Newborn screening can cause unnecessary parental stress
Virtually all babies in the U.S. have their heels pricked soon after birth to get a blood sample for genetic testing. These "heel stick" tests identify rare metabolic disorders before they cause irreversible damage, but as more disorders are added to the screening ?many states now test for 30 or more ?false-positive results are on the rise. In the June issue of Pediatrics, researchers from Childr...Mass vaccination unnecessary in the event of a large bioterrorist US smallpox attack
Mass vaccination would not be necessary in the event of a large-scale smallpox bioterrorist attack in the United States, according to a study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center that appears online in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. Instead, the current U.S. government policy of post-release surveillance, prompt containment of victims and vaccinat...FDA causes unnecessary scare about common painkillers
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has caused an unnecessary scare about some pain relievers by adding a warning to drugs that are safe, says Curt Furberg, M.D., Ph.D., from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. At the same time, he says the agency has failed to recognize the harm of a pain reliever that should be taken off the market. "The FDA is adding 'black box' warnings...Are one-third of costly implanted heart devices unnecessary? New study suggests yes
This year, Medicare will pay for tens of thousands of heart patients to have high-tech devices implanted in their chests. Called ICDs or implantable cardioverter defibrillators, the expensive devices are designed to shock damaged hearts back into rhythm and save patients from sudden cardiac death, which kills 300,000 Americans each year. But a new study finds that while many of these patie...More Accurate "PROSTATE CANCER" Test can save Unnecessary Biopsies
Prostate cancer can effect men over the age of 40 years and is the second commonest cancer among men after lung cancer. Usually it goes undetected till it is advanced and beyond cure. However a lot of awareness has been created about this condition and now men over the age of 40 years can be screened regularly to detect the cancer. One of the most promising "tumour markers" in medicine...New Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators to avoid unnecessary shocks
Dr. Andrew Grace and colleagues from Papworth Hospital and University of Cambridge with collaboration from Cameron Health of San Clemente has devised new Implantable cardioverter defibrillators, which are devised to detect shock waves // from the whole heart rather than part of the muscle. This new devise helps to detect small alterations in heart rhythms accurately by scanning the whole heart, w...Unnecessary Catheterization Puts Elderly Patients at Risk
According to a recent investigation it was found that about 24% of the elderly women patients are put under catheterization for no medical reason//. They have been admitted in the hospital for chronic illness. The patients are 70 years and above. The study was conducted by the researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. None of the 378 catheterized patients had a medical condition indicat...