Culture

Istanbul, Turkey – 11 December 2013: HIV causes structural heart disease according to research presented at EuroEcho-Imaging 2013 by Dr Nieves Montoro from Madrid, Spain. The findings support the introduction of cardiovascular screening in all HIV patients, particularly those with a positive blood viral load.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Long-term use of commonly prescribed heartburn and ulcer medications is linked to a higher risk of vitamin B12 deficiency, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Left untreated, vitamin B12 deficiency can increase the risk of dementia, nerve damage, anemia, and other medical complications, some of which may be irreversible. Stomach acid aids in vitamin B12 absorption; suppressing the acids can lead to the health-threatening vitamin deficiency.

Use for 2 or more years of proton pump inhibitors and histamine 2 receptor antagonists (two types of acid-inhibiting medications) was associated with a subsequent new diagnosis of vitamin B12 deficiency, according to a study appearing in the December 11 issue of JAMA.

NEW ORLEANS— A toxin linked to a targeted monoclonal antibody has shown "compelling" antitumor activity in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphomas who were no longer responding to treatment, according to a report from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The ongoing open-label phase 2 study presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting was designed to test the activity of brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) in relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) including B-cell cancers such as diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

San Diego, CA, December 10, 2013 – During the past two decades, high-profile legal cases surrounding end-of-life decisions have received widespread attention in the United States, prompting increased media focus and numerous debates on the subject.

(Boston) -- According to a new study, a novel composite measure consisting of 29 alcohol policies demonstrates that a strong alcohol policy environment is a protective factor against binge drinking in the U.S. The study was led by researchers at the Boston University Schools of Medicine (BUSM) and Public Health and Boston Medical Center (BMC), and is published in the current issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Private contractors who worked in Iraq, Afghanistan or other conflict environments over the past two years report suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression more often than military personnel who served in recent conflicts, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Researchers found that among the contractors studied, 25 percent met criteria for PTSD, 18 percent screened positive for depression and half reported alcohol misuse. Despite the troubles, relatively few get help either before or after deployment.

CHICAGO – Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has grabbed headlines in recent years for its role in helping some of sports' biggest stars return to play following injury –including golfer Tiger Woods, Super Bowl winner Hines Ward and NBA legend Kobe Bryant.

EUGENE, Ore. — University of Oregon chemists studying the structure of ligand-stabilized gold nanoparticles have captured fundamental new insights about their stability. The information, they say, could help to maintain a desired, integral property in nanoparticles used in electronic devices, where stability is important, or to design them so they readily condense into thin films for such things as inks or catalysts in electronic or solar devices.

Three major types of smoking cessation therapies don't increase the risk of heart attack, stroke or heart-related death, according to research published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

Cardiovascular complications and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) were common nonfatal complications in adults 60 years of age and older with diabetes, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

An increase in the number of lenders specializing in loans for fertility treatments enables more people to afford the treatments, but it also raises ethical concerns, concludes a commentary in the Hastings Center Report. Among the concerns, doctors are marketing the loans to their patients, and some of these doctors have financial ties to specific lenders.

For the past two years, warnings regarding the possible link between a commonly used anti-nausea and vomiting drug ondansetron and heart arrhythmias have been a source of uncertainty in emergency departments. New research from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the University of Calgary's Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute helps to clarify the actual risk of ondansetron administration and cardiac arrhythmias in both children and adults. The study is published in the December issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine.

NEW ORLEANS— In nearly one-third of patients with Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia, a specific genetic mutation switches on the disease, and a new drug that blocks the defective gene can arrest the disease in animal models, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and allied institutions will report at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH). The finding may open the way to clinical trials of the drug in Waldenstrom's patients whose tumor cells carry the mutation.

BOSTON (Dec. 9, 2013) – For nearly half a century, contact lenses have been proposed as a means of ocular drug delivery that may someday replace eye drops, but achieving controlled drug release has been a significant challenge.