Health News

Caught In The Act: Miniature Crime Scene Identifies The Culprit For Arrhythmia

Date: Feb-20-2013
Using powerful X-rays, University of British Columbia researchers have reconstructed a crime scene too small for any microscope to observe - and caught the culprit of arrhythmia in action. Characterized by the heart beating too fast, too slow or inconsistently, arrhythmias may cause a decrease of blood flow to the brain and body, resulting in heart palpitation, dizziness, fainting, or even death...

Deep Brain Stimulation Fights Disease Deep Inside The Brain

Date: Feb-20-2013
Some 90,000 patients per year are treated for Parkinson's disease, a number that is expected to rise by 25 percent annually. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), which consists of electrically stimulating the central or peripheral nervous system, is currently standard practice for treating Parkinson's, but it can involve long, expensive surgeries with dramatic side effects. Miniature, ultra-flexible electrodes developed in Switzerland, however, could be the answer to more successful treatment for this and a host of other health issues...

Smart Prosthetics That Connect Directly To The Nervous System Point The Way To A Better Bionic Hand

Date: Feb-20-2013
For an amputee, replacing a missing limb with a functional prosthetic can alleviate physical or emotional distress and mean a return of vocational ability or cosmetics. Studies show, however, that up to 50 percent of hand amputees still do not use their prosthesis regularly due to less than ideal functionality, appearance, and controllability. But Silvestro Micera, of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, is paving the way for new, smart prosthetics that connect directly to the nervous system...

Restoring Voluntary Control Of Locomotion After Severe Spinal Cord Injury

Date: Feb-20-2013
In the lab, rats with severe spinal cord injury are learning to walk - and run - again. Last June in the journal Science, Gregoire Courtine, of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), reported that rats in his lab are not only voluntarily initiating a walking gait, but they were sprinting, climbing up stairs, and avoiding obstacles after a couple of weeks of neurorehabilitation with a combination of a robotic harness and electricalchemical stimulation...

Although Well-Adapted To Humans, Novel Coronavirus Susceptible To Immunotherapy

Date: Feb-20-2013
The new coronavirus that has emerged in the Middle East is well-adapted to infecting humans but could potentially be treated with immunotherapy, according to a study published on February 19 in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The study indicates that the virus HCoV-EMC can penetrate the lining of the passageways in the lung and evade the innate immune system as easily as a cold virus can, signs that HCoV-EMC is well-equipped for infecting human cells...

Opioid Analgesics Involved In Most Pharmaceutical Overdose Deaths

Date: Feb-19-2013
"Data recently released by the National Center for Health Statistics show drug overdose deaths increased for the 11th consecutive year in 2010. Pharmaceuticals, especially opioid analgesics, have driven this increase. Other pharmaceuticals are involved in opioid overdose deaths, but their involvement is less well characterized," writes Christopher M. Jones, Pharm.D., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, and colleagues...

Intravenous Fluid Used To Increase Blood Volume In Critically Ill Patients Associated With Increased Risk Of Death, Kidney Injury

Date: Feb-19-2013
In an analysis of studies that examined critically ill patients requiring an increase in blood fluid volume, intravenous use of the fluid hydroxyethyl starch, compared with other resuscitation solutions, was not associated with decreased mortality, according to an article appearing in the February 20 issue of JAMA...

Increase Seen In Use Of Robotically-Assisted Hysterectomy For Benign Gynecologic Disorders

Date: Feb-19-2013
Between 2007 and 2010, the use of robotically-assisted hysterectomy for benign gynecologic disorders increased substantially, although, when compared with laparoscopic hysterectomy, the robotic procedure appears to offer little short-term benefit and is accompanied by significantly greater costs, according to a study appearing in the February 20 issue of JAMA. "Hysterectomy for benign gynecologic disease is one of the most commonly performed procedures for women. Overall, 1 in 9 women in the United States will undergo the procedure during her lifetime...

Association Found Between Length Of Biological Marker And Development Of Respiratory Infection In Healthy Adults

Date: Feb-19-2013
Among healthy adults who were administered a cold virus, those with shorter telomere length (a structure at the end of a chromosome) in certain cells were more likely to develop experimentally-induced upper respiratory infection than participants with longer telomeres, according to results of preliminary research published in the February 20 issue of JAMA. Telomeres shorten with each cell division and function as protective caps to prevent erosion of genomic DNA during cell division...

Viewpoints, February 20 Issue Of JAMA - US Health Care, Access & Reimbursement Policy And Atherosclerotic Renal Artery Stenosis Treatment

Date: Feb-19-2013
Reengineering U.S. Health Care Ari Hoffman, M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, and Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, write that "health reform requires fixing a chronically dysfunctional system. While it is tempting to try to identify a single solution to this complex problem, the cure will require a multimodality approach with a focus on reengineering the entire care delivery process." In this Viewpoint, the authors examine the issue of reengineering the U.S. health care system...