Health News

Need For Routine Antibiotics In Advanced Brain Procedures Questioned

Date: Mar-06-2013
Patients undergoing cerebral angiography and neurointerventional procedures on the brain are at very low risk of infection - even without preventive antibiotics, reports 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. "These data suggest that the overall risk of infection associated with most neuroangiographic procedures is very low," according to the study by Dr. Prashant S. Kelkar and colleagues of University of Alabama, Birmingham...

Woman's Exposure To Stress During Pregnancy Impacts Fetal Brain Via The Placenta

Date: Mar-06-2013
The mammalian placenta is more than just a filter through which nutrition and oxygen are passed from a mother to her unborn child. According to a new study by a research group from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, if a mother is exposed to stress during pregnancy, her placenta translates that experience to her fetus by altering levels of a protein that affects the developing brains of male and female offspring differently...

Distress After Episodes Of Sleep Paralysis

Date: Mar-06-2013
Ever find yourself briefly paralyzed as you're falling asleep or just waking up? It's a phenomenon is called sleep paralysis, and it's often accompanied by vivid sensory or perceptual experiences, which can include complex and disturbing hallucinations and intense fear. For some people, sleep paralysis is a once-in-a-lifetime experience; for others, it can be a frequent, even nightly, phenomenon...

Many Children With Retinoblastoma May Safely Forego Adjuvant Chemotherapy

Date: Mar-06-2013
New results from a prospective clinical trial conducted in France show that children with low-risk retinoblastoma do not need postoperative (adjuvant) chemotherapy to prevent disease recurrence or metastasis; the results also suggest that certain patients with intermediate-risk disease can receive less aggressive adjuvant treatment, or perhaps forego it altogether. Avoiding chemotherapy spares patients from treatment side effects and long-term health risks, such as cardiovascular disease and development of a second cancer...

Review Of Contraceptive Options For Women Over 40

Date: Mar-06-2013
Despite declining fertility, women over age 40 still require effective contraception if they wish to avoid pregnancy. A review article outlines the risks and benefits of various contraceptive options for these women. The article, based on current evidence and published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), is aimed at helping physicians find the best methods for their patients. The benefits of use outweigh the risks for most contraceptive methods used by women over 40...

Call For Prison Health Care Reform In Canada

Date: Mar-06-2013
Canada needs to reform its patchwork system of prison health care that does not adequately care for prisoners' complex health care needs, argues an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). "What is desperately needed is a well-organized and coordinated system of health care, one that follows the offender from the start of his or her incarceration to release and successful return to the community," writes Dr. Ken Flegel, senior associate editor, CMAJ with Dr. Françoise Bouchard, former director general of health services, Correctional Services of Canada...

Tackling Obesity May Reverse Heart Disease Damage

Date: Mar-06-2013
Johns Hopkins research on obese mice finds that the impact of dieting and losing weight benefits the heart health of the young, but not the older ones In a study of the impact of weight loss on reversing heart damage from obesity, Johns Hopkins researchers found that poor heart function in young obese mice can be reversed when the animals lose weight from a low-calorie diet. However, older mice, who had been obese for a longer period of time, did not regain better heart function after they were on the same low-calorie diet...

Use Hospice By Medicare Patients Offers Better Care At A Lower Cost To The Government

Date: Mar-06-2013
Medicare patients who enrolled in hospice received better care at a significantly lower cost to the government than those who did not use the Medicare hospice benefit. The data indicate that annual savings to Medicare could amount to $2.4 million to $6.4 million, if 1,000 additional Medicare beneficiaries chose to enroll in hospice 53-105 days before death, or 15-30 days prior to death. The study, led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is published in the March issue of Health Affairs...

Hope For New Therapeutic Approaches To Many Of The World's Debilitating Or Fatal Diseases

Date: Mar-06-2013
Researchers have discovered how oxidative stress can turn to the dark side a cellular protein that's usually benign, and make it become a powerful, unwanted accomplice in neuronal death. This finding, reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could ultimately lead to new therapeutic approaches to many of the world's debilitating or fatal diseases. The research explains how one form of oxidative stress called tyrosine nitration can lead to cell death...

How The Brain Tires When Exercising Has Implications For Doping In Sport, Motor Contol, Depression

Date: Mar-06-2013
A marathon runner approaches the finishing line, but suddenly the sweaty athlete collapses to the ground. Everyone probably assumes that this is because he has expended all energy in his muscles. What few people know is that it might also be a braking mechanism in the brain which swings into effect and makes us too tired to continue. What may be occurring is what is referred to as 'central fatigue'. "Our discovery is helping to shed light on the paradox which has long been the subject of discussion by researchers...