Health News

Fragile X syndrome protein linked to breast cancer progression

Date: Sep-19-2013
Claudia Bagni*, has identified the way Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein or FMRP contributes to the progression of breast cancer. For this research the group of Bagni collaborated with colleagues from the VIB/KU Leuven departments of Bart De Strooper and Peter Carmeliet**, with Patrick Neven*** and with several research centers and Hospitals in Italy and the UK...

Immediate surgery recommended for patients with acute cholecystitis

Date: Sep-19-2013
Should surgery be performed immediately, or is it better to first administer antibiotics and then perform surgery? A study led by Heidelberg University Hospital Department of Surgery has demonstrated that patients suffering from acute cholecystitis should be operated on immediately. There are no advantages to delaying surgery until antibiotic therapy has been administered for several weeks. After undergoing surgery performed within 24 hours of diagnosis, the patients have fewer complications, are back on their feet earlier, and can leave the hospital more quickly...

Childbirth injuries may be healed by mesenchymal stem cell transplantation

Date: Sep-19-2013
Vaginal delivery presents the possibility of injury for mothers that can lead to "stress urinary incontinence" (SUI), a condition affecting from four to 35 percent of women who have had babies via vaginal delivery. Many current treatments, such as physiotherapy and surgery, are not very effective...

Predictors for early readmission of heart patients - memory problems, emotional stress

Date: Sep-19-2013
Heart patients' mental state and thinking abilities may help predict whether costly and potentially dangerous early hospital readmission will follow their release after treatment, according to the results of a significant new study by Henry Ford Hospital researchers. The findings have important implications for the health care industry as it struggles to contain unnecessary costs, according to the study's lead author, Mark W. Ketterer, Ph.D., a psychologist and administrator for Henry Ford. The study is published online in Psychosomatics...

Advance of the machines: should we be afraid of the anaesthesia robot?

Date: Sep-19-2013
A session at this year's Annual Congress of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland will discuss the potential future of automation in medicine, and is titled 'Advance of the machines, should we be afraid of the anaesthesia robot?'. The session is presented by J Robert Sneyd, Dean and Professor of Anaesthesia, Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, Plymouth, UK. "Automated systems are ubiquitous in modern living. Thermostats control our heating, televisions tune themselves and aeroplanes land automatically...

National survey reveals procedural errors in hospitals relating to arterial line fluids continue to pose a safety risk to patients

Date: Sep-19-2013
The results of a national survey into practice involving connecting arterial line fluids to patients in hospitals reveals inconsistent application of national guidelines, meaning that some patients may be at risk of serious harm. The survey and its implications are being presented today (Thursday 19 September) at the Annual Congress of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI) in Dublin, Ireland, by Prof Tim Cook, Consultant, Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Royal United Hospital, Bath, UK...

Orthopaedic surgeons' comprehensive approach to the evaluation of groin pain

Date: Sep-19-2013
She wasn't born this way, but even Lady Gaga experienced groin pain - typically a symptom of hip disease such as arthritis of the hip - or, in her case, a hip labral tear. Groin pain is a common health complaint. According to a literature review appearing in the September 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS), one in four people develop hip arthritis - damage to the surfaces in the hip joint - before the age of 85 that contributes to groin pain...

Winter viruses may be behind sleep-disordered breathing spike in children

Date: Sep-19-2013
A good night's sleep is important to our children's development. But with the first day of school just passed, many children are at increased risk for sleep breathing disorders that can impair their mental and physical development and hurt their academic performance. A study conducted in North America in 2011 showed that the frequency of sleep-disordered breathing increases in the winter and spring. Until now, researchers believed asthma, allergies, and viral respiratory infections like the flu contributed to disorders that affect children's breathing during sleep...

Collaboration between emergency care departments, police, and local government works, say doctors

Date: Sep-19-2013
The sharing of anonymised information about violent incidents between emergency care departments and the police and local authorities, can save millions of pounds in health and social costs alone, suggests research published online in Injury Prevention. The analysis shows that in 2007, in Cardiff, where this collaborative approach was pioneered, the scheme lopped off almost £7 million from health, societal, and criminal justice costs caused by violence. The estimated individual and societal costs of violence recorded by the police in England and Wales in 2003-4 came to £14 billion...

Cancer growth in mice slowed by depletion of 'traitor' immune cells

Date: Sep-19-2013
When a person has cancer, some of the cells in his or her body have changed and are growing uncontrollably. Most cancer drugs try to treat the disease by killing those fast-growing cells, but another approach called immunotherapy tries to stimulate a person's own immune system to attack the cancer itself. Now, scientists at the University of Washington have developed a strategy to slow tumor growth and prolong survival in mice with cancer by targeting and destroying a type of cell that dampens the body's immune response to cancer. The researchers published their findings the week of Sept...