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Simple Tactics Can Cut Unnecessary Blood Tests to Assess Symptoms of Heart Attack, Chest Pain

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Researchers at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center showed how they achieved a large decrease in patient charges using two relatively simple tactics. The effort involved significantly reducing the number of unnecessary blood tests to assess symptoms of heart attack and chest pain. The team provided information and education to physicians about proven testing guidelines and made changes to the computerized provider order entry system at the medical center, part of ...

Study Finds Sugar-coated Cells are Deadly for Cancer Patients

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A new study has showed how the 'sugar coating' in a living cell's surface gets thick and pronounced on cancer cells and is a crucial determinant of the cell's survival. Every living cell's surface has a protein-embedded membrane that's covered in polysaccharide chains - a literal sugar coating. A new study by a Cornell University researcher found this coating is especially thick and pronounced on cancer cells and is a crucial determinant of the cell's survival. ...

'Designer Vagina' Surgery a New Trend Among Women

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Nearly 1 in 5 women are now considering labiaplasty, a 'designer vagina' surgery, that involves reducing labia size so they do not protrude, finds a new Australian research. The study also found women exposed to images of female genitalia are more likely to get tempted to consider the procedure. Australian researchers from the school of psychology at Flinders University conducted a survey among 351 women aged 18-69 of whom 17% expressed willingness ...

Childhood Malnutrition May Lead to High Blood Pressure in Adulthood

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Children who have to endure malnutrition are likely to end up with high blood pressure in adulthood, claims a study carried out by researchers at the University of the West Indies, Mona. The study discloses insufficient nourishment before birth and up to 5 years may lead to higher diastolic blood pressure, higher peripheral resistance and poor heart function during adulthood. Researchers compared 116 Jamaican adults who had to experience malnutrition and ...

Biomarker Predicts Effectiveness of Brain Cancer Treatment: Study

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A new biomarker that predicts whether glioblastoma will respond to chemotherapy has been discovered by scientists. The findings are published in the July print issue of iOncotarget/i. "Every patient diagnosed with glioblastoma is treated with a chemotherapy called temozolomide. About 15 percent of these patients derive long-lasting benefit," said Clark C. Chen, MD, PhD, vice-chairman of Academic Affairs, Division of Neurosurgery, UC San Diego School of Medicine ...

Bihar Doctor Undergoes Liver-Kidney Transplant

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Sanjiv Kumar Sinha, an orthopedician from Bihar, underwent a successful dual liver-kidney transplant in Bangalore. Dr. Sinha, 60, hails from Bhagalpur and had been suffering from chronic diabetes for the past 25 years and this led to complications such as liver cirrhosis and kidney damage. The doctor underwent dialysis for a year in Delhi. In November 2012, he experienced severe shortness of breath and was referred to Global Hospitals ...

Healthy Baby Mice from Frozen Testicle Tissue

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Healthy offspring has been produced using sperm growth from the frozen testicle tissue of newborn mice, in a hopeful development for men left infertile by childhood cancer treatment, researchers said Tuesday. In a process called spermatogenesis, the sperm was grown in a lab from testicle tissue that had been frozen for more than four months, they said, then deposited directly into immature egg cells to yield mouse babies. The offspring were healthy and ...

Management of Respiratory Diseases Beyond Drugs

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A panel discussion on Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) of patients of respiratory diseases was held as part of the 20th National Conference on Environmental Sciences and Pulmonary Diseases (20th NESCON). The event was organized by the Academy of Respiratory Medicine, under the auspices of Environmental Medical Association in Mumbai. Pulmonary rehabilitation is an evidence based multidisciplinary and comprehensive intervention for patients with chronic respiratory ...

Decreased 'Work Trajectory' With Alcohol Use Disorders

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The relationship between occupation and AUDs in workers followed up from early adulthood to middle age was studied by John D. Meyer, MD, MPH, of Icahn-Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, and Miriam Mutambudzi, PhD, MPH, of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore. The study focused on the "substantive complexity" of work as an indicator of work trajectory-whether individuals were progressing in their careers in terms of factors such as decision latitude and expanded ...

(Dollar) 7 Million Awarded to UCLA to Unravel Mystery of Genetic Diseases

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National Institutes of Health has chosen the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, among six other institutes, to join their effort in tackling the most difficult-to-solve medical cases and develop ways to diagnose rare genetic disorders. Part of a (Dollar) 120 million initiative called the Undiagnosed Diseases Network, the four-year (Dollar) 7.2 million UCLA grant will enable comprehensive bedside to bench clinical research to support physicians'' efforts to give long-sought answers to ...

Gene Critical to Early Development of Cilia Revealed

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The functions of a gene responsible for anchoring cilia - sensory hair-like extensions present on almost every cell of the body, have been described by researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI). They show in a mouse model that without the gene Cc2d2a, cilia throughout the body failed to grow, and the mice died during the embryonic stage. The finding adds to an expanding body of knowledge about ciliopathies, a class of genetic disorders that result from defects ...

Task Force Set Up in Malaysia to Fight Dengue

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As deaths from dengue fever soar up, Malaysia has set up a task force to combat the mosquito-borne tropical disease, Prime Minister Najib Razak said Tuesday. Najib said he hoped the task force led by his deputy would be able to curb the spiraling number of cases, according to local media reports. Eighty-two people have died from the flu-like illness from January until June 21, more than triple the number in the same period last year. The number of cases ...

Don't Drink and Text on Your Phone

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Using your mobile phone under the influence of alcohol damages your phones as there are more chances of dropping them, says a new study. The study by CouponCodesPro.com reveals that one in three American iPhone owners is using a damaged handset and 47 percent of those phones were messed up by people who were messed up on booze and sloppily dropped their phone on a hard surface, the New York Post reported. The survey of 2,487 US citizens ages 18 and up ...

Off-Line Fear at School With Online Bullying: Study

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Fear among students being victimized at school also results from cyberbullying, a recent study by Sam Houston State University found. While traditional bullying still creates the most fear among students, cyberbullying is a significant factor for fear of victimization at school among students who have experienced bullying or disorder At school, such as the presence of gangs. The fear from cyberbullying is most prominent in minority populations. "It cannot ...

People Who Can't Get Over Breakups, the 'Exaholics'

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An "exaholic" is the one who can't stop analyzing the final voice-mail the former lover left and refreshing their Facebook page every 10 minutes. A new website called exaholics.com provides an outlet for those who have been unsuccessful in their relationships and helps them get over it, the New York Post reported. Dr. Lisa Bobby, the Denver-based therapist who created the program for the New York-based site, said that exaholic has a very difficult time ...

Fusion Procedures for Degenerative Disease of the Lumbar Spine: New Guidelines

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Recent literature on lumbar spine fusion procedures has been evaluated to publish up-to-date evidence-based recommendations on their use, by experts in the spine surgery community-neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons. emThe Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine/em is pleased to announce today's publication of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves' updated guidelines for ...

WHO Reports Ebola Death Toll Rise to 467 in West Africa

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Giving the latest update on the death toll from the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, the World Health Organization said 467 people have till now died of infection from the Ebola virus. Giving the latest update on the disease which has hit Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the WHO said there have now been 759 confirmed or suspected cases of Ebola in the region. The figures were issued on the eve of a conference on the crisis to be held in Ghana. WHO ...

Awareness of Oocytes Freezing More Among Women for Social Reasons

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Awareness of egg freezing as a technique of fertility preservation is spreading among majority of younger women. Although they consider it an acceptable means of reproductive planning, only one in five would consider it appropriate for them, revealed the results of an internet survey performed in the UK and Denmark. The questionnaire, which was accessible www.mycompletefamily.co.uk, was completed anonymously by 973 women with a median age of 31 years between September ...

Prediction of Fertility and Reproductive Lifespan With Preconceptional Factors

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A profound effect of the contraceptive pill on markers used to assess "ovarian reserve", a predictor of future reproductive lifespan has been found by researchers. A project in Denmark whose aim is to assess the reliability of preconceptional lifestyle and biological factors as predictors of fertility, has revealed the data. Available evidence of whether the Pill has an effect on fertility has so far been reassuring - and usual advice to those stopping the Pill is that cycles ...

FDA Approves ReWalk Exoskeleton System for Home Use

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Exoskeleton manufacturer ReWalk Robotics has announced that its ReWalk Personal System has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for home use, making it the only exoskeleton to be cleared by the health regulator. First developed by Israeli inventor Dr Amit Goffer following his ATV crash in 1997, ReWalk system can help patients with paraplegia to stand upright and walk. The system is made up of a customized metal brace that supports the legs and part ...

Food and Beauty Products Used by Japan to Promote Its Traditions

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It has emerged that the All Nippon Airways (ANA) offers the real taste of Japan during in-flight menus and at their service lounges. The airlines run a project called "Tastes of Japan by ANA" and offers food such as Lemosco, a traditional dish made of lemon from Japan's Hiroshima Prefecture. Osamu Shinobe, President and CEO, All Nippon Airways Co. Ltd., said: "We launched this project to introduce Japanese culture to our customers at home and abroad." ...

Here are the Top Tips for Becoming a 'Perfect Gentleman'

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Sleeping in a spare room after night out and not hogging the television are some of the tips that can turn you into a 'perfect gentleman', the Daily Express reported. The survey's top 30 "gent" list also includes carrying a woman partner home from a night out if her shoes are hurting and telling her if her skirt is tucked into her knickers. A spokeswoman for florists SerenataFlowers.com, which ordered the study, said that the definition of a gentleman ...

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act can Help Advance Co-Operation Between Healthcare and Public Health

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A new study published in The Lancet as part of a new series titled The health of Americans reveals that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act can lead to increased emphasis on prevention as well as reverse the historic division between public health and private health care services. The report was produced by health experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA, and Centers for Medicare (and) Medicaid Services, Baltimore, USA. ...

Gap Between USA and Other High-Spending Countries Closed Down by Slowdown in Growth of US Health Expenditure Over Last Decade

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A new report suggests that "more and bigger" efforts will be needed to contain US health budget to prevent reversal of recent slowdown in health spending growth as economic growth improves. Growth in health expenditure in the USA slowed dramatically between 2000 and 2011, bringing the growth rate of the country's health budget in line with other high-spending countries, according to new research published in emThe Lancet/em as part of a new Series, The health ...

Two in Five US Soldiers Returning from Deployment Complain of Chronic Pain

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Researchers at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring led by Robin Toblin have found that around two in five American soldiers who return from deployment complained of chronic pain while over 15 percent admitted to recent use of opioid pain relievers. Background: The prevalence of chronic pain and opioid use associated with deployment is not well known, although there are large numbers of wounded service members. The authors assessed the prevalence ...

Artificial Platelets can Speed Up Formation of Clots in Trauma Victims

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Researchers are hoping to develop artificial platelets that can help natural blood platelets to form clots faster, thereby saving the lives of soldiers and victims of severe trauma. In preclinical tests led by a Case Western Reserve University researcher, the artificial platelets, called "hemostatic nanoparticles," when injected after blast trauma dramatically increased survival rates and showed no signs of interfering with healing or causing other complications ...

Increased Lead Levels in Blood Linked With Behavioral Problems in Kids

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A new study led by Jianghong Liu from University of Pennsylvania and involving preschool children in China reveals that elevated levels of lead in children's blood may be linked with increased behavioral problems. Background: Lead toxicity can lower a child's IQ. Blood lead concentrations greater than 10 (and) #956;g/dL also have been linked to behavior problems in children. Still, the effect of lead on children's behavior is less understood than its effect on IQ. Lead ...

Twin Studies Shed New Light on Cardiac Arrhythmia-Causing Genes

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Two international studies conducted by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and published in the journals Nature Genetics and Nature Methods have shed new light on genes that increase the risk of serious cardiac arrhythmias. The iNature Genetics/i report identifies several new gene regions associated with variations in the QT interval - a stage in the heart's electrical cycle that, if prolonged, increases ...

Researchers Cast Doubt on Reason for Development of Light-Colored Skin Among Northern Europeans

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Researchers at UC San Francisco have cast doubt on the long-held explanation which points towards the need for absorbing more UV light as the key reason for the light-colored skin of Northern Europeans, a new study published in Evolutionary Biology reveals. Ramping up the skin's capacity to capture UV light to make vitamin D is indeed important, according to a team led by Peter Elias, MD, a UCSF professor of dermatology. However, Elias and colleagues concluded in ...

Understanding Carbon Footprint of Growing Trees

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A new study conducted by Charles R. Hall and Dewayne Ingram that has been published in the journal HortScience reveals that understanding a tree's carbon footprint is vital as it acts as an 'impact indicator' in quantifying the global warming potential of the product. The carbon footprint of plants and trees, a measure of all greenhouse gases emitted in a product's life cycle, is expressed in units of tons (or kilograms) of carbon dioxide equivalents (COsub2/sube). ...

Sexting Teens More Likely to be Sexually Active

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Young teens who send sex texts are 6 times more likely to be sexually active and talk about it, a team of researchers have found. USC researchers, who defined 'sext' in their survey as a sexually suggestive text or photo, have provided a new understanding of the relationship between "sexting" and sexual behavior in early adolescence, contributing to an ongoing national conversation about whether sexually explicit text messaging is a risk behavior or just a technologically-enabled ...

Polish City's New Statue Cuts the Urinating Lenin Down

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The monumental hero of Soviet days, a lenin statue that has returned to a one time model communist city in Poland is now a small, green man urinating from atop a black plinth. The ironic take on the Russian revolutionary stands in Nowa Huta, a working class suburb of Krakow, to offer a bit of comic closure with its often difficult communist past. "Are we capable of ascribing a funnier, surrealist meaning to this past, of bursting the bubble, of showing ...

Switching Off a Single Gene can Convert Gastrointestinal Cells into Insulin-Producing Cells

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Researchers at Columbia University's Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center were able to convert gastrointestinal cells into insulin-producing cells by switching off a single gene, raising hopes of the development of new drugs that can retrain cells inside a person's gut to produce insulin. The new research was reported today in the online issue of the journal iNature Communications/i. "People have been talking about turning one cell into another for a long ...

Four Habits Model can Better Prepare Inexperienced Pediatric Nurses to Deal With Emotionally Difficult Discussions

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Utilizing the Four Habits Model of Highly Effective Clinicians, a set of communication skills that can help physicians communicate better with patients, will allow inexperienced nurses to be better prepared for emotionally difficult conversations with parents of pediatric patients, a new study reveals. The evidence-based Four Habits Model was co-developed 20 years ago by Regenstrief Institute investigator Richard Frankel, Ph.D., a sociologist and medical educator ...

Midlands Boy Died Tragically of Meningitis After Getting Wrong Medication

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A schoolboy in Midlands tragically died of meningitis on his 13th birthday after hospital staff gave him medication for headache even though he displayed six tell-tale signs of the meningitis virus, an inquest heard. Hednesford's Thomas Smith was on a holiday in Wales when he was taken to an out-of-hours GP after he complained of headaches. He was referred to the Prince Charles Hospital, in Merthyr Tydfil, with tell-tale symptoms of meningitis including sickness, neck-pain, ...

Non-Specific Symptoms in Veterans may Not Lead to Correct Diagnosis

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A huge percentage of veterans were found to have non-specific symptoms that could not lead to correct diagnosis in a new study conducted to identify deployment-related respiratory symptoms. Most patients who did receive a diagnosis had evidence of asthma or nonspecific airway hyperreactivity, which may have been due in some cases to aggravation of pre-existing disease by deployment exposures. "Earlier studies of military personnel deployed in Southwest Asia have ...

Malaria Patients Smell Irresistible to Mosquitoes

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A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that one reason why a person suffering from malaria is bitten again by disease-carrying mosquitoes is because they find the patient's smell irresistible. Researchers at Swiss research institute ETH Zurich conducted their study on a group of mice and found that the malaria parasite, called Plasmodium, produces an irresistible cocktail of odors in the body by mixing various ...

Aggressiveness of Oral Cancer can Now be Predicted!

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The aggressiveness of cancer tumors can now be forseen in individuals thanks to a new study done on mouth cancer in mice. Ravindra Uppaluri, MD, PhD, said that all patients with advanced head and neck cancer got similar treatments, and they were interested in finding out why some of the patients do well on standard combinations of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, while some don't. Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis investigators ...

Genes That Help Frogs Avoid Muscle Wastage Identified

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Key genes that help burrowing frogs avoid wastage of muscle while they are dormant have now been identified by researchers. These genetic insights could help prevent muscle atrophy in bedridden human patients, or even astronauts. For most mammals, including humans, when muscles are inactive over a long period, they lose condition and waste away. However, some animals can remain dormant for several months and yet suffer minimal muscle damage. These include green-striped ...

Beyonce Tops in the List of 100 Most Powerful Celebs

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In the Forbes list of the World's 100 most powerful celebs list, Beyonce has come up to the top position since her debut in the list in the year 2004. The 32-year-old singer's rapper husband Jay-Z gained the sixth spot who made 60million dollars, the BBC reported. Basketball player LeBron James grabbed the second spot on this year's list, while hip hop star Dr Dre occupied the third spot with 620million dollars earnings. Oprah Winfrey ...

Cancer Mutations Identified As Targets Of Melanoma Immunotherapy

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The recognition of unique cancer mutations could be responsible for complete cancer regressions in metastatic melanoma patients treated with immunotherapy, a new approach has found. This new approach may help develop more effective cancer immunotherapies, according to a study published in iClinical Cancer Research/i, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. "This study provides the technical solution to identify mutated tumor targets that can ...

Pathogen Campylobacter Jejuni may Cause Disease in Certain Poultry Breeds

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A new research has found that contrary to the popular belief, a pathogen called Campylobacter jejuni is not harmless in chicken, and can cause disease in some breeds of poultry. "The main implication is that iCampylobacter/i is not always harmless to chickens. This rather changes our view of the biology of this nasty little bug," says Paul Wigley of Institute for Infection and Global Health at the University of Liverpool, an author on the study. iCampylobacter ...

Shorter Sleep may Speed Up Ageing of Brain in Older Adults

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A new study has found that the less older adults sleep, the faster their brains age. These findings, relevant in the context of Singapore's rapidly ageing society, pave the way for future work on sleep loss and its contribution to cognitive decline, including dementia. Past research has examined the impact of sleep duration on cognitive functions in older adults. Though faster brain ventricle enlargement is a marker for cognitive decline and the development of neurodegenerative ...

Gene Silencing Technology Now Alters the Sex of Prawns

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A novel method has been developed to generate singe-sex population of prawns. This could be used to boost the productivity of aquaculture farms and even as a biocontrol measure against invasive species and pests.Male sexual differentiation in crustaceans is regulated by the androgenic gland. It is thought that this overrides a default programme of female differentiation, allowing male features to develop. This comes from the observation that removing the androgenic ...

Healthcare Savings With Protection from Heart Ailments Now Possible

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Healthcare charges could be reduced while simultaneously protecting childhood cancer survivors from heart ailments using drug therapy, a new study has found. That's the "very exciting and very hopeful" bottom line of the recently published study, said co-author Lipshultz, who has spent more than 30 years studying the potential harmful impact - or "cardiotoxicity" - of drug therapies on the hearts of children who have survived cancer. The study, "Cost-Effectiveness ...

Low Lead Levels also Linked to Behavioral and Emotional Problems

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A new study has found how emotional and behavioral problems show up despite low exposure to lead, and as the lead levels in blood increase, so do the problems. The results were published online June 30 in the journal iJAMA Pediatrics/i. "This research focused on lower blood lead levels than most other studies and adds more evidence that there is no safe lead level," explained NIEHS Health Scientist Administrator Kimberly Gray, Ph.D. "It is important to continue ...