PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Antibiotic commonly prescribed for bladder infections less effective than others

2015-04-27
(Press-News.org) Older women with urinary tract infections who are taking the commonly prescribed antibiotic nitrofurantoin are more likely to experience treatment failure, resulting in a second antibiotic prescription or a hospital visit, than if they received another antibiotic, according to research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

More than 25% of older adults have low kidney function, and bladder infections are common. Nitrofurantoin is one of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics for bladder and other urinary tract infections, with an estimated 25 million prescriptions worldwide each year. However, there is a concern that less of the drug reaches the urinary space in patients with low kidney function, rendering it unable to work against the bacteria that cause bladder infections. It is recommended that nitrofurantoin be avoided in people with low kidney function, although the evidence for this recommendation is weak and based on small studies.

The researchers conducted a study to understand whether nitrofurantoin is less effective at treating a bladder infection in older women with low kidney function than common antibiotics (ciprofloxacin, norfloxicin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole). The study included almost 10 000 older women with low kidney function and over 180 000 women with high kidney function. In both groups, nitrofurantoin was more likely to be unsuccessful at treating the urinary tract infection, resulting in a second antibiotic prescription or a visit to hospital for treatment.

"In our setting, nitrofurantoin was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic for a urinary tract infection in older women irrespective of their kidney function," states Dr. Amit Garg, a nephrologist in the Department of Medicine, Western University, London, Ontario, and a scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Ontario. "These patients had more treatment failures with nitrofurantoin compared with other antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin. However, this was evident regardless of a patient's level of kidney function."

The authors suggest that, because the failure rate of nitrofurantoin was similar in both groups, physicians should not avoid prescribing it to women simply because they have low kidney function. Rather, the choice of which antibiotic to use in women with low kidney function should be based on other factors, including local patterns of bacterial resistance.

INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Your adolescent brain on alcohol: Changes last into adulthood

2015-04-27
DURHAM, N.C. - Repeated alcohol exposure during adolescence results in long-lasting changes in the region of the brain that controls learning and memory, according to a research team at Duke Medicine that used a rodent model as a surrogate for humans. The study, published April 27 in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, provides new insights at the cellular level for how alcohol exposure during adolescence, before the brain is fully developed, can result in cellular and synaptic abnormalities that have enduring, detrimental effects on behavior. "In ...

Heroin use spikes among whites who abuse prescription painkillers

2015-04-27
April 27, 2015--Researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health looked at the frequency of nonmedical prescription opioid use and the risk of heroin-related behaviors and found that past-year heroin use rose among individuals taking opioids like oxycontin and these increases varied by race and ethnicity. The most significant rise in heroin use was among Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites, where the rate of heroin use for the latter group increased by 75 percent in 2008-2011 compared to earlier years. Findings are online in the journal Drug and Alcohol ...

New UW app can detect sleep apnea events via smartphone

New UW app can detect sleep apnea events via smartphone
2015-04-27
Determining whether your snoring is merely annoying, or crosses the threshold into a life-threatening problem, isn't convenient or cheap. The gold standard for diagnosing sleep apnea -- a disease which affects roughly 1 in 13 Americans -- requires an overnight hospital stay and costs thousands of dollars. The patient sleeps in a strange bed, gets hooked up to a tangle of wires, and undergoes an intensive polysomnography test to count how many times a night he or she struggles to breathe. By contrast, a new app developed at the University of Washington uses a smartphone ...

Brain balances perception and action when caught in an illusion

2015-04-27
EUGENE, Ore. -- (April 27, 2015) -- Two wrongs can make a right, at least in the world of visual perception and motor functioning, according to two University of Oregon brain scientists. In a two-experiment study, published last month in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, UO neuroscientists Paul Dassonville and Scott A. Reed used eye-tracker technology in a dark laboratory to test a developing theory about how the brain determines the locations of nearby objects. In a test of perception, 20 students were asked to report whether a line was tilted left or right ...

How to short circuit hunger

2015-04-27
BOSTON - Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows that it's no fun to feel hungry. In fact, the drive to tame gnawing hunger pangs can sabotage even the best-intentioned dieter. But how exactly is it that fasting creates these uncomfortable feelings - and consuming food takes them away? Working to unravel the complex wiring system that underlies this intense physiological state, investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health ...

Bizarre 'platypus' dinosaur discovered

2015-04-27
Although closely related to the notorious carnivore Tyrannosaurus rex, a new lineage of dinosaur discovered in Chile is proving to be an evolutionary jigsaw puzzle, as it preferred to graze upon plants. Palaeontologists are referring to Chilesaurus diegosuarezi as a 'platypus' dinosaur because of its extremely bizarre combination of characters that include a proportionally small skull and feet more akin to primitive long-neck dinosaurs. Chilesaurus diegosuarezi is nested within the theropod group of dinosaurs, the dinosaurian group that gathers the famous meat eaters ...

Hate to diet? It's how we're wired

2015-04-27
If you're finding it difficult to stick to a weight-loss diet, scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus say you can likely blame hunger-sensitive cells in your brain known as AGRP neurons. According to new experiments, these neurons are responsible for the unpleasant feelings of hunger that make snacking irresistible. The negative emotions associated with hunger can make it hard to maintain a diet and lose weight, and these neurons help explain that struggle, says Scott Sternson, a group leader at Janelia. In an environment where food ...

Neurons constantly rewrite their DNA

Neurons constantly rewrite their DNA
2015-04-27
Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that neurons are risk takers: They use minor "DNA surgeries" to toggle their activity levels all day, every day. Since these activity levels are important in learning, memory and brain disorders, the researchers think their finding will shed light on a range of important questions. A summary of the study will be published online in the journal Nature Neuroscience on April 27. "We used to think that once a cell reaches full maturation, its DNA is totally stable, including the molecular tags attached to it to control its genes and ...

Potassium improved blood pressure in teen girls, salt had no adverse effect

2015-04-27
Eating 3,000 mg per day of salt or more appears to have no adverse effect on blood pressure in adolescent girls, while those girls who consumed 2,400 mg per day or more of potassium had lower blood pressure at the end of adolescence, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics. The scientific community has historically believed most people in the United States consume too much salt in their diets. The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg per day for healthy individuals between the ages of 2 and ...

Hodgkin's lymphoma survivors have higher risk for cardiovascular diseases

2015-04-27
Survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma appear to be at higher risk for cardiovascular diseases and both physicians and patients need to be aware of this increased risk, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine. Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a curable cancer with 10-year survival rates exceeding 80 percent. Treatment for HL has been associated with increased risks for other cancers and cardiovascular diseases, and those later cardiovascular complications may be the consequence of radiotherapy and chemotherapy in HL treatment, according to the study background. Flora ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Cercus electric stimulation enables cockroach with trajectory control and spatial cognition training

Day-long conference addresses difficult to diagnose lung disease

First-ever cardiogenic shock academy features simulation lab

Thirty-year mystery of dissonance in the “ringing” of black holes explained

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

[Press-News.org] Antibiotic commonly prescribed for bladder infections less effective than others