type: research
Global pediatric anesthesia-Anglophone West Africa perspective
This article gives the pediatric anesthesia perspective from Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, and Gambia, five out of six countries in Anglophone West Africa. Over 40% of the population of most of these countries are younger than 14 years and there is an increasing need for paediatric anesthesia services.FINDINGS: Workforce density ranges from 0.08 to 0.58 physician anesthesia providers per 100,000 population. There are only 13 trained pediatric anesthetists; ratios range from 0 to 0.4 per 100,000 children, thus pediatric anesthesia services are provided by various cadres of physician and non-physician anesthesia provide...
Source: Paediatric Anaesthesia - February 7, 2024 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: Ibironke Desalu Pokua Sarpong Maryrose O Osazuwa Raymond Ndikontar Kwinji Aramide Folayemi Faponle Musa Kallamu Suleiman Junette Metogo Mbengono Epse Njoki Iniabasi Ilori Olayinka R Eyelade Anastasia Abena Ohene Audrey Anno William Addison Source Type: research
Enhancing the clinical research workforce: a collaborative approach with human resources
Jobs for clinical research professionals (CRPs) have grown increasingly complex over the past 20+ years. This is due largely to additional administrative burden for investigators, study teams, sponsors, Clinical Research Organizations (CROs), and sites, particularly Academic Medical Centers (AMCs). Furthermore, National Institutes of Health (NIH) has reduced capacity to effectively fund research recognizing this is dependent on the overall congressional budget, which creates greater pressure for clinician scientists to secure external support. It is widely known clinical research will continue to become increasingly more c...
Source: Frontiers in Pharmacology - February 7, 2024 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research
Social Decision-Making Analysis: a general approach to inform decisions on resources in the public sector
Public expenditure aims to achieve social objectives by improving a range of socially valuable attributes of benefit (arguments in a social welfare function). Public expenditure is typically allocated to public sector budgets, where budget holders are tasked with meeting a subset of social objectives. (Source: Value in Health)
Source: Value in Health - February 3, 2024 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Francesco Longo, Karl Claxton, Susan Griffin, Anne Mason, Simon Walker, Helen Weatherly Source Type: research
Chemosynthesis: a neglected foundation of marine ecology and biogeochemistry
Trends Microbiol. 2024 Jan 17:S0966-842X(23)00332-3. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2023.11.013. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTChemosynthesis is a metabolic process that transfers carbon to the biosphere using reduced compounds. It is well recognised that chemosynthesis occurs in much of the ocean, but it is often thought to be a negligible process compared to photosynthesis. Here we propose that chemosynthesis is the underlying process governing primary production in much of the ocean and suggest that it extends to a much wider range of compounds, microorganisms, and ecosystems than previously thought. In turn, this process has had a...
Source: Trends in Microbiology - January 31, 2024 Category: Microbiology Authors: Francesco Ricci Chris Greening Source Type: research
Advancing survivorship at a comprehensive cancer center: integrating clinical care, education and research initiatives at Northwestern Medicine and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
We report to the CoC on SCP delivery, dietitian encounters, and DEXA scans. For the last decade, our Cancer Survivorship Institute has aligned the efforts of clinicians, researchers, and educators. The institute promotes evidence-based care, high-impact research, and state-of-the-science educational programs for professionals, survivors, and the community. Future plans include expansion of clinical services and funding for applied research centered on the unique needs of post-treatment cancer survivors.Implications for Cancer SurvivorsThe survivorship programs at Northwestern Medicine and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive ...
Source: Journal of Cancer Survivorship - January 31, 2024 Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research
