Healthcare News

RSS

Montana looks to become latest state to boost nonprofit hospital oversight

Montana's proposal to increase oversight is part of a national trend by states to ensure nonprofit hospitals act as charitable organizations as they claim tax-exempt status.

25 Jul 2024

New insights into how genetic variants influence disease risk

A new study by scientists at deCODE Genetics, a subsidiary of Amgen, shows that sequence variants drive the correlation between DNA methylation and gene expression. The same variants are linked to various diseases and other human traits.

25 Jul 2024

Study identifies genes increasing risk of severe COVID-19

Whether or not a person becomes seriously ill with COVID-19 depends, among other things, on genetic factors. With this in mind, researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn, in cooperation with other research teams from Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy, investigated a particularly large group of affected individuals.

25 Jul 2024

Communities near warehouses face higher health risks

A first-of-a-kind study now shows that people living in communities located next to these large warehouses are exposed to 20% more of a traffic-related air pollutant that can lead to asthma and other life-threatening health conditions.

25 Jul 2024

Massive neuroimaging dataset advances stroke research

In this era of machine learning and artificial intelligence, harnessing large-scale neuroimaging can facilitate new discoveries in neuroscience research.

25 Jul 2024

Changes in prescribing practices and parental awareness contribute to teen drug decline

Since 2009, U.S. high school seniors have reported steep declines in medical use, misuse and availability of the three most commonly prescribed and misused controlled substances for teens, a new University of Michigan study found.

25 Jul 2024

Unprecedented brain cell mapping sheds light on Alzheimer's

Less than a decade ago, when Dr. Hansruedi Mathys launched an ambitious project to create an annotated library of all the gene readouts stored within 100 individual brain cells, the task felt daunting.

25 Jul 2024

Comprehensive analysis of Alzheimer’s brain tissue identifies novel biomarkers

From studying the human genome, to analyzing the way proteins are encoded, or monitoring RNA expression, researchers are rapidly gaining a far richer understanding of the complex genetic and cellular mechanisms that underpin dementia. But there's a catch: While new technologies are revealing myriad avenues for Alzheimer's research, it's impossible to know in advance which research pathways will lead to effective treatments.

25 Jul 2024

Cord blood banking industry faces scrutiny over unproven claims and high costs

Some private UK biobanks may be misleading expectant parents about the value of storing umbilical cord blood to treat life-threatening diseases that may arise in their child in the future, reveals an investigation by The BMJ, published today.

25 Jul 2024

UN report shows stagnant hunger rates and rising food insecurity

Around 733 million people faced hunger in 2023, equivalent to one in eleven people globally and one in five in Africa, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published today by five United Nations specialized agencies.

25 Jul 2024

Pesticide use in agriculture may pose cancer risks similar to smoking

In modern day agriculture, pesticides are essential to ensure high enough crop yields and food security.

25 Jul 2024

$Study shows wearable health sensors only prompt a fraction of at-home tests$

Study shows wearable health sensors only prompt a fraction of at-home tests

When seemingly healthy people receive an alert from a wearable sensor telling them they might have a respiratory virus-;based on small changes in their unique heartrate, sleep and activity patterns-;what do they do? According to a new study by Scripps Research scientists carried out at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, only a quarter of people follow up such an alert with an at-home viral test.

24 Jul 2024

Cognitive decline persists in older adults long after severe COVID-19 recovery

Older adults recovering from COVID-19 experience varying degrees of cognitive decline over 2.5 years, with severe cases showing the most significant impact. Early cognitive care and monitoring are crucial for improving outcomes.

24 Jul 2024

High-risk NSAID prescriptions cost NHS £31 million

Prescribing non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to people at high risk of harm from them is estimated to cost the NHS in England around £31 million and cause more than 6,000 lost years of good health over 10 years, finds a study published by The BMJ today.

24 Jul 2024

California speeds up indoor heat protections amid sweltering summer weather

Californians working indoors are getting immediate protections from extreme heat as much of the state bakes in triple-digit temperatures this week.

24 Jul 2024

Older adults show interest in deprescribing, study reveals

More than 82% of Americans age 50 to 80 take one or more kinds of prescription medication, and 80% of them say they'd be open to stopping one or more of those drugs if their health care provider gave the green light, a new University of Michigan study shows.

24 Jul 2024

Reducing testing disparities could dramatically cut colon cancer rates among Black Americans

A new paper in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, published by Oxford University Press, finds that eliminating the race disparity in colon cancer testing in the United States would reduce colon cancer, and colon cancer death rates, dramatically among Black people.

24 Jul 2024

Community pharmacists help close gaps in stroke prevention for Afib patients

Atrial fibrillation (Afib) is the most common heart rhythm disorder encountered in clinical practice according to Dr. Roopinder Sandhu, MD, MPH, and the leading cause of stroke in older individuals.

24 Jul 2024