Month: March 2013

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – One in 15 people undergoing robot-assisted prostate, kidney or bladder surgery develops a nerve injury related to pressure from positioning on the operating table, a new study suggests. Patients on the table getting those types of robotic surgery need to be tilted steeply – with their head by the floor and their feet in the air – to give the surgeon better traction, researchers explained. “When somebody is in that position, there’s a chance they could slide down – it’s like a big ramp,” said lead author Dr. …

An outpouring of support for Penny the cat, the unofficial mascot of the Swansea Public Library, has led a Massachusetts man to give up his efforts to evict the cat from the public building. Patrick Higgins sent an email to Swansea Public Library trustees last…

By Kerry Grens NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Women taking a Chinese herbal formula experienced less than half the number of menopausal hot flashes they had before the treatment, according to a new study from Hong Kong. Among women taking an herbal mix called Er-xian decoction (EXD), the frequency of daily hot flashes dropped by 62 percent, compared to a 52-percent drop seen among women taking a placebo. “It’s a modest effect, but not a zero effect,” said Katherine Newton, a researcher who has studied herbal menopause therapies at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle. …

Dr. W. Scott Harrington is being investigated by the state dental board, the state bureau of narcotics and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency for allegedly exposing as many as 7,000 patients to unsanitary tools and drugs that could harbor dangerous viruses.

Frontline’s director David Sutherland follows Robin Poor Bear’s struggle to stay sober, further her education and heal herself from the deep wounds of sexual abuse.

PBS airs story of battered woman on a North Dakota Indian reservation.

A gourmet food company is recalling three of its “dairy-free” baking mixes because they might contain milk, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Heartland Gourmet, based in Lincoln, Neb., announced the voluntary recall Thursday after routine sample testing in Canada uncovered milk in…