Among families of patients with chronic critical illness, the use of palliative care-led informational and emotional support meetings compared with usual care did not reduce anxiety or depression symptoms, according to a study appearing in the July 5 issue of JAMA.
Culture
A new study shows a brisk walk is just as good as a jog when it comes to reducing liver fatty content, important news for the more than 3 million people diagnosed each year in the U.S. with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Researchers including Jiang He, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Hui-Jie Zhang, a post-doctoral fellow at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, published their findings in the latest issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.
TORONTO, July 6, 2016 - Costs of patients who develop chronic post-surgical pain could range from $2.5 million to $4.1 million a year, in one Ontario hospital alone, according to a study in Pain Management.
Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD) is a rare inherited metabolic disorder involving the dysfunction of an enzyme which breaks down three essential amino acids: leucine, isoleucine and valine. Left untreated, infants die from a toxic buildup of resulting keto-acids within weeks of birth. Those who are diagnosed early can live a normal life, but are forced to eat a very controlled, formula-based diet. The only proven treatment for the disease, which is characterized by sweet-smelling urine, is a liver transplant.
People with Huntington disease (HD) experienced improvements in chorea while taking deutetrabenazine (SD-809) compared to placebo, according to a paper published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Although the topline results of the trial have been released previously, the complete peer-reviewed publication about the First-HD clinical trial is now published in a premier medical journal.
Less than 60% of premature babies born in 11 European countries receive a package of four simple, widely available care measures known to improve survival, finds a study in The BMJ today.
Very preterm infants (born before 32 weeks' gestation) face high risks of death and serious illness compared with infants born at term. Effective strategies exist to improve survival and reduce illness, but it is not known how widely these are used in real life clinical settings.
Helsinki, 5 July 2016: Despite the positive results of small studies and a widely held belief in its benefit, the practice of keeping female patients immobilised after intrauterine insemination has no beneficial effect on pregnancy rates, according to results of a large randomised study presented here at the Annual Meeting of ESHRE in Helsinki.(1) "Indeed," said investigator Joukje van Rijswijk from the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, "it even tends to the opposite."
The woman was laid on a bed of specially selected materials, including gazelle horn cores, fragments of chalk, fresh clay, limestone blocks and sediment. Tortoise shells were placed under and around her body, 86 in total. Sea shells, an eagle's wing, a leopard's pelvis, a forearm of a wild boar and even a human foot were placed on the body of the mysterious 1.5 meter-tall woman. Atop her body, a large stone was laid to seal the burial space.
TORONTO, July 5, 2016 - Most Ontario adults support government-controlled options for producing and selling cannabis, according to new survey results from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). While public opinion continues to swing toward liberalizing recreational cannabis use control, Ontarians favour keeping cannabis production in the hands of either government agencies or regulated private businesses, and having regulated outlets for the sale of cannabis.
A recent study in rats suggests that acoustic shock waves could speed up a muscle's healing process. This technique could help injured athletes to return to training and be able to compete more quickly than just with traditional methods.
Children covered by Medicaid and equally sick children not covered by Medicaid received essentially similar asthma treatment in a given pediatric hospital, according to a new study. In a national sample, researchers analyzed hospital practice patterns by comparing inpatient costs, lengths of stay and use of the intensive care unit (ICU).
Standard methods for estimating obesity may grossly underestimate the burden of overweight worldwide -- on the scale of hundreds of millions -- according to a paper published in Obesity Reviews. Associate professors Daniel Hruschka of Arizona State University's School of Human Evolution and Social Change and Craig Hadley of Emory University's Department of Anthropology are developing more accurate tools by taking a closer look at the different ways that people's bodies are built in different places around the world.
Helsinki, July 4, 2016: The number of children born to single women is increasing, partly as a result of social and legislative changes (in most jurisdictions) in the rights to parenthood. While technology has been readily able to meet this rising demand through donor insemination and even IVF, little is known about how children think, feel and fare growing up in the families formed by single women.
A simple nine-question tool could help emergency physicians uncover the dangerous hidden conditions that make some people faint, according to a study published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Fainting is fairly common - 35 to 40 percent of people faint at least once in their lives. But for about ten percent of people who visit the emergency room for fainting it can be a symptom of a potentially life-threatening condition like arrhythmia, or heart rhythm disturbance.
A simple nine-question tool could help emergency physicians uncover the sometimes dangerous hidden conditions that cause some people to faint, according to a study published today in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Syncope, or fainting, accounts for between 1% and 3% of all emergency department visits. In most cases, it is benign, but it can sometimes be caused by serious health conditions. About 10% of patients who visit emergency departments for fainting experience a serious adverse event within 1 week to a month after their visit.