USA TODAY articles from October 2004

USA TODAY archives from October 2004

Reimportation ban should be lifted.(Pharmaceuticals)
October 1, 2004... U.S. citizens pay far more than the rest of the world for American-made "miracle" drugs, yet laws prohibit buying those drugs abroad and reimporting them home. The ban should be lifted, contends a study by the Cato Institute, Washington, D.C.,...

Neoprohibitionists seek to halt consumption.(Alcoholism)
October 1, 2004... It has been 70 years since the end of Prohibition, the disastrous attempt to purge alcohol from American life that resulted in a booming black market, increased crime and alcohol abuse, wasted tax dollars, and lost civil liberties. While some...

Outlawing of DDT proves deadly.(Malaria)
October 1, 2004... Although misguided environmentalists are attempting to eliminate the pesticide DDT worldwide, its effectiveness against malaria-carrying mosquitoes has been demonstrated dramatically in South Africa. That nation's ill-advised ban on the use of...

Alcohol disorders often undetected.(Hospitalization)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Many people admitted to hospitals in the U.S. have alcohol use disorders that go undetected, according to a study by scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Washington, D.C., a branch of the National Institutes of...

Forty percent of the 119,000.(Health Beat)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Forty percent of the 119,000 mentions of narcotic pain medications in emergency rooms involved either oxycodone or hydrocodone, according to a report released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Washington, D.C....

Calling human fat.(Health Beat)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Calling human fat a new and more abundant source of adult stem cells. Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Baton Rouge, La., scientists have witnessed human fat stem cells convert into bone when slipped under the skin of mice. "Because human...

Most families of infants and toddlers with disabilities.(Health Beat)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Most families of infants and toddlers with disabilities generally are happy with their initial experiences with early intervention services offered under the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. indicates a study by the Frank...

A protein released from the lungs.(Health Beat)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... A protein released from the lungs of a developing mouse fetus jump-starts a cascade of chemical events leading to the mother's initiation of labor, scientists at the University of Texas Medical Center at Dallas nave found. The research, which...

Children with recurrent ear infections.(Health Beat)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Children with recurrent ear Infections may have an increased risk of developing asthma, indicates a study by the University of Illinois at Chicago. Results showed that youngsters with a history of multiple ear infections were twice as likely to...

HIV-AIDS did not come from oral polio vaccine.(Health Beat)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... HIV-AIDS did not come from oral polio vaccine contaminated with chimpanzee virus, reports a research team led by Michael Worobey, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Although...

Beer often is dismissed.(Health Beat)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Beer often is dismissed as a pleasant libation--or an evil abomination. Few people stop to consider that the age-old beverage "is very much a food" with genuine benefits when consumed intelligently, writes University of California Davis,...

Diets rich in lean beef.(Health Beat)
October 1, 2004... Diets rich in lean beef can help teenagers maintain their levels of usable iron, teach important balanced eating habits, and dispel rumors that all healthy diets are challenging and lack taste, according to Linda Snetselaar, University of Iowa...

Drug benefit burdens younger workers.(Medicare)
October 1, 2004... The Medicare prescription drug benefit is yet another blow to young taxpayers as the Federal government once again is making young America pay for graying America, according to a study by the Cato Institute, Washington, D.C. Cato Director of...

Pharmaceutical firms top the list.(Health Care Lobbies)
October 1, 2004... Pharmaceutical companies spend more money lobbying Congress than other health care organizations, according to a study from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. Meanwhile, lobbying by physicians lagged behind, suggesting a decline in...

Airborne bacteria exacerbate attacks.(Asthma)
October 1, 2004... Endotoxin, a bacterial substance commonly found in outdoor and indoor air, makes mite-allergic asthmatics more sensitive to house dust and may place them at increased risk of asthma attack. These research findings from the University of North...

Sensitive airways prone to infection.(Respiratory Tract)
October 1, 2004... Viral infections can exacerbate asthma and, in turn, make people with the condition more sensitive to environmental exposures such as endotoxin. Yet, how viral infections contribute to this sensitivity in airway cells has not been clear--until...

Lack of water causes lung disease.(Cystic Fibrosis)
October 1, 2004... The central problem that causes cystic fibrosis--the most common lethal genetic illness among whites in the U.S., striking roughly one in every 2,000 to 3,000 infants born--has been identified by scientists at the University of North Carolina...

Cooling platelets extends shelf life.(Blood Transfusions)
October 1, 2004... An innovative method for treating and chilling blood platelets may prolong their shelf life by a week or more, helping to ease chronic shortages that endanger patients needing transfusions, maintains Karin Hoffmeister of Brigham and Women's...

Portable device for home use.(Improvements in dialysis equipment mean that patients can be treated at home)
October 1, 2004... Emerging microtechnology from Oregon State University, Corvallis, is helping to develop a portable kidney dialysis machine that will make in-home treatment a reality, enabling hundreds of thousands of people to treat themselves at home instead...

Severed victims can walk again.(Spinal Cord)
October 1, 2004... When someone's spinal cord is completely severed, brain signals no longer can reach the legs to tell that person to walk. However, a University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, study demonstrates that the muscle activity necessary to walk can be...

Northeast, Midwest prove most generous.(Organ Donation)
October 1, 2004... Most Americans will say that donating to worthy causes is a good thing, and many will put their time and money where their mouths are and volunteer or pony up--or both-except when it comes to donating blood and tissue. Kieran J. Healy,...

Grapes are great for the brain.(Stroke)
October 1, 2004... They can happen in a matter of seconds, but can incapacitate people for the rest of their lives. Strokes are sudden, quick, and, in many cases, permanent. Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine believe that help...

Corn sweeteners likely culprit.(Obesity)
October 1, 2004... By coupling extensive Department of Agriculture food consumption data and their own analyses with previous research, nutritionists have concluded that high-fructose sweeteners made from corn are partially responsible for the growing national...

Fast-food breakfasts inflame blood vessels.(Endocrinology)
October 1, 2004... A breakfast of eggs, muffins, and hash browns at a fast-food chain may taste good, but its high-fat, high-carbohydrate content wreaks havoc in the body's blood vessels, University at Buffalo (N.Y.) endocrinologists have found. "Eating that...

Many misunderstand obesity's effects.(Weight Loss)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Obesity, both a health risk and burden, is the second leading preventable cause el death in the US Some 16.6% of adult deaths in 2000 were related to the condition. About 130,000,000 Americans were reported as obese, costing $117,000,000000 in...

Junk food prevails at medical conferences.(Nutrition)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Physicians are the most respected voice on nutrition in the U.S., yet what they are served and eat at medical meetings does not reflect their leadership and may impair their performance at conferences, points out research from John La Puma of...

Are you raising fit or fat kids?(Family Health)
October 1, 2004... There is an epidemic of overweight kids--and you do not have to read the newspaper or watch the news to find that out. Just take a look at youngsters at the mall or in the schoolyard. You also can see a shortage of children outside playing,...

Corporate America battles the bulge.(Exercise)
October 1, 2004... Currently, 64% of adults in the U.S. are overweight, including many high-powered, educated professionals. "Busy executives often lose sight of their own health--especially keeping their nutrition and weight in control," says Nancy Boccuzzi,...

Brain breakdown begins in 40s.(Aging)
October 1, 2004... Unraveling the mysteries of the aging brain is a major goal for science, especially given the exploding population of senior citizens and the obvious desire to preserve function for as long as possible. Now, researchers have uncovered a kind of...

Headache vs. migraine: know the difference.(Neurological Disorders)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... If headaches consistently stop you from working or enjoying life, you may suffer from migraine--the most common neurological disorder in the developed world. Migraine affects an estimated 28,000,000 Americans--more than diabetes, asthma, and...

Disease kills millions of children annually.(Diarrhea)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... To most people from industrialized nations, diarrhea is a nuisance. It means some discomfort and maybe a trip to the local pharmacy. However, many would be shocked to learn that it is one of the leading killers among the developing world's...

Are hormones and cancer linked?(Colonoscopy)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... "Get a routine colonoscopy whether or not you are taking hormone therapy after menopause." That is the primary message women should take away from research by the Women's Health Initiative on the relationship of estrogen and progestin...

ALS more common in war veterans.(Lou Gehrig's Disease)
October 1, 2004... An unusually high number of veterans of the 1991 Gulf War are becoming ill and dying of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which typically does not strike until decades later in life, according to Robed Haley, chief of epidemiology at the...

Sunlight triggers attack on organs.(Lupus)
October 1, 2004... A variant of the human gene for tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) as the cause for photosensitivity in lupus patients has been identified by physicians at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia. This discovery not...

New drug relieves psoriasis.(Skin Care)
October 1, 2004... The millions of Americans who suffer with itching, burning skin caused by psoriasis may find relief from the biologically engineered drug efalizumab. About 25% of patients with moderate to severe psoriasis saw their symptoms improve thanks to a...

Lighting innovations prevent disease.(Biological Clock)
October 1, 2004... "New discoveries about lighting and human health--its impact on breast cancer and Alzheimer's, for example--make us predict that the way we light our offices, homes, and factories will be subject to massive change," theorizes John R Bachner....

Sun knows no season.(Skin Cancer)
October 1, 2004... The sun knows no season. It is just as bad for your lips and skin in cold as in warm temperatures. The problem is that, regardless of the weather, most people do not think about protecting their lips by wearing a lip balm with SPF (sun...

Digital paper replacing pulp.(Prescriptions)
October 1, 2004... Illegible prescriptions scrawled on physicians' notepads could become a thing of the past, thanks to two complementary technologies developed at the University at Buffalo and the University of Rochester that together are being licensed by...

Races react similarly to drugs.(Blood Pressure)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Whites and blacks respond similarly to all common blood pressure medications, according to a study by the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland. While several previous studies tend to emphasize the differences in...

Swallowing difficulties cause for concern.(Medication)
October 1, 2004... Forty percent of American adults have experienced difficulty swallowing pills, even though most have had no problems ingesting food or liquid, according to a nationwide survey conducted by Harris Interactive and sponsored by Schwarz Pharma,...

Popular herb awaits FDA approval.(Menopause)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... It is a common herb that more than 10,000,000 American women use to ease menopausal symptoms. Its benefits are touted all over the Internet. Yet, the Food and Drug Administration has not approved it as a drug, and researchers are unsure of its...

Multitasking women need better balance.(Stress)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Stress is here to stay. It is how you manage it that is important--particularly for women, who are the "queens of multitasking," says Stephanie Setliff, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at...

Teen churchgoers more likely to abstain.(Sex & Drugs)
October 1, 2004... High levels of church attendance in the ninth grade may protect some African-American teenagers from getting involved in risky behaviors throughout the rest of their high school career, suggests Kenneth Steinman, assistant professor of health...

Children can be taught to socialize.(Autism)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Most of the symptoms of the baffling disability autism can be overcome with early intervention, professional treatment, parental involvement, and plenty of patience, declare Lynn Koegel and Claire LaZebnik, authors of Overcoming Autism: Finding...

Brain exercises help kick habit.(Substance Abuse)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Brain exercises originally developed for the rehabilitation of head-injury patients improve the cognitive functioning of individuals in substance-abuse treatment and their commitment to the program, according to research conducted at New York's...

Coal takes heavy human toll.(Public Health)
October 1, 2004... STARTLING NEW RESEARCH shows that one out of every six women of childbearing age in the U.S. may have blood mercury concentrations high enough to damage a developing fetus, states the Earth Policy Institute, Washington, D.C. This means that...