News from Annals of Internal Medicine Supplement
Annals of Internal Medicine tip sheet for Nov. 25, 2014
2014-11-25
(Press-News.org) Task Force finds insufficient evidence to recommend for or against routine vitamin D screening
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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) found insufficient evidence to assess the benefits and harms of screening for vitamin D deficiency in asymptomatic adults. The recommendation statement and systematic evidence review are being published together in Annals of Internal Medicine. Vitamin D is obtained through diet (fatty fish, cod liver oil, dairy products, fortified beverages and food, and supplements) and synthesis triggered by sun exposure. There is no consensus on optimal serum levels of vitamin D, but studies show an association between low vitamin D levels and a higher risk for fractures, falls, cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, diabetes, depression, cognitive decline, and death. As such, identifying persons with low serum levels of vitamin D may help to prevent adverse outcomes. Researchers for the USPSTF conducted a systematic review of published evidence to assess the benefits and harms of screening for vitamin D deficiency in asymptomatic adults. The researchers found no direct evidence on the effects of screening for vitamin D deficiency versus no screening on clinical outcomes. They did find evidence that treating non-institutionalized patients with vitamin D deficiency might decrease risk of falls, but it was not associated with decreased risk of fractures or mortality in this population. Based on this review, the USPSTF concludes that current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of routine screening for vitamin D deficiency. The recommendation applies to asymptomatic, community-dwelling nonpregnant adults aged 18 years and older. Vitamin D deficiency is a new recommendation topic for the USPSTF.
INFORMATION:
Note: The URL for this story will be live when embargo lifts. For a PDF, please contact Megan Hanks. To interview the lead author of the evidence review, please contact Mary Sawyers at Mary.A.Sawyers@kpchr.org or 503-335-6602. To interview a member of the Task Force, please contact Nicole Raisch at newsroom@uspstf.net or 202-572-2044.
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2014-11-24
Boston, MA (November 24, 2014)--Lights flash, a siren wails and an ambulance races to help a person whose heart has stopped beating.
In most cases, a 911 dispatcher will have sent an advanced life support, or ALS, ambulance to the scene, equipped with sophisticated gear and staffed with a crew of highly trained paramedics who can deliver specialized care in the field, including intubations and IV interventions.
Unfortunately, according to a new study by health policy researchers at Harvard, those advanced techniques actually increase the patient's risk of death.
People ...
2014-11-24
In many countries outside the United States, decisions on when to start treatment for HIV infection are based on the level of certain white blood cells called CD4+ T cells, which are commonly measured to determine immune health. A study by National Institutes of Health grantees suggests that the best time to start treatment also should be based on how much time has elapsed since becoming HIV-infected. The researchers found that starting treatment within a year of seroconversion--the period within a few weeks of HIV infection when antibodies to the virus are first produced ...
2014-11-24
Study: Breakfast in Classroom Program Linked to Better Breakfast Participation, Attendance
Schools offering Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC) had higher participation in the national school breakfast program and attendance, but math and reading achievement did not differ between schools with or without BIC, according to a study published online by JAMA Pediatrics.
BIC is usually served in the classroom at the start of the school day and is typically a universal free meal. Evidence suggests breakfast may improve cognitive function and other outcomes for children and has ...
2014-11-24
A larger percentage of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) achieved normalization of CD4+ T-cell counts when they started antiretroviral therapy (ART) within 12 months of the estimated dates of seroconversion (EDS) rather than later, according to a report published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.
The goal of ART has been focused primarily on achieving an undetectable HIV viral load (VL) because not doing so has been associated with impaired immune recovery. However, a specific CD4+ T-cell count as a target for optimal immunologic health has not been validated ...
2014-11-24
Patients who had cardiac arrest at home or elsewhere outside of a hospital had greater survival to hospital discharge and to 90 days beyond if they received basic life support (BLS) vs. advanced life support (ALS) from ambulance personnel, according to a report published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.
Emergency medical services (EMS) respond to an estimated 380,000 cardiac arrests that happen annually out of the hospital. ALS providers, or paramedics, are trained to use sophisticated, invasive interventions (such as intubation - the placement of a breathing tube) to ...
2014-11-24
SAN ANTONIO (Nov. 24, 2014) -- HIV-1-infected U.S. military members and beneficiaries treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART) soon after infection were half as likely to develop AIDS and were more likely to reconstitute their immune-fighting CD4+ T-cells to normal levels, researchers reported Nov. 24 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Other immune benefits of starting treatment early and reaching a normal CD4+ T-cell count on therapy were also reported, including reductions in the activation state of T-cells, which influences HIV disease course, and improvements in the ability ...
2014-11-24
MADISON, Wis. -- Sixty years ago, the plows ended their reign and the fields were allowed to return to nature -- allowed to become the woodland forests they once were.
But even now, the ghosts of land-use past haunt these woods. New research by Philip Hahn and John Orrock at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on the recovery of South Carolina longleaf pine woodlands once used for cropland shows just how long lasting the legacy of agriculture can be in the recovery of natural places.
By comparing grasshoppers found at woodland sites once used for agriculture to similar ...
2014-11-24
UCLA neurophysicists have found that space-mapping neurons in the brain react differently to virtual reality than they do to real-world environments. Their findings could be significant for people who use virtual reality for gaming, military, commercial, scientific or other purposes.
"The pattern of activity in a brain region involved in spatial learning in the virtual world is completely different than when it processes activity in the real world," said Mayank Mehta, a UCLA professor of physics, neurology and neurobiology in the UCLA College and the study's senior author. ...
2014-11-24
Single-cell phytoplankton in the ocean are responsible for roughly half of global oxygen production, despite vast tracts of the open ocean that are devoid of life-sustaining nutrients. While phytoplankton's ability to adjust their physiology to exploit limited nutrients in the open ocean has been well documented, little is understood about how variations in microbial biodiversity -- the number and variety of marine microbes - affects global ocean function.
In a paper published in PNAS on Monday November 24, scientists laid out a robust new framework based on in situ observations ...
2014-11-24
DURHAM, N.C. -- Nearly four decades of observations of Tanzanian chimpanzees has revealed that the mothers of sons are about 25 percent more social than the mothers of daughters. Boy moms were found to spend about two hours more per day with other chimpanzees than the girl moms did.
Chimpanzees have a male-dominated society in which rank is a constant struggle and females with infants might face physical violence and even infanticide. It would be safer in general to just avoid groups where aggressive males are present, yet the mothers of sons choose to do so anyway.
"It ...
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[Press-News.org] News from Annals of Internal Medicine Supplement
Annals of Internal Medicine tip sheet for Nov. 25, 2014
