Nearly a third of hospitalized Covid-19 patients experienced some type of altered mental function — ranging from confusion to delirium to unresponsiveness — in the largest study to date of neurological symptoms among coronavirus patients in an American hospital system. And patients with altered mental function had significantly worse medical outcomes, according to the study,…
In journal articles, conferences, congressional hearings and meetings with regulators, Carter Catlett Williams illuminated the miseries of nursing home residents with the sympathetic and descriptive powers of a novelist. She told stories like that of Miss Cohen, whose restrictive diet prohibited the “warm, fragrant chunk of challah” she had eaten on Friday nights her whole…
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Dr. Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice on Monday for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus, a breakthrough the Nobel committee said had “made possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives.” “For the first time…
The 12-year-old girl had no bruises on her body. She was not malnourished, according to prosecutors. She had just eaten before her mother found her unconscious in late August in their home in rural Georgia. But she had a lice infestation so severe that the doctors who treated her the day she died said it…
Many people point to Portugal as an example for the United States to emulate in dealing with illicit drugs. But Portugal’s experience is often misunderstood. Although it decriminalized the use of all illicit drugs in small amounts in 2001, including heroin and cocaine, that’s different from making them legal. And it did not decriminalize drug…
Ronald Braunstein was destined for a sterling career as a classical music conductor when it was abruptly derailed by mental illness. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Mr. Braunstein had made his debut at Lincoln Center at age 20 and three years later became the first American to win the prestigious Herbert von Karajan International…
EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern University researchers are casting a net for nanoparticles. The team has discovered a new, rapid method for fabricating nanoparticles from a simple, self-assembling polymer. The novel method presents new possibilities for diverse applications, including water purification, diagnostics and rapidly generating vaccine formulations, which typically require many different types of molecules to…
For certain surgical procedures, can a correlation be shown between the volume of services provided per hospital and the quality of treatment results? This is the question addressed in eight commissions that the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) awarded to the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) in Germany. An IQWiG rapid report…
Michael Houghton was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine today in recognition of his discovery of the hepatitis C (HCV) virus. His discovery with colleagues Qui-Lim Choo and George Kuo in 1989 opened a new field of viral hepatitis research that led to improved blood safety, and hepatitis C treatment to the…
Antibiotics may be a good choice for some, but not all, patients with appendicitis, according to results from the Comparing Outcomes of antibiotic Drugs and Appendectomy (CODA) Trial reported today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The findings indicated that antibiotics were not worse than surgery when measuring overall health status, allowing most people…