Life, Health and Enjoyment

Infections following surgery are a serious and potentially fatal complication. Current methods of combatting infections, especially drug-resistant pathogens, often fall short. New research, looking at a narrow band of ultraviolet light might offer a safe and simple solution. Far-UVC light could prove to be a life-saver. A clean surgery refers to an operation carried out in a sterile environment where no  inflammation , infection, or unexpected tissue damage occurs. Even in these ideal situations, an estimated  0.5-10 percent  of procedures result in surgical-site infections (SSI). That equates to around 275,000 patients in the United States per year. Individuals with SSIs have a mortality rate twice that of someone without an infection.  A patient with an SSI stays in hospital, on average, 1 week longer than someone without an infection. In total, SSIs cost the U.S. up to $10 billion a year in patient hospital costs. An estimated 8,200 deaths are attr...

Active smokers have a 30% to 40% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with nonsmokers , according to new data published in the Surgeon General's 50-year anniversary report on smoking. The Health Consequences of Smoking — 50 Years of Progress , announced at the White House last Friday by current acting Surgeon General Boris Lushniak, MD, MPH, highlights diabetes as one of several new diseases causally linked to smoking. Newer studies have controlled for those and other co founders and have also demonstrated a dose-response relationship, as well as a reduction in diabetes risk following smoking cessation. So now, the Surgeon General report concludes: "The evidence is sufficient to infer that cigarette smoking is a cause of diabetes." "The link between smoking and diabetes is reall...

  Introduction Nails are underutilized as diagnostic tools, despite being involved in many dermatologic conditions. This paper explores new concepts in the treatment of median nail dystrophy (MND), onychomycosis, and the nail pathology of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD). A Pubmed database literature search was conducted for MND treatment, onychomycosis treatment, and HFMD nail pathology. Only papers published after January 2008 were reviewed. The results showed that 0.1% tacrolimus ointment can be an effective treatment for MND. Early studies on laser therapy indicate that it is a safe and efficacious treatment option for onychomycosis, compared to conventional oral antifungal agents. Vicks VapoRub (The Proctor & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, OH) is effective against onychomycosis and is a reasonable option in patients who choose to forgo conventional treatments. Lastly, there is evidence to support a correlation between HFMD and onychomadesis. ...

  The FDA is investigating reports of five deaths and a nonfatal heart attack in people who drank high- caffeine energy drinks made by the Monster Energy Company. Meanwhile, a Maryland couple has filed a wrongful death suit against the company, alleging that their product killed their 14-year-old daughter. They say Anais Fournier, 14, collapsed after drinking her second 24-ounce Monster Energy drink in two days. She died six days later. The reports are not proof that the drinks caused the deaths, but merely signal there might be a problem. Even if the deaths are determined to be caused by caffeine poisoning, the FDA will consider all sources of caffeine before blaming the deaths on the energy drink. In addition to caffeine, energy drinks contain other stimulants, including taurine and guarana , a caffeine-containing plant. Because energy drinks are sold as nutritional supplements, they are not regula...

The requirement to fast before a cholesterol check can be a major inconvenience. People who forget to fast may be told to reschedule their appointments. For those who remember, sitting in a doctor's waiting room with a growling stomach can make for a rough start to the day. Now a large new study shows that cholesterol levels aren't radically different in people who ate compared to those who fasted before their blood was drawn. The study, which is published in the Archives of Internal Medicine , suggests that people may not need to fast before they get a cholesterol test . Experts who were not involved in the research called the results an eye-opener. "This information is actually very, very interesting. It might change how we approach a patient," says Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, a preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Fasting and Cholesterol For the study, researchers looked at the results of al...

The FDA has approved the first at-home, over-the-counter HIV test, which could potentially inform thousands of Americans about their HIV status. The OraQuick In-Home HIV Test can detect antibodies of the virus from a saliva sample. It can provide results without a laboratory in 20 to 40 minutes. About 1.2 million people in the U.S. are infected with HIV, and an estimated 20% of those infected are unaware that they are HIV-positive, according to the CDC. The outcome of the test isn't definite or absolute, especially when exposure may have been within the past three months. Clinical studies expect one in 12 tests to read a false negative and one in 5,000 tests to read a false positive. At an FDA Advisory Committee meeting in May, officials said they thought an additional 45,000 people would learn they have HIV through the test. FDA officials said the test will offer a different testing method for many unknowingly HIV-positive Americans that are unlikely to get tested at ...

Identify the father of a baby as early as the eighth week of pregnancy . The new method, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine , uses fetal DNA isolated from the mother's blood. The test has already been used to prove an affair in a murder trial, and experts say it has other significant medical and legal applications. "The technology is extremely important and really a very, very significant step forward for medical prenatal diagnosis," says Peter Benn, PhD, director of the diagnostic medical genetics laboratories at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington. He was not involved in the research. A previous study by the same researchers showed how the test could be used early in pregnancy to determine whether a fetus has Down syndrome , for example. "That technology will allow genetic disorders to be identified without going through amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling . That's a very important and useful step forward b...