New studies on nutrition and HIV from researchers at Tufts University in Boston find that a high percentage of people with HIV have the same two characteristics of metabolic syndrome, and that people with HIV on HAART may be at risk for zinc deficiency.
Surgeons are taller and more handsome than physicians, finds a study in this week’s Christmas issue of the BMJ. Doctors at the University of Barcelona Hospital noticed that the tallest and most handsome male students were more likely to go for surgery, and the shortest (and perhaps not so good looking) ones were more likely to become physicians.
Sword swallowers are more likely to sustain an injury — such as a perforation of the oesophagus — if they are distracted or are using multiple or unusual swords, finds a study in this week’s Christmas issue of the BMJ.
Fat zapping to shed excess weight, miniature telescopes to restore vision, and smart nappies to detect common childhood infections — these are some of the new technologies that promise to transform medicine, according to this week’s Christmas issue of the BMJ.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has warned about statements that circumcision reduces the risk of HIV/AIDS. Museveni said such messages were sending wrong signals to the population, and caused apathy in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have developed the first gene chip to use in the early diagnosis of at least five hereditary liver diseases, to detect genetic causes of jaundice in children and adults, and potentially to lead to personalized treatment options.
The Institute of Medicine estimates that medical errors are the eighth leading cause of death in the United States, and poor communication can be a major source of those errors. Now the Clinical Simulation Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis hopes to improve patient safety by using clinical simulators to find the source of miscommunications during medical treatments.
The surge of baby boomers now entering their 60s means more drivers on the road who may be impaired by dementia or other cognitive impairments linked to aging. Researchers at the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and elsewhere have developed a three-hour workshop that trains health care providers to identify potentially unsafe drivers with dementia and to encourage appropriate retirement from driving.
Mice with neuroblastoma tumors have been successfully treated with genetically modified cells that sought out the cancer cells and activated a chemotherapy drug directly at those sites, according to investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and their colleagues at City of Hope National Medical Center (Duarte, Calif.) and the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada). Neuroblastoma is a solid tumor that arises in the part of the nervous system outside the brain.
Babies deprived of oxygen during birth may now be treated with a cap that cools the head to prevent or reduce brain damage, U.S. health officials said.