Month: May 2013

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – In a new study, people with high blood pressure who could communicate with their pharmacists online had better blood pressure control a year after that service ended. Previously researchers had found that patients randomly assigned to the web-based pharmacy care did better than those who used a patient website but had no extra help or were only trained to monitor their blood pressure at home. The new findings suggest some of those benefits may hold up over the long run – even after patients stop messaging with their pharmacists, researchers said. …

By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Los Angeles, which has more storefront medical marijuana shops than any other U.S. city, will close hundreds of the dispensaries and hike taxes on those that will be allowed to remain under a ballot measure approved by a wide margin of voters. Nearly 63 percent of voters supported Proposition D, which will cap the number of medical pot dispensaries at 135, compared with 37 percent opposed, according to preliminary results released on Wednesday, the day after the vote. …

Why Twisters Hammer Tornado Alley

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Daily vitamin C supplements don’t lower uric acid as much as drugs used to treat high levels of the acid that’s responsible for gout, says a new study from New Zealand. “It’s not that the vitamin C didn’t reduce the uric acid level at all, it’s just so small that it wouldn’t make a difference from the patients’ perspectives,” said Dr. Lisa Stamp, the study’s lead author from the University of Otago in Christchurch. …

Autism advocates are praising a German software company for its plan to hire people with autism as software testers, programmers and data quality assurance specialists.        

By Kerry Grens NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Adults who drink at least one sugar-sweetened drink a day are slightly more likely to develop kidney stones than people who rarely imbibe them, according to a new study. While the recommendation for kidney stone prevention has been to drink a lot of fluids, the study suggests that it’s not just the amount of fluid but the type of drink that also matters. Dr. Gary Curhan, the senior author of the study, said patients often ask for dietary advice to help prevent kidney stones. …

Autism advocates are praising a German software company for its plan to hire people with autism as software testers, programmers and data quality assurance specialists.        

Discover the Secret of the 17-Year Cicada, But It Won t Get You Tenure

NAIROBI, May 22 (Reuters) – Twice London marathon champion Mary Keitany will not compete this year because she is expecting her second child, a close friend of the Kenyan runner said on Wednesday. Keitany, 31, won the London Marathon in 2011 and 2012 but did not defend the title last month. In her absence compatriot Prisca Jeptoo finished first. “Mary will be away from athletics this year due to pregnancy. That’s why she missed London,” the friend told Reuters. …

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – More than one quarter of people being treated for non-melanoma skin cancer in their doctor’s office reported some type of complication after surgery, in a new study. About half of those complications were medical problems related to the cancer-removing procedure, including pain, infections and slow wound healing. But just 3 percent of doctors noted a complication in the same patients’ medical records, researchers reported this week in JAMA Internal Medicine. …