Culture

Exercise can have a positive influence on certain symptoms of multiple sclerosis: Patients who do yoga and aquatic exercise suffer less from fatigue, depression and paresthesia, as reported by researchers from the University of Basel and the Psychiatric University Clinics Basel in a joint study with colleagues in Iran.

WASHINGTON --T he over-the-counter anti-diarrhea medication Imodium®, or its key ingredient loperamide, is increasingly being abused by people attempting to self-treat their opioid addiction, with sometime fatal results. Two case studies outlining the phenomenon were published online Friday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Loperamide Abuse Associated with Cardiac Dysrhythmia and Death").

New research challenges the traditional view that baleen whales (Mysticetes) migrate between high-latitude feeding areas and low-latitude breeding areas.

Using populations of fin whales in the Mediterranean as a case study and reviewing the migratory behaviors of all baleen whales, investigators found that the seasonal behavior of Mediterranean fin whales is highly dynamic, that other populations of baleen whales show similar migratory patterns, and that the traditional model of whale migration is too simplified.

Glenview, Ill.(May 3, 2016) -- Although there have been discussions about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition impacting 24 million Americans, and depression, there has been little research showing the impact depression has on patients with COPD.

At least 30 percent of antibiotics prescribed in the United States are unnecessary, according to new data published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with Pew Charitable Trusts and other public health and medical experts.

Researchers at Tohoku University are developing a method to improve the aggressive intensity of cavitation without the need to increase the input power.

Cavitation - the formation, growth and subsequent collapse of microbubbles - produces high, localized energy which can be used in chemical processes for treating water and the pretreatment of biomass.

The research team found that the conventional cavitation method of applying ultrasonic energy was not strong enough, so they proposed using hydrodynamic cavitation instead.

Washington, D.C. - Today, the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) published an update to its first-of-its-kind 2012 paper outlining best practices in the cardiac catheterization laboratory (CCL), or cath lab. The paper, "SCAI Expert Consensus Statement: 2016 Best Practices in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory," was published online in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions, SCAI's official journal.

Ibrutinib is a drug for the treatment of rare diseases. It has been approved for the treatment of adults with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) or with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) since 2014, and since 2015 also for the treatment of adults with Waldenström macroglobulinaemia. Regarding the treatment of patients with CLL or MCL, the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) already conducted a benefit assessment and made a decision in 2015.

Umeclidinium bromide (umeclidinium for short) has been approved since 2014 as a maintenance bronchodilator treatment in adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and was initially only available in combination with vilanterol. It has been available also as a single agent since 2016. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) now examined in an early benefit assessment whether this single agent offers patients an added benefit over the appropriate comparator therapy.

The monoclonal antibody mepolizumab has been approved since the end of 2015 for the treatment of adults with severe refractory eosinophilic asthma. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) now examined in an early benefit assessment whether the drug offers an added benefit for patients in comparison with the appropriate comparator therapy.

PHILADELPHIA (May 2, 2016) - Billions of dollars are spent annually to support single-parent families in low-income urban communities -- most often for affordable housing -- yet little is known about the relationship between health and well-being of housing program participants and life in violent neighborhoods in US cities.

COLUMBIA, Mo. - People living with mental illness are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. It is estimated that 1 million people with mental illnesses are arrested and booked in the U.S. each year. As such, interventions to help this population, such as mental health courts, are becoming popular in communities across the country.

Turin, Italy: A large study of testicular cancer patients has shown that radiation therapy is a better treatment than chemotherapy for patients with stage IIa disease (where one or more regional lymph nodes contain cancer cells but they are less than 2cms in diameter).

BALTIMORE, MD - Despite concerns that legalizing marijuana use for adults would make it easier for adolescents to get ahold of it, a new study in Washington State shows that teens find it no easier now than before the law was passed in 2012.

BALTIMORE, MD - While tobacco companies have not been allowed to buy product placement in television shows since 2000, alcohol brands continue to self-regulate their marketing in media. But a new research abstract to be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2016 Meeting showing how strongly alcohol brand placement relates to the drinking behavior of underage youth suggests more regulation may be needed.