Culture

TORONTO, December 9, 2015 -- Even with cardiac rehab (CR) programs tailored to their needs, women heart patients miss more than half of the sessions prescribed to them, according to a joint study by York University and the University Health Network (UHN).

"However, they may adhere more to a CR program and benefit from it, if they are able to make their own choice on which model of program they attend," says Professor Sherry L Grace in the Faculty of Health at York U.

OAKLAND, Calif. - A diabetes prevention program administered within the nation's largest, integrated health care system was effective in helping women with a history of gestational diabetes reach weight loss goals and increase physical activity following the birth of their children, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published online today in the journal Diabetes Care.

Dec. 9, 2015--Sleep-disordered breathing often predicts the development of atrial fibrillation (AF) in older men, according to U.S. researchers.

The researchers found that participants of a multicenter prospective cohort who had central sleep apnea or central sleep apnea with Cheyne-Strokes respiration, both caused by abnormal respiratory signals from the brain, were at greater risk of developing AF compared to those without central sleep-disordered breathing. The risk increased with age.

A new study describes the development of pediatric pain measures for a National Institutes of Health Initiative aimed at helping doctors better evaluate and therefore better treat children who cope with chronic pain. Based on face-to-face interviews with pediatric patients, the study better captured the young patient's perspective of living with chronic pain.

Entanglement in fishing gear is the leading cause of death for North Atlantic right whales--one of the most endangered of all the large whale species. Their migratory routes take them through some of the busiest commercial fishing areas along the East Coast of the United States and into Canada.

Entangled whales can tow fishing gear for tens to hundreds of miles over months or even years, before either being freed, shedding the gear on their own, or succumbing to their injuries.

Scientists report new details into the link between epilepsy and suicidal behavior, finding suicide attempts--whether a first attempt or a recurrent attempt--are associated with new onset epilepsy in the absence of antiepileptic drug prescriptions and a diagnosis of psychiatric disorder, further strengthening the evidence that there is an underlying commonality. The researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Medical Center and are the first to report these associations. Findings are published online in JAMA Psychiatry.

As the year comes to an end, a survey of the hottest pharma news stories from the past year illustrates industry trends from megadeals to drug approvals. A suite of stories in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, highlights the most significant patterns that emerged in 2015.

NEW YORK (Dec. 9, 2015) - The United States has sufficient capacity for treating another outbreak of the Ebola virus, but financial, staffing and resource challenges remain a hurdle for many hospitals and health systems attempting to maintain dedicated treatment centers for highly infectious diseases, according to new study released today. The research was published online in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).

Research indicates low wages are to blame for the STEM skills gap Wages must reflect the supply and demand for skills across occupations Reform of schools and universities isn't the answer

Low wages rather than inadequate training are to blame for the STEM skills gap, according to research from the University of Warwick.

The available evidence suggests no difference in treatment effects of second generation antidepressants and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) either alone or in combination, for patients with major depressive disorder, finds a study in The BMJ today.

CBT is a type of psychological support that works to solve problems and change unhelpful thinking and behaviour.

Over half of patients with controlled type 2 diabetes have many more tests than is currently recommended by national guidelines, and this has been associated with overtreatment of the condition, suggests a large US study published in The BMJ this week.

Overtreatment is a concern because it can lead to patient harm as well as inefficiency and waste in the healthcare system, explain the authors, and they recommend that "patients and doctors should question the value of routine tests."

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- In a study released online today in The BMJ, researchers from Mayo Clinic report a national trend toward overtesting glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) levels in adult patients with Type 2 diabetes.

Overtesting causes redundancy and waste says the study team, adding unnecessary costs and time burden for patients and providers. In addition, excessive testing can result in overtreatment with hypoglycemic drugs, adding additional cost and potential health complications.

A new study involving UT Dallas researchers shows that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) technology could help improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who suffer weakness and paralysis caused by strokes.

The study, published in the journal Stroke, marks the first time that VNS has been tested in individuals recovering from stroke.

A new lifestyle risk score based on six health behaviors identified two new risk factors (sedentary behavior and sleep) that can be used in addition to traditional risk factors, such as smoking and excessive alcohol use to predict risk of mortality. These findings by Ding Ding and colleagues from the University of Sydney, Australia, are published in this week's PLOS Medicine.

More than 50 million Americans live in rural areas, and many have limited access to health care. For someone living far from an urban area, local specialty care for complex health issues is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. For years, telemedicine programs across the country have connected rural patients to specialists in urban settings. Now, a study by University of Missouri School of Medicine researchers shows that patients and providers alike are satisfied with video-based health care.