The American health care sector accounts for 8 percent of the country`s carbon dioxide emissions, according to a first-of-its-kind calculation of health care`s carbon footprint. ...

The scientific ability to quickly and accurately identify species through DNA "barcoding" is being embraced and applied by a growing legion of global authorities — from medical and agricultural researchers to police and customs authorities to palaeontologists and others. Some 350 experts from 50 nations gathering in Mexico for their 3rd global meeting will outline the latest creati...

Damp environments, poorly maintained heating and air-conditioning systems and carpeting may contribute to poor indoor air quality, according to experts at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) in Miami Beach, Fla. Americans spend about 90 percent of their time indoors, where they are repeatedly exposed to indoor allergens and airborne particles that c...

Being warm enough at home might lead to better health, according to a new review appearing online in the American Journal of Public Health. Hilary Thomson, of the Medical Research Council`s Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow, Scotland, and her colleagues combined the results of 40 studies from the 1930s through 2007. Improvements in general, mental, and respiratory health followed i...

According to the Institute of Medicine, more than 90 million Americans suffer from low health literacy, a mismatch between patients` abilities to understand healthcare information and providers` abilities to communicate complex medical information in an understandable manner. In two recent studies, researchers at the University of Missouri found that two groups — those with limited English p...

Low alcohol consumption is bad for your health in general. Researchers writing in BioMed Central`s open access journal Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation studied the relationship between alcohol consumption and health to test the current theory which suggests improved health is responsible for the link found between low alcohol consumption and increased wages. Johan Jarl, from Lund Univers...

Although advances in medical care have improved standards of living over time, humans aren`t entirely sheltered from the forces of natural selection, a new study shows. "There is this idea that because medicine has been so good at reducing mortality rates, that means that natural selection is no longer operating in humans," said Stephen Stearns of Yale University. A recent analysis by St...

Mangosteen juice has anti-inflammatory properties which could prove to be valuable in preventing the development of heart disease and diabetes in obese patients. A study, published in BioMed Central`s open access Nutrition Journal, describes how the juice of the exotic `superfruit` lowered levels of C-reactive protein. Dr. Jay Udani, M.D. from Medicus Research, California, worked with a team of re...

You might watch your daily calorie intake or glance over nutritional information on food packages, but do you do the same for your pet? Dr. Susan Nelson, a veterinarian and assistant professor of clinical sciences at Kansas State University, said there are several guidelines to follow when feeding your pet to ensure that it maintains good health. Just like human food packages, many cat and dog foo...

Retirees who transition from full-time work into a temporary or part-time job experience fewer major diseases and are able to function better day-to-day than people who stop working altogether, according to a national study. And the findings were significant even after controlling for people`s physical and mental health before retirement. The study`s authors refer to this transition between career...