HealthyDig.com - published Other stories

Vital Signs: Patterns: More Sleep, Fewer Student Car Accidents

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 04:28:59 GMT

A later school day seems to lead to fewer car accidents for teens, researchers report.

Malaria Drug May Soon Be Set for U.S. Debut

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 04:29:05 GMT

The F.D.A. is set to approve the first malaria drug to contain a wormwood derivative - a popular treatment for the disease in Africa and Asia.

Vital Statistics: Cancer on the Rise

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 04:29:11 GMT

Cancer rates have increased worldwide.

Blind, Yet Seeing: The Brain's Subconscious Visual Sense

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 04:29:17 GMT

Researchers have found that those without the sense of sight are still able to "see" with their mind.

Obesity may raise headache risk

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:46:06 GMT

Being overweight or obese may increase the likelihood of having severe headaches and migraines, new study findings suggest. An increased prevalence of headache may be associated with being underweight as well. In analyses of 7,601 adult men and women, Dr. Earl S. Ford and colleagues at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, report that being overweight or obese increased the likelihood of headache by 1.2- to nearly 1.4-times. Ford's group investigated association between body mass index (BMI), the ratio between height and weight often used to determine the weight range an individual falls into, and headache among men and women, 20 years of age or older, who participated in the 1999 to 2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Zimbabwe declares national health emergency

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:48:26 GMT

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Zimbabwe declared a national emergency over a cholera epidemic and the collapse of its health care system, and state media reported Thursday the government is seeking more international help to pay for food and drugs to combat the crisis. The failure of the southern African nation's health care system is one of the most devastating effects of the country's overall economic collapse. Facing the highest inflation in the world, Zimbabweans are struggling just to eat and find clean drinking water. The United Nations says the number of suspected cholera cases in Zimbabwe since August has climbed above 12,600, with 570 deaths, because of a lack of water treatment and broken sewage pipes. Cholera is an infectious intestinal disease that is contracted by consuming contaminated food or water. Its symptoms include severe diarrhea. Still, residents are getting little help from the government, which has been paralyzed since disputed March elections as President Robert Mugabe and the opposition wrangle over a power-sharing deal.

Patient photos aid docs reading faceless CT scans

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:58:28 GMT

Imagine sitting in a dark room all day, evaluating CT scans and other medical images on a computer screen but never actually seeing real patients. That's life for many radiologists. But an intriguing Israeli study found adding photos of patients' faces to the file made these doctors more meticulous when looking at the X-rays. They reported more details and said they felt more empathy for patients who were otherwise strangers. Adding patients' photos is a simple, low-tech way to reap rewards for both doctors and their patients, the researchers concluded. Several experts not involved in the study agreed, although Dr. James Thrall, chairman of the American College of Radiology's board of chancellors, said making it common practice in the United States could be problematic because of privacy laws.

1 in 5 young adults has personality disorder

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:53:55 GMT

Almost one in five young American adults has a personality disorder that interferes with everyday life, and even more abuse alcohol or drugs, researchers reported Monday in the most extensive study of its kind. The disorders include problems such as obsessive or compulsive tendencies and anti-social behavior that can sometimes lead to violence. The study also found that fewer than 25 percent of college-aged Americans with mental problems get treatment. One expert said personality disorders may be overdiagnosed. But others said the results were not surprising since previous, less rigorous evidence has suggested mental problems are common on college campuses and elsewhere. Experts praised the study's scope - face-to-face interviews about numerous disorders with more than 5,000 young people ages 19 to 25 - and said it spotlights a problem college administrators need to address.

FTC tosses guidance on tar, nicotine in cigarettes

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:08:48 GMT

WASHINGTON - The cigarette industry for 42 years has made factual claims about tar and nicotine levels based on machine testing blessed by the Federal Trade Commission. Now the FTC has dropped the test, known as the Cambridge Filter Method, like a hot rock. The commission has rescinded guidance it issued 42 years ago, saying the test method is flawed. It also said the resulting marketing touting tar and nicotine levels could cause consumers to believe that lighter cigarettes were safer. As a result, future advertising that lists tar levels for cigarettes won't be able to use terms such as "by FTC method." "Our action today ensures that tobacco companies may not wrap their misleading tar and nicotine ratings in a cloak of government sponsorship," said Commissioner Jon Leibowitz. "Simply put, the FTC will not be a smokescreen for tobacco companies' shameful marketing practices."

China points finger at foreign milk products

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:49:47 GMT

BEIJING - China, embroiled in a tainted milk scandal that has made thousands of infants sick, has published a list of foreign companies that failed to meet quality standards for imported products ranging from milk powder to rosewater. At least four children died and tens of thousands were made ill by drinking milk powder adulterated with melamine, prompting many worried parents to switch to foreign-made formula. Melamine, a compound used in making plastic chairs among other uses, is added to food to cheat nutrition tests and has since been found in other dairy products, eggs and animal feed, prompting recalls of Chinese-made products around the world.

Bayer Products Questioned by the FDA

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Bayer has been given fifteen days by the FDA to take action regarding allegations that the company is marketing and selling two aspirin products that have not been given FDA approval. The company has been told to comply by either ending sales of their Bayer Aspirin with Heart Advantage and Bayer Women's Low Dose Aspirin plus Calcium or to proceed with clinical trials, in order to gain the required FDA approval. The German company manufactures the Heart Advantage product, which is aspirin with a plant extract called phytosterois, that the company claims on the products label has been proven to help lower cholesterol, and Bayer's Women's Low Dose Aspirin, aspirin combined with calcium carbonate that the company states on the label helps to fight osteoporosis.

Older Blood Used in Transfusions Raises Infection Risk

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:00:03 GMT

Most of us don't think about blood. We just want it to stay where it belongs and do its job. Blood is the body's transportation system, carrying oxygen and nutrients to the organs in our body that need them, and carrying away the waste products to be eliminated. In an average lifetime most people will never need a blood transfusion. The business of blood, donations, storage, and transfusion, is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Blood cannot be used for patients if it has been stored over 42 days but recent findings may indicate that is too long. According to Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey, after 29 days of storage, the risk of blood poisoning or pneumonia doubled in recipients. The possible reason is that after two weeks in storage the red blood cells in the blood start to undergo changes and begin to release chemicals call "cytokines." The cytokines hinder immune function and high levels could make patients more susceptible to infection.

Tennis call 'brain bias' found

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Tennis line judges are more likely to make mistakes when calling balls "out" rather than "in", say researchers. Californian scientists found that of 83 incorrect calls, 70 of the errors were wrong "out" calls. This was down to a time lag of a few hundred milliseconds between an image hitting the retina and the viewer processing it, the team said. This bias, revealed in Current Biology, could enable players to exploit the "challenge" system, they suggested.

Hospitals ease ER crowding with ward beds in halls

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT

There's no phone and no television. Only a screen offers privacy. But heart patient Edward Gray understands why the hospital put him in a cardiac unit hallway. "They sent me up here to make room for other emergency patients," Gray, 78, said last week from his bed in the hall of a New York area hospital. "This is the way things are in hospitals." It may not sound like ideal health care, but hospital officials nationwide are being urged to consider hallway medicine as a way to ease emergency department crowding, and some are trying it. Leading the way is Stony Brook University Medical Center at Stony Brook, N.Y., where a study found that no harm was caused by moving emergency room patients to upper-floor hallways when they were ready for admission.

Sick economy has patients skimping on meds

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The ailing economy is leading many Americans to skip doctor visits, skimp on their medicine, and put off mammograms, Pap smears and other tests. And physicians worry the result will be sicker patients who need even more costly treatment in the long run. "I have to pretty much be very ill to go to the doctor," said Julie Shelley, a 49-year-old office manager and mother of three from West Milton, Ohio. "I'm probably at the age where I should have a checkup or physical. I'm not going to do it. I am last on the list."

Report says Medicaid spending "unsustainable"

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Spending on the Medicaid health program for the poor is on a path to grow at a much higher rate than the overall U.S. economy in the next 10 years, officials said on Friday. Spending on Medicaid benefits will increase 7.3 percent from 2007 to 2008, reaching $339 billion, and will expand at an annual average of 7.9 percent over the next decade, hitting $674 billion by 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a report. Over that same time span, the projected rate of growth for the overall economy is 4.8 percent, the report stated.

Therapy helps hard-to-transplant get a new kidney

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Nearly one in three patients who need a kidney transplant may never get one because their bodies are abnormally primed to attack a donated organ. Now doctors are trying new ways to outwit the immune system and save more of those so-called "highly sensitized" patients - often with kidneys donated by living donors, considered the optimal kind. "I feel very lucky. Our son saved my life," said Cynthia Preloh of Arlington, Va., after an unusual combination of blood cleansing and a cancer drug allowed her to receive a kidney from her son that her body otherwise would have destroyed. It's promising work that comes as the nation's kidney distribution system is beginning a major overhaul. Together, the two efforts aim to make a long-needed dent in the years of waiting it can take to get a kidney transplant.

Obama and Health-Care Equity

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:00:37 GMT

For someone running as the tribune of "change," Barack Obama showed again in last night's debate that he sure is comfortable with the status quo on health care. He continued his recent assaults on John McCain's health reform even though it is precisely the kind of plan that someone of Mr. Obama's professed convictions ought to support. The attacks include swing-state TV spots and Joe Biden's multiple distortions, though the most over-the-top come from the candidate himself. Over the weekend, Mr. Obama called the McCain plan "radical," "out of line with our basic values" and, in case he wasn't clear, "catastrophic for your health care." Since Mr. McCain offered only a once-over-lightly defense of his plan, allow us to give it a try.

Youngsters and Antipsychotics: Old vs. New

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 17:40:01 GMT

Contrary to popular belief, schizophrenia is not split personality. It is a serious brain disorder-the most chronic and disabling of the major mental illnesses-that distorts the way a person acts, thinks, expresses emotions, perceives reality and relates to others. No one knows exactly what causes schizophrenia, but genetic makeup and brain chemistry may play a role. There is no cure for schizophrenia but medicines can relieve many of the symptoms. A new class of drugs called atypical antipsychotics was developed in the 1990s and has become the drugs of choice for treating children and teenagers. However, a new government study has found that these medicines are no more effective than older, less expensive drugs and are more likely to cause some harmful side effects.

Small Patients, Big Consequences in Medical Errors

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:40:05 GMT

WHEN 6-year-old Chance Pendleton came out of surgery for a wandering eye, it was obvious that something was not right. "He was crying hysterically, vomiting and kept saying, 'I wish I was dead,' " his mother, Grace Alexander, of Paris, Tex., recalled. The boy had been through surgery before and had never reacted this way. "The nurse was quite peeved and wanted me to calm him before he disturbed anyone," said Ms. Alexander, who said Chance was denied more pain and anti-nausea medication. "She thought he was just throwing a tantrum." After about 20 minutes, another nurse walked by, and Ms. Alexander beckoned her for help. The nurse checked the intravenous line in Chance's ankle and saw that it wasn't inserted correctly. He wasn't receiving any medication. She immediately fixed it, bringing relief to Chance in a matter of seconds.

Study helps unlock how the brain sees

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:40:01 GMT

Scientists who tricked monkeys by swapping images of sailboats for teacups have figured out how the brain learns to recognise objects, a finding that could lead to robots that see. "One of the central questions of how the brain recognises objects and faces is that you never essentially see the same image twice," says James DiCarlo, an associate professor of neuroscience at Massachusetts Institute of Technolog

Health Net to reinstate 926 dropped policyholders in California

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:40:02 GMT

In a continuing state crackdown on health insurers, Health Net Inc. of Woodland Hills has agreed to offer new coverage -- no questions asked -- to 926 people whose policies it canceled after they got sick. One of the state's largest insurers, Health Net signed a first-of-its-kind agreement with the California Department of Insurance, agreeing to pay $3.6 million in penalties, plus as much as about $14 million in reimbursements for medical charges that the insurer had refused to pay. The company, however, did not admit to any wrongdoing.

NHS 'excels at hip and knee ops'

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:40:02 GMT

The NHS is being praised for its success in carrying out hip and knee replacements - but doubts remain about some of the newer techniques. A study of 150,000 joint replacements found just one in 75 patients needed revisions within three years. The Royal College of Surgeons study said that was better than many nations.

CDC: Salmonella outbreak appears to be over

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:40:00 GMT

The government said Thursday that the salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 1,440 people appears to be over, but its ultimate source may never be known, partly because of shortcomings in the nation's food safety system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said they found strong evidence to implicate jalapeno and serrano peppers, and a farm in Mexico, in the largest outbreak of foodborne illness in a decade. Investigators were unable to clear domestic and imported tomatoes, however, although the evidence against tomatoes is weaker.

A Decline in Uninsured Is Reported for 2007

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:40:02 GMT

The number of Americans without health insurance dropped by more than a million, to 45.7 million.