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Report on the value of 'Google Flu Trends' for emergency departments

Monitoring Internet search traffic about influenza may prove to be a better way for hospital emergency rooms to prepare for a surge in sick patients compared to waiting for outdated government flu case reports. A report on the value of the Internet search tool for emergency departments, studied by a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine over a 21-month period, is published in the January 9 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

10 Jan 2012

'ConTxt' study to evaluate whether cell phone technology can help with weight loss

Cell phones aren't just for talking any more. Surfing the web, storing music and posting to Facebook have all contributed to the near-mandatory use of a cell phone. How about using that cell phone to lose weight? Researchers with Calit2's Center for Wireless and Population Health Systems (CWPHS) and the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, at University of California, San Diego are expanding a previous study aimed at finding out if cell phone technology can help with weight loss.

10 Jan 2012

DOJ lays out health law defense in SCOTUS brief

Just as the Justice Department reiterated its main argument supporting the health law's individual mandate, briefs offering an opposing view were filed by the case's plaintiffs and by 36 Republican senators.

10 Jan 2012

Personalized medicine could offer a valuable tool to help combat the diabetic epidemic

With the trend in healthcare moving toward an era of personalized medicine, there is much anticipation and hope that customized approaches to prevention and treatment based on a person's genetic make-up will result in better health outcomes. Some advances, most notably with prevention and treatment of breast and colon cancer, have been widely heralded, raising questions about the potential for personalized medicine for other common diseases, such as diabetes.

10 Jan 2012

Health IT spending set to grow

With money tight, congressional appropriators rarely insist that agencies spend money. Yet the omnibus spending bill passed Dec. 17 approved $100 million for a joint Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs effort to develop digital medical records - even though they missed deadlines for requesting the money.

10 Jan 2012

Researchers use 3-D imaging to identify proteins involved in arterial stiffness

Human arteries - some smaller than a strand of hair - stiffen as a person ages. This stiffening is a factor in cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, because it contributes to the circulatory complications in disorders such as high blood pressure and diabetes. University of Missouri researchers have now used advanced 3-D microscopic imaging technology to identify and monitor the proteins involved in this stiffening process.

10 Jan 2012

Link between loss of loved one and heart attack

A person's risk of suffering a heart attack increases by approximately 21 times in the first 24 hours after losing a loved one, according to a study lead by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

10 Jan 2012

VOA News examines maternal mortality in Somalia

"The World Health Organization says Somalia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world," VOA News reports, adding, "In southern Somalia, the situation is grave, and the recent famine has made the health crisis for mothers and infants even worse."

10 Jan 2012

ORMOSIL nanoparticles show promise as potential drug delivery vehicle

In the images of fruit flies, clusters of neurons are all lit up, forming a brightly glowing network of highways within the brain. It's exactly what University at Buffalo researcher Shermali Gunawardena was hoping to see: It meant that ORMOSIL, a novel class of nanoparticles, had successfully penetrated the insects' brains. And even after long-term exposure, the cells and the flies themselves remained unharmed.

10 Jan 2012

Nigerian leaders sign onto Gates immunization challenge

"Nigeria's 36 Executive Governors and the Federal Capital Territory have signed up to the Nigeria Immunization Challenge launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation last year," a Gates Foundation press release states.

10 Jan 2012

Aria's non-invasive test more effective in detecting Trisomy 18 & 21

Aria Diagnostics, a molecular diagnostics company, today announced publication of data supporting a directed, non-invasive approach to cell-free DNA (cfDNA) analysis in maternal blood for evaluation of two common fetal trisomies linked to genetic disorders.

10 Jan 2012

Concerns over using ARV therapy as prevention strategy

PSI's "Healthy Lives" blog reviews a recent Science magazine article written by James Shelton of USAID's Bureau of Global Health in which he raises concerns about the use of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) as a prevention strategy.

10 Jan 2012

Young female cancer survivors concerned about their future fertility

Young female cancer survivors are concerned about their future fertility and parenthood options and want better information and guidance early on, according to a new study by Jessica Gorman and her team from the University of California in the US.

10 Jan 2012

The drawbacks of employer-provided health insurance

Many people assume insurance offered by their employer is a better deal than they can get on their own. But while the premiums can be lower, such policies have drawbacks.

10 Jan 2012

Delaying hypertension treatment in diabetic patients for up to a year is unlikely to be harmful

Confronted with a high blood pressure value in a diabetic patient, most doctors would treat aggressively with medications. According to new research, however, delaying drug treatment for up to a year is unlikely to be harmful. The delay allows doctors and their patients to focus on lifestyle changes such as salt restriction, weight management, and exercise.

10 Jan 2012

Cases of totally drug-resistant TB reported in India

"For the first time in India, 12 people have been detected with totally drug-resistant lung tuberculosis (TDR-TB), a condition in which patients do not respond to any TB medication" and for which the mortality rate is 100 percent, the Hindustan Times reports.

10 Jan 2012

New evidence on heading and risk of brain injury in soccer

Could heading the ball in soccer lead to degenerative brain disease, like that seen in athletes in other sports? That's the question addressed by a review in the January issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

10 Jan 2012

Haiti faces 'largest' cholera epidemic in modern history, PAHO says

"Almost two years after the devastating 7.0 earthquake destroyed much of Port-au-Prince, full recovery appears to be years away," the Miami Herald reports, noting that "thousands of people continue to live in makeshift shelters and tents and rubble from dilapidated buildings still line some streets."

10 Jan 2012

Cardiologist measures risk factors associated with CR

The cardiologist Aitor Jim-nez has managed to gather and characterise in detail 110 cases of cardiac rupture (CR), after spending 22 years (1978-2000) gathering data at the Hospital de Cruces, near Bilbao. It is one of the broadest anatomical series described in this respect. CR is the most serious complication of acute myocardial infarction; it is not very common, but when it does occur, it is mortal in practically all cases. So prevention, although difficult, seems more feasible than cure.

10 Jan 2012

Nutrition, agricultural development programs improving lives of poor Hondurans

In this post in the U.S. Department of State's "DipNote" blog, Ertharin Cousin, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Agencies in Rome, examines how improved nutrition and agricultural development are helping to bring Hondurans out of poverty and hunger.

10 Jan 2012