Imagine having to evacuate your home quickly as 60 mph winds shatter your windows, water crawls under your front door, and the electricity cuts leaving your house as dark as the inside of a coffee can. Would you be prepared? Now visualize being one of the 56 million Americans with a disability, such as wheelchair dependence, or one of the 133 million with a chronic disease, such as asthma. ...

Electronic cigarettes are drawing heavy media and marketing attention, and while a new study finds that consumer interest also runs high, a companion study underscores that e-cigarettes’ ability to help smokers cut down or quit is unknown. E-cigarettes run on batteries and look like real cigarettes, cigars, or even ballpoint pens. Users inhale doses of nicotine or other toxins found in tobacco in vapor form ...

A new University of Maryland study finds that when average Americans are presented the federal budget in some detail, most are able to reduce the budget deficit dramatically and resolve the Social Security shortfall. What adjustments would you make? Take this free online budget simulation exercise using the link at the end of this report. A link to download the complete study findings is also available. ...

Highly-caffeinated energy drinks – even those containing no alcohol – may pose a significant threat to individuals and public health, say researchers at the University of Maryland School of Public Health and Wake Forest University School of Medicine. The publisher made the original accompanying commentary available for free. Check the end of this report for a download link. ...

Based on growth and aging of the U.S. population, medical expenditures for cancer in the year 2020 are projected to reach at least $158 billion (in 2010 dollars. The represents a 27 percent increase over 2010 according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) analysis. Moreover, if newly developed tools for cancer diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up continue to be more expensive, medical expenditures for ca ...

Poor eating habits, ingestion of alcohol, and sedentary lifestyles are all unhealthy life habits that are now being detected in early adolescence and that are especially predominant among women and young people between the ages of 19 and 26. Awareness/Prevention campaigns should target these at risk groups, as well as focus on those who are 13 years and younger. These are some of the conclusions that can be ...

After recovering from a cold or other infection, your body’s immune system is primed to react quickly if the same agent tries to infect you. White blood cells called memory T cells specifically remember the virus or bacterium and patrol the body looking for it. Vaccines work on the same principle: Harmless fragments of a virus or bacterium provoke the immune system to generate memory T cells that can attack ...

Primary school children who do not like eating fruits and vegetables are 13 times more likely to develop functional constipation than children who do, according to a study in the December issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing. Drinking less than 400ml of fluid a day also significantly increases the risk. ...

Moderately and morbidly obese persons face many health issues, such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, gallbladder disease, and others. Now, increased chances of dying while driving during a severe auto accident can be added to the list. The study was posted online ahead of print in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. ...

Practices for protecting human research subjects with Alzheimer's disease and other conditions that make them incapable of giving informed consent are widely variable and in need of more concrete ethical and legal guidance, according to a study in IRB: Ethics & Human Research. ...