Culture

MAYWOOD, Il. - Each year, as many as 500,000 Americans experience mini strokes called transient ischemic attacks (TIAs).

Symptoms quickly go away, usually within an hour, and many people don't seek treatment. But 10 to 15 percent of people who experience TIAs will experience full-blown strokes within three months, and 40 percent of these strokes will occur in the first 24 hours, according to an article by three Loyola University Medical Center neurologists in the journal Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Feb. 5, 2013 – Patients who experience chest pain in the 24 hours preceding a heart attack, also called preinfarction angina, have smaller heart attacks and improved cardiac function in the contemporary cardiac stenting era, researchers found in a study published Jan. 22 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions.

PHILADELPHIA – Advance care directives allow patients to provide instructions about their preferences for the care they would like to receive if they develop an illness or a life-threatening injury and lose the capacity to make decisions for themselves.

Preliminary evidence from a clinical trial suggests that treatment with glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists was associated with reduced body mass index and body weight in adolescents with severe obesity, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication.

GLP-1 receptor agonist therapy, approved for adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus, reduces body weight by enhancing satiety and suppressing appetite, even in patients without diabetes, according to the study background.

HOUSTON -- (Feb. 6, 2013) – As patients and physicians share decision-making in choices among treatment options, decision aids such as videos, websites, pamphlets or books are coming to play an important role. However, in some cases, it may be ethical for the decision aids to provide a "nudge" toward a particular option, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, the Michael E.

EUGENE, Ore. — When it comes to health care, patients with the motivation, knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their own health have better health outcomes and incur fewer health care costs.

Like a self-absorbed teenager, insects spend a lot of time grooming.

In a study that delves into the mechanisms behind this common function, North Carolina State University researchers show that insect grooming – specifically, antennal cleaning – removes both environmental pollutants and chemicals produced by the insects themselves.

New York City experienced a historic decline in crime rates during the 1990s, but it was not due to the implementation of CompStat or enhanced enforcement of misdemeanor offenses, according to an analysis by New York University sociologist David Greenberg. The paper in Justice Quarterly, did not find a link between arrests on misdemeanor charges and drops in felonies, such as homicides, robberies, and assaults.

Water tubing, a recreational activity in which participants ride an inner tube which is pulled behind a boat by a tow rope, has grown in popularity in recent years. Unfortunately, the number of injuries related to this activity has also increased.

Reston, Va. – While amyloid imaging may now be most associated with detecting plaques in the brain, it has the potential to change the way cardiac amyloidosis is diagnosed. According to first-of-its-kind research published in the February issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) with 11C-PIB can positively visualize amyloid deposits in the heart. Currently there is no noninvasive test available for specific diagnosis.

Feeling shame about past instances of problem drinking may increase the likelihood of relapse and other health problems, according to a new study in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The study, conducted by researchers from the University of British Columbia, shows that behavioral displays of shame strongly predicted whether recovering alcoholics would relapse in the future.

After the recorder, the violin is the instrument most commonly offered to children by state schools in the UK. The violin is a challenging instrument. Rapid, independent motion of the digital joints in the left hand is desirable. This study was conceived after an 11-year-old patient volunteered that she had given up playing the violin because of difficulty and discomfort manoeuvring the left small and ring fingers independently. On exami¬nation, she was found to have absent FDS (flexor digitorum superficialis) function in the small finger.

Examining the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) - data that characterises about 10% of the UK population - a team of researchers from Cardiff University's School of Medicine looked at the risk of death for patients taking insulin compared with other treatments designed to lower blood glucose levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

SEATTLE – Patients whose aggressive lymphomas have relapsed or failed to respond to the current front-line chemotherapy regimen now have an effective second line of attack against their disease.

Boston, MA—Your family history is important, not just because it shaped you into who you are today, but it also impacts your risk for developing cancer and other chronic diseases. For example, if one of your family members had cancer, your primary care doctor needs to know. Being able to identify individuals at increased risk can help reduce mortality.