INFORMATION:
To read the review follow this link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006594.pub3/full
Cochrane Review of reminder systems to improve TB diagnoses and care
Researchers from China, the Philippines and LSTM have today published a new systematic review of reminder systems to improve patient adherence to tuberculosis treatment
2014-11-19
(Press-News.org) Researchers from China, the Philippines and LSTM have today published a new systematic review of reminder systems to improve patient adherence to tuberculosis (TB) treatment. Reminder systems include prompts in advance of a forthcoming appointment to help ensure the patients attend, and also actions when people miss an appointment, such as phoning them or arranging a home visit. This review is the latest in a suite of reviews produced by authors from the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group, hosted at LSTM, evaluating interventions to improve adherence to TB treatment. Effective treatment for TB requires people to take multiple drugs every day for at least six months, and many patients drop out of treatment before it is completed (especially when they start feeling better) because they forget, or due to the costs and inconvenience of attending multiple clinic appointments. Incomplete treatment contributes to the spread of TB and the development of drug resistance.
Lead author, Dr Qin Liu from the China Effective Health Care Network, said: "Policies of sending reminders to people pre-appointment, and contacting people who miss appointments, seem sensible additions to any TB programme, and this review provides evidence that they have important benefits and can contribute to improving treatment completion".
New editions of reviews on the use of money and other material incentives and directly observed therapy to improve adherence are expected over the coming months.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Lumosity study examines lifestyle effects on cognitive training at Neuroscience 2014
2014-11-19
Washington, D.C. - November 19, 2014 - Lumosity is presenting new research today at the 2014 Society for Neuroscience conference on how lifestyle factors such as sleep, mood and time of day impact cognitive gameplay performance. The study, titled "Estimating sleep, mood and time of day effects in a large database of human cognitive performance," analyzed over 60 million data points from 61,407 participants and found that memory, speed, and flexibility tasks peaked in the morning, while crystallized knowledge tasks such as arithmetic and verbal fluency peaked in the afternoon. ...
Seed dormancy, a property that prevents germination, already existed 360 million years ago
2014-11-19
An international team of scientists, coordinated by a researcher from the U. of Granada, has found that seed dormancy (a property that prevents germination under non-favourable conditions) was a feature already present in the first seeds, 360 million years ago.
Seed dormancy is a phenomenon that has intrigued naturalists for decades, since it conditions the dynamics of natural vegetation and agricultural cycles. There are several types of dormancy, and some of them are modulated by environmental conditions in more subtle ways than others.
In an article published in the ...
Spooky alignment of quasars across billions of light-years
2014-11-19
Quasars are galaxies with very active supermassive black holes at their centres. These black holes are surrounded by spinning discs of extremely hot material that is often spewed out in long jets along their axes of rotation. Quasars can shine more brightly than all the stars in the rest of their host galaxies put together.
A team led by Damien Hutsemékers from the University of Liège in Belgium used the FORS instrument on the VLT to study 93 quasars that were known to form huge groupings spread over billions of light-years, seen at a time when the Universe ...
Many older brains have plasticity, but in a different place
2014-11-19
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- A widely presumed problem of aging is that the brain becomes less flexible -- less plastic -- and that learning may therefore become more difficult. A new study led by Brown University researchers contradicts that notion with a finding that plasticity did occur in seniors who learned a task well, but it occurred in a different part of the brain than in younger people.
When many older subjects learned a new visual task, the researchers found, they unexpectedly showed a significantly associated change in the white matter of the brain. ...
Mind the gap -- how new insight into cells could lead to better drugs
2014-11-19
Professor Dan Davis and his team at the Manchester Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research, working in collaboration with global healthcare company GSK, investigated how different types of immune cells communicate with each other - and how they kill cancerous or infected cells. Their research has been published in Nature Communications.
Professor Davis says: "We studied the immune system and then stumbled across something that may explain why some drugs don't work as well as hoped. We found that immune cells secrete molecules to other cells across a very small ...
When it comes to teen alcohol use, close friends have more influence than peers
2014-11-19
A recent study by an Indiana University researcher has found that adolescents' alcohol use is influenced by their close friends' use, regardless of how much alcohol they think their general peers consume.
Jonathon Beckmeyer, assistant professor in the Department of Applied Health Science at the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington and author of the study, said his research generally focuses on the onset of teen alcohol use and how their social relationships shape those experiences.
"We've known for a long time that friends and peers have an influence on individual ...
Ancient genetic program employed in more than just fins and limbs
2014-11-19
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 19, 2014 -- Hox genes are master body-building genes that specify where an animal's head, tail and everything in between should go. There's even a special Hox gene program that directs the development of limbs and fins, including specific modifications such as the thumb in mice and humans. Now, San Francisco State University researchers show that this fin- and limb-building genetic program is also utilized during the development of other vertebrate features.
The discovery means this ancient genetic program is employed in a variety of features beyond ...
A medium amount of physical activity can lower the risk of Parkinson's disease
2014-11-19
A new study, published online in Brain: A Journal of Neurology today, followed 43,368 individuals in Sweden for an average of 12.6 years to examine the impact of physical activity on Parkinson's disease risk. It was found that "a medium amount" of physical activity lowers the risk of Parkinson's disease.
Karin Wirdefeldt of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and her colleagues used the Swedish National March Cohort to analyse comprehensive information on physical activity of all kinds. They assessed household and commuting activity, occupational activity, leisure ...
Peanut in household dust linked to peanut allergy in children with eczema during infancy
2014-11-19
A new study led by researchers at King's College London in collaboration with the US Consortium of Food Allergy Research and the University of Dundee has found a strong link between environmental exposure to peanut protein during infancy (measured in household dust) and an allergic response to peanuts in children who have eczema early in life.
Around two per cent of school children in the UK and the US are allergic to peanuts. Severe eczema in early infancy has been linked to food allergies, particularly peanut allergy.
The study, published in the Journal of Allergy ...
Calcium loss turning lakes to 'jelly'
2014-11-19
New research on a number of Canadian lakes show that historical acid deposits as a result of industry have greatly reduced calcium levels in the water - dramatically impacting populations of calcium-rich plankton such as Daphnia water fleas that dominate these ecosystems.
Falling calcium levels mean Daphnia cannot get the nutrients they need to survive and reproduce, and are consequently consuming less food and becoming more susceptible to predators, leaving more algae for other organisms to feed on.
This has left a small jelly-clad organism called Holopedium to take ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
University of Oklahoma researcher awarded NIH grant to advance tribally defined approaches to genomic research
ARPA-H award will fund creation of portable lymphatic imaging scanner
New study may offer hope to women suffering menopausal hot flashes, night sweats
From experience-based simulations to predictive science
SERIDA develops a remote sensing model to improve the control of fossorial water vole populations in agricultural areas of Northwestern Spain
New guideline expands stroke treatment for adults, offers first pediatric stroke guidance
Gout medication can reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, finds new study
Astronomers reveal new details about dark matter’s influence on Universe
Cumulative lifespan stress, inflammation, and racial disparities in mortality between black and white adults
Consumer food purchases after glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist initiation
Universal pre-kindergarten for child maltreatment prevention
Family connection in adolescence and social connection in adulthood
AI-powered model advances treatment planning for patients with spinal metastasis
Could gene therapy treat a deadly heart condition that targets young athletes?
SwRI scientist uses anime for STEM outreach
Grandparenting is good for the brain
FAU ‘shark-repellent’ method could reform fisheries by curbing bycatch
City of Hope opens clinical trial to protect heart health of prostate cancer patients receiving hormone therapy
High nursing school debt, proposed education loan caps threaten US health care access
Chungnam National University team pioneers defect-free high-quality graphene electrodes
Antibodies targeting immunoglobulin E Cε2 region as potential rapid anti-allergy therapy
Shrubs curb carbon emissions in China’s largest desert
Why U.S. middle-aged adults are falling behind peers abroad
Reducing sodium in everyday foods may yield heart-health benefits across populations
Einstein Foundation Award 2026: Apply now for a €350,000 prize advancing research integrity and quality
First-of-its-kind probe monitors fetal health in utero during surgery
Major open access publisher appoints new office head in Korea
How does lifetime alcohol consumption affect colorectal cancer risk?
To reach net-zero, reverse current policy and protect largest trees in Amazon, urge scientists
Double trouble: Tobacco use and Long COVID
[Press-News.org] Cochrane Review of reminder systems to improve TB diagnoses and careResearchers from China, the Philippines and LSTM have today published a new systematic review of reminder systems to improve patient adherence to tuberculosis treatment