Health News

Taxane-Based Chemotherapy Drugs For Prostate Cancer May Be Underestimated And Should Be Re-Examined To Improve The Drug's Effectiveness

Date: Sep-19-2012
The power of taxane-based chemotherapy drugs are misunderstood and potentially underestimated, according to researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in the journal Cancer Research. Most physicians and investigators believe that taxane chemotherapy (paclitaxel, docetaxel and cabazitaxel) just does one thing -- stop a cancer cell from dividing -- but the team of Weill Cornell scientists have revealed it acts much more powerfully and broadly, especially against prostate cancer...

Speeding Up Diagnosis Of Flesh-Eating Bacterial Infection

Date: Sep-19-2012
Dr. Russell Russo, an Orthopedic Surgeon at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, and other researchers stress that orthopedists should have a high index of suspicion for necrotizing fasciitis, or flesh-eating bacterial infection, in every patient with pain or other symptoms that are out of proportion to the initial diagnosis. Their recommendations are published in the September 2012 issue of Orthopedics Today...

Cold Atmospheric Gas Plasma Technology May Keep Fresh Produce Salmonella-Free

Date: Sep-19-2012
Researchers at the Institute of Food Research have tested a new technique to ensure fresh produce is free of bacterial contamination. Plasmas are a mix of highly energetic particles created when gases are excited by an energy source. They can be used to destroy bacteria but as new research shows, some can hide from its effects in the microscopic surface structures of different foods. Eating fresh fruit and vegetables is promoted as part of a healthy lifestyle, and consumers are responding to this by eating more and in a greater variety...

What Adults Think About School Bullying

Date: Sep-19-2012
U.S. adults repeatedly rate bullying as a major health problem for U.S. children. But a new poll from the University of Michigan shows adults have different views about what bullying behaviors should prompt schools to take action. The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health recently asked a nationwide sample of adults what behaviors should be considered bullying and what behaviors should spur school officials to intervene...

Most Extensive Pictures Ever Of An Organism's DNA Mutation Processes

Date: Sep-19-2012
Biologists and informaticists at Indiana University have produced one of the most extensive pictures ever of mutation processes in the DNA sequence of an organism, elucidating important new evolutionary information about the molecular nature of mutations and how fast those heritable changes occur. By analyzing the exact genomic changes in the model prokaryote Escherichia coli that had undergone over 200,000 generations of growth in the absence of natural selective pressures, the team led by IU College of Arts and Sciences Department of Biology professor Patricia L...

Symptoms Of Depression Can Be Alleviated By Improving Memory For Specific Events

Date: Sep-19-2012
Hear the word "party" and memories of your 8th birthday sleepover or the big bash you attended last New Year's may come rushing to mind. But it's exactly these kinds of memories, embedded in a specific place and time, that people with depression have difficulty recalling. Research has shown that people who suffer from, or are at risk of, depression have difficulty tapping into specific memories from their own past, an impairment that affects their ability to solve problems and leads them to focus on feelings of distress...

Pandemic, Emergency Preparedness Lacking In Majority Of US Schools

Date: Sep-19-2012
Many U.S. schools are not prepared for bioterrorism attacks, outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases or pandemics, despite the recent 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic that resulted in more than 18,000 deaths worldwide, Saint Louis University researchers say. The study, led by Terri Rebmann, Ph.D., associate professor at SLU's Institute for Biosecurity, surveyed about 2000 nurses working in elementary, middle and high schools across 26 states...

Disturbing Level Of Sound Around Seriously Ill Patients 'Like A Busy Road'

Date: Sep-19-2012
Seriously ill patients in intensive care units are being cared for in environments with sound levels more than 20 dB higher than the WHO's recommendations. This is shown by a study carried out in partnership between the University of Gothenburg and the University of Boras. In the study, the researchers registered sound levels around 13 seriously ill patients cared for in the intensive care unit at Sodra Alvsborg Hospital over a 24-hour period. The study shows that the sound levels around seriously ill patients were on average between 51 and 55 dB. This is comparable with a busy road...

Premature Birth Predicted By Simple Test

Date: Sep-19-2012
Babies born early run a greater risk of serious complications. The researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have now developed a method to predict if pregnant women with preterm contractions will give birth within seven days. The method offers new possibilities to delay delivery and prepare care for the premature baby. Delivery before 37 full weeks, so-called preterm delivery, is the biggest problem in perinatal medicine today, as it increases the risk of the child being seriously ill in the short and long term...

On-Field Emergency Response And Managing Spinal Injuries

Date: Sep-19-2012
The NFL season is off and running and with it comes the proverbial hamstring injury, the torn tendon, the groin strain - injuries that players have come to expect as part of this high-energy contact sport. Far less top of mind is the rare but catastrophic cervical spine injury, but that's exactly the injury that Mercyhurst University researchers are working with Sports Medicine Concepts and the National Football League (NFL) to mitigate. One tragic example came Sept...