Deprivation represents the "elephant in the room" with regard to cardiovascular disease (CVD), and health care professionals have an important role to play in tackling the problem, delegates heard at a special plenary session opening the EuroHeart Care Congress in Glasgow, Scotland, 22 March to 23 March 2013. The session heard how Scotland, a country considered to have the highest rates of heart disease in Western Europe, has recently taken action to address the CVD health inequalities that exist between affluent and deprived communities.
Culture
Telehealth does not seem to be a cost effective addition to standard support and treatment for patients with long term conditions, finds a study published on bmj.com today.
The findings follow a BMJ study published last month showing that telehealth does not improve quality of life for patients with long term conditions.
Personal View: Promoting abstinence for drug users is about saving money not science
Personal View: Drug users need more choices at addiction treatment facilities
The UK government's decision to promote abstinence for drug users "is about saving money not science" argues a senior doctor on bmj.com today.
The antibiotic clarithromycin – widely used for treating lower respiratory tract infections like pneumonia and acute exacerbations (sudden worsening) of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – may be associated with an increased risk of heart problems, finds a study published on bmj.com today.
The authors say their findings require confirmation, but add to a growing body of evidence suggesting a possible link between long term cardiovascular risks and certain antibiotics, known as macrolides.
Highlights
Highlights
Through a program that teaches simple nutrition messages and involves both counseling and regular exercise classes, people with serious mental illness can make healthy behavioral changes and achieve significant weight loss, according to new Johns Hopkins research.
These weight loss amounts were similar to those in other successful programs studied with subjects in the general population — studies that specifically excluded people with serious mental illnesses, the researchers say.
People with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression can lose weight and keep it off through a modified lifestyle intervention program, a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded study reported online today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has issued a new white paper, "Enhancing the role of case-oriented peer review to improve quality and safety in radiation oncology: Executive Summary," that recommends increased peer review within the radiation therapy treatment process and among members of the radiation oncology team in order to increase quality assurance and safety, according to the manuscript published as an article in press online in Practical Radiation Oncology (PRO), the official clinical practice journal of ASTRO.
A new Guidance recently published by the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis (ESCEO) and the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) reflects the most current advances in the diagnosis and management of osteoporosis, the 'silent disease' which affects up to one in two postmenopausal women.
"The serious impact of fragility fractures due to osteoporosis is vastly underestimated by many health care professionals," stated ESCEO President Professor Jean-Yves Reginster.
ITHACA, N.Y. — With a dizzying number of ties in our social networks – that your Aunt Alice is a neighbor of Muhammad who is married to Natasha who is your wife's boss – it's a wonder we remember any of it. How do we keep track of the complexity? We cheat, says a Cornell University sociologist in Scientific Reports (March 21), a publication of Nature.
Study: http://www.nature.com/srep/2013/130321/srep01513/full/srep01513.html
(Boston) – A new study involving researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has identified barriers that clinicians face in correctly ordering appropriate laboratory tests and highlights some solutions that may simplify this process and improve patient outcomes. The study, published in the March 2013 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, was led by Elissa Passiment, EdM, of the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science and James L. Meisel, MD, associate professor of medicine at BUSM.
(CHICAGO) – Platelet rich plasma (PRP) therapy has been used to manage pain associated with torn tendons, muscles and ligaments, mostly in athletes, at all levels. Though it has anecdotally been successful, the evidence to support its efficaciousness is weak. Researchers at the Rothman Institute at Jefferson participated in a multi-center randomized prospective study to evaluate the clinical value of PRP versus an active control group to determine its effectiveness in managing the pain and tenderness associated with tennis elbow.
CHICAGO – Eighty-four percent of patients suffering from chronic tennis elbow (lateral epicondylar tendinopathy) reported significantly less pain and elbow tenderness at six months following platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatment, according to results from the largest, multi-center study, to date, on PRP and tennis elbow, presented today at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).