Health News

A Change To Data Collection Methods To Include Industry And Occupation Data Could Prevent Workplace Injuries

Date: May-09-2013
A subtle change to hospital data collection policies could make a big difference in preventing occupational health and safety hazards, according to workplace safety researchers at the Drexel University School of Public Health. In a new article published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the researchers call on industry, occupational medicine and public health communities to support a change to data collection methods to include industry and occupation data...

Only Half Of Hepatitis C Patients Get Needed Follow-Up Tests

Date: May-09-2013
Only half of all patients who have tested positive for hepatitis C have had follow-up testing to see if they are still infected, according to a new report by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Hepatitis C is a serious virus infection that can result in liver damage and even liver cancer over time. However, this damage can be prevented with early treatment, according to the CDC. Unfortunately, the new report shows that fifty percent of Americans do not get proper testing, and therefore, cannot be treated. CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H...

Studies Of Genetic Ancestry Reveal One Big European Family

Date: May-09-2013
From Ireland to the Balkans, Europeans are basically one big family, closely related to one another for the past thousand years, according to a new study of the DNA of people from across the continent. The study, co-authored by Graham Coop, a professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, was published in the journal PLoS Biology. "What's remarkable about this is how closely everyone is related to each other. On a genealogical level, everyone in Europe traces back to nearly the same set of ancestors only a thousand years ago," Coop said...

Increase In Rate Of Complications Related To Kidney Stone Surgery

Date: May-09-2013
While the number of people - especially women - who have a minimally invasive procedure to remove kidney stones has risen in recent years, so has the rate of complications related to the surgery, according to a published study by Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. The research, from Khurshid R. Ghani, M.D., of Henry Ford Hospital's Vattikuti Urology Institute, is in press in the Journal of Urology. Those findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association in San Diego...

Fast-Food Restaurants Still Need To Improve Nutritional Quality Of Meals

Date: May-09-2013
More than 25 percent of American adults chow down on fast food two or more times each week. Known for menu items containing high amounts of fat, sugar, and salt, fast-food restaurants have contributed to America's poor diets and increased risk of diet-related chronic diseases, like heart disease and diabetes...

In 1 Easy Step - Pathogen Turns Protein Into A Virulence Factor

Date: May-09-2013
To infect its host, the respiratory pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa takes an ordinary protein usually involved in making other proteins and adds three small molecules to turn it into a key for gaining access to human cells. In a study published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, scientists at Emory University School of Medicine, the University of Virginia, and Universidad de las Islas Baleares in Mallorca, Spain, uncover this previously unknown virulence factor in P. aeruginosa, one of the most common causes of hospital-acquired pneumonia...

Risk For Prostate Cancer Likely Increased By Sleep Problems

Date: May-09-2013
Men who reported sleep problems, including difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, had up to a twofold increased risk for prostate cancer, according to data published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. "Sleep problems are very common in modern society and can have adverse health consequences," said Lara G. Sigurdardóttir, M.D., at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik...

Knockout Of Ggamma13 Leads To Loss Of Olfactory Function In Mice

Date: May-09-2013
Researchers at the Monell Center and collaborators have identified a protein that is critical to the ability of mammals to smell. Mice engineered to be lacking the Ggamma13 protein in their olfactory receptors were functionally anosmic - unable to smell. The findings may lend insight into the underlying causes of certain smell disorders in humans. "Without Ggamma13, the mice cannot smell," said senior author Liquan Huang, PhD, a molecular biologist at Monell...

Needle-Free Relief For Children From Asthma And Allergies

Date: May-09-2013
Allergy shots are commonly used to treat children with severe environmental allergies and asthma, but under-the-tongue drops may offer yet another beneficial - and stick-free - option for pediatric allergy sufferers, according to a Johns Hopkins Children's Center review of existing scientific evidence. The new research comes on the heels of another recent Hopkins study, which showed that oral drops provide a safe and effective alternative for adult allergy sufferers...

New More Precise Method Of Performing Electroconvulsive Therapy

Date: May-09-2013
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective acute treatment for severe major depression. However, even with newer forms of ECT, there remains a significant risk of adverse cognitive effects, particularly memory problems. Current theories hold that the regions that need to be stimulated to treat the depression (the cortex) are different and separate from the regions that result in memory problems (the hippocampus and temporal lobes). Theoretically, a more precise form of ECT could have all of the efficacy and few or none of the adverse cognitive side effects...