The family of a 17-year-old boy who died at the Royal Free of leukaemia has set up a trust fund in his memory. Edward Griffith, better known as Edd, died at the end of the summer following a two year battle against the disease.
The first baby boomers are turning 60 this year. Some question whether there will be enough health care professionals to take care of them. An aging society and increased cases of chronic conditions like diabetes and obesity are straining an already fragile health care workforce. Now, the University of Missouri-Columbia is looking at ways to write a prescription for one of the major ailments facing today?s society, according to Richard Oliver, dean of the MU School of Health Professions. MU recently spearheaded the creation of FuturePoint Summit, a national coalition of academic and business leaders in the health care field, to find solutions for the allied health workforce shortage.
A Colorado-based company is launching a line of ‘medical- food’ products for the dietary management of asthma, eczema and other allergic conditions based on discoveries by Floyd H. ‘Ski’ Chilton, Ph.D., of Wake Forest University Health Sciences (WFUHS).
Health care professionals say a computerized emergency response system for public health laboratories developed in Nebraska is proving to be a valuable tool for other states and has the potential to impact public health systems worldwide.
For the first time, researchers have inhibited the development of epilepsy after a brain insult in animals. By using gene therapy to modify signaling pathways in the brain, neurology researchers found that they could significantly reduce the development of epileptic seizures in rats.
Mayo Clinic Cancer Center’s Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for prostate cancer research has been renewed for an additional five years. SPORE grants are highly competitive awards given to institutions on the cutting edge of translational research in specific types of cancer.
Previous reports have greatly underestimated the number of children injured on school buses. The study, “School Bus-Related Injuries Among Children and Teenagers in the United States, 2001-2003,” is the first to analyze non-fatal school bus injuries using a national sample. It found more than 51,000 children – or 17,000 annually – through age 19 were treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments during the 3-year period.
Does use of poison control centers reduce the number of hospitalizations in rural areas? The study, “The Potential Impact of Poison Control Centers on Rural Hospitalization Rates for Poisoning,” found a direct correlation between the use of poison control centers (PCCs) and reduced rates of hospitalization.
The Centre for Health Protection has confirmed a myiasis case involving a 97-year-old Kwai Chung woman, bringing the year’s total to 10, all local cases.
The Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau should make more use of information technology to speed up the exchange of data regarding pandemics, says Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Dr York Chow.