Sunday, May 31, 2009

Medical News

Medical News
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Thrombolysis time window may be expanded in selected patients

Posted: 31 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

A new Science Advisory from the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association endorses the use of intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator at 3.0 to 4.5 hours after stroke in carefully selected patients.

β2-AR genotype influences treatment response in severe asthma

Posted: 31 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Genotypic differences in the β2-adrenergic receptor influence the response to a widely used asthma treatment, a study of hospitalized children has found.

Comorbid depression adversely impacts outcomes in COPD

Posted: 31 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Depression is highly prevalent among people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and may have an adverse impact on disease outcomes.

Women more susceptible than men to wood dust related respiratory symptoms

Posted: 31 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Female woodworkers, but not their male counterparts, are at an increased risk for developing cough or bronchitis, research shows.

Intravaginal polymer gel well-tolerated, acceptable to women for contraception

Posted: 31 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Canadian researchers have found that the Invisible Condom®, an intravaginal polymer gel with the option of added microbicide, is comfortable, well-tolerated, and acceptable to women when applied daily.

Postmenopausal hormone therapy increases FSAP levels

Posted: 31 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Researchers have found that cyclic or continuous combined hormone therapy regimens increase plasma measures of factor VII-activating protease, which may contribute to the coronary heart disease-protective effect seen in young postmenopausal women.

Mildly abnormal glucose test during pregnancy raises diabetes risk

Posted: 31 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Even mildly abnormal 50-g glucose challenge test results during pregnancy that do not indicate gestational diabetes mellitus are linked to an increased later risk for diabetes in young women, conclude Canadian scientists.

Genetic testing underused in women with high risk for breast, ovarian cancer

Posted: 31 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

US researchers have found women who meet criteria for genetic counseling for breast/ovarian cancer risk rarely receive/have a low chance of receiving guideline-recommended advice and testing.

Oral contraceptive efficacy potentially affected by BMI

Posted: 31 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

US study findings suggest there may be an association between body mass index and contraceptive efficacy with low-dose oral contraceptives.

Cognitive performance declines in the perimenopause

Posted: 31 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Perimenopause is associated with impaired cognitive performance characterized by a decrease in learning relative to premenopausal levels, study results suggest.

In vitro extreme drug resistance assay may predict EOC outcomes

Posted: 31 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

The use of an in vitro extreme drug resistance assay may be useful in predicting drug response, platinum-resistance, and survival in epithelial ovarian cancer patients receiving chemotherapy after staging laparotomy, suggest study results.

Gestational diabetes strongly increases risk for type 2 diabetes

Posted: 31 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Women with gestational diabetes have more than a seven-fold increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes after birth than those who have a normoglycemic pregnancy, show results from a systematic review and meta-analysis.

<i>H. pylori</i> affects PGI/II ratio detection of atrophic gastritis

Posted: 31 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Pepsinogen tests to detect atrophic gastritis should take Helicobacter pylori infection into account, Korean research suggests.

GERD in China linked with obesity and urban life

Posted: 31 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Gastroesophageal reflux disease is associated with obesity and living in urban areas, an exploratory study in China suggests.

Circadian gene not linked to schizophrenia and mood disorders

Posted: 28 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

It appears that variations in the CLOCK gene do not play a major role in the development of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depressive disorder, conclude Japanese investigators.

Reduced ALIC at diagnosis points to worse 1-year schizophrenia outcome

Posted: 28 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

First-episode schizophrenia patients are more likely to have poor 1-year outcomes if they have a reduced area of the anterior limb of the internal capsule, potentially indicating fronto-thalamic connectivity disturbance, say German scientists.

US National Football League players ‘have normal CVD risk factor profile’

Posted: 28 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

A study has shown that a sample of US National Football League players had a similar rate of dyslipidemia, higher rate of hypertension, and lower rates of impaired fasting glucose and smoking than a sample of healthy young adult men.

Circadian gene not linked to schizophrenia and mood disorders

Posted: 28 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

It appears that variations in the CLOCK gene do not play a major role in the development of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depressive disorder, conclude Japanese investigators.

Early-onset mental health disorders linked to non-completion of education

Posted: 28 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

People who develop mental health disorders in childhood or adolescence are less likely to complete their education than mentally healthy people, and this association is true for patients living in both high- and middle- or low-income countries, research shows.

Gray matter deficits found in older bipolar disorder patients

Posted: 28 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Older bipolar disorder patients have inferior frontal lobe gray matter volume deficits, including in areas associated with the anterior limbic network, US researchers have discovered.

Insular cortex deficits linked to psychosis development

Posted: 27 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Researchers have found prominent gray matter changes in the insular cortex subregion in ultra-high-risk neuroleptic-naïve individuals who later developed psychosis.

Heart failure risk increased by heart disease-linked chromosome variant

Posted: 27 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

A variant on chromosome 9p21 that is known to increase coronary heart disease risk also increases heart failure risk among White people, say US scientists who found only weak associations with other atherosclerotic outcomes.

Neuroanatomic differences exist between intermediate-, early-onset BD

Posted: 27 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Researchers have found the first evidence for a neuroanatomic difference between intermediate-onset and early-onset bipolar disorder in the form of sulcal deviations.

Reduced gray matter volume occurs early in schizophrenia

Posted: 26 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Study results show patients with schizophrenia have a reduced gray matter volume early in their illness compared with healthy individuals, although this difference diminishes with age.

Hypomanic symptoms common in the immediate postpartum period

Posted: 26 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Study results suggest that hypomanic symptoms are common in the postpartum period and are significantly increased from antenatal rates in the general population.

Cytomegalovirus infection increases arterial blood pressure

Posted: 25 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Cytomegalovirus infection is a risk factor for increased blood pressure, US research suggests.

Hormonal therapy for breast cancer not often used in disadvantaged women

Posted: 19 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

The use of adjuvant hormonal therapy for breast cancer in socio-economically disadvantaged women is low, US study results show.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Medical News

Medical News
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Vitamin D a potential steroid sparing treatment in asthma

Posted: 25 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Researchers who identified mechanisms by which vitamin D reduces inflammation in airway smooth muscle cells say the vitamin could reduce the dose of steroid treatment needed in patients with asthma.

Death risk from advanced prostate cancer increased in younger men

Posted: 25 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Although younger prostate cancer patients have better overall outcomes than their older counterparts, those with advanced disease have a significantly increased risk for death, US study findings indicate.

High rate of NICU, hospitalizations in ART twins

Posted: 24 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Study results suggest that twins conceived using assisted reproductive technology are more likely than spontaneously conceived twins to be admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit and be hospitalized within the first 3 years of life.

Intravaginal DHEA effective treatment for postmenopausal sexual dysfunction

Posted: 24 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Combined androgenic/estrogenic stimulation in the three layers of the vagina through local transformation of dehydroepiandrosterone exerts important beneficial effects on sexual function in postmenopausal women without systemic action on the brain and other extravaginal tissue, phase III clinical trial results suggest.

Postmenopausal hormone therapy improves aerobic capacity

Posted: 24 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

In the absence of hormone replacement therapy, periods of amenorrhea lasting more than 10 years worsen the maximum oxygen intake in obese and sarcopenic postmenopausal women, suggest study results.

Estrogen sensitivity does not explain familial breast cancer

Posted: 19 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Study findings suggest that estrogen sensitivity does not explain familial disposition to postmenopausal breast cancer.

Psoriasis medications available on the internet without prescription

Posted: 14 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Patients with psoriasis can purchase all available treatments over the internet, a study in France has shown.

Young esophageal cancer patients ‘most likely women’

Posted: 03 May 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Young patients with esophageal cancer have squamous cell carcinoma as the predominant histology and are more likely to be women than men, a Turkish study suggests.

Health Informatics News

Health Informatics News
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Elsevier Appoints Managing Director of CDS

Posted: 28 May 2009 09:46 AM PDT

Amsterdam-based Elsevier has selected Chris Dillon to serve as the managing director of the Clinical Decision Support (CDS) group. Dillon will assume responsibility for all CDS operations and strategy, including product development, marketing and sales. Dillon brings more than 30 years of experience in marketing, management and sales of healthcare products and services. Most recently, he was senior vice president of marketing at Misys Healthcare Systems. He also served as the vice president/general manager of San Francisco-based McKesson’s specialty business.

Greater Baltimore MC Selects Physician Documentation

Posted: 28 May 2009 09:43 AM PDT

  The Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) has chosen Baltimore-based Salar, Inc. to enable electronic clinical documentation for the center’s emergency and internal medicine physician staff. Under the agreement, GBMC will take part in a nine-month pilot implementation of customized versions of Salar’s clinical documentation tools and charge capture solutions that will be used in an initial rollout of about 30 hospital physicians. The solution will be modified to meet the specific needs of GBMC’s physicians, according to the company. The 310-bed Medical Center serves nearly 22,000 in-patients annually and provides approximately 60,000 emergency room visits. GBMC also includes Gilchrist Hospice Care and the GBMC Foundation.

UNC Health Care, IBM Develop Data Warehouse

Posted: 27 May 2009 09:00 AM PDT

Chapel Hill, N.C.-based University of North Carolina Health Care (UNCHC) is teaming up with IBM   (Armonk, N.Y.) to accelerate the development of disease treatments with the deployment of the Carolina Data Warehouse for Health. Using the warehouse, researchers will be able to analyze large amounts of patient data and uncover trends much more quickly, according to the company. The system can also support queries relating to diagnosis and treatment of patients, which can lead to more intelligent decisions and improved patient care, it says. Built on IBM software and hardware, the warehouse focuses on diabetes disease management and performance measurement. It is designed to reduce the entire workflow of preparatory research, through regulatory approval, to obtaining a data set, from months to weeks, according to the company. The warehouse uses a secure web portal to provide access to anatomized cohort query selection, diabetes and inpatient data marts, business intelligence reports and analytics applications, and supporting clinical translation research. It is built on the IBM Health Integration Framework and utilizes InfoSphere and WebSphere software, running on System Z mainframe and P-Series computers.  

Survey: Privacy compliance has declined

Posted: 14 May 2006 01:56 AM PDT

Three years after federal rules governing the privacy of patients' medical records went into effect, compliance seems to have declined for 6 percent, according to an annual survey conducted by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). Read more about this at here.

E-book: Making E-Health Work

Posted: 14 May 2006 01:53 AM PDT

E-Health has become an integral part of present-day healthcare delivery. With healthcare consumers, increasingly the focus of most health systems, the widespread implementation of health information and communications technologies offers cost-effective opportunities to meet their increasingly sophisticated healthcare needs.Bankix Systems Ltd has released its latest e-book. It is a 200-page in-depth analysis of the issues involved in "Making E-Health Work," the e-book's title. Read more about this e-book at here.

Consumer tools: UCompareHealthCare Offers Free Reports on Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Physicians

Posted: 11 Mar 2006 01:01 AM PST

"UCompareHealthCare has just unveiled its Web site, ucomparehealthcare.com, which features free reports on the nation's nursing homes, hospitals and physicians to help consumers make informed healthcare decisions. I checked the web site and found it very informative for health consumers to help them make informed decision about their choices of doctors, hospitals and others." Read more about this at UCompareHealthCare

Articles: Direct to Consumer: Women are a powerful, but untapped, audience

Posted: 03 Feb 2006 12:04 AM PST

"Women influence many family decisions—from choosing what's for dinner to selecting the medications their children take. In fact, nearly two-thirds of women are responsible for family healthcare decisions, according to a 2004 national survey conducted by Plan for Your Health. Many women also assume the care-giving role outside their nuclear families. Today's middle-aged woman may also look after her parents and in-laws too, often determining how long they can live on their own and how to best care for them. In addition, she often influences the important health decisions of grandchildren, co-workers, and friends." Read more at PharmExec.

Consumer tools: Really Personal PHRs

Posted: 27 Jan 2006 01:05 AM PST

"If we're committed to fostering the adoption of personal health records, we should take a page out of the consumer marketing textbooks — not the primers of health IT marketers. This was my conclusion after attending a recent meeting in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Markle Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Agency for Healthcare Quality Research and Quality. " Read more about this at iHealthBeat .

Consumer trends: Manhattan Predicts Online Health Trends

Posted: 27 Jan 2006 12:06 AM PST

"US healthcare specialist Manhattan Research has published a summary of the major trends for health and pharmaceutical marketers to consider in 2006. The trends chart the increased use of the web and other new technologies as a health information and communication tool for both patients and physicians." Read more at Daily Research News Online.

News: Wall Street Journal Looks at Tools That Identify Low-Cost Care Options

Posted: 26 Jan 2006 01:07 AM PST

"The Wall Street Journal on Thursday looked at efforts by insurers to provide patients with tools - including a cell phone Web browsing service - to help them find low-cost treatment options. Lumenos, a unit of WellPoint, in February will launch the cell phone service, which lets patients type drug names into their cell phones' Web browsers and get lists of lower-cost alternatives. The program is designed so that patients can ask their physicians about cost-effective alternatives while they still are at their appointments." Read more at iHealthBeat.

Consumer tools: Consumer Health Complete Now Available from EBSCO Publishing

Posted: 25 Jan 2006 12:09 AM PST

"In continuing with the company's goal of providing the most comprehensive collection of online health and wellness resources, EBSCO Publishing has announced the release of Consumer Health Complete (CHC). This full text database is designed to support consumer and patients' information needs as well as foster an overall
understanding of health-related topics." Read more at Managing Information News.