Limiting antibiotic prescribing for certain respiratory infections, avoiding imaging for low back pain and osteoporosis screening for certain patients, and not ordering cardiac screening tests in low-risk patients are among the suggestions to make primary care more affordable and efficient, according to a report posted online today that will be published in the August 8 print issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The article is part of the journal's Less Is More series. These recommendations and others resulted from a project of the ...

Screening for coronary heart disease (CHD) among individuals at low risk of the condition is associated with increased use of medications (such as aspirin and statins) and increased additional testing, but no difference in cardiac events at 18 months, according to a report posted online today that will be published in the August 8 print issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The article is part of the journal's Less Is More series. Coronary heart disease is associated with atherosclerosis, a process in which plaque builds up in the ...

Researchers from Virginia Tech and Oxford University have proposed a novel molecular mechanism for the living cell's remarkable ability to detect the alignment of replicated chromosomes on the mitotic spindle in the final phase of the cell division cycle. This checkpoint mechanism prevents mistakes in the cell division process that could damage dividing cells and the organism they inhabit. John Tyson, University Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences in the College of Science at Virginia Tech, and Bela Novak, professor of integrative systems biology at Oxford ...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., May 23, 2011 -- Adding just a few more weeks of pregnancy can cut a newborn's risk of death in half – even if the pregnancy has reached "term" -- adding more evidence to the argument that continuing a pregnancy to at least 39 weeks is crucial to a baby's health. The research by a team of investigators from the March of Dimes, the National Institutes of Health and the US Food and Drug Administration found that although the overall risk of death is small, it more than doubles for infants born at 37 weeks of pregnancy, when compared to babies born ...

A shave biopsy is a reasonably safe and accurate method for the initial diagnosis of melanoma, according to a study published in the April issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. In the past, some physicians have criticized shave biopsies for not providing accurate T (tumor) stage information, thereby complicating treatment planning. "We conducted this study to determine the impact of shave biopsies on the initial staging of melanoma and their impact on the final treatment planning for patients," explained Jonathan S. Zager, MD, FACS, associate professor ...

New research aimed to better identify the genetic factors that lead to breast cancer has uncovered a link between the fat mass and obesity associated gene (FTO) and a higher incidence of breast cancer. According to the study conducted at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, people who possess a variant of the FTO gene have up to a 30 percent greater chance of developing breast cancer. Research to identify why the link exists is ongoing, but experts say the finding takes us one step closer to personalized medicine based on genetic risk which would allow for better monitoring ...

It is well known that rising medical malpractice premiums have reached a crisis point in many areas of the United States, and the economic and emotional costs of these claims are driving physicians and surgeons away from high-risk specialties. However, according to the authors of a study published in the April issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, implementation of comprehensive tort reform has been associated with a nearly 80 percent decrease in the prevalence of surgical malpractice lawsuits at one academic medical center. This decrease in lawsuits ...

OAK BROOK, Ill. – May 23, 2011 – Researchers from China report that in patients with peptic ulcer bleeding in whom endoscopy failed to control the bleeding, transarterial embolization is a safe procedure which reduces the need for surgery without increasing overall mortality and is associated with few complications. The study appears in the May issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE). A peptic ulcer is an erosion in the lining of the stomach or the first part of ...

Johns Hopkins University bioethicists say disaster-response planning has generally overlooked the special needs of people who suffer from pre-existing and serious mental conditions. Survivors already diagnosed with schizophrenia, dementia, addictions and bipolar disorder are vulnerable long before a disaster strikes, they point out. In a commentary appearing in the June issue of the journal Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, faculty from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics say that more attention should be devoted to triaging and managing those already identified ...

In a study to be published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers report the discovery of a novel hepatitis C-like virus in dogs. The identification and characterization of this virus gives scientists new insights into how hepatitis C in humans may have evolved and provides scientists renewed hope to develop a model system to study how it causes disease. The research was conducted at the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, the University of Edinburgh, the Center ...

The popular, formerly caffeinated, fruity alcoholic beverage, Four Loko, has been blamed for the spike in alcohol-related hospitalizations, especially throughout college campuses. Initially, caffeine was deemed the culprit and the Food and Drug Administration ordered all traces of caffeine to be removed from Four Loko and all other similar beverages. However, according to an upcoming evaluation in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, caffeine might not be the primary cause of the spike in hospitalizations. "Four ...

Researchers at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre discovered a protein switch which can trigger a cascade of events leading to heart failure, pointing to a new direction for drug development. “Our research suggests that PINK1 is an important switch that sets off a cascade of events affecting heart cell metabolism,” says Dr. Phyllis Billia, principal author, clinician‑scientist and heart failure specialist at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. “This could be one of the inciting events in the development of heart failure.” The findings, published today in Proceedings ...

NEW YORK – College educators around the nation who are discovering the unique value of research experiences for undergraduate students now have a new tool available to them – a "program in a box" detailing exactly how such experiences can be created, used and implemented. This resource, which is free, will be introduced tomorrow in New York City by the National Center for Women and Information Technology, as part of their annual summit conference. It will soon be available online at http://bit.ly/mAcvYe, and was supported in part by the National Science Foundation. "Hands-on ...

PHILADELPHIA — New research by a team of University of Pennsylvania psychologists is helping to overturn the dominant theory of how children learn their first words, suggesting that it occurs more in moments of insight than gradually through repeated exposure. The research was conducted by postdoctoral fellow Tamara Nicol Medina and professors John Trueswell, and Lila Gleitman, all of the Department of Psychology in Penn's School of Arts and Sciences and the University's Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, and Jesse Snedeker, a professor at Harvard University. Their ...

INDIANAPOLIS – The lists of potential side effects that accompany prescription drugs have ballooned in size, averaging 70 reactions per drug, a number that can overwhelm physicians trying to select suitable treatments for their patients, according to a new study of drug labels. Long lists of drug side effects—whether found in magazine advertisements or in package inserts—are a familiar sight to patients and doctors. Now researchers from the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine have quantified just how complex drug labels have become. In ...

NEW YORK, May 23, 2011—More than eight of 10 leaders in health and health care policy (82%) believe states should be allowed to implement key provisions of the Affordable Care Act early with full federal support, ahead of the timeline outlined in the law. Such key provisions include expanding Medicaid eligibility to cover more low-income families and creating insurance exchanges with premium subsidies. Findings are from the latest Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey, which asked respondents about the relative authority states and the federal ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Game-worn football faceshields are more susceptible to breaking when subjected to high-velocity impact than are new faceshields, according to recent research. In the study, researchers used an air cannon to hurl baseballs at new and used polycarbonate faceshields. All of the new shields withstood the strongest impact tested, which was designed to match the force of a kick to the face. More than a third of the game-worn faceshields fractured in response to the testing, which included lower forces of impact as well. In a related survey of college football ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Laboratory studies by chemical engineers at UC Santa Barbara may lead to new experimental methods for early detection and diagnosis –– and to possible treatments –– for pathological tissues that are precursors to multiple sclerosis and similar diseases. Achieving a new method of nanoscopic imaging, the scientific team studied the myelin sheath, the membrane surrounding nerves that is compromised in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The study is published in this week's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ...

HOUSTON — An antibody packaged with a potent chemotherapy drug to selectively destroy acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells eradicated or greatly reduced the disease for 61 percent of 46 patients in a phase II study. It will be presented at the 47th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago June 3-7. Patients enrolled in the trial led by investigators at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center had ALL that resisted other therapies or recurred after treatment. "A response rate of more than 50 percent in this patient population ...

ATLANTA – May 23, 2011 – A new study from American Cancer Society researchers finds use of 30 tablets a month or more of acetaminophen for five or more years was associated with an estimated 38% lower risk of prostate cancer. The study appears in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention and is one of only two studies of prostate cancer to date that have examined the association with acetaminophen use that was both long-term and regular. Use of aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), particularly long-term use, has been associated with modestly ...

Farmers using a cover crop seeder developed by Penn State agricultural scientists may eventually need only a single trip across the field to accomplish what takes most farmers three passes and several pieces of equipment to do. Pennsylvania farmers are increasingly interested in growing cover crops, but the time, cost and late fall harvest of corn and other crops often limit their use, said Gregory Roth, professor of agronomy. The seeder can help farmers, especially small operations, save time and money by condensing multiple tasks into one trip through a no-till field. ...

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have devised a new technique, which helps couples that are affected by or are carriers of genetic diseases have in vitro fertilized babies free of both the disease in question and other chromosomal abnormalities. The results were reported in the April issue of Fertility and Sterility. Because embryos are so small and cells contain too little DNA to do extensive testing, researchers have in the past had to limit genetic testing of IVF embryos to either looking for a specific gene mutation that is known to exist ...

A team led by Thomas B. Nutman, M.D., of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has completed a large-scale analysis of most of the proteins produced by Brugia malayi, one kind of parasitic worm that causes lymphatic filariasis, or elephantiasis. The greatly swollen lower limbs that can result from chronic infection with this mosquito-borne parasite can be severely disabling. The investigators characterized 7,103 proteins produced in various stages of the worm's lifecycle, including male and female ...

PHILADELPHIA -- A physician panel in the primary care specialty of internal medicine has identified common clinical activities where changes in practice could lead to higher quality care and better use of finite clinical resources. The study identifying the Top 5 list of internal medicine activities appears online in the Archives of Internal Medicine. "Our aim was to come up with a list of best practices via consensus from actual practitioners, said Jeffrey R. Jaeger, MD, FACP, associate professor of Internal Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University ...

Sweden and the US are two countries in which increased leisure use of computers by children leads to poorer reading ability. This is the conclusion from research carried out at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Professor Monica Rosén of the Department of Education and Special Education has analysed differences between different countries over time in order to explain change in reading achievement among 9-10-year olds. Within the framework of the research project she and her colleagues have studied how pupils' reading skills have changed since 1970. Hungary, Italy, ...