Louisiana, Mississippi top nation in illness from West Nile

Louisiana and Mississippi are leading the nation in the number of people who have become seriously ill from West Nile virus this year. State health departments are warning residents to take precautions against mosquitoes, which spread the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that as of Aug. 21 , Louisiana had 18

Strategy Outlined for Shooter Incident in Health Care Facility

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 22, 2018 — Adhering to a “secure, preserve, fight” strategy is recommended for health care professionals working with a vulnerable patient population, according to a Medicine and Society piece published in the Aug. 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Noting that health care facilities are high-risk targets and must be

Kids connect with robot reading partners

Kids learn better with a friend. They’re more enthusiastic and understand more if they dig into a subject with a companion. But what if that companion is artificial? Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have built a robot, named Minnie, to serve as a reading buddy to middle school kids, and Minnie’s new friends grew

Mixed trends in teenage ‘new smoker’ rates in Europe

In most of Europe, the rates of smoking initiation among older teens have declined since the 1970s, while “new smoker” rates among younger teens have risen in recent years, according to a study published August 22, 2018 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by an international team of researchers involved in the Ageing Lungs in

Do persistent babies make for successful adults?

If you parent a child, teach a child, or heck, even know a child, chances are you’ve heard that grit will make that young person a happier and more successful adult. Grit, the combination of pluck and perseverance has become the theme of articles and books, and is instilled just as much as it’s gained

Neanderthal mother, Denisovan father! Hybrid fossil: Newly-sequenced genome sheds light on interactions between ancient hominins

Together with their sister group the Neanderthals, Denisovans are the closest extinct relatives of currently living humans. “We knew from previous studies that Neanderthals and Denisovans must have occasionally had children together,” says Viviane Slon, researcher at the MPI-EVA and one of three first authors of the study. “But I never thought we would be

Spots on tongue: Causes and when to see a doctor

In this article, we look at what healthy spots on the tongue do, and the causes of unusual spots. We also cover diagnosis, treatment, and prevention tips. Healthy tongue spots There are four kinds of healthy spots or bumps that typically appear on the tongue. The medical term for these spots is papillae. Fungiform papillae

UN warns of a possible new cholera epidemic in Yemen

The United Nations is warning of a possible “third wave” of the cholera epidemic in Yemen, which is already “the largest outbreak on record.” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday there have been more than 1.1 million suspected cases of cholera since April 2017, and the number is increasing. He said over 2,300 deaths have

Vulnerable youth stress the importance of influential adults in their school lives: How systems to address stressors such as maltreatment and homelessness affect education

Kids who faced daunting barriers to success in the classroom had a clear message for University at Buffalo researchers who asked them as young adults to look back on their experiences with maltreatment, homelessness and their time in school: Adults can do better. “It’s as though they’re asking us as adults not to give up

People with low muscle strength more likely to die prematurely

Individuals with weaker muscles do not typically live as long as their stronger peers, according to new research from the University of Michigan. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, chronic health conditions and smoking history, the study published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences found that people with low muscle strength are 50 percent more

AMP addresses clinical relevance of DNA variants in chronic myeloid neoplasms

The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), the premier global molecular diagnostics professional society, today published consensus, evidence-based recommendations to aid clinical laboratory professionals with the management of most Chronic Myeloid Neoplasms (CMNs) and development of high-throughput pan-myeloid sequencing testing panels. The report, “Clinical Significance of DNA Variants in Chronic Myeloid Neoplasms (CMNs): A Report of

How Insomnia Greatly Affects Your Mental Health

Living in a digital age where information is rampant and machines help us with our everyday work, enabling us to be more productive than ever. While this is a great thing because we’re able to accomplish more tasks in a day, we cannot deny that the demand for work we need to deal every single

For women undergoing IVF, is fresh or frozen embryo transfer best? Some women benefit from a fresh embryo transfer while others benefit from delay

The world’s first baby born via in-vitro fertilization turned 40 years old this summer. Still, after four decades, IVF is a relatively new field with ongoing debate on how to get the best results for families who have placed their hopes — and often their personal savings — into fertility treatment. IVF experts disagree about