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Local health officials don't rate U.S. government bird flu plans

Health officials in the U.S. have predicted, in the event of a bird flu pandemic, businesses and government can expect 40 percent of their employees to be absent during it's peak.

6 Dec 2005

New insights into treatment of hypertension in black Americans

Researchers have reported a possible explanation for the higher risk of heart disease and its complications among black Americans, along with a way of treating this condition.

6 Dec 2005

Backpacks damage kids' shoulders and backs

Kids today are carrying too much of a load on their backs and researchers say back pack weight should be reduced for comfort and safety.

6 Dec 2005

Contradiction surrounds face transplant patient

Controversy continues to grow around the world's first face transplant in France.

6 Dec 2005

Exercise good for children with heart defects

According to a new U.S. study, children born with heart defects who have traditionally been told not to exercise can improve their heart function through programs that involve exertion.

5 Dec 2005

Face transplant woman doing well

French surgeons say that the 38-year-old recipient of the world's first partial face transplant regained consciousness 24 hours after her operation and is doing well.

5 Dec 2005

Heart pump technology - comparative study

Chicago's first participant in the RELIANT (Randomized Evaluation of the Novacor(r) LVAS In A Non-Transplant Population) research study recently went home from Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

5 Dec 2005

Children with heart defects benefit from exercise

A small but compelling pilot study indicates that many children with serious congenital heart disease, who are typically urged to restrict their activity, can improve their cardiovascular function and exercise capacity through a cardiac rehabilitation program.

5 Dec 2005

Comforting behavior in girls mistaken for movement disorder

The comforting behavior of thumb-sucking wouldn't land a 1-year-old girl in a neurologist's office, but the twisting and unusual movements of the comforting act of infantile masturbation can lead parents and physicians to believe a child is suffering from a movement disorder.

5 Dec 2005

Government reforms are threatening the future of district general hospitals

...says an expert in the British Medical Journal. Given the iconic status of hospitals in the eyes of the public, government risks huge unpopularity in dealing with the consequences.

5 Dec 2005

Telemammography works

Digital mammography images can be accurately transmitted over broadband Internet, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

5 Dec 2005

Ultrafiltration therapy safe and effective

A device that performs ultrafiltration of blood, without requiring specialized nursing care or invasive central intravenous access, can reduce fluid overload in patients with congestive heart failure, according to a new study in the Dec. 6, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

5 Dec 2005

Lay people can effectively use defibrillators to save the lives of cardiac arrest victims

The first large-scale study to see whether trained volunteers and lay people can use defibrillators to save the lives of cardiac arrest (CA) victims has concluded that their use by lay people is safe, and if the response time can be shortened to within eight minutes there is the potential to save the lives of 15 out of 100 people who collapse suddenly with CA.

5 Dec 2005

Liver transplants may not be suitable for all cystic fibrosis patients

A new study on patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) who have had abnormal bleeding from ruptured blood vessels in the esophagus (variceal hemorrhage) as a result of liver disease found that transplant may not be indicated if there are no other indications of advanced liver disease.

5 Dec 2005

First study to demonstrate the elimination of a racial/ethnic disparity in health and healthcare

Community-based case managers are much more effective than traditional government outreach and enrollment programs in obtaining insurance coverage for uninsured Latino children, according to a study authored by a physician at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

5 Dec 2005

Sleep-disorders related to breathing suggest increase risk of stroke

Individuals who experience moderate to severe sleep-disordered breathing are four times more likely to have a stroke during the next four years than those who do not suffer from the problem.

5 Dec 2005

HRAS mutation analysis in Costello Syndrome

Gene mutations in the HRAS sequence are present in most patients affected with Costello syndrome, according to a new study in the American Journal of Medical Genetics. The mutations occurred de novo in patients, meaning, they were not observed in their parents' genes.

5 Dec 2005

Making angioplasty safer

When life-threatening problems occur during angioplasty procedures, doctors may perform emergency coronary artery bypass graft surgery, but data from the Mayo Clinic indicates that need to send patients to emergency surgery has dropped sharply, according to a new study in the Dec. 6, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

2 Dec 2005

Disruption of normal gene interaction linked to schizophrenia

Disruption of the normal interaction between the genes PRODH and COMT contributes directly to major symptoms of schizophrenia by upsetting the balance of the brain chemicals glutamate and dopamine, according to a group of investigators that includes a scientist now at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

2 Dec 2005

Herceptin - can healthcare afford this expensive drug?

New research into the cost of using the breast cancer drug Herceptin warns that healthcare authorities and the organisations advising them should not rush to prescribe it for early breast cancer without working out extremely carefully the budget implications and cost-effectiveness of the drug.

2 Dec 2005