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AACCA
Annual Spring Conference to be Held in Las Vegas
 Join
the AACCA in Las Vegas April 13th-15th. The conference
starts at 8am Tuesday, April 13th and ends at Noon, Thursday, April
15th. Earn double CE Credit. Click
here to learn more and register online.
Register
online before January 31, 2004 and receive $100 off your
registration.
We
will be staying at the Las Vega Hilton. Visit
their website and make your room reservation online.
Study:
PET/CT Scans May Be Better Than MRIs
In
a new study, German researchers have found that a combination of two
body-imaging techniques can more accurately tell doctors how far a
patient's cancer has spread than full-body MRI scans.
Their
study compared full-body PET/CT scan technology with full-body
magnetic resonance imaging in 98 cancer patients with tumors in such
places as the lungs, head, neck, thyroid, gastrointestinal tract,
liver and bones.
Read
CNN's
complete coverage on this new information to learn more.
Shy,
Stressed and Susceptible: Why Introverts Are More Vulnerable to
Viruses, Illness
 Scientists
believe they are close to answering a question that has baffled them
for centuries:
Why are people who are introverted, or shy, more vulnerable to
infectious diseases, including AIDS, than people who are extroverted
and more outgoing?
Ever
since the second century physicians have wondered why personality
should have any impact on health, particularly why someone of
"melancholic temperament," as it was called in the days of
ancient Greece, should get sick easier, and have a tougher time
recovering, than your typical happy-go-lucky life of the party.
"Physicians
who had a keen eye spotted this many, many years ago," says
Steve Cole of the AIDS Institute at the University of California,
Los Angeles. Cole and his colleagues have been searching for the
biological mechanism that explains that, and they think they've
found it.
Read
the ABC
News article on this fascinating discovery.
FDA
Investigating Reports of Unlicensed Flu Vaccine
 The
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received reports of potential
distribution of unlicensed influenza vaccine in the United States.
The Agency is aggressively working with State health authorities and
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate
the source and quality of influenza vaccine being made available
through unusual suppliers.
Specifically,
FDA has received reports of offers to sell unlicensed influenza
vaccine in the U.S., and of individuals who are not licensed health
care professionals administering questionable influenza vaccine in
apparent efforts to take advantage of reports that influenza vaccine
is in short supply. FDA is actively investigating these reports and
taking prompt action, when appropriate.
Click
here to read more on the FDA web site.
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Better
Tracking in Mad Cow Wake?
If
there's a bright side to the U.S. mad cow scare, it's that it could
speed the nation's move to a centralized system that electronically
tracks animals as they move from fields to feed lots to food stores.
Efforts to create a centralized database, which exist in some
countries, have been slowed so far by disputes over who would maintain
the database and who would bear its cost.
Learn
more about the UDSA's
proposed tracking system via their web site and on CBS
News.
Meningitis
Vaccine Shortages Possible in 2004
The
country could face shortages of a popular childhood meningitis vaccine
next year because of production problems, federal officials said
Thursday.
The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends a
four-dose shot schedule for all children starting at age 2 months,
said it won't change its recommendation while there is still enough
vaccine.
Read
CNN's
and the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention's updated information on this
potential problem.
New
Risks Associated With Bypass Surgery
Doing
bypass surgery on a beating heart instead of using a heart-lung
machine is far more likely to result in clogging of the new arteries
within just a few months, a study found.
Three
months after so-called off-pump surgery, 12 percent of the grafted
blood vessels were blocked, compared with 2 percent in patients whose
hearts were stopped while they were hooked up to a heart-lung machine.
Read
more about this important study on MSNBC's web site.
Study:
Football Hits Similar to Crashes
 Football
players were struck in the head 30 to 50 times per game and regularly
endured blows similar to those experienced in car crashes, according
to a Virginia Tech study that fitted players' helmets with the same
kinds of sensors that trigger auto air bags.
University
researchers are compiling a database of blows to the head their
starting players endured this year, with plans to study how much
trauma the brain can take. The study adds to a growing body of
research into concussions, the blows to the head that helped end the
careers of quarterbacks Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys and Steve
Young of the San Francisco 49ers, among others.
Click
here to learn more on the Yahoo News web site.
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