Health News

Study Suggests Women On Medicaid More Likely To Receive Mastectomy To Treat Breast Cancer

Date: Apr-26-2013
JAMA Surgery Study Highlights In a study reported in the resident's forum, Linda Adepoju, M.D., of University of Toledo Medical Center, Ohio, and colleagues suggest that tumor size, cancer stage, and Medicaid insurance were predictors of undergoing a mastectomy to treat breast cancer. (Online First) A total of 1,539 women with stage I through stage III invasive breast cancer who had surgery between 1996 and 2009 were included in the retrospective study...

More Severe Concussion Symptoms Lead To Longer Recovery Time

Date: Apr-26-2013
Most children who suffer from sports-related concussions recover within a few days. However, in a small number of children, symptoms can last for a month or more. Although there have been numerous theories as to what might predict a longer recovery time, there is no definitive answer as to why it takes some children longer to recover. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers attempted to identify risk factors that might predispose some children with concussions to longer recovery times. Dr. William P...

Stem Cell Transplant Restores Memory, Learning In Mice

Date: Apr-26-2013
For the first time, human embryonic stem cells have been transformed into nerve cells that helped mice regain the ability to learn and remember. A study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the first to show that human stem cells can successfully implant themselves in the brain and then heal neurological deficits, says senior author Su-Chun Zhang, a professor of neuroscience and neurology. Once inside the mouse brain, the implanted stem cells formed two common, vital types of neurons, which communicate with the chemicals GABA or acetylcholine...

Study Examines Trends In Firearm Injuries Among Children And Adolescents

Date: Apr-26-2013
"Given recent firearm-related fatalities combined with declining gun research funding, it is important to monitor firearm injuries in youths. Injury death rates are available but provide an incomplete picture of these potentially preventable injuries," writes Angela Sauaia, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Colorado School of Public Health, Denver and colleagues...

Use Of Beta-Blockers Around Time Of Non-Cardiac Surgery Associated With Improved Outcomes For Higher-Risk Patients

Date: Apr-26-2013
Patients at elevated cardiac risk who were treated with beta-blockers on the day of or following noncardiac, nonvascular surgery had significantly lower rates of 30-day mortality and cardiac illness, according to a study in the April 24 issue of JAMA. "The effectiveness and safety of perioperative beta-blockade [the process of inhibiting beta-receptor activity] for patients undergoing noncardiac surgery remains controversial...

Study Examines Methods, Procedures For Improved Diagnosis Of Ectopic Pregnancy

Date: Apr-26-2013
For women with abdominal pain or vaginal bleeding during early pregnancy, patient history and clinical examination alone are insufficient to indicate or eliminate the possibility of ectopic pregnancy, while transvaginal sonography appears to be the single best diagnostic method for evaluating suspected ectopic pregnancy, according to an analysis of previous studies reported in the April 24 issue of JAMA...

Childhood Meningitis Associated With Lower Levels Of Educational Achievement, Financial Self-Sufficiency In Adulthood

Date: Apr-26-2013
In a study that included nearly 3,000 adults from Denmark, a diagnosis of meningococcal, pneumococcal, or Haemophilus influenzae meningitis in childhood was associated with lower educational achievement and economic self-sufficiency in adult life, according to a study in the April 24 issue of JAMA. Bacterial meningitis may lead to brain damage due to several factors, and survivors of childhood bacterial meningitis are at particular risk of hearing loss, seizure disorders, motor deficits, and cognitive impairment. Learning disabilities are well documented as a result of the disease...

Study Examines Brain Response To Empathy-Eliciting Scenarios Among Incarcerated Individuals With Psychopathy

Date: Apr-26-2013
JAMA Psychiatry Study Highlights In a study, Jean Decety, Ph.D., of the University of Chicago, Illinois, and colleagues examined the potential differences in patterns of neural activity among incarcerated individuals with psychopathy and incarcerated persons serving as controls during the perception of empathy-eliciting stimuli depicting other people experiencing pain...

Experimental Treatment For Rare Pediatric 'Pretzel Syndrome' Halts Intractable Seizures

Date: Apr-26-2013
With a better understanding of underlying mechanisms that cause a rare neurodevelopmental disorder in the Old Order Mennonite population, referred to as Pretzel syndrome, a new study reports that five children were successfully treated with a drug that modifies the disease process, minimizing seizures and improving receptive language. The study, by researchers including experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, appears in the journal Science Translational Medicine...

Cancer Cells' Achilles' Heel Revealed

Date: Apr-26-2013
Scientists from the Manchester Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research (MCCIR) have discovered why a particular cancer drug is so effective at killing cells. Their findings could be used to aid the design of future cancer treatments. Professor Daniel Davis and his team used high quality video imaging to investigate why the drug rituximab is so effective at killing cancerous B cells. It is widely used in the treatment of B cell malignancies, such as lymphoma and leukaemia - as well as in autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis...