Health bulletin

Fresh blood poses fewer surgery risks

People who got old, stale blood during surgery were 30 percent more likely to die than people who got fresh blood, U.S. researchers say. Two weeks seemed the be the cutoff, with older blood causing more complications, the researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Folate good for sperm

Vitamins known as folates that prevent birth defects when consumed by women also help to keep men's sperm normal, researchers said. Men who took folic acid supplements and who ate folate-rich foods such as leafy greens had fewer abnormal sperm, the team at the University of California, Berkeley said.

Don't blame salad fad for food scares

An increase in the number of foodborne illnesses caused by contaminated spinach or lettuce over the past 35 years cannot be explained by increases in salad consumption over the same period, U.S. government researchers said. They said the findings reinforce the need for local, state and federal health authorities to monitor preparation of leafy green vegetables from the point of harvest all the way through the food preparation process.

Keep your pills out of the toilet

The recent news that medicines are detectable in our water supply is a good reminder to properly dispose of your medications. While the issue is partly one of medicine being excreted into wastewater, improper disposal of drugs down the toilet is responsible, too, says Kasey Thompson, director of patient safety at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Study: HGH no benefit to athletes

People who take human growth hormone in the hope of boosting athletic performance are not only breaking the law and risking their health, but likely are not even achieving their objective, U.S. researchers say. While some reports show that some illegal steroids may help athletes bulk up and train harder, human growth hormone is not one of them, the report in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests.

Doctors need syphilis training

Syphilis is making a comeback in developed countries, spurred by illicit drug use and high-risk sexual behaviors, and many doctors are unprepared to recognize and treat it, U.S. researchers said. They said syphilis has been on the rise since the beginning of the 21st century in high-income countries, but because the disease had been well controlled in the 1990s, doctors may not be screening for it.

FDA to review LASIK surgery

U.S. health regulators plan to review whether a popular type of laser eye surgery is improving patients' lives, a senior Food and Drug Administration official said. Dr. Daniel Schultz, director of FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said a number of concerns have been raised concerning patient satisfaction with the vision correction procedure, known as laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis, or LASIK.

Hospital superbug tests effective

Testing every hospital patient to find and treat carriers of a drug-resistant bacteria can curtail outbreaks of dangerous infections, according to a new study, but some researchers questioned whether universal screening is the solution to the problem. The authors of the four-year study conducted in three suburban Chicago hospitals concluded that universal patient screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, reduced infection rates by 70 percent.