It’s no secret that all hospitals are not equal. The special quality shared by the 152 that made it into the new 2010-11 Best Hospitals rankings (out of nearly 5,000 that were considered), and even more so by the 14 in this year’s Honor Roll, is their ability to take on and meet the most difficult challenges. Their operating rooms showcase delicate, demanding procedures—excising a cancerous portion of a pancreas without destroying the rest of the fragile organ, say, or restoring function to an arthritis-ravaged hand through a creative blend of fusing joints and splicing tendons. They are referral centers for ill patients with multiple risks—advanced age plus heart failure plus diabetes, perhaps.

Patients at these centers are not free from hospital-based infections or immune from getting the wrong drugs or becoming victims of other medical errors. No matter how skilled or deep their expertise, even “best hospitals” don’t do everything right. But when the stakes are high, calling for unusual capabilities, they are hospitals that can save lives that might otherwise be lost or preserve quality of life that might otherwise be sacrificed. That is why U.S. News has published the Best Hospitals rankings for 21 years: to help guide patients who need high-stakes care because of the complexity or difficulty of their condition or procedure. For 2010-11 we analyzed 4,852 hospitals, virtually every one in the United States, in 16 specialties from cancer and heart disease to respiratory disorders and urology. Only 152 centers appear in even one of the 16 specialty rankings. Fourteen ultra-elite Honor Roll hospitals had very high scores in six or more specialties…… (more…)

THE developers of a new €90 million private hospital in Cork have signed an €8.5 million deal to equip it with the world’s most advanced diagnostic machines.

Asbestos has many appealing qualities for builders. It’s sturdy, versatile and corrosion resistant. It’s conjointly burn resistant and a smart insulator. There are not several substances with these qualities and might justify why it was thus widely used. It becomes hazardous when asbestos containing materials are disturbed or damaged. Asbestos is made up of microscopic bundles of fibers. When the materials become disturbed or damaged, these fibers separate and might become airborne. These fibers could get into the lungs and that may lead to serious and even fatal diseases. A number of these diseases embrace:

Asbestosis could be a non-cancerous lung disease. Inhaling asbestos fibers for an extended amount of time causes it. This disease takes 25 to 40 years to develop. As asbestos fibers become trapped in your lungs, the body can turn out an acid to attempt to eliminate these fibers. The continued production of the acid can eventually scar the tissues in your lungs. An excessive quantity of scarring could cause the lungs to function improperly. This could result in serious respiratory difficulties…. (more…)