Culture | Science Codex

Screening for post-stroke depression inadequate and inconsistent, study finds

Physicians are prescribing anti-depressants for stroke patients without first giving them a proper diagnosis, they are over-treating some patients, and overlooking others, according to a study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress.

"A lot of people are being treated for depression, but we don't know if they're the right ones," says lead researcher Ms. Katherine Salter of Parkwood Hospital in London, Ontario. "This study found that 40 per cent of stroke patients were treated for depression, but most were not screened or diagnosed. Who are we treating?"

Many emergency programs get failing grade when it comes to stroke training

Medical residents training to work in the emergency department need more formal stroke training, says a study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress, noting that, as the first point of contact in stroke care, they see nearly 100 per cent of stroke patients taken to hospital.

Researchers surveyed 20 emergency medicine residency programs across Canada and found that very limited lecture time and mandatory on-the-job training are devoted to stroke and neurological care.

Home-based stroke therapy improves outcomes, eliminates wait times, saves money

Home delivery of stroke rehabilitation improves care, eliminates waiting lists for treatment and saves hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in hospital costs, according to a quality improvement project presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress.

Early Supported Discharge, introduced as a permanent part of the Calgary Stroke Program in 2011, has resulted in equally good or better cognition, communication and physical function for people who receive therapy in their own homes as opposed to in a hospital or facility.

Provincial stroke strategy improves care for rural residents in Nova Scotia

Stroke patients in rural Nova Scotia receive better treatment and are less likely to end up in long-term care facilities than they were before the province's stroke strategy was rolled out in 2008, according to a study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress.

Nova Scotia's stroke strategy – a plan to provide optimal stroke care across the province -- led to the creation of designated stroke units in hospitals, interprofessional stroke teams, district stroke coordinators, and the application of Canadian Best Practice Recommendations for Stroke Care.

Rehabilitation robots uncover stroke disabilities and improve care: Study

When it comes to stroke rehabilitation, it takes a dedicated team to help a person regain as much independence as possible: physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, recreation therapists, caregivers and others. Now, a University of Calgary research team has added a robot to help identify and customize post-stroke therapy.

Rehabilitation robots improve detection of post-stroke impairments and can enhance the type and intensity of therapy required for recovery, according to a study presented today at the Canadian Stroke Congress.

Studies show drug combinations effective for melanoma

Vienna, Austria, 29 September 2012 –- Promising new data on drug combinations to treat metastatic melanoma are presented at the ESMO 2012 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Vienna.

World Heart Day: New European statistics released on heart disease and stroke

The statistics show that efforts to reduce heart disease deaths are successful, with mortality now falling in most of the continent. At the same time, the report shows the huge burden CVD presents to Europe's health, and suggests that underlying factors may cause CVD to increase in the near future.

Therapy over the phone as effective as face-to-face

A new study reveals that cognitive therapy over the phone is just as effective as meeting face-to-face. The research was published today, 28 September, in the journal PLoS ONE.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge together with the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research & Care (NIHR CLAHRC) and NHS Midlands & East also found that providing talking therapy over the phone increases access to psychological therapies for people with common mental disorders and potentially saves the NHS money.

Patient selection for bilateral total knee replacement needs improvement

Because there are more risks with having a total knee replacement in both legs at the same time than having a knee replacement in one leg, doctors in recent years have been selecting younger and healthier patients for the bilateral procedure. Now a new study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery has revealed that although patients are younger and healthier than those undergoing only one-sided surgery, they are becoming sicker and some complication rates have risen.

Venice Lagoon research indicates rapid climate change in coastal regions

Research undertaken by the University of Southampton and its associates in Venice has revealed that the sea surface temperature (SST) in coastal regions is rising as much as ten times faster than the global average of 0.13 degrees per decade.

Researchers believe that this is partly as a result of a process known as the 'urban heat island effect'; where regions experiencing rapid industrial and urban expansion produce vast amounts of heat, making the area warmer than its surroundings.

Songs in the key of sea

Soft horns and a tinkling piano form the backbone of "Fifty Degrees North, Four Degrees West," a jazz number with two interesting twists: it has no composer and no actual musicians. Unless you count bacteria and other tiny microbes, that is.

The song is the brainchild of Peter Larsen, a biologist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory. Larsen, it turns out, has no musical training at all; his interests run less towards the blues and more towards blue-green algae.

Hospital observation units could save the health care system $3.1 billion

Boston, MA – Previous research has shown that observation units in a hospital can be an efficient way to care for certain patients, but only about one-third of hospitals in the United States have such units. Now, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) estimate that maximizing the potential of an observation unit in a hospital could result in $4.6 million in savings annually for the hospital and $3.1 billion in overall savings for the health care system in the United States.

IU research study finds social bullying prevalent in children's television

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A new research study led by an Indiana University professor has found that social bullying is just as prevalent in children's television as depictions of physical aggression.

The study, "Mean on the Screen: Social Aggression in Programs Popular With Children," which appears in the Journal of Communication, found that 92 percent of the top 50 program for children between the ages of two and 11 showed characters involved in social aggression.

On average, there were 14 different incidents of social aggression per hour - or once every four minutes.

Eating cherries lowers risk of gout attacks by 35 percent

A new study found that patients with gout who consumed cherries over a two-day period showed a 35% lower risk of gout attacks compared to those who did not eat the fruit. Findings from this case-crossover study published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), also suggest that risk of gout flares was 75% lower when cherry intake was combined with the uric-acid reducing drug, allopurinol, than in periods without exposure to cherries or treatment.

Making headway on beta-blockers and sleep

Boston, MA—Over 20 million people in the United States take beta-blockers, a medication commonly prescribed for cardiovascular issues, anxiety, hypertension and more. Many of these same people also have trouble sleeping, a side effect possibly related to the fact that these medications suppress night-time melatonin production. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have found that melatonin supplementation significantly improved sleep in hypertensive patients taking beta-blockers.