Three in 10 Laboratory Blood Tests Unnecessary
Nearly a third of all laboratory blood tests are unnecessary while a similar number of tests that could prove to be useful are not being conducted, a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE and conducted by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), who analyzed more than 1.6 million results from 46 of medicine's 50 most commonly ordered lab tests, reveals. "While working with my clinical colleagues around the hospital, I often found myself wondering about the appropriateness or inappropriateness of all of these tests. In developing this study, my coauthors and I wanted to learn more about overall lab test utilization so that we could better understand how and where errors were occurring in this extremely high-volume activity."
Their findings revealed a stark problem: Not only was there a 30 percent overall rate of test over use and there was a similar rate of under use continue reading
A Valuable Weapon in War Against Drug-resistant Superbugs: Antibiotic Offers Hope
A new kind of antibiotic that causes microbes to digest themselves has been developed by scientists who believe it could become a valuable weapon in the war against drug-resistant “superbugs”. Laboratory tests show that the drug is effective against persistent strains of the Staphylococcus bacterium and is able to cure laboratory mice of the same kind of chronic bacterial infections that have killed hospital patients. continue reading
Microbes in the Gut Help Determine Risk of Tumors
Transferring the gut microbes from a mouse with colon tumors to germ-free mice makes those mice prone to getting tumors as well, according to the results of a study published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The work has implications for human health because it indicates the risk of colorectal cancer may well have a microbial component. continue reading
Clotting Gene Gives Clue to Black Heart Disease
Black Americans are twice as likely to develop heart disease as white Americans, and a gene may yield a clue as to why, a new study has found.continue reading
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