DALLAS (SMU) – Training principals for new roles is key to U.S. Department of Education school reforms, according to a new report by SMU researchers. But insufficient training and support for principals to meet the new expectations is leading to a leadership crisis. Twenty percent of newly minted principals leave the profession after two years and seasoned professionals are opting for early retirement.
Culture
ROSEMONT, Ill.─Over the past decade, a greater number of patients, age 80 and older, are having elective orthopaedic surgery. A new study appearing in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS) found that these surgeries are generally safe with mortality rates decreasing for total hip (THR) and total knee (TKR) replacement and spinal fusion surgeries, and complication rates decreasing for total knee replacement and spinal fusion in patients with few or no comorbidities (other conditions or diseases).
Philadelphia, PA, July 17, 2014 – A new analysis of data from 1988-2008 has revealed a 40% decrease in the incidence of stroke in Medicare patients 65 years of age and older. This decline is greater than anticipated considering this population's risk factors for stroke, and applies to both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes. Investigators also found death resulting from stroke declined during the same period. Their findings are published in the July issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
Regular attendance at HIV primary care visits and high adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) are vital for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA), as these health behaviors lead to lowered rates of morbidity and mortality, increased quality of life, and reducing the risk of HIV transmission to others. However, a large proportion of PLHA in the United States are not sufficiently engaged in care and not taking ART when it is medically necessary.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When a medical emergency strikes, our gut tells us to get to the nearest hospital quickly. But a new study suggests that busier emergency centers may actually give the best chance of surviving – especially for people suffering life-threatening medical crises.
In fact, the analysis finds that patients admitted to a hospital after an emergency had a 10 percent lower chance of dying in the hospital if they initially went to one of the nation's busiest emergency departments, compared with the least busy.
Patients likely to benefit the most from antiviral therapy for influenza were prescribed these drugs infrequently during the 2012-2013 influenza season, while antibiotics may have been overprescribed. Published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and now available online, the findings suggest more efforts are needed to educate clinicians about the appropriate use of antivirals and antibiotics in the outpatient setting.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved its 20 billionth Eggland's Best egg, which are now sold in the supermarkets of all 50 US states.
Are they really the best? Unlike organic food, there is a lot of inspecting going on. Eggland's Best utilizes more than 50 USDA-approved inspectors a year to certify their eggs and conducts more than 35,000 tests a year to back up the claim that its eggs have lower saturated fat than ordinary eggs while being higher in vitamins and nutrients.
Bottom Line: The long-lasting symptoms that many patients contend with following mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), also known as concussion, may be posttraumatic disorder (PTSD) and not postconcussion syndrome (PCS).
Authors: Emmanuel Lagarde, Ph.D., of the Université de Bordeaux, France, and colleagues.
Bottom Line: Widespread military adoption of damage control resuscitation (DCR) policies has shifted resuscitation practices at combat hospitals during conflicts.
Author: Nicholas R. Langan, M.D., and colleagues from the Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Wash.
Cigarette smokers are more likely to commit suicide than people who don't smoke, studies have shown. This reality has been attributed to the fact that people with psychiatric disorders, who have higher suicide rates, also tend to smoke. But new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis finds that smoking itself may increase suicide risk and that policies to limit smoking reduce suicide rates.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A survey of 142 men and 516 women with experience in field studies in anthropology, archaeology, geology and other scientific disciplines reveals that many of them – particularly the younger ones – suffered or witnessed sexual harassment or sexual assault while at work in the field.
PHILADELPHIA—Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that patients taking prescription potassium supplements together with loop diuretics for heart failure have better survival rates than patients taking diuretics without the potassium. Moreover, the degree of benefit increases with higher diuretic doses.
Rochester, MN, July 16, 2014 – High body mass index (BMI) is associated with multiple cardiovascular diseases. However, emerging data suggest that there is an "obesity paradox," that being overweight may actually protect patients from cardiovascular mortality. Investigators have now confirmed that the risk of total mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and myocardial infarction is highest among underweight patients, while cardiovascular mortality is lowest among overweight patients, according to two reports published today in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
DARIEN, IL – A new study shows that worse sleep quality predicts lower physical activity in people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The new research paper, which reports on one of the first experimental studies in the world to analyze how cooperative attitudes evolve in different age ranges, was written by the professors from the OpenSystems research group of the Department Fundamental Physics at the Universidad de Barcelona (UB), Josep Perelló and Mario Gutiérrez-Roig, Anxo Sánchez, of the Complex Systems Interdisciplinary Group (Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos - GISC) of the Mathematics Department at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and the researchers from the Complex Systems and Networks Grou