Health News

Bangladesh Series: Four decades of exceptional health achievements despite chronic poverty

Date: Nov-21-2013
Exceptional improvements in the survival of infants and children under 5 years of age, life expectancy, immunisation coverage, and tuberculosis control in Bangladesh are part of a remarkable success story for health in the South Asian country, according to a major new Series published in The Lancet. This is despite low spending on health care, a weak health system, and widespread poverty.

World's leading lung societies unite to call for improvements in healthcare

Date: Nov-21-2013
Experts from the world's leading lung organisations have come together for the first time to call for a worldwide effort to improve healthcare policies, systems and care delivery to make a positive difference to the lung health of the world.Produced by the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), the report has been launched on World COPD Day (20 November 2013), providing an overview of lung health across the globe.Entitled Respiratory diseases in the world.

Faster, cheaper diagnosis of sepsis

Date: Nov-21-2013
A new method could cut hours off the time it takes to diagnose blood infections while also eliminating the need for complicated manual processing and expensive equipment, according to a report to be published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The method combines a selective lysis step in which blood cells in the sample are destroyed, a centrifugation step to collect any bacteria or fungi in the sample, and a fluorescence step that analyzes the particular fingerprint of any pathogens present in the sample.

Late-parenthood trend may be reversed by improved understanding of fertility

Date: Nov-21-2013
Increasingly, young people around the world are planning to have children later in life, despite the fact that fertility declines with age after young adulthood. But new research shows a simple brochure can prompt many to accelerate their planned timelines.In a study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, researchers found that college students intended to have children about one year earlier after they read a brief online brochure about age-related fertility decline and in-vitro fertilization success rates.

New findings could help target the bacteria that cause Lyme disease and syphilis

Date: Nov-21-2013
The bacterial pathogens that cause Lyme disease and syphilis are highly invasive. These pathogens, or spirochetes, can invade the central nervous system and, in the case of syphilis, enter the placenta, causing disease in the unborn child. In the Biophysical Journal, a Cell Press publication, researchers provide new insights into how these spirochetes penetrate tissue barriers. The findings might be used to develop new treatment strategies to help affected patients or even prevent infections.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy significantly revives brain functions and life quality following traumatic brain injury

Date: Nov-21-2013
Every year, nearly two million people in the United States suffer traumatic brain injury (TBI), the leading cause of brain damage and permanent disabilities that include motor dysfunction, psychological disorders, and memory loss. Current rehabilitation programs help patients but often achieve limited success.Now Dr. Shai Efrati and Prof. Eshel Ben-Jacob of Tel Aviv University's Sagol School of Neuroscience have proven that it is possible to repair brains and improve the quality of life for TBI victims, even years after the occurrence of the injury.

Weight loss aided by texting

Date: Nov-21-2013
If the idea of keeping a food and exercise diary keeps you from joining a weight-loss program, there may be a better way - texting.Research shows that when people keep track of their diet and exercise habits, they do better at losing weight. But sticking with detailed monitoring of what you eat and your exercise habits electronically or via traditional pen and paper can prove cumbersome. If people stop doing it, they may stop losing weight.

Patients in regular contact with primary physician are most satisfied with their care

Date: Nov-21-2013
A new trend in American health care is the patient-centered medical home. The approach revolves around a team of medical and health professionals who, working together, treat an individual, led by a primary-care physician who orchestrates the whole effort. The goal is the team knows everything about the patient, no matter how disparate the symptoms - from the earache last night to the long history of high cholesterol - and works together to treat the individual in a holistic way.

State's immunization registry can be used to spur parents of children with chronic illness to get vaccinated during pandemics

Date: Nov-21-2013
A new University of Michigan study found that the state immunization registry - the public health database that tracks vaccinations - can be an effective tool to encourage influenza vaccinations during a pandemic.U-M researchers collaborated with the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) to evaluate a statewide influenza vaccination reminder campaign conducted using the Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR) during the H1N1 pandemic during 2009-10. The study results were published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Frailty in childhood cancer survivors

Date: Nov-21-2013
Young adults who survived childhood cancer are more likely than their peers to be frail, according to a St. Jude Children's Research Hospital study, which reported the condition is more common among female survivors than women decades older. The research appears in the online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.Researchers also found that frail health was associated with a greater risk for adult childhood cancer survivors of death and chronic disease.