Dua’s layer, a new layer of the human cornea. A new discovery to the human anatomy is just 15 microns thick, but it will make eye surgery safer and simpler. Harminder Dua, a professor at the University of Nottingham, recently found a new layer in the human cornea, and he’s calling it Dua’s layer.    

Handwashing is the most effective thing one can do to reduce the spread of infectious disease. When consulting the CDC’s official guide to handwashing you might be surprised to learn that they don’t distinguish between using warm or cold water.They say what is important is that you use soap, that you scrub well (including the [...]

If a blood screen detects five or more nanograms of THC er milliliter of blood in a person’s bloodstream, that individual is considered legally under the influence of drugs. Late last year Colorado and Washington state each passed ballot measures legalizing marijuana for recreational use. While one legal challenge was resolved another was just beginning. [...]

An elderly Chinese woman participates in a survey on dementia. China had more people living with Alzheimer’s disease than any other country in the world in 2010. They had twice as many cases of Alzheimer’s and other kinds of dementia as the World Health Organization thought.    

Cosmetic surgery When people who were instructed to think about their own mortality they were more receptive to the idea of having cosmetic surgery than those who weren’t (3.57 versus 2.96 on a seven-point scale). This suggests that fear of death is a motivator behind patients’ decisions to have tummy tucks, says Kim-Pong Tam of Hong Kong University [...]

The study finds correlation between higher illness absences and lower ventilation rates in California elementary schools. A new study by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has confirmed that opening windows to let in fresh air might be good for you. Analyzing extensive data on ventilation rates collected from more than 150 classrooms [...]

Doctor making a house call. A house call is done from the comfort of your home combined with the personal attention of your doctor. There are two key words here that really drive the point home–home and your. Your doctor provides care in your house. The house call is also, in many ways, a reflection of [...]

The old looking after the even older in China. Sixty-eight year old Zhang Guosheng spends his days caring for an 81-year-old fellow villager — washing his clothes, bringing meals to his bed and keeping him company — a routine he will keep up until he himself needs the type of care he is now providing. [...]

A recent colonoscopy for Deirdre Yapalater’s at a surgical center near her home on Long Island went smoothly: she was whisked from pre-op to an operating room where a gastroenterologist, assisted by an anesthesiologist and a nurse, performed the routine cancer screening procedure in less than an hour. The test found nothing worrisome but racked up what [...]

Women who regularly consumed probiotics through yogurt showed altered brain function. Researchers from UCLA now have the first evidence that bacteria ingested in food can affect brain function in humans. They found that women who regularly consumed beneficial bacteria known as probiotics through yogurt showed altered brain function, both while in a resting state and [...]