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Patient Satisfaction At Discharge From Hospital Improved By Hospital Software
When hospitalists use discharge communication software, patients and the outpatient doctors who carry out the care have better perceptions of the quality of the discharge process, according to new research published in the August issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine.
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La. Gov. Jindal Signs Law Expanding Protections For Health Workers Who Refuse Services
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) on Tuesday signed into law a bill (HB 517) that expands health care provider "conscience" protections beyond abortion to also include refusals to provide emergency contraception or participate in certain other procedures, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. The law provides job protection and legal immunity to "any person" who refuses to provide abortion services, distribute "abortifacient drugs," work on research involving embryonic stem cells or cloning, or participate in physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia. According to the Times-Picayune, the provision that refers to abortifacient drugs is intended to include EC but not other forms of birth control.Jindal"s administration said the law is necessary to protect the individual rights of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care workers whose personal beliefs might conflict with their professional duties. Opponents of the law, including the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the American Civil Liberties Union, argue that it will restrict patient access to accurate information and timely services (Barrow/Anderson, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 7/8).
News of the day
New Safefood Campaign Warns Consumers Of Food Hygiene Dangers In The Home
safefood today launched a new advertising campaign to highlight common and widespread poor food hygiene practices in the home as new research (1) revealed that 84% of people did not thoroughly wash their hands after handling raw chicken. The campaign titled "Don"t Take Risks" focuses on key messages of proper hand washing, proper cleaning of cooking utensils and thorough cooking, steps all of which can help minimise the risks of food poisoning in the home. The research also revealed that 72% failed to properly wash a knife used in preparing raw chicken before its reuse on salad vegetables, and 56% did not check if the chicken was cooked properly.
Public Health

Saved By Junk DNA

VIB researchers linked to K.U.Leuven and Harvard University show that stretches of DNA previously believed to be useless "junk" DNA play a vital role in the evolution of our genome. They found that unstable pieces of junk DNA help tuning gene activity and enable organisms to quickly adapt to changes in their environments. The results will be published in the reputed scientific ournal Science. Junk DNA "Most people do not realize that all our genes only comprise about 3% of the total human genome. The rest is basically one large black box", says Kevin Verstrepen, heading the research team. "Why do we have this DNA, what is it doing?". Scientists used to believe that most of the DNA outside of genes, the so-called non-coding DNA, is useless trash that has sneaked into our genome and refuses to leave. One commonly known example of such "junk DNA" are the so-called tandem repeats, short stretches of DNA that are repeated head-to-tail. "At first sight, it may seem unlikely that this stutter-DNA has any biological function", says Marcelo Vinces, one of the lead authors on the paper. "On the other hand, it seems hard to believe that nature would foster such a wasteful system". Unstable repeats The international team of scientists found that stretches of tandem repeats influence the activity of neighboring genes. The repeats determine how tightly the local DNA is wrapped around specific proteins called "nucleosomes", and this packaging structure dictates to what extent genes can be activated. Interestingly, tandem repeats are very unstable - the number of repeats changes frequently when the DNA is copied. These changes affect the local DNA packaging, which in turn alters gene activity. In this way, unstable junk DNA allows fast shifts in gene activity, which may allow organisms to tune the activity of genes to match changing environments -a vital principle for survival in the endless evolutionary race. Evolution in test tubes To further test their theory, the researchers conducted a complex experiment aimed at mimicking biological evolution, using yeast cells as Darwinian guinea pigs. Their results show that when a repeat is present near a gene, it is possible to select yeast mutants that show vastly increased activity of this gene. However, when the repeat region was removed, this fast evolution was impossible. "If this was the real world" the researchers say "only cells with the repeats would be able to swiftly adapt to changes, thereby beating their repeat-less counterparts in the game of evolution. Their junk DNA saved their lives". Sooike Stoops VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology)


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