'Comparison shopping' by doctors saves money
Research at Johns Hopkins suggests that if hospitals would show physicians the price of some diagnostic laboratory tests at the time the tests are ordered, doctors would order substantially fewer of...
View ArticleMysterious illness kills two in southeast Alabama
(AP)—Alabama health officials say a mysterious respiratory illness has left five people hospitalized and two dead in the southeastern part of the state.
View ArticleNew tick-borne illness may be misdiagnosed
(HealthDay)—Physicians say a new kind of tick-borne infection that's similar to Lyme disease can mislead doctors into thinking it's a different condition.
View ArticleH7N9 flu peril lies in deep lung infiltration, study reports
The H7N9 bird flu virus is a peril for humans because it replicates deep in the lungs where it can trigger a dangerous response from the immune system, a study said Wednesday.
View ArticlePotential new treatment for colitis
A drug currently on the market to treat leukemia reversed symptoms of colitis in lab tests, according to recently published findings by medical researchers with the University of Alberta.
View ArticleResearchers find way to reduce unnecessary lab tests, decrease patient costs...
When patients undergo diagnostic lab tests as part of the inpatient admission process, they may wonder why or how physicians choose particular tests. Increasingly, medical professionals are using...
View ArticleAre lab tests overused: Large-scale analysis finds inappropriate lab testing...
Laboratory testing is health care's single highest volume activity, with over 5 billion tests performed each year in the U.S.
View ArticleCDC: Norovirus caused cruise ship outbreak
Federal health investigators say lab tests have confirmed that norovirus was to blame for an outbreak on a cruise ship that sickened nearly 700.
View ArticleMaking embryos from three people doesn't look unsafe
Britain's fertility regulator says controversial techniques to create embryos from the DNA of three people "do not appear to be unsafe" even though no one has ever received the treatment, according to...
View ArticleGhana: Quarantined US citizen tested for Ebola
Health officials in Ghana say a U.S. citizen is being tested for Ebola and remains in quarantine after he fell ill while in West Africa.
View ArticleRosemary and oregano contain diabetes-fighting compounds
The popular culinary herbs oregano and rosemary are packed with healthful compounds, and now lab tests show they could work in much the same way as prescription anti-diabetic medication, scientists...
View Article5 children at Illinois day care diagnosed with measles
(AP)—Health officials say five children under age 1 who attend the same suburban Chicago day care have been diagnosed with measles.
View ArticleQuality improvement intervention cuts tests ordered
(HealthDay)—Implementation of a multifaceted quality improvement intervention is associated with a decrease in the number of ordered laboratory tests, according to a study published online March 21 in...
View ArticleNew study verifies accuracy of rapid Ebola test
A new finger prick rapid Ebola test co-developed by Tulane University researchers is as accurate as traditional lab testing for the disease, according to an independent study published in the British...
View ArticleA paradigm shift in multidrug resistance
Bacteria are pretty wily creatures. Take for example, an organism such as Salmonella, which which are killed by antibiotics in lab tests, but can become highly resistant in the body.
View ArticleCase of ovarian hyperthecosis described
(HealthDay)—A case of ovarian hyperthecosis has been presented in the Oct. 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
View ArticleTeenager infected with rat-bite fever from her pet rodent
A 17-year-old woman was infected with the rare, but treatable rat-bite fever, that developed from pet rodents that lived in her bedroom, report the doctors who treated her in the online journal BMJ...
View ArticleTool decreases superfluous lab testing, cuts health-care costs
Anyone who's spent a night in a hospital knows the drill: In comes a phlebotomist, first thing in the morning, for lab tests. Physicians have long recognized that lab testing isn't necessary for all...
View ArticlePittsburgh researcher infected with Zika in lab accident
The University of Pittsburgh says one of its researchers became infected with the Zika virus in a lab accident.
View ArticleTired of getting stuck with needles? Ask your doctor to just say 'once.'
There are few worse ways to awake a person than with a needle stick in the arm to draw blood. If you have ever spent the night in a hospital, chances are the first thing that happened in the morning...
View ArticleScientists aim to reduce animals killed in drug testing
That's the hope of Associate Professor Noriyuki Yanaka and researchers at Hiroshima University who have developed a non-invasive way to assess the anti-inflammatory properties of fortified health foods...
View ArticleObesity may influence rheumatoid arthritis blood tests
New research reveals that in women, obesity may influence blood tests used to diagnose and monitor rheumatoid arthritis. The findings, which appear in Arthritis Care & Research, indicate that...
View ArticleDisplaying lab test costs in health records doesn't deter doctors from...
Patients are stuck for a blood draw almost every day they are admitted to a hospital. Lab tests are one of the most common orders placed by doctors, but research indicates that nearly one-third of...
View ArticleBrain cancer study reveals therapy clues
Researchers have pinpointed two key molecules that drive the growth of an aggressive type of adult brain cancer.
View ArticleNursing homes cut urinary tract infections in half through focused effort on...
They're a double-edged sword for nursing home residents and staff - making it easier and safer to handle a basic bodily function, but putting frail patients in danger of infections that can lead to...
View ArticleStudy suggests epilepsy drug can be used to treat form of dwarfism
A drug used to treat conditions such as epilepsy has been shown in lab tests at The University of Manchester to significantly improve bone growth impaired by a form of dwarfism.
View ArticleHeart surgery? Slate it for the afternoon, study says
The risk of serious heart problems after open heart surgery nearly doubles when the operation is performed in the morning rather than the afternoon, researchers said Friday.
View ArticleActivating MSc glutamatergic neurons found to cause mice to eat less
(Medical Xpress)—A trio of researchers working at the State University of New York has found that artificially stimulating neurons that exist in the medial septal complex in mouse brains caused test...
View ArticlePayment for laboratory tests set to reduce starting Jan. 1, 2018
(HealthDay)—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule, which is set to reduce payments for testing services conducted in physician...
View ArticlePolio labs equipped to study rare tropical diseases
In 1988, the World Health Organization set out to eradicate polio and established a network of 145 labs around the world that are designed to process polio tests. Now, those labs are well-equipped to...
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