British hospitals need clinical ethicists
...al education of healthcare staff in medical ethics through lecturing and private consultations, adds the author. In light of all the evidence, we now need to introduce clinical ethicists in hospitals in the United Kingdom, he says. Doctors cannot possibly deal with all the ethical problems they encounter in ...Wolfowitz is the wrong choice for the World Bank
...s, not politics. But he must achieve effectiveness through sound, evidence informed, policy making not braze... hell bent on disseminating its political ideology through control of international and non-governmental organisations. This is an abuse of power. Wolfowitz ha...New study in 'Nature' demonstrates protection against cell death during heart attack
...n tissue is deprived of oxygen, cells begin to die through a process involving rupture of the mitochondria. When cyclophilin D is deleted from the mitochondria, however, a cell's ability to die is blocked, according to Dr. Molkentin. "When a person comes to a hospital and it's realized that he or she is hav...UCSF study offers insight into human circadian rhythms
...als, given the many genes that have been conserved through evolution, and both animals have been a key source of information regarding the genetic and molecular biology of circadian rhythms. As expected, the transgenic mice displayed the same abnormal sleeping pattern seen in the human cases of FASPS, as mea...International breast cancer prevention study launches in the United States and Canada
...nd then an annual follow-up visit during years two through five. Women will have a screening visit with a member of the study's clinical staff to see if they are eligible for the trial. If eligible, they will undergo a routine health examination, routine blood tests, a mammogram and a bone mineral densi...Satellite survey enhances knowledge of Tuscan landslides
The 240-km-long River Arno winds its way seaward through the tranquil countryside of Umbria and Tuscany, but this tranquillity masks potential danger. There are more than 300 areas within Italy's Arno Basin at high risk of landslides, and over 20 000 individual landslides have been recorded. Italy's combi...HIV testing should be routine part of primary health care for sexually active
..., the proportion of people acquiring HIV infection through heterosexual transmission has continued to increas...uest HIV testing," says del Rio. "People infected through heterosexual transmission, particularly adolescents, often do not consider themselves to be at risk ...Economist: Cuba's state-run baseball doesn't go to bat for players
... makes a great case study of how organizing sports through non-market rules has unintended consequences." Ac... has its own checkered past of player exploitation through rules that gave club owners near-total control, but that has largely, but not completely, given way ...Fat may promote inflammation, new study suggests
... possible that modifying the inflammatory proteins through medication could also lower the risk of heart disease," said Barbara Nicklas, Ph.D., senior researcher and an associate professor of internal medicine. "The findings point to a possible treatment target for new drugs. Our goal is to learn more about ...Acupuncture found to lower elevations in blood pressure
...uncture treatment by running an electrical current through the needles. High frequencies of stimulation also had no effect, but low frequencies lowered increased blood pressure by as much as 40 to 50 percent. Overall, the researchers found that a 30-minute treatment reduced blood pressure rates in these test......higher cardiovascular risk that could be addressed through statin therapy. "The studies examining the safety of statins in patients with NAFLD are limited, but the existing data provide some evidence that they can be used safely," reports the author, whose own studies recently showed that hyperlipidemic pat...Some brain cells 'change channels' to fine-tune the message
...oing to be relatively common in the brain. Whether through channel changing or other, more well-understood ways of fine-tuning its responsiveness, a brain cell's activity level depends on its neighbors, the nerves and other cells that connect to it. Although they don't physically touch, the cell and its neig...Benefits of lung cancer screening with CT questioned
...bservation or biopsy. Among the cancers identified through CT screening, false-positive rates ranged from 92.4 percent among nodules 4 millimeters or larger to 96.0 percent among all nodules. "Currently, half of lung nodules suspected of being cancerous that go to surgery outside of research study centers ...New estimates for the causes of child deaths worldwide
...e that the causes of child deaths can be addressed through existing, available, and affordable interventions. Reducing deaths in the neonatal period will confront health systems with new challenges, especially in low-income countries they add. (See The Lancet Neonatal Survival Series, March 2005) Professor B...Improving access to healthy food has little effect on diet
...on to retail change," they write. "Changing access through improving retail provision alone may not have a substantial impact on diet and health. An approach that changes knowledge and access simultaneously may have a better chance of securing improvements in diet and health and a reduction in health inequal...Child care may affect entire community's risks of infection
... can easily spread the bacteria to their playmates through close contact. The level of pneumococcal carriage varies widely between communities, and Harvard Medical School researchers hypothesized that one influence might be the extent of child care use. Using data from 742 children in 16 Massachusetts commun...NIH state-of-the-science panel calls for 'demedicalization' of menopause
...al Institutes of Health found that many women move through the menopausal transition with few disabling symptoms, and that it is important that menopause not be viewed as a disease. The tendency among women and their healthcare providers in the U.S. to medicalize menopause concerned the panel because the ten...Oral bacteria may predict pregnancy outcomes
...ces against them can enter the uterine environment through the blood stream and may influence the delivery process," explained Dr. Ananda P. Dasanayake, Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, New York University College of Dentistry. "Whereas the bacteria L.casei secretes acids that maintain the va...Mental health service costs offset by savings in other public sectors
...improved mental health services delivered to youth through the system of care approach now being tried in com...eived support to adopt the system of care approach through a federal initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and ...Risky surgery not always necessary to treat cervical disease
...treatment of the infected tissues can be monitored through colposcopy, which is relatively noninvasive since the cervix is readily accessible. Two distinct types of vaccines have been used. These include the prophylactic vaccine which focuses on human immune responses that may help prevent HPV infections. ...