The American Society of Hematology has announced that members whose R01 grant applications were denied funding as a result of NIH budget cutbacks may now apply for an ASH bridge grant to help them continue their research. Starting in 2013, this new three-year grant program will provide at least 30 one-year awards over two award cycles, in the amount of $100,000 each, to ASH members conducting basic, clinical, or translational hematology research. Visit their site for more information about eligibility and the application process. The first application deadline is January 4, 2013.
REPORT – Cancer Hospitalizations for Adults 2009
The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) subdivision of the Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality (AHRQ), has issued a report, Cancer Hospitalizations for Adults 2009, containing data on hospital stays for cancer care for adults 18 and older, for 2009.
The report contains interesting information such as data indicating that hospitalizations for cancer decreased over the decade 2000 – 2009, while those for other reasons increased over the same time period. The top 10 most frequent cancer hospitalizations for men and for women are graphically displayed comparing data for the years 2000 and 2009. Figures are broken down by cancer diagnosis, lengths of stay and costs.
Blog Buzz: August 27 – September 7
Making a splash on the blogs these last two weeks…
The results of the massive ENCODE project exploring the human genome are out! Ed Yong explains more about the project (for the non-scientist) and along with the flood of new data there has been online debate over how the project has been covered in the media. Over at The Finch and Pea, Mike White provides an overview of how major media stories have erred. Michael Eisen provides another critique. These discussions point to a gap between the public’s perception of DNA in particular – and science in general – and the difficult job of accurately communicating and reporting complex new discoveries. If you’d rather dive into the data yourself though, here is a link to the ENCODE explorer on Nature, which is also available as a free iPad app.
Eating well and maintaining a healthy weight are important but, as Rob Dunn’s guest post at the Scientific American Blog network pointed out, there is a lot we don’t understand about digestion and our bodies. Read The Hidden Truths About Calories for a better sense of what is and isn’t understood about food’s journey through our bodies and why the nutrition facts give only a sketch of the whole picture.
In related news, a 25-year study found that restricting the calories in the diets of rhesus monkeys did not not extend their lives, according to coverage in Nature news, it appears that the quality of food and genetics also play a role in aging.
Twitter has announced that their API will no longer support RSS and Atom in March, more in this post from Mashable .