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Google Algorithm Finds Cancer Biomarkers
Seven proteins that can help physicians evaluate how aggressive a patient's cancer is and whether or not they should receive chemotherapy have been identified by German researchers. Using a strategy similar to Google's PageRank algorithm, the researchers from Dresden University of Technology, Germany, were able to rank around 20,000 proteins by their genetic relevance to the progression of pancreatic cancer. The study is published in PLoS Computational Biology...
Should Children Be Made To Have Vaccines?
Two experts discuss in the journal BMJ whether childhood vaccination should be mandatory in the UK. According to Paul Offit, Chief of Infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, mandatory vaccination is essential to protect those who are vulnerable from infection...
Controlling Blood Pressure - Team Based Care Vital
High blood pressure was listed as a primary or contributing cause of death for approximately 336,000 Americans in 2007. If all patients with high blood pressure were treated to goal as outlined in current clinical guidelines, it is estimated that 46,000 deaths might be averted each year. Total annual costs associated with hypertension are $156 billion, including medical costs of $131 billion and lost productivity costs of $25 billion. The Task Force on Community Preventive Services recommends team-based care (TBC) to improve blood pressure (BP) control...
General Practice - Uk India Partnership Initiative
��An article featured in BMJ reports on a 'white paper', which investigates as to how India and the UK can collaborate more closely in an equal partnership to improve both nations' primary health care. �The paper lists a number of opportunities based on India's plans to achieve Universal Health Coverage, which requires the collaboration of the UK and India to benefit both nations by strengthening primary care in India and bringing expertise and innovations from India to improve care in the UK...
Brushing Teeth - Which Way Is The Right Way?
Twenty five percent of teenagers in Sweden do not brush their teeth regularly and only 10% of Swedes know how to use toothpaste effectively, according to researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg. Even though the majority of people in Sweden brush their teeth, only 1 in 10 brush in a way that effectively prevents tooth decay. Pia Gabre and her colleagues examined the toothbrushing habits of 2,013 Swedes aged between 15 to 80 years old...
Palpitations May Mean Looming Atrial Fibrillation
The European Journal of Preventive Cardiology reveals that the emergence of palpitations is a risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF). Findings of a large population study reveal the strongest risk factors for atrial fibrillation in both men and women to be a history of palpitations and hypertension. Although it is a well-known fact that hypertension is a risk factor for AF, the researchers say, that "the impact of self-reported palpitations on later occurrence of AF has not been documented earlier"...
Education And Income Affect Health Levels Considerably
An annual report on American's health reveals that individuals with lower income levels and lower education are more likely to develop chronic diseases than people with higher incomes and higher levels of education. The report, entitled "Health, United States, 2011" was conducted by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. Obesity According to the report, in 2007-2010, women aged 25+ were less likely to be obese (25%) if they had a bachelor's degree or higher than women who did not (39-43%) have a degree at all...
Very Sugary Diet Makes You Stupid
As we near the final year exams for schools and universities, students should be wary of powering up on buckets of soda and pocketfuls of candy bars. A UCLA study on rats suggests that fructose slows down the brain and memory functions. Too much sweetness can also prevent learning. The findings are published in Journal of Physiology and also show omega-3 fatty acids helping to negate the effect. Earlier studies have shown that fructose is involved in causing diabetes, obesity and a fatty liver, but this is the first research to uncover how sugar can influence the brain...
Common Antibiotic Found To Carry Heart Risk
Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a rare, but important risk posed by the antibiotic azithromycin, commonly called a "Z-pack." The study found a 2.5-fold higher risk of cardiovascular death in the first five days of taking azithromycin when compared with another common antibiotic or no antibiotics at all. Wayne A. Ray, Ph.D., professor of Preventive Medicine, and C. Michael Stein, M.B.Ch.B., the Dan May Chair in Medicine and professor of Pharmacology, collaborated on the research published in the May 17 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine...
Study Shows Delays In Siblings Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
A new University of Miami (UM) study shows that one in three children who have an older sibling with an Autism Related Disorder (ASD) fall into a group characterized by higher levels of autism-related behaviors or lower levels of developmental progress. The study will be presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) in May, 2012. ASDs are developmental conditions characterized by problems with social interaction and communication...
Fatal Falls Increase For Older Adults
The recent dramatic increase in the fall death rate in older Americans is likely the effect of improved reporting quality, according to a new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy. The report finds the largest increase in the mortality rate occurred immediately following the 1999 introduction of an update to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), suggesting a major change in the way deaths were classified...
Less Inflammation Seen In Patients With NAFLD, A Common Liver Disease, Who Consume Modest Amounts Of Alcohol
NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) is the most common type of liver disease in the developed world, affecting up to one-third of the US population. NAFLD is often associated with obesity and other parameters of the so-called "metabolic syndrome," which is a major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease...
An Estimated 53 Million Americans May Have Diabetes By 2025
The Diabetes 2025 Model for the U.S. projects a continuous and dramatic increase in the diabetes epidemic and makes it possible to estimate the potential effects of society-wide changes in lifestyle and healthcare delivery systems. Predictions for individual states and population subgroups are highlighted in an article published in Population Health Management, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Population Health Management website...
Groundbreaking Advance In Medical Diagnostics
Researchers have created an ultrasensitive biosensor that could open up new opportunities for early detection of cancer and "personalized medicine" tailored to the specific biochemistry of individual patients. The device, which could be several hundred times more sensitive than other biosensors, combines the attributes of two distinctly different types of sensors, said Muhammad A. Alam, a Purdue University professor of electrical and computer engineering...
Off-Label Use Of Antipsychotic Medications
Reducing the non-FDA-approved use of antipsychotic drugs may be a way to save money while having little effect on patient care, according to a Penn State College of Medicine study. Researchers say that 57.6 percent of patients prescribed antipsychotic medications in data from 2003 did not have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, the conditions for which the drugs were approved for use. Use of medication for treatments that is not FDA-approved is called off-label use...
Some Dietary Supplements May Increase Cancer Risk
Beta-carotene, selenium and folic acid - taken up to three times their recommended daily allowance, these supplements are probably harmless. But taken at much higher levels as some supplement manufacturers suggest, these three supplements have now been proven to increase the risk of developing a host of cancers...
Study Shows High-Fructose Diet Sabotages Learning, Memory
Attention, college students cramming between midterms and finals: Binging on soda and sweets for as little as six weeks may make you stupid. A new UCLA rat study is the first to show how a diet steadily high in fructose slows the brain, hampering memory and learning - and how omega-3 fatty acids can counteract the disruption. The peer-reviewed Journal of Physiology has published the findings...
Teaching Hospitals With Fellowship Programs Have Less Radical Prostatectomy Complications
Patients who undergo radical surgery for prostate cancer may expect better results, on average, if they're treated in accredited teaching hospitals with residency programs, and better still if the hospitals also have medical fellowships, according to a new study by Henry Ford Hospital. The study, which evaluated postoperative complications in 47,100 radical prostatectomy (RP) patients throughout the U.S., also found that those with fewer complications after the surgery were more likely to have private insurance...
Under-Use Of Safer Kidney Cancer Surgery For Poorer, Sicker Medicare, Medicaid Patients
An increasingly common and safer type of surgery for kidney cancer is not as likely to be used for older, sicker and poorer patients who are uninsured or rely on Medicare or Medicaid for their health care, according to a new study by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital. The treatment, partial nephrectomy (PN), involves surgically removing only the diseased portion of a cancerous kidney, leaving the unaffected part to continue to function...
Gender Comparison In Kidney Cancer Surgery
Women do better than men after surgical removal of part or all of a cancerous kidney, with fewer post-operative complications, including dying in the hospital, although they are more likely to receive blood transfusions related to their surgery. But Henry Ford Hospital researchers who documented these gender differences can't say why they exist. The results of the new study, based on population samples from throughout the U.S., will be presented this week at the American Urological Association's Annual Meeting in Atlanta. "This is a controversial area," says Quoc-Dien Trinh, M.D...
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