Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
Cheney Scheduled for Artery Surgery
Vice President Dick Cheney will have surgery to repair a weakened blood vessel behind his right knee, the Washington Post reported.
The procedure, set for next weekend at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., is considered elective surgery but will remedy a condition that could be dangerous if left untreated, the newspaper said.
The surgery will repair an arterial aneurysm, a weak spot that eventually could burst. The problem was discovered earlier this year, according to the Post.
The procedure will involve a local anesthetic and a short hospital stay. Cheney, 64, has had four heart attacks dating back to 1978, the newspaper said.
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Researchers Find Clues to Resistant Bacteria
As bacteria mutate and become resistant to a growing number of antibiotics, scientists must constantly strive to develop new medicines just to keep up.
Now, scientists may have gained a leg up in this medicinal "arms race" by reproducing the evolution of the bacterial enzymes that govern resistance.
The results, they say, could enable drug designers to gain a sneak peek into how bacteria are likely to become resistant to specific drugs.
In one case, the scientists said in a statement, they sped up the enzyme evolution and found four mutations that would allow bacteria to survive on a drug dose 64 times higher than the dose that kills bacteria hosting an "un-evolved" enzyme.
The researchers at the University of Rosario in Argentina and at the National Autonomous University of Mexico reported their findings in the current online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Many Elderly in New Orleans Died Trapped in Health Facilities: Report
Elderly patients trapped in nursing homes and hospitals accounted for at least 25 percent of the deaths in New Orleans in the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, according to a news investigation.
The New York Times reported Monday that interviews with officials from eight area hospitals and 26 nursing homes showed that at least 154 patients, mostly elderly, died in health-care facilities, with heat, not floodwaters, the main killer.
While the newspaper also said heroic efforts by doctors and nurses across the city prevented the toll from climbing higher, at least 91 patients died in hospitals and 63 in nursing homes not fully evacuated until five days after the storm as temperatures soared to 110 degrees in un-air conditioned buildings.
As recovery efforts still continue, the death toll for the four Gulf Coast states swamped by the hurricane stands at 883, according to the Associated Press, with 646 of those deaths in Louisiana.
Meanwhile, the vice president of the national hospital accreditation organization said Sunday that the hospitals in New Orleans might never make a full recovery from the damage.
Despite the fact that the city has a dozen hospitals, none have resumed normal operations, Joe Cappiello told the AP after completing a three-day mission to the devastated city.
"Essentially, the health-care infrastructure of New Orleans is gone -- it no longer exists," Cappiello said. He added that several hospitals were probably damaged beyond repair, while others may try to resume full operations before it is safe to do so.
Officials at Children's Hospital, which Mayor Ray Nagin had hoped would be ready for residents of the Uptown neighborhood when they are allowed to return this week, have said they need more time, according to the AP.
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U.S. Tightening Mad Cow Regulations
The United States will tighten its rules designed to prevent the spread of mad cow disease to mirror regulations in Canada, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Monday.
FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford said the amended regulations would prevent the use of animal tissue that could carry mad cow disease -- including the brains and spinal cords of cattle -- from being used in any animal feed.
In 1997, the United States banned the use of these cattle parts in feed for other cattle, but their use wasn't prohibited in feed for chickens, pigs, and pets, the Associated Press reported. Crawford said the new regulations would be implemented soon, though he didn't name a precise date, the wire service said.
The FDA had said it would tighten the rules after the nation's first confirmed case of mad cow disease in 2003. It involved a Canadian-born cow in Washington state. A second case involving a Texas-born cow tested positive in June.
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Many Minivan Head Restraints Won't Prevent Whiplash: Study
The head restraints in several minivans don't adequately protect people in the event of a rear-end crash, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said Monday.
Poor ratings were given to seven models subjected to simulated crashes, including the 2004-2006 Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country, 2005-2006 Toyota Sienna, and 2005-2006 Chevrolet Uplander, Buick Terraza, Pontiac Montana SV6, and Saturn Relay, the Associated Press reported.
The 2004-2006 Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey received the highest marks -- a rating of "good," the wire service said.
The minivans were tested on a crash-simulation sled, which simulated a stationary vehicle being struck from behind at 20 mph.
While an institute spokesman said the tests simulated "a very, very common [accident] in the kinds of traffic and crashes that we have in everyday life," representatives for the automakers took issue with the results.
"No single test, including the new rear impact test developed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, can determine a vehicle's overall safety performance," Daimler Chrysler spokesman Max Gates told the AP.
