Restoring sight would save global economy US$202 billion each year.
Governments could add billions of dollars to their economies annually by funding the provision of an eye examination and a pair of glasses to the estimated 703 million people globally that needed them in 2010 according to a new study to be released soon.
Character strengths can be defined as traits that are evaluated as morally positive, such as self-control, teamwork or kindness. Character strengths that are particularly distinctive for a person and which he or she likes to use frequently are referred to as signature strengths. Everybody typically has between three and seven of these signature strengths.
A new clinical study spearheaded by the dean of UCLA's School of Nursing has found a direct correlation between pressure ulcers — commonly known as bedsores — and patient mortality and increased hospitalization.
The research is believed to be the first of its kind to use data directly from medical records to assess the impact of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers on Medicare patients at national and state levels.
Stroke care has improved considerably in Alberta following the implementation of the Alberta Provincial Stroke Strategy (APSS), leading to more targeted patient care and fewer health complications, according to a study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress.
Nearly 97 per cent of stroke patients received a brain-imaging scan during their admission to hospital in 2011, compared to 88 per cent before the APSS was implemented in 2006.
Improvements to the diagnosis and screening of sleep apnea are critical to stroke prevention, according to new stroke care guidelines released today at the Canadian Stroke Congress.
Obstructive sleep apnea, a disorder where the flow of air to the brain pauses or decreases during sleep, is both a risk factor for stroke and a complication following stroke, according to the Canadian Best Practice Recommendations for Stroke Care.
Widespread use of telestroke -- two-way audiovisual linkups between neurologists in stroke centres and emergency rooms in underserved and rural areas -- would save lives, reduce disability and cut health-care costs in all parts of Canada, according to a major national report released today at the Canadian Stroke Congress.
However, despite repeated research that shows telestroke delivers quality stroke care to underserviced areas, few stroke patients in Canada are benefiting from this lifesaving service.
Chevy Chase, MD— Diabetes is among the ten leading causes of death in both white and African American patients, but the prevalence of diabetic complications are race-specific, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).
DURHAM, N.C.— A new anticoagulant called apixaban is superior to warfarin in preventing stroke with consistent effects across a wide range of stroke and bleeding risk in patients with atrial fibrillation, according to Duke University Medical Center researchers.
Their results, published online today in The Lancet, suggest that the current risk scoring systems for tailoring anticoagulation treatment to individual patients may be less relevant when using apixaban for patients with atrial fibrillation who have at least one risk factor for stroke.
CHICAGO—An answer to the simple question—"Have you recently taken a fall?"—can tell a surgeon how well an older adult may recover from a major operation according to researchers from the University of Colorado, Denver. New study findings, reported today at the 2012 Annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), indicate that preopera-tive falls in older surgical patients are a powerful predictor of complications, prolonged hospital stays, and higher rates of disability.
OAKLAND, Calif., October 1, 2012 — Use of electronic health records was associated with improved drug-treatment intensification, monitoring, and risk-factor control among patients with diabetes, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study.
CHICAGO – Almost one-third of older adults received care in a skilled nursing facility in the last six months of life under the Medicare posthospitalization benefit, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.
An experimental treatment for blindness, developed from a patient's skin cells, improved the vision of blind mice in a study conducted by Columbia ophthalmologists and stem cell researchers.
The findings suggest that induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells – which are derived from adult human skin cells but have embryonic properties – could soon be used to restore vision in people with macular degeneration and other diseases that affect the eye's retina.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – While scientific evidence suggests that less is typically more when it comes to diagnosing and treating low-back pain in the U.S., the number of expensive imaging exams and surgeries done on patients continues to rise, researchers say.
More than 25 percent of American adults report at least one episode of acute low-back pain in the past three months and the annual total price tag is about $100 billion, according to a study in an issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology focusing on health care reform.
A computerized approach to examining patient bone X-rays for diagnosis of osteoporosis could side-step the subjectivity associated with visual examination, according to a new research paper in the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology published in October.
A study published in Pediatrics this morning by researchers at the University of Montreal offers positive news for Wii-loving teenagers and their parents: games such as Wii Sports and Dance Dance Revolution can bring them closer to recommended physical activity levels. The study is the first of its kind. "Teenage exergamers – people who play video games that require physical activity – are most likely females who are stressed about their weight.