Health

Duke researchers say the reasons for a decline in health among recent immigrants may be more complicated than health experts thought. Duke Sociologist Jen'nan Read says researchers may have been drawing the wrong conclusion from data showing that immigrants arrive in the U.S. healthy and then become less so.

Cancer patients across the state have a new place to go for treatment. After a week of dedications and tours, the Duke Cancer Center opens to patients Monday. Doctor Michael Kastan is the Executive Director of the Duke Cancer Institute. He says the state-of-the-art seven story building unites a large number of specialists under one roof.

UNC Chapel Hill this afternoon will officially mark the opening of its new Comprehensive Angelman Syndrome Clinic at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities. Anne Wheeler is a psychologist at CIDD; she's also co-coordinator for the new clinic. She says Angelman Syndrome is a rare congenital disorder that occurs in about 1 in 15-thousand births.

Contrary to what doctors have believed for decades, a high-fiber diet may not stave off one intestinal disease. That's the conclusion of a study from UNC-Chapel Hill. It found no correlation between a lack of fiber and a higher incidence of diverticulosis. Anne Peery is the study's lead researcher.

Anne Peery: It's too early to tell patients what to do differently, but these results are really exciting for researchers. It gives us the opportunity to look at a disease process in new ways and to really rethink why people develop asymptomatic diverticulosis.

A new study finds that breast cancer survivors had limited knowledge about their surgical options, including decisions that can help prevent recurrence of the disease. The findings are reported in this month's issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Clara Lee, a surgeon at UNC Hospitals, is a co-author of the study. She says the quality of decisions patients make is directly related to how well health providers inform patients about their choices.

A state task force is recommending $50,000 be given to every victim of North Carolina's eugenics program.

Listen to Jessica Jones's story on Morning Edition

A new emergency department is open in Raleigh. WakeMed's latest free-standing medical facility is in Brier Creek, near the Wake-Durham county line. WakeMed's Carolyn Knaup says they chose the location based on the area's rapid growth.

Carolyn Knaup: It's totally locally driven - i.e., when you need emergency care, you need it close to where you live or where you work. So, in doing our demographic assessment really felt like the Brier Creek area afforded lots of opportunity to be able to meet the need in that community.