The current flu season is a nightmare, spreading ferociously. If that's not bad enough, there are instances where it kills within hours – just like it's 100-year-old ancestor, the Spanish Flu of 1918. What is going on here?
Disease
Bones are not inert objects, but instead living tissue that responds to a host of mechanical forces. So what if the reason some elderly fall and "break" their hip is that – similar to a bridge collapsing from mechanical fatigue – their bones just gave way?
Researchers found that students who exhibited signs of paranoid thinking – specifically, the tendency to interpret random coincidences as highly meaningful, or to believe others are plotting against them – had a particular genetic profile.
Bariatric surgery is the most effective means of dealing with severe obesity. But there are several types of surgery which involve more, or less, alterations of the gastrointestinal tract. Choosing among them depends on a variety of factors relating to GERD, or gastro-esophageal reflux symptoms.
It's another vaccine success story, this time about rotavirus vaccines. Not only do the vaccines prevent the sometimes dangerous dehydration that accompanies this infection, they are also associated with a decreased occurrence of non-febrile seizures in infants and young children.
Atrial fibrillation affects many Americans and it can result in debilitating strokes. Risk calculators help physicians identify those patients at risk for stroke. However, the calculation can be improved by remembering that risk isn't static, but instead a fluid factor.
The flu reminds us that as social animals, pathogens can kill both individuals and large segments of our population. A study sheds some light on how ants, social insects, cope with infections that endanger their colony.
Evidence indicates that dogs can become infected with human-adapted influenza strains, making this incredibly concerning. When two different influenza strains infect the same host, the viruses can swap genes, a process known as genetic reassortment. This can produce devastating influenza pandemics.
Illnesses and deaths from hepatitis A are making headlines daily. And last year, it was hepatitis C. And what about hepatitis B? Let's decipher the hepatitis alphabet soup, and spell out the differences.
Chronic wasting disease, which is a condition nearly identical to mad cow disease, has been detected in deer all across the United States.
The important topic of traumatic brain injuries has recently focused on football players and other concussion-prone athletes. But in a welcomed shift of the spotlight, CBS News redirected the discussion to include many military veterans, who researchers learned post-mortem, had CTE, likely acquired from bomb blasts.
Obesity, especially severe obesity, is a harbinger of many health problems. And the longer someone remains obese the greater the chance problems will develop. But here's some good news: severe obesity prevalence among children in the Women, Infants, and Children program has come down.