UCSF policy expert presents recommendation for health coverage
... opt out of having coverage," Luft says. "But if a person who has opted out is involved in an accident that involves hospitalization and expensive surgeries and he or she has no coverage, it can result in severe hardship due to huge medical bills and shifting of costs to people with coverage." He says he s...Making sense of the world through a cochlear implant
...device that can help provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or who has severe hearing problems. Using MRI scans of the brain, the researchers, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council, identified the importance of one particular region, the angular gyrus, in decod...Lack of guidelines on kidney stone attacks could put travel workers and passengers at risk
...ical responses. They said that if they knew that a person had a kidney stone they would not be covered for treatment abroad. And if the person didnt declare their condition, and then claimed for treatment abroad, their insurance would be inval...Research finds music training 'tunes' human auditory system
...ion thought of as a function of the neocortex -- a person may actually be tuning the brainstem," says Kraus. "This suggests that the relationship between the brainstem and neocortex is a dynamic and reciprocal one and tells us that our basic sensory circuitry is more malleable than we previously thought." ...UW launches study testing adult stem cells for heart damage repair
... and results in limited blood flow to the heart. A person who suffers from chronic myocardial ischemia continues to experience insufficient flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart despite optimum medical intervention. This type of therapy - regenerative medicine - treats diseases by using growth factors, ge...Computer predicts wishes of incapacitated patients better than family or loved ones
When a person fails to complete an advance directive and becomes incapacitated by illness or injury, doctors typically ask the patient's loved one to predict what treatment the patient would have wanted. But a paper in PLoS Medicine reports that a computer-based d...Computed tomography screening may increase lung cancer diagnosis, but not decrease risk of death
...t associated with a reduction in the chance that a person will develop advanced lung cancer or die from lung cancer are important negative results that should influence how screening is viewed up until that time when more rigorous data are available from randomized trials." "These findings, because they a...Joint Principles of PC-MH released by organizations representing more than 300,000 physicians
...sibility for the ongoing care of patients. Whole person orientation the personal physician is responsible for providing for all the patients health care needs or taking responsibility for appropriately arranging care with other qualified professionals. This includes care for all stages of life; acute ca...Emory algorithm improves kidney transplant chances for sensitized patients
...erfect match" occurs, the kidney is offered to the person at the top of the national list. If there are no perfect matches nationally, the kidney becomes available to transplant centers in the region from which it came. The Emory Algorithm, while still following these guidelines, allows a transplant ce...Updated guidelines advise focusing on women's lifetime heart risk
...led alleles, are the C allele and the T allele. A person has two copies of any gene; thus, someone can have two copies of the C allele (CC), two of the T allele (TT), or one of each (CT). Estrogens are important hormones that take action when they come in contact with estrogen receptors on the body's cel...Study links attempted suicide with genetic evidence identified in previous suicide research
...ntifying a gene or genes that play a role in why a person chooses to take his or her own life, says Willour. In the multi-institutional study, results of which appear in the March issue of Biological Psychiatry, the researchers examined data from 162 families with bipolar disorder. They looked at attempt...Custom-made cancer cell attacks
...ent tailored to the cells in a patients body, each person receiving a unique treatment program. This is what Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council grantee Thomas Ruth and his colleagues hope to accomplish within the next decade. Using the TRIUMF particle accelerator based in Vancouver, British...Cancer Patients Nationwide Can More Easily Navigate Health Care System
...iagnosis can be the most overwhelming experience a person may ever face, and we know that diagnosis is just the beginning of a challenging journey to successfully fight this disease, said Richard C. Wender, M.D., national volunteer president of the American Cancer Society. While there are many uncertainties...Illuminating the dark side of plants
...nd formal structure increase its value for the lay person and the clinician." Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants presents clear information on hundreds of plants. It is lavishly illustrated, elegantly highlighting each plant's distinguishing characteristics. The images include 398 full-color pho...New blood thinner studied for patients with leg and lung clots
...rries and even licorice. "It's very uncommon for a person taking warfarin to have a blood clot if his or her level is in the proper range," Dr. Gossage says. The trouble is that a big helping of collard greens, for example, can dramatically reduce the drug's effectiveness and increase clotting risk. Patie...Revealing secret intentions in the brain
... been possible to read out of brain activity how a person has decided to act in the future. The trick by which the invisible is made visible lies in a new method called "multivariate pattern recognition". A computer is programmed to recognize characteristic activation patterns in the brain that typically oc...Study tests oral insulin to prevent type 1 diabetes
...e immune attack on beta cells begins well before a person develops diabetes and continues long after the dis...reater risk for developing type 1 diabetes. For a person with high-risk genes and all three antibodies, the risk of developing diabetes in the next 5 years i...Take fatigue seriously, says University of Alberta researcher
...nts on an energy continuum. The amount of energy a person has influences how easily he can adapt to stress that comes his way. Individuals who are tired still have a fair bit of energy, so although they may feel forgetful, and impatient, and experience gradual heaviness or weakness in muscles following wor...Oral wounds heal slower in women, older adults, study finds
...s them to close faster. "The more inflammation a person has inside the mouth, the slower wounds appear to heal," Engeland said. "We were surprised to learn that oral wounds heal more slowly in women than in men. It's one of the few times in the field of healing where men have an advantage over women. "T...Study indicates different treatment may be needed for infection-related breathing problems
...asma pneumoniae can linger on and contribute to a person later experiencing symptoms of asthma. Researchers have now identified a particular gene that influences how severe a M. pneumoniae infection may be, which in turn suggests that a different strategy might be needed for treating asthma resultin...