health - "report"

A survey conducted by the World health Organization (WHO) research consortium found that the United States had among the highest lifetime rates of tobacco and alcohol use and led in the proportion of participants reporting cannabis (marijuana) or cocaine use at least once during their lifetime. The study, led by Dr. Louisa Degenhardt of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia and colleagues, looked at patterns in the use of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and cocaine in 17 countries representing all six WHO regions (the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania). The study, funded in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is published in the July 1, 2008 issue of the open access journal 'PLoS Medicine'.

In a follow-up to research showing that psilocybin, a substance contained in 'sacred mushrooms,' produces substantial spiritual effects, a Johns Hopkins team reports that those beneficial effects appear to last more than a year.

Cancer starts when key cellular signals run amok, driving uncontrolled cell growth. But scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine report that lowering levels of one cancer signal under a specific threshold reverses this process in mice, returning tumor cells to their normal, healthy state. The finding could help target cancer chemotherapy to tumors while minimizing side effects for the body's healthy cells.

Speaking on the publication of Lord Darzi's Next Stage review of the NHS, Professor Andy Adam, the President of The Royal College of Radiologists, said, 'Lord Darzi has produced an outstanding set of recommendations that promise to revolutionise the way health care is delivered in this country. His report is visionary, ambitious and substantial. For the first time in the sixty-year history of the NHS the quality of care delivered to patients assumes certain stage.

The emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as a major pathogen has led to more complications and longer hospital stays for children with acute bone infections, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report. Acute osteomyelitis, a bone infection that predominantly occurs in children, is usually caused by the staph bacteria. Treatment has traditionally been straightforward because most S. aureus bacteria can be killed with existing antibiotics.

What do a bungee cord, a pan of frying bacon and lawn-care chemicals have in common? They are just a few of the common items around the house that can cause eye injuries, which a new study from the American Academy of Ophthalmology (Academy) and the American Society of Ocular Trauma (ASOT) reports are increasingly occurring at home. The new Eye Injury Snapshot, a clinical survey of eye injuries across the U.S., found that nearly half of the 2.

A new report provides the most complete rough draft to date of the brain's cerebral cortex's electrical architecture.

The British Dental Association has welcomed the commitment to preventive, high quality care and the recognition that target-driven systems are not the way forward in Lord Darzi's report, High Quality Care For All. The report also identifies the reduction of health inequalities as a key goal for the NHS. The principles are to be enshrined in a new NHS constitution, which have also been published for consultation.

At the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer and the International Society of Oral Oncology's 2008 International Symposium on Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC / ISOO) held last week in Houston, Texas, The GI Company reported secondary endpoints relating to Oral Mucositis A

Overestimating one's abilities can have hazardous consequences. The overconfident investment banker may lose millions on a 'can't-miss' start up or a driver who's had one too many may insist on making it home in the car. Research has backed up this notion but with one glaring problem: It relies on participants to give accurate reports of their own confidence.