Blood poisoning is still fatal in more than 50% of cases, but can be cured if treated at an early stage. The highest priority is therefore to act quickly. For this reason, doctors usually administer antibiotics even in the event of a suspicion of blood poisoning, without first ascertaining whether it is actually a bacterial sepsis, which in turn greatly increases the risk of resistance to antibiotics developing.
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Smartphone Apps May Help Study Cardiovascular Health, Behaviors
In a study published online by JAMA Cardiology, Euan A. Ashley, M.B., Ch.B., D.Phil., of the Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., and colleagues assessed the feasibility of measuring physical activity, fitness, and sleep from smartphones and to gain insight into activity patterns associated with life satisfaction and self-reported disease.
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Artificial Beta Cells
Researchers led by ETH Professor Martin Fussenegger at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE) in Basel have produced artificial beta cells using a straightforward engineering approach. The artificial beta cells can do everything that natural ones do: they measure the glucose concentration in the blood and produce enough insulin to effectively lower the blood sugar level.
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Digital Microbes for Munching Yourself Healthy
Hundreds of different bacterial species live in the human gut, helping us to digest our food. The metabolic processes of these bacteria are not only tremendously important to our health - they are also tremendously complex. A research team at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg has taken an important step in modelling the complexity of the human gut's bacterial communities - the microbiome - on the computer.
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It's All in the Eyes: Women and Men Really do See Things Differently
Women and men look at faces and absorb visual information in different ways, which suggests there is a gender difference in understanding visual cues, according to a team of scientists that included psychologists from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). The researchers used an eye tracking device on almost 500 participants at the Science Museum over a five-week period to monitor and judge how much eye contact they felt comfortable with while looking at a face on a computer screen.
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Chronically Ill Women Underusing Online Self-Care Resources
Barriers to internet use may be preventing chronically ill middle-aged and older women from being as healthy as they otherwise could be, new research suggests. The study conducted by researchers from the Oregon State University College of Public Health and Human Sciences and the University of Georgia analyzed data from hundreds of women age 44 and older with at least one chronic condition and found that 35 percent of them didn't use the internet at all.
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Emergency Video Telemedicine Positively Impacts Newborn Resuscitation
Approximately 10 percent of newborns require help breathing after birth, and 1 in 1,000 newborns require more intensive resuscitation measures. These infrequent, high-risk deliveries may present challenges to community hospitals less familiar with advanced newborn resuscitation interventions. Telemedicine consultations are a good option to help meet these challenges and positively impact patient care, according to a study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
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