Health News

STREAM Trial: Treatment With Tenecteplase Before Hospital Transfer Benefits Some

Date: Mar-14-2013
A clot-busting therapy may benefit some heart attack patients who cannot have immediate angioplasty, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. "Drug therapy before transfer is at least as effective as [angioplasty], and an urgent catheterization was avoided in two-thirds of patients," said Frans Van de Werf, MD, PhD, professor of cardiology at University of Leuven, Belgium, and the study's lead investigator. "It gives [clinicians] time to consider other options, such as [coronary artery bypass graft] and medical therapy...

Findings Do Not Support The Use Of Darbepoetin Alfa To Treat Anemic Heart Failure Patients

Date: Mar-14-2013
Researchers from Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have found that a commonly used drug to treat anemia in heart failure patients does not improve patients' health, nor does it reduce their risk of death from heart failure. Results of the international study were presented at the American College of Cardiology's annual meeting in San Francisco and published simultaneously online by The New England Journal of Medicine...

First Randomized Trial Of Different Treatment For Ectopic Pregnancy And Future Fertility

Date: Mar-14-2013
The first randomised trial to compare treatments for ectopic pregnancies has found no significant differences in subsequent fertility between medical treatment and conservative surgery on one hand, and conservative or radical surgery on the other...

Avoiding Brain Damage And Concussions: Computer Model For Athletes And Soldiers

Date: Mar-14-2013
Concussions can occur in sports and in combat, but health experts do not know precisely which jolts, collisions and awkward head movements during these activities pose the greatest risks to the brain. To find out, Johns Hopkins engineers have developed a powerful new computer-based process that helps identify the dangerous conditions that lead to concussion-related brain injuries. This approach could lead to new medical treatment options and some sports rule changes to reduce brain trauma among players...

Increase In Antibiotic-Resistant Strain Of E. Coli Among Older Adults And Residents Of Nursing Homes

Date: Mar-14-2013
Antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli) continues to proliferate, driven largely by expansion of a strain of E. coli know as sequence type ST131. A new study points to hospitals and long-term care facilities (LTCF) as settings in which this antibiotic-resistant strain is increasingly found. The study is published in the April issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. E...

Some Bacteria May Protect Against Disease Caused By Stomach Infection

Date: Mar-14-2013
Half of the world's human population is infected with the stomach bacteria called Helicobacter pylori, yet it causes disease in only about 10 percent of those infected. Other bacteria living in the stomach may be a key factor in whether or not H. pylori causes disease, according to a new study led by scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "People tend to think of the stomach as a relatively sterile environment, but it's actually populated with microbes," said Karen Ottemann, professor and chair of microbiology and environmental toxicology at UC Santa Cruz...

Advanced Image Processing And Robot-Assisted Surgery Promote Safety And Accuracy In Epilepsy Surgery

Date: Mar-14-2013
For patients with "drug-resistant" epilepsy requiring surgery, an updated stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) technique provides a more efficient process for obtaining critical data for surgical planning, according to a study in the March issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. "SEEG is a safe and accurate procedure for invasive assessment of the epileptogenic zone," according to the new report by Dr...

Chest Pain Reduction Effects Of Ranolazine Most Pronounced In Diabetic Patients With Poor Glucose Control

Date: Mar-14-2013
A commonly used anti-anginal drug reduces chest pain in patients with type 2 diabetes and appears to have a more pronounced effect in those with poorer glucose control, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. Ranolazine is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of chronic angina, or chest pain, both as first line therapy and as an add-on when symptoms are not relieved with other anti-anginal drugs, including beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers and nitrates...

Imaging Agent Lymphoseek For Lymphatic Mapping Approved By FDA

Date: Mar-14-2013
Lymphoseek (technetium Tc 99m tilmanocept) Injection, a radioactive imaging agent that assists doctors in locating lymph nodes in breast cancer or melanoma patients who are having tumor-draining lymph nodes removed, has been approved by the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Lymphatic fluid flows from the body's tissues and is filtered by the lymph nodes. If the fluid is draining from a part of the body that contains a tumor, it may contain cancer cells...

Study Results Highlight The Fundamental Mechanisms That Underlie Our Interactions With Similar And Dissimilar People

Date: Mar-14-2013
Infants as young as nine months old prefer individuals who are nice to people like them and mean to people who aren't like them, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. In our social lives, we tend to gravitate toward people who have things in common with us, whether it's growing up in the same town, disliking the same foods, or even sharing the same birthday. And research suggests that babies evaluate people in much the same way, preferring people who like the same foods, clothes, and toys that they like...