Washington, DC-- Brown dwarfs are sometimes called failed stars. They're stars' dim, low-mass siblings and they fade in brightness over time. They're fascinating to astronomers for a variety of reasons, but much about them remains unknown. New work from a Carnegie-led team reports the distances of a number of brown dwarfs, as well as low-mass stars, in The Astronomical Journal.

Brown dwarfs are too small to sustain the hydrogen fusion process that powers stars. Their temperatures can range from nearly as hot as a star to as cool as a planet, and their masses also range between star-like and giant planet-like. They are of particular interest to scientists because they can offer clues to star-formation processes.

New national data suggest lesbian, gay and bisexual adults were more likely to report impaired physical and mental health and heavy drinking and smoking, which may be the result of stressors they experience because of discrimination, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

For the first time, the 2013 and 2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), one of the nation's leading health surveys, included a question on sexual orientation.

Cost sharing for insured adults increased 37 percent per inpatient hospitalization from 2009 to 2013, with variations in insurance policies resulting in a higher burden of out-of-pocket costs for some patients, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Patients have been increasingly responsible for a growing share of their health care expenditures in out-of-pocket costs as health insurance policies have changed in recent years. Proponents argue this has the potential to reduce overuse and inappropriate care but increased out-of-pocket spending can also impede access to care and affect treatment choices.

Access and use of health care resources in Sweden is equitable and affordable and the management of those resources is well developed.

Still, low socioeconomic status was associated with an increased risk of death for patients with type 2 diabetes from all causes, cardiovascular disease and diabetes-related mortality, as well as a less pronounced increased risk of cancer death, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

The study included all 217,364 individuals younger than 70 with type 2 diabetes in a Swedish national register. The study also examined whether educational level, marital status and country of birth were associated with causes of death in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

(PHILADELPHIA) -- About 5.7 million Americans have heart failure, half of whom will die from the disease within 5 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Two processes help drive the disease: a weakened heart muscle that is less able to pump, and the death of heart cells that irreparably damage the heart. Beta-blockers, commonly used to treat heart disease, work by blocking the beta-adrenergic receptors in the heart, saving heart cells from cell death. But beta-adrenergic receptors also help keep the heart pumping, a function that this medication also blocks.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors (IMTs) -- masses of immune cells-- are benign, but poorly understood. Current IMT treatments often have side effects and surgery is sometimes not an option due to the tumor's proximity to vital organs. A better understanding of how IMTs form could spur the development of more effective therapeutics. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have now found that a likely cause of IMT is deficiency in nonsense-mediated RNA decay (NMD), a system cells use to control which genes are activated.

The study is published June 27 by the Journal of Clinical Investigation.