Health News

NFC Forum issues first health care technical specification and two candidate technical specifications

Date: Jul-19-2013
The NFC Forum, a non-profit industry association that advances the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, has published three specifications, all of which are available now to the public for download at no charge. The three specifications are the Personal Health Device Communication (PHDC) Technical Specification, and the Connection Handover 1.3 and Signature Record Type Definition (RTD) 2.0 Candidate Technical Specifications...

Researcher finds way to convert blood cells into autoimmune disease treatment

Date: Jul-19-2013
Cells from one's own blood could be converted into a treatment for autoimmune diseases, like rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease, based on the discovery of a Purdue University researcher. Chang Kim, a professor of comparative pathobiology, has created a way to direct the differentiation of T-cells, a white blood cell that is a key player in the body's immune system. The method uses naive T-cells, immature cells from which all T-cells develop, and induces them to become suppressive T-cells that block the development of painful inflammation associated with autoimmune diseases...

Molecular switch controls the destiny of self-eating cells

Date: Jul-19-2013
In a new paper published in the journal Nature, researchers present a previously unknown mechanism that controls whether a cell survives autophagy, a process that can be compared to the cell consuming parts of itself. The discovery means that it might now be possible to influence the process, which is involved in a wide variety of diseases...

Boys more likely to receive HPV vaccine when their mothers receive preventive care Kaiser Permanente study finds

Date: Jul-19-2013
Boys are more likely to receive the quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV4) if their mothers receive flu shots or Pap screenings, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in the American Journal of Public Health. The study examined the electronic health records of more than 250,000 boys aged 9 to 17 years enrolled in the Kaiser Permanente Southern California health plan and found that a total of 4,055 boys - or 1.6 percent of the membership in this age group - initiated the HPV4 vaccine between October 2009 and December 2010...

Essential hospitals reduce patient harm, costs through national initiative to foster a culture of patient safety, US

Date: Jul-19-2013
A national network of hospitals committed to caring for the vulnerable has prevented 1,184 harmful events and saved nearly $12 million through a federal initiative to reduce hospital-acquired conditions and preventable readmissions. Members of the Essential Hospitals Engagement Network (EHEN), one of 26 such networks under the public-private Partnership for Patients (PfP), achieved these results over the past 18 months...

Predicting STEMI, the most severe heart attack: JACC study

Date: Jul-19-2013
Infraredx, Inc., a medical device company committed to advancing the diagnosis and management of coronary artery disease, has announced the publication of key data supporting the ability of its TVC Imaging System to detect lipid core plaque in patients with ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI). The study, published in JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions, details the identification of a specific cholesterol signature by Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) at the site of the culprit lesions causing STEMI, a dangerous type of heart attack...

Improving gait and reducing fall risk in older adults with a single dose of ADHD drug

Date: Jul-19-2013
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers have discovered that a single dose of methylphenidate (MPH), used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy, helps to improve balance control during walking, hence reducing the risk of falls among elderly adults. Falls in older adults are the leading cause of hip fractures and other injury-related visits to emergency rooms and of accidental death. Age-related deterioration in gait and balance is a major contributor to falls in older adults...

Autophagy controlled by molecular switch

Date: Jul-19-2013
The study is the result of a collaboration of scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, University of Michigan, and University of California San Diego, USA, who were interested in finding out whether autophagy can be affected by events in the cell nucleus. Surprisingly, they discovered that a signal chain in the nucleus serves as a kind of molecular switch that determines whether the cell dies or survives...

In carriers of ARVD/C mutation, exercise, endurance sports increase arryhthmia and heart failure risk

Date: Jul-19-2013
A Johns Hopkins study finds that healthy people who carry a genetic mutation for arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) are at much higher risk of developing the symptoms of the life-threatening heart disease if they participate in endurance sports and frequent exercise. The study also suggests that those carriers who significantly cut back on their exercise regimen may reduce their risk or delay the onset of symptoms. An article on the study results is published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology...

Menopausal Hot Flashes More Frequent And Severe In Cancer Survivors

Date: Jul-19-2013
Women who survive cancer have more frequent, severe, and troubling hot flashes than other women with menopausal symptoms, according to a study published online in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). But surprisingly, the cancer survivors fare better psychologically and report a better quality of life than the women without cancer and have about the same levels of sexual activity and function. This is the first large-scale, clinic-based study to compare these groups of women using standard, validated questionnaires...