Here are 10 articles on some of the most interesting medical research study findings and advancements from the week of April 4.
1. Nurses face three times as many hand hygiene opportunities as physicians, but they have higher compliance rates, according to a recent study published in the American Journal of Infection Control. Read more.
2. Many hospitals post hand hygiene reminders outside patient rooms or above sinks, but recent research suggests hospitals can boost compliance by displaying hand hygiene messages on screen savers as well. Read more.
3. Between the years 2000 and 2012, hospitalization rates related to infectious disease in children declined significantly, according to The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. Read more.
4. Yelp reviews of hospitals cover topics not found in more traditional patient experience surveys, according to the results of a new study published in the April issue of Health Affairs. Read more.
5. Biological engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge developed a language that can be used to program DNA-encoded circuits to give new functions to bacterial cells. Read more.
6. Treating patients with chronic Lyme disease with a long-term antibiotic proved no more successful in eliminating symptoms than a placebo, in a new randomized trial. Read more.
7. Nearly 40 percent of potentially harmful drug orders weren't flagged by hospitals' computerized physician order entry system to alert staff of potential errors in a recent study. Read more.
8. Frequently, when people hear about Clostridium difficile, they think of hospitals or other healthcare settings. New research, however, shows the bacterium may be more common in the general community than previously realized. Read more.
9. Some studies have suggested diabetes increases a person's risk for developing Alzheimer's disease, but new research shows the inverse might be true and Alzheimer's disease makes a person more likely to develop diabetes. Read more.
10. Researchers from Canada and Mexico created a do it yourself trap that captures up to seven times as many mosquito eggs as standard traps, according to a study published in F1000Research. Read more.