(PHILADELPHIA) – Patients waiting for liver transplants who develop hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS), a lung disorder associated with end-stage liver disease, are eligible to move up on the wait list. In a new paper published in Gastroenterology, however, Penn Medicine researchers argue the so-called "exception points" given to these patients award some HPS patients unnecessary priority over others on the list, which includes about 17,000 patients.
Culture
In collaboration with an international team, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have developed an antibody, 3F7, which blocks a protein that is active in the coagulation system factor XII. Inhibition of factor XII makes it possible to prevent thrombosis in blood vessels without increasing the risk of bleeding in clinical settings.
You can successfully integrate technology into patient care, but it isn't easy. Just ask Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) and its 3.4 million members. Robert M.
WASHINGTON, DC, February 5, 2014 — Have American jobs become less stable? Do workers change employers more frequently than in the past?
Many Americans would probably say the answer to these questions is an obvious yes. Yet, for the past few decades researchers looking at the data haven't been so sure: average job tenure (the number of years working for the same employer) has been surprisingly stable over time.
SALT LAKE CITY—A University of Utah-led study for treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation (A-fib) provides strong clinical evidence for the use of 3-D MRI to individualize disease management and improve outcomes.
Results of the Delayed-Enhancement MRI Determinant of Successful Radio-frequency Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation (DECAFF) study will be published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
When crime rates drop, politicians like to give themselves pats on the back for being "tough on crime." But a new theory explaining why violence has declined across the country since the 1990s is gaining credence, and it has nothing to do with the criminal justice system. An article in Chemical & Engineering News details the mounting data that suggests taking lead out of gas and paint has played a critical role.
Philadelphia, Pa. (February 4, 2014) - Patients with massive burns causing complete loss of the facial skin pose a difficult challenge for reconstructive surgeons.
Risk scores for diseases such as CVD are usually presented as the percent chance of contracting the disease within the next ten years. The Heart Age Calculator, http://www.heartage.me, uses the same well established risk factor data, but expresses an individual's risk score as their estimated Heart Age to make it more personally relevant to the individual.
Dr Kinesh Patel and Dr Kate Tatham say most medications prescribed in primary care contain animal derived products and it is unclear whether they are suitable for vegetarians.
They call for improved labelling, similar to those on food, to help inform doctors, pharmacists and patients about the content of medicines. And they stress that concerned patients should not stop taking their medication without consulting their doctor first.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) generally is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular (CV) disease. OSA is usually measured using the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), the number of times that breathing pauses or severely slows per hour of sleep. However, sleep studies using to diagnose OSA produce a number of other measures. Whether those measures are associated with CV disease, and whether they predict CV disease as well or better than AHI, is not known.
An educational toolkit designed to improve care of patients with diabetes was not effective, Baiju R Shah and colleagues (University of Toronto) found in a cluster randomized trial conducted in 2009-2011. During 10 months of follow-up, patients of Canadian family physicians who had been cluster-randomized to receive the toolkit did not receive improved care and their outcomes did not differ compared with patients of physicians who did not receive the toolkit.
Boston, MA -- Among a large group of Midwestern firefighters, greater adherence to Mediterranean-style diet was associated with lower risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA). The study is the first to assess the effects of Mediterranean-style diet among a group of young, working U.S. adults.
The study will appear online in PLOS ONE on February 4, 2014.
Akron, Ohio, Feb. 4, 2014 — The Sochi Winter Olympics, Feb. 7-23, are expected to generate a dramatic rise in Web and mobile viewing, but that does not mean viewers will abandon the traditional television-viewing experience for digital media, says a communication professor from The University of Akron. In fact, the opposite is true — TV benefits from social media viewing.
Scarring of tissue in the upper chamber of the heart (atrium) was associated with recurrent rhythm disorder after treatment, according to a study in the February 5 issue of JAMA.
Left atrial fibrosis (formation of scar tissue in the heart) is prominent in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), according to background information in the article. Extensive atrial tissue fibrosis identified by delayed enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been associated with poor outcomes of AF catheter ablation, a procedure in which electrical energy is used to treat AF.
MAYWOOD, Il. – A new type of contrast MRI can predict which heart patients with atrial fibrillation are most likely to benefit from a treatment called catheter ablation, according to a landmark multi-center study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.