Steep reductions in the abundance of fish, shellfish, and other aquatic fauna in recent centuries are not restricted to animals that live in the sea: historical records show that species in rivers and lakes worldwide also experienced sharp declines. Yet the significance of these declines in freshwater species is frequently overlooked by natural resource managers, according to an article in the September 2009 issue of BioScience.
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CHAPEL HILL – Black patients with high blood pressure experience poorer communication with their doctors than white patients do, a study led by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher has found.
"This is an important finding because poorer communication is associated with worse patient satisfaction, adherence to therapy and blood pressure control, which in turn may lead to worse disease outcomes for black patients compared to white patients," said Crystal Wiley Cené, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor in the UNC School of Medicine and lead author of the study.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA–Highlights of September's Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (Academy), include a 2009 review by the Academy of the safety and efficacy of a widely used corneal transplant procedure and a warning about an unusual but serious reaction to systemic fluroquinolones, a class of antibiotics used to treat a variety of bacterial infections.
DSEK Deemed Safe, Effective Treatment for Corneal Diseases
Bethesda, MD (Sept. 1, 2009) — There has been much debate about the relationship between gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and sleep. Three new studies in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology explore GERD's effect on sleep quality and the health-care system as well as how a widely prescribed sleeping pill may mask the disease. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology is the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.
Decreases in birth and death rates explain the shift in age distribution of dengue hemorrhagic fever in Thailand, according to a new paper in this week's open access journal PLoS Medicine.
Central Asian ethnic groups are more defined by societal rules than ancestry. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Genetics found that overall there are more genetic differences within ethnic groups than between them, indicating that separate 'ethnic groups' exist in the mind more than the blood.
Warfarin therapy for patients with atrial fibrillation – the most common type of significant heart rhythm disorder – appears to be most beneficial for the oldest patients, those who have had a prior stroke and for patients with multiple risk factors for stroke, according to a new study by Kaiser Permanente and Massachusetts General Hospital researchers. This comparative effectiveness research study – examines how much a treatment's potential benefits outweigh its risks, in the usual clinical care of patients with atrial fibrillation – appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Screening tests used to predict asthma activity in patients may have little tracking success when applied to people with persistent disease who are adhering to their health care regimens, UT Southwestern Medical Center physician report.
Previous reports have suggested that certain clinical findings and laboratory tests could help predict future asthma attacks. Those earlier conclusions, however, were based on observations of patients with poorly controlled asthma who had not received care based on current guidelines.
Exposure to carbon monoxide, even at levels well below national limits, is associated with an increased risk of hospitalization for the elderly with heart problems, according to a study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Breast cancer detection rates and sensitivity were higher, but so were false-positive rates, among mammography centers that offered clinical breast examination in addition to mammography, according to new study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
There is controversy about whether adding clinical breast examination to mammography improves the accuracy of breast screening.
While smoking cigarettes significantly increases a person's risk of developing multiple sclerosis, using Swedish snuff does not, according to a study published in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The introduction of prostate-antigen screening, or PSA, has resulted in over 1 million additional men over the last 23 years being diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer —— most of whom were likely overdiagnosed, researchers reported in a new study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Overdiagnosis has been associated with early diagnosis in prostate cancer, but there have been no previous national estimates of its magnitude.
Prostate cancer patients, including older men and men with small, low-risk tumors, may safely defer treatment for many years with no adverse consequences, according to a new study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO). Led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), the study appears online today.
Women diagnosed with nonmetastatic breast cancer who were concerned about body image and their spouse's opinion were less likely to have a mastectomy than those who placed less concern on these issues, according to new study published online August 31 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Overall, patients who were more involved in the decision making about their treatment were more likely to have a mastectomy, regardless of racial or ethnic group.
A team of researchers from The Wistar Institute have shown that a large non-coding RNA in mammals and yeast plays a central role in helping maintain telomeres, the tips of chromosomes that contain important genetic information and help regulate cell division. Since this RNA also facilitates the formation of DNA at telomeres —— a process that can protect aging cells and destabilize tumor cells —— manipulating its expression may be useful in treating cancer and other diseases.