Health

Taxonomy of Grief

Here is life on the front lines of medicine, from modern, well-stocked American ERs to third-world clinics devoid of even the most basic equipment. Here a newborn fights for his life, a would-be suicide arrives with a dozen prescription bottles, a teenage

Hints for a Healthier You
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
You may not have considered it, but every time you read health information, from food labels to medical forms, you're exercising your health literacy skills. Health literacy is the ability to obtain, process, and understand health information needed

Reusable Medical Device Safety
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Orthodontics. Adolescent angst. Two seemingly endless years of contorted expressions that ultimately keep many a teen's mouth clamped shut in a perpetual scowl. Some may regard this behavior as a small price to pay for the rite of passage that braces

Types of Health Insurance
by US Department of Health and Human Services
Most insurance plans will pay only what they call a reasonable and customary fee for a particular service. If your doctor charges $1,000 for a hernia repair while most doctors in your area charge only $600, you will be billed for the $400 difference.

Summer Safety : Bee Stings, Heat Illness
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
To keep bees away, wear light-colored clothing and avoid scented soaps and perfumes. Don't leave food, drinks, and garbage out uncovered. Treat a bee sting by scraping the stinger away in a side-to-side motion with a credit card or fingernail

Screening using MRI or CT: Health Risks
by Health Canada
Some private clinics are now offering healthy people a service called whole body screening. For a fee, they will use sophisticated medical technology to scan your body for anything abnormal.

Hematopoietic Growth Factors
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Hematopoieticfl refers to blood cell formation. Hematopoietic growth factors are cytokines that stimulate blood cells to proliferate. Three have been licensed. Like most cytokines, they have long names and short acronyms.

Playing It Safe at Work
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
As technologies advance, some people wonder if workplace hazards may be part of many seemingly harmless office environments. Though there are as yet no definitive answers, workers can take some simple steps to minimize possible risks.

Other Redefinitions
Dare to Be 100
by Walter M. Bortz II, M.D.
Conditions as diverse as tuberculosis, hardening of the arteries, and Alzheimer's disease have in the past fatefully been conceded by practitioners to be due to aging. The error in this miscategorization is now clear, but as recently as forty-five years

Animal Health Concern : Sheep Industry, Big Birds
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
The U.S. sheep population has been steadily decreasing since the 1940s - from its peak at 56 million in 1942 to less than 7 million in 2002, says the USDA. The lack of approved drugs for sheep is one factor contributing to the decline, says Oeller.

Resurrectionist
Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality
by Pauline W. Chen, M.D.
When Pauline Chen began medical school twenty years ago, she dreamed of saving lives. What she did not count on was how much death would be a part of her work. Almost immediately, Chen found herself wrestling with medicine's most profound paradox

FDA to the Rescue : Santa Clara I Arsenic Spill, Chernobyl Explosion
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Though some of the emergency situations FDA has been involved in are well known, others have received little publicity, possibly because the agency helped head off a disaster.

Medical Devices and Electromagnetic Interference
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
How could a nurse work without a beeper? An ambulance without a two-way radio? A doctor without a cellular phone? Today's medical professionals rely heavily on wireless communication devices to help them do their jobs efficiently.

Drugs and Gender Differences
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
In 1998, the allergy drug Seldane (terfenadine) was removed from the market, when a safer alternative was approved. It had been discovered that Seldane could cause a life-threatening heart rhythm irregularity when used with certain other drugs.

Oxygen Bars : Healthy or Just Hype?
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Dispensing oxygen without a prescription is against federal law, and oxygen bars may subject customers to unnecessary risk. People with certain medical conditions are another matter.

Alternatives to Regular Blood Transfusions
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
A growing number of alternatives to regular blood transfusions enables patients to feel safer and in some cases lessen the need for transfusion. Such alternatives include a new drug to stem bleeding in heart surgery.

Lead Paint, Occupational Hazards, Lead in Ceramicware
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
While a child's chronic exposure to relatively low lead levels may result in learning or behavioral problems, Wykoff says that 'higher levels of exposure can be associated with anemia and changes in kidney function, as well as significant changes

Head Injuries Require Quick, Skilled Care
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Quickly, they measure vital signs such as heartbeat and blood pressure and place electrodes on the skin to attach lines to cardiac and other monitors. They set up life-support measures such as mechanical breathing (ventilation) and blood replacement

Foot Health and Care
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
The human foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 tendons, muscles, and ligaments. With such a complex structure, a lot can go wrong. While some foot problems are inherited, many occur because of years of wear and tear.

Dental Amalgam: Filling a Need or Foiling Health?
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Amalgam has been used in dentistry for 150 years and remains the most widely used material to fill cavities in decayed teeth. Recently, scientists have been investigating whether mercury vapor escaping from silver fillings poses any health problem.