(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – July 22, 2014) The voice on the recording was low and calm as the speaker recounted the telephone call that brought the news he was infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS: "My heart just stopped for a little bit and next thing you know I was on the floor flat on my face boohooing, crying like a baby."
Culture
Leading experts have joined together for the first time to call for better screening of psoriatic arthritis to help millions of people worldwide suffering from the condition.
Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) causes painful joint inflammation and can cause irreversible joint damage if left untreated.
PsA tends to affect people with the skin condition psoriasis, which causes a red, scaly rash, and affects approximately two per cent of people in the UK.
Around one in five go on to develop PsA – usually within ten years of the initial skin problem being diagnosed.
According to a literature review in the July issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS), patients' activity level is a strong predictor for how well they will do with certain treatments and how well they recover from injuries after treatment. Patients are encouraged to ask their orthopaedic surgeon if activity level is an important factor in their treatment decision.
A 45 per cent rise in diagnostic imaging tests ordered by Australian GPs is being driven by increasing GP visits, a rising number of problems managed at consultations and a higher likelihood that GPs order imaging tests for these problems, according to a new University of Sydney study released today.
Based on a long term national survey of 9,802 GPs between 2002 and 2012, the report draws on data from more than 980,000 GP-patient encounter records to assess the extent to which GP's order tests in line with diagnostic imaging guidelines.
Researchers from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics have linked tighter Medicaid policies governing antipsychotic drugs with increased incarceration rates for schizophrenic individuals.
The study comes amid media scrutiny over whether cutbacks in mental health actually save money, when other costs are taken into account.
(Boston)-- Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have found that participants who received care through BMC's Violence Intervention Advocacy Program (VIAP)--an interventional program targeting the physical, mental, emotional and social needs of violently injured youths—were less likely to retaliate for their injuries and experienced life changing behaviors through connections to caring, steady, supportive adults who helped them feel trust and hope. These findings are reported in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine.
Chicago, July 20, 2014—The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has released the results of a major survey examining the public's opinions about what it means to be a quality health care provider in the United States. The survey, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, sheds new light on how American adults perceive the quality of their health care and doctors, as well as the information they use and trust when making health care decisions. The survey produces new and actionable data during a crucial period of Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation.
While historical barriers that excluded Black America from the homeowner market for decades have crumbled, there are signs that emerging types of racial inequality are making homeownership an increasingly risky investment for African-American home seekers. A new study from sociologists at Rice University and Cornell University found that African-Americans are 45 percent more likely than whites to switch from owning their homes to renting them.
1. National Quality Forum cautions hospital performance measures must adjust for patient sociodemographic status or risk widening the care gap
(Philadelphia, PA) – Patients who have a clot in their legs and are considering whether to be treated with traditional blood-thinning medication or undergo a minimally-invasive catheter-based clot removal procedure should feel comfortable that there is no difference in death rates between the two treatments, although there are more bleeding risks with the catheter procedure, according to a study by Temple University School of Medicine researchers. The study involved a review of more than 90,000 cases nationwide.
Utilization of catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT, where imaging is used to guide treatment to the site of a blood clot in order to dissolve it) has increased in patients with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and there appeared to be no difference in in-hospital mortality rates for patients treated with CDT compared with anticoagulation alone, although patients treated with CDT had more adverse events.
Bottom Line: The blood biomarkers serum albumin and creatinine appear to be associated with survival in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and may help define prognosis in patients after they are diagnosed with the fatal neurodegenerative disorder commonly known as Lou Gehrig disease.
Author: Adriano Chiò, M.D., of the Rita Levi Montalcini Department of Neuroscience, Torino, Italy, and colleagues.
WASHINGTON (July 21, 2014) — While awareness campaigns may be getting women to go to the hospital more quickly during a heart-attack, a new look at hospital data shows women have longer hospital stays and are more likely than men to die in the hospital after a heart attack.
In the study published online today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers from Yale School of Medicine analyzed 230,684 hospitalizations for heart attack in patients age 30 to 54 from a total of 1.1 million hospitalizations reported in a national database from 2001 to 2010.
Chicago, July 20, 2014—The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has released the results of a major survey examining the public's opinions about what it means to be a quality health care provider in the United States. The survey, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, sheds new light on how American adults perceive the quality of their health care and doctors, as well as the information they use and trust when making health care decisions. The survey produces new and actionable data during a crucial period of Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation.
AURORA, Colo. (July 21, 2014) - According to the Centers for Disease Control, approximately four out of five black women are overweight or obese and 36 percent meet physical activity objectives as determined by the CDC. That's compared to 50 percent of white women meeting the same objectives.