Culture

Approximately 60 percent of people experience epistaxis, commonly known as nosebleed, at least once in their lifetime. Of those who experience nosebleed, six percent require medical treatment. A study in the September 2013 issue of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, explores which nosebleed treatment options demonstrate the best outcomes.

DETROIT -- The risk of women developing kidney stones is rising, as is the number of cases being seen in U.S. emergency departments, while the rate of hospitalization for the disorder has remained stable.

Those are among the findings of a new study led by Henry Ford Hospital researchers that set out to look at trends in visits, hospitalization and charges during a four-year period for patients who went to U.S. hospital emergency departments for treatment of kidney stones.

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Financial innovation is supposed to reduce risk -- in theory, at least. Yes, new financial instruments based on the housing market helped cause the financial crisis of 2008. But in the abstract, those same instruments have the potential to spread risk more evenly throughout the marketplace by making it possible to trade debt more extensively, rather than having it concentrated in a relatively few hands.

Researchers at the Beihang University School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, led by Dr. Yubo Fan, have discovered that Biphasic Electrical stimulation (BES), a non-chemical procedure, may be used as a strategy for preventing cell apoptosis in stem cell-based transplantation therapy. The article describing their studies will be published in the August 2013 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine. The scientists believe that their technique will be used for spinal cord injury patients in the future.

Researchers at the University of Adelaide have discovered that the way the gut "tastes" sweet food may be defective in sufferers of type 2 diabetes, leading to problems with glucose uptake.

This is the first time that abnormal control of so-called "sweet taste receptors" in the human intestine has been described by researchers. The work could have implications for a range of health and nutrition problems experienced by diabetes patients.

Beer-Sheva, Israel, August 23, 2013 – Teens listening to their preferred music while driving commit a greater number of errors and miscalculations, according to a new study from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers that will be published in the October issue of Accident Analysis and Prevention.

Male novice drivers in particular make more frequent and serious mistakes listening to their preferred music than their less aggressive, female counterparts, the researchers noted.

Washington, DC (August 22, 2013) — A structured exercise and lifestyle program can improve fitness, body composition, and heart function in patients with kidney disease, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). The findings suggest that patients with kidney disease can benefit from greater physical activity and can do so safely even though they may have other medical problems.

DALLAS, August 22, 2013 — In the case of mild or moderate strokes, getting treatment ultra-fast – within 90 minutes of experiencing symptoms – greatly reduces the risk of suffering disability, according to a new study reported in the American Heart Association's journal Stoke.

The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association recommends getting to a hospital within three hours of the onset of stroke symptoms. According to guidelines, clot-busting drugs may be given to treat stroke up to 4.5 hours after the onset of symptoms.

New Rochelle, NY, August 22, 2013—Risk factor modification efforts could help reduce the chance of another heart attack and death among the more than 15 million Americans with coronary heart disease. Yet some patients—especially women and minorities—leave the hospital with poorly managed risk factors. An article in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers, evaluates cardiac risk factors and management strategies by age, sex, and race among 2,369 patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction.

As everyone knows, medications are expensive, and even with insurance coverage, patients' out-of-pocket drug costs can be quite hefty. This holds true for individuals with Medicare Part D, also known as the prescription drug benefit, which subsidizes the cost of medications for about 28 million Medicare beneficiaries.

Vedolizumab, a new intravenous antibody medication, has shown positive results for treating both Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, according to researchers at the University of California San Diego, School of Medicine. The findings, published in two papers, will appear in the August 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

Researchers in India have carried out a data mining exercise to determine which are the most important risk factors in increasing the chances of an individual suffering a heart attack. Writing in the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, they confirm that the usual suspects high blood cholesterol, intake of alcohol and passive smoking play the most crucial role in "severe", "moderate" and "mild" cardiac risks, respectively.

West Orange, NJ. August 21, 2013. The July issue of the Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine focuses on, "Advances in Technology for People with Spinal Cord Injury." Guest Editor Rory Cooper, PhD, is a member of the journal's Editorial Board. Dr. Cooper is the FISA/PVA Endowed Chair and a Distinguished Professor of the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh.

Use of the "clot-busting" drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) to treat patients with strokes caused by a blockage of blood flow nearly doubled between 2003 and 2011. In their paper receiving online release in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, a team of researchers reports both an overall increase in the use of tPA to dissolve clots blocking arteries supplying the brain and administration of the potentially life-saving drug to a more diverse group of patients.

New York, NY, August 21, 2013—An estimated 7.8 million of the 15 million young adults who were enrolled in a parent's health plan last year likely would not have been eligible for this coverage without the health reform law's dependent coverage provision, according to a new Commonwealth Fund survey. However, the survey also found that only 27 percent of young adults were aware of the state health insurance marketplaces that are launching October 1. Moreover, millions of low-income young adults are at risk of remaining uninsured if the states they live in choose not to expand Medicaid.