Culture

The fixed-dose combination of the drugs elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide has been available under the trade name Genvoya since November 2015 as treatment for adults and adolescents aged over 12 years infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) now examined in an early benefit assessment whether this drug combination offers an added benefit for patients in comparison with the appropriate comparator therapy.

Increasing exposure to outdoor light is the key to reducing the myopia (short-sightedness) epidemic in children, according to ground-breaking research by Australian optometrists.

Optometrist and lead researcher on the project, Associate Professor Scott Read who is the director of research at QUT's School of Optometry and Vision Science, said children need to spend more than an hour and preferably at least two hours a day outside to help prevent myopia from developing and progressing.

Irvine, Calif., April 6, 2016 -- While controlling blood pressure, blood sugar and LDL-cholesterol levels reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease in people with diabetes, only 7 percent of diabetic participants in three major heart studies had recommended levels of these three factors, according to research from the Heart Disease Prevention Program at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine.

Since 1980, the number of adults with diabetes worldwide has quadrupled from 108 million to 422 million in 2014, according to a new study published in The Lancet. The findings provide the most comprehensive estimates of worldwide diabetes trends to date and show that diabetes is fast becoming a major problem in low and middle income countries.

PHILADELPHIA, PA, April 6, 2016 - Eating meals from restaurants has become routine for many American children, often contributing excess calories, solid fats, sodium, and added sugar to diets already lacking in fruit, vegetables, and low-fat dairy. Many restaurants have made voluntary changes to their kids' menus, including reducing the calories in new items, in advance of menu-labeling legislation that will mandate printed calorie counts.

The death of a partner is linked to a heightened risk of developing an irregular heartbeat otherwise known as atrial fibrillation--itself a risk factor for stroke and heart failure--for up to a year afterwards, finds research published in the online journal Open Heart.

The risk seems to be greatest among the under 60s and when the loss of the partner was least expected, the findings indicate.

The largest analysis of GP and nurse consultations to date shows that workloads in general practice have increased by 16% over the past 7 years, with more frequent and longer consultations. The authors, reporting their findings in The Lancet today, warn that the increases are unsustainable and that general practice in England could be reaching saturation point.

The largest analysis of GP and nurse consultations to date shows workloads in general practice have increased by 16 per cent over the past seven years, with more frequent and longer consultations.

The researchers, from the Universities of Oxford and Bristol, reporting their findings in The Lancet today, warn the increases are unsustainable, and that general practice in England could be reaching saturation point.

Two new studies published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) show there has been no decrease in the gap in life expectancy between people living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and the general population over the past few decades.

WASHINGTON --Emergency physicians used a patient's personal activity tracker and smartphone to identify the time his heart arrhythmia started, which allowed them to treat his new-onset atrial fibrillation with electrical cardioversion and discharge him home. The first case report using information in an activity tracker/smartphone system to assist in medical decision-making was reported online Friday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Interrogation of Patient Activity Tracker to Assist Arrhythmia Management").

DALLAS, April 5, 2016 -- Hispanics/Latinos have higher rates of cardiac dysfunction but are rarely aware they have the heart-pumping problem that can lead to heart failure, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation: Heart Failure.

Researchers found that about half of the 1,818 adults in their study of middle-aged and older Hispanics/Latinos had cardiac dysfunction, yet fewer than 1 in 20 participants knew they had a problem.

Why Bioethics Has a Race Problem

John Hoberman

Death is a part of life for people over 95 years old, who mainly live day-to-day, concludes a rare study of attitudes to death and dying amongst the very old. The research, from the University of Cambridge and published today in the journal PLOS ONE, finds that this group is willing to discuss dying and their end-of-life care, but is seldom asked.

Despite anti-poverty efforts, hunger in Canada has not decreased - and it has now reached epidemic levels in Nunavut, where almost half of households suffer from food insecurity, according to a new study by University of Toronto researchers.

One in six children under the age of 18 in Canada lives in food insecure households, according to Household Food Insecurity in Canada, 2014, a report published by PROOF, a U of T research group.

Household food insecurity is the inadequate or insecure access to food because of financial constraints.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD, comprises a group of liver disorders whose prevalence is widespread and rising. It's estimated that at least one-third of Americans have NAFLD; among obese persons, the figure is 50 percent.