Culture | Page 2191 | Science Codex

Study shows COPD is associated with significant and persistent pain

ATS 2013, PHILADELPHIA – Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is primarily associated with the respiratory symptoms that are its hallmark, but in fact, patients who struggle with the disease also experience significant amounts of chronic pain. A new study conducted by researchers in Pennsylvania and New Mexico estimates the degree of pain suffered by these patients to be close to that experienced by patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

The research results will be presented at the ATS 2013 International Conference.

Inflammation is associated with depression in COPD patients

ATS 2013, PHILADELPHIA ─ Depression is common in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and has been linked with disease severity and impaired quality of life. Now, for the first time, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have linked the systemic inflammation associated with COPD with depression in these patients.

Doctors prescribe more analgesics to women than to men just for being female

Regardless of pain, social class or age, a woman is more likely to be prescribed pain-relieving drugs. A study published in Gaceta Sanitaria (Spanish health scientific journal) affirms that this phenomenon is influenced by socioeconomic inequality between genders in the Autonomous Community in which the patient resides.

In 1999, a researcher at the University of Harvard, Ishiro Kawachi, observed that in the states of the USA with a larger proportion of women with a high social class, mortality in both genders was lower.

Challenges encountered in surgical management of spine trauma in morbidly obese patients

Charlottesville, VA (May 21, 2013). Physicians at Monash University and The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia describe the logistic, medical, and societal challenges faced in treating spine trauma in morbidly obese patients. Based on a case series of six patients injured in high-speed motor vehicle accidents, the authors categorize difficulties faced in the care of morbidly obese patients from on-scene immobilization and medical transport through spinal imaging, surgery, and postoperative care.

Sexual function in older adults with thoracolumbar&#8211pelvic instrumentation

Charlottesville, VA (May 21, 2013). Surgeons investigated sexual function in 62 patients, 50 years and older, who had received extensive spinal–pelvic instrumentation for spinal deformity at the University of Virginia Health Center. Based on their results, the surgeons found that it is very possible for older people to achieve satisfactory sexual function despite having extensive spinal–pelvic instrumentation. Details of this study are disclosed in "Sexual function in older adults following thoracolumbar to pelvic instrumentation for spinal deformity. Clinical article," by Dr. D.

Delayed transfer to the ICU increases risk of death in hospital patients

ATS 2013, PHILADELPHIA ─ Delayed transfer to the intensive care unit (ICU) in hospitalized patients significantly increases the risk of dying in the hospital, according to a new study from researchers in Chicago.

Antibiotic therapy appears beneficial for patients with COPD

ATS 2013, PHILADELPHIA ─ Extended use of a common antibiotic may prolong the time between hospitalizations for patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a post-hoc analysis of a multicenter study which compared the hospitalization rates of patients treated with a 12-month course of azithromycin to the rates of those treated with placebo.

The results of the current analysis will be presented at the ATS 2013 International Conference.

Exercise levels may predict hospitalizations in COPD population

ATS 2013, PHILADELPHIA ─ Clinical measurement of physical activity appears to be an independent predictor of whether or not patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will end up being hospitalized, according to a new study conducted by researchers in Connecticut. The study also corroborates an earlier investigation that linked higher levels of inactivity with an increased incidence of hospitalizations among patients with COPD.

The results of the study will be presented at the ATS 2013 International Conference.

Monoclonal antibody appears effective and safe in asthma Phase IIa trial

ATS 2013, PHILADELPHIA ─ A novel approach to obstructing the runaway inflammatory response implicated in some types of asthma has shown promise in a Phase IIa clinical trial, according to U. S. researchers.

Their research will be presented at the American Thoracic Society 2013 International Conference and published simultaneously online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Bed sharing leads to fivefold increase in risk of cot death for babies whose parents do not smoke

Parents who share a bed with their breastfed baby could face a fivefold increase in the risk of cot death, even if the parents do not smoke, according to a new study. The research was led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and is published in BMJ Open.

Chair of DSM-IV Task Force: Think Twice Before Using the DSM-5

The Chair of the DSM-IV Task Force charges that the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) lacks sufficient scientific support, defies clinical common sense, and was prepared without adequate consideration of risk-benefit ratios and the economic cost of expanding the reach of psychiatry.

Doctors Say Patients Should Bear the Cost of Practice Transformation

Researchers address the opportunities as well as the challenges and costs of transforming practice toward the patient-centered medical home model of care in this editorial.

The authors assert that primary care practices cannot bear the costs of transformation unless they are reimbursed for the costs they incur.

For the needed changes to occur on a wide and sustainable basis, they argue that payers should fund the full cost to primary care practices, which is estimated at a minimum of $7-12 per patient per month in addition to usual fee-for-service reimbursement.

Hospitals' cardiac arrest incidence and survival rates go hand in hand

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Hospitals with the highest rates of cardiac arrests tend to have the poorest survival rates for those cases, new University of Michigan Health System research shows.

Meanwhile, hospitals that do the best job of preventing cardiac arrest among their patients tend to be better at saving patients with cardiac arrest, according to the findings that appear in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Bronchodilators appear associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events

A study of older patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) suggests that new use of the long-acting bronchodilators β-agonists and anticholinergics was associated with similar increased risks of cardiovascular events, according to a study published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

Association between in-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates, prevention of cardiac arrests

Hospitals with higher rates of survival among patients who experience in-hospital cardiac arrest also appear to have a lower incidence of in-hospital cardiac arrest, according to a study published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

Lena M. Chen, M.D., M.S., of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues identified 102,153 cases of in-hospital cardiac arrest at 358 hospitals between January 2000 and November 2009.