Health Research: Bone like 3-D silicon synthesized for potential use with medical devices ♦ Targeting bacteria in the gut might help burn ♦ Blood test could identify diabetes decades before it develops

Targeting bacteria in the gut might help burn, trauma patients Burn patients experience dramatic changes in the 100 trillion bacteria inside the gastrointestinal tract, research shows. The findings of a new study has now shown that there was an increase in potentially harmful bacteria, and decrease in beneficial bacteria. The findings suggest that burn patients might benefit from treatment with probiotics.

Blood test could identify diabetes decades before it develops Scientists show for the first time that a small molecule circulates in the blood of people who are in the early stages of type 1 diabetes. A simple blood test could detect this biological marker years, maybe decades, before symptoms develop.

Bone like 3-D silicon synthesized for potential use with medical devices A new approach for better integrating medical devices with biological systems has been developed by scientists with the first skeleton-like silicon spicules ever prepared via chemical processes.

Reform to resident physicians' work hours does not improve surgical patient safety Work-hour restrictions for resident physicians, revised nationally four years ago largely to protect patients against physician trainees' fatigue-related errors, have not had the desired effect of lowering postoperative complication rates in several common surgical specialties.

Army suicide attempts, risk profiles for enlisted soldiers, officers A new analysis of US Army data details rates of suicide attempts during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and researchers have identified risk factors for suicide attempts by enlisted soldiers and officers.