Health News

Female Life Span Going Down In Some Parts Of The U.S.

Date: Mar-05-2013
Life expectancy among some women in the U.S. is steadily declining, according to the latest research published in the journal Health Affairs.  The study indicates that in almost half of the country's counties, women under the age of 75 are dying at rates higher than before. This is the first study of its kind to identify the trend, which is particularly evident among low-income white women. Experts believe that the reason women are dying younger in certain parts of the country is due to increased smoking rates, and obesity...

Target Meeting's 2nd World Immunology Online Conference, March 19-21, 2013: Join For Free

Date: Mar-05-2013
A Free Virtual Immunology Conference at Targetmeeting.com featuring 60+ live presentations (12 sessions) from academic and industry experts around the world. Computer and internet connection are required but no special equipment or software needed. All the attendees just connect to the online conference's server to participate in real time with their distinguished counterparts from across the globe. They can participate from their home or office depending on their convenience. Furthermore, attendees can earn the free Certificates of Attendance...

Gene Related To Obesity Increases Risk For Melanoma

Date: Mar-05-2013
The research shows that people with particular variations in a stretch of DNA within the FTO gene, called intron 8, could be at greater risk of developing melanoma. Variations in a different part of the FTO gene, called intron 1, are already known to be the most important genetic risk factor for obesity and overeating. These variants are linked to Body Mass Index (BMI) - a measure of a person's shape based on their weight and height. Having a high BMI can increase the risk of various diseases including type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, womb (endometrial) cancer and more...

Ways To Increase HIV Testing, Reduce HIV Infection Identified By Study

Date: Mar-05-2013
Study results presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections by the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) show that a series of community efforts can increase the number of people who get tested and know their HIV status, especially among men and young people with HIV who might otherwise transmit the virus to others. The study was also able to demonstrate a modest 14% reduction in new HIV infections in the intervention communities compared to the control communities...

With The Help Of e-Health Records, Colon Cancer Screening Doubles

Date: Mar-05-2013
Researchers used electronic health records to identify Group Health patients who weren't screened regularly for cancer of the colon and rectum - and to encourage them to be screened. This centralized, automated approach doubled these patients' rates of on-time screening - and saved health costs - over two years. The March 5 Annals of Internal Medicine published the randomized controlled trial. "Screening for colorectal cancer can save lives, by finding cancer early - and even by detecting polyps before cancer starts," said study leader Beverly B. Green, MD, MPH...

News From The Annals Of Internal Medicine: March 5, 2013

Date: Mar-05-2013
A special supplement on patient safety strategies will be published with the March 5 issue. In addition to the 10 articles included in the supplement, Annals of Internal Medicine also will publish a special five-page graphic narrative on the topic of medical errors. 1...

Smoking Cessation Undermined By Contraband Tobacco

Date: Mar-05-2013
People who smoke low-cost contraband cigarettes in Canada are less likely to stop smoking in the short term compared with people who smoke more expensive premium or discount cigarettes, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). "We posit that the substantial price gap between premium/discount and contraband cigarettes is the reason for this correlation," writes Graham Mecredy, Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, Toronto, Ontario, with coauthors...

Australian Women With Childbirth Fear Often Not Identified Due To 'No Worries' Approach

Date: Mar-05-2013
Having a fear of birth has a negative impact on women's pregnancy and birth. In recently published research from a collaboration of The University of Melbourne, Australia, and Uppsala University, Sweden, doctoral student Helen Haines draws the conclusion that the 'no worries' approach to this issue in Australia has underestimated the needs of a considerable number of pregnant women. Fear of birth and its relationship to caesarean birth has been recognised in Sweden for some time and there are special clinics for women with fear of birth...

Children With ADHD Require Long-Term Treatment Well Into Adulthood

Date: Mar-05-2013
The first large, population-based study to follow children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) into adulthood shows that ADHD often doesn't "go away," and that children with ADHD are more likely to have other psychiatric disorders as adults. Although numbers were small, they also appear more likely to commit suicide and are often incarcerated as adults. "Only 37...

Report From Nonpartisan Panel Urges Fundamental Change In How Doctors Get Paid

Date: Mar-05-2013
The National Commission on Physician Payment Reform issued a report today detailing a series of sweeping recommendations aimed at reining in health spending and improving quality of care by fundamentally changing the way doctors are paid. The Commission, chaired by former Robert Wood Johnson Foundation president Steven A. Schroeder, M.D., with former Senator Majority leader Bill Frist, M.D., as Honorary Chair, calls for eliminating stand-alone fee-for-service payment by the end of the decade...