Emergencies / First Aid

Emergency care key for high pressure in brain

People who experience severe, rapidly progressing loss of vision should seek immediate medical attention, because this may signal elevated pressure in the brain…    

New tool improves prediction of stroke risk

A new simple scoring system for use by physicians predicts early risk of stroke following a serious condition named transient ischemic attack, known as…    

Transfer Criteria Could Improve Intensive Care for Children

Transferring critically ill or injured child from a level II pediatric intensive care unit to a highly specialized and more technologically advanced, or level…    

Emergency care should use trauma as example

Most U.S. hospital emergency rooms are ill-equipped to handle an epidemic, but better coordination and sharing specialist doctors could help mend the tattered system,…    

‘Egg on Your Face’ May be More Dangerous than You Think

As the party conference season gets under way in the UK, research in Emergency Medicine Journal shows that lobbing raw eggs at people as…    

Pediatric Aspects of Emergency Preparedness

Whether of terrorist or natural origins, limited attention has been paid to the needs of children during large-scale public health emergencies. Schools, in particular,…    

Ultrasound allows precise tendonitis treatment

Ultrasound is proving useful in guiding injections of cortisone to treat “De Quervain’s tendonitis”—a painful repetitive strain injury in which tendons in the wrist…    

Nanotechnology May Find Disease Before It Starts

Nanotechnology may one day help physicians detect the very earliest stages of serious diseases like cancer, a new study suggests.

It would…    

Paramedics Save More Lives When They Don’t Follow the Rules

Survival rates following the most common form of cardiac arrest increased three-fold when emergency medical personnel used a new form of CPR developed at…    

Hormone brain natriuretic peptide can predict pulmonary hypertension

Measuring levels of a hormone called brain natriuretic peptide in individuals with serious lung disease can predict the presence of pulmonary hypertension and a…    

Mammography rates better with shared care

If follow-up mammography is an indicator of quality breast cancer care, then older survivors who receive shared care--provided by both a primary care physician…    

US unprepared for, overwhelmed by Katrina - report

Federal emergency agencies were unprepared for the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina and quicker involvement by President George W. Bush might have improved their response,…    

Biopsy Remains Best Way to Verify Mammography Results

Biopsy remains the gold standard for evaluating women who have abnormal mammography findings, according to a government report that found noninvasive imaging tests such…    

Lives will be saved as early signs of meningitis now identified

Scientists in the UK say they have identified the early signs of meningitis and blood poisoning which should improve detection of the disease and…    

Guidelines Needed to Help Care for Children During Emergencies

Evidence-based guidelines for the care of children in emergency situations should be developed and distributed to international relief organizations, according to researchers from the…    

New rapid test can identify bird flu in 15 mins

The diagnostic test maker Inverness Medical Technology Inc. says its Binax Inc. unit has been granted U.S. regulatory approval to add a bird flu…    

Accurate and rapid method of diagnosing bacterial meningitis

University of Sydney researchers at Westmead Millennium Institute develop an accurate and rapid method of diagnosing bacterial meningitis.…    

OTC painkillers relieve muscle pain

Use of the painkiller acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or the combination of the two are equally effective for…    

Businesses prepare for bird flu disruptions

Global corporations are crafting emergency plans for remote work sites and stockpiles of masks and antiviral medicines in case dire predictions of a worldwide…    

‘Morning-after’ pill doesn’t increase unsafe sex

Allowing ‘morning-after’ contraceptive pills to be sold over the counter does not increase their use, suggesting that easy availability does not lead to an…    

Rat poison deemed “potential agent of terror”

A type of rat poison, which is illegal in the United States, has the potential to be used in an intentional mass poisoning…    

Access to trauma centers often limited in US

If they were to be seriously injured, many Americans would have to travel an hour or more to reach a trauma center, according to…    

Pill camera spots polyps in small intestine

A tiny swallowable camera-in-a-capsule is more effective than standard imaging methods in identifying intestinal polyps in the small intestine, according to results presented at…    

Drug combo curbs nausea of chemotherapy

For cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy that includes cisplatin, the combination of two drugs is better than one for curbing acute cisplatin-induced    

Many women wait weeks for a mammogram

Many Mammogram facilities in the U.S. are facing staffing shortages, which, if left unaddressed, may further limit women’s access to mammograms and…