Month: August 2013

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters) – Small and rural U.S. hospitals are most at risk of not satisfying certain federal requirements for using electronic health record systems, according to a new study. Targeted grants might help the lagging hospitals get up to speed and avoid fines, researchers suggest. “The area where we really see challenges is that there are certain types of hospitals that appear to be moving faster than others,” Catherine DesRoches, the study’s lead author from Mathematica Policy Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said. …

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – How doctors describe a non-invasive type of breast lesion may affect how women choose to have the abnormal cells treated, a new survey suggests. Ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS, accounts for about one in every five new breast cancer diagnoses in the United States when it’s included in cancer statistics. DCIS may spread and become invasive cancer, but is not life-threatening on its own – and some researchers question whether it should be called “cancer” at all. Still, most women with DCIS undergo breast-conserving surgery or a mastectomy. …

By Ellen Wulfhorst FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) – The widow of a worker slain in the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, vowed not to let the killing by convicted gunman U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan destroy her life and testified in a sentencing hearing on Tuesday that "he is not going to win." "The shooting is not going to destroy my life or my children's. He is not going to win. I am in control," said Joleen Cahill, whose husband, retired Chief Warrant Officer Michael Cahill, was one of 13 people murdered by Hasan at the central Texas military base. …

WASHINGTON (AP) — An outbreak of more than 600 severe stomach illnesses around the country remains a mystery as the FDA says it found no food safety violations at a Mexican farm linked to some of the illnesses.

Sarah Murnaghan is expected to go home today after undergoing two double lung transplants in June        

In early trials, injection of a common dye appears to shrink melanoma tumors and reduce the spread of the disease. The new therapy could eventually offer new hope to patients with this deadly form of cancer.

Addicted to high heels? British researchers have created a new 3-D scan of the female foot in a high-heel shoe, to see exactly what's going on — and it's not too good.

Often, the first signs of the disease are symptoms such as tremor in the fingers, chin or lip, loss of smell or a more rigid facial expression. Now an encouraging new test may help to diagnose Parkinson’s before those symptoms appear, when treatments might be more effective.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that evidence of a large-scale chemical weapons attack in Syria was "undeniable." There are still many questions about chemical weapons, though, some of which can be answered easily and some of which can't.

Twerking is so complex that only a Ph.D. researcher can explain it.        

Twerking is so complex that only a Ph.D. researcher can explain it.        

By Alice Baghdjian ZURICH (Reuters) – Greeted by a press pack rather than prostitutes, the first customer to roll up to Switzerland's sex drive-in on opening night took one lap of the facility before making a hasty exit. The second car, a family vehicle driven by a man in sunglasses under cloudy evening skies, broke down and needed jump starting in front of a host of photographers, sniggering into their cameras. …