Culture

Los Angeles, CA (October 21, 2015) Sepsis is an inflammatory response to infection that's known to develop in hospital settings and can turn deadly when it's not discovered early on. In a new study, a hospital surveillance program focusing on reducing the risks of sepsis, known as the two-stage Clinical Decision Support (CDS) system, was found to reduce the risk of adverse outcomes, such as death and hospice discharge for sepsis patients, by 30% over the course of one year. This study is published today in the American Journal of Medical Quality (A SAGE Journal).

Researchers who combed YouTube for videos regarding peripheral neuropathy, or nerve damage that causes weakness, numbness, and pain in the hands and feet, found 200 videos, but only about half of them were from healthcare professionals, mostly chiropractors. Alternative medicine was cited most frequently among the treatment discussions, followed by devices and pharmacological treatments. Only a minority of treatment discussions were based on recommendations by the American Academy of Neurology.

HANOVER, N.H. - October 21, 2015 - As we read about the looting and destruction of cultural heritage sites in Syria, ISIS tends to make the headlines. Yet, a recent Dartmouth led study published in Near Eastern Archaeology analyzing satellite imagery of nearly 1,300 archaeological sites in Syria reveals that the Kurdish YPG, opposition forces and the Syrian regime have also been major players accounting for this devastation.

PULLMAN, Wash. - Washington State University researchers have developed a way to carefully analyze a person's gait with sensors, an innovation that could lead to reduced falls and injuries in people with glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness in the United States.

Led by Hassan Ghasemzadeh, assistant professor in the WSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and graduate student Yuchao Ma, the researchers presented their gait analysis study results at the ACM Wireless Health Conference last week in Bethesda, Md.

Highlights

CINCINNATI--A University of Cincinnati (UC) researcher, in collaboration with other investigators, has found that ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke patients who suffer from acute kidney injury (AKI) requiring dialysis have higher death rates and greater odds of entering long-term care or nursing facilities after hospitalization.

The study was published online today in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association.

A teenage girl faced with sudden rapid heart deterioration, a man in the prime years of his life suffering from debilitating heart failure and a former NFL athlete crippled by end-stage heart failure were all successfully treated with a surgical approach pioneered by cardiac experts at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

Managing money can be difficult at any age. For older adults, changes in physical condition and life circumstances can lead to changes for the worse in financial behavior, putting their well-being in danger. Now those changes have been given a name: age-associated financial vulnerability.

October 20, 2015 - For patients with limited English proficiency (LEP), errors in medical interpretation are common--especially when the interpreter is a family member or other untrained person, reports a study in the October issue of Medical Care. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

[CORRECTION] An October 19, 2015 version of this press release stated in error a diagnosis of bronchiolitis obliterans. Researchers reported a diagnosis of inhalational injury, suspected acute hypersensitivity pneumonitis, related to e-cigarette use.

MONTRÉAL (October 20, 2015)- Researchers from VA Hospital in White River Junction, Vermont will present a case report of acute inhalation lung injury related to the use of e-cigarettes and a flavored e-cigarette liquid containing diacetyl.

Drowsy drivers who filmed themselves behind the wheel may have unknowingly given road safety researchers the answer to reducing sleepy driving.

Ashleigh Filtness, from Queensland University of Technology's (QUT) Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q), took a fly on the wall approach and watched YouTube videos of drowsy drivers to study the public perception of sleepy driving.

Griffith University researchers have opened a new avenue to advance a therapy to repair the paralysed spinal cord.

A paper published in the prestigious Nature group journal Scientific Reports presents a novel technique to grow cells in three dimensions, without the traditional restrictions of matrix or scaffolds.

By using floating liquid marbles, cells can freely associate and form natural structures as they would normally within the human body.

SAN ANTONIO--Of the more than 220,000 patients expected to be newly diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2015, the vast majority will have early-stage disease at low risk for recurrence.

Implementation of a collaborative care model among community-dwelling older people using a health risk assessment instrument resulted in better health behaviors and increased use of preventative care, according to a study published this week in PLOS Medicine. The trial, conducted by Andreas Stuck from the University Hospital Bern and University of Bern, Switzerland, and colleagues, demonstrated improved 8-year survival among recipients of the intervention.

Low household income was associated with higher risk of death after cardiac surgery in Sweden despite that the entire population has access to free health care, according to a study published online today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The association between low socioeconomic status and a higher risk of heart disease and death is well-known. However, most studies are conducted in populations without universal health care coverage, where socioeconomic status can determine access to health care.