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Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy helps toddler survive brain damage – case report

Eden Carlson, a two year old child had fallen into the family swimming pool. She was rushed to medical care but her heart had stopped beating for over two hours. A team of doctors used an innovative therapy with a combination of new oxygen therapies and the child was revived of the brain damage that she had suffered.

20 Jul 2017

Summer perils and ways to avoid, treat them

Summer can bite. It can burn or itch. It can make you extremely sick…or worse.

27 May 2017

WHO finds 1.2 million adolescent deaths annually, mostly from preventable causes

A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners find that adolescent deaths amount to more than 3000 a day, which totals to 1.2 million deaths annually that are mostly from preventable or treatable causes. In low- and middle-income countries of the African and Southeast Asian regions, 855, 000 adolescents in the age group of 10–19-years old died in the year 2015. Road traffic injuries being the leading cause of death, and other major causes of deaths in adolescent are due to lower respiratory infections and suicide.

16 May 2017

Some parents may underestimate drowning risks of children, new poll suggests

As kids get ready to splash around in pools this summer, some parents may underestimate drowning risks, suggests a new national poll.

15 May 2017

Study: Improving health and wellbeing of adolescents could bring 10-fold economic benefit

As the World Bank meetings begin, a new study shows that investments in adolescent health and wellbeing are some of the best that can be made towards achieving the SDGs

21 Apr 2017

Machine learning helps researchers uncover cellular control networks

The flow of information between cells in our bodies is exceedingly complex: sensing, signaling, and influencing each other in a constant flow of microscopic engagements. These interactions are critical for life, and when they go awry can lead to the illness and injury.

22 Mar 2017

WHO report: 1.7 million children die every year due to unhealthy environments

More than 1 in 4 deaths of children under 5 years are attributable to unhealthy environments. Every year, environmental risks – such as indoor and outdoor air pollution, second-hand smoke, unsafe water, lack of sanitation and inadequate hygiene – take the lives of 1.7 million children under 5 years, say two new World Health Organization reports.

9 Mar 2017

Neuroscientists examine how 'decision uncertainty' signals drive rapid changes in pupil size

Whether it involves stopping at a traffic light or diving into freezing water to save someone from drowning: many of our everyday problems require snap decisions in the face of uncertainty. When making decisions, it has been suggested that neurochemicals rapidly flood the brain and signal how uncertain somebody is about a choice.

6 Mar 2017

Obese individuals get support and comfort from online weight loss forums

Online weight loss forums protect participants from public fat shaming, and participants can speak out without being confronted by normal-weight individuals, medical science or the authorities.

7 Feb 2017

Study finds no changes in overall rates of suicide attempts and patterns

Johns Hopkins investigators report that their analysis of a national database representing more than 1 billion emergency department visits shows that over a recent eight-year period, nothing much has changed in the rates of unsuccessful suicide attempts, or in the age, gender, seasonal timing or means used by those who tried to take their lives in the United States.

1 Dec 2016

Optimal doses of omega-3 fatty acids appear to improve outcomes from traumatic brain injury

The treatment of concussions and traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a clinical challenge. Clinical studies thus far have failed to identify an effective treatment strategy when a combination of targets controlling aspects of neuroprotection, neuroinflammation, and neuroregeneration is needed.

25 Aug 2016

Vigilant monitoring by parents, caregivers could help prevent drowning among children

More children are coming to hospital emergency departments this summer for drownings or near-drownings, including at Penn State Children's Hospital, where staff members say they have seen more cases recently than they can recall in several years.

4 Aug 2016

Tips to keep children safe at kiddie pools

Big backyard swimming pools aren't the only source of drownings. Those seemingly safe small, inflatable "kiddie" pools can be just as dangerous.

24 May 2016

US swimming pool inspections provide worrying statistics

A recent report by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that 80% of inspections of public aquatic venues in the United States found at least one violation of safety standards. Immediate closure is enforced on thousands of public pools, hot tubs, and water playgrounds in the US every year as a result of safety concerns.

20 May 2016

New set of practice guidelines from WMS may help in treatment, prevention of drowning

Drowning is a global threat to human health. Each year, more than 372,000 people die as a result of drowning, with many of those deaths being preventable by simple water safety measures. In order to arm professionals with the most up-to-date clinical protocols, the Wilderness Medical Society has issued a new set of practice guidelines for both the treatment and prevention of drowning, published in the society's official journal, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine.

10 May 2016

Researchers investigate effects of new steroid treatment on children with ARDS

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) affects hundreds of thousands of people each year, many of them children. Those with this life threatening condition have severely injured and wet lungs, and are treated with mechanical ventilation.

9 May 2016

Opioids could be dangerous, deadly at high doses

Most people know that heroin is a dangerous drug, but its cousins, the legal, pharmaceutical opioids, such as codeine or hydrocodone, must be safe, right?Not so fast.Opioids—which include the illegal drug heroin as well as prescription medications, including hydrocodone (such as Vicodin), oxycodone (such as OxyContin and Percocet), morphine and codeine—can be dangerous, even deadly, at high doses.

31 Mar 2016

Epilepsy deaths should be considered a public health priority, say doctors

Epilepsy is not a public health priority, yet it takes more lives than sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) or fires, according to an article reviewing the topic. Doctors say epilepsy deaths should be a focus of research and education to understand and prevent those deaths, according to the "Views and Reviews" article published in the December 16, 2015, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

17 Dec 2015

Researchers call for improved cause-of-death reporting to advance understanding of epilepsy

Recent studies conclude that people with epilepsy have a 27-fold greater risk of sudden death than people without the disorder. However, many of these deaths could be prevented through greater identification of epilepsy as a cause of death, and in educating the public more effectively about the disease's life-threatening dangers.