Health News

Substantial variation found in the adoption of policies relating to contact precautions in US emergency departments

Date: Feb-11-2014
In a study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, Daniel J. Pallin, MD, MPH and Jeremiah D. Schuur, MD, MS, surveyed a random sample of US emergency departments (EDs) and found substantial variation in the adoption of policies relating to contact precautions.While most EDs have policies relating to contact precautions when specific organisms are suspected, a minority have such policies for the symptoms often caused by those organisms.

Heart disease risk probed using genetic signals affecting lipid levels

Date: Feb-11-2014
New genetic evidence strengthens the case that one well-known type of cholesterol is a likely suspect in causing heart disease, but also casts further doubt on the causal role played by another type. The findings may guide the search for improved treatments for heart disease.Most of us have heard of "good cholesterol" and "bad cholesterol" coursing through our bloodstream.

Weight loss surgery: 'not everyone lives happily ever after'

Date: Feb-11-2014
The American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery state that the number of weight loss surgeries in the US increased from 13,000 in 1998 to over 200,000 in 2008. Reasons for undergoing weight loss surgery can range from health needs to the desire for a confidence boost. But new research suggests that although the surgery may make people happy in some ways, it can also cause problems.Karen Synne Groven, of the University of Oslo in Norway, interviewed 22 women aged between 24 and 54 years as a part of her doctoral thesis.

The Wal-Mart effect on crime in the United States

Date: Feb-11-2014
Communities across the United States experienced an unprecedented decline in crime in the 1990s. But for counties where Wal-Mart built stores, the decline wasn't nearly as dramatic."The crime decline was stunted in counties where Wal-Mart expanded in the 1990s," says Scott Wolfe, assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina and lead author of a new study. "If the corporation built a new store, there were 17 additional property crimes and 2 additional violent crimes for every 10,000 persons in a county.

Isavuconazole, a new investigational drug, holds promise for combatting deadly mucormycosis infections

Date: Feb-11-2014
With very few treatment options available to fight deadly mucormycosis infections, a new Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) study holds hope for adding to the arsenal of therapies physicians have to combat an increasingly common infection afflicting people with weakened immune systems.

Statistical mechanics and mathematical modeling shed light on epigenetic memory

Date: Feb-11-2014
A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicist and his colleagues have found a new application for the tools and mathematics typically used in physics to help solve problems in biology.Specifically, the team used statistical mechanics and mathematical modeling to shed light on something known as epigenetic memory - how an organism can create a biological memory of some variable condition, such as quality of nutrition or temperature.

Large-scale studies to evaluate testosterone therapy risks called for by Endocrine Society

Date: Feb-11-2014
According to a statement issued by the Endocrine Society, the risks and benefits of testosterone therapy for older men with declining levels of the hormone need to be fully evaluated.The statement comes in response to recent studies that have raised concerns about the safety of testosterone therapy in older men with a history of heart disease. Two retrospective analyses and one randomized trial supported by the Veterans Health Care System, and the National Institutes of Health found a higher rate of cardiovascular events in men who received testosterone and had preexisting heart problems.

Weaning patients with spinal cord injury from ventilators successfully achieved using diaphragm pacing

Date: Feb-11-2014
System gained nationwide attention when University Hospitals Case Medical Center's Dr. Onders implanted stimulator in actor Christopher ReeveA new study published in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery finds that diaphragm pacing (DP) stimulation in spinal cord-injured patients is successful not only in weaning patients from mechanical ventilators but also in bridging patients to independent respiration, where they could breathe on their own without the aid of a ventilator or stimulation.

In midlife women with HIV, thinking skills take biggest hit from anxiety

Date: Feb-11-2014
Hot flashes, depression, and most of all, anxiety, affect the thinking skills of midlife women with HIV, so screening for and treating their anxiety may be especially important in helping them function, according to a study just published online in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). The reproductive stage, whether it was premenopause, perimenopause or postmenopause, did not seem to be related to these women's thinking skills.

Peering into the transit pore

Date: Feb-11-2014
The lipid-rich membranes of cells are largely impermeable to proteins, but evolution has provided a way through - in the form of transmembrane tunnels. A new study shows in unmatched detail what happens as proteins pass through such a pore.Every cell is surrounded by a surface membrane and contains internal compartments bounded by membranes. Almost one-third of all proteins synthesized in cells must pass through these membranes or be incorporated into them in order to fulfill their functions.