
Late-Breaking Health News
It’s difficult for the average person to tell if someone is having a heart attack, a bad case of indigestion, or a strained chest muscle. It turns out that doctors and emergency room personnel don’t always make the right call either. In fact, between two and eight out of every 100 people who are having a heart attack at a hospital are told they’re fine and sent home, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
However, a new definition for a heart attack from the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and World Heart Federation is expected to cut down the number of missed attacks.
According to the new definition, a person is having a heart attack if a blood test shows extremely high levels of troponin—a protein found in heart cells—plus symptoms of a heart attack or changes characteristic of one on an electrocardiogram or other imaging test.
Researchers believe that expanding the use of troponin measurements in hospitals and emergency rooms could boost by 25 percent the number of Americans diagnosed with heart attacks each year. In addition, more people suffering a heart attack will get appropriate treatments—and they’ll have better long-term survival rates.
Nearly one in 10 American children is “cyberbullied”—harassed through electronic means such as text or cell phone messages or computer-generated messages or photographs, according to a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
The study of 7,182 students in grades six through 10 found 13 percent of students said they had been physically bullied by being hit, kicked, pushed, or shoved. About a third said others had called them names, made fun of them, or teased them, and a third admitted to being bullies themselves. Eight percent said they had been bullied through computer pictures and messages; 6 percent received bullying messages on their cell phones.
Buying prescription medication online has significant risks. It’s as hard to distinguish between licensed online pharmacies and rogue sites as it is to differentiate between authentic pharmaceuticals and counterfeit drugs, according to the Center for Pharmoeconomic Studies at The University of Texas at Austin.
Case in point: The Food and Drug Administration found 11,000 Web sites claiming to be Canadian sites selling pharmaceuticals. However, only 214 pharmacies in Canada sell pharmaceuticals over the Web. The other 10,000-plus sites were located in Asia and Mexico.
To ensure a site is legit, look for the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites seal.
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