Culture | Science Codex

Physician review websites rely on few patient reviews

MAYWOOD, Il. - Millions of Americans read physician ratings on websites such as Healthgrades.com, but such ratings are based on scores from an average of only 2.4 patients, a Loyola University Medical Center study has found.

The study of 500 randomly selected urologists found that 79.6 percent of physicians were rated by at least one of the 10 free physician-review websites researchers examined. Eighty-six percent of physicians had positive ratings, with 36 percent receiving highly positive ratings. Healthgrades had the most physician ratings.

In Ethiopia, people don't disclose HIV

In Ethiopia, where more than 1.2 million people are infected with HIV, disclosure of infection by patients is important in the fight against the disease. A new study led by a Brown sociology researcher investigates HIV-positive status disclosure rates among men and women in Africa's second most populous country.

Politics the biggest swing factor for meeting climate targets

A new paper in Nature looked at the probability of keeping average global temperatures from rising more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels under varying levels of climate policy stringency - basically, mitigation costs. It also sought to quantify and rank the uncertainties associated with efforts to mitigate climate change, including questions about the climate itself, uncertainties related to future technologies and energy demand, and political uncertainties as to when action will be taken.

PET/CT shows clear advantages over conventional staging for breast cancer patients

Reston, Va. (January 2, 2013) – New research published in the January issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine shows that 18F-fludeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) imaging offers significant prognostic stratification information at initial staging for patients with locally advanced breast cancer. When compared to conventional imaging, 18F-FDG PET/CT more accurately showed lesions in the chest, abdomen and bones in a single session, changing management for more than 50 percent of the patients in the study.

New method for uncovering side effects before a drug hits the market

Side effects are a major reason that drugs are taken off the market and a major reason why patients stop taking their medications, but scientists are now reporting the development of a new way to predict those adverse reactions ahead of time. The report on the method, which could save patients from severe side effects and save drug companies time and money, appears in ACS' Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling.

Communication is key to medication adherence

Even the best medicines in the world can be rendered ineffective if they are not taken as prescribed. The problem known as medication "non-adherence" is a major health issue in the United States, contributing to worse outcomes for people who have diabetes and other chronic diseases.

Now a study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (SFGH) and the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research has identified a significant factor that contributes to poor drug adherence – ineffective communication.

Secure communication technology can conquer lack of trust

Many scenarios in business and communication require that two parties share information without either being sure if they can trust the other. Examples include secure auctions and identification at ATM machines. Exploiting the strange properties of the quantum world could be the answer to dealing with such distrust: researchers at the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) at the National University of Singapore have used the quantum properties of light to perform the world's first demonstration of a 'secure bit commitment' technology.

'Protecting' psychiatric medical records puts patients at risk of hospitalization

Medical centers that elect to keep psychiatric files private and separate from the rest of a person's medical record may be doing their patients a disservice, a Johns Hopkins study concludes.

In a survey of psychiatry departments at 18 of the top American hospitals as ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals in 2007, a Johns Hopkins team learned that fewer than half of the hospitals had all inpatient psychiatric records in their electronic medical record systems and that fewer than 25 percent gave non-psychiatrists full access to those records.

Researchers identify an early predictor for glaucoma

SAN FRANCISCO – January 2, 2013 – A new study finds that certain changes in blood vessels in the eye's retina can be an early warning that a person is at increased risk for glaucoma, an eye disease that slowly robs people of their peripheral vision. Using diagnostic photos and other data from the Australian Blue Mountains Eye Study, the researchers showed that patients who had abnormally narrow retinal arteries when the study began were also those who were most likely to have glaucoma at its 10-year end point.

Real-world patient survival with defibrillators matches trial expectations

DURHAM, N.C. – Patients who received an implantable heart defibrillator in everyday practice had survival benefits on par with those who received the same devices in carefully controlled clinical trials, according to a new study that highlights the value of defibrillators in typical medical settings.

Obesity associated with increased risk of death but being overweight benefits mortality

An analysis of nearly 100 studies that included approximately 3 million adults found that, relative to normal weight, overall obesity (combining all grades) and higher levels of obesity were associated with a significantly higher all-cause risk of death but being overweight was associated with significantly lower all-cause mortality, according to a study in JAMA (JAMA. 2013;309(1):71-82).

Limited Evidence to Connect Cost of Health Care to Quality

Researchers need more evidence to determine the connection between health care quality and cost. The nation's heath care costs are rising at an unsustainable rate, making it a priority to control costs. But there is uncertainty as to whether improvements in quality will cause costs to go up or down.

Observation Article: Foodborne Illness Could Have Sinister Causes

Doctors should consider the intentional addition of medicine to food as a potential cause of foodborne disease outbreaks.

The World Health Organization suggests possible sources of foodborne disease outbreaks are pathogenic bacteria, viruses, protozoa, parasitic worms, natural toxins, and chemicals, but not medicines. A 2010 foodborne disease outbreak in Beijing, China was a result of clonidine, a medication used to treat hypertension and ADHD, being intentionally added to lunch ingredients.

Distributing Naloxone to Heroin Users May be a Cost-effective Way to Reduce Overdose Deaths

Distributing naloxone to heroin users to use to reverse overdose may be a cost-effective strategy to reduce overdose-related mortality. Opioid overdose is a leading cause of accidental death in the United States and accounts for half of the mortality among heroin users.

Differences in generic pill characteristics may lead to interruptions in essential medication use

Boston, MA—Generic medications currently account for over 70 percent of prescriptions dispensed. However, while generic drugs are clinically bioequivalent to the brand-name version, they often differ in their physical characteristics, such as color and shape. Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have found that some patients who receive generic drugs that vary in their color are over 50 percent more likely to stop taking the drug, leading to potentially important and potentially adverse clinical effects.