health

Obama's Affordable Care Act turns 3

By IDS staff · Monday, March 25,2013 9:47 p.m.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is three years old, as of this past weekend, but its controversy continues.

Survey on Latino health discussed

By Anu Kumar · Wednesday, March 6,2013 10:49 p.m.

A local commission looked at a survey on Latino health and expressed the good and the bad about it.

Ultrasounds could be required with abortion-inducing medication

By Megan Jula · Monday, Feb. 25,2013 11:53 p.m.

An amendment made to Senate Bill 371 Monday dropped language that mandated an ultrasound after taking abortion-inducing medication.

Gov. Pence rejects Ind. Medicaid expansion

Wednesday, Feb. 13,2013 10:10 p.m.

“Medicaid is broken,” Pence said in the release. “In Indiana, an expansion of traditional Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act would cost our taxpayers upwards of $2 billion over the next seven years.”

Indiana in midst of deadliest flu season in 5 years

By Megan Jula · Friday, Feb. 1,2013 12:35 a.m.

This year’s flu season is the deadliest in half a decade, Indiana State Health Department records show.

Tornado season arrives early

By IDS staff · Thursday, Jan. 31,2013 2:15 a.m.

Wednesday’s tornado weather may have been unseasonal, but the true tornado season is on its way.

IU breaks ground in enzyme research

By Andrew Anderson · Thursday, Jan. 28,2010 12:49 a.m.

For most students the worst consequence of drinking alcohol is a bad headache and maybe a bad – or blank – memory.But for some of the 2,500-plus students of Asian ancestry at IU, alcohol can cause far more serious health problems.Researchers at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis and Stanford University have made an important breakthrough in the treatment of this liver deficiency. They have discovered a molecule, called Alda-1, that can repair the malfunctioning parts of the liver.

Experts weigh health care plans

By Kristina Hunter · Tuesday, Feb. 17,2009 11:52 p.m.

Health insurance might seem complicated, but exploring options isn’t brain surgery. As if landing a job after graduation isn’t difficult enough, looking into jobs with benefits, such as a health insurance plan, might be the last thing on students’ minds. The decision not to look into health care options, though, might be a costly one.

Fitness instructor leads workouts with energy, enthusiasm

By Lindsey Hoeppner · Tuesday, Dec. 2,2008 12:05 a.m.

Music fills the room and a group of women begin swaying from side to side, tapping their feet to the beat of a catchy fitness tune. They are warming up for a cardio-kickboxing class at the Student Recreational Sports Center.In the front of the group, instructor Natalie Robertson enthusiastically engages participants in the warm up. She fills the room with energy as she bounces from side to side, progressively increasing her tempo. “Welcome to cardio-kickboxing,” she says with a smile. “I’m Natalie.”

Salty substitute

By Leigh Boerner · Tuesday, Dec. 2,2008 12:01 a.m.

Just to make sure we’re all on the same page, we need to define “salt.”

OVER EXERCISE

By Sam Leffers · Monday, Nov. 17,2008 10:45 p.m.

This time of year many students are rushing to shed a few extra pounds before the holidays. But some might be hurting themselves in the process. Whether to compensate for unhealthy eating habits, cope with stress or meet society’s standards for body image, experts say more and more people are exercising compulsively.

‘Green’ neighborhoods lead to lower childhood obesity

By Sam Leffers · Monday, Nov. 17,2008 10:43 p.m.

Trees. Parks. Grass. What do these three things have in common? Answer: They can all help protect against childhood obesity.

Pinch leg nerves to empty bladder

Tuesday, Nov. 11,2008 12:40 a.m.

It’s a delicate and daring experiment: Could doctors switch a leg nerve to make it operate the bladder instead? Families of a few U.S. children, whose spina bifida robs them of the bladder control that most people take for granted, dared to try the procedure – and early results suggest the surgery indeed might help, in at least some patients.

New IU field lab combines nature, technology

Tuesday, Nov. 11,2008 12:39 a.m.

IU scientists will now have a new place to conduct research outdoors. The University started construction late last month on a new 6,000-square-foot field laboratory near Griffy Lake that’s dedicated to research in sciences ranging from biology to geology and public and environmental affairs. The Research and Teaching Preserve Field Laboratory, as it’s called, is designed to advance research in environmental, geological and biological sciences.

Greg Kerchner of Northampton, receives a flu shot while sitting in his pick up truck from Katy Piokowski during the Lehigh Valley Hospital Drive Thru Flu Shot Clinic on Sunday in Bethlehem, Pa.

Flu shots in good supply

By Jeremy Watt · Tuesday, Nov. 11,2008 12:36 a.m.

Flu season is here, and this year, federal officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that even young children receive the vaccine.

Eternal rest with plenty of formaldehyde

By Leigh Boerner · Monday, Oct. 27,2008 10:42 p.m.

In this age of modern refrigeration, why are people still embalmed? Science columnist Leigh Boerner investigates.

Magnet device aims to treat depression patients

Monday, Oct. 20,2008 10:58 p.m.

The government has approved the first noninvasive brain stimulator to treat depression – a device that beams magnetic pulses through the skull. Even if it sounds like science fiction, well, those woodpecker-like pulses trigger small electrical charges that spark brain cells to fire. Yet it doesn’t cause the risks of surgically implanted electrodes or the treatment of last resort, shock therapy.

Hallucinogenic herb growing in popularity in U.S.

By Jessica Hullinger · Monday, Oct. 20,2008 10:55 p.m.

When sophomore Nick Lane, 19, smoked the herb Salvia divinorum, he spent 20 minutes in a state of complete physical debilitation. His hallucinations were vivid, colorful and terrifying. “I felt like I was on this crazy circus ride from hell,” Lane said. “I came out of it laying on my bed in the fetal position, trembling.” But the high, similar to those experienced after using psychedelic drugs, was a legal one.

I kissed a girl, but did I like it?

By Adriane Jefferson · Monday, Oct. 13,2008 11:33 p.m.

The generation that created the Madonna and Britney kiss and Katy Perry’s song “I Kissed a Girl” has inspired a new term: hetero-flexible. This trendy word describes straight women who make out with each other to entice men but don’t consider themselves lesbians or bisexual. “The word has no scientific value,” said William L. Yarber, a senior research fellow at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction. “It’s merely a pop culture definition, like the magazines at the beginning of the grocery line.” Even so, the popularity of the term has fueled a heated debate over whether “hetero-flexibility” reflects sexual liberation or sexual regression.

Abstinence-only sex education inadequate, major sexuality journal finds

Monday, Oct. 13,2008 11:26 p.m.

Can what you don’t know really hurt you? According to a series of studies in the September issue of Sexuality Research and Social Policy, one of the top journals in the field, the answer is yes. The five articles in this special issue conclude that, among other shortcomings, abstinence-only sexual education programs are often ineffective and contain inaccurate information.