It’s getting much more dangerous to walk where you’re going. The Governor’s Highway Safety Association reports that pedestrian fatalities are up by more than 50 percent in the last decade, to the highest number since the early 1990’s. Most of the increase was at night, when about 75 percent of pedestrian fatalities occur. Experts blame both distracted drivers and pedestrians, and the fact that a third of the pedestrians killed are legally drunk.
Prostate cancer is notoriously difficult through the standard PSA screening test. But now a report in Scientific Reports details an experimental urine test that has the potential of accurately finding prostate cancer while eliminating false positives. The test uses RNA present in the cells and also tracks dietary byproducts in the urine that are present only when prostate cancer is present. Larger studies will be needed before the test could be made available.
And finally…your smartphone may be giving you a headache. A new study in the journal Neurology Clinical Practice shows that people who are heavy smartphone users are more likely to take pain medication for headaches, but get less relief. Smartphone users are also more likely to see auras, a warning sensation before the onset of a migraine. Scientists don’t know why smartphones and headaches are connected, but they speculate that looking down at a phone creates a much greater likelihood of poor posture—what’s called “text neck.”
Medical Notes 20-12: Week of March 22, 2020
It’s getting much more dangerous to walk where you’re going. The Governor’s Highway Safety Association reports that pedestrian fatalities are up by more than 50 percent in the last decade, to the highest number since the early 1990’s. Most of the increase was at night, when about 75 percent of pedestrian fatalities occur. Experts blame both distracted drivers and pedestrians, and the fact that a third of the pedestrians killed are legally drunk.
Prostate cancer is notoriously difficult through the standard PSA screening test. But now a report in Scientific Reports details an experimental urine test that has the potential of accurately finding prostate cancer while eliminating false positives. The test uses RNA present in the cells and also tracks dietary byproducts in the urine that are present only when prostate cancer is present. Larger studies will be needed before the test could be made available.
And finally…your smartphone may be giving you a headache. A new study in the journal Neurology Clinical Practice shows that people who are heavy smartphone users are more likely to take pain medication for headaches, but get less relief. Smartphone users are also more likely to see auras, a warning sensation before the onset of a migraine. Scientists don’t know why smartphones and headaches are connected, but they speculate that looking down at a phone creates a much greater likelihood of poor posture—what’s called “text neck.”
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