To give voice to people whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing floods, The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a unique survey of evacuees in shelters in the Houston area. One-third (34%) of Katrina evacuees report that they were trapped in their homes and had to be rescued. Half (50%) of those who were trapped said they waited three or more days to be rescued.
More than 1 in 10 (14%) Hur
People who exercise regularly experience 25% less muscle and joint pain in their old age than people who are less active. Research published in Arthritis Research & Therapy reveals that people who regularly participate in brisk aerobic exercise, such as running, experience less pain than non-runners even though they are more likely to suffer from pain from injuries.
Bonnie Bruce and colleagues from Stanford University, USA, compared the level of pain in a group of runners and a
Low flu vaccination rates among healthcare workers could be risking the lives of frail elderly patients and increasing winter pressures in UK hospitals, according to research published in the latest issue of Journal of Clinical Nursing.
Less than eight per cent of nurses and healthcare assistants surveyed in two Liverpool hospitals said they had annual flu injections.
29 per cent of the 144 healthcare workers who took part in the study said they didn’t feel they needed
Scientists at the University of Liverpool believe gaps in the intestinal barrier could be a cause of inflammatory diseases of the gut such as Crohn’s Disease.
Their research, led by Professor Alastair Watson in the University’s Faculty of Medicine, could have important implications for the treatment of patients with diseases like Crohn’s – an inflammatory bowel disorder that causes severe ulceration in the intestine, leading to pain, bleeding and diarrhoea.
Profess
An innovative vaccination can significantly reduce deposits of the substances in the brain responsible for causing Alzheimer’s disease. This result was disclosed today by Affiris GmbH, a company located at the Campus Vienna Biocenter, Austria. The rapid progress during the pre-clinical development phase has already enabled the Vienna-based company, although having operated only since April 2004, to plan clinical trials for 2006, and thus proves the international competitiveness of the Campus Vienna
In one of the largest studies of its kind, UCSF researchers have found that eating lots of fruits and vegetables – particularly vegetables — is associated with about a 50 percent reduction in the risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose and remains largely untreatable. It kills about 30,000 people in the U.S. each year and has a five-year survival under four percent.
The vegetables most strongly associated with increased protection were
Researchers have determined the first detailed molecular images of a piece of the spike-shaped protein that the SARS virus uses to grab host cells and initiate the first stages of infection. The structure, which shows how the spike protein grasps its receptor, may help scientists learn new details about how the virus infects cells. The information could also be helpful in identifying potential weak points that can be exploited by novel antiviral drugs or vaccines.
The SARS (seve
It’s more than a question of taste
Eating an apple is infinitely better than looking like one, according to experts at the American College of Cardiology (ACC). Humor aside, research has drawn significant links between body shape and heart disease. The American College of Cardiology is hoping to reshape America by highlighting this new health data on World Heart Day.
“People whose fat collects around the waist – the classic apple shape – are at higher risk of heart
A pioneering University of Queensland (UQ) research project will help children overcome extreme anxiety.
The Kids Coping Team, headed by Sonja March and Professor Sue Spence have developed a new treatment program for childhood anxiety.
According to Psychologist Sonja March, international research shows that anxiety is one of the most common psychological problems found in children and adolescents.
“Around 8-10% of children are affected by anxiety which can h
[By neglecting deprivation, cardiovascular risk scoring will exacerbate social gradients in disease. Heart 2005; online first]
Leaving deprivation out of standard risk assessments for heart disease is potentially denying life saving preventive treatment to those who need it most, reveals research published ahead of print in Heart.
A person’s estimated chances of developing heart disease, and being allocated “primary preventive” treatment, is currently calculated usin
Professor Gwendolen Jull and Dr Michele Sterling of the UQ Division of Physiotherapy are conducting two clinical trials investigating recovery following a whiplash injury.
One trial is examining whether a multi-professional treatment approach is necessary following a whiplash injury. The other trial is examining the progression of symptoms following a whiplash injury.
Whiplash injury is commonly associated with neck pain, impaired movement and can be distressing.
Addicts crave drugs and suffer relapse not just because of the alluring high of drugs, but also because they are compelled by the powerful, haunting memory associations with the environment surrounding their drug taking. Thus, treatments that could eliminate those memory associations could prove effective in treating addiction, researchers believe.
In two papers in the September 15, 2005, issue of Neuron, two groups of researchers report important progress toward such treatments, s
A new drug appears to offer pain relief and increased mobility to rheumatoid arthritis patients who have exhausted their other medical treatment options. A researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine led a six-month, multicenter clinical trial that found patients were more than twice as likely to have significant improvement with the new drug than with standard therapy. The findings are reported in the Sept. 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The stud
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), by its very name, indicates a disease of the respiratory tract. But SARS can also infiltrate brain tissue, causing significant central nervous system problems, according to an article in the Oct. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.
SARS, a potentially fatal illness caused by a coronavirus, was first reported in Asia in February of 2003. The disease is usually transmitted by contact with coronavirus-laden dropl
Low-dose aspirin might prevent the cardiovascular damage known to arise from use of the painkiller rofecoxib (Vioxx®), suggest new findings from mouse studies by Duke University Medical Center researchers. Their findings that a chemical imbalance might underlie such damage could also lead to the development of anti-inflammatory drugs without the adverse side effects, the researchers said.
The researchers reported their findings in the September 14, 2005, issue of Cell Metabolism
A knock on the noggin is only one type of injury possible
Typically, parents worry about their children bumping their heads or wearing out mattresses when they catch them jumping on the bed. But parents should also be wary of injuries from broken wires inside worn-out mattresses.
Dante Pappano, MD, an attending physician in the Children’s Emergency Department at Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong, published a paper in August’s Pediatric Emergency Care j
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