Health News

National Pharmacy Chain Has Low Incidence Of Needlestick Injuries Among Staff

Date: Oct-09-2012
Vaccinations for flu, tetanus and other common vaccines are increasingly taking place in non-medical settings such as supermarkets and drug stores. This added responsibility for pharmacists increases the risk of needlestick injuries (NSIs), puncture wounds often suffered while preparing or after use of a needle. NSIs can transmit bloodborne pathogens, including hepatitis C and HIV, from an infected patient to the person administering the vaccine...

Methadone Therapies Reduce HIV Transmission Risk

Date: Oct-08-2012
A new study provides solid evidence of a link between methadone treatments and a reduced risk of HIV trasmission in people who inject drugs. The international team of researchers write about their findings in the 4 October online issue of the BMJ. A big risk factor for spreading HIV and AIDS is use of injection drugs. Estimates suggest 5 to 10% of HIV infections worldwide are because of injection drug use...

Nobel Prize For British And Japanese Stem Cell Scientists

Date: Oct-08-2012
For their achievements in stem cell research, John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka have been jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012, The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, announced today. The Assembly added that the prize was for their work in discovering that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent stem cells. The Nobel Assembly described their findings as a revolution in our understanding of how organisms and cells develop...

The Continuous Evolution In Nursing Careers

Date: Oct-08-2012
This article tries to provide an insight on what steps nurses can follow and what ways to gradually evolve in their nursing careers from CNA (Certified Nursing Assistants) to RN (Registered Nurses). CNA - Certified Nursing Assistant For those wanting to be part in the 2.5million nurses who represent one of the largest healthcare workforces in the US, according to BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics), the first step is following CNA training courses. CNA stands for Certified Nursing Assistant and it is the most primary form of nursing. Almost anyone can do it...

Autistic Children Are More Likely To Run Away

Date: Oct-08-2012
A new study from the US finds that nearly half of children with autism wander off or run away, often placing themselves in danger. An analysis of responses from parents surveyed by the nation's largest online autism research project, shows children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are four times more likely to "elope" than their unaffected brothers or sisters...

Free Birth Control Leads To Massive Decrease In Abortion Rates

Date: Oct-08-2012
Providing birth control to women at no cost substantially reduced unplanned pregnancies and cut abortion rates by 62 percent to 78 percent over the national rate, a new study shows. The research, by investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, appears online in Obstetrics & Gynecology. Among a range of birth control methods offered in the study, most women chose long-acting methods like intrauterine devices (IUDs) or implants, which have lower failure rates than commonly used birth control pills...

Early Mouth Cancer Risk Detected By New Gene Test

Date: Oct-08-2012
Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London have developed a new gene test that can detect pre-cancerous cells in patients with benign-looking mouth lesions. The test could potentially allow at-risk patients to receive earlier treatment, significantly improving their chance of survival. The study, published online in the International Journal of Cancer, showed that the quantitative Malignancy Index Diagnostic System (qMIDS) test had a cancer detection rate of 91-94 per cent when used on more than 350 head and neck tissue specimens from 299 patients in the UK and Norway...

Inflammation Control In MS Moves A Step Closer

Date: Oct-08-2012
A University of Adelaide researcher has published results that suggest a possible new mechanism to control multiple sclerosis (MS). Dr Iain Comerford from the University's School of Molecular and Biomedical Science earned a three-year fellowship from MS Research Australia to work on this project. It is directed towards understanding how specific enzymes in cells of the immune system regulate immune cell activation and migration...

Implanting Artificial Corneas Offers The Gift Of Vision

Date: Oct-08-2012
Blindness is often caused by corneal diseases. The established treatment is a corneal transplant, but in many cases this is not possible and donor corneas are often hard to come by. In the future, an artificial cornea could make up for this deficiency and save the vision of those affected. Our eyes are our window to the world. Thousands of people have lost their eyesight due to damages to the cornea, such as trauma, absent limbal stem cells or diseases. Transplantation of a donor cornea is the therapy of choice for a great number of those patients...

Link Between Chewing Ability And Reduced Dementia Risk

Date: Oct-08-2012
The population is ageing, and the older we become the more likely it is that we risk deterioration of our cognitive functions, such as memory, decision-making and problem solving. Research indicates several possible contributors to these changes, with several studies demonstrating an association between not having teeth and loss of cognitive function and a higher risk of dementia. One reason for this could be that few or no teeth makes chewing difficult, which leads to a reduction in the blood flow to the brain...