In the event of a nuclear or radiological catastrophe — such as a nuclear accident or a ?dirty bomb? — thousands of people would be exposed to radiation, with no way of quickly determining how much of the deadly substance has seeped inside their bodies.
Not necessarily, according to the American College of Physicians. In a new set of guidelines for clinicians of 40-something patients, the group recommends that mammography screening decisions be made on a case-by-case basis.
Fatal poisonings involving paracetamol (acetaminophen) fell after a law introduced in the UK restricted the number of tablets that could be sold across the counter. But new research has concluded that this reduction may not have been a result of the change in the law.
One of the persistent riddles of the deadly 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic is why it struck different cities with varying severity. Why were some municipalities such as St. Louis spared the fate of the hard-hit cities like Philadelphia when both implemented similar public health measures?
A mutation in one gene HNF4A, associated with diabetes in the young, has been shown to be associated with an average increase in birthweight of 790g. In the current issue of PLoS Medicine Andrew Hattersley and colleagues from the Peninsular Medical School, report the findings from a study of 108 individuals from15 families where the mutation was present.
A new study shows that recent declines in breast cancer mortality rates have been most significant among women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive tumors and women younger than 70. The results of the study are being published online April 2 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Increasing rates of amphetamine and cocaine usage by young adults significantly boost their risk of stroke, with amphetamine abuse associated with the greatest risk, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center report.
People with physical disabilities endure substandard health care and a pervasive sense that they are a burden to doctors, according to a Northwestern University physician who is lead author of a commentary in JAMA. These patients often ram into roadblocks when they try to obtain basic care and life-saving diagnostic tests, reports Kristi Kirschner, M.D. Patients and health care workers have been injured because of inadequate facilities. Kirschner offers an overdue blueprint for change.
A new Joslin-led study has identified the insulin receptor as an important protein that promotes islet cell growth in mice whose bodies are unable to use insulin properly, or are insulin resistant, a precursor to type 2 diabetes.
Researchers at Rush University Medical Center have been selected to participate in a collaborative initiative to develop a simple, affordable and rapid test to measure the immune systems of people infected with HIV/AIDS in developing countries. The four-year CD4 Initiative is conducted under the leadership of Imperial College London with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.