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In a new case study, researchers at North Carolina State University describe an adolescent human patient diagnosed with rapid onset schizophrenia who was found instead to have a Bartonella henselae infection. This study adds to the growing body of evidence that Bartonella infection can mimic a host of chronic illnesses, including mental illness, and could open up new avenues of research into bacterial or microbial causes of mental disorders.
Men who receive anti-hormonal treatment after having their prostate removed are 80% more likely to suffer from depression than men who don't receive this treatment. This leads researchers to suggest that patients receiving androgen deprivation therapy should be monitored for post-surgical depression. This is presented at the European Association of Urology congress in Barcelona.
A study of almost 500,000 women indicates that taking paracetamol or other painkillers during pregnancy is not responsible for increasing the risk of asthma in children.
The research, which uses prescription data on painkillers, does support earlier findings that women taking paracetamol during pregnancy are more likely to have children who develop asthma. However, it also suggests that the painkillers are not the cause of this increase.
A new tool designed for patients with heart disease is better at predicting death after hospital admission than current tools, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) http://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.181186.
"This cardiac-specific tool, or index, to predict death outperforms current general indexes used to predict death," says Dr. Marc Jolicoeur, Montreal Heart Institute, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec.
EMBARGOED UNTIL 11: 45 a.m. ET, March 17, 2019, NEW ORLEANS -- A Cleveland Clinic-led research team has found that using an absorbable, antibiotic-eluting envelope when implanting cardiac devices like pacemakers and defibrillators can cut the rate of major infections by 40 percent.
The research was presented today at the American College of Cardiology's 68th Annual Scientific Session and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It will also be presented tomorrow at the European Heart Rhythm Association 2019 Congress.
Boston, MA -- The final results are in for MOMENTUM 3, the largest left-ventricular assist device (LVAD) trial ever conducted. The study of more than 1,000 patients with severe heart failure not only confirms that the HeartMate 3™, a next-generation LVAD device, markedly reduced the need for re-operations due to pump malfunctions, but also found that it lowered risk of bleeding events and strokes, compared to the HeartMate II™. Results were presented in a Late Breaking Clinical Trial at the American College of Cardiology's 68th Annual Scientific Session by Mandeep R.
A multicenter clinical trial has found that transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) performed better than open-heart surgery in low-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis. The study found that one year after the procedure, the rate of death, stroke, or rehospitalization was significantly lower with TAVR than with surgery.
The results were presented during the late-breaking clinical trials session at the American College of Cardiology Conference in New Orleans and were simultaneously published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.
A new study has found that patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease cut their risk of a second major adverse cardiovascular event by almost 50 percent, if they adhere to taking a statin medication as prescribed by their doctors.
While that's good news for patients, the bad news, however, is that researchers from the Intermountain Healthcare Heart Institute in Salt Lake City found that only about six percent of patients are in fact following the statin regimen given to them to lower their cholesterol, negating any potential cardiovascular benefits.
Any time a pregnant woman presents in heart failure there are risks to both mother and baby. What does it take to protect the mother and her growing baby for the best possible outcome?
According to clinicians at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, the key to survival is a multidisciplinary team-based approach, involving cardiac and maternal/fetal/newborn specialists -- who normally don't work together -- to team up to successfully save mom and baby.
In the largest such study so far undertaken, US researchers have shown that testosterone replacement slows the recurrence of prostate cancer in low-risk patients. This may call into question the general applicability of Nobel-Prize winning hormonal prostate treatment. The work is presented at the European Association of Urology congress in Barcelona.
Background
People with diabetes who undergo joint replacement surgery are at sharply higher risk of experiencing elevated blood sugar after the operation, increasing their chances of developing infections and other complications, according to a new study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City and The Ochsner Health System in New Orleans.
Scientists have found that men with high neuroticism - between a quarter and a fifth of men in developed countries - are significantly more likely to suffer from adverse events such as erectile dysfunction and incontinence, which may put their recovery from prostate cancer surgery at risk. The researchers say that this means cancer teams may need to consider testing for personality types to try to ensure that patients being treated for prostate cancer receive the best care. This work is presented at the European Association of Urology Congress in Barcelona.
Tiny organisms in a child's nose could offer clues to improving the diagnosis and treatment of severe lung infections, research shows.
Experts found that the composition of the microbiome - the population of bacteria and viruses found in vast numbers in the body - was altered in the noses of children with respiratory infections, compared with healthy peers.
This difference predicted how long children had to spend in hospital and helped spot those likely to recover naturally, potentially reducing the need for antibiotics.
Research performed over the last several decades has led to an increased understanding of the genetics of cancer. The clinical application of this knowledge for pediatric cancer has lagged behind studies performed for adults. In a perspectives article published in the prestigious journal Science, Dr. Jaclyn Biegel, from Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and Dr.
A national call for restraint in opioid prescribing has yielded dramatic progress in clinician prescribing patterns, with some notable room for improvement.
These are the findings of a new study from Harvard Medical School showing a drop of more than 50 percent in monthly opioid prescribing for new patients.