CHICAGO—Exposure to iodinated contrast media during imaging procedures is associated with changes in thyroid function, and increased risk of developing hyperthyroidism, according to a report in the January 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Culture
Family companions who routinely accompany older adults to physician office visits could be helpful to health care quality improvement efforts, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The authors found that three-quarters of older adults who attend physician visits with a family companion are consistently accompanied over time, nearly always by the same companion. The results are featured in the January 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – For more than 40 years, scientists and physicians have thought eating a high-fiber diet lowered a person's risk of diverticulosis, a disease of the large intestine in which pouches develop in the colon wall. A new study of more than 2,000 people reveals the opposite may be true.
Chicago -- U.S. states that enacted unilateral divorce laws saw substantial increases in violent crime in the years following the reform, according to research in the Journal of Labor Economics. But the ill-effects of the new laws appear to be largely temporary.
Women report feeling pain more intensely than men, says Stanford study of electronic medical records
STANFORD, Calif. — Women report more-intense pain than men in virtually every disease category, according to Stanford University School of Medicine investigators who mined a huge collection of electronic medical records to establish the broad gender difference to a high level of statistical significance.
Their study, to be published online Jan. 23 in the Journal of Pain, suggests that stronger efforts should be made to recruit women subjects in population and clinical studies in order to find out why this gender difference exists.
Cambridge, Mass. - January 23, 2012 - New research at Harvard explains how bacterial biofilms expand to form slimy mats on teeth, pipes, surgical instruments, and crops.
Through experiment and mathematical analysis, researchers have shown that the extracellular matrix (ECM), a mesh of proteins and sugars that can form outside bacterial cells, creates osmotic pressure that forces biofilms to swell and spread.
The ECM mechanism is so powerful that it can increase the radius of some biofilms five-fold within 24 hours.
A spoonful of medicine goes down a lot easier if there is a dog or cat around. Having pets is helpful for women living with HIV/AIDS and managing their chronic illness, according to a new study from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University.
A recently released scientific paper authored by San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research scientists shows the leading causes of death of the endangered California condor in the wild are human influenced, with lead poisoning being the primary factor in juvenile and adult birds.
Boston, MA —January 19, 2012 —Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have identified two novel markers that, when elevated in the blood stream, can predict accurately the risk of renal (kidney) failure in patients with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. The findings have immediate diagnostic implications and can be used for the development of new therapies to prevent or postpone the progression of renal disease in diabetes.
Delirium develops in about 30 percent of patients hospitalized shortly after a stroke and is linked to poorer outcomes, according to a new meta-analysis published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
If you have stable cardiovascular disease, it is more than likely that you can safely engage in sexual activity, according to an American Heart Association scientific statement.
The statement, published online in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, contains recommendations by experts from various fields, including heart disease, exercise physiology and sexual counseling.
A simple program involving color-coded food labeling and adjusting the way food items are positioned in display cases was successful in encouraging more healthful food choices in a large hospital cafeteria. The report from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers will appear in the March American Journal of Public Health and has received early online release.