http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (AP) -- Ciara Guernon was in a troubled relationship and working three jobs when she learned she was pregnant. The 22-year-old began calling people to see if they would lend her money for an abortion. "I didn't think I'd be a good mom," she said. http://phys.org/news221294272.html Medicine & Health Wed, 06 Apr 2011 07:38:06 EST news221294272 Most parents get their information about vaccines from their children's doctors, but some also consider public health officials, other parents, friends and family members and even celebrities as sources of vaccine information. http://phys.org/news220880092.html Medicine & Health Fri, 01 Apr 2011 12:35:16 EST news220880092 After reviewing existing research regarding the common practices of health care providers who see adolescent patients across the country, Rebecca Allen, MD, MPH, a clinician and researcher at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, and her colleague, Michelle Forcier, MD, MPH, an adolescent medicine specialist at Hasbro Children's Hospital, asserted that the nation needs to offer more confidential care for teenagers who are sexually active. http://phys.org/news220189825.html Medicine & Health Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:50:36 EST news220189825 There are 50 million family members providing care to older adults in the United States, according to the MetLife Foundation and national caregiving associations. When older adults are hospitalized and discharged, their families face numerous choices about where they will go and how they will receive care. A University of Missouri nursing expert says the complexity of this process will intensify with increasing demands for health care and workforce shortages. http://phys.org/news220010547.html Medicine & Health Tue, 22 Mar 2011 11:02:58 EST news220010547 A new study published by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College and the University of California, Davis, foresees improvements in patient outcomes after a major earthquake through more effective use of information technology. A control tower-style telemedicine hub to manage electronic traffic between first responders and remote medical experts could boost the likelihood that critically injured victims will get timely care and survive, according to the team's computer simulation model. http://phys.org/news219934757.html Medicine & Health Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:59:39 EST news219934757 In the March issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers report that residential treatment for tobacco dependence among heavy smokers greatly improves the odds of abstinence at six months compared with standard outpatient treatment. The study reports that 52 percent of the patients were still not smoking six months after residential treatment, compared with 26 percent in the outpatient treatment setting. http://phys.org/news218800546.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Mar 2011 10:40:01 EST news218800546 Lesbian moms who are experiencing intimate partner violence are often reluctant to seek help for fear of losing custody of their children, said two University of Illinois professors. http://phys.org/news217594718.html Other Sciences Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:58:50 EST news217594718 Most people know that exercise is important to maintain and improve health; however, sedentary lifestyles and obesity rates are at all-time highs and have become major national issues. In a new study, University of Missouri researchers found that healthy adults who received interventions focused on behavior-changing strategies significantly increased their physical activity levels. Conversely, interventions based on cognitive approaches, which try to change knowledge and attitudes, did not improve physical activity. http://phys.org/news217188558.html Medicine & Health Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:09:33 EST news217188558 The Image Gently campaign has developed easily accessible online teaching materials and checklists to help providers use the lowest dose necessary to perform fluoroscopic procedures on children. Physicians, medical physicists, and radiologic technologists are encouraged to visit the Image Gently Web site (www.imagegently.org) to review these important materials and factor the information into their clinical decision making. http://phys.org/news216647006.html Medicine & Health Fri, 11 Feb 2011 11:43:40 EST news216647006 A new strategic plan from an arm of the National Institutes of Health envisions scientists being able to identify genetic bases of most single-gene disorders and gaining new insights into multi-gene disorders in the next decade. This should lead to more accurate diagnoses, new drug targets and the development of practical treatments for many who today lack therapeutic options, according to the plan from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). http://phys.org/news216479855.html Medicine & Health Wed, 09 Feb 2011 13:17:53 EST news216479855 Researchers at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, San Diego say that medication education is a key factor in helping patients with diabetes better stick to their drug treatments plans. The study, currently on line in the February issue of the journal Annals of Pharmacotherapy, points to the need for pharmacists and other health care providers to assess reasons why some patients don't adhere to their medication plans, and to provide counseling opportunities to help them. http://phys.org/news216464645.html Medicine & Health Wed, 09 Feb 2011 09:04:19 EST news216464645 Older individuals, who constitute a rapidly growing population in the United States, account for a disproportionate share of health care utilization and cost. http://phys.org/news215878728.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Feb 2011 14:19:07 EST news215878728 (PhysOrg.com) -- Individual patient budgets should play a bigger part in health and social care according to a major new report edited by experts from the University of Birmingham and the Centre for Welfare Reform. It argues that putting individuals in control of their own care budget will improve outcomes and efficiency. http://phys.org/news213558703.html Medicine & Health Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:52:19 EST news213558703 Most Massachusetts physician groups are using results from a statewide patient survey to help improve patient experiences, but a significant number are not making use of the information or are making relatively limited efforts, according to a new RAND Corporation study. http://phys.org/news212065639.html Medicine & Health Mon, 20 Dec 2010 11:30:02 EST news212065639 Home health care technology may provide one important solution to global concerns about how to sustain health care systems threatened by rising costs and manpower shortages, but such a change faces multiple obstacles to adoption, according to a new RAND Corporation study. http://phys.org/news211032680.html Medicine & Health Wed, 08 Dec 2010 12:11:42 EST news211032680 Three pharmaceutical companies have agreed to pay 421 million dollars for reporting inflated drug prices to the US government, officials said Tuesday. http://phys.org/news210953259.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Dec 2010 14:20:01 EST news210953259 Cigarette smoking is widespread among children and young adults with diabetes yet few health care providers are counseling children and young adults with diabetes to not smoke or stop smoking, according to a new report from the SEARCH Study Group, published online in the Journal of Pediatrics. http://phys.org/news210858203.html Medicine & Health Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:20:10 EST news210858203 University of Minnesota School of Public Health researcher Ellen Demerath, Ph.D., is among an international group of researchers that has identified 30 new genes responsible for determining the age of sexual maturation in women. Many of these genes are also known to influence body fatness, obesity, and energy metabolism. Prior to the multi-institutional study, only four genes had been identified as contributing to the process. http://phys.org/news210441270.html Medicine & Health Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:55:00 EST news210441270 A treatment model designed to accommodate the beliefs and concerns of Chinese immigrants appears to significantly improve the recognition and treatment of major depression in this typically underserved group. In a report in the December American Journal of Public Health, a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research team describes how their model for screening and assessing patients for depression in a primary care setting increased the percentage of depressed patients entering treatment nearly sevenfold. http://phys.org/news209318200.html Medicine & Health Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:58:02 EST news209318200 A major obstacle to achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals is the weakness of the health systems in many low and middle income countries, and their struggle to effectively provide health care to populations in need. Research into health systems aims to improve health care delivery; however, multiple definitions of this type of research exist and this lack of clarity is negatively affecting the credibility, and hence progress, of this research. http://phys.org/news209065520.html Medicine & Health Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:45:29 EST news209065520 Half of teens who have oral sex during the ninth grade will have intercourse by the end of the 11th grade, and most sexually active teenagers will begin engaging in oral sex and sexual intercourse within the same six-month period, according to findings from a new survey conducted by researchers at UCSF and UC Merced. http://phys.org/news207849457.html Medicine & Health Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:10:01 EST news207849457 In an insightful Commentary in the November issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Linda Van Horn, PhD, RD, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal, Chair of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, and Professor and Associate Dean, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, highlights the key features and noteworthy findings of the 2010 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) Report. While many of the recommendations from previous reports are reinforced, new evidence-based findings will help registered dietitians and other health care providers prioritize effective approaches towards facilitating better eating habits among Americans. http://phys.org/news207285891.html Medicine & Health Tue, 26 Oct 2010 04:25:14 EST news207285891 Over the last few decades, the dramatic rise in pediatric obesity rates has emerged as a public health threat requiring urgent attention. The responsibility of identifying and treating eating and weight-related problems early in children and adolescents falls to health care providers and other professionals who work with the child, according to Professor Denise Wilfley and colleagues from the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in the US. Furthermore, the key to successful treatment is a team effort involving providers and parents. http://phys.org/news206791570.html Medicine & Health Wed, 20 Oct 2010 11:06:21 EST news206791570 (Washington) In order to realize the full potential of the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model of patient care to improve coordination and integration, the cooperation of subspecialist physicians and other health care professionals must be ensured, says a new policy paper from the American College of Physicians (ACP). http://phys.org/news206102412.html Medicine & Health Tue, 12 Oct 2010 12:10:01 EST news206102412 Health care in the last six months of life has become progressively more expensive for patients with heart failure both among Medicare beneficiaries in the United States and older adults in Canada, with a high rate of hospitalizations in the final six months of life in both countries, according to two reports posted online today that will be published in the February 14 print issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. A third report finds that more men dying of prostate cancer are receiving hospice care, but that the timing of hospice referral remains poor. http://phys.org/news206035669.html Medicine & Health Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:08:09 EST news206035669 A woman's race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status impact whether health care providers recommend one of the most highly effective forms of contraception, a UCSF study confirms. The results also indicate that the interaction of both factors plays a role in clinicians' decisions. http://phys.org/news205775999.html Medicine & Health Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:00:11 EST news205775999 A new research report in the October 2010 print issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology sheds important light on how our immune systems detect invading organisms to be destroyed and removed from our bodies. The information from this research should ultimately help lead to the development of new drugs and treatments that allow health care providers to prevent runaway immune reactions that can have devastating consequences for people. http://phys.org/news205060918.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Sep 2010 10:22:46 EST news205060918 Ghanaian Obstetrics and Gynecology residents say in-country training programs contributed to their decision to remain in their home country to practice medicine, new University of Michigan research shows. http://phys.org/news205042593.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Sep 2010 05:50:04 EST news205042593 While many young adults will share the details of their daily lives with dozens - sometimes hundreds - of friends on Facebook, communicating with their health care providers about mental illness is another story. http://phys.org/news204894752.html Medicine & Health Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:30:01 EST news204894752 Very low birthweight and very preterm infants are more likely to die if they are not born at hospitals with neonatal intensive care units specially equipped to care for seriously ill newborns, in contrast to similar babies born at those specialized facilities. http://phys.org/news202579192.html Medicine & Health Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:10:01 EST news202579192