medicalnewstoday

Drivers who test positive for marijuana or reported using marijuana and then driving have double the risk of being involved in a vehicle accidents, compared to drivers who are not under the influence, researchers from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, New York, reported in the journal Epidemiologic Reviews. The authors add that over ten million individuals aged at least 12 years are thought to have driven under the influence of illegal drugs during the last twelve months in the USA...

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Obama's administration has eliminated one of the Affordable Care Act's key new entitlement programs, saying that the Community Living Assistance Services (CLASS) Act which would have provided a basic lifetime benefit of a least $50 a day in the event of illness or disability, and was supposed to help reduce the federal budget by $86 billion over the coming decade, was simply "unworkable". This is the first time the administration has given up on a major piece of Obama's signature legislative achievement. From day one, the program has been persistently criticized for its unfeasibility...

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An article published on October 14 in UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids announced that Aurobindo Parma and MedChem have become the first producers of generic antiretroviral medicines to join the Medicines Patent Pool. The move enables the two manufacturers to take advantage of the agreement signed between Gilead Sciences and the Medicines Patent Pool in July 2011, which makes Gilead's intellectual property on four antiretroviral medicines available to the Patent Pool for licensing to generic manufacturers...

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The Medicare Rights Center, a national, nonprofit consumer service organization, advises that everyone enrolled in a private health or drug plan with Medicare should review their cover during the upcoming Fall Open Enrollment Period. This includes those who are currently satisfied with their plan as providers change their benefit packages on a yearly basis...

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13th October marked the United Nations International Day for Disaster Reduction; the focus of this year's awareness day is on the valuable contribution that children can make in reducing the impact of natural disasters and in making decisions that can safeguard both their lives and the lives of people in their community...

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A BDA website blog written by Dr Susie Sanderson, Chair of the British Dental Association's Executive (BDA's) Board, states that 'this could be the worst time in living memory to be a general dental practitioner in England'. Dr Sanderson argues that dentist's jobs are made more and more difficult and cause low morale because of a combination of factors, such as an excessive system of regulation, ongoing existence of the flawed 2006 dental contract, threats to NHS pensions, and the government's intention of barring new entrants to the seniority pay scheme...

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A new study published in the journal Respirology suggests that heart-related therapies could potentially improve the wellbeing of some people suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as the mechanisms controlling the heart play a vital role in the life quality of these patients'. COPD develops as a co-occurrence of chronic bronchitis and emphysema narrowing the airways and causing shortness of breath sometimes independent of lung disease. It often results in patients' poor physical and mental quality of life, however little is known about the determining factors...

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According to a study published in Health Technology Assessment, there is little evidence to support the use of PET-CT add-on imaging device in the pre-operative staging of bowel cancer. Over one million people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer worldwide each year, making it the third most common cancer in the UK after lung and breast cancer...

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Today, about one in four European children suffer from allergy, which makes this disease the non-infectious epidemic of the 21st century. Evidence suggests that lifestyle factors and nutritional patterns, such as breastfeeding, help to reduce the early symptoms of allergy. The detection and reduction of the early causes of childhood allergy is the major topic at the 2nd EAACI Pediatric Allergy and Asthma Meeting (PAAM 2011) that opens today in Barcelona...

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Statins can be effective at lowering cholesterol, but they have a perplexing tendency to work for some people and not others. Gut bacteria may be the reason. A research team led by a Duke University scientist has identified three bile acids produced by gut bacteria that were evident in people who responded well to a common cholesterol-lowering drug called simvastatin. The finding, published in PLoS One, demonstrates how gut bacteria can cause inherent differences in the way people digest, metabolize and benefit from substances such as drugs...

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A UK-wide study of mobile phones planned to coincide with Global Handwashing Day, found that one in six carries fecal matter, probably because their owners are not washing their hands with soap after using the toilet. Researchers said some of the phones were contaminated with E. coli, fecal bacteria that can cause stomach upsets and serious food poisoning such as in the fatal O157 outbreak in Germany in June. Once they are on hands and surfaces, fecal bacteria can survive for hours, especially in warm rooms away from sunlight...

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New research has found that stem cells derived from human cord blood could be an effective alternative in repairing heart attacks. At least 20 million people survive every year, according to World Health Organisation estimates, but many have poor life expectancy and require continual costly clinical care. The use of patient's own stem cells may repair heart attacks, although their benefit may be limited due to scarce availability and ageing...

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Infections picked up in hospital affect almost a third of patients in intensive care, and kill 44% of those people. Given that some infectious agents can linger for weeks or months it is increasingly important that staff awareness of the problem is improved and that training in infection prevention across the National Health Service and in private healthcare is expanded, according to researchers at the University of Northampton. Microbes such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Clostridium difficile (C...

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An international effort to replace smoky, inefficient household stoves that people commonly use in lower and middle income countries with clean, affordable, fuel efficient stoves could save nearly 2 million lives each year, according to experts from the National Institutes of Health. In a commentary in Science, the NIH scientists noted that indoor air pollution from such inefficient stoves affects about 3 billion people - nearly half the world's population...

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The outer layer of the skin, called the epidermis, forms a critical physical and immunological wall that serves as the body's first line of defense against potentially harmful microorganisms. Most of the epidermis consists of cells called keratinocytes that build a mechanical barrier but also perform immune functions. Now, a new study published by Cell Press in the October issue of the journal Immunity provides evidence that stopping of a type of regulated cell death called "necroptosis" in keratinocytes is critical for the prevention of skin inflammation...

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Not long after birth, human babies transition from producing blood containing oxygen-rich fetal hemoglobin to blood bearing the adult hemoglobin protein. For children with sickle cell disease, the transition from the fetal to adult form of hemoglobin - the oxygen-carrying protein in blood - marks the onset of anemia and painful symptoms of the disorder. Now, new research led by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator Stuart H...

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Previous studies have found that health outcomes improve during an economic downturn. Job loss means less money available for potentially unhealthy behaviors such as excessive drinking, according to existing literature on employment and alcohol consumption. A new study by health economist Michael T. French from the University of Miami and his collaborators has concluded just the opposite - heavy drinking and alcohol abuse/dependence significantly increase as macroeconomic conditions deteriorate...

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Some good news in the fight against heart disease with new figures released this week, showing deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD) in the US on the decline, albeit that they were somewhat uneven amongst different states and ethnic groups...

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The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended in a draft guidance against Bristol-Myers Squibb's Yervoy (ipilimumab) for the treatment of advanced malignant melanoma in patients who have already been treated with chemotherapy. NICE decides whether a drug, medical device or treatment should be covered by the National Health Service (NHS), the country's universal health care service...

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Richard Mangino, 65, of Revere, MA, USA, had a twelve-hour bilateral (double) hand transplant procedure performed on him by a team of over 40 health care professionals, including surgeons, anesthesiologists, residents, radiologists, nurses, and physician assistants. In 2002 Mangino had contracted sepsis and had to have both his arms (below the elbow) and legs (below the knee) amputated. Sepsis also known as blood stream infection is the presence of bacteria (or other pathogens) or their toxins in the blood (septicemia), or in other tissue...

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