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Legal frontiersMan addicted to video games successfully challenges end-user agreement
A Hawaii man who sued a company over his crippling addiction to the computer game Lineage II -- he claimed that his compulsive urge to play the game caused him to sink more than 20,000 hours into it -- has managed to defeat the end-user agreement that said he had no right to bring the case to begin with; the decision may have lasting significance in the software license wars
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Public health"Smart Potty": medical check ups, automatic seat-lowering
Japanese "intelligent" toilets offer users an array of functions -- heated seats, water jets with pressure and temperature controls, hot-air bottom dryers, perfume bursts, ambient background music, and noise-masking audio effects for the easily embarrassed; the latest model also offers instant health check-up every time a user answers the call of nature
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Public healthNDM-1 may herald the end of antibiotic era
Researchers warn that the spread of a drug-resistant bacterial gene could herald the end of antibiotics; the bleak prediction follows his research into a drug-resistant bacterial gene called NDM-1, or New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase 1, which was first identified in India; researchers identified 143 cases of NDM-1 across India and Pakistan, but 37 -- a surprisingly high figure -- in the United Kingdom
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Superbug found in British patients returning from treatment in Asia
An antibiotic-resistant superbug has been found in British patients traveling to Asia for cosmetic surgery, cancer treatment, and transplants and returning to Britain for further care; the bug was found attached to E.coli bacteria, but the enzyme can easily jump from one bacterium to another and experts fear it will start attaching itself to more dangerous diseases causing them to become resistant to antibiotics; in Many Asian countries health standards in many Asian countries are poor and regulations are weak, and antibiotics are available to buy without prescription; this is thought to have encouraged resistance to develop as many infections are exposed to the drugs without being properly killed
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The water we drinkKeeping water clean by using sound to filter bacterial spores
Acoustic trapping can remove bacterial spores from water, according to a new set of experiments funded by the U.S. Army; the idea is to allow the water to flow through a cavity in which a transducer sets up an acoustic standing wave
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BioterrorismResearchers sequence the human body louse
As well as irritations from infestations with body lice or the closely related human head lice, the body louse may carry harmful bacteria that cause epidemic typhus and are classified as a bioterrorism agent; U.S. and Swiss scientists have sequenced the louse genome -- a major step toward controlling the disease-vector insect
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The food we eatFood safety products: global demand to reach $2.9 billion in 2014
Two trends have contributed to a sharp increase in the number of people who fall victim to food-borne illnesses in the United States and other advanced economies: the centralization of food production and distribution domestically, and the rapid growth of imports of food stuffs and food ingredients from countries in which health and safety standards are weak or are not being enforced; companies which offer food safety products and solutions benefit
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Allowing for important medical research while keeping medical data private
Algorithm developed to protect patients' personal information while preserving the data's utility in large-scale medical studies; a Vanderbilt team designed an algorithm that searches a database for combinations of diagnosis codes that distinguish a patient; it then substitutes a more general version of the codes -- for instance, postmenopausal osteoporosis could become osteoporosis -- to ensure each patient's altered record is indistinguishable from a certain number of other patients. Researchers could then access this parallel, de-identified database for gene-association studies
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The water we drinkStudents design innovative wastewater treatment process for removing pharmaceuticals
More and more pharmaceuticals end up in countries' water supply; four Canadian chemical engineering students have designed an advanced wastewater treatment system which would remove 90 percent of pharmaceuticals and endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) using commercially available technology
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Haiti disasterDead bodies in Haiti do not pose health risk
Health experts say that the haunting scenes of hundreds of dead bodies in the street should not be confused with health risks; dead bodies cannot transmit communicable diseases because viruses and parasites die with the host; the for rescue workers is to wear gloves, handle the bodies with care, and bury bodies before they begin to decompose – and away from sources of drinking water
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First U.S. national health security plan released
HHS releases the U.S. first-ever National Health Security Strategy; Tte new strategy outlines areas for federal, state, and local government agencies and nongovernment groups to focus on over the next four years
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Food facilities failing to register with FDA
The Bioterrorism Act of 2002 requires food facilities -- exempting farms, retail facilities, and restaurants -- to register with the FDA; the FDA had expected about 420,000 domestic and foreign food facilities to register because of the 2002 law; according to an FDA spokesman, as of 14 December, 392,217 facilities had registered -- 157,395 in the United States and 234,822 foreign facilities that export to the United States
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BiodefenseObama administration to review U.S. response to health threats
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that she ordered the evaluation of the U.S. responses to health threats in part because the H1N1 vaccine shortage had highlighted the nation's dependence on antiquated technology
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The food we eatFDA releases updated Food Code
The Food and Drug Administration has released the updated FDA Food Code; there are more than 1 million restaurants, retail food stores, and vending and food service operations in institutions such as schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and child care centers in the United States; the Food Code provides all levels of government with practical, science-based guidance regarding regulation of these food-handling organizations, and with manageable, enforceable provisions for mitigating known risks of food-borne illness
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H1N1 updateClinics increase security owing to anger over H1N1 vaccine shortage
Clinics around the country report anger among people who come to be vaccinated, only to find H1N1 vaccine shortages; some clinics bolster security
