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Analysis: CT scans overused among respiratory patients
Chelsea Adams Medical & Allied HealthcareBetween 2001 and 2010, there was a fourfold increase in emergency department use of CT scans to evaluate respiratory symptoms. And that increase is too much, according to researchers at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.
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Despite slow start, it’s still too soon to declare this a mild flu…
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareFlu season is unpredictable. Over a period of 30 years, between 1976 and 2006, annual estimates of flu-associated deaths in the United States ranged from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people.
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Pain and the brain: Examining differences in coping mechanisms
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareA recent market research report indicates more than 1.5 billion people worldwide suffer from chronic pain — pain that lasts for more than six months. Respondents of a National Institute of Health Statistics survey indicated that lower back pain was the most common (27 percent), followed by severe headache or migraine pain (15 percent), neck pain (15 percent) and facial ache or pain (4 percent).
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Study: Short people may be at disadvantage for lung transplants
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareShort people have lower odds of getting a lung transplant, according to a recent report by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). Researchers found that lung transplant candidates with short stature are more likely to experience long waiting times and higher rates of death and respiratory failure while on the waiting list compared to candidates of average height. Since women are generally shorter than are men, this disparity puts females at particular risk.
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What can the US learn from the success of Mexico’s sugar tax?
Joan Spitrey Medical & Allied HealthcareIn 2013, the Mexican government voted to implement an excise tax on sugar-sweetened drinks and on several energy-dense foods. This represented an approximate 10 percent increase in price of all nondairy and nonalcoholic beverages with added sugar and an 8 percent increase on a list of nonessential highly energy-dense foods.
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Don’t rule out vertical lift just yet
Mark Huber Transportation Technology & AutomotiveIt didn't take long for the chattering class to start writing the obituary for the AgustaWestland AW609 civil tiltrotor shortly after a prototype crashed Oct. 30 in Italy, killing the crew. And if you think you've seen this movie before, you have. The detractors of the AW609's big brother, the V-22 Osprey, hauled out the same tired, old sheet music Luddites have been out-of-tune croaking to since Icarus strapped on a pair of wings, when the first V-22 went down more than two decades ago.
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Candida yeast: The 411 on fungal infections
Jeff White Sports & FitnessThere's nothing "fun" about fungal infections. Fungi are organisms that can grow in low moisture and low pH environments. Fungi are found everywhere — outdoors on trees, on plants, in the soil, and indoors on various objects. They even grow on our bodies.
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Despite study’s conclusion, random acts of joy are good for you
Dr. Denise A. Valenti Mental HealthcareAs I walked from my car to the shopping mall entrance, I encountered him — a gentleman who demonstrated a random act of pure joy. He leaped off the curb, clicked his heels in the air in a truly carefree manner with a huge grin on his face.
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Nurses must take our good publicity and push forward
Keith Carlson Healthcare AdministrationThe votes are in. Nurses have once again been named the most honest and ethical professionals in the United States, beating out pharmacists by 17 percent and physicians by 18 percent. The 2015 Gallup poll demonstrates nurses' personification of honesty and ethics in the eyes of the public, and nurses have no one but themselves to thank for their continued high ranking.
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FDA approval of Empliciti provides another tool in battle against cancer
Dr. Abimbola Farinde PharmaceuticalMultiple myeloma is a type of blood cancer that can appear in infection-fighting cells. Identified in the bone marrow, the cancer is mainly incurable with about only half of diagnosed patients surviving for five years after given the diagnosis.
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