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Report into massacre reveals Virginia Tech failings
60 SECONDS vol 298, p 975). A related study by the same team found a small benefit, but only for certain hospitals and medical conditions (JAMA, vol 298, p 984). The concern is that the benefits of additional doctors are offset by doctors
IT SEEMS like a no-brainer. Junior doctors work very long hours and fatigue is known to impair judgement, so forcing hospitals to give doctors time off should cut down on medical errors. The truth is more complex. In 2003, US resident doctors were ordered to work no more than 80 hours per week, and no more than 24 hours at a stretch. Since these restrictions came in, patient mortality rates have remained unchanged, say Kevin Volpp of the Philadelphia VA Medical Center in Pennsylvania and colleagues (Journal of the American Medical Association,
Danger signs
FOUL PLAY ON THE HIGH SEAS
BETTER communication might have prevented the massacre It’s a tough job, and it’s getting tougher. in April on the campus of Government observers who live aboard Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, US, commercial fishing vessels endure according to a hard-hitting report long stretches away from home in the commissioned by the governor company of people who, to put it mildly, of Virginia. may not always be friendly. Cho Seung-Hui shot dead Some antagonism is to be expected 32 fellow students before turning given that the observers are charged a gun on himself. The report with ensuring the ships do not catch documents incidents that should more than government limits allow. But have alerted authorities to the life for the officials is getting harder, threat posed by him, yet Virginia according to figures released last week Tech officials failed to intervene. by the US government following a “No one knew all the information freedom of information request. and no one connected all the Public Employees for Environmental dots,” the report concludes. Responsibility (PEER), the pressure group This underlines the value of a in Washington DC that made the request, strategy highlighted by experts in says the observers reported twice as many the aftermath of the shootings: cases of harassment in 2005 as they did the use of teams comprising in 2004. Among the 50 alleged incidents faculty members, campus law enforcement officers, mental health professionals and legal advisers to consider the risks posed by disturbed students and ensure that they get help (New Scientist, 28 April, p 9). The report reveals that some campus officials kept their concerns to themselves to protect students’ privacy. “In the wake of the Virginia Tech killings, our campuses re-examined their practices and many continue to make changes,” says Barry Toiv, spokesman for the American Association of Universities. –Something smells fishy– www.newscientist.com
Giant Hawaiian eye The world’s most powerful digital camera has been installed on a telescope atop Haleakala in Maui, the University of Hawaii revealed on 31 August. The 1.4-gigapixel camera will allow the Pan-STARRS-1 telescope to see stars 10 million times fainter than can be seen with the naked eye, and scan the skies for killer asteroids on a collision course with Earth.
“Restrictions on hours of work came in, but mortality rates in patients remain unchanged” passing patients to each other more frequently, which can lead to misunderstandings about a patient’s condition, says Volpp. Some doctors argue that trainee medics may not be getting enough experience of medical procedures.
Smallpox vaccine approved A vaccine against smallpox was approved on Monday by the US Food and Drug Administration, the first biodefence vaccine passed since the 9/11 attacks. Made by Acambis of Cambridge, UK, almost 200 million doses have already been stockpiled.
It’s getting hot in here
in 2005 were assault and sexual abuse, offers of bribes, and attempts to tamper with catch samples. The group says complaints of harassment have risen over the past decade and attributes the increase to greater competition between vessels chasing declining fish stocks. A spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which runs the observation programme, told New Scientist she could not confirm the numbers or comment on PEER’s allegation that NOAA has now stopped collecting harassment statistics. However, she said that the cases that the report highlights involved just a fraction of the organisation’s 639 observers.
Human-produced greenhouse gases have caused more than half the warming seen in the US, which last year came within 0.5 °C of the highest recorded annual temperature, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study suggests. It also estimates that there is a 1 in 6 chance that random temperature fluctuations will lead to the record being broken this year (Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: 10.1029/2007/GL030643).
Space scientists sue
DAN LAMONT/DRR.NET
Better care?
1000 children for 13 years, from age 3 to 15. They found that the relationship between the amount of TV watched and attention skills during adolescence was independent of gender, cognitive skills, socioeconomic status or of attention skills at younger ages. “TV is more likely to be causing the attention problems, rather than parents using TV to handle inattentive kids,” claims Bob Hancox of the University of Otago in New Zealand, who led the study. “Television, with its constant scene changes, is very good at holding a child’s attention, and that may be why they end up having problems paying attention elsewhere,” he says.
Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, California, are suing the US government in a bid to prevent it conducting background security checks on them. The 28 employees say the checks are an invasion of their privacy.
Chinese river purge A crackdown on water pollution in China resulted in the closure of 400 factories, the State Environmental Protection Administration reported on Tuesday. Of 1162 factories investigated during July – along rivers including the Yangtze and the Yellow river – a further 352 were ordered to clean up or face closure, the state-run China Daily reported.
8 September 2007 | NewScientist | 7
IT SEEMS like a no-brainer. Junior doctors work very long hours and fatigue is known to impair judgement, so forcing hospitals to give doctors time off should cut down on medical errors. The truth is more complex. In 2003, US resident doctors were ordered to work no more than 80 hours per week, and no more than 24 hours at a stretch. Since these restrictions came in, patient mortality rates have remained unchanged, say Kevin Volpp of the Philadelphia VA Medical Center in Pennsylvania and colleagues (Journal of the American Medical Association,
Danger signs
FOUL PLAY ON THE HIGH SEAS
BETTER communication might have prevented the massacre It’s a tough job, and it’s getting tougher. in April on the campus of Government observers who live aboard Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, US, commercial fishing vessels endure according to a hard-hitting report long stretches away from home in the commissioned by the governor company of people who, to put it mildly, of Virginia. may not always be friendly. Cho Seung-Hui shot dead Some antagonism is to be expected 32 fellow students before turning given that the observers are charged a gun on himself. The report with ensuring the ships do not catch documents incidents that should more than government limits allow. But have alerted authorities to the life for the officials is getting harder, threat posed by him, yet Virginia according to figures released last week Tech officials failed to intervene. by the US government following a “No one knew all the information freedom of information request. and no one connected all the Public Employees for Environmental dots,” the report concludes. Responsibility (PEER), the pressure group This underlines the value of a in Washington DC that made the request, strategy highlighted by experts in says the observers reported twice as many the aftermath of the shootings: cases of harassment in 2005 as they did the use of teams comprising in 2004. Among the 50 alleged incidents faculty members, campus law enforcement officers, mental health professionals and legal advisers to consider the risks posed by disturbed students and ensure that they get help (New Scientist, 28 April, p 9). The report reveals that some campus officials kept their concerns to themselves to protect students’ privacy. “In the wake of the Virginia Tech killings, our campuses re-examined their practices and many continue to make changes,” says Barry Toiv, spokesman for the American Association of Universities. –Something smells fishy– www.newscientist.com
Giant Hawaiian eye The world’s most powerful digital camera has been installed on a telescope atop Haleakala in Maui, the University of Hawaii revealed on 31 August. The 1.4-gigapixel camera will allow the Pan-STARRS-1 telescope to see stars 10 million times fainter than can be seen with the naked eye, and scan the skies for killer asteroids on a collision course with Earth.
“Restrictions on hours of work came in, but mortality rates in patients remain unchanged” passing patients to each other more frequently, which can lead to misunderstandings about a patient’s condition, says Volpp. Some doctors argue that trainee medics may not be getting enough experience of medical procedures.
Smallpox vaccine approved A vaccine against smallpox was approved on Monday by the US Food and Drug Administration, the first biodefence vaccine passed since the 9/11 attacks. Made by Acambis of Cambridge, UK, almost 200 million doses have already been stockpiled.
It’s getting hot in here
in 2005 were assault and sexual abuse, offers of bribes, and attempts to tamper with catch samples. The group says complaints of harassment have risen over the past decade and attributes the increase to greater competition between vessels chasing declining fish stocks. A spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which runs the observation programme, told New Scientist she could not confirm the numbers or comment on PEER’s allegation that NOAA has now stopped collecting harassment statistics. However, she said that the cases that the report highlights involved just a fraction of the organisation’s 639 observers.
Human-produced greenhouse gases have caused more than half the warming seen in the US, which last year came within 0.5 °C of the highest recorded annual temperature, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study suggests. It also estimates that there is a 1 in 6 chance that random temperature fluctuations will lead to the record being broken this year (Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: 10.1029/2007/GL030643).
Space scientists sue
DAN LAMONT/DRR.NET
Better care?
1000 children for 13 years, from age 3 to 15. They found that the relationship between the amount of TV watched and attention skills during adolescence was independent of gender, cognitive skills, socioeconomic status or of attention skills at younger ages. “TV is more likely to be causing the attention problems, rather than parents using TV to handle inattentive kids,” claims Bob Hancox of the University of Otago in New Zealand, who led the study. “Television, with its constant scene changes, is very good at holding a child’s attention, and that may be why they end up having problems paying attention elsewhere,” he says.
Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, California, are suing the US government in a bid to prevent it conducting background security checks on them. The 28 employees say the checks are an invasion of their privacy.
Chinese river purge A crackdown on water pollution in China resulted in the closure of 400 factories, the State Environmental Protection Administration reported on Tuesday. Of 1162 factories investigated during July – along rivers including the Yangtze and the Yellow river – a further 352 were ordered to clean up or face closure, the state-run China Daily reported.
8 September 2007 | NewScientist | 7