Among intensive care unit patients receiving acute ventilatory support for respiratory failure, use of patient-preferred music resulted in greater reduction in anxiety and sedation frequency and intensity compared with usual care, according to a study published online by JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the American Thoracic Society international conference. "Critically ill mechanically ventilated patients receive intravenous sedative and analgesic medications to reduce anxiety and promote comfort and ventilator synchrony," ...

The early (within 24 hours of intensive care unit [ICU] admission) provision of intravenous nutrition among critically ill patients with contraindications (a condition that makes a particular procedure potentially inadvisable) to early use of enteral nutrition (such as through a feeding tube) did not result in significant differences in 60 day mortality or shorter ICU or hospital length of stay, compared with standard care, according to a study in the May 22/29 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the American Thoracic ...

Salamanders' immune systems are key to their remarkable ability to regrow limbs, and could also underpin their ability to regenerate spinal cords, brain tissue and even parts of their hearts, scientists have found. In research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences researchers from the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash University found that when immune cells known as macrophages were systemically removed, salamanders lost their ability to regenerate a limb and instead formed scar tissue. Lead researcher, Dr James ...

A clinical trial of 75 patients hospitalized with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) suggests that aggressive fluid and sodium restriction has no effect on weight loss or clinical stability at three days but was associated with an increase in perceived thirst, according to a study published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. Sodium and fluid restrictions are nonpharmacologic measures widely used to treat ADHF despite a lack of clear evidence of their therapeutic effect, the authors write in the study background. "We conclude that ...

A study of older patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) suggests that new use of the long-acting bronchodilators β-agonists and anticholinergics was associated with similar increased risks of cardiovascular events, according to a study published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. COPD affects more than 1 in 4 Americans older than 35 years of age and is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Medications are a mainstay of management of the disease. While there is little controversy about the effectiveness ...

Use of the newer, more expensive intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and use of the older conformal radiotherapy (CRT) after surgical removal of all or part of the prostate gland were associated with similar morbidity and cancer control outcomes, according to a study published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. Gregg H. Goldin, M.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues analyzed data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results-Medicare-linked database to identify patients who received IMRT or CRT. ...

Hospitals with higher rates of survival among patients who experience in-hospital cardiac arrest also appear to have a lower incidence of in-hospital cardiac arrest, according to a study published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. Lena M. Chen, M.D., M.S., of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues identified 102,153 cases of in-hospital cardiac arrest at 358 hospitals between January 2000 and November 2009. The median (midpoint) hospital cardiac arrest incidence rate was 4.02 per 1,000 admissions, and the median hospital ...

A study by Alexandra L. C. Martiniuk, M.Sc, Ph.D., of The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, Australia, and colleagues suggests less sleep per night is associated with a significant increase in the risk for motor vehicle crashes for young drivers. (Online First) Questionnaire responses were analyzed from 19,327 newly licensed drivers from 17 to 24 years old who held a first-stage provisional license between June 2003 and December 2004. Researchers also analyzed licensing and police-reported crash data, with an average of 2 years of follow up. On average, ...

Parents who share a bed with their breastfed baby could face a fivefold increase in the risk of cot death, even if the parents do not smoke, according to a new study. The research was led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and is published in BMJ Open. Cot death – also known as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDs) – remains a major cause of death among babies under 1 year of age in high income countries. There is already a general consensus that sleeping with a baby increases the risk of cot death if the parents smoke or if the mother has been drinking ...

New Rapid Diagnostic Test for Worm Infection Provides Substantial Improvement Over Current Standard, According to New African Field Study; Provides Compass to Guide Public Health Efforts to Halt Debilitating Lymphatic Filariasis (Elephantiasis) Two Studies on Efforts to Eliminate Onchocerciasis (River Blindness) in Africa: a. In a First for East Africa, Scientists Provide Detailed Evidence that Onchocerciasis (River Blindness) May Be Eliminated After 14 Years of Long-term Mass Drug Treatment b. Onchocerciasis (River Blindness) Could Make Comeback in Northwestern ...

Bed sharing with parents is linked to a fivefold increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), even when the parents are non-smokers and the mother has not been drinking alcohol and does not use illegal drugs, according to a large analysis published online in BMJ Open. While the rate of SIDS has fallen sharply following advice to parents to place babies to sleep on their back (supine), SIDS remains the major cause of infant death in the postneonatal period (28 days through to the first birthday) in developed countries. Some countries, such as the Netherlands ...

More people are being diagnosed with eating disorders every year and the most common type is not either of the two most well known—bulimia or anorexia—but eating disorders not otherwise specified (eating disorders that don't quite reach the threshold to be defined as anorexia or bulimia), shows a study published online in BMJ Open. Few studies have investigated the incidence of eating disorders, so the authors set out to determine the incidence of diagnosed anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and other non-specified eating disorders in primary care over a 10-year period ...

A Mediterranean diet with added extra virgin olive oil or mixed nuts seems to improve the brain power of older people better than advising them to follow a low-fat diet, indicates research published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. The authors from the University of Navarra in Spain base their findings on 522 men and women aged between 55 and 80 without cardiovascular disease but at high vascular risk because of underlying disease/conditions. These included either type 2 diabetes or three of the following: high blood pressure; an unfavourable ...

A new study of both computer-created and natural proteins suggests that the number of unique pockets – sites where small molecule pharmaceutical compounds can bind to proteins – is surprisingly small, meaning drug side effects may be impossible to avoid. The study also found that the fundamental biochemical processes needed for life could have been enabled by the simple physics of protein folding. Studying a set of artificial proteins and comparing them to natural proteins, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have concluded that there may be no more than ...

A new diagnostic test for a worm infection that can lead to severe enlargement and deformities of the legs and genitals is far more sensitive than the currently used test, according to results of a field study in Liberia, in West Africa, where the infection is endemic. The new test found evidence of the infection – lymphatic filariasis – in many more people that the standard test had missed. The study, the first to independently evaluate the new test, was led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates ...

Women who smoke during pregnancy increase the risk of both obesity and gestational diabetes, in their daughters, concludes research published in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. The study is by Dr Kristina Mattsson, Lund University, Sweden, and colleagues including Dr Matthew Longnecker from the National Institute on Environmental Health Sciences at the U.S.National Institutes of Health, North Carolina, USA. While the relation of prenatal tobacco exposure to negative outcomes in childhood has been much studied, reports on ...

Parasitic wasps switch off the immune systems of fruit flies by draining calcium from the flies' blood cells, a finding that offers new insight into how pathogens break through a host's defenses. "We believe that we have discovered an important component of cellular immunity, one that parasites have learned to take advantage of," says Emory University biologist Todd Schlenke, whose lab led the research. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published the results, showing how a wasp version of a conserved protein called SERCA, which normally functions ...

LEAWOOD, Kan. – Primary care practice transformation on a large scale is the cornerstone of current health care reform efforts aimed at achieving better outcomes, better value and better experience of care. Amid emerging evidence that transformation toward the patient-centered medical home model offers a viable solution in today's health care environment, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality funded 14 studies to learn more about the processes and determinants of successful change from practices that had already demonstrated ...

Researchers have pinpointed a catalytic trigger for the onset of Alzheimer's disease – when the fundamental structure of a protein molecule changes to cause a chain reaction that leads to the death of neurons in the brain. For the first time, scientists at Cambridge's Department of Chemistry have been able to map in detail the pathway that generates "aberrant" forms of proteins which are at the root of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's. They believe the breakthrough is a vital step closer to increased capabilities for earlier diagnosis of neurological disorders ...

VIDEO: This video shows the development of the frontal and temporal regions of the cerebral cortex in preterm infants during the last three months before the normal time of birth, turning... Click here for more information. Imaging technique shows premature birth interrupts vital brain development processes, leading to reduced cognitive abilities in infants Researchers from King's College London have for the first time used a novel form of MRI to identify crucial developmental ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (May 20, 2013) - A new "telerehabilitation" approach lets physical therapists assess patients with low back pain (LBP) over the Internet, with good accuracy compared with face-to-face examinations, reports a study in the May 15 issue of Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. Taking advantage of Skype and other widely-used services may make telerehabilitation a more feasible alternative to in-person clinic visits, according to the new research by Prof. Manuel Arroyo-Morales and colleagues of ...

MAYWOOD, Il. - Nearly three out of four pregnant women experience constipation, diarrhea or other bowel disorders during their pregnancies, a Loyola University Medical Center study has found. But such bowel disorders have only minimal impacts on pregnant women's quality of life, the study found. The study by senior author Scott Graziano, MD and Payton Johnson was presented during the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists 61st Annual Clinical Meeting in New Orleans. One hundred and four pregnant women were enrolled and completed the first trimester ...

RICHLAND, Wash. – Enough Northwest wind energy to power about 85,000 homes each month could be stored in porous rocks deep underground for later use, according to a new, comprehensive study. Researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Bonneville Power Administration identified two unique methods for this energy storage approach and two eastern Washington locations to put them into practice. Compressed air energy storage plants could help save the region's abundant wind power – which is often produced at night when winds are strong ...

A team of University of Pennsylvania engineers has used a pattern of nanoantennas to develop a new way of turning infrared light into mechanical action, opening the door to more sensitive infrared cameras and more compact chemical-analysis techniques. The research was conducted by assistant professor Ertugrul Cubukcu and postdoctoral researcher Fei Yi, along with graduate students Hai Zhu and Jason C. Reed, all of the Department of Material Science and Engineering in Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science. It was published in the journal Nano Letters. Detecting ...

HERALDING Entanglement, by general consensus of physicists, is the weirdest part of quantum science. To say that two particles, A and B, are entangled means that they are actually two parts of an inseparable quantum thing. An important consequence of this inherent kinship is that measuring a property of A (say, the particle's polarization) is necessarily to know the corresponding property of B, even if you're not there with a detector to observe B and even if (as explained below) the existence of that property had no prior fixed value until the moment particle ...