Phone Messages Improve Care, Study Finds

A recent article in the New York Times shows that a study found that cellphones used to broadcast text messages reminding health workers in Kenya how to treat children’s malaria increased the number of cases handled correctly.

The study was recently published in the Lancet.

Friday Roundup

Here is a listing of articles of interest that have been published within the last 7-10 days:

Health
1. Worm drug ivermectin is shown to kill mosquitoes, New York Times, July 11, 2011
Brief Intro: "A cheap deworming pill used in Africa for 25 years against river blindness was recently shown to have a power that scientists had long suspected but never before demonstrated in the field: When mosquitoes bite people who have recently swallowed the drug — called ivermectin or Mectizan — they die. "

2. HIV treatment as prevention called winning approach, CBCNews, July 14, 2011
Brief Intro: "Studies suggest that a combination of antiviral drugs known as highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) helps treat HIV and also prevents its transmission, by reducing how infectious someone is."


Education
1. Education secretary orders additional standard test review, Post-Gazette.com, July 14, 2011
Brief Intro: "Pennsylvania Education Secretary Ron Tomalis has ordered that the state's 2010 standardized test results be analyzed for any irregularities following the recent discovery of a similar report that indicates possible cheating in roughly 50 school districts in 2009."

2. 'Parent trigger' rules adopted for low-performing schools, The Orange County Register, July 14. 2011
Brief Intro: "The California Board of Education has approved a new set of regulations that will give parents more control to force changes to low-performing public schools. The "parent trigger" rules will allow a majority of parents at low-performing schools to petition school districts for major changes that include adding intervention programs, removing the principal, replacing staff, converting the campus to a charter, or closing the school altogether."

3. Feeding kids when parents, schools can't, CNN.com, July 14, 2011
Brief Intro: "During the school year, public schools provide breakfast and lunch to millions of students in the United States. But when summer arrives, parents struggling to feed their children can no longer rely on those meals."

Fungus Knocks Out Malaria In Mosquitoes

A recent story on NPR describes how scientists have come up with a new approach to combat malaria. Instead of focusing on killing the mosquito, scientists have found a way to use a fungus to kill the parasite within it. The fungus grows in the mosquito, eventually killing it, but the fungus itself develops an anti-malarial protein, ridding the insect of the disease so that it can't be transmitted to others.