Health News

Crime Statistics Reveal 93 Percent Of US Law Enforcement Officer Homicides Result From Firearms

Date: Jun-01-2013
While occupational homicides continue to decline in the U.S., law enforcement remains one of the deadliest jobs in America. A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health The report found documents that 93 percent of homicides of law enforcement officers between 1996 and 2010 were committed with firearms. Among those homicides, 10 percent were committed using the officer's own service weapon. The findings, published by the journal BMJ Injury Prevention, could help develop new procedures to reduce risk to officers...

Association Between Poor Sleep And PTSD After Heart Attack

Date: Jun-01-2013
Clinicians have long speculated that poor sleep may be a mechanism involved in the higher risk of further cardiac events or death among those with post-traumatic stress disorder following a heart attack, but the association between PTSD and sleep after a heart event has been unknown. Recent data from Columbia University Medical Center researchers have shown that symptoms of PTSD after a heart attack are relatively common...

Father And Son To Present Their Respective Cancer Research At ASCO

Date: Jun-01-2013
What started as a dinner-table conversation between a teen and his father has become a bonafide cancer research study for Matthew Lara, a Davis High School sophomore and the son of UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center medical oncologist and researcher Primo (Lucky) Lara. Matthew, 16, will put on a suit and present his findings on non-small-cell lung cancer during a poster session in Chicago on Saturday at the annual meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), a 30,000-member cancer research organization...

Bloodstream Infections Cut By More Than 40 Percent In Study Of Over 74,000 Hospital Patients

Date: Jun-01-2013
Using germ-killing soap and ointment on all intensive-care unit (ICU) patients can reduce bloodstream infections by up to 44 percent and significantly reduce the presence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in ICUs. A new Department of Health and Human Services-funded study just released tested three MRSA prevention strategies and found that using germ-killing soap and ointment on all ICU patients was more effective than other strategies...

MRSA Study Slashes Deadly Infections In Sickest Hospital Patients

Date: Jun-01-2013
Bloodstream infections cut by more than 40 percent in study of over 74,000 patients Using germ-killing soap and ointment on all intensive-care unit (ICU) patients can reduce bloodstream infections by up to 44 percent and significantly reduce the presence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in ICUs. A new Department of Health and Human Services-funded study released today tested three MRSA prevention strategies and found that using germ-killing soap and ointment on all ICU patients was more effective than other strategies...

Promising New Therapy For Lung Cancer

Date: May-31-2013
A novel therapy for the most common form of lung cancer shows promise and seems to yield largely manageable side effects, according to new research that will be presented at the 49th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The researchers, from Fox Chase Cancer Center, are conducting an ongoing clinical trial to determine whether the compound is more effective at treating tumors than existing treatments. Hossein Borghaei, DOs, chief of thoracic medical oncology at Fox Chase, said: "We're very excited about this drug...

Probiotics Linked To Lower Risk Of Diarrhea From Antibiotics

Date: May-31-2013
Probiotic supplements can prevent or lower the risk of diarrhea caused by antibiotics, according to new research in The Cochrane Library. Scientists from the Cochrane Collaboration suggest that taking probiotics alongside antibiotics can prevent this troublesome side effect. Antibiotics interfere with the beneficial bacteria that live in the gut and permit other dangerous bacteria like C. difficile to take hold. Some people who have C. difficile do not have symptoms, while others are afflicted with diarrhea or colitis...

Mosquitoes With Altered Smell Gene Lose Preference For Humans

Date: May-31-2013
By changing one gene, scientists have bred a mosquito that does not seek out the smell of humans in preference to other animals. The team behind one of the first successful attempts to genetically engineer mosquitoes believes their work not only shows what can be done with the latest genetic techniques, but also helps us better understand the insect's attraction to humans and therefore how to block it...

Researchers Calculate The Radiation Exposure Associated With A Trip Mars

Date: May-31-2013
On November 26, 2011, the Mars Science Laboratory began a 253-day, 560-million-kilometer journey to deliver the Curiosity rover to the Red Planet. En route, the Southwest Research Institute-led Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) made detailed measurements of the energetic particle radiation environment inside the spacecraft, providing important insights for future human missions to Mars. "In terms of accumulated dose, it's like getting a whole-body CT scan once every five or six days," said Dr...

Neighborhood Poverty Increases Teen Risk For Chlamydia

Date: May-31-2013
Living in a poor neighborhood as an adolescent is linked to an increased risk of getting the sexually transmitted infection (STI) chlamydia in young adulthood, according to new research. Ohio State University researchers analyzed data from a large national study that tracked youths over time. The analysis suggested that children who lived in poor neighborhoods during their teenage years had an almost 25 percent greater risk of having chlamydia in their early 20s - even if they themselves weren't poor - than did teenagers living in wealthier settings...