Cullman Regional is differentiating itself from the current trend facing many community hospitals that are closing or being sold to larger healthcare systems.

In October 2016, UAB Hospital established a new Special Care Unit (SCU) designed to improve care for patients on a ventilator with a goal of weaning them off the machine sooner.

In narrowing a difficult diagnosis while choosing medications and advising the patient, an accurate family history can offer valuable insights. However, getting one isn't always simple.

A hundred years ago, the influenza pandemic of 1918 swept the globe, killing between fifty and a hundred million people--between three and five percent of the world's population.

The best medical care in the world is only as good as the access a patient has to that care. At Kirklin Clinic, industrial engineers in the Performance Engineering department seek to improve patient access by focusing on better ways to increase efficiency, reduce healthcare costs and improve the overall patient experience.

Uncontrolled hypertension is a dangerous condition that can lead to heart attack, stroke and even death. According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 75 million Americans have high blood pressure and only half of them have the condition under control.

A small wireless device that detects abnormal and potentially dangerous heart arrhythmias may replace the Holter monitor as the preferred method for tracking electrical heart activity in ambulatory patients.

Heart disease doesn't play fair. Lifelong smokers who never exercise may live well into their 80s on fast food, while vegetarian joggers can die suddenly when their hearts give out.

This past November, the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association redefined the way clinicians and the public should think about 'high' blood pressure.

"The advantages were clear. When we saw one of our Heart South cardiologists using radial access for caths and stents, we all wanted to learn. Now we do 70 to 75 percent of our caths and stents using the radial approach," Clifton Vance, MD, of Heart South said.

In order to use the robot technology, patients get a CT scan prior to the operation, which the doctor uses to map out a plan. At the time of surgery, the surgeon uses the CT template to confirm that plan. "That's what takes a little longer," said Davis.

In 2013, David Sinclair, PhD, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, scored a big news splash when he took a group of old mice and restored the mitochondria in their muscles to a youthful state after injecting them with a molecule that boosted levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+).

Myopia, or nearsightedness, is becoming a worldwide public health crisis. In the United States, about one-third of the population has myopia and the prevalence is increasing.

In mid-December, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration announced approval of Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec-rzyl), the first directly administered gene therapy approved in the U.S. to target a disease caused by mutations in a specific gene ... in this case, a rare form of inherited vision loss.

"Nature was good at selecting for traits that helped us survive from infancy to reproductive age. After that, it didn't concern itself much with helping to develop genes to stay healthy and live a long life," Steven N. Austad, PhD, Chair of the Department of Biology at UAB, said.

At the most basic level, life is energy. Within each cell, the transformation of nutrients and oxygen powers the processes, activity and thoughts that make us living beings.

United Health Foundation's annual America's Health Rankings^® report explores state rankings on 35 health measures. How did Alabama fare?

Without moving an inch, anyone in Alabama can now use their phone, computer or tablet to connect virtually to a physician or nurse practitioner in minutes any time of day or night through St. Vincent's OnDemand service for a nominal fee of $35.

According to the American Cancer Society, one out of every four cancer deaths is attributed to lung cancer, making the disease the leading cause of cancer death among men and women.

The battle against brain cancer is a personal one for Christopher Jahraus MD, a radiation oncologist with Shelby Baptist Medical Center. When Jahraus was a fourth-year resident in his specialty, his father was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a highly malignant tumor.

Sticking to New Year's resolutions can help with a host of health concerns ... including lowering risk for many types of cancers.

Three devastating hurricanes and the threat of a cholera outbreak from contaminated water; wildfires near Gatlinburg and California wine country; outbreaks of Zika and Ebola--it all reminds us that bad things can happen anywhere.

There is an increasing concern among public health professionals over the link between social media use and an increase in anxiety and depression.

"If this was a prostate cancer tool, 90 percent of surgeons would be using it," says Jeffrey Nix, MD, assistant professor in the UAB Department of Urology, about blue light cystoscopy in bladder cancer surgeries.