New research suggests that upper limb amputees, who typically struggle to learn how to use a new prosthesis, would be more successful if fellow amputees taught them.

Most usually learn by watching a non-amputee demonstrate the device during physical therapy and rehabilitation sessions but a Georgia Institute of Technology study that measured arm movements and analyzed brain patterns found that people do better when they learn from someone who looks like them. 

A significant proportion of medical treatment decisions are not clear-cut. How can patients and doctors know is better for a specific patient -- medication or surgery, therapy, or even no treatment? If medication, which class of drugs? If surgery, what type of surgery?  

Presenting and discussing a menu of treatment options is good for both the patient and the physician according to Regenstrief Institute and VA Center for Health Communication and Information investigator Kurt Kroenke, M.D., writing in a commentary in the Sept. 28 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.

A new analysis finds tobacco users pay more for a health insurance plan from the Affordable Care Act exchanges than non-tobacco users in nearly every county of the 37 states that used healthcare.gov to sell their plans in 2015. 

In some instances, up to 46% more. The authors say future research may determine how many enrollees facing these surcharges will simply decide not to be truthful about their smoking status, or perhaps avoid buying health insurance altogether. 

The majority of adolescents in grades 7-12 would prefer to know the results of unanticipated findings found in whole exome sequencing genetic testing, even if the findings are not medically actionable until adulthood, according to survey data presented at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) 2015 Annual Meeting in Baltimore.

The survey addressed secondary findings - genetic findings unrelated to the initial indication that prompted the test - gleaned from sequencing the protein-coding regions of a person's genome.

Hormonal treatments administered as part of the procedures for sex reassignment have well-known and well-documented effects on the secondary sexual characteristics of the adult body, shifting a recipient's physical appearance to that of the opposite sex.

New research published in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry indicates that these hormonal treatments also alter brain chemistry.

Researchers at the Medical University of Vienna, led by senior authors Dr. Siegfried Kasper and Dr. Rupert Lanzenberger, show that administration of the male hormone testosterone in female-to-male transsexuals raises brain levels of SERT, the protein that transports the chemical messenger serotonin into nerve cells.

The naturally occurring bacteria on a frog's skin could be the most important tool for helping the animal fight off a deadly skin disease, according to an experiment conducted by Virginia Tech researchers.

Antibiotics to get rid of the normal bacteria don't significantly alter the rate of fungal infection, but they did cause the frogs to lose weight, suggesting that having their normal bacteria is important for frog health. In addition, treatment with probiotic bacteria did not decrease fungal infection as expected.

However, naturally occurring skin bacteria can respond to infection and adjust structure and function to compensate for it, according to the team.