Health News: Smoking in pregnancy 'affects boys' fitness in later life' ♦ Over testing for diabetes patients reaps negative rewards ♦ Less than half of US hospitals require flu shots for staff

Combining adult stem cells with hormone may speed bone fracture healing A combination of adult stem cells and parathyroid hormone significantly increased new bone formation in laboratory animals and may speed the healing process for human bone fractures caused by osteoporosis.

Less than half of US hospitals require flu shots for staff, despite risk to patients Within weeks, flu will start spreading. Multiple national recommendations urge all healthcare workers to get the influenza vaccination, to reduce the chances they will pass the virus on to their patients. But a new study finds that more than half of hospitals still don't require this.

Smoking in pregnancy 'affects boys' fitness in later life' Mothers who smoke are putting more than their own health at risk.

Over testing for diabetes patients reaps negative rewards A national trend toward overtesting glycated hemoglobin levels in adult patients with type 2 diabetes has been uncovered by a recent study. Overtesting causes redundancy and waste says the study team, adding unnecessary costs and time burden for patients and providers. In addition, excessive testing can result in overtreatment with hypoglycemic drugs, adding additional cost and potential health complications.

10/31/2013 Daily Health News: Virus Fights Immune System, Flu Shots Help Heart, Skid Row Cancer Study,

Flu Virus Wipes Out First Wave of Immune Response

The immune system has the capacity to "remember" particular viruses and store those details in B memory cells that reside in the lungs to help ward off future infections. But a new study shows the flu virus takes advantage of this and uses the way the memory cells store its details to recognize and kill them, thus wiping out the immune system's first wave of defense against virus re-infection.Continue Reading

Flu Shots Tied to Lower Risk of Cardiac Events

Influenza vaccination was associated with a reduced risk of major adverse cardiovascular events among patients at high risk for heart disease, a meta-analysis showed.continue Reading

New Technology Lets Doctors Watch Patients From Afar

Many people carry or own devices that can act as sensors. Smartphones have accelerometers that can measure physical activities and advanced cameras that can provide evidence for interpretation. These devices are becoming more sophisticated; Microsoft's Kinect camera, for instance, can estimate blood pressure based on how flushed a user appears. Continue Reading

Decades Later, Condemnation for a Skid Row Cancer Study

A medical researcher from Columbia University, Dr. Perry Hudson, made the skid row alcoholics in Lower Manhattan an offer: If they agreed to surgical biopsies of their prostates, they would get a clean bed and three square meals for a few days, plus free medical care and treatment if they had prostate cancer. It was the 1950s, and Dr. Hudson was trying to prove that prostate cancer could be caught early and cured. But he did not warn the men he was recruiting that the biopsies to search for cancer could cause impotence and rectal tears. Or that the treatment should cancer be found — surgery to remove their prostates and, often, their testicles — had not been proven to prolong life.  Continue Reading