Health News

Lung Cancer To Overtake Breast Cancer Among Women In Europe

Date: Feb-14-2013
Within the next decade lung cancer is predicted to be the main cause of cancer deaths in European women, according to a recent study published in the journal Annals of Oncology.  Lung cancer has already become the main cause of cancer death among women in the UK and Poland, overtaking breast cancer. In fact, according to research carried out by investigators from King's College London, over the next thirty years lung cancer among females will rise thirty times faster than males. Researchers from Italy and Switzerland estimate that close to 1...

Preparing For A Future Of Coordinated Care - Interview In Preparation For The Chief Nursing Officer Summit, 14-15 March 2013, Atlanta, Georgia

Date: Feb-14-2013
"Chief Nursing Officers (CNOs) should educate themselves on care coordination and how it will change in the future," says Cole Edmonson, Vice President, Patient Care Services, Chief Nursing Officer, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The challenge is to gain new skills and knowledge about community care by shared learning and working towards better care coordination, he adds...

Deep Brain Stimulation Effective In Early Parkinson's

Date: Feb-14-2013
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) improves overall quality of life and social functioning in patients in earlier stages of Parkinson's disease, according to results of a two-year clinical trial. The study, led by Günther Deuschl, a professor at Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel, Germany, and Yves Agid, a professor in neurology and experimental medicine at the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière in Paris, France, is reported online in the New England Journal of Medicine on 14 February...

Study Suggests Link Between Untreated Depression And Response To Shingles Vaccine

Date: Feb-14-2013
Results from a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases suggest a link between untreated depression in older adults and decreased effectiveness of the herpes zoster, or shingles, vaccine. Older adults are known to be at risk for shingles, a painful condition caused by the reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus, and more than a million new cases occur each year in the U.S. The vaccine boosts cell-mediated immunity to the virus and can decrease the incidence and severity of the condition...

Queen's Study Aims To Use Stem Cells To Help Save Sight Of Diabetes Sufferers

Date: Feb-14-2013
Scientists at Queen's University Belfast are hoping to develop a novel approach that could save the sight of millions of diabetes sufferers using adult stem cells. Currently millions of diabetics worldwide are at risk of sight loss due to a condition called Diabetic Retinopathy. This is when high blood sugar causes the blood vessels in the eye to become blocked or to leak. Failed blood flow harms the retina and leads to vision impairment and if left untreated can lead to blindness...

"Significant" Proportion Of HIV Positive Patients May Not Be Telling NHS Staff About Their Infection, UK

Date: Feb-14-2013
A significant proportion of HIV positive patients may not be disclosing their infection to NHS staff, when turning up for treatment at sexual health clinics, suggests preliminary research published online in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. If the findings reflect a national trend, this could have implications for the true prevalence of undiagnosed HIV infection in the population, which is based on the numbers of "undiagnosed" patients at sexual health clinics, say the authors...

Cut Red Tape And Stop Doctor Prescriptions Of Gluten Free Foods On NHS

Date: Feb-14-2013
The time has come for doctors to stop prescribing gluten free foods to patients allergic to wheat gluten - known as coeliac disease - and for the NHS to find a better way to support patients, says an editorial in the independent review of medical treatment, the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB). The process is outmoded and costly, argues DTB. And what's more, it's adding a layer of unnecessary red tape to the NHS, which takes up healthcare professionals' time and is unhelpful to patients...

Few Negative Reactions Expressed By Consumers To The Results Of Genetic Testing For Cancer Mutations

Date: Feb-14-2013
A 23andMe study of consumers' reactions to genetic testing found that even when the tests revealed high-risk mutations in individuals, those individuals had few negative reactions to the news. Instead of inducing serious anxiety, the test results prompted people to take positive steps, including follow-up visits with a doctor and discussions with family members who could also be at risk...

Evidence Lacking For Scale Up Of mHealth

Date: Feb-14-2013
Despite the hundreds of pilot studies using mobile health - also known as 'mHealth'', which describe medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices - there is insufficient evidence to inform the widespread implementation and scale-up of this technology, according to international researchers writing in this week's PLOS Medicine. There are over 6 billion mobile phone subscribers and 75% of the world has access to a mobile phone leading health care providers, researchers, and national governments to be optimistic about the opportunities mobile health has to offer...

Rats Given 'Sixth Sense' By Neuroprosthesis Implants Able To 'See' In Infrared

Date: Feb-14-2013
Researchers have given rats the ability to "touch" infrared light, normally invisible to them, by fitting them with an infrared detector wired to microscopic electrodes implanted in the part of the mammalian brain that processes tactile information. The achievement represents the first time a brain-machine interface has augmented a sense in adult animals, said Duke University neurobiologist Miguel Nicolelis, who led the research team...