Exposure to wildfire smoke linked to increased ER visits for asthma
2015-09-08
(Press-News.org) Researchers who analyzed data from the 2006-2007 wildfires in Australia found that exposure to wildfire smoke was linked to increased visits to hospital emergency departments for asthma.
The findings reveal the adverse health impacts due to wildfire particulate pollution in communities. These fine particulates are harmful because they are easily inhaled and remain present deep in the lungs.
"Given the increase in frequency and intensity of wildfires experienced worldwide in recent years, it's important to understand the impact of wildfire smoke exposure on acute health effects in the community," said Dr. Anjali Haikerwal, lead author of the Respirology study.
INFORMATION:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2015-09-08
Anemia is common, and in surgical patients can increase various risks associated with operations. While blood transfusion can be a lifesaver for patients in these situations, it may not be always be appropriate and can even increase risks.
A new review presents a 'patient blood management' program to help clinicians make decisions relating to anemia and blood transfusion. The approach relies on 3 pillars of care: detecting and treating anemia before surgery, reducing blood loss during surgery, and optimizing management of anemia after surgery. The program can be used ...
2015-09-08
A new study that investigated the potential of certain psychological traits for predisposing heterosexuals to have negative attitudes towards homosexual people found that psychoticism--which is present in severe psychopathological conditions but may also contribute to less severe states of hostility and anger--and immature defense mechanisms may be important risk factors for homophobia, while depression and neurotic defense mechanisms appear to lower the risk of being homophobic.
"After discussing for centuries if homosexuality is to be considered a disease, for the first ...
2015-09-08
Many parents and caregivers believe that multi-sensory stimulation during infancy promotes developmental growth and learning, but researchers who conducted eye movement experiments on preverbal infants show that this is not always true.
The team discovered that 8 to 10 month old infants could learn basic abstract rules, such as sequences, but only when the audio and visual stimuli were "congruently" or "consistently" paired. If a smiling face was paired with a crying sound, the infants were confused, and they did not learn the rule.
The findings indicate that having ...
2015-09-08
A new decision rule will help emergency department physicians determine when to use radiography in young children with minor head injuries. The Canadian-developed rule is published in CMAJ.
Head injury is a common reason for children to visit emergency departments, resulting in more than 20 000 visits in Canada and 470 000 in the United States each year. Although termed "minor," these head injuries may have complications such as skull fractures and brain injury. Computed tomography (CT) scans, which are the most effective diagnostic tool, carry an increased risk of cancer, ...
2015-09-08
Renewed medical interest in the use of psychedelic drugs for anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and addiction has resulted in small research studies that show some success with the controlled use of these drugs, according to an analysis published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Psychedelic drugs are substances that have a strong effect on one's "conscious experience," such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, found in "magic mushrooms," dimethyltryptamine (DMT), mescaline and methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA).
"The re-emerging ...
2015-09-08
OAKLAND, Calif. -- The timely administration of a clot-dissolving treatment for emergency department patients with acute ischemic stroke nearly doubled following the introduction of new technology that enabled electronic order entry and offered care-decision support for physicians, according to a study published today in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
The study was conducted during the staged implementation of computerized physician order entry when integrated into electronic health records across 16 Kaiser Permanente Northern California medical centers from 2007 to ...
2015-09-08
(NEW YORK - September 8, 2015) Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Princeton University have designed a new online tool that predicts the role of key proteins and genes in diseases of the human immune system. Called "ImmuNet," details of the publically available resource were published online today in the journal Immunity.
The tool uses information compiled from 38,088 public experiments to predict new immune pathway interactions, mechanisms, and disease-associated genes. With advances in inexpensive computing power, and stored data collections ...
2015-09-08
As we grow older, we lose strength and muscle mass. However, the cause of age-related muscle weakness and atrophy has remained a mystery.
Scientists at the University of Iowa have discovered the first example of a protein that causes muscle weakness and loss during aging. The protein, ATF4, is a transcription factor that alters gene expression in skeletal muscle, causing reduction of muscle protein synthesis, strength, and mass. The UI study also identifies two natural compounds, one found in apples and one found in green tomatoes, which reduce ATF4 activity in aged ...
2015-09-08
PITTSBURGH--There are plenty of ways in the lab to determine which bug is bugging you when you're sick. The University of Pittsburgh's Xinyu Liu, Sanford Asher, and colleagues may have found a faster method.
"You can do a swab and culture the bacterium or fungi, but that takes days," Liu says. "You can examine the DNA, but that takes another day or two. It's a pretty tedious process. So, before the identity of the pathogen can be determined, doctors give infected people a broad-spectrum antibiotic that kills everything."
It would be better for the patient, then, to ...
2015-09-08
Researchers have proven that rudeness -- like poison in the water cooler -- is toxic in the workplace, affecting both job and business performance. But what if your office is a hospital Intensive Care Unit where lives hang in the balance?
A new Tel Aviv University study published in Pediatrics suggests that even the most benign forms of impoliteness may impede medical personnel's ability to perform under pressure and damage the quality of patient care. Rudeness alone accounts for a significant drop in hospital staff's diagnostic and professional performance, according ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Exposure to wildfire smoke linked to increased ER visits for asthma
