Culture

The military lifestyle can be one of extremes: the orderliness of regimen and obedience juxtaposed with the chaos of danger and violence.

But is that lifestyle a help or a hindrance when individuals with military backgrounds must face similar extremes in the much different context of prison? It's an interesting question to consider as thousands of men and women return home from duty overseas, many dealing with issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or otherwise struggling with the transition to life back stateside.

U.S. hospitalizations and costs of care for atrial fibrillation nearly doubled from 1998 to 2010, according to research presented

at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2013.

Over 4.6 million hospitalizations occurred nationwide for atrial fibrillation during the decade, said researchers who found the progressive percentage increase reached 46 percent.

Researchers projected a similar trend in hospitalizations and costs over the next decade and concluded that 541,000 hospitalizations can be expected by 2020, a 28 percent relative increase from 2010.

DURHAM, N.C. – Annual rates of CPR training in the United States are low and vary widely across the country, but the communities most in need of training are the least likely to be trained, according to a new study from the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

The findings, published Nov. 18, 2013, in JAMA Internal Medicine, add to known geographic disparities in cardiac arrest survival and offer a rationale to increase access to training for the life-saving intervention.

Chicago – Stephen J. Nicholls, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute and University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia, and colleagues determined the effects of varespladib, a drug that inhibits the enzyme secretory phospholipase A2 on cardiovascular risk in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS; such as heart attack or unstable angina).

Monday, Nov. 18, 2013, Cleveland: Patients with acute coronary syndrome who were treated with the experimental drug varespladib were more likely to experience additional cardiovascular events – including sudden death, heart attack and stroke – than those treated with placebo, according to research from the Cleveland Clinic Coordinating Center for Clinical Research (C5Research).

Therapeutic hypothermia – cooling the body and brain down to 33°C – is the method used worldwide to treat cardiac arrest, even though a lower body temperature may raise the risk of side-effects. However, keeping the temperature steady at 36°C is just as effective, a study led by Lund University researchers has found.

DURHAM, N.C. – A targeted effort to help high-risk heart failure patients stay on their medications did improve adherence to drug regimens, but had surprisingly little effect lowering hospital readmission rates, according to a study at Duke Medicine.

The findings, presented Monday at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions meeting in Dallas, suggest that medication management is just one of many issues facing patients most at risk for their conditions to worsen.

PRINCETON, NJ—A school in Harlem is seeing positive outcomes that stretch beyond test scores – including higher college-acceptance rates and lower incidences of teen pregnancy and incarceration, according to a Princeton-Harvard University study.

Tech-y teens, often more curious than criminal, are likely to start turning their talents to cyberdeviance and cybercrime at about age 15, with such activities peaking at about age 18.

That's according to a snapshot survey by University of Cincinnati researchers who will present their findings Nov. 21 at The American Society of Criminology annual conference in Atlanta.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – November 18, 2013 – New data reported by the Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network (CCTRN) at the 2013 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association in Dallas showed that the use of bone marrow mononuclear stem cells (BMCs) did not improve heart function significantly more at one year than at six months. While there was measurable decrease in the size of scar tissue at six and 12 months, stem cells administered as a part of the TIME (Transplantation In Myocardial Infarction Evaluation) study did not improve overall heart functionality.

Boston, MA – A late-breaking clinical trial, known as the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure with an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT) trial, to be presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions, November 18, 2013, demonstrates that spironolactone did not reduce the primary outcome of cardiovascular death, heart failure hospitalization, nor surviving a cardiac arrest in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (pump function).

Chicago – Horng H. Chen, M.B.B.Ch., of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and colleagues conducted a randomized trial to determine whether, as compared with placebo, the addition of low-doses of the drugs dopamine or nesiritide to diuretic therapy would enhance urine output and preserve kidney function in patients with acute heart failure and kidney dysfunction.

A new trend in American health care is the patient-centered medical home. The approach revolves around a team of medical and health professionals who, working together, treat an individual, led by a primary-care physician who orchestrates the whole effort. The goal is the team knows everything about the patient, no matter how disparate the symptoms—from the earache last night to the long history of high cholesterol—and works together to treat the individual in a holistic way.

DALLAS -- Two drugs tested in a larger trial did not improve kidney function in acute heart failure patients, contrary to results of smaller studies. The results were presented today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2013 in Dallas and simultaneously published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Previous smaller studies showed that low-dose dopamine or low-dose nesiritide could improve kidney function and reduce fluid overload that is often present in hospitalized acute heart failure patients by increasing urine production.

PHILADELPHIA (November 18, 2013)— An evaluation team led by the Drexel University School of Public Health has published a new study demonstrating that customers of full-service restaurants use nutritional labeling on menus to make healthier food choices.