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Expert advice for the corporate titans taking on health care

An announcement Tuesday by three of the nation's corporate titans — Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co. — that they are joining forces to address the high costs of employee health care has stirred the health policy pot. It immediately sent shock waves through the health sector of the stock market and reinvigorated talk about health care technology, value and quality.

31 Jan 2018

As marijuana laws relax, doctors say pregnant women shouldn’t partake

Two-year-old Maverick Hawkins sits on a red, plastic car in his grandmother’s living room in the picturesque town of Nevada City, Calif., in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. His playpal Delilah Smith, a fellow 2-year-old, snacks on hummus and cashews and delights over the sounds of her Princess Peppa Pig stuffie.

31 Jan 2018

Downsizing and unemployment increase person’s risk of taking more medications

Organizational downsizing and job loss greatly increase the risk of starting various medications. Drugs prescribed for mental health issues are particularly widespread.

30 Jan 2018

Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing linked to patient's age and race, study shows

A patient's age and race are associated with risk of receiving an unneeded antibiotic prescription for upper respiratory conditions caused by viruses, according to a study published today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

30 Jan 2018

After polyps are detected, patients may no longer qualify for free colonoscopies

Insurance coverage of colonoscopies to screen for colorectal cancer is a frequent source of frustration for consumers, including a reader who asks about his situation.

30 Jan 2018

Family crisis or new joy? Get paid time off for it

Last May, I wrote a column that offered tips for caregivers — without knowing that I would soon become one myself.

29 Jan 2018

Treating domestic violence as a medical problem

Fanny Ortiz, a mother of five who lives just east of downtown Los Angeles, spent nearly a decade married to a man who controlled her and frequently threatened her. Then, she said, his abuse escalated. "He would physically hit me in the face, throw me on the wall," she recalled.

29 Jan 2018

New method may help improve patients' chances of receiving life-saving kidney transplants

A new method may be useful for assessing dialysis facilities' performance concerning referrals to transplant centers.

27 Jan 2018

As doctors drop opposition, aid-in-dying advocates target next battleground states

When the end draws near, Dr. Roger Kligler, a retired physician with incurable, metastatic prostate cancer, wants the option to use a lethal prescription to die peacefully in his sleep.

27 Jan 2018

Hospitals’ best-laid plans upended by disaster

It was 3:35 a.m. and flames from a massive Northern California wildfire licked at the back of a Santa Rosa hospital.

24 Jan 2018

Scientists introduce air-filled microbubbles as intravenous oxygen carriers

Severe oxygen deficiency eventually leads to cardiac arrest. If the blood’s oxygen content cannot be rapidly re-established, the patient may die within minutes. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, American scientists have introduced air-filled microbubbles that could be used as an intravenous oxygen carrier to increase the survival rate of such patients. Because they rapidly dissolve in blood, the risk of embolism is minimal.

24 Jan 2018

International study estimates treatment gap in anxiety disorders

The director of the Epidemiology and Public Health programme at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute and CIBER Epidemiology and Public Health researcher, Jordi Alonso, was commissioned by the World Mental Health to lead an international study into the adequacy of anxiety disorder treatment across the globe.

23 Jan 2018

Tracing social and risk networks can help identify undiagnosed cases of HIV

Conducting HIV testing among the social and risk networks of those recently diagnosed with HIV helps identify undiagnosed cases of HIV at significantly higher rates and at a lower cost than other testing approaches, finds a new study conducted in Ukraine by an international research team.

23 Jan 2018

Next generation genomic sequencing can help detect pathogens after joint replacement

Joint replacement surgery carries the risk of developing an infection in the replaced joint, which can lead to a so-called revision or re-do of the joint replacement.

19 Jan 2018

Novel robot can aid treatment of rare birth defect

Researchers at the University of Sheffield and Boston's Children Hospital, Harvard Medical School have created a robot that can be implanted into the body to aid the treatment of esophageal atresia, a rare birth defect that affects a baby's esophagus.

19 Jan 2018