Category: Health/Traditional Medicine

Leading dermatologist Dr. Joshua Fox warns that marks, blemishes, blotches and discolorations can alert to internal problems.

While moisturizers and make-up, facial peels and Botox can make our skin look beautiful and young, sometimes the external skin discolorations, blemishes, blotches or other unsightly marks we seek to remove are actually signs of an underlying internal disease. And your dermatologist may be the critical first line of defense against serious illness such as cancer, lupus, high cholesterol, pulmonary and cardiac disease, among others.

Primary care physicians with a "special interest" in managing back pain are actually less well-informed about the latest research-based evidence on back pain treatment.

Primary care physicians with a "special interest" in managing back pain are actually less well-informed about the latest research-based evidence on back pain treatment, reports a study in the May 15 issue of Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry.

Patients with advanced cancer who used their religious faith to help cope were more likely to receive intensive life-prolonging medical care such as mechanical ventilation or cardiopulmonary resuscitation during their last week of life.

For patients facing a life-threatening illness, religious coping, such as through prayer, meditation and religious study can offer patients a sense of meaning, comfort, control and personal growth, according to background information in a study in the March 18 issue of JAMA. "Positive religious coping has been widely associated with improved psychological adjustment to stressors including serious illness," the authors write. They add that religion may influence patients’ medical decisions, but little is known about the associations between religious coping and the use of intensive life-prolonging care at the end of life.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has updated its 2002 recommendation about using aspirin to prevent heart attacks or strokes - they now state that aspirin may have different benefits and harms in men and women. The recommendations do not apply to people who have already had a heart attack or stroke.

Patients and clinicians should consider risk factors - including age, gender, diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, smoking and risk of gastrointestinal bleeding - before deciding whether to use aspirin to prevent heart attacks or strokes, according to new recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. These recommendations do not apply to people who have already had a heart attack or stroke.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have found evidence of a novel pathway for potential human exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria from intensively raised poultry—driving behind the trucks transporting broiler chickens from farm to slaughterhouse.

A study by the Hopkins researchers found increased levels of pathogenic bacteria, both susceptible and drug-resistant, on surfaces and in the air inside cars traveling behind trucks that carry broiler chickens. The study is the first to look at exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria from the transportation of poultry. The findings are published in the first issue of the Journal of Infection and Public Health.

Don't blame crowded emergency room conditions on the uninsured, according to a new study.

The 47 million Americans who lack health insurance are the reason emergency departments are crowded all the time – right? And only the uninsured visit the emergency department for minor complaints, because it’s easier than going to a doctor – right?

Volunteers in Medicine is easing the pain of the healthcare crisis by opening free clinics across the country.

In over 66 communities across the country, 250,000+ retired physicians and 350,000 retired nurses are now providing a solution to the healthcare crisis. Volunteers in Medicine (VIM), an organization whose mission is to promote and guide the development of a national network of free clinics, is utilizing retired medical professionals and lay volunteers to care for the uninsured within a culture of caring.

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Dr. Frank Bowen examines a pediatric patient at The Volunteers in Medicine Clinic in Hilton Head, NC.

Only Vermont, Montana and New Hampshire earned an A, according to a new report from the Center to Advance Palliative Care. Three states - Oklahoma, Alabama and Mississippi - got an F.

America does a mediocre job caring for its sickest patients. The nation, says a new report, gets a C.

Hospital palliative care programs make patients facing serious and chronic illness more comfortable by alleviating their pain and symptoms and counseling patients and their families.

Training in emotional intelligence could help medical residents and fellows become more sensitive toward their patients, according to a commentary in the September 10th issue of the "Journal of the American Medical Association."

Patients are less likely to complain and more likely to have positive health results if their physician communicates well with them. For these and other reasons, medical schools include interpersonal and communication skills in their training programs. According to an article in the September 10th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, medical education needs to delve even deeper to help doctors relate better.

A bacterial molecule that initially signals to animals that they have been invaded must be wiped out by a special enzyme before an infected animal can regain full health, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

A bacterial molecule that initially signals to animals that they have been invaded must be wiped out by a special enzyme before an infected animal can regain full health, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

Using a genetically engineered mouse model, the team found that simply eradicating the infection-causing bug isn’t enough to restore an animal’s immune function. Lipopolysaccharide, or LPS, the dominant bacterial “signal” molecule that heralds the invasion, must also be inactivated. The findings are to appear online Sept. 11 in Cell Host & Microbe.