MRSA: Political point-scoring over hospital cleanliness ignores the real issue
...itorial. Critics of the UK government policy point out that increases in deaths from MRSA have occurred simultaneously with outsourcing of hospital cleaning staff--providing circumstantial evidence of a link. Importantly, however, comparisons with other countries show that even in US and Japanese hospita...Study of energy and health in Africa focuses spotlight on charcoal and forest management
...oal is produced in Africa by one or two guys going out in the woods, almost always without a permit and on somebody else's land, cutting down a tree or two, chopping it up, lighting it, covering it with dirt, and then hovering around it for two to four days while it becomes charcoal," Kammen said. "It's ...Charcoal and forest management could reduce greenhouse gas levels & save lives in Africa
...oal is produced in Africa by one or two guys going out in the woods, almost always without a permit and on somebody else's land, cutting down a tree or two, chopping it up, lighting it, covering it with dirt, and then hovering around it for 2-4 days while it becomes charcoal," Kammen said. "It's no surpr...Study shows promise in identifying kidney failure
...r and principal investigator of the study. "We set out to identify genes and biomarkers that could help us make the diagnosis well before it is too late. We identified a candidate protein for the early and rapid diagnosis of acute renal injury that occurs in a common clinical condition, namely after card...Study shows soy is well accepted in school lunches
...qually acceptable." The pilot studies were carried out in four school districts. The test included four d...ould be served and achieve acceptance." She points out that reformulation and testing with children could also result in development of more satisfactory p...Public morally obliged to take part in scientific research, says leading ethicist
... change to the Declaration of Helsinki, which sets out the ethical grounds for research, is warranted. Professor Harris points out that other activities in society, such as vaccination the wearing of seatbelts, and jury service, re...UCSF study offers insight into human circadian rhythms
...an. 12, 2001). The breadth of the knowledge coming out of the current study is somewhat unique, says Ptaceck. "I'm not aware of another study that has gone from the human to the fly to the mouse in a single study. It demonstrates of the combined power of human molecular genetics research and studies in a...Early onset of puberty the EU gets serious
...an in undernourished ones. "It's important to find out the cause of this problem as the early onset of puberty affects a large number of children and can eventually give rise to new reproductive patterns," says Professor Olle Sder, vice coordinator of PIONEER at KI. "It's also been shown that girls who r...March/April 2005 Annals of Family Medicine tip sheet
...est choice for everybody, according to a new study out of the Medical University of South Carolina. Analy...et did not carry increased risk. The authors point out that a substantial proportion of adults in the United States approximately 7 percent of the adult U...Physicians may not be accurate in their confidence levels of their diagnoses, says Pitt study
...ne underconfident may, in extreme cases, be talked out of what was an accurate assessment," said Charles P. Friedman, Ph.D., professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, in an article published in the April issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Dr. Friedman repor...Unexpected benefit seen in treating HER-2 breast cancer with new preoperative drug combo
...efore with Herceptin treatment, "the jury is still out on the long-term safety and outcome. As in all such studies, we will need to wait years to follow the progress of our patient participants," Buzdar says. Details of the trial result, slated for the June issue of the journal, were posted online Feb. 2...Organizational traits associated with quality patient care are essential to home care nursing
...a Center Valley, PA, resident. "So we want to find out if these organizational traits, which help support and enhance a nurse's work environment in a hospital, are important in other settings like home care and district nursing." The study features the results of a survey of home care nurses in the Unite...Bullying among sixth graders a daily occurrence, UCLA study finds
...e-calling or an 'innocent' punch." Students filled out written surveys, describing any bullying that day that they experienced or observed. The study was done at the end of each school day, said Adrienne Nishina, postdoctoral scholar at UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, a graduat...Novel therapy tested in mice could chase away cat allergies
... hair), key immune system cells respond by spewing out histamine. Allergy experts estimate that 14 percent of children 6 to 19 years old are allergic to cats. The treatment comprises a molecule that loosely tethers a feline and a human protein together. The feline end is the notorious protein (called Fe...Optical technique identifies vulnerable plaques in cardiac patients
...rm these characteristics, and our group will carry out further studies of how plaques develop and rupture. Someday OCT may provide information that will guide treatments to prevent plaque rupture and its disastrous consequences." Jang is an associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. A...Some brain cells 'change channels' to fine-tune the message
...side nerve cells can kill them. But Huganir points out that calcium does a lot of things inside cells, suggesting that the channel swap might be accomplishing more than just keeping the cell alive. "Calcium turns some processes on, and it turns others off," he says. "My personal belief is that the cells ...Researchers search for first sign of congestive heart failure
...ggerated, but at that time, you can already figure out the heart is starting to depend more on the atrial contribution than the early filling. So how do you reverse that? By lowering blood pressure," says Dr. Kapuku. That may mean taking antihypertensive medications at these early signs of trouble. Measu...Benefits of lung cancer screening with CT questioned
... to surgery outside of research study centers turn out to be benign," Dr. Swensen said. Surgical intervention to diagnose these nodules is expensive and may impact quality of life and mortality. According to Dr. Swensen, a small percentage of patients will have chronic pain as a result of surgery, and t...Research offers hope of new treatments for liver damage
...ave shown how the macrophages work, we aim to find out how to create, activate and de-activate these cells to make them repair, rather than damage, liver tissue." He added: "Cirrhosis, commonly, but not always, caused by alcohol consumption, can lead to liver failure. At a time when outcomes for other di......without causing problems, but if the bacteria grow out of control, they may result in illness ranging from minor conditions such as ear infections to more serious diseases like sinusitis, pneumonia, and meningitis. A childhood vaccine released in 2000 has decreased rates of illness due to S. pneumoniae, ...