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‘Superdonors’ poised to change the world of transplant surgery
Alan Kelsky Medical & Allied HealthcareAll too often we hear heartbreaking stories of a child needing a kidney or liver transplant, but neither parents match. Transplanting an organ that is not closely matched to a recipient's blood type, antibodies and other key markers generally means that the receiver of the donated organ will immediately begin to reject it. The human immune system is a master at doing its primary job — rejecting anything in the body that it does not recognize.
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Fueling the fear: Global health crisis and mass media
Jessica Taylor Medical & Allied HealthcareLaurie Garrett, author, journalist and authority on global health issues, closed out SLAS2015 by discussing critical issues in global healthcare — particularly mass hysteria over diseases in the U.S. Garrett, who has written several best-selling books on disease and outbreak, started her discussion by stating that her familiarity and knowledge of diseases goes back through many years.
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Understanding the CHSE and CHSOS test blueprints
Jason Zigmont Medical & Allied HealthcareYou've decided you want to be a CHSE or CHSOS, now you need to understand the exam and the test blueprint. Everyone wants to know "what's on the test," and the blueprint has the answers. That being said, you need to know both how test blueprints are made and used to guide your studying.
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‘Superbug’ surfaces at UCLA — What you need to know
Joan Spitrey Medical & Allied HealthcareAccording to reports this week, UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles has potentially infected nearly 180 patients with the "superbug" known as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE. UCLA has traced the source of the spread to duodenoscopes that are used for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).
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When it comes to SCA, subtle signs mean more than you think
Brian Duffield Medical & Allied HealthcareIt's widely reported that approximately 50 percent of the time, the first symptom of a person's heart issues is sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and/or death. I'm sure my case would have been reported as such when I had my own SCA in May 2006 when I was 40. However, six months prior I was having some subtle symptoms that, in hindsight, were telltale signs of my pending fate with an automated external defibrillator (AED).
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Extreme sports or extremely stupid? Risk‑takers place burden on medical…
Mark Huber Medical & Allied HealthcareIs it an extreme sport or just extremely stupid? That's the question I had after a recent PR blurb from the Los Angeles County Sheriff caught my eye. Rescues performed by the department's volunteer search-and-rescue teams, often with the assistance of Air Rescue 5, increased 20 percent in 2014 from the previous year. The department attributed most of this increase to "social media and the posting of extreme videos, showing hikers performing high-risk outdoor adventures."
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Most prefer to die at home, so why do so many die in nursing homes?
Dr. Afsaneh Motamed-Khorasani Medical & Allied HealthcareIn spite of the major therapeutic advances for all kinds of diseases, poor survival rates remain an obstacle. Therefore, a large portion of terminal patients are destined to eventually die from their diseases. It has been reported that more than half of the population prefer to be cared for and die at home if they have the choice. However, in the real world, less than one-third of the deaths occur at homes.
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What autism may teach us about brain cancer
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. Recent research has used ASD to look at devastating diseases such as brain cancer.
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Physical impairment from measles is a preventable tragedy
Dr. Denise A. Valenti Medical & Allied HealthcareBabies were born blind. Babies were born deaf. Babies suffered irreparable brain damage. That is what happened during the measles pandemic from 1962-65 in the United States when their mothers contracted German measles, also known as Rubella, during pregnancy.
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NIH director: Opportunities from technology in medical science
Jessica Taylor Science & TechnologyFrancis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., National Institutes of Health director, spoke at SLAS2015 on Feb. 11 about the exceptional opportunities currently facing the medical science community. The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) welcomed nearly 5,000 participants from 34 countries last week for its fourth-annual SLAS Conference and Exhibition, held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
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