(Press-News.org) 1. Task Force finds insufficient evidence to recommend routine screening for thyroid dysfunction
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to recommend for or against screening for thyroid dysfunction in nonpregnant, asymptomatic adults. The recommendations are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Thyroid gland disorders are among the most common endocrine conditions evaluated and treated by clinicians and may be asymptomatic. If left untreated, thyroid dysfunction could lead to fractures, cancer, or cardiovascular disease. Researchers reviewed randomized controlled trials and observational studies of screening and treatment published through July 2014 to inform an updated recommendation. No trials directly assessed the benefits and harms of screening for thyroid dysfunction versus no screening. While screening can identify patients with subclinical thyroid dysfunction or undiagnosed overt thyroid disease, the researchers concluded that more evidence is needed to understand the effects of treatment. The USPSTF did find adequate evidence that screening for and treatment of thyroid dysfunction in nonpregnant, asymptomatic adults does not improve quality of life or provide clinically meaningful improvements in blood pressure, body mass index, bone mineral density, or lipid levels, and does not improve cognitive function.
A systematic review of published evidence was published in October in Annals of Internal Medicine. In 2004, the USPSTF found insufficient evidence to recommend for or against routine thyroid screening in asymptomatic adults. A draft recommendation statement on screening for thyroid dysfunction will be posted to the USPSTF website for public comment at http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org.
Note: The URL will be live when the embargo lifts. For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks. To interview a member of the USPSTF, please contact Ana Fullmer at newsroom@uspstf.net or 202-350-6668.
2. 2015 diabetes care recommendations: 3 things primary care physicians need to know
New evidence-based clinical practice recommendations from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) cover three important topic areas that may affect how primary care physicians care for their patients with diabetes. According to a commentary being published in Annals of Internal Medicine, the ADA's Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes puts the patient 'center stage' with individualized recommendations. Three revisions or new topics are of substantial interest to nonedocrinologists who care for patients with diabetes. First, new body mass index (BMI) cut points for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes screening are being recommended for Asian patients, who tend to have more visceral fat, even at lower BMIs. Second, blood glucose targets should be based on the individual patient's age, comorbid conditions, life expectancy, and the patient's motivation and preferences. Finally, physicians should treat the patient's cardiovascular risk with statins, and not just focus on number goals, such as systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Note: The URL will be live when the embargo lifts. For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks. To interview the author, please contact Jeff Bright at Jeff.Bright@joslin.harvard.edu.
INFORMATION:
Archaeologists working in Guatemala have unearthed new information about the Maya civilization's transition from a mobile, hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a sedentary way of life.
Led by University of Arizona archaeologists Takeshi Inomata and Daniela Triadan, the team's excavations of the ancient Maya lowlands site of Ceibal suggest that as the society transitioned from a heavy reliance on foraging to farming, mobile communities and settled groups co-existed and may have come together to collaborate on construction projects and participate in public ceremonies.
The findings, ...
CLEMSON, S.C. -- Researchers have long believed that supercomputers give universities a competitive edge in scientific research, but now they have some hard data showing it's true.
A Clemson University team found that universities with locally available supercomputers were more efficient in producing research in critical fields than universities that lacked supercomputers.
A supercomputer that can do 551 trillion calculations per second is housed at Clemson's Information Technology Center.
A supercomputer that can do 551 trillion calculations per second is housed at ...
DALLAS, March 23, 2015 -- Kids exposed to their parents' smoking may have a higher risk of developing heart disease in adulthood than those whose parents didn't smoke, according to research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.
The study's results add to the growing evidence that exposure to smoking from parents has a lasting effect on children's cardiovascular health in adulthood.
Researchers tracked participants in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study, which included childhood exposure to parental smoking in 1980 and 1983. They collected carotid ...
A blood test that measures the number of cells shed from prostate tumours into the bloodstream can act as an early warning sign that treatment is not working, a major new study shows.
Researchers showed that measuring the numbers of circulating tumour cells in the blood predicted which men were benefitting least from a prostate cancer drug after as little as 12 weeks of treatment.
They hope their work will allow doctors to switch patients to alternative treatments earlier than is currently possible, if these results are confirmed by further studies. The research could ...
Insulin resistance is a risk factor for developing both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Almost one third of the U.S. population has some degree of insulin resistance, though it is undiagnosed in many of these individuals. Obesity is associated with reduced insulin sensitivity and the development of insulin resistance. However, recent large-scale genetic studies have indicated that insulin resistance is heritable. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation identifies a gene that is strongly associated with the presence of many features of insulin resistance. ...
Gliobststoma (GBM) is a highly aggressive brain tumor that is resistant to many conventional cancer therapies. The kinase mTOR induces pathways that are aberrantly activated in GBM. However, mTOR inhibitors have not shown much promise for treating GBM. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation indicates that mTOR inhibitor resistance in GBM is likely the result of compensatory glutamine metabolism. Kazuhiro Tanaka and colleagues at Kobe University determined that glutaminase and glutamine levels increase in GBM cells and xenografts in response to mTOR inhibition. ...
TORONTO, March 23, 2015 -- Across all income levels, Canadian moms in better socioeconomic standing have better health outcomes than moms in lower socioeconomic brackets. The same relationship between socioeconomic position and health outcomes holds true for these moms' newborn babies, according to a new study.
A team of researchers placed 68,705 Canadian new moms and their babies along a socioeconomic spectrum by using factors about the moms such as education, whether she was living in poverty and the income of the neighbourhood she lives in. The researchers compared ...
(PHILADELPHIA) - Open the medicine cabinet of a senior and you're likely to find scores of pill bottles. Physicians are often unaware of all the medications a patient is taking, which can result in unnecessary additional prescriptions, non-prescription medications and potential drug-drug interactions that cause unexpected adverse effects. When a cancer diagnosis is thrown into the mix, the drug-drug interactions can become even more complex. A new study evaluates the currently available screening tools for determining if and when seniors with cancer are taking too many ...
In the genetic disorder cystic fibrosis (CF), the most severe symptoms are recurring episodes of lung inflammation and bacterial infection (known as "exacerbations") that happen from one to three times a year and cause ever-increasing amounts of lung damage through the course of a CF patient's life. While it is well understood that CF lung problems are ultimately due to bacterial infections encouraged by a CF patient's abnormally thick mucus, medical science has been unable to define specific causes that trigger the periodic flare-ups.
In a recent article in the Journal ...
DURHAM, N.C. -- Population growth could cause global demand for water to outpace supply by mid-century if current levels of consumption continue. But it wouldn't be the first time this has happened, a Duke University study finds.
Using a delayed-feedback mathematical model that analyzes historic data to help project future trends, the researchers identified a regularly recurring pattern of global water use in recent centuries. Periods of increased demand for water -- often coinciding with population growth or other major demographic and social changes -- were followed ...
