INFORMATION:
http://www.aerzteblatt.de/pdf.asp?id=169324
Specialist care prevents acute confusion in older patients after surgery
2015-05-19
(Press-News.org) For the patient, surgery involves extreme physical stress, and in older patients especially this can lead to disorders of consciousness or cognition. The acute confusional state known as delirium, however, can often be prevented by specialist nursing care after the operation, as Torsten Kratz and co-authors show in an original article in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2015; 112: 289-96). In their study delirium liaison nurses were employed to help care for surgical patients aged 70 years and over. In every patient, the risk of postoperative delirium was reduced compared to patients who received routine care.
Delirium is a frequent occurrence after surgery in older patients: among those aged 70 and older, up to one in two is affected. Besides age, risk factors for delirium include mental illness-such as dementia-and infections. The approach to care assessed by Torsten Kratz and co-authors focuses on patients' cognitive problems. Specially trained nurses support patients to achieve early self-feeding, improved cognitive activity, and restorative sleep. In this study in a Berlin hospital, one patient in five receiving routine care suffered from postoperative delirium, whereas in the group receiving support from delirium liaison nurses, fewer than 1 in 20 developed cognitive disorders. The authors point out that the study was unable to identify which specific measures reduced the risk for delirium-that would require more studies in larger numbers of patients.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Developmental psychology: Sharing doesn't hurt
2015-05-19
Preschoolers already recognize what it feels like to be left out when goodies are being shared. In a new study, Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich show that 3-year-olds can anticipate negative feelings in others, and adjust their own behavior in response.
Why are we willing to share with others what we could just as well keep for ourselves? Willingness to allot a portion of a coveted resource to someone else is a behavioral pattern that can throw light on the origins and development of prosocial modes of response during childhood. In a new ...
Differences in tumor cell metabolism affect growth, invasion and response, says Moffitt researchers
2015-05-19
TAMPA, Fla. -- Cells within a tumor are not the same; they may have different genetic mutations and different characteristics during growth and throughout treatment. These differences make treating tumors extremely difficult and often lead to tumor recurrence dominated by more aggressive tumor cells. Moffitt Cancer Center researchers are using mathematical modeling to characterize these differences within a tumor and hope that the results of their latest study will lead to better therapeutic treatments.
"Many tumors exhibit different metabolic behaviors compared to normal ...
Persistent nightmares in childhood could be linked to psychotic experiences in later life
2015-05-19
Researchers at the University of Warwick have found a significant link between the presence of persistent nightmares in childhood and psychotic experiences in later adolescence.
In a new paper published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, a team based at the Division of Mental Health and Wellbeing at Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick found that persistent childhood nightmares both at an early age (between 2 and 9) and at age 12 were significantly associated with new incidences of suspected or definite psychotic experiences at age 18.
The University ...
Horizontal gene transfer in E. coli
2015-05-19
Escherichia coli O104 is an emergent disease-causing bacterium various strains of which are becoming increasingly well known and troublesome. The pathogen causes bloody diarrhea as well as and potentially fatal kidney damage, hemolytic uremic syndrome. Infection is usually through inadvertent ingestion of contaminated and incompletely cooked food or other materials, such as animals feces.
Escherichia coli is a so-called gram negative bacterium, commonly found in the intestine of humans and other mammals. Entero-hemorrhagic strains including O157, O26, O103 and O111 and ...
Bodyguards for precious seeds
2015-05-19
The fungi (Rhizoctonia solani) is stealthy blight, becoming visible only shortly before the harvest infesting beets or corn at their roots. The fungal rot begins early in the season, working its way from the inside out, and only becoming visible in the fall, destroying the possibility of a harvest. Year after year crop failures due to attacks by pests and pathogens are reported in the media despite their being treated with pesticides. Crop failure is further exacerbated by pesticide treatments which cause the death of insects such as bees through neonicotinoids. "There ...
Griffon vultures are exposed to high concentrations of lead in their diets
2015-05-19
Because of their position on the food chain and their dietary habits, Griffon vultures from the Iberian Peninsula are exposed to accumulation of heavy metals in their tissues. A study benefiting from the participation of the Autonomous University of Barcelona reveals that, due to their diets, wild populations of Griffon vultures in Catalonia show the presence of a high amount of lead, which affects their immune systems and reproductive function.
The population of wild birds is subject to the dangers resulting from the presence of toxic elements in the environment. Even ...
International Clinical Trials Day: Investigating the benefits of 'sticky sperm' for IVF
2015-05-19
Scientists from the University of Leeds are investigating whether a molecule usually found in moisturisers and skin creams could improve IVF success rates in the UK.
Embryologists running a clinical trial at the University are investigating whether hyaluronic acid, normally found in beauty products which are designed to maintain elasticity in the skin and keep hair and joints hydrated, helps sperm stick to the human egg when it is released from the ovary.
The hyaluronic acid method relies on picking only mature and fertile sperm that stick to a specially coated plate ...
Fresh milk, off the grid
2015-05-19
Even though much of the population in developing countries is involved in agriculture, food security is virtually out of reach. Often the only resort is to purchase a cow, buffalo, or sheep, to provide a steady supply of fresh milk, a nutritious staple of a daily diet. But how to preserve it safely? Refrigeration and boiling are costly -- and often impossible due to sporadic electricity.
The answers may lie in new Tel Aviv University research published in Technology, which finds that short pulsed electric fields can be used to kill milk-contaminating bacteria. Through ...
Cognitive process speed in teen years affects depression risk in adulthood
2015-05-19
May 19, 2015 - Teens with slower performance on a test of "cognitive processing speed" are more likely to have depression and anxiety symptoms as adults, reports a paper in Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, the official journal of the American Psychosomatic Society. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.
"Adolescents with slower processing speed may be at increased later risk of anxiety and depression," according to the new research by Catharine R. Gale, PhD, of Edinburgh University and colleagues. The results add new evidence that lower ...
Treating infants of mothers with opioid dependence -- rising rates, rising costs
2015-05-19
May 19, 2015 - As more infants are born to mothers with dependence on prescription pain medications, the costs of treatment for babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) have increased dramatically, suggests a report in the March/April issue of the Journal of Addiction Medicine, the official journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.
"At our institution, costs associated with treating infants with NAS are exponentially higher than the costs associated with infants not affected," write Dr. Kay Roussos-Ross, ...