At the first sign of a disease pandemic, public health officials should begin strongly communicating about the extent of the outbreak and the steps that can be taken by the public to avoid infection. That’s the recommendation of two mathematica…
Recent puzzling observations of tiny variations in nuclear decay rates have led some to question the science of using decay rates to determine the relative ages of rocks and organic materials. Scientists from the National Institute of Standards and …
SALT LAKE CITY — The Intermountain West is renowned for the beauty of its towering mountains and high deserts, but according to new research from an investigator with the University of Utah Brain Institute the region’s lofty altitudes significantly…
COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. (Wed., Sept. 1, 2010) — A cell devotes a significant amount of effort to maintaining the stability of its genome, preventing the sorts of chromosomal rearrangements characteristic of many cancers. Assays that measure the r…
Three months after SARS began its spread out of southern China, it is clear that a country’s response to the epidemic can have a major impact on the percentage of infected people who die, according to epidemiologists at the University of California, Berkeley. An analysis accepted for August publication in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases indicates that countries that quickly initiated control measures against SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) saw a slower spread and a lower fatality rate.
An international team of researchers has estimated that the fatality rate for SARS is considerably higher than some early estimates. According to a paper published online today in The Lancet, which examines data from the first nine weeks of Hong Kong’s epidemic, the case fatality rate, among those admitted to hospital, in patients 60 years of age and older is estimated to be far higher (43.3%, 95% confidence interval 35.2 to 52.4%) than those below 60 (13.2%, 95% confidence interval 9.8 to 16.8%).
The United States has a higher prevalence and lower treatment rate of serious mental illness than a number of other developed countries, according to a study published in a special edition on international health care in the May/June issue of the policy journal Health Affairs. Treatment was also to be more strongly related to the ability to pay and less to need for care in the United States than the other countries. The study analyzed data from community surveys with more than 22,000 respondents in Canada, Chile, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. All these countries, except the United States, have universal health insurance.