Health News

Giving Time Can Give You Time

Date: Jul-16-2012
Many people these days feel a sense of "time famine" - never having enough minutes and hours to do everything. We all know that our objective amount of time can't be increased (there are only 24 hours in a day), but a new study suggests that volunteering our limited time - giving it away - may actually increase our sense of unhurried leisure...

Pediatric Patients Fare Better With ACL Reconstruction Technique

Date: Jul-16-2012
A new study demonstrates the superiority of a specific technique to perform anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction in children. In recent years, the number of ACL surgeries in pediatric athletes has skyrocketed. The study, conducted by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City, shows that a technique called the All-Inside, All-Epiphyseal ACL Reconstruction (AE) provides great knee stability and effectively controls joint stress. "The AE technique is not available except in a few select centers around the country including HSS," said Frank Cordasco, M.D...

The Affordable Care Act Should Decrease The Amount Of Women Who Are Uninsured

Date: Jul-16-2012
Twenty percent of U.S. women (18.7 million) ages 19-64 were uninsured in 2010, up from 15 percent (12.8 million) in 2000, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report on women's health care. An additional 16.7 million women were underinsured in 2010, compared with 10.3 million in 2003. The report estimates that once fully implemented, the Affordable Care Act will cover nearly all women, reducing the uninsured rate among women from 20 percent to 8 percent...

Study Reveals Optimal Interval For Stomach Cancer Screening

Date: Jul-16-2012
A new study has determined how often people should get screened for gastric or stomach cancer in high-risk regions of the world. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings could help reduce deaths from gastric cancer, which is the second most common cause of cancer-related mortality. Although the incidence of gastric cancer has decreased substantially in the western part of the world, the disease is still common in areas such as Eastern Asia, including Korea, Japan, and China...

Counseling Program Found To Reduce Youth Violence, Improve School Engagement

Date: Jul-16-2012
A new study by the University of Chicago Crime Lab, in partnership with the Chicago Public Schools and local nonprofits Youth Guidance and World Sport Chicago, provides rigorous scientific evidence that a violence reduction program succeeded in creating a sizable decline in violent crime arrests among youth who participated in group counseling and mentoring. The Crime Lab study - by far the largest of its kind ever conducted - is unique in that it was structured like a randomized clinical trial of the sort regularly used to generate "gold standard" evidence in the medical area...

A New Way Of Clearing The Air For People With Cystic Fibrosis And COPD

Date: Jul-16-2012
University of North Carolina scientists have uncovered a new strategy that may one day help people with cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder better clear the thick and sticky mucus that clogs their lungs and leads to life-threatening infections. In a new report appearing online in The FASEB Journal, researchers show that the "SPLUNC1" protein and its derivative peptides may be able to help thin this thick mucus by affecting the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC)...

1-Year-olds At Risk For Autism May Be Identified By Questionnaire Completed By Parents

Date: Jul-16-2012
A new study by University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers found that 31 percent of children identified as at risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) at 12 months received a confirmed diagnosis of ASD by age 3 years...

Lab Solutions Needed To Protect American Agriculture And Public Health

Date: Jul-16-2012
It is "imperative" that the U.S. build a large-animal biocontainment laboratory to protect animal and public health, says a new report by the National Research Council. Two options that could meet long-term needs include the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) as currently designed, or a scaled-back version tied to a distributed laboratory network. Until such a facility opens that is authorized to work with highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease, the Plum Island Animal Disease Center located off Long Island should remain in operation to address ongoing needs...

For Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Mutation In Gene IDH A Possible Target For Treatment

Date: Jul-16-2012
Many patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) share a mutation in a gene called IDH. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published this week in the journal Leukemia & Lymphoma shows that this IDH mutation may be the first domino in a chain that leads to a more aggressive form of the disease. "In fact, it's not IDH itself that causes the problem," says Dan Pollyea, MD, MS, investigator at the CU Cancer Center and assistant professor of hematologic oncology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine...

Autograft Hip Reconstruction Provides Good Outcomes For Athletes

Date: Jul-16-2012
A common, painful hip condition in elite athletes may be able to be repaired with an improved surgical technique, according to researchers presenting their work at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. "In our review of 21 male, elite athletes who had hip pain and instability issues (hypoplastic or labrum tear), 81 percent returned to play at a similar level as before they were hurt, after receiving an arthroscopic reconstruction technique using an ipsilateral iliotibial band autograft," said research author, Marc J...