USA TODAY articles from October 2008

USA TODAY archives from October 2008

Keep little ghosts and goblins injury-free.(Halloween Health)
October 1, 2008... It nearly is time for Halloween. Trick-or-treating, wearing costumes, and carving pumpkins are part of the fun for kids of all ages. However, many of these activities offer the potential for injury, cautions the American Academy of Orthopaedic...

Potential exists for core strengthening.(Video Fitness)
October 1, 2008... Offering a mix of physical activity and yoga, the latest innovation in video games as fitness-focused offerings has hit the U.S. In fact, the Wii Fit already is changing the way some people exercise, and other fitness-oriented game systems are...

Better mental health can be side benefit.(Exercise)
October 1, 2008... If the prospect of six-pack abs or weight loss is not enough to get you into the gym, how about feelings of calmness or a heightened sense of energy? Light to moderate aerobic exercise can improve mood for two to four hours following the...

High-protein breakfast makes you feel full.(Dieting)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... The timing of dietary protein intake affects feelings of fullness throughout the day, according to a study by Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., which concludes that, when people eat high-quality protein foods from sources such as eggs...

The obesity police are on the way.(Public Health)
October 1, 2008... Lawmakers in Mississippi have proposed a bill that would revoke the business license of any restaurant that serves food to fat people, as measured by state health standards. "Proponents of the paternalistic nanny-state are intent on...

U.S. hospitals and policymakers.(HEALTH BEAT)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... U.S. hospitals and policymakers could find many valuable lessons in recent accomplishments in the Indian hospital market, according to an interdisciplinary team from Duke University, Durham, N.C. Driven by cost-based competition and a growing...

During the college years.(HEALTH BEAT)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... During the college years, it is common for students' activity levels to decrease as their waistlines increase. The trouble is, habits students develop now--and the pounds they put on--could last a lifetime. "what you eat today stays on your...

One reason people on low-carbohydrate diets.(HEALTH BEAT)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... One reason people on low-carbohydrate diets lose weight is that they reduce their intake of fructose, a type of sugar that can be made into body fat quickly, relates Elizabeth Parks, associate professor of clinical nutrition at the University...

Adding ultrasound to mammography.(HEALTH BEAT)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Adding ultrasound to mammography finds more cancers than mammography alone, but substantially increases the number of false-positives, points out Etta Pisane, professor of radiology and biomedical engineering and director of the Biomedical...

Stem cells that allow the pituitary glands to grow.(HEALTH BEAT)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Stem cells that allow the pituitary glands to grow even after birth have been identified by a team of researchers led by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.) Laboratory. They found that, in contrast to most adult stem cells, these cells are...

A new scoring system.(HEALTH BEAT)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... A new scoring system for a form of leukemia known as myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) identifies patients who appear to have a low-risk form of the disease, but actually have poor prospects of survival, report researchers at the University of...

The air people breathe.(HEALTH BEAT)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... The air people breathe while walking in the park, working in garden, or shopping downtown may be unhealthy enough to spike their blood pressure seriously, suggests a study from Ohio State Medical Center, Columbus, thus inferring a direct link...

The hard truth about calluses.(Podiatry)
October 1, 2008... Calluses on the feet are not attractive, but there are things to be learned from them. According to Lee S. Cohen, a Philadelphia-area podiatrist and foot and ankle surgeon, calluses act as a "map" to pinpoint a variety of foot and ankle...

High heels often the culprit.(Foot Maladies)
October 1, 2008... Human feet are amazing, as they contain a quarter of the bones in the body. Each foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 tendons. However, like the rest of the body, feet eventually begin to feel the effects of daily wear and tear. Foot...

Infected patients still disrespected regularly.(HIV)
October 1, 2008... There was the doctor who would not come into the patient's hospital room, the neurologist who avoided eye contact, and the ambulance attendant who angrily threw her bloodied gloves into the street after learning the injured patient she...

Students prefer regular teacher over outsiders.(Sex Education)
October 1, 2008... When it comes to learning life-changing behaviors in high school health classes, the identity of the person teaching may be even more important than the curriculum, suggests a study by Ohio State University, Columbus, and the University of...

Stopping bad behavior among professionals.(Health Care Personnel)
October 1, 2008... Health care is a high-stakes, pressure-packed environment that can test the limits of civility in the workplace. An alert issued by The Joint Commission, Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., warns that rude language and hostile behavior among health care...

Preventive measures against medical debt.(Health Care Costs)
October 1, 2008... Medical debt is a leading cause of bankruptcy in this country--a fact made even more frightening because it is devastating people who actually have health insurance. According to statistics from the Commonwealth Fund, New York, a nonprofit...

Many lost workdays from injuries, illness.(EMTs)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... At any given time, almost 10% of the emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics in the U.S. miss work because of injuries and illnesses they suffered on the job, suggests research from Ohio State University, Columbus. Compared to data...

Parents' checklist helps prevent injury.(Sports Safety)
October 1, 2008... Educating parents and coaches on how to help children avoid common sports-related injuries is a top priority for certified athletic trainers who specialize in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of injuries and illnesses....

Every college faces the same problem.(Binge Drinking)
October 1, 2008... The call to consider reducing the legal drinking age from 21 to 18 could spur some valuable discussion, but its passage alone would not solve the college student alcohol problem, according to Gerardo Gonzalez, dean of the School of Education at...

Smoking linked to sleep disturbances.(Nicotine Dependence)
October 1, 2008... Cigarette smokers are four times as likely as nonsmokers to report feeling unrested after a night's sleep, according to research by the American College of Chest Physicians, Northbrook, Ill. The study reveals that smokers spend less time in...

Reasons for premature births a mystery.(Preterm Labor)
October 1, 2008... In the 21st century, human tissue can be generated from stem cells and severed limbs routinely are reattached, yet the physiological processes governing life's most fundamental event, childbirth labor, remain a medical mystery. More than...

Pro-life programs reduce abortions.(Pregnancy)
October 1, 2008... The first U.S. study to examine the long- and short-term effects of public policy on abortion rates has been released by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Washington, D.C. The findings reveal that social and economic supports for women...

Sustainability tied to pregnancy rates.(Childbearing)
October 1, 2008... Unwanted childbearing is a greater demographic force than the desire for large families, and has been for centuries, suggests Robert Engelman, vice president at the Worldwatch Institute, Washington, D.C., in More: Population, Nature, and What...

Dads domesticated by encouragement.(Parenting)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Mothers play an important role in determining how much fathers get involved in taking care of their infants, according to research from the University of Illinois, Champaign. A study of couples found that fathers are more involved in the...

Mental health patients denied medication.(Insomnia)
October 1, 2008... Patients with insomnia who are diagnosed with accompanying mental health ailments often are not prescribed medication that will help them sleep--which then could make related anxiety or depression worse, suggests research from Ohio State...

Arthritis linked with mental conditions.(Personality Disorders)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Significant correlations have been found between arthritis and depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses by researchers at the American Pain Society, Glenview, Ill. Their study sampled U.S. adults who completed the Alcohol Use Disorder...

Bad behavior allowed for elderly.(Psychology)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... When it comes to dealing with older friends and relatives, people tend to overlook annoying or inappropriate behavior, mostly because of a fear that time with them is running out. Actions that would spark a confrontation with a younger person...

Mercury levels down but still dangerous.(Contamination)
October 1, 2008... Mercury releases from products in the U.S. have declined dramatically over the last 20 years, but continue to be a significant source of environmental contamination, maintains a study by the Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C....

Fibromyalgia eased by synthetic marijuana.(Pain Management)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Patients with fibromyalgia treated with a synthetic form of marijuana, nabilone, showed significant reductions in pain and anxiety in a first-of-its-kind study, indicates the American Pain Society, Glenview, Ill. Fibromyalgia syndrome has...

Fatty cheeks can improve looks.(Plastic Surgery)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Rejuvenating newly identified fat compartments in the facial cheeks can help reduce the hollowed look of the face as it ages, according to research by plastic surgeons at the University of Texas Medical Center, Dallas, who used special dyes to...

Mystery remains for Gulf War veterans.(Lou Gehrig's Disease)
October 1, 2008... Researchers from the University of Cincinnati (Ohio) and the Durham (N.C.) Veterans Administration Medical Center are hoping to find a geographical pattern to help explain why 1991 Gulf War veterans contracted the fatal neurological disease...

Prediction model created for blacks.(Lung Cancer)
October 1, 2008... Lung cancer risk prediction models are enhanced by taking into account risk factors by race and by measuring DNA repair capacity, according to research teams led by epidemiologists at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center,...

Cooperating proteins destroy suppressors.(Cancer)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Two previously unconnected cancer-promoting proteins team up to ambush a critical tumor suppressor by evicting it from the cell's nucleus and then marking it for death by a protein-shredding mechanism, reports a team led by scientists at the...

New guidelines discourage earwax removel.(Auditory System)
October 1, 2008... The age-old advice to clean out earwax on a regular basis is discouraged under the first published guidelines from health care professionals on the subject. "Unfortunately, many people feel the need to manually remove earwax, called cerumen,...

"Blindness" gene finally identified.(Glaucoma)
October 1, 2008... A gene and a related signaling pathway play a role in the development of glaucoma, which is a common cause of visual impairment and blindness worldwide, it has been found by scientists led by Alcon Research, Ft. Worth, Tex., and including...

Better than antibiotics for periodontal bacteria.(Photodynamic Therapy)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Photodynamic therapy (PDT) may be an effective way to treat the bacteria associated with periodontal diseases, and very well could provide a better option than antibiotics or other mechanical methods, according to the American Academy of...

Antibiotics guidelines revised for dental work.(Endocarditis)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Far fewer people need preventive antibiotics before dental procedures than previously recommended, maintains a disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. The use of preventive antibiotics for people with certain heart...

Important to monitor low-birth-weight kids.(Blood Pressure)
October 1, 2008... Blood pressure in low-birth-weight children younger than three years of age not only can be measured but should be, researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, have found. Blood pressure has not been screened...

Small vessel malady bane to women.(Heart Disease)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Why do more females than males die of heart disease, and why do some women with heart disease fare less well than men after treatment to open large coronary arteries? According to researchers at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., the answer may...

Influenza planning remains a mess.(Pandemics)
October 1, 2008... Panic, staffing issues, and geographic boundaries are some of the challenges that public health specialists need to address as they plan for a possible influenza pandemic, entreats a report from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind. "Most...

High-energy ultrasound sharpens tumor view.(Liver Disease)(Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse )(Clinical report)
October 1, 2008... A high-energy form of ultrasound imaging developed by researchers at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering, Durham, N.C., produces pictures of liver tumors that are better than those made with traditional ultrasound, according to...

Robots will make trustworthy surgeons.(Medical Automation)
October 1, 2008... The day may be getting a little closer when robots will perform surgery on patients in dangerous situations or in remote locations, such as on the battlefield or in space, with minimal human guidance. Engineers at Duke University, Durham, N.C.,...

Heart disease's new measuring stick.(Cholesterol)
October 1, 2008... In our increasingly health-conscious society, high cholesterol levels are so synonymous with heart disease that it no longer is open for question. Yet, perhaps it should be, suggests Robert S. Rosenson, professor of medicine and director of...