As pediatrician-journalist Perri Klass, MD speculates, the stress from one child's injury might actually make the entire family more accident prone for months afterward.
Author: Sandra Chung
Disagreement and uncertainty about Gulf oil spill effects on human health
The Gulf oil spill poses only mild, temporary health risks to cleanup workers and none at all to the general public, according to the official position of the CDC and several other local and national authorities. Yet the public and several experts aren't so certain about the safety of the oil and the dispersants mixed with it.
Andrew Wakefield: 17 years of disputed research, and now a book
According to an article on Slate.com, Wakefield has a more than 20-year history of dodgy research practices, beginning with a 1993 paper in which he asserted that the measles virus causesCrohn's disease
British scientist infects himself with a contagious computer virus
British scientist Mark Gasson is the first person in the world to become infected with a computer virus, the BBC reported today. Gasson infected an RFID chip in his hand with a virus that was able to spread to an external computer system.
Depressed? Allergies may make it worse
In a University of Maryland study, diagnosed depression tended to worsen when people had observable allergy symptoms or when their blood showed signs of an immune reaction to pollen.
New antibiotic shows promise in fighting superbugs
Scientists at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the biotech company PolyMedix have developed a new antibiotic that quickly kills bacteria by blasting holes in their cell membranes. In a clinical trial, the antibiotic worked on staph infections, including MRSA.
Genetic testing companies under scrutiny; UC Berkeley to test frosh genes
Three private genetic testing companies are under federal investigation after one company, Pathway, attempted to sell one of its test kits as a medical test without FDA review. Meanwhile, UC Berkeley is asking freshman for their DNA for confidential testing of genes relating to nutrition.
Ambulance drivers: slow down, it won't hurt
Faster emergency transport doesn't improve the survival rates of serious trauma patients; in fact, it probably kills more patients and emergency workers, as Slate magazine reports.
Using signs to help patients navigate hospitals
A project called Signs that Work has developed and tested symbols to replace text-based hospital signs. The new symbols could significantly improve the hospital experiences of patients and visitors who don't read well enough to navigate with text signs.
Growing new inner-ear cells: a step toward a cure for deafness
Stanford researchers have successfully used mouse stem cells and fibroblasts to re-create the creature's inner ear cells - right down to the tiny hairs that sense vibrations. The breakthrough could pave the way to the development of therapies for human hearing loss.
Nancy Snyderman speaks at Stanford Women's Health Forum
Nancy Snyderman from NBC News told the Stanford Women's Health Forum audience to take charge of their own well-being and become informed participants in their own health care decisions.
Boston water emergency: How a hospital operates without water
Boston is on its third day of water emergency, after two major pipe ruptures left much of the city without safe tap water. The Boston …
Using discarded fat tissue as a garden to grow more
Researchers from Queens University in Ontario, Canada describe a method to recycle liposuction leftovers into a biological scaffold that appears to turn stem cells into fat cells.
Windows ER?
A team of Microsoft researchers is exploring ways to use electronic displays to help keep patients in the loop about their own care. They recently developed and evaluated a cut-and-paste prototype for a personalized patient information display inside patient rooms in the emergency department of a Washington, D.C.-area hospital. The team will present their results on April 15 at this year's Computer-Human Interface conference in Atlanta.
Is that a Nile crocodile? Tell you later, Hearst curator
More crocodile mummy photographs and high-resolution CT scans have been posted in a new Stanford Medicine Flickr photo set. Two crocodile mummies from the Phoebe …
A pill that spills the beans
Take two of these pills and they'll call your doctor in the morning. Engineers at the University of Florida have designed a pill that tells …