News by Subject Medicine & Health

The marketing of consumer 'neurotechnologies' can be enticing: apps that diagnose a mental state, and brain devices that improve cognition or 'read' one's emotional state. However, many of these increasingly popular products aren't fully supported by science and have little to no regulatory oversight, which poses potential health risks to the public. Two bioethicists suggest the creation of a working group that would further study, monitor, and provide guidance for this growing industry -- which is expected to top $3 billion by 2020.

A survey of 20 disadvantaged neighborhoods across the North West (UK) has revealed the social influences on why people attend their local Accident & Emergency department.

Rapid blood tests used by the NHS are unable to rule out tuberculosis (TB) and should be replaced with a new, more accurate test, a study has found.

Only about 16 percent of US adolescents have been fully vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) by the time they turn 13, despite national recommendations that call for vaccination at 11 to 12 years of age. Published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, the new findings highlight the need for stronger efforts to encourage HPV vaccination and to improve immunization rates in this key age group.

New systematic approach keys in on environmental mechanisms that contribute to central nervous system inflammation, identifies herbicide linuron as inflammation activator

Despite recommendations first issued more than a decade ago, antibiotics are still routinely prescribed in US emergency rooms for infants with bronchiolitis, a common viral lung infection. Published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, the findings highlight a concerning lag in translating evidence-based guidelines into clinical practice and underscore the need to continue educating health care providers and the public about appropriate antibiotic use.

Only 13 percent of outpatient antibiotic prescriptions are considered appropriate and 36 percent considered potentially appropriate, according to a new study from Northwestern Medicine, the University of Michigan and Harvard University's Brigham and Women's Hospital. The study provides the most extensive assessment of outpatient antibiotic prescriptions to date and demonstrates the scale of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in the US. 

Fewer than half of young people in the United States are having discussions of sensitive topics with their regular healthcare providers, according to a new study published in Pediatrics. This new research led by researchers at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health suggests that modifying healthcare delivery practices may improve discussions between youth and their healthcare providers. Youth-provider discussions are important opportunities to promote health for young people.

The "First international consensus on the diagnosis and management of fibromuscular dysplasia" (FMD) has been published online first today in Vascular Medicine and the Journal of Hypertension.

An award-winning poster that Lenore Jarvis, M.D., MEd, and colleagues presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Convention and Exhibit in Orlando, Florida, details Children's integrated approach to help women with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders which includes actions at individual, interpersonal, organizational, community and policy levels.