Culture

Florence, Italy - 23 May 2016: The flu jab is associated with a reduced risk of hospitalisation in patients with heart failure, according to research presented today in a late breaking trial session at Heart Failure 2016 and the 3rd World Congress on Acute Heart Failure.1

The study in about 60 000 patients ends the controversy over influenza vaccination in heart failure patients and provides more robust evidence for current recommendations.

Florence, Italy - 23 May 2016: A subgroup analysis in heart failure patients with diabetes from the ATMOSPHERE trial has failed to show benefit and signals the end of the road for aliskiren in heart failure. The findings were presented for the first time today in a late breaking trial session at Heart Failure 2016 and the 3rd World Congress on Acute Heart Failure.1

Florence, Italy - 23 May 2016: Exercise is associated with a longer life in patients with heart failure, according to research presented today in a late breaking trial session at Heart Failure 2016 and the 3rd World Congress on Acute Heart Failure.1 The analysis in more than 4000 patients showed a mortality benefit from exercise regardless of heart failure severity, age and gender.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis, also known as PSC, is a liver disease with no effective medical treatment. Liver transplantation is the only proven long-term treatment of PSC, although only a fraction of individuals with PSC will ultimately require it. The vast majority of patients with PSC also have inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis), possibly implying that the intestine plays a role in the origin of this PSC.

The editor-in-chief of one of the world's leading reproductive medicine journals has attacked the rising use of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) for the treatment of infertility, following publication of the latest world report on assisted reproductive technologies (ART) [1] today (Saturday).

Florence, Italy - 21 May 2016: European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure are published today in European Heart Journal1 and the European Journal of Heart Failure, and presented at Heart Failure 2016 and the 3rd World Congress on Acute Heart Failure.

Paris, France - 20 May 2016: Nearly 12,000 cardiologists from 115 countries across the world boosted their knowledge and skills in interventional approaches for treating cardiovascular disease in patients in their own hospitals by observing live demonstrations and sharing in educational, practical and discussion sessions at EuroPCR 2016, the annual course of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI), this week.

States with higher estimated levels of gun ownership had higher incidents of gun-related suicides, with firearm ownership alone explaining 71 percent of the variation in state-level gun suicide rates for males and 49 percent for females, a new study by Boston University School of Public Health researchers shows.

The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, covers 33 years, from 1981 to 2013, and is the most comprehensive analysis of the association between gun ownership and gender-specific suicides rates among the 50 U.S. states.

A new study indicates that health professionals should tell bereaved parents about what they could have done to reduce the risk of the sudden death of their baby.

The University of Warwick research, funded by The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK and contradicts the current practice of many paediatricians who don't discuss risk factors for fear of causing grieving mothers and fathers additional upset.

A new study appearing in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery found that administering tranexamic acid (TXA) both intravenously (IV) and injected at the surgical site (intra-articular administration, or IA) reduced blood loss by 37 percent, compared to IV alone, following total knee replacement (TKR).

In an article published in Carbon, Dr Aravind Vijayaraghavan and Dr Maria Iliut from Manchester have shown that adding a very small amount of graphene, the world's thinnest and strongest material, to rubber films can increase both their strength and the elasticity by up to 50%. Thin rubber films are ubiquitous in daily life, used in everything from gloves to condoms.

For patients with serious, ongoing hip pain, sometimes surgery is their best bet for relief. Given the choice between minimally invasive hip surgery and total hip replacement, most patients would choose the less invasive procedure, often done on an outpatient basis. But a study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City finds that arthroscopic surgery may not be the best option, especially if a patient is over 60 or has arthritis.

After three years and 300 patients, George Mason University researchers have proof that their early-detection urine test for Lyme disease works.

It's the largest study of its kind looking at early-stage indicators for Lyme disease, said Lance Liotta, co-director and medical director of the George Mason-based Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine. "We are looking at a highly specific protein shed from the surface of the bacteria that causes Lyme."

CINCINNATI - An experimental model uses genetics-guided biomechanics and patient-derived stem cells to predict what type of inherited heart defect a child will develop, according to authors of a new study in the journal Cell.

With the youngest of the baby boomers hitting 65 by 2029, the number of people with visual impairment or blindness in the United States is expected to double to more than 8 million by 2050, according to projections based on the most recent census data and from studies funded by the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. Another 16.4 million Americans are expected to have difficulty seeing due to correctable refractive errors such as myopia (nearsightedness) or hyperopia (farsightedness) that can be fixed with glasses, contacts or surgery.