NEWS
By Stephanie Desmon | August 27, 2009
Skyrocketing numbers of expensive medical imaging procedures - from CT scans to nuclear stress tests - are not just straining the nation's health care system, but are exposing patients to significant amounts of potentially cancer-causing radiation even though little research has been done into whether those tests actually make people healthier, a new study suggests. The tests, say the study's authors, may be doing more harm than good. "One reason why these tests are being used more is they're getting better and better and they're an extremely helpful part of diagnosis and treatment," said Dr. Reza Fazel, a cardiologist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and the lead author of a study in today's New England Journal of Medicine.
NEWS
By Kim Murphy | December 2, 2006
LONDON -- An Italian KGB expert who warned Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko that his life might be in danger the day he was poisoned has a "significant quantity" of radioactive polonium-210 in his body, authorities said yesterday. British health officials also said they had detected a small quantity in a close relative of Litvinenko's, though neither of the new victims has shown signs of illness. The revelations came as police zeroed in on traces of radiation found on British Airways jets that flew between Moscow and London, one of which may have carried suspects transporting the radioactive poison.
NEWS
By ERIKA NIEDOWSKI | April 9, 2006
CHECHERSK, Belarus -- The aims are decidedly modest: to mow overgrown grass in front of weathered, long-abandoned houses; open a bakery to provide fresh bread to children at village schools; plant small gardens to yield fruit and vegetables free of radiation. Those small steps are part of the latest chapter of the long recovery effort in this part of the former Soviet Union 20 years after an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station, the deadliest accident in the history of nuclear power.
NEWS
By ROBERT HOUSMAN | December 7, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Harsh criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war by the former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, retired Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, has drawn considerable attention. But his more important and chilling statement has been lost in the political fray: He has concluded that, in the event of a pandemic or nuclear attack, "the ineptitude of this government" would "take you back to the Declaration of Independence." His concerns are well justified.
NEWS
By Charles Piller and Alissa J. Rubin | September 6, 2005
VIENNA, Austria - Nearly two decades after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster spread radioactive fallout across much of Europe, a United Nations study has concluded that the health effects have been far less extensive than feared. The researchers confirmed 56 deaths, nine children who died of thyroid cancer and 47 emergency workers who died of acute radiation poisoning or radiation-induced cancer. They projected that 3,940 more people will die of cancer, according to the report released yesterday.
NEWS
By Judy Foreman | December 31, 2004
As part of its anti-terrorism effort, the federal government is considering a plan to install X-ray machines in airports - not just to screen carry-on bags, as it does already, but to scan outgoing passengers. The technology has been proven in prisons and among Customs and Border Protection agents who use it to search for drugs, illegal weapons and contraband. But the idea of using it on 700 million American air passengers a year is generating serious privacy concerns from civil libertarians - and safety questions among some scientists, who question whether the risks, however small, outweigh the potential benefit of catching people hiding plastic explosives or other dangerous devices.
NEWS
December 6, 2004
Tom Reddin, 88, the innovative former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department who introduced community policing and went on to be a television newscaster, politician and head of his own private security company, died Saturday at his Los Angeles home of complications from Parkinson's disease. He rose through the police ranks under conservative Chief William H. Parker, and is widely credited with modernizing the LAPD, introducing computerized dispatch systems, upgrading communication technology and improving training and pay. His short tenure as chief -- he served slightly more than two years -- was marked by his efforts to make police and the community partners in preventing crime, establishing the concept of community policing.
NEWS
By Jonathan Bor | September 2, 2004
After years of controversy over the best way to treat small breast tumors, researchers have found that thousands of older women can forgo radiation treatments without hurting their survival chances. Two studies published today in the New England Journal of Medicine found that radiation provides no added benefit for women over 70 who receive lumpectomies and take the cancer-fighting drug tamoxifen. "It suggests that upfront radiation is not necessary and may in fact be overtreatment for many of the older women," said Dr. Jerome Yates, vice president for research at the American Cancer Society.
NEWS
By Thomas H. Maugh II | April 28, 2004
Dental X-rays taken during pregnancy can significantly impair the health of the fetus even though it does not receive radiation directly, according to a study by researchers from the University of Washington. Pregnant women who were exposed to dental irradiation were nearly four times as likely to have a low birth weight baby, though their pregnancies went full term, the team reports today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Low birth weights have been widely associated with developmental and behavioral problems in infants.
NEWS
By David Kohn | April 21, 2003
Of all the brain surgeries Cindy Feld has experienced, this one was by far her favorite. In the previous three, doctors had opened her skull and bored into her brain to remove tumors, leaving her in pain and out of work for months. But this time was different - no anaesthetic, no blood and no scalpel. All Feld had to do was lie on a table while a radiation "gun" revolved around her head, peppering her tumor with invisible rays. Her biggest complaint was boredom - during one 90-minute session, she actually dozed off. "You don't feel a thing," said the 43-year-old Westminster resident.