Category: Health/Traditional Medicine

Proposed legislation would require patients to be eighteen years old before undergoing circumcision.

MGMbill.org is again calling on Congress and state lawmakers to enact legislation that would require men to be eighteen years old before undergoing circumcision. On Tuesday, more than 2,500 elected federal and state officials received proposed bills via email, fax, and mail from the group's state offices as part of an ongoing effort to make circumcision laws gender neutral.

A recent study shows that, by stimulating the immune system, dextrose injections can greatly help those suffering from chronic neck pain.

Researchers writing in Practical Pain Management (October 2007) say that simple dextrose (sugar) injections improved pain symptoms and quality of life in chronic neck pain sufferers.

Straight off the desks of the editors of the Harvard Medical School's "Harvard Health Letter," the 10 biggest health related news stories of 2007. Remember, you read it here first.

The editors of Harvard Medical School's Harvard Health Letter have chosen the top 10 health stories of 2007. Here are this year’s newsmakers:

A report by the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health shows higher gas prices are putting the squeeze on how parents are managing health care for their children – either in getting to health care visits or purchasing medications. U-M experts say a solution may be a gas card program for patients.

Your wallet may not be the only thing affected by the country’s high gas prices. The pain at the pump is also placing added strain on children’s health, according to researchers with the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.

According to John Hopkins' Gerard Anderson, "We spend so much more money on health care in the United States than other industrialized countries primarily because our prices are so much higher."

The United States continues to spend the most on health care when compared to other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Health care prices and higher per capita incomes are major factors for higher U.S. spending, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Princeton University. Compared to the average OECD country in 2004, the United States has fewer health resources—physicians, nurses and hospital beds—and lower utilization of these resources. Health spending for chronic health issues, such as obesity, alcohol consumption and smoking, also contributes to high health spending in the United States. The study is published in the September/October 2007 issue of Health Affairs.

Five myths about foot care and the realities behind them.

Old wives’ tales and myths like that example are fun to laugh at. We believed them growing up. “Step on a crack and you’ll break your mother’s back.” But there are other myths that are no laughing matter, especially when they involve your health.

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have discovered a treatment that counteracts the effects of cocaine on the human cardiovascular system, including lowering the elevated heart rate and blood pressure often found in cocaine users.

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have discovered a treatment that counteracts the effects of cocaine on the human cardiovascular system, including lowering the elevated heart rate and blood pressure often found in cocaine users.

Although most religious traditions call on the faithful to serve the poor, a large cross-sectional survey of U.S. physicians found that physicians who are more religious are slightly less likely to practice medicine among the underserved than physicians with no religious affiliation.

Although most religious traditions call on the faithful to serve the poor, a large cross-sectional survey of U.S. physicians found that physicians who are more religious are slightly less likely to practice medicine among the underserved than physicians with no religious affiliation.

Newest Mercy Ship now operational in Liberia.

While many professionals are busy taking summer holidays, volunteer medical professionals are giving up their summer to live and serve onboard the world's largest non-governmental hospital ship. In exchange for working long hours in the OR treating patients, Mercy Ships volunteers receive no pay -- except the gratefulness of the Liberians they serve.

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The Africa Mercy, the world's largest non-governmental hospital ship arrives in Liberia to begin free surgeries.

Evidence-based article in prestigious infectious disease journal supports the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society's (ILADS) treatment recommendations.

The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) today announced that, for the first time, evidence supporting the ILADS position on the treatment of Lyme disease has been published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID), considered one of the most prestigious publications in the field of infectious diseases and microbiology. It is the first time that evidence supporting the ILADS position has ever been published in an American infectious disease journal.