Culture

LOS ANGELES (Jan. 30, 2012) – Injecting specialized cardiac stem cells into a patient's heart rebuilds healthy tissue after a heart attack, but where do the new cells come from and how are they transformed into functional muscle?

Toronto – Brokers are supposed to recommend investments that are in the best interests of their clients.

But a study published in the February 2013 issue of the Journal of Finance has found that mutual funds offering higher broker fees attract the most investments, especially when the broker is not affiliated with the mutual fund company. Every additional dollar paid to a broker corresponds with another six dollars invested into the fund, and another fourteen dollars if the broker is an unaffiliated third party whose compensation depends exclusively on sales commissions.

WASHINGTON, DC, January 24, 2013 — Married men who spend more time doing traditionally female household tasks—including cooking, cleaning, and shopping—report having less sex than husbands who don't do as much, according to a new study in the February issue of the American Sociological Review.

A 2011 warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about the popular antidepressant citalopram (Celexa) left many patients and physicians with more questions than answers. Now an analysis of the medical records of more than 38,000 patients by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators clarifies the contribution of citalopram and other antidepressants to lengthening of the QT interval, an aspect of the heart's electrical activity that – when prolonged – may increase the risk of dangerous arrhythmias.

Some antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are linked with a long QT interval (the duration of electrical activity of the heart muscle) – a marker for heart rhythm abnormalities, finds a study published on bmj.com today.

The findings support recent warnings by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) about the drug citalopram and suggest some other antidepressants may have similar effects.

A physiotherapy service based on initial telephone assessment has the ability to provide faster access to the service and cut waiting times, a study published today on bmj.com suggests.

Providing access to physiotherapy has long been a problem in the NHS with waiting times of several week or months. Furthermore, waiting lists may be congested with those who will benefit from physiotherapy advice but have little to gain from a course of face-to-face appointments.

As if pregnancy is not stressful enough, it turns out that stress during pregnancy puts mothers' and their babies' health at risk. And a University of Missouri study indicates low-income pregnant women in rural areas experience higher levels of stress - just yet poor people everywhere else do - and lack appropriate means to manage their emotional and physical well-being.

A large study published in PLOS Medicine on January 29, 2013, shows that the risk of future cardiovascular disease and death increased with severity of erectile dysfunction in men both with and without a history of cardiovascular disease. While previous studies have shown an association between ED and CVD risk, this study finds that the severity of ED corresponds to the increased risk of CVD hospitalization and all-cause mortality.

A collection of historical documents from a major project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) will be made publicly available over the next several months and years.

PHILADELPHIA – HIV patients who participated in an intervention that helped them identify barriers to taking their drugs properly and develop customized coping strategies took a significantly greater amount of their prescribed doses than those receiving standard care, according to a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results, published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine, may point to a new strategy to improve adherence to medications for many other conditions.

Boston, MA—Most weight-loss plans center around a balance between caloric intake and energy expenditure. However, new research has shed light on a new factor that is necessary to shed pounds: timing. Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), in collaboration with the University of Murcia and Tufts University, have found that it's not simply what you eat, but also when you eat, that may help with weight-loss regulation.

The study will be published on January 29, 2013 in the International Journal of Obesity.

The 2011 annual report of the National Audit of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) highlights the significant progress within hospitals to expand PCI services to treat more patients with acute coronary syndromes.

Philadelphia, January 29, 2012 – The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) announced its recommended 2013 adult immunization schedule that includes important updates to the pneumococcal, Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis), and influenza vaccines.

Nationwide, more than one-quarter of hospital-based general practitioners who take over for patients' primary care doctors to manage inpatient care say their average patient load exceeds safe levels multiple times per month, according to a new Johns Hopkins study. Moreover, the study found that one in five of these physicians, known as hospitalists, reports that their workload puts patients at risk for serious complications, or even death.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Cardiac disease is associated with increased risk of mild cognitive impairment such as problems with language, thinking and judgment -- particularly among women with heart disease, a Mayo Clinic study shows. Known as nonamnestic because it doesn't include memory loss, this type of mild cognitive impairment may be a precursor to vascular and other non-Alzheimer's dementias, according to the findings published online Monday in JAMA Neurology.