Health News

Phase II Clinical Trial Of Combined HBO2/NBH Treatment For Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Date: Mar-20-2013
Researchers at the Hennepin County Medical Center, University of Minnesota, and Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation (Minneapolis, Minnesota) report that the combined use of hyperbaric oxygen and normobaric hyperoxia therapies provides better outcomes in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) than the standard intensive neurosurgical care recommended for this injury...

Improving Diets By Discounting Healthy Foods

Date: Mar-20-2013
Lowering the costs of healthy foods in supermarkets increases the amount of fruits, vegetables and whole grain foods that people eat, while also appearing to reduce consumption of nutritionally less-desirable foods, according to research from the RAND Corporation. Researchers examined a program available to members of South Africa's largest private health insurance company that provides a rebate of 10 percent or 25 percent on purchases of healthy foods. The program, started in 2009, now has about 800 participating supermarkets and enrolls more than 260,000 households...

The Effects Of Shoes On Foot Strike, Performance

Date: Mar-20-2013
Many of today's running shoes feature a heavy cushioned heel. New research presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) found that these shoes may alter an adolescent runner's biomechanics (the forces exerted by muscles and gravity on the skeletal structure) and diminish performance. Researchers recruited 12 adolescent competitive athletes from local track teams, and asked them to run on a treadmill in large heel trainers, track flats and without any shoes (barefoot) at four different speeds...

Two In Three Cancer Patients Who Died In Hospital Wanted To Die At Home

Date: Mar-20-2013
Macmillan Cancer Support reveals that two in three (65%) cancer patients in England who died in hospital, wanted to die at home1. This comes as a cross-party committee of MPs and Lords today strongly recommend that the Government introduce free social care for people at the end of life "at the earliest opportunity" to enable more people to die in the place of their choice2. According to a national survey of bereaved relatives and carers, nine in ten (91%) cancer patients in England who died in hospital in 2011 actually said they wanted to die elsewhere3...

Hip Or Knee Replacement Surgery Can Improve Sexual Function Significantly

Date: Mar-20-2013
Osteoarthritis of the hip or knee, affecting millions of Americans each year, is known to limit sexual activity. New research presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) found that total hip (THR) or total knee replacement (TKR) surgery improves sexual function in 90 percent of patients. In the study, 147 patients under age 70, scheduled for primary THR or TKR, agreed to participate in a study requiring the completion of questionnaires prior to surgery, at six months post surgery, and at one year post surgery...

How Adolescent's Brains Make The Transition To Mature Thinking Revealed By Sleep Study

Date: Mar-20-2013
A new study conducted by monitoring the brain waves of sleeping adolescents has found that remarkable changes occur in the brain as it prunes away neuronal connections and makes the major transition from childhood to adulthood. "We've provided the first long-term, longitudinal description of developmental changes that take place in the brains of youngsters as they sleep," said Irwin Feinberg, professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of the UC Davis Sleep Laboratory...

Patients With Acute STEMI Without Heart Failure Benefit From Inspra® (Eplerenone) Within First 24 Hours, Study Shows

Date: Mar-20-2013
Primary composite efficacy endpoint met in REMINDER trial Pfizer has announced results from the REMINDER[i] trial (Role of Eplerenone in acute Myocardial INfarction - Double-blind, Early treatment initiation, Randomised, placebo-controlled, multi-centre study) showing statistically significant risk reductions in the primary composite efficacy endpoint. This is the first randomised trial to test a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist during the acute phase of heart attack. Eplerenone is not approved for use in the patient population studied in the REMINDER trial in any market...

Testing Helps Catch HIV Early, But Aggressive Use Of Antiretroviral Drugs In Asymptomatic Patients Could Breed More Resistant HIV

Date: Mar-20-2013
One of the most widely advocated strategies for dealing with HIV/AIDS could double the number of multi-drug-resistant HIV cases in the population of men who have sex with men (MSM) in LA County over the next 10 years, cautions a new study. In the United States, LA County has the largest incident population of HIV positive individuals...

Greek Coffee Could Turn Out To Be A Fountain Of Yourth

Date: Mar-20-2013
The answer to longevity may be far simpler than we imagine; it may in fact be right under our noses in the form of a morning caffeine kick. The elderly inhabitants of Ikaria, the Greek island, boast the highest rates of longevity in the World, and many scientists turn to them when looking to discover the 'secrets of a longer life'. In a new study in Vascular Medicine, published by SAGE, researchers investigating cardiovascular health believe that a cup of boiled Greek coffee holds the clue to the elderly islanders' good health. Only 0...

Complicated Grief: Yearning For Lost Loved Ones Linked To Altered Thinking About The Future

Date: Mar-20-2013
People suffering from complicated grief may have difficulty recalling specific events from their past or imagining specific events in the future, but not when those events involve the partner they lost, according to a new study published in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The death of a loved one is among the most painful and disruptive experiences a person can face. For most, the grief subsides over time...