Year: 2013
Mock Mars trek finds down-to-Earth sleep woes
WASHINGTON (AP) — Astronauts have a down-to-Earth problem that could be even worse on a long trip to Mars: They can't get enough sleep. And over time, the lack of slumber can turn intrepid space travelers into drowsy couch potatoes, a new study shows.
U.S. doctors feel pinch of early flu season, push for vaccinations
CHICAGO (Reuters) – When Dr. Diane Chaney arrived for her morning shift at the University of Chicago Medicine’s emergency department on Monday, there were nine patients from the overnight shift waiting for treatment. By late morning, 36 patients, most with flu symptoms, were waiting. Across town, doctors at Rush University Medical Center have seen 203 flu patients since November 5, compared with 119 patients for the entire flu season last year. “We are coming to the point where we are running out of testing supplies,” said Dr. …
U.S. health cost growth slowed in 2011 but with signs of pickup
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. healthcare spending rose at a historically low rate of 3.9 percent for the third consecutive year in 2011, but showed underlying signs of acceleration as the economy recovered from recession, the Obama administration said on Monday. The report, released by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and published in the journal Health Affairs, said the sprawling national healthcare system totaled $2.7 trillion, or $8,680 per person. It accounted for 17.9 percent of gross domestic product, a level that has been steady since 2009. …
Debt may influence young doctors’ career plans: study
(Reuters) – Pediatricians-in-training are more likely to plan to go into primary care, rather than a specialty field, if they have lots of debt from college and medical school, according to a U.S. study. Researchers publishing in Pediatrics also found that the average pediatric resident doctor’s debt increased 34 percent between 2006 and 2010. That suggests financial considerations may keep young doctors out of medical specialties, they said, especially those fields that aren’t known for paying well but still require extra training. …
Flu Outbreak: Fighting the Virus With Social Media
The flu season has arrived — and it’s weeks early. In one week, 16 states and New York City reported high levels of the flu. By the following week, that number was up to 29. Each day for the past week, more than 500 New Yorkers…
Flu Outbreak Surrounds You: How to Fight the Virus With Social Media
The flu season has arrived — and it’s weeks early. In one week, 16 states and New York City reported high levels of the flu. By the following week, that number was up to 29. Each day for the past week, more than 500 New Yorkers…
U.S. high court won’t review federal embryonic stem cell funds
(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review a challenge to federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research brought by two researchers who said the U.S. National Institutes of Health rules on such studies violate federal law. The decision brings an end to a lawsuit that had threatened to hamper stem cell research after a district court judge blocked the taxpayer funding in 2010. But some observers expected the Supreme Court would decline the take the case after an appeals court ruled that the funding could continue. U.S. …
US doctors feel pinch of early flu season, push for vaccinations
CHICAGO (Reuters) – When Dr. Diane Chaney arrived for her morning shift at the University of Chicago Medicine’s emergency department on Monday, there were nine patients from the overnight shift waiting for treatment. By late morning, 36 patients, most with flu symptoms, were waiting. Across town, doctors at Rush University Medical Center have seen 203 flu patients since November 5, compared with 119 patients for the entire flu season last year. “We are coming to the point where we are running out of testing supplies,” said Dr. …
Major Cancer Death Rates Are Lower; Throat and Anal Cancer Incidence on the Rise
While the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer reveals positive news in the fact that the overall death rate from cancer has decreased during the period of 2000 through 2009, the statistics mean little to anyone has lost a loved one to the disease. Physicians and researchers have noted an increase in cancers of the throat and anus related to human papillomavirus, HPV. An additional concern about future cancer diagnoses is related to the high rate of obesity in the United States and the aging of its population, both factors in the development of cancer.
Cuba to free doctors from onerous travel rules
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba is eliminating longstanding restrictions on health care professionals' overseas travel as part of a broader migration reform that takes effect next week, an island doctor told The Associated Press on Monday.
