Summer | Page 17 of 24 | SpiritIndia.com

Medicare :: Projected Medicare Part D Costs Drop By 30 Percent

Independent estimates for the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit for the FY 2008 budget cycle show that net Medicare costs are 30 percent less — $189 billion lower — than were originally predicted when the benefit was created in 2003, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced today. In addition, based on strong, competitive bids by health care plans for 2007, average monthly premiums will be approximately $22 for beneficiaries, down from $23 in 2006, if enrollees remain in their current plans. The initial estimate for 2006 premiums was $37.

Metamaterials four to work for visible light

For the first time ever, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have developed a material with a negative refractive index for visible light. Ames Laboratory senior physicist Costas Soukoulis, working with colleagues in Karlsruhe, Germany, designed a silver-based, mesh-like material that marks the latest advance in the rapidly evolving field of metamaterials, materials that could lead to a wide range of new applications as varied as ultrahigh-resolution imaging systems and cloaking devices.

Homesickness :: Homesickness – Helping kids avoid or cope with homesickness

A new report urges parents and children’s doctors to change their thinking about homesickness among children, to see it as a nearly universal, but highly preventable and treatable phenomenon — rather than an unavoidable part of childhood.

Sex :: Sex ends as seasons shift and kisspeptin levels plummet

A hormone implicated in the onset of human puberty also appears to control reproductive activity in seasonally breeding rodents, report Indiana University Bloomington and University of California at Berkeley scientists in the March 2007 issue of Endocrinology. The paper is now accessible online via the journal’s rapid electronic publication service.

Should we pay the same price for all movies?

New research explains how movie theaters may increase profits by moving away from uniform pricing to variable pricing. The study is being published in an upcoming issue of the International Review of Law & Economics.

Asthma :: Where there’s smoke, there’s breathing trouble

Asthmatics and people prone to respiratory problems should have an action plan for the fire season to help them breathe easier over summer.

Durable critters providing insight for human egg preservation

A tiny, six-legged critter that suspends all biological activity when the going gets tough may hold answers to a better way to cryopreserve human eggs, researchers say.

Psychology :: NYU study shows those closer to World Trade Center have more vivid memories when recalling 9/11

Those close to the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, have, on average, more vivid memories of the terrorist attacks than do those who were in other parts of New York City on that day, according to a study by researchers at New York University. The results, reported in the most recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicate personal involvement may be important in engaging the amygdala when recalling 9/11 events.

Study finds oysters can take heat and heavy metals, but not both

Could low-level heavy metal pollution be combining with warm water temperatures to fatally weaken sea life? A study examining the joint effects of cadmium and temperature on mitochondrial metabolism in oysters finds a combined effect that is potentially lethal and could be a significant contributor to recent oyster declines. The research has broad implications for cold-blooded marine organisms.

Malaria :: Stop marketing unapproved drug products containing quinine – FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today ordered firms to stop marketing unapproved drug products containing quinine, a drug used to treat malaria, citing serious safety concerns, including deaths, associated with quinine products. There are multiple unapproved products containing quinine currently marketed. However, there is only one quinine product approved by the FDA.