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Flu season: UAB experts recommend everyone to receive their yearly influenza vaccine

Flu season is here. The contagious respiratory illness caused by viruses that infect the nose, throat and lungs can cause mild to severe illness and at times may lead to death. People of every age - including people in good health - are at risk for flu.

28 Oct 2017

Mumps outbreak in U.S. necessitates third booster dose of vaccine for at-risk individuals

According to a federal experts panel yesterday (25th October 2017), a third dose of mumps vaccine is recommended when there is an outbreak of the viral disease. There have been several mumps outbreaks since 2006 in the United States, especially among students who have already been vaccinated before. Last year 6366 cases of the highly infectious viral infection were reported in the United States.

27 Oct 2017

Research advance may lead to preservation of hearing in people with Usher syndrome type III

A research advance co-led by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine's Kumar Alagramam, PhD, may stop the progression of hearing loss and lead to significant preservation of hearing in people with Usher syndrome type III, a form of hereditary hearing loss linked to defects in the sensory "hair" cells in the inner ear. USH3 is caused by a mutation in the clarin-1 gene.

26 Oct 2017

Penn study sheds light on genetic cause of early hearing loss

From the moment a baby is born, they are put through a battery of screenings to test for all sorts of characteristics, which includes the sense of hearing.

26 Oct 2017

Opioid-free anesthesia reduces postoperative nausea, study finds

Opioid-free general anesthesia is safe, effective and dramatically decreases postoperative nausea, according to a single-center study of more than 1,000 patients being presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2017 annual meeting.

24 Oct 2017

Brain-training could help elderly people increase their understanding of words in noisy situations

For many people with hearing challenges, trying to follow a conversation in a crowded restaurant or other noisy venue is a major struggle, even with hearing aids. Now, Mass. Eye and Ear researchers reporting in Current Biology on October 19th have some good news: time spent playing a specially designed, brain-training audiogame could help.

19 Oct 2017

New report highlights need to screen children with reading difficulties for hearing problems

Children with reading difficulties should be more thoroughly screened for hearing problems, a new report by Coventry University academics has said.

6 Oct 2017

Mount Sinai Health System announces opening of new full-service urgent care center

Mount Sinai Health System today announced the opening, at the newly renovated Mount Sinai Union Square, of a state-of-the-art, full-service urgent care center, including pediatric care, which will feature daytime, evening, and weekend hours.

4 Oct 2017

Flat-fee primary care helps fill niche for Texas’ uninsured

Darrell Kenyon had been punting for years on various medical issues — fatigue, headaches, mood swings. The 43-year-old uninsured carpenter was particularly worried about his blood pressure, which ran high when he checked it at the grocery store. Then he heard about a different type of physician practice, one that provided regular primary care for a monthly fee.

3 Oct 2017

Research reveals curious pattern of autism recurrence based on gender

Having one child with autism is a well-known risk factor for having another one with the same disorder, but whether and how a sibling's gender influences this risk has remained largely unknown.

26 Sep 2017

Study finds no evidence of auditory nerve injury after recreational noise exposure

Exposure to loud noises during common recreational activities is widely cited as a cause of "hidden hearing loss." A new study of young adults, however, finds that while hearing is temporarily affected after attending a loud event, there is no evidence of auditory nerve injury or permanent hearing difficulties.

26 Sep 2017

Researchers use gene therapy to restore hearing and balance in mouse model of Usher syndrome

Hearing loss, sometimes associated with other disorders such as balance defects, is the most common sensory deficit, affecting more than 280 million people worldwide, according to WHO. In France, one child in 700 is born with severe or profound hearing loss, and one in every 1,000 will lose their sense of hearing before adulthood.

22 Sep 2017

Experts advise new measures to combat antimicrobial resistance

An expert panel was formed in the United States to advise the government on how to deal with the problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a growing menace. This panel has now come up with a set of recommendations that could help reduce AMR in humans and animals. Recommendations include development of new vaccines against infections, development of better diagnostic tools to detect the infections early and also new therapies to handle the infections.

22 Sep 2017

MED-EL introduces world’s first cochlear implant powered by wireless charging

MED-EL, a leading provider of hearing implant systems, has today launched the world’s first cochlear implant audio processor to feature wireless charging at the 61st Austrian National Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Conference.

21 Sep 2017

Scientists take important step toward gene therapy for deaf patients

Scientists at Oregon State University have taken an important step toward gene therapy for deaf patients by developing a way to better study a large protein essential for hearing and finding a truncated version of it.

19 Sep 2017

IUPUI cell biologist receives $1.9 million grant to tackle age-related hearing loss

Cell biologist Benjamin J. Perrin of the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis is advancing knowledge of age-related hearing loss with the goal of informing possible therapeutic cell-regeneration approaches to the often-debilitating problem.

14 Sep 2017

New online calculator estimates impact of changes in breastfeeding rates on population health

In a new study published in Breastfeeding Medicine, researchers have created an online calculator to estimate the impact of changes in breastfeeding rates on population health.

14 Sep 2017

Cocaine users have ‘global impairment’ in brain area linked to impulse and self-control, study finds

Cocaine-addicted individuals say they find the drug much less enjoyable after years of use, but they have great difficulty quitting.

11 Sep 2017

BioCote Silver Ion Antimicrobial Technology makes surfaces inhospitable to influenza viruses

Strike a chord please, especially in light of the BMJ's article on Tuesday about the ineffectiveness of the flu vaccine for elderly last year - just wanted to make you also aware of the ultimate surface protection against viruses like H1N1, plus all the proliferating superbugs.