Federal government needs to take closer look at assisted living facilities
...ld cut back its inspections of ALFs from yearly to once every five years. In Alabama, regulators spent $5.5 million to inspect 244 nursing homes in 2002, but only $500,000 to inspect 330 ALFs. The federal 1987 Nursing Home Reform Act requires operators to provide a minimal level of service and establishe...Adolescent brains are insensitive to alcohol for a short time, but at great cost
..., and then restoring the system back to status quo once alcohol is eliminated or the challenge is removed. Varlinskaya concurs. This ability of adolescents to rapidly counteract some unpleasant alcohol effects by developing acute tolerance may allow them to have more drinks per occasion, she said. This ...Hormonal link to obesity may save lives
...ase in obese people," Dr Sullivan said. "Fat was once thought to be a storage organ but in fact it is an active organ which secretes many hormones." "That could be one of the reasons why people who carry extra weight have an increased risk of getting cardiovascular disease." Dr Sullivan's research ...EMEA and FDA extend drug-label based on results of the EORTC 24971 trial
...ion to manage this disease." "This label extension once again exemplifies nicely how the pharmaceutical industry and academic clinical research bring about innovation in cancer research. I am confident that an increase in these partnerships will prove to be extremely fruitful for cancer research in Europe...New research effort to translate basic science into faster bone healing
...andomized to receive either teriparatide or saline once a day for three months. This line of research is based on preliminary cases where patients with osteoporosis confined to wheelchairs by pelvic fractures, or to neck braces by spinal fractures, that would not heal, regained the ability to walk or move...Large subset of learning disabled children can be quickly identified by new diagnostic device
... That's good news for youngsters aged 8 to 12 who, once identified, can receive auditory training that can improve their academic learning. "Learning disabilities are believed to affect nearly one in 10 children, but their causes are difficult to pinpoint," says Nina Kraus, director of Northwestern Univ...Internet of long-term benefit for depression
...tion on the websites really only becomes effective once people have put into place the treatments and practices recommended. "The findings also suggest that brief interventions may have a lasting positive effect on people struggling with depression - an outcome that may seem counter-intuitive given the ...Drug may help women stop smoking
... including one-hour behavioral counseling sessions once a week, beginning two weeks before their quit date and lasting until four weeks after, and nicotine patches for the first month after quitting. Half of the participants also received 50 milligrams per day of oral naltrexone, beginning three days p...Forget basal body temperature -- check out her clothes
...ion. The researchers photographed the women twice: once in their fertile (follicular) phase and another time in their non-fertile (luteal) phase. To ensure that only the women's attire, grooming and accessories were taken into account, researchers masked participants' faces in the photographs with black o...Women worldwide more at risk of violence from an intimate partner than from other people
...ical or sexual partner violence, or both, at least once in their lives. In all but one setting women were at far greater risk of violence by a partner than from violence by other people. Violence against women is a serious public-health problem--with substantial consequences for women's physical, mental...Drug prevents postpartum hemorrhage in resource poor settings
..., does not require refrigeration. It can be given once after delivery as 3 oral tablets costing as little as $.14 each. Its use does not require highly trained personnel and it can be given by semi-skilled birth attendants. The researchers conducted the current study to determine if misoprostol coul...Infants targeted in the fight against skin disease
...very ten babies having contracted scabies at least once by their first birthday. A similarly high rate (seven out of ten) had contracted skin sores. Scabies and skin sores in childhood have been linked with high rates of kidney disease in later life. There is also strong evidence to suggest that skin inf...Use, as well as 'meth mouth,' on the rise
...r reported they had tried methamphetamine at least once in their lifetime. The Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) advises it is imperative that the public and dental professionals learn about the severe oral health effects the drug is having on many users' mouths. According to a report that will appear...Experimental ragweed therapy offers allergy sufferers longer relief with fewer shots
...ms in adults for at least one year when given just once a week over a 6-week period. The therapeutic agent was provided by Dynavax Technologies Corp., based in Berkeley, CA. "For almost 100 years, we've been using the tedious process of giving allergy sufferers one to two shots a week for up to 4 to 5 ye...Long-term effects of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
...nt to prevent its progression to cirrhosis because once liver failure occurs in these cases the outcome is often fatal. They note that the current study is important not only because of its long follow-up period, but because the authors were able to identify the outcome of different forms of NAFLD. "Remar...Williams Syndrome, the brain and music
... is startling," says Bellugi. "I am confident that once all the evidence is in, we will have identified genes and pathways in the Williams syndrome deletion that underlie these drastic differences in modalities," she adds. Despite whole brain volumes that are about 15 percent smaller than normal, the tem...Second-generation antipsychotic medications appear to offer little advantage over older drugs
...t the great breakthrough in therapeutics they were once thought to be; rather, they represent an incremental advance at best," Dr. Lieberman writes. "This underscores the urgent need for greater progress in developing novel therapeutics for schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders."(Arch Gen Psychia...How low should we go? Researchers find no clear evidence for ultra-low cholesterol targets
...t using multi-drug therapy and seeing how they did once they were there. In fact, he says, the evidence strongly suggests that a high dose of a statin produces the same benefit in a person who has an LDL level of 100 mg/dL as it does in a person with an LDL level of 200 mg/dL if the two have the same o...Foodborne pathogens hard to remove from produce, research is ongoing
...impossible to achieve a safe level of the pathogen once it gets on the product. At this point, we need to concentrate on avoiding a crop's exposure to the pathogen as the produce is being grown," he said. Martin said the California spinach outbreak appears to have been caused by contaminated cow manure u...Drug used for advanced cancer could cause exposed bone in jaw
...the focus is on prevention or alleviating symptoms once it develops. We do not know how to predict who will develop ONJ or who is most at risk," says Van Poznak, a breast oncologist at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center who treats patients whose cancer has metastasized to bone. "Some patients have reso...