CHICAGO – The results of two randomized trials indicate that among intensive care unit (ICU) patients receiving prolonged mechanical ventilation, use of the sedative dexmedetomidine was not inferior (outcome not worse than treatment compared to) to the standard sedatives midazolam and propofol in maintaining light to moderate sedation; also, dexmedetomidine reduced the duration of mechanical ventilation compared with midazolam, and improved patients' ability to communicate pain compared with the other drugs, according to a study in the March 21 issue of JAMA.
Culture
CHICAGO – Between 2003 and 2009, the use of anesthesia services to provide sedation during endoscopies and colonoscopies increased substantially, according to a study in the March 21 issue of JAMA. The authors also found that most of the gastroenterology anesthesia use was for low-risk patients, and that there was considerable regional variation in use.
Researchers from Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and the University of Melbourne have identified a new way to accurately test for peanut allergy.
It is hoped the test would be more cost effective and convenient than standard approaches and minimise over-diagnosis of peanut allergy in the community.
Currently, an oral food challenge is the standard for diagnosing peanut allergy, and while an oral food challenge is definitive in diagnosing patients, it is time-consuming, costly and patients risk severe reactions such as anaphylaxis.
Sexting – sending sexually explicit, nude, or semi-nude photos by cell phone – has become a national concern, especially when it involves children and teens. A new poll shows that the vast majority of adults do not support legal consequences for teens who sext.
Seventeen states have already enacted laws to address youth sexting and another 13 states have pending legislation in 2012 that focuses on sexting.
Management of fisheries at the community level can help curb overfishing and the 'tragedy of the commons' which is driving humans to decimate the planet's dwindling fish stocks, an international scientific team says.
The positive finding comes from the world's largest field investigation of 42 co-managed coral reef fisheries in five countries spread across the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Physical violence, sexual abuse and other forms of childhood and adult trauma are major factors fueling the epidemic of HIV/AIDS among American women. Scientists have known for years that traumatized women are at greater risk of becoming infected.
Now, two new studies from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Harvard Medical School demonstrate that a high rate of trauma among women already infected with HIV also plays a role in the epidemic.
Penn researchers find mentoring provides health benefits for African American veterans with diabetes
(Philadelphia) – Intervention by peer mentors has a statistically significant effect on improving glucose control in African American veterans with diabetes, according to a study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP). Full results of the study were published in the March 20th issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
CHICAGO – Patients with obstructive sleep apnea who undergo surgery for their condition should be closely monitored after their procedures are performed but may not need to be in an intensive care unit, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
A study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the ARC Centre for Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, and other groups on more than 40 coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans indicates that "co-management"—a collaborative arrangement between local communities, conservation groups, and governments—provides one solution to a vexing global problem: overfishing.
"Anyone who has been admitted into a hospital or undergone a procedure, even if cared for in the most appropriate way, can feel as though they were treated like an animal or object," says Harvard University psychologist and physician Omar Sultan Haque. Health care workers enter their professions to help people; research shows that empathic, humane care improves outcomes. Yet dehumanization is endemic. The results can be disastrous: neglect of necessary treatments or prescription of excessive, painful procedures or dangerous drugs.
University of Granada researchers have developed a software tool that makes an accurate estimation of the risk that a person has to suffer a heart disease. In addition, this software tool allows the performance of massive risk estimations, i.e. it helps estimating the risk that a specific population group has of suffering a heart condition. The researchers employed a sample including 3 000 patients.
Heart conditions increasingly affect working age population, which can make individuals loss potential years of work and productivity.
SAN DIEGO -- Obesity appears to significantly increase the risk of death tied to sleeping pills, nearly doubling the rate of mortality even among those prescribed 18 or fewer pills in a year, researchers reported Friday.
"Obesity emerged as a marker of increased vulnerability," said Robert Langer, M.D., M.P.H., at the annual American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention | Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2012 Scientific Sessions in San Diego.
Who wouldn't pay a penny for a sports car? That's the mentality some popular online auctions take advantage of -- the opportunity to get an expensive item for very little money.
In a study of hundreds of lowest unique bid auctions, Northwestern University researchers asked a different question: Who wins these auctions, the strategic gambler or the lucky one? The answer is the lucky. But, ironically, it's a lucky person using a winning strategy.
- The study's objective was to identify which skills and competencies are considered most critical for primary care providers (PCPs) to learn in order to effectively manage opioid risk in patients treated for chronic pain
- Study participants included experts in primary care, pain management, and addiction
- Experts in this study identified the most important skills for PCPs managing opioid risk in chronic pain patients as how to monitor opioids and how to assess for risk factors
Montreal, March 16, 2012 – A clinical study co-led by the Montreal Heart Institute and Innovaderm Research Inc., which was presented today at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, shows that a new treatment for psoriasis could be associated with a significant decrease in vascular inflammation, a major risk factor of cardiovascular disease.