Illness

Healthcare :: A dose of God may help medicine

For some families, the cancer diagnosis of a child strengthens existing religious ties or prompts new ones. Now, a new study by researchers at Brandeis University and the University at Buffalo – SUNY in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology reports that while most pediatric oncologists say they are spiritual, and many are open to connecting with the families of very sick children through religion or spirituality, they typically lack the formal healthcare training that could help them build such bridges.

Health :: Number of cases of most vaccine-preventable diseases in US at all-time low

A comparison of illness and death rates for 13 vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S., before and after use of the vaccine, indicates there have been significant decreases in the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths for each of the diseases examined, according to a study in the November 14 issue of JAMA.

MRSA :: Factor key to severity of community-associated methicillin-resistant staph infections identified

Newly described proteins in drug-resistant strains of the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium attract and then destroy protective human white blood cells—a key process ensuring that S. aureus survives and causes severe disease, according to scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

HIV :: Testing delays cause severe AIDS complications, Einstein researchers find

Despite the availability of life-saving antiretroviral treatment, people infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) continue to die and suffer from complications of AIDS, mainly due to delayed diagnosis and initiation of treatment. A researcher at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and colleagues at Yale University have shed light on why this problem persists. They report their findings in the November issue of the journal Medical Care.

HIV :: HIV patients sicker when seeking care than in the past

It was hoped that as HIV treatment improved and as HIV-related public health initiatives encouraged people to be tested for the disease and seek care, that HIV-infected patients would seek care quickly. Unfortunately, a new study indicates that patients are actually sicker when they begin therapy. The study is published in the November 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online.

Medical :: NIH and India Partner to Develop Low-Cost Medical Technologies

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of India, have entered into a bilateral agreement to develop low-cost health-care technologies aimed at the medically underserved.

Height :: Height affects how people perceive their quality of life

Your height in adult life significantly affects your quality of life, with short people reporting worse physical and mental health than people of normal height. This large, peer reviewed study, which appears in Clinical Endocrinology, shows that adult height is linked to how good a person thinks their health is. Short people judge their state of health to be significantly lower than their normal height peers do.

Malaria :: Malaria vaccine candidate has promising safety, tolerability profile in infants

The first study to test GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) investigational RTS,S/AS02 malaria vaccine in African infants serves as the first proof of concept in this population that the vaccine has a promising safety and tolerability profile and reduces malaria parasite infection and clinical illness due to malaria, according to a paper published today online in The Lancet.