Summertime is just around the corner, and dog days at the beach may be part of many families' vacation plans. But parents may be wondering about how clean the water is. Water-testing technology so far has been inadequate in testing for bacteria because it's not accessible enough to check all swimming spots or it can't keep up with quickly changing conditions at some sites. Now a new, faster method for testing may be available from researchers whose paper strip method can detect E. coli in minutes. Check for safe and clear beaches ahead of time. Lead author John Brennan, a ch...

Not all patients with chronic migraines are aided with over the counter or prescription medication. For some, another option may be mild non-invasive brain stimulation.

Controlling your diabetes takes 24-hour focus and a helpful network of friends and family. The support of your loved ones can make a huge difference when it comes to your diabetes treatment. People with type 2 diabetes may have worse blood sugar control if they think their family is unsupportive . Give support to your diabetic family members. When it comes to managing any disease, including diabetes, you cannot do it alone. Not only is it important to have the guidance of a team of health care experts, but also the support of your family. In a recent study, Vanderbilt Univer...

Media multitasking is becoming ever more popular but some studies have shown that our cognitive abilities may be reduced by it. If multitasking actually reduces productivity, why are more and more people doing it? A new study suggests that the cause may be emotional. Students self-reported that they felt higher levels of emotional satisfaction after media multitasking despite being less focused. You may work and study more effectively without multi-tasking. "There's this myth among some people that multitasking makes them more productive," said Zheng Wang, PhD, assistant profess...

If your child is acting up at school or struggling to focus or learn, it may not necessarily be a psychiatric condition or learning disability. They might just be really, really sleepy.

Researchers are competitive types. They have to be to compete for funding for their salaries, lab equipment, even pencils they use. Two researchers have vastly different views about a recently published study on breast cancer radiation therapy. En garde...Fence!

While your newborn baby likely steals your heart from the moment you see him, you also want to be sure his heart is in tip-top working order. A simple screening may tell you. A recent study from England has provided evidence supporting the practice of screening newborn babies for heart defects at birth using a method called pulse oximetry . Screening for heart defects is recommended for newborns. Dr. Shakila Thangaratinam , a clinical senior lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London, led the research project that pulled together the results of 13 individual studies looking a...

Two medications commonly used to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have been found to provide equal treatment benefit in the first long-term study comparing the drugs.  Injectable drugs Avastin ( bevacizumab ), an off-label cancer medication most frequently used to treat AMD, and Lucentis ( ranibizumab ), approved to treat AMD by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2006, both provided similar vision improvements at two years. Get regular vision exams to pinpoint vision loss early. Maureen Maguire, PhD, corresponding author and director of the Center for Preventi...

After a lumpectomy you can choose - 1) 5-7 weeks of 5-day-a-week radiation treatments, or 2) surgical implanting of a radiation tube ( brachytherapy ) that stays in place for 5-7 days - and you're done. Easy choice, right? Not so fast. Women with early breast cancer who choose to have brachytherapy following a lumpectomy are far more likely to need a later mastectomy than women who had so-called whole breast irradiation. Those who received brachytherapy are also more likely to have more post-surgical complications and radiation toxicity.  Ask you doctor the risks and benefits o...

Stress can make people look tired, worn out and even older than they really are. It turns out, that stress from being around violence during childhood can start the aging process on a cellular level too. A recent study that looks at the aging of DNA cells finds evidence that major stressors, like acts of domestic violence, can effect kids as young as 5 years old. Report violent acts, especially when a child is involved! Idan Shalev PhD., is working on his post-doctoral studies in psychology and neuroscience at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, and his resear...