The press release
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Medicine23 May 2023

Insomnia drug class may not influence death and exacerbation risks among patients with COPD

Session: C98, Risky Business: Predicting Consequences of OSA Date and Time: 2:51 p.m. ET, Tuesday, May 23, 2023 Location: Marriott Marquis Washington, Independence Ballroom, Salons E-H (Level M4) ATS 2023, Washington, DC – Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients newly prescribed non-benzodiazepine benzodiazepine receptor agonists (NBZRAs) such as zolpidem (Ambien, Intermezzo and other brands), a class of hypnotic drugs prescribed for insomnia, did not have an increased risk of exacerbations requiring hospitalizations or of death than those prescribed ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

Researchers treat depression by reversing brain signals traveling the wrong way

Powerful magnetic pulses applied to the scalp to stimulate the brain can bring fast relief to many severely depressed patients for whom standard treatments have failed. Yet it’s been a mystery exactly how transcranial magnetic stimulation, as the treatment is known, changes the brain to dissipate depression. Now, research led by Stanford Medicine scientists has found that the treatment works by reversing the direction of abnormal brain signals. The findings also suggest that backward streams of neural activity between key areas of the brain could be used as a biomarker to help diagnose depression. “The leading ...

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Science23 May 2023

Strategic habitat restoration can generate a win-win for forests and farmers

Carefully planned restoration of agricultural coffee landscapes can increase both farmers’ profit and forest cover over a 40-year period, according to a study publishing May 23rd in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Dr. Sofía López-Cubillos at the University of Queensland in Australia, and colleagues. Restoring patches of natural vegetation in agricultural land presents a trade-off for farmers: while the lost cropland can reduce profitability, increases in ecosystem services like pollination can improve crop yield. To investigate how conservation priorities can be balanced with economic needs, researchers developed a novel planning framework to model the ...

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Science23 May 2023

Oxygen restriction helps fast-aging mice live longer

For the first time, researchers have shown that reduced oxygen intake, or “oxygen restriction”, is associated with longer lifespan in lab mice, highlighting its anti-aging potential. Robert Rogers of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, US, and colleagues present these findings in a study publishing May 23rd in the open access journal PLOS Biology. Research efforts to extend healthy lifespan have identified a number of chemical compounds and other interventions that show promising effects in mammalian lab animals— ...

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Earth Science23 May 2023

How the February 2023 Türkiye earthquakes ruptured and produced damaging shaking

Three studies now published in the open-access journal The Seismic Record offer an initial look at the February 6, 2023 earthquakes in south-central Türkiye and northwestern Syria, including how, where, and how fast the earthquakes ruptured and how they combined as a “devastating doublet” to produce damaging ground shaking. The two earthquakes, a magnitude 7.8 followed approximately nine hours later by a magnitude 7.6, took place at the tectonically active and complex junction between the Anatolian, Arabian, and ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

Rural patients with diabetes experience worse health outcomes than urban patients

Rural Patients With Diabetes Experience Worse Health Outcomes Than Urban Patients Mayo Clinic researchers conducted a study within their health care system to identify factors associated with quality of care among rural and urban patients with diabetes. The study evaluated patient attainment of a five-component diabetic care metric, known as the D5 metric. This metric includes no tobacco use, hemoglobin A1C

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Medicine23 May 2023

Focusing on satiety and satiation may aid long-term weight loss compared to calorie counting diets

Focusing on Satiety and Satiation May Aid Long-Term Weight Loss Compared to Calorie Counting Diets Researchers hypothesized that focusing on satiety (feeling free of hunger) and satiation (feeling satisfied with a meal) through the consumption of fruits and vegetables may be better targets for weight loss success. The researchers compared the impact of two diets — Diabetes Prevention Program Calorie Counting versus MyPlate — on satiation (feeling satisfied with a meal), satiety (feeling free of hunger) and on body fat composition in primary care patients. Two hundred and sixty-one overweight, adult, low-income ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

Too few primary care doctors address obesity with their patients, highlighting need for weight loss tool

Too Few Primary Care Doctors Address Obesity With Their Patients, Highlighting Need for Weight Loss Tool After finding that few to no clinicians provided weight management care, researchers developed a weight loss tool called PATHWEIGH. This tool was designed to remove clinician barriers in providing patient care that addressed weight. Early success with the tool led to PATHWEIGH being implemented in the health system’s 57 primary care clinics. Researchers describe the characteristics of patients to determine ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

Artificial intelligence can help categorize and triage primary care patients with respiratory symptoms

Researchers from Iceland trained a machine learning model with artificial intelligence to triage patients with respiratory symptoms before the patients visit a primary care clinic. To train the machine learning model, the researchers used only questions that a patient might be asked about before a clinic visit. Information was extracted from 1,500 clinical text notes that included a physician's interpretation of the patient's symptoms and signs, as well as reasons for clinical decisions made during the consultation, such as imaging referrals and prescriptions. Patients were categorized into one of five diagnostic categories based on information in clinical notes. Patients from all ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

Standardized measures are needed to quantify EHR workload outside time scheduled with patients

Amid an uptick in publications looking to quantify the electronic health record (EHR) workload faced by clinicians, researchers propose three recommendations to ensure the accuracy and replicability of research in this space. Their recommendations include: 1) separating all time working in the EHR outside time scheduled with patients from time working in the EHR during time scheduled with patients, 2) including any time before or after scheduled appointments as “after-hours,” and 3) encouraging the EHR vendor and research communities to develop validated methods for measuring active EHR ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

Updated literature review reinforces link between care continuity, lower health care costs and more appropriate care usage

In this systematic review, the authors summarized the wide range of peer-reviewed literature that links continuity of the doctor-patient relationship to health care costs and care utilization. This information is important to establish continuity measurement in value-based payment design. The authors conducted a literature review of articles published between 2002 and 2022 about "continuity of care" and "continuity of patient care," as well as payor-relevant outcome categories, such as cost ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

Longtime University of Kentucky child neurologist receives Governor’s Service Award

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 19, 2023) — On Wednesday, May 17, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) Secretary Eric Friedlander recognized UK HealthCare’s Robert J. Baumann, M.D., with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Baumann has worked in the field of child neurology in Kentucky for more than five decades. He was key in establishing the Office for Children with Special Health Care Needs (OCSHCN) network of regional medical clinics in Eastern ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

Gratitude practice among health care workers shows positive effects on well-being, with limitations

Researchers tested a digital version of a positive psychology intervention called “Three Good Things” (3GT) among health care workers to assess whether gratitude practice improved well-being. Two hundred and twenty-three participants—all of whom were based at a single, large academic medicine department—were randomized to an immediate intervention or delayed intervention control group. During the study, participants received text messages three times per week, prompting them to document three things for which they were grateful. Participants completed surveys measuring levels of depression, positive affect, gratitude, and life satisfaction at the study’s ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

Allowing patients with disabilities to describe their own clinical experiences can improve doctor communications

Researchers looking to better understand patient experiences are turning to patient-guided tours (PGT) of health facilities, an approach drawn from the experience-based design literature. However, little research has assessed how patients with disabilities perceive the approach. In this qualitative study, 18 patients were asked to walk through the clinic as they would on a typical visit while describing their experiences. Patients’ experiences and perceptions of the tours were audiotaped and transcribed. Additionally, investigators took field notes and completed thematic content analyses. Their findings support the value ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

FDA clears bionic pancreas developed in BU Lab for people with type 1 diabetes

A bionic pancreas—a wearable, pocket-sized, automated insulin delivery device—that was first developed in a Boston University lab has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The iLet Bionic Pancreas is now commercially available, bringing fresh hope to the almost two million Americans with type 1 diabetes. The approval is a massive milestone in a two-decade—and deeply personal—journey. Invented 20 years ago in the lab of Ed Damiano, a BU College of Engineering professor of ...

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Social Science23 May 2023

A troubling reaction to school violence compounds the crisis

Ann Arbor, May 23, 2023 – High school students who experience violence or bullying at school are more likely to bring weapons like a gun, knife, or club to school than those who have not experienced violence, according to a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier. Because weapons increase the potential for injury and death when there is interpersonal conflict, developing a better understanding of the relationship between exposure to violence and weapon carrying is essential for developing effective public health interventions. “With 93 school shootings in the US just the 2020-21 period alone, ...

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Social Science23 May 2023

José Andrés and the George Washington University’s groundbreaking new institute to lead the world in delivering food system solutions

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 23, 2023) – World-renowned chef, author, and humanitarian José Andrés and international research leader the George Washington University (GW) today announced their partnership to build a premier Global Food Institute at GW, an unprecedented and transformative collaboration in the heart of the nation’s capital with plans to be a world leader in food system solution delivery. “Our global food system is experiencing a crisis, brought on by systemic inequities, rampant hunger and poverty, the climate crisis, and deteriorating public health and nutrition. But food has the power to solve problems: It can rebuild lives and communities, heal ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

COPDGene study follows emphysema patients over 10 years

Researchers at National Jewish Health evaluating computerized tomography (CT) scans of emphysema progression in the COPDGene® study showed that, during a span of 10 years, participants with pre-existing emphysema who continued smoking had the largest decline in adjusted lung density (ALD). The lung density decline was notably worse in current smokers compared with former smokers. The study is significant because reliably measuring changes in emphysema over time has always been challenging, due in part to differences in CT equipment technology and imaging parameters across institutions. The study, which published ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

Trial aims to improve treatment for newborns with life-threatening sepsis

An international clinical trial co-led by UCL (University College London) researchers will evaluate much-needed new antibiotic combinations for newborn babies with sepsis. The trial, which has started in three public hospitals in South Africa and Kenya, will be expanded to other countries and regions in 2024, with a target of recruiting up to 3,000 newborns overall. The NeoSep1 trial will evaluate new combinations of generic antibiotics and compare them to existing treatment regimens that are often used in newborn babies with suspected neonatal sepsis. Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Johannesburg, Tygerberg ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

Previous smallpox vaccine provides immunity to mpox

Vaccines against smallpox given until the mid-1970s offer continuing cross-reactive immunity to mpox (previously known as monkeypox), researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report in a study published in the scientific journal Cell Host & Microbe. During last year’s mpox outbreak, the virus spread for the first time outside Africa, causing over 85,000 cases of the disease to date. Men who have sex with men account for the most infections, with a marked skew towards the young. The virus that causes mpox is what is known as an orthopoxvirus and is very similar to the virus that caused ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

Fever found to be most common non-respiratory feature of SARS-CoV-2 infection

Session: C58, Health Services Research in Diverse Settings Date and Time: 11:30 a.m. ET, Tuesday, May 23, 2023 Location: WEWCC, Area 1, Hall C (Lower Level) ATS 2023, Washington, DC – Fever was found to be the most common non-respiratory feature of infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to research published at the ATS 2023 International Conference. The finding held true regardless of which COVID variant patients had, and whether or not they were fully vaccinated or not fully vaccinated. The researchers, who also looked at mortality risk, found that patients who were ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

International group of experts redefines concussions

Doctors and other health-care providers have a new standard for diagnosing mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), thanks to a thorough process led by researchers from the University of B.C. and Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. "We've achieved consensus across a diverse range of experts in developing these new diagnostic criteria,” said Dr. Noah Silverberg, associate professor in UBC’s department of psychology, member of the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health and Centre for Aging SMART at Vancouver Coastal Health, and co-lead of the project. “Our ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

USC Health System Board appoints Paul B. Rothman, MD, as board member

LOS ANGELES — Paul B. Rothman, MD, has been appointed as a member of the USC Health System Board, which provides strategic oversight and governance over Keck Medicine of USC and university clinical services. Rothman, former CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine and retired dean of medical faculty for the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, brings his leadership acumen as well as clinical and scientific expertise in rheumatology and molecular immunology to this advisory role. “Paul ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

Diagnosis of type 1 diabetes after SARS-CoV-2 infection: Researchers find possible correlation

Different studies have documented an increased incidence of type 1 diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, none of the studies distinguishes between children with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection. Researchers were now able to gain new insights: the KVB data set provides information on whether children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes previously had COVID-19. This allows an analysis of the temporal relationship between a COVID-19 diagnosis and the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. Amongst the analyzed children without ...

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Medicine23 May 2023

RPI and Albany Medical College researchers awarded $3.3 million to improve breast cancer treatment using artificial intelligence

Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Albany Medical College were awarded a $3.3 million grant over five years by the National Cancer Institute to use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve targeted drug therapy in HER2-positive breast cancer treatment. HER2-positive breast cancer tends to grow and spread quickly, but targeted treatments improve outcomes. The research is being led by Xavier Intes, Rensselaer professor of biomedical engineering and co-director of the Center for Modeling, Simulation and Imaging in Medicine, and ...

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