PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Rhode Island Hospital physician/researcher will present findings from a study investigating whether legalizing medical marijuana in Rhode Island will increase its use among youths. Lead author Esther Choo, M.D., M.P.H., will present the findings of the study at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting and Exposition on November 2.
Culture
STANFORD, Calif. -- When given for hours as a continuous dose, the heart medication nitroglycerin backfires -- increasing the severity of subsequent heart attacks, according to a study of the compound in rats by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
A University of Missouri study of recent political blogs indicates politics are getting nastier due to digital media, which are segmenting people into polarized interest groups. The researcher recommends a balanced approach to finding information in order to return civility to political discourse, which is at the heart of democracy.
There are claims that obesity is an affliction of the poor and it is due to economic inequality forcing them into junk food, but a new national study of eating out and income shows that fast-food dining becomes more common as earnings increase from low to middle incomes, weakening the popular notion that fast food should be blamed for higher rates of obesity among the poor.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A newly published paper from Rhode Island Hospital reports that Web-based assessments for outcome measurements of patients in treatment for depression are valid and reliable. The findings indicate that the Internet version of the depression scale was equivalent to the paper version, and that patients preferred the Internet version. The paper is published in this month's edition of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
Benefits of nut consumption for people with abdominal obesity, high blood sugar, high blood pressure
For the first time, scientists report a link between eating nuts and higher levels of serotonin in the bodies of patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS), who are at high risk for heart disease. Serotonin is a substance that helps transmit nerve signals and decreases feelings of hunger, makes people feel happier and improves heart health. It took only one ounce of mixed nuts (raw unpeeled walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts) a day to produce the good effects. The report appears in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research.
LOS ANGELES (Nov. 1, 2011) – Among the most commonly used treatments for irritable bowel syndrome – which affects as many as 20 percent of the United States population – a targeted antibiotic was shown to be the safest in a new study by Cedars-Sinai researchers, based on an analysis of 26 large-scale clinical trials.
Eating a Mediterranean diet combined with physical activity can help to improve some of the symptoms of sleep apnoea, according to new research.
The study, which is published online in the European Respiratory Journal, looked at the impact a Mediterranean diet can have on obese people with sleep apnoea, compared to those on a prudent diet.
Diagnostic physicians at increased risk for medical malpractice claims due to communication failures
Because clinical evaluation often depends on diagnostic tests, diagnostic physicians have a responsibility to notify referring clinicians when test results reveal urgent or unexpected findings. According to an article selected as the "CME Activity of the Month" in the most recent edition of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR), the rapid growth of diagnostic testing appears to be placing physicians at greater risk for medical malpractice claims for test communication failures.
SEATTLE – Age alone no longer should be considered a defining factor when determining whether an older patient with blood cancer is a candidate for stem cell transplantation. That's the conclusion of the first study summarizing long-term outcomes from a series of prospective clinical trials of patients age 60 and over who were treated with the mini-transplant, a "kinder, gentler" form of allogeneic (donor cell) stem cell transplantation developed at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The findings are published Nov. 2 in JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association.
CHICAGO – Older patients with advanced hematologic malignancies, such as leukemia and lymphoma, who received a conditioning regimen that included minimal-intensity radiation therapy prior to allogeneic (genetically different) hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT; receipt of bone marrow or stem cells transplant) had survival and progression-free survival outcomes suggesting that this treatment approach may be a viable option for older patients with these malignancies, according to a study in the November 2 issue of JAMA.
Healthcare that implements a person-centred approach not only make care more efficient, but also yields more satisfied patients. A study carried out at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that if there is an active partnership between the patient and healthcare professionals, the patient's hospital stay can be reduced by one-third.
People who participate in online communities are more likely to make risky financial decisions, according to a new study from researchers at Rice University, the University of British Columbia and the University of Zurich.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Patients with recent use of aspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), or anti-clotting drugs such as clopidogreal (Plavix) do not appear to have an increased risk of bleeding during or after removal of precancerous lesions in the digestive tract, according to results of a Mayo Clinic study.
CINCINNATI—Findings from a recent University of Cincinnati (UC) and Cincinnati Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center study show that multiple episodes of acute kidney injury during hospital stays for patients with diabetes are associated with a risk for developing chronic kidney disease.
The study is published in the November issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.