ACA has had little effect on the financial burden of households with chronic health conditions. The rise in treatment costs and associated cost sharing for individuals and families are causing medical debt that often has caused these families to deplete their savings. It often also causes these families to forgo necessities like food, heat or rent in order to pay their medical bills. In these cases, the families are forced to file for bankruptcy in order to have a roof over their heads.

With the increased use of e-cigarettes and/or vapes by high school students, authorities are trying to determine what if any safety these devices contain. In addition, the FDA is addressing the need for stricter regulation of who is allowed to purchase both devices.

Being able to reach a reasonable conclusion of the internal states of others is called mentalization and is critical for successful social interactions. The main components of this system are the medial prefrontal cortex and the temporal-parietal junction. These areas show similar patterns during both the performance and observations of actions. People with autism have trouble mentalizing. This is important as difficulties with this in adults with autism; this is evident in tasks involving action processing. In addition, this issue can impair the understanding of the social intentions of others and this can lead to inappropriate social decisions. These decisions then can lead to maltreatment by others. This study was done to see if there was connectivity between regions of mentalization system when inferring the social intention of others from their actions. Adults with autism are significantly impaired on tasks that involve integrating information regarding others’ intended states with the surrounding context.

With a rise in kidney illnesses, it is more important than ever to look for the underlying causes to slow its occurrence. One of the easiest ways we can influence our kidney function is to be mindful of how much sugary drinks like soda (soft drinks) we consume on a daily basis. This can decrease our propensity for obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic disorders that can place undue stress on our kidneys.

In the picture above, the different lobes of the brain are color coded. According to the studies found concerning brain volume and schizophrenia, there are two main areas affected. These areas are colored green and the blue lobe that borders on the green. This illustrates why it is so important for research to continue in order to help those afflicted with schizophrenia as it is a lifelong disorder.

Autophagy is a dynamic cellular pathway involved in the turn over of proteins, protein complexes, and organelles through lysosomal degradation. Defects in autophagy affect the intercellular communication and subsequently contributing to neurodegeneration. The presence of abnormal autophagy activity is frequently observed in selective neuronal populations in neurodegeneration seen in diseases like ALS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's disease.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic disease. The clinical management and treatment of this fatal disease are challenging for various reasons. And although antifibrotic therapies exist, doctors are still unable to tell which patient will benefit from individual treatments.

Since the completion of the human genome project, researchers have been discovering changes to hundreds of places in the DNA. Some of these variants have been associated with psychiatric diseases such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. Researchers have found a roadmap for the development of new generation therapy for psychiatric conditions. In the last decade, scientists have conducted genetic studies of people with a psychiatric disease, comparing results to healthy individuals to find genes that have different sequencing in those diseases. This paper helps to explain the roles of tens of thousands of sections of regulatory DNA and proteins in the brain. Once again this study is but a jumping off place for further studies (Geschwind et al, 2018). Dendritic structure (dendrite is a short branched extension of a nerve cell along which impulses received from other cells at synapses are transmitted to the cell body) is tightly coupled with synaptic function in basal conditions. Many brain disorders are associated with an aberrant regulation of F-actin and impaired signaling. These alterations likely underlie the aberrant spine morphology found in these disorders. Further studies on the mechanism of structural plasticity of dendritic spines will provide new therapeutic targets and methods for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders (Borovac et al, 2018).

Dementia is a syndrome usually progressive and chronic in nature. Global incidences of dementia is increasing at a rate of one new case every three seconds with associated medical social and health care costs far exceeding the capacity of most countries. Because of the degenerative nature of the disease sufferers lose their ability to perform routine tasks, experience poor quality of life and loss of autonomy. The role of vitamin D in the etiology of cognitive impairment and dementia is plausible and has been supported substantial mechanistic and epidemiological data. As people age, they tend to spend less and less time outdoors in the sun. It is of great importance as vitamin D deficiency is a worldwide pandemic and is seen most commonly in older adults residing in northerly latitudes, particularly during winter months. Further research needs to be done to see if increasing vitamin D level will improve cognitive health (Aspell, Lawlor, O'Sullivan, 2018).

This study found that a daily hydroxyurea pill may finally bring some relief for young children living with sickle cell anemia. This could be a big game changer for resource-challenged sub-Saharan Africa where the disease is prevalent and health care is suboptimal (Ware et al, 2018). Few studies had been done where the burden is greatest. The study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found treatment was feasible and safe in children living in the area of Africa most affected. It proved to reduce vaso-occlusive events, infections, malaria, transfusions, and death. These results illustrate a need for more access to treatments. In the US and Europe early identification of children with sickle cell by means of neonatal screening. This allows these children to be given simple effective, and lifesaving interventions (Tshilolo et al, 2018).

Influenza activity in the US began to increase in early November 2017 and rose sharply from December through February 3, 2018. From October 2017 to January 1, 2018, the weekly percentage of deaths from pneumonia and flu ranged from 5.8% to 10.1% and has exceeded the epidemic threshold for five consecutive weeks. During seasons with increased severity of influenza, antiviral medications are an important adjunct to vaccinations. Additional study is needed to see if this year's virus will mutate and develop resistance to the four antiviral medications available. In addition to seeing just how effective the current influenza vaccination will be in controlling influenza transmission (Budd et al, 2018).

In childhood, recurrent abdominal pain in children is a common complaint. The reason behind it is what needs further investigation as it affects approximately 10% of children. It is a descriptive umbrella term and accounts for many visits to primary, secondary, and emergency care facilities. It is now referred to as one of four functional abdominal pain disorders; dyspepsia, abdominal migraine, irritable, bowel syndrome and functional abdominal pain. One thing most parents need to keep in mind is when was the last time the child had a bowel movement. This author pointed out that there are many conditions of abdominal pain that require no intervention. Routine use of pharmacotherapy for functional abdominal pain is not well supported or suggested. In fact, in some cases, medications can mask the signs and symptoms needed to monitor for a more serious condition. It is felt some doctors will prescribe probiotics just so the parents will feel something is being done in a condition that needs no treatment at the time and will be sell limiting (Edwards, 2018).

Metastatic renal cell carcinomas still are the most lethal in the US. In 2015 alone there were 14,080 deaths attributed to it. Removal of the involved kidney continues to be the mainstay treatment for localized disease. Even with all our advancements in treatment, it continues to have a poor prognosis. Chemotherapy is considered a standard therapy for patients with some renal cell variants. The role in treating clear cell renal cell carcinoma is poorly defined. What exactly causes this resistance is currently undefined. Ideally, doctors should be able to characterize tumors according to DNA. In reality, this method has been largely limited by varying gene expression signatures. For years development of treatment has been largely unsuccessful. Better understanding disease biology and treatment resistance patterns have led to emerging therapies with a better understanding in pathogensis and mechanisms of treatment resistance there are hope treatments will continue to expand (Tsao et al, 2017).

It is estimated that there are over 338,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer worldwide. in 2012, 331,000 people died from pancreatic cancer. Because the therapies for other cancers have been showing more advancement the researchers feel that pancreatic cancer is liable to become the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, to survive more than a year is only slightly improved due to use of systemic chemotherapy and the combining use of other chemotherapies already available. This trial that adjuvant therapy using gemcitabine is the standard of care based on similar survival to and less toxicity than paired with 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid in patients with resected pancreatic cancer (meaning they have had all or part of the tumor removed surgically). In addition, other trials have shown better survival and tumor response with gemcitabine and capecitabine as opposed to gemcitabine used alone in advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer. The outcome of the study found promise with the use of gemcitabine and capecitabine resulting in an increase in survival times to between two and five years without relapse (Neoptolemos et al, 2017)

Artificial sweeteners were first introduced as a tactic to combat the shortage of sugar. Lately, it has been utilized as a way to help deal with obesity but research has been found that they actually may be making the issue worse. With all the issues noted in studies of the side effects of non-caloric artificial sweeteners, it may be better for a person to stick to a more natural diet (Brown, 2018). Artificial sweeteners are low cost and having a sweetness greater than that of normal table sugar they are commonly used in the baking industry. In spite of their beneficial effects, these sweeteners have documented health issues. In some cases, long-term exposure can lead to enforcer. A careful review of the literature by consumers and health professionals is necessary in an effort to make well-informed decisions about their health (Nisa et al, 2016).