E-Cigarettes? E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that look like cigarettes and deliver an aerosol of nicotine and other chemicals. These devices are largely unregulated, with no effective controls on marketing them to minors. Despite industry claims that it markets only to adults, the percentage of 12-18 year olds who use e-cigarettes doubled from 2011 to 2012.…

Don’t Mix Your Drinks! A growing trend among young adults is mixing energy drinks with alcohol. Research has shown that college students tend to drink more heavily and become more intoxicated on days they consume a combination of energy drinks and alcohol than on days when they only drink alcohol. While the United States no…

Alcohol and Acetaminophen. There were 116,395 new kidney failures, 571,414 people living with kidney failure, and 90,118 deaths from the disease in the United States in 2009. Moderate or light consumption of alcohol taken with acetaminophen may increase the risk of kidney dysfunction. Acetaminophen usage and low to moderate alcohol consumption are not considered as…

Alcohol and TV. According to a voluntary standard adopted in 2003, alcohol companies agreed not to place any ads on TV programs where more than 30% of the audience was younger than age 21. However, a survey of television programs popular with youths shows that 25% of the programs still featured ads selling alcohol. Studies…

New Knees Please! Each year in the United States, over 600,000 knee replacement surgeries are performed. Younger patients who are obese may experience the same amount of (or more) pain and functional disability as older patients. Over half of knee replacement patients under age 65 were considered technically obese compared to 43% of knee replacement…

Bacteria in Your Gut? Rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that attacks joint tissue and causes pain, affects 1.3 million Americans. Researchers have linked a species of intestinal bacteria known as Prevotella copri to the onset of rheumatoid arthritis. Of those tested, 75% of stool samples from patients newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis carried Prevotella copri…

Death in Boom Times. Historically, when economies expand, death rates increase for both middle-aged and older people; however, when economies head for recession, the death rates among these groups decrease. For every 1% point increase in GDP, death rates appear to rise by 0.36% among older people, and by 0.38% among the middle-aged. Two popular…

Global Warming and Toxic Metal? Scientists have observed that the appetites of some species of fish can increase in warmer water. Rising ocean surface temperatures caused by climate change could result in some fish accumulating greater concentrations of mercury in their bodies, posing a health risk to people who eat seafood. PLoS ONE, October 2013

Antibiotic Prescriptions! New research finds high rates of unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions for sore throats and bronchitis across the United States (US). This is despite the fact that for decades the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other organizations have pushed to reduce the inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics. Antibiotics are a class of drugs used…

Gloves and Gowns Don’t Work? Wearing gloves and gowns in intensive care units does not reduce the overall rates of acquiring methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE). These are two of the most common complications arising from hospital care, affecting an estimated 5% of inpatients. The cost of antibiotic-resistance in the United States…