Transcendental Meditation Helps Patients With Heart Disease Lower Cardiac Disease Risks By 50 percent
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James Collins, a pioneering researcher in the new field of systems biology and a MacArthur Genius, says: “You know the old saying: ‘a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down?’ This is more like ‘a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine work.’ Dr. Collins, a professor of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a core faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, is talking about his recent development of an effective, low-cost – and surprising – way to treat chronic bacterial infections, such as staph, strep, tuberculosis, and infections of the urinary tract.
Although acupuncture is commonly used for pain control, some questions remain about its effectiveness and safety. Investigators from the Universities of Exeter & Plymouth (Exeter, UK) and the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (Daejeon, South Korea) critically evaluated systematic reviews of acupuncture as a treatment of pain in order to explore this question. Reporting in the April 2011 issue of PAIN, they conclude that numerous systematic reviews have generated little truly convincing evidence that acupuncture is effective in reducing pain, and serious adverse effects continue to be reported.
Community gym surfaces do not appear to be reservoirs for MRSA transmission, according to a study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of APIC – the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. MRSA is an antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can lead to severe infections and is associated with approximately 19,000 deaths annually according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The annual cost to treat MRSA in hospitalized patients is estimated at $3.2 to 4.2 billion.
Concerns over vaccination seems to have permeated society, and parents have many questions about the safety of vaccines. One important question is whether vaccinations strain or weaken children’s immune systems and are therefore harmful to them. Roma Schmitz and her colleagues from the Robert Koch Institute investigated this research question in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International. The original full-text study is available for free for an undetermined amount of time; check the end of this report for a download link.
Screening patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) produces cost savings for the whole hospital, according to a study that used a statistical simulation model published in the February issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of APIC – the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
Deadly diseases are making a comeback. Pertussis, or whooping cough, has killed nine infants this year in California, and outbreaks of measles and Hib meningitis have struck U.S. communities in the past three years. At the heart of all these outbreaks: Parents who have chosen not to vaccinate their children.
“Whooping cough, diphtheria and diseases that some of us don’t even recognize anymore are not gone forever. They are widespread in developing countries and do also arise here in the US,” said Palacios. “It is important that vaccine-preventable diseases are kept under control no matter where they crop up, whether it be in Texas or in Kenya. Diseases don’t recognize borders.”
A study by researchers at Royal Holloway, University of London, University College London and Oxford University, has found that a genetic variant which reduces the chance of contracting diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy is more prevalent in populations with long histories of urban living. The results are published in the journal ‘Evolution.’
Increasing the costs to consumers of beer, wine, and hard liquor significantly reduces the rates of a wide range of alcohol-related deaths, diseases, injuries, and other problems, according to a new study published in today’s online edition of the American Journal of Public Health and scheduled for inclusion in the November print edition. Researchers at the University of Florida (UF) report that public policies that increase the price of alcoholic beverages, such as increases in alcohol excise taxes, not only reduce drinking but also significantly reduce most of the negative and costly outcomes associated with alcohol.
Not drying your hands thoroughly after washing them, could increase the spread of bacteria and rubbing your hands whilst using a conventional electric hand dryer could be a contributing factor. Frequently people give up drying their hands and wipe them on their clothes instead, but hand-hygiene is a key part of infection control and drying hands after washing is a very important part of the process.
