COLUMBIA, Mo. - Nearly 66 percent of all adverse events experienced by nursing home residents, such as falls, delirium and hallucinations, could be prevented, in part, by monitoring medication more closely. In nursing homes, both registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) perform medication reconciliation, a safety practice during which health care professionals review patients' medications to reduce the likelihood of preventable adverse drug events. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that RNs are more likely than LPNs to identify high-risk medication discrepancies, suggesting RNs are better equipped to assess and identify medication errors that could pose risks to residents' safety.

From diabetes to dementia, from depression to AIDS, large segments of the UK's population are living with conditions that cannot be cured, but must be managed outside of the hospital environment. How technology could transform the future of healthcare will be discussed by Professor Ian Craddock from the University of Bristol at the IEEE World Forum on the Internet of Things (WF-IoT) in Milan, Italy.

Professor Ian Craddock, Director of SPHERE based in the Faculty of Engineering and Managing Director of Toshiba's Telecommunications Research Laboratory, has been invited to give a keynote talk tomorrow [Tuesday 15 December] about how the Internet of Things will transform health.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Parents of teens may struggle letting go of the reins when it comes to their children's health checkups, a new national poll suggests.

Just 34 percent of parents say their teen discussed health concerns privately with a doctor without them in the room, and less than 10 percent say their teens can complete their health history form independently.

Today's report from the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health at the University of Michigan includes a nationally-representative group of parents of teens ages 13-18.

Rochester, MN, Dec. 15, 2015 - More than 95% of the world's adult population is infected with the virus that causes chickenpox. Up to one third of these individuals will develop shingles (herpes zoster) in their lifetime. A new U.S. study has found that there is a short-term increased risk of stroke after having shingles, reports Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

MADISON, Wis. -- Su-Chun Zhang, a pioneer in developing neurons from stem cells at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has created a specialized nerve cell that makes serotonin, a signaling chemical with a broad role in the brain.

Serotonin affects emotions, sleep, anxiety, depression, appetite, pulse and breathing. It also plays a role in serious psychiatric conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.

"Serotonin essentially modulates every aspect of brain function, including movement," Zhang says. The transmitter is made by a small number of neurons localized on one structure at the back of the brain. Serotonin exerts its influence because the neurons that make it project to almost every part of the brain.

Our understanding of evolution can be enriched by adding fossil species to analyses of living animals, as shown by scientists from the University of Bristol.

Their paper, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, investigates patterns of evolutionary change in a group of mammals known as Afrotheria. This charismatic group of mainly African mammals includes elephants, manatees, and elephant shrews. The team were interested in how body mass has evolved in Afrotheria, and how our interpretations differ when we take their extinct fossil relatives into account.