Hot MedFax

Is there a "type" of person who smokes e-cigarettes? According to a new study , yes.  Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that people living with depression, anxiety or other mental health conditions are twice as likely to have tried e-cigarettes and three times as likely to be current users of the controversial battery-powered nicotine-delivery devices, as people without mental health disorders, newswise.com reports. They are also more susceptible to trying e-cigarettes in the future in the belief that doing so will help them quit, scientists said. The FDA has not approved e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid. The jury is still out on whether these nicotine-vapor-producing items are harmful.  In the beginning many thought they were much less dangerous -- or cancer-causing -- than regular cigarettes, since you weren't inhaling nicotene into your lungs. But new studies are finding that some of the flavors these e-cigs co...

So your daughter in a bikini on Facebook has you furious, and worried she'll never get a job after college? Relax, say experts.  This is not the privacy issue to worry about. Many privacy discussions follow a similar pattern, and involve the same kinds of arguments, according to newswise.com. "It’s commonplace to hear that privacy is dead, that people — especially kids — don’t care about privacy, that people with nothing to hide have nothing to fear, and that privacy is bad for business," the Web site reports. “These claims are common, but they’re myths,” said Neil M. Richards, JD, privacy law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, at newswise.com.   “These privacy myths are not only false, they get in the way of the kind of important conversations we need to have about personal information in a digital age. If we continue to believe privacy myths, if we think about privacy as outdated or impossible, our digital revolution may have no rule...

Guess what?  Those antibacterial soaps we use so much -- and feel so safe about?  Maybe not so much. The Food and Drug Administration says there is no evidence that antibacterial chemicals used in liquid soaps and washes help prevent the spread of germs, and there is some evidence they may pose health risks, according to The Washington Post. The agency said it is revisiting the safety of chemicals like  triclosan in light of recent studies suggesting they can interfere with hormone levels and spur the growth of drug-resistant bacteria, the  AP reports. In fact, the very chemicals supposed to prevent us from getting sick may actually make us sick.  The AP notes that, u nder its proposed rule released Monday, the agency will require manufacturers to prove that their antibacterial soaps and body washes are safe and more effective than plain soap and water. If companies cannot demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of their products, they would have to b...

You, like I, must have heard all the stories about how robotic surgery has revolutionzed prostate cancer surgery, or prostatectomies, and hysterectomies (allowing patients to go home the same day), and many other surgeries.  I've even written about it.  But studies now point to the scary fact that this kind of surgery may not be so safe, after all. The New York Times reports a surgery for endometriosis, where the woman was rushed back to the hospital 11 days later with a torn rectum and colon, reinstating her as an inpatient for five weeks, according to smartplanet.com.  Looks like that didn't help anyone, not hospitals trying to save money on readmissions, not the patient, not the doctor, or the surgical team.  The only one who didn't lose out? The robot. Many industry experts believe incidents like this are not reported, or are somehow "misfiled," leading to a story published in The Journal for Healthcare Quality, where researchers claim there is evidence ...

Where do you stand on genetically modified food ?  If you're like most Americans, you'd rather not -- or at least know when you're eating it. But the agriculture industry has been successful in fighting the distribution of this knowledge, using big bucks and political allies (read: Congressmen they sponsor). But last month Vermont became the first state to pass a bill requiring "labeling of foods produced using these genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, and thankfully, my home state, Connecticut. Right to Know GMO, a self-described grass-roots coalition with members in 37 states, counts 26 states that have introduced labeling bills, passed its own, according to Dan D'Ambrosio of USA Today. Barbara Boxer, Democrat from California, always in the forefront of protecting the consumer, whether from guns or artificially assembled food, told D'Ambrosio in an e-mail, "As more and more states take action, I believe lawmakers in Washington will realize tha...