Currently, the diagnosis of Alzheimer's is not made until symptoms develop. By then it may already be too late to rescue the brain. Drugs now in use temporarily ease symptoms for some, but cannot halt the underlying disease. Many scientists believe the best hope of progress lies in detecting the disease early and devising treatments to stop it before brain damage becomes extensive.
The 19-year-old campaign to eradicate polio is celebrating recent progress and an unexpected infusion of cash. But experts are realizing that they will not be able to end the expensive and laborious efforts to control the virus anytime soon. It is now clear that the virus that causes polio could reemerge years, and possibly even decades, after the last case is found.
In the British Medical Journal, researchers looked into several common misconceptions, from the belief that a person should drink eight glasses of water per day to the notion that reading in low light ruins your eyesight. Popular culture is loaded with myths and half-truths. Most are harmless, but when doctors start believing medical myths, perhaps it's time to worry.
The treatment setting for alcoholism is in for a major shift from specialize clinics to primary care offices because of new research and medications, according to a report in the December 5 Journal of the American Medical Association. But if the promise of office-based treatment of alcoholism is to become a reality, the nation's 337,000 general-practice physicians--and the healthcare system as a whole--will have to undergo some transformation themselves, addiction experts say.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee has another union representation victory after nurses at the 171-bed Whittier Hospital Medical Center in the Los Angeles area voted to join the union. The CNA will now now represent 300 Whittier Hospital RNs in contract negotiations.
Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital, a 25-bed facility in Manistique, MI, says it may close because of a dispute with the state over how long it allows some patients recovering from serious illness to stay. The hospital has filed a federal lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Community Health, as the department was fining the hospital $500,000 for violating state regulations.