Health Library

Infections From Tainted Spine Injections Continue to Baffle Investigators THURSDAY, May 16 (HealthDay News) -- The tainted steroid injections linked to 55 recent U.S. deaths also caused many less lethal infections, more than half of them concentrated in Michigan, federal health officials reported Thursday. Spinal meningitis deaths caused by contaminated back-pain treatments made the news for weeks last fall. But less attention was paid to a host of spinal or near-spinal infections without meningitis tha...

Is Menopause Overlooked in U.S. Medical Schools? FRIDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- Too few obstetrics-gynecology residents in the United States receive formal training about menopause, which could lead to care issues for the rapidly growing number of older American women, a new study finds. Researchers surveyed 510 ob/gyn residents and found that fewer than one in five had received formal training in menopause medicine, even though seven in 10 would like to receive it. Forty percent to 60 percent of fo...

Insomnia Hints at Future Hospitalization FRIDAY, May 10 (HealthDay News) -- If you have trouble sleeping at night, you may be headed for more than just frustration and fatigue: Middle-aged and older adults with insomnia are more likely to be hospitalized and use home health care services, a new study suggests. Preventing insomnia in this group of people could reduce their use of health services by anywhere from 6 percent to 14 percent, according to the researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of ...

iPads Could Affect Implanted Heart Devices, Early Study Finds THURSDAY, May 9 (HealthDay News) -- Sprawled out on the couch, reading the news on your iPad, you'd never think you could be putting yourself at risk. But you might be, if you happen to have an implanted heart device. Magnetic interference could alter the settings and even deactivate the technology of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), according to a small new study -- conducted by a 14-year-old investigator and her colleagues. T...

Immune Cell Discovery May One Day Lead to Herpes Vaccine: Study WEDNESDAY, May 8 (HealthDay News) -- A specialized kind of immune cell that patrols the skin of people infected with the herpes virus appears to prevent the outbreak of painful sores, a new study suggests. Researchers think the cells may be key to developing a potential vaccine against genital herpes, which afflicts more than 24 million people in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For the st...

Implanted Device May Predict Epilepsy Seizures, Study Suggests THURSDAY, May 2 (HealthDay News) -- An implanted device that monitors brain activity may offer a way to predict seizures in people with uncontrolled epilepsy, a small pilot study suggests. The findings, reported online May 2 in the journal Lancet Neurology , are based on only 15 patients, and the device worked far better in some than others. But experts said the results are promising, and should prompt further studies. "We just wanted to see...

Implants May Delay Breast Cancer Detection, Raise Death Risk TUESDAY, April 30 (HealthDay News) -- Women with breast implants could run the risk of having breast cancer diagnosed at later stages, when survival might be worse, according to Canadian researchers. Breast implants can make it more difficult to diagnose breast cancer early because they block some areas of the breast on mammograms, experts say. "Women who currently have breast implants and those considering breast augmentation should be aware ...

Interns' Schedules Shortchange Patients, Study Suggests FRIDAY, April 26 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors-in-training spend too little time with patients, a small new study suggests. Researchers tracked 29 first-year medical interns at Baltimore's two large academic medical centers for three weeks during January 2012, for a total of nearly 900 hours, and found that the interns spent just 12 percent of their time examining and talking with patients. Sixty-four percent of their time was spent on indirect patie...

Ingredient in New MS Drug Linked to Serious Brain Disease WEDNESDAY, April 24 (HealthDay News) -- The active ingredient in a drug that's expected to become a popular treatment for multiple sclerosis has been linked to four European cases of a rare but sometimes fatal brain disease called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). The ingredient, dimethyl fumarate, is used in a drug called Fumaderm that was approved in Germany in 1994 to treat the skin condition psoriasis. It is also in a differen...

Insurance Loss Hampers Young People With Asthma MONDAY, April 22 (HealthDay News) -- The loss of health insurance is the main reason asthma care for young people deteriorates after age 18, according to a new study. Certain social factors -- such as leaving school and no longer having adult supervision -- also contribute to the decline in care, according to Harvard Medical School researchers. "This study suggests that expanding insurance coverage will help many young adults with asthma receive the care t...