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Consumers are increasingly turning to social networks to access information and manage their health care, according to a new survey by the Health Research Institute at PwC US.

The survey found four in 10 respondents say they research health-related consumer reviews online. On a more personal note, one in three consumers has looked for information from other patients on their experiences with a disease, and one in four has posted their health experiences on the Internet.

The survey polled more than 1,000 U.S. consumers and 124 members of the eHealth Initiative (eHI), a national association of industry organizations focusing on health information and technology and found that one-third of consumers are now using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and online forums to find medical information, track and share symptoms and report how they feel about doctors, treatments, medical devices, drugs and health plans.

The results show that online reviews have a powerful impact: 45% of consumers report social media would affect their decision to get a second opinion, while 41% say it would impact their choice of a specific doctor, hospital and health facility. And when it comes to medications, 34% report social media would impact their decision about taking certain drugs.

Since the Internet gives people real-time access to information, its not surprising that 72% of consumers say they would like the ability to schedule doctor appointments via social media channels. And close to half say they would expect a response within a few hours.

Predictably, more than 80% of respondents between ages of 18 and 24 are willing to share health information, and close to 90% of that age group say they would trust the information online. Only 45% of people between the ages of 45 and 64 are willing to share health information through social networking websites.

According to John Edwards, director, healthcare strategy and healthcare business intelligence practice at PwC, patients are using websites like Facebook to share their doctor experiences, express health-care concerns and voice concern when they feel they arent being treated fairly. According to Edwards, positive posts and comments about health-care experiences slightly outweigh the negative sentiment online at the moment.

The use of Internet to research and manage health care is only expected to grow among patients, but the survey found that many doctors, hospitals and insurance providers dont have a robust strategy when it comes to using social media to connect with consumers.

According to PWC, social media activity by hospitals, health insurers and pharmaceutical companies was fractional compared to activity on c ommunity sites. The survey found that eight in 10 health care companies had a presence on social media sits, but that community sites had 24 time more social media activity than corporate websites.

The expectations of consumers are changing in how they get health care information and how they use these social networking , says Edwards, and medical providers that dont embrace it are missing an opportunity to engage with consumers.

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New Use for Social Networking: Managing Your Health

Its hard to know which is worse, the dying or the lying.

Four times as many people are dying from a hospital infection called C. diff as a decade ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its the No. 1 hospital-infection killer in much of the nation, including New York. It kills more people than dreaded Staph infections, and about as many as AIDS.

What about the lying? Well, hospital personnel often tell patients and families that antibiotics are to blame. Sorry: The real culprit is inadequate cleaning in hospitals.

C. diff spreads through the hospital on nurses uniforms, wheelchairs, bed sheets, call buttons and other surfaces. It can survive on surfaces for months. Patients touch these surfaces, then pick up food without washing their hands first, and swallow the germ along with their food. Once in the gastro-intestinal tract, C. diff can cause severe diarrhea, sometimes resulting in deadly complications.

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A killer hospitals pretend to fight

ScienceDaily (Apr. 30, 2012) Like a police officer calling for backup while also keeping a strong hold on a suspected criminal, immune cells in the brain take a two-tier approach to fighting off a threat, new research from the University of Michigan Health System finds.

For the first time, the scientists managed to capture that reaction in action, showing how certain immune cells locked onto a model of virus-infected brain cells, while also sending signals to neighboring uninfected cells to let them know about the immune attack.

The findings may help research on how the brain fights off viruses and tumors. It also aids the search for ways to harness the immune response to attack and kill brain tumor cells -- or to calm the overzealous self-attack that occurs in people with certain autoimmune diseases.

Published online April 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the findings illuminate how cells called CD8+ T cells, or "killer" T cells, carry out their police-like role. Pedro Lowenstein, M.D., Ph.D., professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the U-M Medical School, led the research team.

He explains that the research yields new insight into the nature of the "gasket" that forms between killer T cells and their target cells, i.e., infected -- or tumor -- cells. Killer T cells go after cells when they detect the presence of foreign proteins, called antigens, on the cell surface.

The gasket-like structure creates an area between the two cells called an immunological synapse -- and has been thought of by some scientists as a tight seal. Studies, including previous ones by Lowenstein's team, have suggested that it allows the killer T cell to lock on to its target and bombard it first with molecules called cytokines, and then with chemicals that break down the infected cell and kill it.

But other scientists have shown that when killer T cells are attacking infected cells, the cytokines they release seem to cause a reaction in many neighboring, uninfected cells -- suggesting a very open connection. These latter studies question the role of immunological synapses.

Using a unique live-cell imaging technique developed by the team, the new results show that the gasket connection focuses the T cell attack on the infected cell, but is leaky. This creates a two-tier response when a killer T cell goes after an infection.

"The T cell targets the infected cell preferentially, but it also secretes cytokines that reach a number of other cells in the neighborhood," says Lowenstein. "The immunological synapse fails to restrict how far cytokines can spread."

The research team, including U-M postdoctoral fellow Nicholas Sanderson, Ph.D., made the finding using a live-cell imaging method they developed that allows them to detect how many cells are exposed to the cytokine interferon gamma.

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How does the immune system fight off threats to the brain?

The winning coach was so angry that he let slip the 'f word' in the post-match press conference while the losing coach was happy despite his team continuing its worst start to a season in almost two decades.

In what was a fittingly strange end to a perplexing Sunday afternoon at Parramatta Stadium, rival team bosses Tim Sheens and Stephen Kearney looked at Wests Tigers' 31-30 win over the Parramatta Eels in vastly different light.

Sheens was fuming that his side let slip a 31-0 lead, conceding 30 points in the last 13 minutes to momentarily contemplate the unthinkable.

After inadvertently swearing at the start of his press conference in trying to sum up his frustration and anger, Sheens blasted his side's finish as 'rubbish'.

He said: 'We were very disappointed. 31-0 with 14 minutes to go and you let them score and get within a point. It's just rubbish.

'The only positive is the win.

'We look at the first 60-odd minutes and know we did something good and played well and looked like some sort of a premiership side.

'The last part of it we looked like an A-Grade side.

'The boys understand it. They talked about it on the field.

'It was attitude for sure. We just clocked off, there's no doubt.'

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Coaches undergo bizarre role reversal

FUCHS increases EBIT to EUR 72.5 million in the first three months of 2012

- Sales revenues and earnings increased again - Earnings before interest and tax up 7.6% to EUR 72.5 million - Positive outlook for 2012

The first three months 2012 at a glance

(Amounts in EUR million)1-3/20121-3/2011(2) Sales revenues (1)448.4403.8 Europe263.5247.0 Asia-Pacific, Africa118.999.6 North and South America79.868.9 Consolidation-13.8-11.7 Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT)72.567.4 Profit after tax51.547.1 Earnings per share in EUR Ordinary share0.720.65 Preference share0.730.66 Gross cash flow53.350.7 Capital expenditures22.36.5 Employees (as at March 31)3,7223,594

(1) By company location (2) The previous years figures have been adjusted for reasons of comparability, see changes in the accounting policies in the notes to the consolidated financial statements.

Performance The FUCHS PETROLUB Group increased its sales revenues in all regions in the first quarter of 2012. Sales volumes enjoyed a particular increase in North America, Australia and Eastern Europe. Exchange rate movements also resulted in further growth of EUR 9.2 million or 2.3%. In addition to this, all regions recorded price and mix-related increases in sales revenues. This led to organic growth of EUR 35.0 million or 8.7%. Total revenues of EUR 448.4 million (403.8) were recorded, which represents an increase of 11.0% over the same quarter of the previous year.

In the first three months of the year, gross profit increased by EUR 9.6 million or 6.3% to EUR 161.9 million (152.3). The significant increases in raw material prices observed during the course of 2011 were a key contributor to the increases in sales revenues. The material and production costs for our lubricants (cost of sales) increased above-average by 13.9%. The Group was able to compensate for inflation-based increases in personnel and other direct costs, and also managed to cover the additional personal and infrastructure costs caused by its growth initiative. Total expenses for selling, distribution, administration and research and development increased by EUR 6.9 million or 8.1% to EUR 92.2 million (85.3).

Taking into account income from participations, this leads to earnings before interest and taxes of EUR 72.5 million. This represents EUR 5.1 million or 7.6% more than the record set in the first three months of 2011 (67.4). Earnings after taxes rose at a disproportionately high rate of 9.3% to EUR 51.5 million (47.1). Earnings per share increased to EUR 0.72 (0.65) per ordinary share and EUR 0.73 (0.66) per preference share.

Capital expenditures Investments in property, plant and equipment and intangible assets were EUR 12.2 million (6.5) in the first quarter of 2012. The primary focuses in this regard were the completion of our new research and development center in Mannheim, construction of a new facility in Russia and the modernization of our US production facility in Chicago.

The Group spent a further EUR 10.1 million in its investments in companies consolidated using the equity method. This allowed the acquisition of an automotive lubricants business at the start of 2012 to be partially financed by the Groups joint venture in Turkey.

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DGAP-News: FUCHS increases EBIT to EUR 72.5 million in the first three months of 2012