Public Health

Installing hand sanitizers in  classrooms has not led to reductions in the rate of school absences in children, according to results of a cluster randomized trial that that randomly assigned 68 city primary schools in New Zealand to the intervention or control group and measured the rate of school absence in children attending the participating schools. All children received a 30-minute in-class hand hygiene education session. In those schools randomly assigned to the intervention group, alcohol-based hand sanitizer dispensers were installed in the classrooms over two winter terms and…

Gallstone pain is one of the most common reasons patients visit emergency rooms and how to handle gallstone patients is a cost and quality issue in health care. In the United States, 1 in 10 women and 1 in 15 men have gallstones, and more than 1 million people a year are hospitalized for gallstone disease. Fatty food common in U.S. diets is a contributing factor, according to studies. Because ER visits and emergency surgery are typically more expensive than scheduled surgeries, figuring out who really needs emergency gallbladder removal and who can go home and schedule surgery at their…

Antibacterial compounds have obviously saved many lives but there isn't much reason worried parents are being told they need them in every bathroom in the house.  Compounds like triclosan and triclocarban have become ubiquitous, and not just among the wealthy progressive elites who want other kids to have vaccines but not their own special snowflakes, it's more difficult to find a hand soap without triclosan on store shelves. The compounds are used in more than 2,000 everyday products marketed as antimicrobial, including toothpastes, soaps, detergents, carpets, paints, school…

Brain tumors avoid the body's defense forces by coating their cells with extra amounts of a specific protein - they use biological stealth technology to evade detection by the early-warning immune system that should detect and kill them. By the time the tumors are detected it's too late for the body to defeat them.  The findings in mice and rats show the key role of a protein called galectin-1 in some of the most dangerous brain tumors, called high grade malignant gliomas. They had actually been trying to study how the extra production of galectin-1 by tumor cells affects cancer's…

Substance abuse doesn’t sit in a neat little package, tied up with a bow, waiting for treatment. Instead, imagine this little box...with octopus tentacles coming out of it. That’s addiction: it may start as overuse of a substance, but then it spreads to all areas of an addict’s life – family, career, and the way an addict sees him- or herself in the world. One area to which addiction spreads is the addict’s concept of self-worth. As we’ve known (and as you probably could have guessed), addiction increases suicide risk. An article just published in the Journal of Affective Disorders looks…

Electronic cigarettes are booming in popularity, thanks to campaigns to reduce smoking and the goodwill of nicotine patches. There's no evidence foe health risks but evidence that they help people quit smoking is also limited, according to a research review in the July/August Journal of Addiction Medicine, the official journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. The work was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Tobacco Products of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Based on their review, Alison B. Breland, PhD,…

Dental researchers writing in the Journal of Dentistry are warning parents of the dangers of soft drinks, fruit juice and sports drinks high in acidity- they call those a "triple-threat" of permanent damage to young people's teeth. In the article, they demonstrate that lifelong damage is caused by acidity to the teeth within the first 30 seconds of acid attack. They also say drinks high in acidity combined with night-time tooth grinding and reflux can cause major, irreversible damage to young people's teeth. "Dental erosion is an issue of growing concern in developed countries, and it is…

Shaving facial hair, bikini line, legs and armpits can cause wounds, which are an ideal setting for Staphylococcus aureus bacteria to cause infections. This 'shaving irritation' is characterized by redness, pimples, shaving bumps and an itching and burning sensation. Antibiotics and traditional anti-bacterial products do not distinguish between good and bad bacteria but a healthy bacterial population is important. Dutch market research panel 'hettestpanel.nl' tested Gladskin Skin Irritation on a large group of men and women suffering from skin irritation after shaving and it received an 80%…

Scholars at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies  &  Children's Hospital analyzed pediatric medical emergencies on flights worldwide between January 2010 - June 2013 and found 90 that percent of deaths occurred in children under the age of 2 - lap infants may be at greater risk for death on a commercial airline flight, they suggest. The study was conducted in partnership with MedAire to characterize the rare event of an in-flight pediatric fatality on-board commercial airline flights worldwide. Through a detailed analysis of more than 7,000 reported medical emergencies involving…

DDT, the first modern pesticide, has been banned in the United States since 1972 but it is still commonly used in places where malaria is prevalent. The United Nations recommends it because it is far less harmful to people than malaria is and remains superior to replacements. Malaria drugs have become less effective over time so it's better kill pests before they infect people. In America, DDT has only been proved harmful to animals in the laboratories that are trying to prove DDT is harmful, but concern over improper use decades ago led to worry of a suspected relationship between exposure…