Science and Tech

Of all the issues facing the elderly today, Kentucky Commissioner of Aging and Indpendent Living Deborah Anderson said apathy is the one that she fears the most. “It’s actually apathy that scares me to death,” Anderson said. The commissioner spoke in Winchester at a panel discussion about senior citizen issues.

Someday, in the not too distant future, a pharmacist may be able to know exactly how patients will react to medications even before they take them. A cutting edge research field known as personalized medicine, or pharmacogenetics, involves studying a person's unique genetic code in order to determine how he or she will metabolize medicine.

FRANKFORT – Looking to permanently shut down the growing prescription drug problem in Kentucky and neighboring states, Kentucky officials Wednesday announced the formation of an interstate task force with Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The Interstate Prescription Drug Task Force held its first meeting Wednesday in Ashland.

Dr. John Patterson acted appropriately when he amputated Phillip Seaton’s penis during surgery in 2007, a jury in Shelby County Circuit Court has ruled. After more than two days of emotional and sometimes embarrassing testimony from a variety witnesses, the jury of six men and six women deliberated little more than hour and ruled unanimously just before 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Health department officials from Clark and Rowan counties believe norovirus is responsible for an outbreak of gastrointestinal symptoms in both counties. After a clogging competition at the Morehead Conference Center Saturday, Aug. 13, several dancers and spectators started experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms. Dancers from Winchester’s Studio One School of Dance were among the cloggers attending the competition.

The Medical Center at Franklin unveiled its completed $4 million surgery expansion project to the public Monday. The 9,700-square-foot renovation and new construction includes two operating suites, an endoscopy suite, a six-bed recovery unit and other surgical support services. With the new addition, surgeons have more room to do more complicated surgeries.

Disparities in income, race, and social status are often reflected in health statistics. The Lexington Health Department is hoping to spotlight those issues during a summit in September.

A word of caution for the tens of thousands of students who will lug their belongings back to the University of Kentucky and other state schools this weekend: beware of blood-sucking bedbugs. Michael Potter, professor of urban horticulture and medical entomology at UK, is among the bedbug experts who on Wednesday released a study saying that a bedbug resurgence continues to gain steam from coast to coast. The report — titled The 2011 Bugs Without Borders Survey — said college residence halls experienced explosive growth in bedbug eradication treatments in the last year.

The Jessamine County school district announced the closure of the East Jessamine soccer field Wednesday after high levels of bacteria were found. A test sample of standing water between the field and the home bleachers showed a concentration of E. coli nine times higher than the EPA's acceptable risk criteria, according to a news release from the school district. The field is not located at East High; the complex is off Wilmore Road behind the central-office building and Jessamine Early Learning Village.

A campaign to spotlight toxic chemicals that may be lurking in everyday consumer products is gaining momentum thanks to celebrity spokeswomen like Jessica Alba and concerned parents across the country. A group of 30 or so protestors in Lexington's Woodland Park recently urged Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul to support tougher regulations on chemicals used in consumer products. Organizer Greg Capillo highlighted increases in some childhood cancers, which some believe could be related to chemical and environmental factors.

Kentucky and Ohio are automatically exchanging prescription medication data, following this week’s launch of the electronic Prescription Monitoring Information Exchange (PMIX). The announcement marks a highly anticipated milestone for prescription drug monitoring programs and ongoing work to fulfill a need to share data across state lines.

It's odorless, tasteless, invisible and deadly. And it occurs naturally. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer, according to Timmy Green, a radon specialist for the Lake Cumberland District Health Department and environmental services officer for the Green County Health Department. The No. 1 cause of lung cancer is smoking.

Dr. Arthur K. Rivard has been an eye doctor in Danville for more than 20 years and is not shy when lending his view point on a just who should engage in eye surgery and who shouldn't. Rivard, along with many of his fellow ophthalmologists, is unhappy with a new Kentucky law which sets the stage for optometrists to perform various types of surgery, including laser. The issue has been reignited thanks to a public forum held in Lexington last month in which optometrists, who Rivard points out are not medical doctors, began the process of determining what type of surgeries they may and may not perform under the new law, which was approved overwhelmingly in both the House and the Senate.

A professor of anthropology at Transylvania University in Lexington has completed the first leg of an expedition to the remote Mosquito Coast area of Honduras, where he’s exploring the legend of an ancient “lost city.” Kentucky Public Radio’s Rick Howlett spoke with Christopher Begley, whose work will be featured in a documentary funded by the National Geographic Society

It was a tear gas grenade that detonated in Lynch on Monday sending 20 people to the hospital. Police are currently investigating whether to press charges against the man that obtained the device. Several additional details about the incident were released Tuesday. Police stated that children playing in their home apparently set off the grenade.

As the adage goes, “What we don’t know can’t hurt us.” According to local, state and national authorities on radon, lack of knowledge on the subject could, in fact, be killing us. “It’s astonishing, frankly,” said Professional Learning Institute Dean Steve Keeney, “but there’s nobody out there explaining the risk to the public.” According to the Environmental Protection Agency, exposure to radon in homes is responsible for an estimated 20,000 lung cancer deaths each year, second only to lung cancer caused by smoking. More people die from radon-related lung cancer each year than from gunshots.

Kentucky has set new immunization guidelines for the upcoming school year. The updated immunization requirements went into effect July 1, said Denise Baldwin, director of nursing with the Hopkins County Health Department. These guidelines were set by the state and are based on national standards from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, she said.

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has weighed in on the pending merger between University of Louisville Hospital, Jewish Hospital and a division of Catholic Health Initiatives. Under the merger, U of L Hospital will not be able to provide abortion, stem cell research, vasectomies, treatments for infertility, emergency contraception for rape victims and birth control counseling.

In its latest list of Fittest and Fattest States, the online medical reference resource WebMD placed Kentucky in the top ten ‘fattest states’. Kentucky’s obesity rate for adults is 31.5%, placing the state at number six on the list.  But the rate of 10-17 year old kids came in at 21%, which is third in that category. The list makes reference to the 2.8 mile stretch of Broadway that’s populated by 24 fast-food restaurants, as well as the Mayor’s Healthy Hometown Movement.

After a southern-Indiana teen died of heat stroke last week, questions arose about the accusation that he was denied treatment at an immediate care center.  According to accounts, the boy’s stepfather took him to the Norton Immediate Care Center in Lyndon before calling EMS at the center’s advisement. A Norton Spokesperson said this week that the boy was not denied care and was not actually brought into the clinic. Rather, his stepfather described his symptoms to the doctors, who referred the man to an emergency room.