ORLANDO – Even members of the lay public who have received CPR training are confused about how to perform the lifesaving skill and say they don't have confidence in their ability to do it properly, according to a study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania which will be presented today at the American Heart Association's annual Scientific Sessions (Abstract #65).
Culture
Maintaining good glucose control early in the course of type 1 diabetes could lessen the long-term risk of kidney disease, as measured by a common test of kidney function.
This finding comes from more than two decades of research on preventing life-shortening complications of type 1 diabetes. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded the longitudinal study. Results will be published online Nov. 12 in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented Nov. 12 at the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week in Philadelphia.
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- Medicare will soon reduce reimbursements to some dialysis facilities, which may lead to closures. Patients will have to drive further to get care at other facilities, which could compromise their health.
- The Healthy People initiative provides 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. Healthy People 2020 presents new kidney-related objectives.
Two studies presented during the American Society of Nephrology's Annual Kidney Week provide new information on kidney-related policies in the United States.
Highlights
- Sitagliptin is as effective as glipizide at lowering blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
- Sitagliptin is less likely than glipizide to cause dangerously low blood sugar levels.
- Patients on sitagliptin tend to lose weight, while those on glipizide gain weight.
Some blood-sugar-lowering drugs have caused kidney problems in patients with type 2 diabetes, so physicians are especially cautious when prescribing these agents to diabetics who also have chronic kidney disease (CKD).
The negative effects of depression in young people on the health of their hearts may be stronger than previously recognized. Depression or a history of suicide attempts in people younger than 40, especially young women, markedly increases their risk for dying from heart disease, results from a nationwide study have revealed.
The results are published in the November 2011 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.
Patients who are dependent on opioids (narcotic pain relievers) for pain management before knee replacement surgery have much more difficulty recovering, a study recently published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS) has found. These patients tend to have longer hospital stays, more post-surgical pain, a higher rate of complications, and are more likely to need additional procedures, than patients who are not opioid-dependent.
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- Pomegranate juice lowers kidney disease patients' cholesterol, blood pressure, and the need for blood pressure medications.
- More than 15% of kidney disease patients take herbs or dietary supplements that the National Kidney Foundation says may be harmful to their health.
Two studies presented during the American Society of Nephrology's Annual Kidney Week provide new information on dietary benefits and dangers in kidney disease patients.
Applications of the technology include the ability to label genuine brand products with a technical solution that is difficult to counterfeit. Printers can reduce the use of inks with this method, and advertising agencies can create striking packages that are environmentally friendly. Applications further include transparent films and gift wrappings, which can be made more decorative without compromising transparency.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- A new study finds that people 75 years old or older are less likely to receive any pain medication in hospital emergency departments than middle aged people – those between 35 and 54 years old.
And these differences remained even after researchers took into account how much pain the patients were having, said Timothy F. Platts-Mills, MD, lead author of the study and assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
A key challenge in producing fusion energy is confining the plasma long enough for the ionized hydrogen to fuse and produce net power. Suppressing plasma turbulence is one approach to this, but the resulting increase in energy confinement is usually accompanied by undesirable increases in particle and impurity confinement, which can lead to plasma contamination and ash accumulation—and reduced power. At MIT's Alcator C-Mod tokamak reactor, scientists are investigating I-mode, an improved confinement regime, which may solve this problem.
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA – NOVEMBER 10, 2011 – The cost effectiveness of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVR) compared to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) depends on whether TAVR is performed via the femoral artery or transapically, through a small incision in the chest, according to a new study.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – NOVEMBER 10, 2011 – Results of the PARTNER Cohort A QOL study demonstrate that transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) results in improved quality of life compared with surgical valve replacement, but only when performed via the transfemoral approach. The results of the study were presented today at the 23rd annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – NOVEMBER 10, 2011 – Researchers leading a clinical trial said that transapical transcatheter aortic valve implantation (a-TAVI) may be inferior to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in operable elderly patients. However results were only preliminary as the trial was carried out on 70 patients out of a planned 200 before it was terminated early for safety concerns. Results from the STACCATO trial were presented today at the 23rd annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation.